Scary

This poor man was attacked by a mountain lion last week while hiking with his wife in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. I first heard about the attack when I received an email from our homeowners association president (no, we aren't homeowners but own land in the community). Apparently the couple have a home in the same neighborhood.

I have walked this area numerous times. My mom had actually planned on taking her sister, who is visiting, through the same area. After the attack game wardens closed the park and sent dogs out to search for the lion. They were able to kill two lions in the park. One ended up being the lion that attacked this man. Moral of the story, never hike alone and if you think like me, always bring a weapon.

Random

I have been meaning to update my blog but am having trouble uploading pictures. I updated my Kodak Easy Share gallery and now it won't let me upload my pictures. It's so annoying!

Have you ever tried frozen grapes? They are very addicting. I buy a big plastic container of grapes at Costco and then break them up into bundles to fit in sandwich size bags. Then I put them in the freezer and eat them for a snack. I love them.

Ammon has been Superman for the last few weeks. He watches Superman Returns everyday and acts out each scene. I will post a video of it when I get my computer back in sync with my camera. The other day I was making orange juice and he came in the kitchen right as the concentrate fell out of the can and said, "That was amazing!" I let him stir the orange juice and when he was done he said, "Can I have a dollar now?" I asked him why he wanted a dollar and he told me, "Because I made the orange juice." I asked him if someone else had paid him money for doing something and he said, "Lindsey gave me a dollar when I helped her with Isobel." I love this age. He is starting to catch on to how the world works. I really didn't know how to respond so I said, "Well are you going to give me a dollar for making you dinner?" then he said, "No I don't have that."

My stomach is growing, Jody is still waiting to hear back about the job and he is addicted to The Office.

Why do I even bother?

Back when Lindsey was here we watched Oprah one night. The show that night was about how often use should get new pillows, wash your sheets, and basically keep your home clean and free of dust mites and bacteria that can make you sick. One lady on the show had 6,000 more times harmful bacteria in and around her sink than she did in her toilet. Gross! I don't know about Lindsey but I have been doing a lot more cleaning and washing lately. Today I got out the ammonia and scrubbed my sink, counters and table really good. I also swept and mopped my floor. Only 10 minutes later Cohen threw his left over lunch on the floor. Then Ammon put on his shoes to get ready for school, walked across the floor and covered it in dirt! I ended up sweeping three times before 12:00 just to keep it clean for a few hours. UR!

Yesterday Jody watched the boys while I took in Dreamgirls at the movie theater. I don't understand why it took so long to come to our theater. I really enjoyed the movie and especially thought Jennifer Hudson was amazing in it. She has the most unbelievable voice and is a wonderful actress. I look forward to seeing her in more flicks. Beyonce looked beautiful and the music was amazing. Go see it.

Cravings

This is the part of my pregnancy when I start gaining weight and really begin looking pregnant. Interesting that I began having intense cravings this weekend for sweets. While we were in Medford this past weekend I got the best sugar cookie I have ever had at a store in the mall called the Cookie Connection. I took one bite and quickly returned to buy another. Now I am kicking myself for not buying every sugar cookie in the entire bakery. What was I thinking? I had saved half of one to eat today. When I woke up from my nap I suddenly remembered the cookie and frantically began searching our place for it. Some how it disappeared. I blamed Jody for eating it and then Ammon but no one fessed up. I believe Jody because he knows not to mess with my food. So here I am remembering the perfect taste of that sugar cookie with the most perfect frosting and amount of sprinkles on it. I hate the drive to Medford but today I could be coaxed into driving right back to that mall just to buy those cookies. Jody asked me why I don't just make some but that's my other problem right now, laziness! How much do you love me mom?

Gone Again

Tomorrow we are leaving again to go to the temple in Medford. We are staying in a hotel so at least we won't have to drive up and back in one day. My new job is going great. Time goes by pretty quickly and it's nice to get out and have something to do.

Jody had an interview last week in Santa Rosa and now he is waiting to hear back for a second interview. He has also talked to a guy from a medical sales company in southern California and is suppose to hear from him again soon. So we are crossing our fingers that he will get hired. He is getting a little restless with not much to do at work and hanging out with the kids twice a week.

