The New Normal

We are finally done. Done moving and vacationing. Done with the holidays. And finally back into normal. Jason had his first real day of work at Cooper Norman today - and, of course, he loved it! He is in his element when he starts doing all things accounting and it was nice that, after he came home from a long day of work, he was happy and fulfilled.

Today was also Kenzie's first day at her new preschool. I worried that she would be nervous or scared, but the girl always surprises me. She never acts the way that I think she will. She walked in holding my hand, shy for the first few minutes, and then saw the play house and ran off with out a second thought. I had to dig her out of the play house just to get her to give me a kiss good bye. She, of course, rolled her eyes and said "Bye Mom. You can go now." I felt loved.

We spent the rest of the day cleaning, organizing and just plain settling into our new life. The kids are monumentally grumpy. Their sleeping is off and the adjustment is a real pain. Hopefully, as we roll back into our usual routine they will start sleeping better again.

Kenzie is per usual 4 going on 16. She got settled into her new CTR 4 class and made a new friend, which was very exciting. She spells Mom, Dad, Cat and Dog now. She knows all her letters and is constantly pointing them out to me. She is so sweet with her siblings. She completely mothers them and packs them around for all the games, which is quite the feat since she's pretty petite.

Haylie has discovered fashion. She has a jacket that she requires that she wears 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She'll take it off for a few moments, like to get in the tub or to change to her PJs. But as soon as she possibly can she'll drag the jacket over to me and screech until I put it back on her. She also goes through her dresser drawers and finds items that she likes and requires that these be included in all her outfits. It's the funniest thing to watch this little 15 month old girl take control of what she wears.

Jase is talking like crazy! He adds several new words to his vocabulary daily. He will scream out "Oh Toodles" with Mickey on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, his favorite show. He loves the Hot Dog song and dance and regularly through the day I'll hear him say "Hot Dog!" and do a little dance whenever he's happy. The other day he was in the hall and I called for him to come to me in the living room for a diaper change and I heard his reply, "Hold On!"

Both babies are picking up quite the vocab. They are also really good at doing all the motions to the song "Happy and You Know it" and can both say "hurray!" We also started doing 'Ring around the Rosies' and I noticed they were both yelling along with  "Ashes! Ashes!" In fact, when they want to play the game, they'll run up to me saying "Ashes! Ashes!" 

Back again...

