.:.The Rickers.:.

we have a new blog

2011-02-10T16:23:00.001-06:00

It won't last forever...just while we're in Paris! Follow us at www.fivehappycampers.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Jared!

2010-10-06T07:22:00.000-05:00

For Jared's birthday this year I had a cute little gift planned for him. I was going to get him a meat branding iron, he LOVES to grill! And a basket full of all the ingredients for his rub and his BBQ sauce along with a personalized shaker and a bottle for the sauce. I was also going to make him an apron (he's been asking for one for over a year), make little Jared a matching apron, and a whole bunch of other grilling goodies. I got an email from a sweet friend that has just started doing photography. She was offering her services for a STEAL! So I ditched the grilling idea and took her up on her generous deal. I couldn't be HAPPIER! We have never had photos done as a family, ever. Jared wasn't in these pictures BUT, all 3 of our beautiful babies are...I even make an appearance or two :) Jared was a little model right from the start. As soon as he saw the camera he would pose, say cheeeeeese, and then as soon as she snapped one he would change his pose, smile big, and then repeat the process. There was no shortage of baby Jared photos. Wylee on the other hand would bury her head in my lap anytime Erika so much as said her name. She warmed up though....right after the camera was put away. We agreed to call her Jill during the shoot so she wouldn't shut down at the very mention of her own name. Russell did great too! He only got fussy towards the very end of it. I can't believe how many great shots she got out of such a crazy morning, I would have bet money that there was one...maybe two, good pictures out of them. I was so wrong....Enjoy!

Thank you Erika for sharing your amazing talent with our family, it means more to me than you will ever know to have this special time in our lives captured so beautifully.

I'm sooo completely a MOM...

2010-09-17T13:19:00.000-05:00

I'm sooo completely a MOM...I say this with a smile on my face and tear in my eye, because while I am so thankful for these little souls that our Heavenly Father has entrusted me with, I have also forgotten what it's like to still be a GIRL. Two days ago I loaded the kids up and went to Wal-Mart because I decided that I'm finally going to buy myself some new shirts. Yes Wal-Mart. I can't believe that I am shopping for new clothes at Wal-Mart. Not cause it's a crappy place to shop, but because I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I would let these words come out of my mouth. Wal-mart is cheap, I have to buy sizes that are bigger than I want to admit that I have to buy which means I'm hoping to not wear them for long, and OP and Miley Cyrus/Max Azria have some cute affordable clothes. With that being said I treated myself to 3 tops and a scarf. Today I went BACK to Wal-Mart and returned the 3 shirts (I kept the scarf because it was on sale for a whopping $3.00) and bought formula and diapers instead. Get it? I'm so TOTALLY a mom. I have been feeling so guilty for the past 2 days about those 3 stinkin shirts. How stupid is that? It's not like in order to buy the formula and diapers I needed to return the shirts, that wasn't the case at all. I just couldn't do it. My brain keeps calculating the cost of formula and the fact that we have 2 in diapers and it won't allow me to treat myself to WAL-MART CLOTHES. Maybe it'll allow me a lovely trip to the local Helping Hands, or Goodwill...there is a BIG Goodwill here in Paris. Oh my gosh...I wish I could take those sentences and cram them back into mouth, but its the truth. I'm a mom of 3 and it shows. Not only a mom of 3, but a mom of 3 who has already decided that our 4th and final baby should be born around October of 2011. So I'm calling myself a mom of 3.5 because I think my plans for #4 are pretty set in stone, he/she may as well already be here. As I write this I am watching Russell gag a few times, spit up formula, gag a little more, spit up some more and I can't help but picture him spitting up a new $7.00 clearance top :) Just kidding. Sort of. Happy Friday :)

My Personal Challenge update

2010-09-13T13:04:00.000-05:00

I know it isn't QUITE halfway through the month yet, but the kids are "napping" and Russell is enjoying his bouncy seat right now so it's a pretty good time to blog. Alrighty, time to unveil the grocery cost to-date...as of Monday, September 13th we have $55.58 left in our budget. I'm actually REALLY happy about this and here's why:

The kids and I spent an unexpected week at the Fate House, which meant all my menu plans for last week didn't get made because we weren't at the Paris House but all of the groceries were.
I sent Jared to the store for formula, milk, and bread.....he came home with that plus about $15 worth of extra items that I did NOT send him out for (he wanted to make banana splits)
We were in charge of snacks at church last week.
Jared also made a trip to Wal-Mart and came home with 2 half gallons of Blue Bell
Ruth and James and our nieces and nephew (8 total) came for a visit last weekend and we got to cook for them on Sunday! I had originally planned on not counting the groceries for that meal against our budget but then thought, what the heck...I can do it! Then Jared decided to cook ribs, lol! Not a cheap meal but still I can do it!

