I am Happy!

Not much new here to report. But I felt like I needed to make a new post, because all of you had!

The only thing new is that, drumroll please. . . I feel good tonight. That's right folks, not okay, not mediocre, but good! Normal! Like my old self! WHOO-HOO! I'm not quite sure what to contribute this good health to. I slept like crap last night, so I know it's not that. The only thing I can think of and that I am hoping is- I started some new medicene tonight. The other stuff was making me crazy. I was super jittery and my hands always felt restless, it was awful! So I called the Dr. today and they prescribed me Zofron. It's this tiny pill that you put on your tongue and it dissolves. It sure didn't seem like it was going to do something, but it did the trick! I'm hoping that my new little friend is what I can attribute my health and happiness to. And good health equals happiness! I am happy!

On that note, I have stuff to do while I'm feeling good! We're off to Wild Rivers tomorrow. For you Southern Califonian's- they're closing- in like 2 weeks! What? Wild River can't close! I guess they are tearing it down to build houses and such. So I'm taking the boys to go live it up one more time. Keep your fingers crossed that 1) I sleep tonight and 2) I wake up with enough energy to chase a 3 and 4 year old around a water park for several hours! I'll let you know if you're finger crossing works!

Funniest Ebay Listing Ever!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675

This is the funniest- you must read it, if you need a good laugh. Thanks Julia, for sharing!

Weekend Summary

Despite a change of plans and me not feeling my best, it turned out to be a nice weekend. Aaron and Jake went out Friday night to do some birthday shopping and Mr. Softy (aka Dad) gave in and bought Jake a skateboard. He's been asking for one for seriously a year. He loves watching the guys at the skate park. They also bought Tyler a Hot Wheels scooter. Aaron felt so bad because he had planned this great "birthday get-away" for me. We were supposed to go to Hotel Del Coronado for 2 nights and go shopping- for my birthday gift. But because of my mom getting sick and some other things, it just didn't end up happening. So he was left with no birthday plans- poor guys! It worked out fine because I felt terrible on Saturday and preferred to kinda lay around anyway. I got to sleep in and they made me my favorite breakfast, waffles and strawberries and then opened some fun presents. Then we just hung out during the day and that night Aaron and I went out to sushi and then to see The Invasion- which by the way was SOOO good (if you like scary movies, I do, do you??) It ended up being a very nice birthday and I don't feel like I'm 30! Don't worry, I'm not going to forget about that trip to San Diego, we'll go when I'm feeling a little more perky.

Then on Sunday we went to church and then headed down to OC for a wienie roast at the beach with my family. My gma is visiting from N. CA and my cousin and his wife were visiting from Colorado. It was a nice day and it was fun to hang out. By the way, I'm feeling better! I think the combo of new medication/Unisom is doing the trick, although it makes me extremely tired. I'll take tired any day over feeling nauseous!

Our sensor light went on Friday night and this is what we found outside our window!

Jake asleep with his new treasure.

Sweet boy.

Sweet girl, after a long day!

Birthday breakfast for Mommy!

It's hard to see, but we saw a rainbow on our way to the beach. It was so pretty!


Daddy and Jake building a sand castle.

Debbie, Nana, Ani and me- at the beach.

Uncle Dave taking Jake for a skateboard ride- Jake was in heaven!

Addie's ready to go- she wants to be just like her big brothers.

Tyler found a little pirate flag under the lifeguard stand- what a treasure!

All my birthday cards! I know it's kinda silly, but I love to "display" my cards- it makes me feel SO loved!! Try it!

Birthday Reflections

Well, I'm sitting here in my living room, not feeling so great and the house is quiet. Aaron broke his shovel this morning and evidently he needed a new one, today, so off went the boys in search of a new shovel. I was going to be really clever and starting last Wednesday-I was going to post 5 things a day that I had learned in my twenties. Since I usually do my blogging at night when the kids are in bed- yeah, that didn't work too good. Night's are the worst for my stomach problem, so when the kids went to bed this week, so did mommy.

So, no clever countdown- instead just a few random thoughts.

10 years ago, this August, I was. . .

* still patiently waiting for my super hot missionary to get home (1 year down, 1 to go)
*working at Viking Components in Ranch Santa Margarita, CA
*taking correspondence classes so I get could my grades up enough to get into BYU
*graduated from Ricks, now living with my parents
*feeling very awkward with my life- I wasn't where I wanted to be
*shocked that I was actually 20!