We are also heading to Georgia next month. Luckily we were able to get tickets out of McKinleyville. I can't wait to see everyone and I am excited to get my hair done by my sister in law because it's disgusting right now!

Does anyone know how long American Idol is going to have auditions? I am getting sick of these horrible singers.

Growing

Pregnancy is so weird. First you are excited to be pregnant and to start being able to wear maternity clothes, then by the time you do you feel disgusting! I started feeling the baby move about a week ago and each day I feel her more and more. Now my body is changing. Things are getting bigger, especially the parts that Jody likes. My belly is starting to poke and I have been unbuttoning my pants in the car and when I am at home. I refuse to wear maternity clothes until it is absolutely necessary because after twenty weeks I get really sick of them. I am so white that I look sick in this picture but I feel better than I look.


I think I have had the same name for our first girl before I even married Jody. When both of my sisters were pregnant with girls last year both of their husbands, I think, joked about using it. We are naming our baby girl Rylee Alexandra. We still aren't sure about the spelling so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I went shopping for girl clothes for the first time yesterday. Yahoo! I just had to get that out there. I found this onesie and HAD to get it.

Some pics we took before we said farewell to Lindsey and Izzy. I look hideous!

It's a .............

Girl, Girl, GIRL!!! I seriously can't believe it! Words can't describe how excited I am. Yesterday we drove to San Francisco to reluctantly drop Lindsey and Iz off at the airport. After we left we drove to Palo Alto to spend the evening and today with Tasha. Janelle, Tasha's sister in-law and a family friend is also pregnant and a couple weeks ahead of me. They had made appointments for both of us to go to a ultrasound place to find out what we were both having. I let Janelle go first because I was too nervous. She found out she is having a boy. Then it was my turn. I put Jody on speaker phone and within 10 seconds the tech stopped the ultrasound and asked if I wanted to know what I was having. I was so nervous and thought he would say boy because he knew so quickly. When he said you are having a girl my mom and I both screamed and started crying. I feel so blessed to have two little boys that will take care of their baby sister. Life couldn't get any better.

p.s. This isn't my baby just a picture I downloaded off the website.

Birthday Present?

I have always been interested in getting this makeup but never wanted to order it before I tried it. Today my mom, Lindsey, Izzy and I went to a salon and got bare minerals makeovers. I loved feeling like I didn't have makeup on my face but seeing that my face looked fresh and my skin tones were more unified. Since I won't be buying any clothes anytime soon I have decided that this is what I want for my birthday in March.

I am heading back to the bay area today. Lindsey is flying home to London on Tuesday. I am leaving Ammon here and taking Cohen (I wish it were the other way around because Ammon is much easier than Cohen). We will stay in Vacaville two nights and then in Stanford the last night when we go to visit Tasha and Makynna.

One more thing. A guy in our ward who is a podiatrist asked me to work in his office two afternoons a week from 1:30 to 5:00. Jody says that he can watch the kids while I'm there. I want to do it for some extra money but I hate the thought of being tied down twice a week. I am also nervous about being tired because I get really exhausted in the afternoons. It sounds pretty low key. So any advice on the matter would be much appreciated!

Loved It

If you like romantic comedies and you think Jude Law is hot then you must see this movie! Me, mom, Kasey and Alex went last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am not always a fan of Cameron Diaz but I liked her in this movie and though they could have picked a better person for Jack Black's part he didn't ruin it for me.

Happy New Year!

We have had a very busy week. Christmas came and went and it all seems to be a blur now. So I will skip through the details and post lots of pictures! We already miss Kasey, Matt and their kids who left today. My parents three bedroom, two bathroom rental was a little cramped for all of us but it was worth it. I know I've said this before but the best part of getting all of us together is seeing the kids play together. Each one of them is just so adorable and unique from any of the other kids.

Hello

So first I must apologize to everyone. I have not been checking or commenting on any of your blogs lately. So, sorry but this could be a good thing. It means I may actually have a life! I am not suppose to be up for too long so I will try to get going with the details of my life lately.