So all of these little "extras" that I wasn't planning on for the month DID in fact get counted toward the grocery budget, and now you can see why I'm happy to announce that we still somehow have $55.58 to spend. I currently have the items needed for at least 10 meals, which will take us into the 26th of September. All I have on my list for this week is a gallon of milk, fruit snacks, and a bag of brown sugar which should be less than $10.00 :)
Dare I say that we may end September not only meeting our $200 budget, but actually having a bit left over? The possibilities are looking good :)

Menu for September

2010-08-30T20:50:00.000-05:00

Jennifer requested that I share my menu for September....I'm a bit embarrassed to do it because it's so plain and boring BUT, I'll do it anyways! A lot these are repeated so I'm only going to list them once. I'll include about how much each meal costs me to make, not including condiments because that would be about impossible for me to figure out. These numbers are pretty dang close though! If the Great Value brand is available then that's what I buy. Here goes, starting on Wednesday September 1st:

Chicken breasts cooked in olive oil (I only have to cook two chicken breasts for a meal because I split mine with the kids), family size can of green beans (I put a chicken and herb bouillon cube in the pot for extra flavor) and white rice-- $3.16
Chicken thighs baked in the oven, cream corn mixed with whole corn and white rice-- $4.10
Tacos (inc. lettuce & cheese) and re fried beans-- $4.74
Chicken Breasts, fresh sauteed carrot slices, family size can of green beans-- $3.28
Chicken thighs, half a bag of frozen mixed veggies, can of sliced potatoes-- $4.04
Casserole: layers of ground turkey, french style green beans x2, mashed potatoes topped with the shredded Velveeta cheese--$5.22
Chicken breasts, can of corn, mashed potatoes-- $2.59
Hot dogs & fries-- $3.25
Chicken thighs, white rice, family size can of green beans-- $3.94
Taco salad (left over taco shells, lettuce, cheese)-- $3.18
Grilled cheeses and soup-- $1.90
Meat loaf, family size can of green beans, mashed potatoes-- $4.09

So there ya have it. I imagine as the weeks go by I will get more creative with my meals, but this is a good start! Only one meal is over $5.00 :) Happy Monday!

First 16 days...

2010-08-30T11:32:00.001-05:00

So I made my menu out for the first 16 days in September and then made my grocery list. Russell was a little fussy (extra early) this morning, the bigger babies were still sleeping, and Jared was working at home for a bit so I loaded Russell up and went to the store at about 6:30. I refuse to go on Saturday morning just to avoid taking the kids, so this worked out. I really stuck to my list which is hard for me to do, I only added 3 things to my basket, and honestly they should have been on my list to begin with. So now for the grand total: $69.23! This is for lunch and dinner through September 16th. I'll probably have to go back for more milk, but hopefully that will be it. I have pretty much all the breakfast stuff that I need here already. The menu is pretty boring, lots of chicken, lots of vegetables...but don't forget that we are trying to lose a little weight as well! Time to nap the babies so I'll have a more interesting post later today :)

My personal challenge

2010-08-25T13:59:00.000-05:00

I am challenging myself to feed our family on $200 worth of groceries for the month of September. FOOD ONLY, and formula isn't included in this $200 limit. I know it sounds ridiculous but I have done my homework. I know how much milk, bread, chicken, cans of veggies, etc. that we go through in a week. I've done lots of calculating. $200 isn't as crazy as it sounds, and I'm going to prove it. I'm doing this for a lot of reasons:

We want to have one last baby at some point next year, so if I can start cutting back now then we will be THAT much more prepared to bring our last bundle of joy into this world.
Jared and I both want to shed a few unwanted pounds. I'm giving up a few guilty pleasures not only to save on groceries but to help lose some weight as well. See ya later Dr. Pepper...thanks for helping me stay awake through the day. So long Blue Bell, I love you more than I love my husband sometimes.
I want to see just how little our family can survive on. I don't mean little amounts of food, just how little can we make our grocery bill. If I feel like I have cut back everywhere that I can and there just isn't enough to go around then I'm tossing that $200 limit out the window and we will just see how much is realistic for our family. But $200 is a start.
I don't work, I am so fortunate to be a stay at home mom. I'm not lucky, luck has nothing to do with me getting to stay home. We sacrifice a lot for me to raise our kids here at home and not send them to day care, and I wouldn't have it any other way! Since I don't bring home a pay check every two weeks I can do my part by saving our family as much money as I can, however I can.
Formula is NOT cheap, even the cheap kind isn't cheap. Russell is gonna cost us about $120 a month in formula. And that's just the start of it...once he starts eating more, that number obviously will go up.

If you have any tips for me, I'm all ears. Don't tell me to go to Aldi...there isn't one anywhere near Paris. My plan is buy the basics and keep the menu simple, which will help our wallets and our waistlines!...Right?

And just because a blog is stupidly boring without a picture....here are a few photos that are in no way relevant to my post but who cares because kids are fun to look at!

I don't where she would have learned to multitask like that...

Yeah, she's ready to be a stay at home mom for sure :)

Looks like someone has a future at NASA...and it also looks like someone else has a bit of a "phone problem"...I see a trend in these pictures.