Wow, it has been a really long time. I won't even attempt to catch up since its literally been three years. But...I was thinking that I should start blogging again, just in the hope that I could keep something of a journal for the sake of my children. So here goes... Jason: Jason is in the last year of his business degree. He's double majoring in accounting and finance while working at Mr. Mower part time, tutoring and volunteering for vita doing taxes for low income families for free. Ya, he's pretty busy, but he still makes time to regularly play Legos, star wars and princesses with Kenzie. Kenzie: Yep, that's what we call our little Mac now...Kenzie. She doesn't really even acknowledge that her name is Mackenzie. She's just Kenzie Taylor, but the name fits her so well I don't mind a bit. Kenzie is now 3 1/2 years old. She is soon much fun. I'm really loving this stage. She talks, no chatters, at a constant rate and she says the cutest and funniest things. She constantly makes me laugh. The other day she walked up to me and told me that bigger is better. Haha we think she picked it up from an AT&T commercial. Aunt Sara came over tonight and played with her for a while and before she left Kenzie told us that Sara is super fun, she wanted to play with her for her whole life and Sara needed to spend the night. Haha it was so cute. She talks really well, especially for her age. But she has trouble with her Ls. Hello sounds more like "hewhoa" it's the cutest thing I've ever heard and I'll be sad when she finally masters her Ls and I don't hear her say it any more. She is taking dance classes this year and she has the best memory. She comes home and any, literally any time she hears music she breaks out in the cutest dance moves. The girl can really shake her little hips, much better than her momma. I think she inherited her dad's dance abilities. And when we go to dance class I watch her through the window and recognize the same moves are in her routines. She knows how to count really well and can even count in her head. I asked her to count something for me and she turned looked at it and spit out a number. I thought she was just guessing and made a point to count the items out loud and counted them right to the number she had given me. I couldn't believe it, so I tested her and sure enough the girl was counting things correctly and quickly in her head. She likes to do puzzles and read books. And the biggest thing is that we are now in the princess stage. She wears at almost all times a big,poofy princess dress. Her grandparents bill and katherine always buy her the dresses and I can barely get them off her long enough the actually wash them. She is good in them too, running around holding them up with one hand so that she doesn't step on them. She knows her shapes, most of her letters and can recognize her name. We are working on learning to write her name. She draws well and loves to do it and she is the best big sister. She constantly helps me and wants to hold her siblings. She makes friends with people every where she goes and she is so much fun to be around. There's never a dull moment with her around and she always keeps us smiling. Haylie: Surprise, surprise. There are more. We didn't think we were going to be able to have any more children and were even on the waiting list to adopt when we found a Dr who specializes in minimal stimulation IVF which is about half the cost of traditional IVF and much less taxing. And let me tell you what...it's plenty taxing. I can't imagine doing traditional, minimal was hard enough!! But last January we ran into it and the stars aligned. We knew we had to do it. So...we did. It cost us all of our savings and we walked away pregnant...with twins!!! It was a hard pregnancy and a hard year for all of us but in September, a few hours after Sara's wedding we welcomed our precious Haylie and Jase into the world!! Haylie came out first at 11:31 p.m. She was beautiful and weighed in at 4 lbs. They were born at 34 weeks. She gave us a little scare and had to be on oxygen right away, but after a few hours she bounced right back and only spent a total of 11 days in the NICU before coming home. When they were in my belly, I always thought that Jase was the active twin kicking the crap out of me, but in reality it was Haylie. The girl is ACTIVE!! To say the least. She is a little over 4 months old right now and boy the girl can move. She rolled over at 2 1/2 months and any time she gets down on the floor she moves and moves so much that she wiggles herself all over the floor. Shes really social always smiling at every body and sometimes just at herself. She's always soo happy. She loves to look around and she is always observing everything. So much so that in order to get her to sleep we have to bundle her up so that she can't move! She's laid back and always willing to go with the flow as long as she can see what's happening. She's light, she weighs in at 10 lbs. 7 oz. she has the sweetest smile and she talks every time some one makes eye contact with her. One of my favorite things is that she laughs in her sleep. She's always laughing in her sleep and I think it's because she is just content all the time. Jase: Jason Lynn Taylor Jr. arrived exactly one minute after his sister at 11:32 p.m. He weighed 4 lbs. 2 oz. He's always weighs more than his sister except now it's 2 pounds instead of 2 oz. of difference. He was in the NICU for 10 days before coming home. He's my sensitive momma's boy. He loves to be held and snuggled. He's really sweet and sensitive and honestly kind of passive. When we lay him in the blanket for tummy time, moves for a while and then just lays down and goes to sleep. He's so funny. He rolled over this week at 4 months. He smiles every time any one talks to him and giggles like crazy any times his Belly gets tickled. He always has his hands in his mouth. I can't hardly keep them out even during feeding times. He's always worried about Haylie and when she cries he cries too. They hold each others hands and talk to each other all the time. Jase has terrible acid reflux and so he doesn't feel good very often. He loves to look around and see what's going in but if he had the option to be snuggled that's all he wants. And he really wants it to be me he's snuggling. He's a major momma's boy. I love it! He's just happy where he is and moves a little slower than haylie but he develops right along with her usually accomplishing the same feats within a few days of her. Hes so sweet and will crack up any time I act even the slightest bit silly. He got his dads dimples which is honestly a dream come true. I'm so glad at least one of my kids got Jason's dimples. Ashlie: I don't know what to say about me...I'm 27. I can't even believe it. I'm a stay at home mom of three kids and I drive a mini van. And I'm completely happy. I am madly on love with my husband and kids. I'm completely content with my busy but fun life and I couldn't ask for more. All my dreams have come true and some times Im not sure where to go with from here. But I just keep loving up my family and enjoying each day. Well, that's where we are. I am going to try to blog more for the sake of a journal and just a note I'm writing this on my iPad so excuse the sometimes weird grammar...autocorrect. Good night!

Gotta Remember...