I got back from Stanford Tuesday night and got the best welcome home from my family. Ammon screamed, "Mommy" when I walked through the door and Cohen gave me tons of kisses, which is not like him, and kept laughing and smiling at me. So Wednesday morning I got up and got right back into my regular routine. Feeding the kids, changing Cohen's diapers, bathing, cleaning up the apartment, etc. Well I was feeling a little bit of pain in the lower part of my pelvis and didn't really let it slow me down. I thought maybe it was just one of those, have to go to the bathroom, type of pains. So I sat down to pluck my eyebrows, finished and got up to get a snack when I felt a sudden gush of blood run down my legs. It was a lot. I instantly starting saying, "no, no, no" and unbuttoned my paints to see that it had soaked through my jeans. I was shaking and trying to call Jody and the Dr.'s office. I finally got myself under control got on the toilet and called both. Jody came right home, went and got Alex to watch the kids, and then gave me a blessing. We obviously had to head straight to my Doctor's office. So the whole way their I had a flood of emotions. I was crying a lot. I mean once you get to 14 weeks you think, okay I am in the clear of the miscarrying thing now, and had started even thinking about when we would find out what the baby was. I never realized how emotional something like this is. To feel like you are pregnant one second and not the next is really, really emotionally disturbing.

So we got to the office and I was bleeding a lot. Then I went into the room and waited for my doctor. When he came in he made it seem like it wasn't a big deal, he thought it was because we had intercourse or something like that. Then he left the room so I could get undressed and he could do an examination. Well when I took my pants off I started bleeding like crazy again and he came back in while Jody and I were trying to clean it all up and looked very worried. He did the exam and then said he needed an ultrasound right away to see exactly what was going on. Luckily they have a machine in their office. So we walked around the corner and waited about 20 minutes for the tech to come do the ultrasound. Meanwhile I was bleeding all over the chair I was sitting on and Jody was giving me gobs of paper towels every minute to try to clean it up. It was so stressful waiting there. I just didn't know what I was going to see on the screen and didn't really want to see but wanted to know what was going on. So she came in and asked me a few questions and then started the ultrasound. I was shocked when she quickly said,"well something is definitely moving around in there." Then we saw our little baby moving and trying to grab his/her feet. We saw a good heartbeat, a perfect placenta, a closed cervix, and absolutely no reason for so much bleeding or any bleeding at all. When she was done she said everything looked perfect inside and around the baby. You have no idea what a relief this was to me. A few minutes before I was sure that I was losing our baby.

So we waited two more hours to talk to my doctor who was in a C-section at the hospital. But I didn't care. I was just so happy to still be pregnant and to see our sweet little baby. When we finally talked to him he said that once in a while this happens and that it probably has something to do with my cervix changing. At this point there is no medication he could give me to stop or control the bleeding. So I have to basically rest a lot and not do anything. I am still bleeding but it is not as often and as much. It should stop in the next few days and things will hopefully get back to normal. I have so many things to do! Finish Christmas shopping, make goodies for friends, wrap presents, clean, plan a Christmas party I am co-hosting with a friend tomorrow night, take stuff to my visiting teachers, get stuff for the family we are doing the 12 days of Xmas for, I could go on and on. But right now all I want for Christmas is to have a healthy baby in June and so for now I will sit and relax and let my body heal.

Joseph Edmondson: Bachelor of Science

I am so proud of Jody. He took his last two finals Thursday and is done with school forever! (Unless he decides to get his masters at some point, which I could see him doing.) I am so glad that he stuck with it and didn't get pulled away by other ways of making money. School is a wonderful thing and having your degree gives you so many more options. I am excited to have a husband around on Saturdays and in the evenings during the week! He is excited to be able to concentrate on two things, work and family. No more studying!

Janelle, Alex and I drove down to Stanford yesterday to spend some time with Tasha and Makynna. Tasha has been stuck in the hospital alone since Thursday and needed to see some familiar faces. Makynna is doing so good. She is such a trooper. She finished her last round of chemo yesterday and will have the bone marrow transplant on Wednesday. They are having a ward fast for her on Wednesday so if any of you would like to take part in it please do! I will post pictures when I get home.