Really? Its been 22 days since my last post?

2010-08-25T13:21:00.001-05:00

I guess 3 kids have made me a little busier than I had thought....who would have guessed? I do have LOTS to update you one though since the 3rd.

1. I quit nursing Russell last Monday because despite the Dr saying that he is perfectly healthy and to stick with it...a momma just knows ;) I took Russy-poo back to the Dr last Monday to be weighed again and he was still 6 lbs 8 oz. He didn't gain (or lose) a single ounce in a whole week. Our goal was to put on an ounce a day. So I said to heck with nursing, lets get this baby some formula! And I am PROUD to announce that when I took him to be weighed again on the 23rd (my birthday) he was a gigantic 7 lbs 3 oz!!!! We are finally heading in the right direction. If you recall, his birth weight was 6 lbs 15 oz.....and after 5 weeks he finally caught back up to that weight. He looks so much better...finally getting some meat on his scrawny little preemie bones :)

2. Poor, sweet, adorable little Wylee girl had to get a tooth pulled....on my birthday (so far that's 2 different Dr.'s offices on my birthday if you're counting). She's only 20 months old and her front left tooth is missing, and not because it hasn't come in yet :( Her and her big brother were "playing" on our bed in Paris and all the sudden I heard a "smack" and a bunch of crying. I turned around and Wylee's mouth was bleeding and Jared kept saying "I'm just really sorry". She somehow hit her mouth on the porta crib. Lovely. I finally got her mouth somewhat cleaned up (I couldn't get the bleeding to stop long enough to see what damage had actually been done) and I hoped and prayed that it was just a cut on her gums. Wrong. I called Jared and had him come home (he was coming home for lunch anyways) and the first thing he said was "Oh yeah, that tooth is gonna fall out". I was SO upset! Partly because my first thought was "Great, now shes gonna have all these baby teeth and one GIANT permanent tooth till shes like 7!" just picture that for a moment. Haha, ok. That's not how it works. Instead, that adult tooth will take even longer to come in so she will be toothless until shes about 8 or 9. Talk about one depressed momma over here!

3. I had my 6 weeks check up (after having Russell) on MY BIRTHDAY (that makes 3 now). Basically Dr. Nelson said "Do you even want to bother with birth control?" to which I replied, "Nope. Not really", to which he replied, "Great, see ya in January!" I can't tell you how great it is to have an OB that respects the fact that yes I have 3 kids and I want more. The OBGYN Place (the Dr office that I went to with Wylee) asked me at every SINGLE visit if I was going to tie my tubes. And every single time I said no, we want to have more kids. And they ALWAYS replied with, "Why, you have a boy and your about to have a girl?". So annoying, believe it or not our goal isn't to just have a boy and a girl, we want more kids to love and take care of no matter sex they are. So thank you Dr. Nelson! After allllllll the doctor visits were over we ran home and grabbed our stuff and our dogs and we headed back to Paris for a two week stretch. Jared made me a birthday cake and we went and got Taco Bell, took it to the park and had a picnic and played for a little while, then Jared took us for sno cones (my FAVORITE treat) and then back to the house for some birthday cake!!

I can't really think of any other updates for now...so how about some pictures to look at!!

This is Russell a few weeks ago, you can't tell how skinny he really was...

This is Russell on my birthday (the 23rd), hes the biggest that he has been so far and look how small he still is!

We love our Sonic drinks :)

I wish this had turned out better....but still cute!

I don't know why this picture is sideways...It won't rotate and that isn't how it looked when I uploaded it :)

3 of my 4 loves

Yep, that's a choke collar around his head.

Nap time is the best (for me) :)

Jared's forehead also wanted a taste of my birthday cake...

There it is....the toothless wonder.

She is still a cutie pie no matter how many teeth she's missing :)

Baby Feet

2010-08-03T14:11:00.000-05:00

Little Russell is more like "tiny-premie Russell". I think he's lost about a pound since the hospital...a pound that he really couldn't afford to lose. BUT we'll see if we can't fix that. He would just rather be sleeping most of the time and isn't real interested in nursing, he'll do it but he'd rather eat from a bottle...it's easier for him, he doesn't have to do so much "work" I think lol. Lazy little baby. Other than that he's doing great! His nights and days are kind of mixed up I think, but we're sort of working on that too.

I attempted to take all 3 kids to Hobby Lobby by myself this morning...I may not be doing that again for a LONG time, at least not without the double stroller! LOL! That was a little bit much. Especially in Hobby Lobby, Jared and Wylee have NO business WALKING around in that store. Yikes. It had to happen sooner or later though, maybe I just should have waited for the later...oh well. I survived, and they did too.

This is a short one, all 3 kids are napping so this mama needs a nap too! Night night!