Ya ya, I never post. In fact I'm pretty sure no one is reading my blog by now but...oh well. I was trying to remember today when Kenzie first started cutting her teeth and I was struggling. So, here I am trying to get some of the important stuff down before I forget it. She cut her teeth at 9 months by the way. She started walking by herself at 8 1/2. She started saying hi and momma shortly after the walking.

We just celebrated her first birthday and I just can't believe how quickly the time has flown. We made her a little grocery set complete with a stand, felt food, a cash register and a shopping cart. She loves it, especially the cart. She loves to push it all over the house, but she gets so frustrated with the cart, because she can't figure out how to get it completely turned around so she can continue to walk. She will usually grump at it for a few minutes then desert it and go find something else to play with. It's pretty comical. She got some other great presents: a life jacket from aunt sara, some bows from aunt chelsie and uncle keith, a car from grandma and grandpa kelly, a vaccuum from grandma and grandpa taylor, a cute outfit from uncle nick and aunt jenny and a bunch of stuffed animals from aunt lizzie. She loves all of her presents but the car has completely stolen her heart. It is one of those cars that she can sit in and we can push her around. It even has a seat belt and a working horn. Kenz sits in it every time she sees it. We have to take it for a drive around the block several times a day she likes it so much.

Kenzie is a total animals girl. She loves animals. She loves our new puppy Sammy. Every time Jason takes Sammy out Kenzie will cry at the door if Jason doesn't take her with him. She loves stuffed animals and packs at least one if not more, around at all times. She also loves water. I can't keep her out of it. Today she discovered the hose and we spent several minutes getting soaked while she figured out just exactly what it can do.

She has become a mimic. I can hear her mimicking the tone and inflection of a lot of the words I say and sometimes she will even say the same words. Apple is one she can get out pretty clear. But not only does she mimic words she mimics actions. One day while I was getting ready she watched me put on my bronzer and as soon as i set it down, she picked it up and perfectly mimicked the way i put it on. I couldn't believe it. One of her funniest mimics is that one day while we were at the store visiting my dad, she started walking around with her hands interlocked behind her back. No one could figure out where she had picked it up until my dad walked by the same way. She had seen him doing it and figured it out herself. Today while I was singing Popcorn Popping on the apricot tree, she started mimicking the popcorn motion that is a part of the song. It wasn't perfect, but I knew she was trying to do it as well.

Every time she hears clapping, she starts to clap and yells hurray! It's so cute. Last sunday in relief society, some one said "yay" and kenz started clapping and cheering. it was the cutest thing. She is as smart as a whip. She really keeps me on my toes. She has figured out how to take her diaper off. Any time she has access to the tape on her diaper, the diaper is on the ground and kenz is making a break for it. We have to keep a onesie on her and keep the onesie buttoned completely. She is so independent, she likes to walk every where and comb her hair and she goes all the time. She won't settle down. She will walk around struggling to keep her eyes open and we have to stop her and help her settle down and go to sleep.

She is perfect. I can't believe how smart and wonderful she is. I'm so blessed to have her in my life.

Just call me Cookie Monster

 

It Began like this. 

 

And Became this....

 

Just her Cookie Monster. Mackenzie LOVES oreos.

6+ Months

Mackenzie has grown so much lately. It seems like every time I'm not looking she grows! She has the sweetest personality. Every morning she wakes up and just lies there in bed, playing with the bedding and waiting for us to come get her. As soon as she sees us she greets us with a big smile and a little giggle. It definitely makes mornings sooo much better. She is my little ray of sunshine.

She is a total momma's girl, which I absolutely LOVE! She wants to be where I am and doing what I'm doing no matter what it is. So I've gotten pretty good at doing dishes and laundry one handed. She even makes me pack her while I vacuum. We've also written a lot of papers for school together. When I go to school, once she realizes I have left she cries for me saying, "momommoma" It breaks my heart but it's soo cute! And ANYTHING I'm eating she wants to eat too. Every time I take a drink of something, she reaches out for a turn. The other day I was eating a PB&J sandwich and Mac wanted a taste, so I let her get a little taste of the jam. She like it so much she wouldn't let me have the sandwich back. She sunk her little fingers in and wouldn't let go. We have had to start giving her a little baby food while we eat so that she won't come after our dinner.