Ammon's Christmas

Weekend Highlights

This weekend we didn't anything too exciting to blog about, but here goes. Friday night we watched our friends kids while they went to a Christmas party. They left about 9:30 and then we got Ammon to bed and Jody watched Pirates of the Caribbean, alone, because I fell sound asleep within the first 5 minutes.

This is a picture of our ward missionaries. Elder Hardy is the one on the far right. He is a really cool missionary and is leaving our ward on Monday. The other missionary is Elder Anderson. He has only been out on his mission a few months but he's a cool guy too. Jody and I are trying to set him up with Alex, a few years down the road, of course (By the way I think he is cuter in person, right Tasha?)

Saturday I ran a few errands with no kids, which was nice and then I took Ammon and his 7 year old friend, Madison, to Happy Feet. I thought it was cute and Ammon left the movie tapping his feet around like the penguin on the movie. Later that night we went to the annual trucker's Christmas parade. It was raining so we sat in the car and watched. It wasn't too exciting but good to get out and do something different. As you can see Cohen wasn't too fond of the honking each trucker did as they passed by.

This is a picture of the tree on our car. It only took Jody about 30 minutes to get it tied up to drive 2 miles. But it did get here safe and sound! Alex gets home on Friday! It will be so nice to have her home for a few weeks. We are planning on going down to see Tasha in Stanford next week for a girls only trip! Ammon is out of school now so it will be interesting trying to keep him entertained.

Season's Greetings

I am just loving this holiday season. I have already been to two Christmas parties this week. We went to Jody's work party on Wednesday and last night I went to our relief society party at the church. We had a progressive dinner at the church and just went into different rooms and there was a wonderful program to go along with it. It was so nice to feel the true meaning of Christmas and be inspired to make this year about service and giving gifts from the heart.

I've officially decorated our apartment which was completed on Wednesday with the purchase of our Christmas tree. Jody was very particular about the tree. I guess his family took their time picking out the perfect tree and mine would send my dad down to grab the first one he saw. But it's a good tradition and one that we will be keeping. I've realized that decorating is so important when you have toddlers who are excited about everything. Ammon can't wait to come downstairs every morning and see the Christmas tree. He is also loving the snowmen and tiny sleigh I have around the room and will play with them for hours. He makes the season even more magical for me.

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. I am always paranoid about the appointments until I get to the point where I can actually feel the baby moving around. I guess I am afraid they won't find a heartbeat or something. So Wednesday I went in and my doctor, who is a very good doctor, seemed to be in a hurry. He listened for a heartbeat for about two minutes, didn't find one and then said, "lets just do an ultrasound to see just how far along you are." Luckily they got me in that afternoon so I only had to wait 5 hours. But I was worried and preparing myself just in case there was bad news. Jody and the kids came with me and the lady got me right in. When she first started the ultrasound she asked me if I had been feeling any pain in my right side. I nervously told her no and then she told me I had a cyst on my right ovary which she continued to tell me is pretty common in pregnancy and helps the baby along for the first 12 weeks. She said it would probably just go away. Then she finally moved to the baby and everything was just fine. We got to see the baby's tiny feet and hands moving all over and the best of all was to see a heart beat. They did a vaginal ultrasound which was really cool because you could see more of the baby and check for any deformities. Everything was a okay! With each pregnancy I am worried until I get them in my arms and then once I have them I worry about SIDS, sickness, or them getting hurt. I guess being a mother is a never ending worry! But I am getting really excited to start feeling this baby move and find out what it is. I feel so blessed to be a mother.

Santa and his reindeer

Christmas is coming and should be pretty exciting this year with Santa, his elves, and reindeer living in our home. Santa (A.K.A. Ammon) is being his usual creative, imaginative self and has decided that he lives at the north pole. If he is going to bed he will say, "come on Comet, Donner, Dasher, and Dancer." He watches The Santa Claus with Tim Allen everyday and the other day Jody rented him The Santa Claus #2 and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. He enjoyed Rudolph but was a little nervous when the abominable monster came on. I am planning on taking him to see The Santa Claus 3 this weekend. On the way to school the other day he told his friend Brayden not to talk to him because he was busy talking to his elves and reindeer. I was telling Cohen to stand by Ammon so I could take this picture and Ammon said, "no tell him to stand by Santa, I'm not Ammon." Needless to say, this kid never ceases to bore us.