Russell Owen Ricker

2010-07-21T22:09:00.000-05:00

Our sweet Russell Owen is here! I had a c-section early Friday morning and got to go home by Sunday afternoon!! They estimated Russell to actually have been about 36 weeks at birth, but his lungs were fine and other than having a bit of trouble nursing, he's doing great. I think he sleeps even more than a typical newborn, but its OK by me. The kids are adjusting so well to the baby. Jared is always wanting to hold him and count his fingers, and Wylee just LAUGHS her head off at him. I don't think she gets it yet, I think in her little mind he's just a baby doll that does a little more than the ones she usually plays with, not much more, because like I said, he sleeps ALL the time. They are so proud of their sweet little brother, its adorable. And we are happy to announce that my doctor gave us the thumbs up for just ONE MORE baby :) And that's it, BUT that's one more, and we couldn't be happier. Jared told all the nurses and doctors that we would see them again in about 18 months, lol. We'll see ;) Anyways, back to Russell! Here are his stats:

Born at 7:59 am Friday morning (July 16th, 2010)
6 pounds 15 ounces
18.5 inches long
36 cm head
33 cm chest
Dirty blond hair that's long in the back and short up top! But not like a mullet...

I see both Jared and Wylee in Russell. He's a wonderful mix of his big brother and big sister (and mommy and daddy too). We love him so much and we are SO relieved to have him here with us and out of my belly!! Now on to the good part...the PICTURES!! Enjoy :)

Sweet baby Russell <3

The proud big brother and big sister seeing their new baby for the first time :)

Okay, normally I would NOT put this picture up for some reason I went ahead and did it...yes I look swollen...yes at this time I do not care to hide it from the world :) so there!

Wylee had a pink dress on that said Big Sister Wylee, and Jared had a shirt on that said Big Brother Jared, it was so sweet! Thanks Christina and Leslie ;)

Getting ready to go HOME!

I just love this one, maybe because I'm hiding behind the baby thing.

There were VERY touchy touchy once Russell was reachable lol

All snuggled up and just moments away from a lovely car ride home...

where Jared insisted on holding Russell's hand the entire way home so that he could "keep him safe while he was in the car". Wylee let go not long after this, and then took her shoe off an popped Russell in the face with it and laughed. Russell didn't laugh. Neither did I.

The end. For now anyways :)

We're still alive....just uncomfortable

2010-07-15T18:02:00.000-05:00

So here I am....37 weeks pregnant with sweet (hopefully) baby Russell. Why am I uncomfortable? Because I have been having contractions for the last 2.5 weeks. My dr says that if I hadn't have had the last 2 c-sections that I would probably have myself a little NICU baby. But my cervix won't open more than 1.5 cm so far. And that's being nice. Again, I'm 37 weeks but this morning at my appt. I was measuring 43 weeks. Monday at my appt. I was measuring 40 weeks. You do the math. I have been to the hospital about 5 times in the last 3 weeks to get the good stuff to help with the contractions and the pain and finally, FINALLY, my dr is putting me out of my misery and we are going in at 7:30 tomorrow morning for my c-section. THANK GOODNESS!!!! It's over! And so is this post :)

"A" is for my Apple Tree!

2010-05-23T08:41:00.000-05:00

I have to start this post with some EXCITING news!! My apple tree has two tiny little apples growing on it! I had a Relief Society retreat this weekend and when I got home yesterday afternoon Jared said he had a surprise for me. So, he took me to the back yard and I saw these little beauties.....

I was SO excited about these apples, I thought it would be a few years before we ever saw any fruit...and it only took a year! It's a Gala Apple Tree by the way :)

Friday Jared had to go to Paris to meet some workers at the new job site that he'll be working on. Since that was going to take most of the day, the kids and I went along for the ride! It was slightly boring while he was working with the guys, but that only lasted about 2 hours, and it was worth getting to spend all that time with him. The kids did pretty well considering we were in the car from 9-almost 3 :) Thanks kids!

kay, now on to the reTREAT. And a treat it was! Our RS Presidency did such an amazing job this weekend. Truely amazing. We had wonderful speakers, a super fun craft, and GREAT food. Not to mention the bishopric served us dinner friday night, prepared by the AMAZING Bruce White. We did a service project for Stand Up for Kids, and had one of their volunteers speak to us and give us all the facts. Some of which (okay MOST of which) make you cringe and wish that there was more that you could do to help. It's so sad what these kids go through. It reminds me of how blessed I am, and how lucky we are to be able to raise our family in the Gospel. On Friday night it started at 6:30 and went till around 10 (12 if you wanted to stay and play games, but I was exhausted)...and then again on Saturday from 10-2. So Jared thought he would take the kids to Lake Lavon and have a little camping trip! All was going well until Wylee woke up at about 2:15 and was ready to play....and then Caine chased a skunk around that same time, and needless to say I got a phone call at 4ish asking me to come outside and help get the kids inside. :) It was a sweet idea either way, lol.

Doesn't that look YUMMY?!?!

Before this course, there was a lobster bisque that was brought out after the fresh fruit and salad....I fogot to take a picture of it, but it was so good! And I HATE seafood :)

This steak was amazing. I don't what kind of sauce he made for it but I've never had anything like it! And yes those are grilled peaches on top. Brother White SPOILED us!...and little red cup has homemade macaroni and cheese in it! YUM!

