4D picture of Baby on the way

I had a request for this picture to be put on my blog....it's kind of hard to see where the baby is or at least it was for me but the baby is upside down in this picture in the very center of the picture. This was taken on 7/7/09 so 20 days ago so the baby was only about an inch to 1.5 inches long.

Garden Harvest...

For months this is what a typical harvest was for us from our community garden lots of cucumbers, zucchini and squash. We went again the other night and this is all that we got...
Rotten, never grew onions, carrots and pumpkins. Our watermelons didn't grow and all of our tomatoes and peppers died early on. We had one harvest of corn on the cob but that is all dead now too. It's a shame because what happened is that a lot of people in the community garden never pulled their weeds or harvested their crops so the irrigation water didn't reach a lot of us gardens further down the line thus ours all died.
You can see the actual size of this carrot next to my finger. At least we did harvest something and next year we'll have our own garden in our back yard. :o) Great experience over all and taught the kids some great garden work ethics. :o) Thanks to the farmer that let our entire community utilize his land and watered it for us.

Our Trip to Sedona back on June 19th

Driving into the town of Sedona, AZ the views are breath taking in my opinion.

So back in June we had a weekend get-a-way in Sedona thanks to our wonderful friends the Amador's who not only offered us the use of their timeshare but also offered to babysit our children for the weekend. What amazing friends they are!!! We haven't left the kids over night in 6 and a half years and that was for my class reunion where they stayed with my Mom. :o)

This is the light to turn to the resort where we stayed at. Look at these beautiful mountains.




See where the resort condos looked out to pretty views every direction.


This was our actual condo equipped with a kitchen, living room, large balcony, master suite with a huge jacuzzi tub, table and chairs dining area, a second bathroom, laundry room and then a second bedroom with 2 queen beds. It was very nice and relaxing.


Although Will had to bring his lap top and continue working mostly Saturday we still enjoyed two great date nights out on the town of Sedona and the most romantic dinner ever Friday night. We went to an Italian restaurant and luckily for us they thought we were honeymooners and seated us in a really awesome location without reservations. They had rose petals all over the table, candle light, soft music, very private area we could have even closed the curtain area for more privacy, the restaurant was neat old world Italian decorating with wonderful paintings light just right, great service and the food was excellent!! We felt a bit under dressed but were treated like royalty. I wished I would have brought the camera because I would like to remember that dinner for the rest of my life.

Although I didn't take any pictures of the sunset it was gorgeous! (not sure who these 2 guys are but I liked the background Mountain)

I thought actually Saturday that I was coming down with a cold or something because I didn't feel well and was extremely tired. I had a dry throat and headache too so this added to my thoughts that I was coming down with a cold or something. I totally took advantage of the relaxing weekend and took a nap while Will worked and watched a lot of "Deadliest Catch" a show about crab fishing boats in Alaska. We ended going out to eat a nice steak dinner Saturday night but I was feeling a bit worse than I did Friday night and it wasn't as romantic but still very good.

We called the kids a few times but they were having a blast. It was so funny because before we dropped them off Friday morning I was telling the kids to listen and not to fight or make a mess etc at Kathy & Tomas' house and Calvin tells, "Oh don't worry Mom we will be on our best behavior because Kathy's not afraid to put the Pow Pow on the Pow!" He truly believed that Kathy would put the smack down on his behind if he got out of line. I know she wouldn't because they adore the kids but she would make them mind. :o)

Kathy & Tomas Amador

Friday night the Amador's had the Barker's over pictured above. Calvin & their oldest son William are great buddies. Saturday morning there was a church water activity with water slides and balloons etc. Then the Amador's took them to Amazing Jakes for the evening for pizza and rides, laser tag, bowling, rock climbing, go karts and all sorts of fun there. Sunday was stake conference so it wasn't the normal 8am church start time or they might not have made it on time. :o)

I had no idea that I was actually 6 weeks pregnant at that time. It's funny now because my Dr. Pepper didn't taste good, I only took one bite of my candy bar, didn't want dessert at either of the two great restaurants we ate at (not like me at all), was extremely tired, gagged every time I brushed my teeth and the list goes on. I've thought I was pregnant so many times that it honestly didn't cross my mind this time because it's always a heartache when I'm not year after year. I chalked it up to over working, not sleeping enough and just being run down. :o) I'm so glad it wasn't a cold or virus and I'm still waiting for the tiredness, nausea and gagging to stop. Thank you Heavenly Father and thanks to Amador's who let us have a great time with peace of mind that our kids were in good hands.