A few things that I have realized over those past 10 years. . .

*waiting for that missionary was definitely worth it!
*being a mom is way more fun that I ever imagined and way harder than I ever thought
*I'm doing the best I can
*how to not sweat the small stuff
*I"m who I am today because of my parents
*good friends are worth their wait in gold
*I really do like sushi
*life is not a destination, it's a journey
*nothing stays the same
*now that I have children, the gospel means more to me than ever
*laughing with your spouse is the best medicine
*if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!
*how to bloom where I'm planted

I think that about does it. I'm sure there's more, but I must go hunt down some ginger ale. It's been a good 30 years and I wouldn't trade any of 'em!

Thanks to all you sweet friends and family for the cards, gifts, email and phonecalls. Every single one brought happiness to me today and was just like a hug from far away! XO

Calling all Moms

I'm in desperate need of some advice. I have terrible morning sickness and I don't know what to do! Of course, just waiting it out is not an option! I must do something- today.

Here's the deal. I was not sick at all with the boys. I got sick with Addie, someone told me about Unisom and it worked wonders. No more yuckies! So last week when I started to get that yucky feeling I thought to myself "No big deal, Unisom to the rescue." Well, I was wrong- no such luck this time around. I have tried all the ginger remedies, eating before I get out of bed, keeping something on my stomach, etc. Nothing is working! I talked to the nurse yesterday and she called me in a prescription and that's not working either.

If you've tried anything that works, anything at all, even if it's eating lemons while standing on your head, please do share. I am willing to try anything at this point. My poor husband and children are also begging for any intervention. They are tired of seeing their make-up less and crazy-haired mommy/wife laying around all day. Thank you!

What do Palm Springs and Morphine have in common?

My mom thinks they both are the bomb!! (more about that later)

Our trip was great! We left the kids with a cute couple in our ward and headed out on Saturday afternoon. We had such a nice time just relaxing and spending time with "grown-ups". My parents rented a nice house that had 4 rooms and a pool, so it made it really nice because everybody could do whatever they wanted to- whenever they wanted to!

When we got there everybody had already jumped in with both feet! The boys were laying on the couch watching a movie, my mom was taking a nap and the girls were out in the pool reading. It didn't take long for Aaron and I to join in. That night we went to dinner at Ruby's in downtown Palm Springs then went back to the house and played games. My mom wasn't feeling well so mid-way through Scattergories she went to bed. The next day we slept in until almost 10, it felt so good! Then we just floated around in the pool all day (I was reading Eclipse, but I'll save that for another post). That night we celebrated my birthday and went to Kobe Japanese Steakhouse for dinner and my mom made apple crisp. The next morning we woke up around 9:30 and my mom was gone. Come to find out she still wasn't feeling well, so she had "seceretly" gone to Urgent Care while we were sleeping. We get a call a few minutes later and she said "Meet me at the hospital."

So we ran over there as fast as we could and she was in complete pain, crying and not able to walk. After being taken back to the ER and then admitted to the hospital we found out that she had acute appendicitis and had to have surgery that day to have it removed. She was in so much pain, she said it was worse than labor, ouch! She had surgery that night at 11. When we went to visit her before the surgery, we walked into the room and the first thing she said when she saw us was "Morphine is the bomb!" It was so funny and we were all dying! We stopped by to say goodbye to her this morning. It was so sad to leave her at the hospital and all go home, although my Dad stayed. She was relieved to have the pain of the appendix gone, but she had a fever and still wasn't feeling great. So hopefully she'll be able to go home tomorrow.

Overall it was lots of fun, but a huge bummer for my poor mom. At least she had a day and a half of fun! We love you, Mom--get better soon!!!

Ani and I- lovin' the pool!

Ani, Megan and I- OBSESSED with the Twilight books!

The boys watched movies all day!

On our way out to dinner- perfect weather for taking the top off!

Happy Birthday to me!

Ani, Matt, me, Aaron, Dave, Megan, Mike, Mom-in pain :-( , Dad

Dr. Dave? scary thought, no thanks!!

Feeling better!