Don't even get me started on this dessert.....it was just as amazing as the rest of the meal. Homemade cheesecake :)

This is the craft that we did!! We made gratitude journals, and it was SO much fun! They started out plain black and we picked ou tthe paper we wanted to cover the front with and then added the little flowers and the centers and ribbon, etc. I LOVED IT!!! I can't wait to use mine...I have a lot to be grateful for :)

After I got home Saturday afternoon the kids, Jared, and I hung out in the backyard and Jared grilled us some chicken, potatoes from the farmer's market, and corn on the cob for dinner! It was SOOOO good!! I ate like a queen all weekend long :)

Yes, I know, she's choking him....she usually does, she dropped him shortly after this too.

She may end up being a little cheerleader if her daddy isn't careful!!!!! And check out the grillmaster at work!!!

Aspasians, puppies, and recovered pictures!!

2010-05-20T21:36:00.000-05:00

It has been SO LONG since I updated!! I don't even remember what the last thing I posted was about. So I'll just guess that it was something to do with getting stuff ready for our booth at the Aspasians. And the Aspasians went GREAT!!!! Here's a couple shots of some of our booth...

There are a lot more, but they take so long to upload so I'll be putting more on the Laynie's Sewtique blog. ANYWAYS, that was on April 24th, so I have about a month's worth of updating. Baby Russell is killin me!! He's always under my ribs and squishing my lungs, I feel like I can't ever breathe...it's so worth it though, I know I know :) I had a sonogram on Monday because I was measuring big at my last appt. but we are back on track and he is 2 lbs 9 oz, and as of Wednesday this week I am at 29 weeks! Time is flying by and I have a ton of stuff to do before he gets here. Wylee is FINALLY wanting to talk more. She tries to repeat a good number of words and it's so cute to hear her say "puppies". Other than talking more, that's about all there is to update on her. Jared hasn't really hit any major milestones lately but he's really starting to feel bad when he disobeys and he is starting to get his feelings hurt. THIS KILLS ME! Today he deleted ALL the pictures off of my camera. I haven't exactly been great at uploading these pics to the computer lately so I was so upset, to say the least. I thought I had about 300 pics that got lost until a friend sent me a link that she JUST used to recover her pictures from her camera....and I had 701 files that were deleted. 701!!! And when I realized what he had done he said "I'm so sorry mommy, I'm so sorry, I'll never do it ever ever again". It broke my heart. It was so hard to stay mad. LUCKILY I got all the pictures back that were lost (most of them were pictures of blankets that I had made, and then Mother's Day pictures too). Funny thing is out of 701, there were only 36 that I hadn't uploaded yet. So I've been doing better than I thought, lol. Anyways....on to the good part...PICTURES!!!!!!

Wylee on the day Candee had her puppies.

Daddy and his sweet little girl doing some yard work :)

Proud Uncle Jared....he LOVES those puppies!

Won't be long till baby Russell is in this picture too!

Jared picked this in the back yard and brought it to me while I was sewing...it was so sweet.

My Mother's Day tulips from Jared and my flower treliss (I don't know to spell that, sorry) that Jared and Big Jared built for me. I got to pick out a little flower to plant in it. It's still goin strong!

One of the MANY blankets I have been working on!

As soon as I have some more free time I will put EVERYTHING up on the Laynie's Sewtique blog that I have been working on lately.

Resurrection Rolls

2010-03-31T13:55:00.000-05:00

Sweet Ashley Howry always has the greatest ideas!!!! She just put this fun recipe up on her blog for Easter! Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. Not always for the right reasons....that's changed over the last couple of years though. I used to love it because the weather was usually so springy and nice, and who doesn't love a new Easter dress??!! Since being baptized and digging into my scripture study I appriciate it so much more. These Resurrection Rolls are going to be a GREAT tradition to start with my babies!! I love the idea!!

RESURRECTION ROLLS

• 1 package Crescent rolls

• melted butter

• large marshmallows

• cinnamon

• sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls.

The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Give each child a marshmallow.

This represents Jesus and His purity.

Have child dip the marshmallow in melted butter.

This represents the oils of embalming.

Dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar.

This represents the spices used to anoint the body of Jesus.

Wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll

(not like a typical crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside)

this represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.

Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

The oven represents the tomb (pretend like it was 3 days and nights!)

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloths) and discover that Jesus is no longer there,

HE IS RISEN! The marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up,

but like the tomb - IT IS EMPTY!

Blankets and Updates

2010-03-30T15:07:00.001-05:00

I haven't written in SOOO long. But I feel like there hasn't been a whole lot to write about. I have been SUPER busy making blankets and onesies, and since I have a booth with PLATINUM DESIGNS at the Aspasians this year I am about to be even busier making my goodies to sell up there! Just in case you don't know when it is, the date is April 24th! I'm realllly excited! Now for some updates:

Jared at Chuck E. Cheese...he had SO much fun!!