She flips from back to front and front to back, rolling all over the house and she tries to get herself up by putting her hands down and then pushing up with her legs like she's getting ready to do a sommersault. Mac loves Baby Einstein. It entertains her forever and when she's throwing a tantrum because I left her to go to school, it's one of the only things Jason can do to get her to calm down.

She is sooo smart. She loves to read books and when she reads on them she focuses on the letters first. She runs her little fingers over the letters like she's trying to sound them out. Yesterday I was sitting on the floor next to the coffee table holding her and she found the handle for the drawer and went crazy flipping it up and down and pulling on it with all her might.

She talks all the time. She always lets her opinion by known. So much so that I when she's just being quiet, I get worried that something is wrong. I think to myself, 'what's wrong? Why isn't she talking?' and then i have to remind myself that she doesn't actually ever talk.

Even though she's a momma's girl she loves her daddy. The other night she got finished eating and turned to him like 'ok dad. i'm ready to play now.' Jason scooped her up and off they went playing, both of them giggling like crazy. It's the best sound in the world, the two of them laughing together.

Mackenzie is sooo much fun and keeps getting funner every day. I love her so much!

Going Private

I think we are going to go private, even though I almost never post. I keep getting weird comments from people I don't know. If you want to be invited send me your emails!
Thanks

Christmas

We had a great but hectic Christmas this year. We moved back to Idaho from North Carolina for good and made it home just a few days before Christmas. It was still wonderful to have our family all together for Christmas. Not only was Mackenzie here for Christmas this year, so was Jason.

We got to spend Christmas Morning at our house as a family. It was so much fun and I am so thankful for the time we had together!

Mackenzie is 4 Months old

We got Mackenzie's 4 months pictures today. It's amazing to see how much she has grown in just a few months. I can't believe how different she is. She is getting to be sooo fun!! She laughs and sings with the radio. Her personality is constantly oozing out.

Here Mackenzie is at 1 month old.

Here Mackenzie is at 4 months old.

Our little family. I wish she would have smiled but every time the camera comes out Mackenzie gets serious. It's like she's trying to figure out what the camera is exactly.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

Mackenzie and I have been loving having Jason home. They are getting along so well. We thought maybe it would be a transition having daddy around all the time, but she has adjusted to having him around really well. She just seems happy to have 24/7 attention from two parents at the same time. I feel like a better mother because i'm not worn so thin or so tired. We are loving having our man back!

Watching the morning news with Dad

Little Book Worm

It started like this. Mackenzie was sitting on my dad's lap while he was working on his computer and he decided to entertain her by setting a woodworking magazine on her lap. She loved it! She went crazy smacking the pages and cooing like she was reading out loud. When she was done with a page she would just stop cooing or moving and my dad would change the page and she would start all over again. It was sooo cute and entertained her for an hour.

So I decided to buy her one of those cloth books for babies. The spine is a teething ring so she can chew on it if she chooses. I gave it to her when we got home from shopping and she loved sitting in the big chair reading her book.

Then on the ride to Concord, NC to look at a truck for Jase I gave her the book for entertainment. She didn't want to read it this time. She grabbed on to it and started moving it and playing with it. Then she got quiet and I turned back to see her shoving it into her mouth! Silly girl decided she was done reading it and it was time to eat it. She's so funny.

Mackenzie's First Halloween

Mackenzie was a kitty for Halloween. I thought it was appropriate because whenever I sing "Old Macdonald" to her she loves the kitty sounds. She always trys to make them with me. But she wasn't too impressed with her costume. The picture above is her "i'm not happy and i'm going to cry soon" face. It's so stinking cute!!
My little kitty. We had a family Halloween party and ate Chili and a bunch of yummy treats. It was a fun day minus daddy still being in Iraq. Three more weeks and he's home for good!!

Playing with Grandma Katherine.

Three Months of Catch Up

I was taking some pictures of her in this outfit and I said to her "Smile for daddy." and this is what she did. It just melts my heart. Miss Mackenzie is three months old on Sunday and I can't believe how fast she is growing. At her two month check up she was 10 lbs. 4 oz. She had already doubled her birth weight! We got her shots and that was NOT fun. The both of us bawled through the experience and had a hell of a time for the next week after. It was nearly enough to keep me from going back for the next round.