Back to real life. Right now Jody is in the process of interviewing and waiting on call backs. It looks as though we could end up in the Bay area starting with pharmaceuticals. But he would really like to get into medical sales. He would love to dress in scrubs and be in surgery. I think he's thinking it will be like Grey's Anatomy, he could be in for a rude awakening. So we are just waiting on people to call or email him back. It's a waiting game for now!

A few of you have asked about the age difference of Cohen and the new baby. They will be 22 months apart. Hopefully Cohen will do some major growing up in the next few months because I still feel like he's a baby and I definitely don't want to take care of two babies. I am feeling nauseous on and off through out the day and have been living on satsumas, thanks to Costco and this wonderful time of year! I also enjoy kiwi, trail mix, hot chocolate (Stephen's that I brought home from Utah, and by the way Alex I will be having you bring me more at Xmas), and other random things like frito pie? I'm excited for this wonderful time of year and plan on doing a lot of fun things with Ammon since he is definitely feeling the spirit of Christmas!

Crazy, probably insane, but exciting...

Remember how I posted about being bored a few months ago? Well we have decided to resolve that issue. Some of you already know this but for those of you who don't, we are expecting baby number three June 21st, 2007.

Jody had been on my case about having another baby for a few months and I just wasn't feeling ready. But after a few personal experiences I had I couldn't ignore the urge I was feeling to have another one. It usually takes me a 3 to 4 months to get pregnant. After trying for a month Jody begged me to take a pregnancy test, for fun, even though I hadn't missed my period yet and was scheduled to start the next day. I took a test and it didn't instantly turn blue like the other two did. After a few minutes of staring at it I said to Jody, "Is there a faint line in the pregnancy window?" He agreed that there was. So I took the second test in the box and it did the same thing. Jody decided to go back to the store and buy another test that actually said,"pregnant" or "not pregnant." This time it said, "pregnant." Seriously I didn't know how to react and even think I started hyperventilating. I know we were trying but I wasn't expecting it to happen this quickly. We want to have 4 or 5 kids so it will be nice to be done having kids young and be able to enjoy them while we are young but life could get pretty crazy for me. Especially with us probably moving in the near future for a new job. So that's our big news for now. Our family of four will be a family of five soon. I always dreamed of being married and having a big family, I just can't believe I am old enough to be doing it!

Sledding

Ammon and Madison go crazy in the snow! Make sure you check out the pictures below.

Utah

We are back from Utah. It was the perfect break for me. We left on Friday morning and got to Snowbird Saturday afternoon. The resort there is so nice and perfect, I could have stayed another week. Whenever we go to Utah our first stop is always Cafe Rio, this trip we continued that tradition and went there at least 4 more times after. We ate at all of my favorite restaurants, saw good friends and played in the snow. Kasey and Matt surprised us and decided to fly into Utah on Wednesday. Ammon had the best time with his three cousins. They went sledding together, played and got into pillow fights. All in all it was a great trip and I look forward to going again.

Driving back from Utah we listened to the BYU football game. It reminded me of the good old days with Linds. I'll never forget the game we went to at the BYU stadium against Utah and we had the best seats, besides the fact that we were surrounded by Utah fans. That was the last time BYU had beaten Utah until last Saturday, Go Cougars!

We're Off!

We leave tomorrow morning for a much needed vacation to Snowbird, Utah. My parents own a timeshare there and we go every other year for Thanksgiving. I love going to Utah. I love visiting Provo and reminiscing about my college days there. I also love eating at Cafe Rio, Famous Daves, Pei Wei, and Los Hermanos. We are driving with my parents and my brother and his family will be there next week. Of course we also get to see Alex who is going to UVSC right now. I am also excited to go shopping and to see old friends. If any of you who live in Utah want to get together let me know!