I had to take a picture, because these remind me of Palm Springs- there on either side of the 10 on the way into the city.
As a little kid I remember seeing them and getting excited because I knew we were getting close.

Adios!

We're off to Palm Springs, supposed to leave an hour ago! Kids are staying with a newly married couple from the ward. Aaron and I are so excited to get a break. The plans for the next 4 days are read, sleep, eat and sleep some more!! See you on Tuesday!!

New Post

There's a new post underneath the Dr. Laura one, for some reason it came up in the wrong order.

Could Dr. Laura really be wrong?

I was listening to Dr. Laura today (during the 1:00) hour and I hear the most disturbing call. For those of you who don't know me well, I really like Dr. Laura. I listen to her almost every day and have been for over 10 years. I rarely disagree with her, in fact I can only think of one other instance where I completely disagreed with her advice, but it happened again today!

This lady called in, she was a stay-at-home mom with 2 little kids. Every year at Valentine's Day, she likes to do crafts, bake cookies and make cards with her kids. Her husband thought that she shouldn't be doing this, that is was inappropriate, because V-day was for husband/wife only-- and Dr. Laura agreed! Her exact words were "Valentine's Day is for lovers to celebrate, not the parent/child, unless there is incest." (she said the last part sarcastically)

WHAT????

Am I way off or could Dr. Laura actually be wrong? What in the world? What's with all the millions of Valentine's that are exchanged in schools every year or all the boxes of conversation hearts that are passed around? I love to do Valentine activities with my kids and despite what she says, I'm going to keep doing it! I feel like V-day is a day to celebrate those who you love and admiration whether is may be your child, husband, sister, classmate, friend, etc.

Please weigh in, what do you think about this? Do you reserve Valentine celebrations for your spouse only, or do you celebrate all the loved ones in your life?

What do you do on a boring Friday afternoon?

1) You make silly faces! Last week the boys and I were a little bored. We were sitting in the family room trying to think of something to do, so I decided to teach them how to make a silly face by making their hands like a mask and then putting it over their eyes. I never realized how difficult this task is and how much coordination it takes, until I tried to teach a 3 and 4 year old how to do it. It was so funny and I was trying not to laugh (at them)! Tyler got it after a few tries, but I really had to break it down step by step. He was so excited he kept running into the bathroom to look. Jake never quite got the concept down. Oh man- it sure made for some good entertainment!
This is how it's supposed to look. . .
Tyler did it!
Good effort Jakey!

2) You play computer games! It's so funny to watch these 2 play computer games. For some strange reason, Jake is satisfied to just watch Ty play and never bugs to play himself. He is always very encouraging and supportive of Tyler. Their faces are hilarious. Here are a few of my favorite sites for preschooler games:

*Treehouse TV
http://www.treehousetv.com/kids/index.asp
(Bruce on the Loose is my favorite game!)

*Hot Wheels (younger kids need help with these games, but they're fun!)
http://www.hotwheels.com

*Playouse Disney
http://atv.disney.go.com/playhouse/games/index.html

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Saturday morning I woke up with butterflies in my stomach.

There were two things that were causing me great anxiety: 1) we had to enter into a lottery to get a "spot" for next years preschool class for the boys and 2) Aaron said to be ready to go and looking cute at 11:00 am because he had a birthday surprise for me (bday isn't until 8/25). Now really these were not huge things, but I like to know what's going on--when, where, why and how. I had no control whatsoever of these two things, and it makes me extremely uncomfortable. To make a long story short, I get all ready and think Aaron and I are going together to get the boys signed up for preschool and then on to some unknown activity and then the doorbell rings. Who could it be, but my FAVORITE girls-- Mom, Ani (sister) and Kim (cousin/best friend). We all started screaming and then someone said "Surprise!!" I looked curiously at Aaron and he said, "Have fun!" So he went to register the boys for school and the girls took me out for an early birthday treat!

We went and got our nails done (fingers and toes!) then over to Cheesecake Factory for a most tasty lunch , then we shopped around a little and finished the delightful day with some Pinkberry. It really was so fun to be with just the girls and not have to worry about hurrying for naps or waiting for the inevitable meltdown. I loved every minute of it and I couldn't have asked for a better 30th birthday present!!