Mac is such a happy baby, even though she has a bad case of acid reflux. She just wants to be held by me all the time (a total momma's girl) and as long as i'm holding her she's in a good mood. Her preferred method of communicating with me is talking. She coos and coos away at me and i'm supposed to understand what she needs by her tone or she gets very upset and cries. It's like she's saying "Mom, why aren't you listening to me?" She will still cry when she's angry or doesn't feel good but we pretty much just talk. I've been trying to get her to say "Momma" or "Daddy" which is obviously a few months away, but when I tell her to say "Momma" she will usually coo in response. She's trying to say it.

She is a busy girl. She is always wiggling and kicking her legs or waving her arms. Mac has figured out that if she does this during her bath it makes a splash and she LOVES it! I can hardly keep her still enough to get her soaped up. She will only tolerate being on her back to play. She prefers to be sitting up. But she is so anxious to get going that if i don't hold on to her she throws herself forward and flops face first on to the floor or rolls herself onto her tummy and starts trying to push herself away. I'm going to have my hands full when she's mobile.

Here she is playing with her keys. She loved hearing keys clang together. She has started to smile a lot. Every morning when i see that she has really woken up I say "Good Morning Sunshine" to her and she response by giving me a HUGE smile. The other day she smiled at her Aunt Jenny (Nick's wife) for the first time. Jenny was sooo excited. She loves her family. Her daddy is her favorite. When he calls, i put him on speaker phone and they just sit and talk to each other forever. She also loves her grandparents and aunts and uncles. Every time my dad sees her he growls at her. One day when he picked her up, she looked right up at him and growled back. She knows who her grandpa is.

She's not sleeping through the night yet, but she's only waking up at 3 or 4 a.m. and then again at 6. But she will sleep until 10 most mornings. it's pretty nice.

This is the little coat/suit i bought her. it's HUGE! and seriously cute.

My Girl - all ready for church and waiting on mom. She is such a joy and I thank God every day for her. I love being her mom!

Wait for it...

I only have so much time to post so this is going to be in two parts. First, I'm going to post some of the pictures from the last 5 weeks and then whenever i have time i'll explain better what's going on in them. Click on them to enlarge.

Mackenzie is here!

Long time no blog. A LOT has happened.

Our beautiful baby girl, Mackenzie Taylor, was born July 26, 2009, three weeks early. We had planned to induce her while Jason was here for his two weeks of leave, but Mackenzie had other plans. A few nights before she was born I had a dream that she came early and that I wasn't ready (and in reality I wasn't ready for her to come. My baby shower was set for July 25th) for her and all the clothes i tried to put on her were too big and kept falling off. And so i couldn't take her home. I was horrified and got up the next morning determined to go buy everything I needed just in case. I didn't though because my family convinced me that I should wait for the baby shower.

At about three in the morning on July 25th, I woke up to make my nightly trip to the bathroom and felt my water break. But I didn't think it was enough water in my sleepy haze and decided the baby wasn't on its way and went back to bed. I woke up a few hours later and built a list of what i needed, packed what I had of what i needed for the hospital and researched labor on the internet (yes that's how i am). When 7 or 8 a.m. finally rolled around, I decided it was time to let my parents know that my water had broken (though i still wasn't totally convinced that it had). I walked into my parents' room and asked my dad what it was like when my water broke. I've never seen him move so fast. Knowing my dad as i do, I realized he was going to take me to the hospital whether i was ready or not so i hurried to get dressed.


The whole way to the hospital I tried to convince myself that I wasn't going to have this baby and that Jason wasn't going to miss it. The idea of doing it without Jason had me in tears. We went right into delivery and they told me exactly what i was dreading; I was having this baby today. My family started a mad dash to get the things the baby and I would need and get in touch with Jason. I got to put on a hospital gown and have them start my labor.

We finally got a hold of Jason and set up the webcam so that he could help me get through labor. It took all day for me to dilate. Jason talked to me the whole day. And let me say the epidural is FABULOUS! I highly recommend it.