Jared and Wyatt at Chuck E. Cheese :) They were born the same day at almost the same time!

Little Jared:

He is ALL over the place. And a mess. He can be sooo sweet but then be soooooo rotten all of the sudden!! We are trying really hard to get him to stop taking everything out of Wylee's hands the second she picks them up. It's not working well. He is fully potty trained! I started working with him the last week of February. I took him to Hobby Lobby and let him pick out some scrapbook paper and stickers so we could hang a potty chart on the fridge and took him potty every 20 minutes. That was on a Wednesday (the 17th) afternoon. One week later we had him in underwear and he's been wearing only underwear since then!! To be official the underwear started on February 25th. And I am very proud to say that he has only had 2 accidents since then, and they have both been in the middle of the night. He says family prayer for us almost every night and he likes to be the one to bless dinner too. His Nursery teachers tell us that he is SO good during nursery and is a leader for sure. We kind of knew that one though ;)

Wylee @ Chuck E. Cheese :) She ate 2 slices of pizza and drank everyone's drinks.

After a long day at Build-A-Bear with Grammy, Nuncle Dallas, Jared and me. She was exhausted.

Wylee Ann:

She is as sweet as ever!! She still doesn't say much but she's starting to talk some! She calls Jared "Bubba" :) She is going through a bit of a shoe phase right now. It's really more of a problem than a phase, lol. Jared picked all the random shoes up in OUR bedroom on Sunday and 7 of them were Wylee's....only one matching pair out of all of them. She puts them on then takes them off then cries then puts them back on and takes them back off and cries some more. She loves wearing Jared's shoes too. It's hilarious. Of course he doesn't let her wear them for too long before he knocks her over and snatches them off of her feet. She is getting her molars in! At least on the top, she won't move her tongue so that I can see the bottom. Which I'm sure she's excited about because that girl LOVES TO EAT!! She will be eating a good 15 to 20 minutes after everyone else at the table has finished. And she LOVES her ketchup too! Such a cutie :)

Baby #3: (sorry there aren't pictures yet)

Baby #3 is a boy!! Most of you already know that though :) We finally picked out a name for him...Russell Owen Ricker. Owen was Jared's dad's name and we both just really liked the name Russell so there it is! I scheduled my c-section date for July 23rd at 7:30am. If he waits until then to join us, his birthday and Jared's 3rd birthday will be one week apart. So no matter what for at least a week I will have 3 kids ages 2 and under :) YIKES!

Big Jared:

Big Jared's job is taking him out of town for a few months. He will be moving for the rest of the pregnancy and possibly about a month after we have the baby. It's a really neat job though so we are excited for him! And he will be able to come home most weekends we think. SO! No big deal :)

Me:

Obviously I'm pretty pregnant now....22 weeks tomorrow. It has FLOWN by. We are all very excited about Russell joining us! Fear hasn't set in yet. It will as we settle in the hospital room and Jared goes to change into his scrubs for the big moment. That's when it set in with Wylee. Well not to mention we weren't expecting to have her that night, so that was a bit of a shock. But it will all be fine. Laynie's Sewtique is doing really well!! Last year around this time I was putting together a book of blankets to show at someone else's booth in the Aspasians...this year I'm getting ready to actually be AT the booth and sell stuff myself! SO MUCH FUN!!! I have tons of blanket orders right now. I got a phone call this morning to see if I was interested in sewing together some prototypes for a woman that is designing some little girl's dresses. And then sewing all the orders that she gets. I'm gonna give it a shot. She makes her own patterns, just doesn't sew. SOOO I said I would love to try it out and as long as it doesn't seem like too much on my plate (especially when Russell gets here) then I would be happy to do it! We'll see how that goes :) A little extra money would be nice around this time! Especially with a new baby.

AND that is about it! Candee is pregnant too and should be having her litter in a couple of weeks :) She looks about as big as I do...and about as lazy too.

Some blankies I've been working on ...

2010-03-08T16:48:00.000-06:00

Wylee is an official walker!

2010-02-17T16:56:00.000-06:00

So I was going to wait to post about her latest milestone, I wanted a video of her walking to go along with it. But lets face it....I still don't have a video and she has been walking since last Tuesday. So there ya have it! She has been walking since February 9th, 2010. Way to go Wylee!!!! She took a lot longer than Jared did to start walking...he was running by 10 and a half months. I wasn't worried, I'm not one of those moms that freaks out because Wylee does things slower than Jared. I don't think she is autistic because she didn't walk until 14 months and I don't care that she still only says about 3 or 4 words. I don't get to give her the same one on one learning time with me that I was able to give to Jared...not to mention Jared was just an all together different baby. He was always so frustrated with life and he caught onto things very fast....like walking and talking. It really did seem like he just didn't like being a baby. Either way...Wylee is walking!!