One bun in the oven...

Well here's our little bun #3! Although difficult to see the absolute beauty of this little one we sure feel blessed with the results of everything today and are off to a healthy great start for Mom & baby!! My due date changed by one whole day making this little one due on Valentines Day so I think we'll refer to he/she as our Sweetheart. :o)

They said that the baby was great, looked healthy and had a great heart beat at 173 beats per minute! We got a 3D but the tech didn't label it and to be honest I can't tell what's what so I'll post this one the clearest of the 6 pictures we got. So neat to hear the baby's little heart beating it makes it more real!

Not twins but we feel so blessed to have this little miracle baby off to a great start. I got a prescription for the nausea that has increased over the past 4-5 days and lasts from about 10am until 10pm. I'm a little anemic but other than that I am in great overall health myself according to all of the results. She still wants me to not lift anything over 10 lbs, no exercise, don't sweep or mop or vacuum to just basically take it easy and come back in 4 weeks. WE ARE SO EXCITED and SO EXTREMELY GRATEFUL!!!

Our Baby at 7 weeks!

Hiccups & Startle Response Click below to view the 3 second movie

http://www.ehd.org/movies.php?mov_id=248&cell=5

Oh my goodness I can't believe that a baby that is less than 1 inch long can already have the hiccups and a startled response! This is amazing! I've already spent an hour watching these videos but stopped here because I am 7 weeks pregnant and want to watch them as the developing continues. :o)

I probably would have waited a few more weeks before announcing it but Will & my Mom were just too excited and that's super cute so I'm not upset. :o)

Thanks for sharing in our excitement for a new baby, we have waited and wanted this for over 6 years now! :o)

Amazing....We Are Expecting!!!

Ok so I wasn't going to say anything for a few more weeks just because I have had 2 miscarriages before a little over 2 years ago but Will has been so excited that he has already begun spreading the word. I think it's really cute how excited he is!

We only found out a few days ago and although I'm a little worried about announcing too early I am SUPER EXCITED also! We have always wanted more children and have been trying for almost 6 years now! McKenna is 11 and Calvin our baby is 7 so it's been a very long wait! We actually were planning on adopting and had just recently completed all of the necessary paperwork for LDS Family Services Adoption but hadn't submitted it yet! I feel so very very blessed!!

I have been a little on the sick side (nauseated, headache, dry throat) but thought it was because I've been working so much (11-12 hr days) trying to juggle my new position along with still doing payroll full time until our new person starts and is trained and just not getting enough sleep that I was coming down with something. For the past 4 years almost every month I think I'm pregnant and so I just thought my body was playing another cruel joke on me. ha ha When my co-workers started asking me if I was pregnant and other not so close co-workers started telling me how tired I looked and asking me if I felt well I decided to take a pregnancy test Tuesday 6/23/09 night. I didn't tell Will I was going to take it because I knew he would tell me not to waste money & time on another pregnancy test! (we should own stock by now) ha Anyways I did anyways fully expecting it to be negative as usual but low and behold it was POSITIVE!!! It was about 10:15pm when I took it and showed it to Will who said what does this mean? I explained and gave him the information sheet and he starts reading it asking me if I was sure that I did it correctly etc. Kinda funny because he thought that I could get a positive reading by not doing it correctly so after about 10 minutes of explaining if I did it wrong it would only tell me negative NEVER positive unless you have the hormone.

We immediately got online to see how far along and when the due date would be. We then said we wouldn't tell the kids for a couple of weeks because of the tubal pregnancy miscarriage I had last time at 6-7 weeks along that we would wait a couple of weeks etc. I tried to call my Mom's cell phone because it's an hour later there and I didn't want to wake my step dad who works, she didn't answer. I knew I couldn't call my sister because she gets up at like 3 am and would also be in bed...so I was a little bummed I couldn't call one of them right then but I called them early the next morning! They were both very shocked and very excited! I told one co-worker who convinced me the day before to take the pregnancy test and is my closest friend at work Carrie, she was so excited for us. I haven't announced it at work yet but will probably have too soon. I haven't had any Dr. Pepper since Monday, June 22nd because it didn't taste good which is another sign that I'm pregnant...sweets and sugary drinks make me feel sick. I also have a super sensitive nose when I'm pregnant which can be bad because certain smells will trigger vomiting. So far I've only gagged. :o)