Finally at 10 p.m. we were ready to go. I only had two hours of pushing ahead of me because Mackenzie had decided to turn toward the webcam where Jason's voice was coming from. She is such a daddy's girl. Jason cheered me on the entire time and my parents' coached me. And at 12:18 a.m. on July 26, 2009 Mackenzie was born. She was 5 lbs. 10 0z. and 18 inches long. She was so beautiful. I kissed her fingers over and over.

She is such a good baby. She only cries when she has a reason and she is such a cuddle bug. She loves to be held. I love her so much and I am sooo grateful that she is here. I love my little family!!

Jason made it a few weeks after Mackenzie was born and we've been enjoying two weeks of being a family. It's so wonderful!

25 Weeks

Just a reminder of where I was at 17 weeks.

Here I am at 25 weeks...and I thought I was fat before!

25 weeks down

She's not even born yet and it's already true!

Another cute outfit I bought for her.

It's a Girl!!

We had our ultrasound today and found out that we're having a baby GIRL!!

Here's her cute little face.

Her cute little foot and arm. She's soo lucky she got Jason's perfect toes instead of my crazy ones. She'll have pretty feet.

Here comes the Fatness

Me and Sara on her 18th birthday. I thought you'd like a cute picture of me along with the profiles.

Here I am, exactly 17 weeks pregnant. I wasn't sure when my dad was going to take the picture.

Here's the fatness, what do you think?

Baby's First Ultrasound

Hey babe!! Today was the first ultrasound. I was so excited last night I couldn't sleep. You would have thought I was a kid on Christmas Eve. I really wish that you could have been there. I was sooo nervous. I was wishing you were there to hold my hand. Both my Mom and Dad showed up and it was fun. My dad video taped the whole ultrasound and you could see it really well, but i'm having a hard time getting it uploaded. I'm still trying though. But here are the pictures from it.
You can see the baby in the top middle. It's cute little head, belly, arms and legs. During the ultrasound the baby had the hiccups and you could see it just bouncing like crazy. And it kept kicking and swinging it's arms. It was sooo cute. I'll upload the video as soon as I can. This picture isn't as good as the top one. but you can still see the baby. Congratulations Daddy!! That's your baby!!

I LOVE YOU!!!
Ash

P.S. Still to early to tell the sex. Maybe the next ultrasound. The doctor says the baby measures at 12 weeks and four days.

Oy, kind of a boring day!

Ya, it was kind of a boring day. Uh...what happened? Oh ya! I remember. The Relief Society Presidency came over to visit me and get a better idea of our situation. It was nice, but funny. Cause one of the ladies was the mother of a guy I dated in high school (it's a good thing I only dated him like a month or it would be super awkward). It's going to be super interesting living in this ward of so much history. While they were over I let June run around in the back yard, but she just doesn't seem to know what to do with herself when she's alone. She'll run around the yard and then come to the door to see what I'm doing. It's pretty cute.
After that, I went to the store and got to work on my blogs. I didn't do much to AAB. I'm just letting it hang for now. I'm going to make a bunch of changes and then introduce them in January. Plus, I'm seriously going to make just one layout and leave it for a few months because this changing every month is getting to be WAY TOO MUCH! you know? Any way, I got a lot of designing done and even got my new site set up for the most part. There is still a lot to do, but i haven't gotten everything worked out yet. I'm aiming for January as my official launch.
Any way, it was just a lot of hanging at the store. My dad kind of had a bad day and so I took him home and made him lunch. Then more hanging at the store.
I don't know I didn't do very much. June is feeling much better. We haven't had an eruption since yesterday (knock on wood). And we're just hanging. You know that's what I do.
How are you? Are you surviving ok? I feel like I haven't heard from you in so long!! And I just talked to you this morning!! UGH! I love you!! I'm missing you so much!!
I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!

Sick Puppy

Yesterday I went to our ward for the first time. It was interesting, nice but interesting. The Relief Society has four rows of chairs. Three of the four rows were filled with Old Ladies. One of the rows was filled with a few young ladies though no one looked under 30. Yep, at 23 years old, I looked like I belonged in Young Women's. It was super fun! The ward did have some younger people but most of them belonged in primary or Young Women's/Young Men's. Haha, just playing...sort of. Anyway, there were a few who looked about 30 and maybe a little younger than that, but it's safe to say that we are currently the youngest adults in the ward. Yipee!