She was still a little bit scared of the snow at this point :)

Last weeks Playdate

2010-02-11T14:23:00.000-06:00

My lovely friend Leslie babysits a cute little boy named Colton every Thursday, so last Thursday we decided to meet at McDonalds for a little playdate since he is around Jared's age! It took him a while to warm up but once he did they kids had so much fun together! Even Wylee got in the playplace and ventured around a little bit....it was too cute, they wore themselves out!

Sweet Wylee, her first time in the playplace :)

Colton and Jared

She was so excited in there!

Please look past all the nasty ketchup on his face....gross.

We don't know this little girl but she sure did try to get in a lot of the pictures. P.S. this "little" girl doesn't even turn 2 until next month...she was huge next to Jared and Colton.

Wylee and Colton...Wylee was about ready for a nap.

Jared going down the slide!

Well, not EVERYONE loves the snow :)

2010-02-11T11:41:00.000-06:00

She didn't even touch the snow, she may have hated her outfit more than anything.

Still hating life.

Okay, maybe it's not THAT bad.

Jared on the other hand LOVED the snow!

A lot :)

And now Wylee has a football and she's watching Jared run and play so she's content.

Making a snowman...although I don't see it.

That's his "snowball" that he was really proud of :)

Two more snowballs that he asked me to take pictures of.

Isn't he adorable :)

After playing in the snow Jared got to go to work with daddy....why was daddy home you might ask? Because his good for nothing dog got out again and I spent 30 minutes saoking wet and getting pelted in the face with snow, balling crying the entire time, and I couldn't find him. So he came home to help look....and he found him two houses down. So OBVIOUSLY he was making his way back home after an hour of running around the surrounding neighborhoods. Jerk.

He was so proud to have his back pack loaded up with cars and colors and snacks, and he couldn't wait to get in daddy's jeep and go to work with him.

Happy Be-lated Birthday Wylee Girl!!

2010-02-10T13:54:00.000-06:00

Jared had all the pictures from Wylee's first birthday on his computer, and I FINALLY HAVE THEM!!! So I can finally show you our sweet baby girl at her two first birthday parties. She has been such a joy to us and a precious addition to our family. Watching her and Jared together is the main reason that I decided we HAVE to have at least one more! They are so sweet (most of the time) to each other and i just couldn't imagine stopping just yet. We love you Wylee Bug!

The little cake that I made for her to tear into at the party we had at our house.

Her first piggy tails :)

The awesome cake that Aunt Ruth made for her joint birthday celebration with her Cousin Jade.

Wylee= lady bug, Jade= cupcake

She LOVED her cake!

She had no problem just sticking her face right into it...love it!

Jared on the other hand (and he IS the other hand in this pic) didn't want anything to do with tearing into his first bday cake, I was so upset by it!! He got so disgusted by the way that Wylee was eating her cake he felt like he needed to feed it to her with a spoon instead. Poor little guy.

And she let him :) Sorry about the creepy red eye.

such a sweet little birthday girl!

On her actual birthday we took her to McDonalds for her first ever happy meal and then went to pick out our Christmas tree...it was a great day :)

3 Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

2010-02-04T14:48:00.000-06:00

Sunday afternoon as Jared and the kids all napped after church I watched Man VS Food for the first time. And if nothing else that show made me crave 100 different things (I watched 3 episodes). So I got on the computer and started looking some enchilada recipes up because I thought I might have the stuff on hand for them. Jared had been wanting some enchiladas with a white sauce instead of what I usually make, but he hates sour cream so I did what I could. I was reading Ashley's blog earlier today about a Mexican Bake Delight that she created, so I thought I would post this recipe that I found for 3 Cheese Chicken Enchiladas. I can't remember where I found it so I can't send you the link but we thought they were GREAT! I had some left overs from a whole chicken that I had made earlier that week, plus some cream cheese that needed to be eaten, and some tortillas that had been sitting in the pantry for some time (still good but needed to be used soon)....and a can of "chili" rotel because they didn't have any regular when Jared bought stuff for cheese dip, and it wasn't good in the cheese dip. And about half a cup of shredded cheese that also needed to be used asap.....so I altered the recipe a TAD...but I will post the original.

3 Cheese Chicken Enchiladas:

2 8 oz. pkgs of Cream Cheese
1 8 oz. container of Sour Cream
1 family size can of Cream of Chicken Soup (I just realized that said family size...oops)
2 small cans of Chilis (I didn't have any so I used some of that rotel, it was good!)
1 cup of Grated Cheese, Fiesta Blend (I used cheddar and some mozzerella)
Extra Shredded Cheese to top the enchiladas with
1 pkg of Corn Tortillas
I pkg of Chicken Breasts (I used left overs from my whole chicken, which p.s. is WAY cheaper than a bag of chicken breasts)
1/4 cup of chopped Onion
1/4 tsp of Cumin Powder (I don't have this so I used a little paprika and garlic salt,lol i dunno why)

For the Sauce:

Combine 1 package of cream cheese, 2 cans green diced chiles, 1 family size can of Cream of Chicken Soup, and ½ can of water. Microwave until warm, stirring occasionally (a whisk works well). Set aside, I dipped chips in this as I made the rest of the stuff and it was GOOD.