Aaron did get BOTH the boys into preschool and I'm so thrilled. They only have 20 openings per year and it's hard to get into, because it's a great price and a great program. 2 more weeks and I will have 6 hours a week with only 1 child- woohoo!!! But let's be truthful here, of course the #1 reason I am enrolling the boys in preschool is for the educational aspect- NOT because it gives me a break. :-)

Positive!

That's right, we're having a baby! After taking 3 pregnancy tests, I finally believe it! Little baby Edmonds is due at the beginning of April. We are all thrilled! We told the boys the other night as we were having dinner at El Pollo Loco. We made it a big deal and told them we had something very important to tell them. After our little speech, Jacob looks up and says "Anybody have more ketchup?" So, after wishing and hoping that maybe THIS time our kids would be old enough to be excited by baby news- they're completely clueless- again. In fact they asked me tonight if they could open my stomach up and see our new baby. Maybe they'll get it as they see my stomach grow. ( I swear it's already started to happen!)

It's hard to believe that we'll be a family of 6- that's a lot of people! But, for some reason, I am extra excited this time. Of course I was excited with the first 3, but maybe it's because this may be our last (I said maybe!) and I just can't wait to meet that little person that's going to become a part of our family. Only 34 weeks to go- yikes!!

Hair Crisis

I really need your advice! Jacob's hair is becoming a problem. I love it and I think it's really cute long. He has great hair! The problem is that after I get it cut, maybe 2 weeks later, it starts to look messy. I want him to have that long hair "look" but I definitely don't want it to look messy. I see these boys when we're out and they have long hair and I find myself thinking "I hope Jake's hair doesn't look like that!" Does that make sense? I want it long-ish, but not messy and yucky. So here are my choices: 1) keep doing the normal cuts (just a little shorter) or 2) do something different like long on top and shorter at the bottom and around the ears (kind of like a bowl cut- but not really) PLEASE comment (even if I don't know you) and let me know what you think. Here are a few pictures taken today, to help you make a more informed comment. I need help!!

P.S. These pictures are a little misleading now that I look at them. I had just brushed it when we took these, so you can imagine after playing for awhile, it doesn't look quite this neat.

Date Night

Tyler really is in love with his Daddy, so I was completely taken aback when he approached me last week and asked me when he could go on a date with... me! I was shocked and even more surprised, when he asked me about 4 more times, in the next 2 days. I asked Tyler what he wanted to do on our date and he said "Dinner and a movie." My kind of man! Aaron and I arranged an evening and Tyler and I embarked on our adventure. We started with dinner at Rainforest Cafe and then to see Ratatouille. Dinner was lots of fun and we both loved the movie. It was so fun to spend an evening just with him- he really opened up and wouldn't stop talking, he even started doing this crazy dance and called it "The Jungle Dance". It was so funny!

At dinner. . .

Ty's got his popcorn and candy, waiting for the movie to start.

Welcome Baby Paige!

Aaron's sister, Kim, had a baby 6 weeks ago. We drove down to Imperial this weekend to see her be blessed. It was so fun to meet my new niece, she is such a doll! We drove down with Aaron's parents. Addie stayed with my mom/sister and we took the boys. It was a fun weekend with family- visiting and relaxing.
P.S.- Imperial is so dang hot! It was 112 during the day and then it cooled off to a chilly 105 at night!

We went to dinner at Famous Dave's- it was tasty. I found out after we were about 5 minutes from the Mexican border while we were there. Obviously, the border patrol is HUGE down there.

Uncle Aaron and sweet little baby

The whole gang

Paige Jean Witte- love that red hair!

Tyler and Jake- trying to stay cool in the shake between pictures

The Year of Herefords, Surfers and Sand

That is the theme for the Orange County Fair this year and it was a blast! We went yesterday and had so much fun! We only got to about half the fair and could've spent another day playing and exploring. We met my parents there and had a great time. Here are a few pics from our fun day:

Addie loves to walk behind the stroller and push it- what a helper!


They had the cutest little kids area set up with a real grocery store for kids. They could pick out real food, put it in their cart and take it to the cashier, where the food was bagged. Tyler was all business!
Grammy and Addie

1st Place! The best apple crisp ever!

Our attempt at a family picture. . .

What's wrong with this picture? This is a real sign!!

I Love Aaron!

Surf's Up, Jake!

Going for a drive.