I decided that I would keep our tradition of getting up in Fast & Testimony and introducing us to the ward. It was sort of like that Fast 'n' Testimony meeting in North Carolina. A little girl, who looked about 4 or 5, decided she was going to bear her testimony. She marched herself up to the podium, bound and determined to have her say. She got up to the podium and looked out at the audience. A look of horror filled her face and she turned and ran screaming out of the chapel. It's safe to say that I felt JUST like that little girl. I marched myself up to the podium and then looked out over the crowd of people (many of whom were parents of my friends and even some of my boyfriends from high school) and I just freaked. I'm happy to say that I didn't run out of the chapel screaming, but I seriously felt like it. I just cried and my body shook so hard my voice quivered through the whole thing. I hurried and said what I needed to and then got the HELL out of there! It was a GREAT introduction of our family! Ugh! Any way, I met with the Bishop afterward and he just wanted to know how we were doing and let me know that the ward is there for us. It was nice. He's really nice.

After church I loaded June up and we went up to my parent's house. She did pretty well other than Leo (my parent's dog) attacked her. But don't worry I clobbered (is that a word) Leo and saved June. She spent a little time on Leo's pillow and I think that she ate some of Leo's dog food...maybe a LOT of Leo's dog food. Because today, well, I left her in the kennel most of the day because it snowed last night and she DOES NOT like the snow. She tries to pick up all of her legs at the same time and just ends up flopping over into the snow. Any way, I left her in the kennel most of the afternoon. At about 4 I decided that i needed to go give her a break and maybe another chance at the snow. I walked into our house and I smelled dog poop. I instantly knew something was seriously wrong. June had gotten the runs and it was EVERY WHERE! Yes, EVERY WHERE! It was all over her, her blankets, her kennel, the walls and floors of the kitchen...EVERY WHERE! I pulled her out and ran her outside to hose her down. Then I got to work de-pooping (not a word but i'm going to use it) the kitchen. I was seriously regretting not moving her to the garage, then I could have just hosed it all down. The house SMELLED AWFUL! I had to turn on every fan and light every candle we have but thankfully the smell went away. It's a good thing because the Relief Society Presidency is coming tomorrow morning and it would NOT have been good for our house to smell that way when they came.

Well, so the story gets better. After giving her some time outside and a little Pepto Bismal, I figured she was doing better and brought her to my parent's house. I set her up by the front door and let her play there. Lizzie decided she wanted to play with June instead of helping Sara put up the Christmas tree (which was her chore), so she went over and June tackled her! At the same time she erupted! Lizzie got covered with puppy poop! Lizzie screamed and shoved June away. June screeched and skidded across the hardwood floor to the corner. Sara started laughing hysterically.

Lizzie started to yell...not at June...but at me! She was mad a ME because June pooped on her. Dad and I go running up stairs (I was talking to your mom while all of this was going on) to find Lizzie dripping poop and bawling her head off. Dad shoved Lizzie outside and made her strip to her underwear while he went and got her a towel to cover up in (gotta love us country bumpkins). Poor Lizzie is just sobbing the whole time. I hurried to grab a towel and clean up the mess, but you know how I am with yucky smells. I started gagging and I seriously thought I was going to be cleaning puke up as well. (My dad was also gagging the entire time this was happening, I thought he was going to throw up too!) AND the WHOLE time Sara is rolling on the floor laughing with tears streaming down her face and screaming about the "BEST christmas present EVER!" She felt like Lizzie's Karma for not helping Sara had caught up with her.

Yes, it was an eventful evening in the Kelly House. Lizzie is still mad at me and she growls every time she passes poor June. (I'm worried. June's pretty sick. I hope this won't last too much longer. She is definitely sleeping in the garage tonight!) Sara will just start giggling for no apparent reason (though i think we all can guess what it is) and Dad keeps teasing Lizzie about puppies and poop. It's definitely a normal night with the Kelly's.

I miss you. I hope that you made it into Iraq ok and that I'll hear from you again soon. I'm going into some serious withdrawals not talking to you today. I miss you! I LOVE YOU!!
I LOVE YOU!