I came home Wednesday and Will had told the kids by himself....NOT really what I had in mind but I couldn't stay too mad at him because it's just because he is so excited to be a Daddy again! He had told his brothers and a friend as well. Since then he said he has been practically telling everyone he talks to so I figured I'd better blog about it. McKenna is doing a hip hop dance/cheer summer camp thing at the high school which is currently where I work until our new district office is built and so I walked over to pick her up not knowing that she knew I was pregnant, we walked to the car and went home she didn't mention a word about a baby. So when Will told me he told the kids she overheard probably because of the shocked tone of voice I had!! :o) She says, "oh yeah Mom that's really cool I hope you have a girl". A few minutes later Calvin comes running downstairs and gives me a big hug and says, "so Mom what's this I hear that you are trying to get pregnant?" I say, "I'm not trying to get pregnant I AM PREGNANT". I can just imagine him telling all of his friends and anyone he sees that his Mommy is TRYING TO GET PREGNANT! It was hilarious, Will and I laughed so hard!

I talked to my Mom again Wednesday evening who also had the gift of gab and had told my Grandma and some Aunts etc. My sister Brandy emailed me and asked me if she could blog & facebook about it yet...so I figured I had better do it also. :o)

We are all extremely excited and hope that everything goes well. I will have to have a c-section because of the two previous and believe that I will go ahead and have them knock me completely out this go around. With McKenna I had a spinal block and it was painful! With Calvin I had an epidural and it wore off during which then caused me to black out as soon as I uttered I can feel that. I'm going to think positive and try to push the fears and doubts out of my head about a miscarriage or complications. It will be a great pregnancy I hope and the ultimate goal a healthy baby or babies since twins run in both of our families! Wishful thinking probably but I would LOVE to get 2 for the price of 1!!! Plus I have two great helpers right!?! :o)

Wow so behind....Taylor Swift on Kenna's b-day!

I'm so behind in blogging it's ridiculous but I've been working 10 or more hours a day and feel guilty when I get on the computer and not hang out with my wonderful family. I love blogging but I love them more and I love sleep so those two things have won out over the past few weeks. :o)

So the very night of McKenna's 11th Birthday we were lucky enough to get some tickets from my cousin's wife & her Mom to go and see McKenna's favorite singer in the world...Taylor Swift!

She came out on the side and sang a song then gave hugs and let people take pictures with her all the way down the stairs to the floor where she then got on a little revolving stage and played her guitar and sang a few songs right there in the middle of the arena up close and personal with many fans. After she finished singing she then took a walk right on the main floor hugging and taking pictures with fans all the way back to the stage. I was worried someone might try to hug her too tight and impressed with her trusting kindness to her fans. She gave credit where it was due....God, her family and the fans. On a side note...she sang all of her songs as they are recorded which I love! I don't care for artists to change the way they sing the song live...I like it the same as the radio & CD versions. She was awesome!

We loved every single bit of it! What a great performer and awesome stage set ups she had!

McKenna was so impressed because Taylor can play the piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and did some banging on drum things. So since then Kenna has practiced the piano a little longer. :o)

This is my cousin's daughter Kortni aka Taylor Swift's look alike about 10 years younger though. Kenna & Kort love each other and both love Taylor.

McKenna is a big fan so she absolutely LOVED it I'm a fan as well so I too LOVED it...so much that I went out and bought her new CD! (poor Will is sick of it but the three of us aren't!)

Here's a cute picture of Kenna just after she sang "Love Story" by Taylor Swift in her school talent show and did a fabulous job by the way (forgot my camera and didn't mean to but deleted it on my cell phone)! The kids thought she sounded just like Taylor. :o) We were so proud of her!!! We thought for sure she would back out because she is usually SUPER SHY. Doesn't she look cute! It was so funny right before she was to go on stage to wait for her turn her boots broke and we had to use clear tape to tape the heel to the upper leather part....dang Target boots!!! That's what I get for bargain shopping but she didn't care and wore them proudly. :o)

My cousin's wife Mandy and her Mom hooked us up with excellent seats and Taylor put on an excellent show! Thank you Mandy!!!! I highly recommend going to see her live. Here's a picture of Mandy, her oldest daughter Kortni, Kenna and I before Taylor came out. Here's Mandy, Kortni and Bella the baby girl. The stage is right behind them with the red curtain drawn. This is Kenna and I afterwards on a Thursday night at almost 11:30pm with an hour and 20 minute drive home with both of us having to go to work and school the next day. She slept in the car and I tried really hard not to. :o) Look at how tall she is only a few inches shorter than me.

McKenna and I both had a wonderful time! I love you Kenna Benna! Happy 11th Birthday Sweetie!!!