For the enchilada filling:

Boil 1 package chicken breasts, and chop or shred (I shredded). In a large bowl combine chicken, 1 cup of sour cream, 1 package of cream cheese, 1 cup of grated cheese, 1 tsp of Cumin powder, ¼ cup of chopped onion and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. Coat bottom of a large pan with vegetable oil 1/8" deep, set heat to medium, and soften 1 package of corn tortillas by individually placing in oil for 2 seconds per side. Pour about 1 cup of Cream Cheese Chicken Sauce into the casserole pan and spread enough to coat the bottom of the pan (I NEVER did this when making enchiladas before, now I know, lol). Take a softened corn tortilla and coat 1 side with Cream Cheese Chicken Sauce. Add a heaping spoon of the chicken mixture to the coated side of the tortilla, roll it up and place at the end of your casserole pan. Repeat until the pan is full. Take the remaining Cream Cheese Chicken Sauce and pour over the rolled tortillas, wiggle them to make sure the sauce gets to the bottom and sides. Cook uncovered in a 350º oven until you sauce is bubbling. Add grated cheese until the top is covered, bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

And your done!! They are a little bit of work, but they are really worth it!!! They probably took me about 30 minutes to prepare, which isn't really that bad (the kids were napping).

P.S. I found the link for the recipe :)

I'm so proud :)

2010-02-02T13:38:00.001-06:00

Last night before dinner I was putting Wylee in her high chair and Jared took a bite of his food and said, "HEY! We need to prayer!". I told him he was right and I sat down and he folded his little arms and began to bless our food all by himself. Without being told to. I couldn't be more proud of him :) It helps me to remember that even though he's only 2 1/2, and he doesn't always seem like he's paying attention, he is still picking up on the important things. I have to remember that at this point everything I do had better be the way I hope and pray he does things as he grows up...because he is watching and soaking it all in. We love you Jared, your love for Jesus and Heavenly Father at such a young age makes my heart swell with pride and happiness.

She's at it again

2010-02-02T13:29:00.000-06:00

Caught little Wylee in the act....well I guess it wasn't the act, or I would have caught her pulling the bag of chocolate chips out of the pantry. Instead I caught her grubby little hands shoving them into her mouth as fast as she could before they were cleaned up...by her and her brother of course. Don't judge, I just mopped :)

Pictures of the babies

2010-01-27T16:31:00.000-06:00

Well well well...what do ya know....a cookie.

See food.

Story time :)

Gummy Worms...Jared calls them Gunny Worms

He was proud of his treat from the fabric store.

Looky here, Wylee wants some too...who woulda thought?

She would bite a part off and then i would find it stuck somewhere....nice.

At the park, eating again :)

The treat he picked out at the store for his park day.

They LOVED this thing.

She liked sitting up there more than she did actually going down it.

He's a pro.

It's hard to take a good picture while they are coming at your face.

Jared snuck out of the house during bath time on Monday and brought us some Family Home Evening treats since I didn't make anything.

And you know SHE was begging for some. If Jared didn't get a spoonfull fast enough she was slide on over to me and beg.

Sweet friends :)

2010-01-27T15:50:00.000-06:00

Jared's office had a biometric screening last Friday for our health insurance company...if you go do it (actually I think you have to do it) you get points toward incentives. So we lucked out that one of the locations was Jared's office, so we went up there and planned on having lunch with him after we were finished doing whatever it was they wanted us to do. Joe's wife Bethany (who is also pregnant, due at the end of may) came up there as well with their sweet little girl Savannah. Anyways, we all walked to a mexican food place a couple of blocks over and Jared and Savanah held hands a lot of the way, until Jared started running and they fell down. I think it was over at that point, but it was still sweet :)

Our family likes ribs...a lot

2010-01-27T15:34:00.000-06:00

For dinner the other night Jared threw some ribs on the grill....and we weren't the only ones that enjoyed them....

Dumpster Diver

2010-01-27T15:17:00.000-06:00

Let me start off with a small story...Jared has this plan for Wylee. In order to ensure that she will not ever be found attractive by the opposite sex, he has decided to get her hooked on cakes and sweets and chocolatey treats asap. As in now. He has also tossed around the idea that when she is older, he will rub bacon grease on her face every night while she is asleep so that she has lots of pimples and the boys will think she's gross. So a small recap in case you didn't catch on: big and fat from lots of sweets and treats and nasty pimple face :) That's my husband for ya. Either way, it seems his plan is already starting to work. As I cleaned the kitchen earlier I tossed the left over Peanut Butter Crunch Cake and got to work scrubbing parts of the kitchen sink that I didn't know could even be scrubed, but they can, so I did. Wylee was way to quiet so I turned around and this is what I saw:

In case you can't tell, that is a BIG hunk of Peanut Butter Crunch Cake...and she was eating it, which means she dug it out of the trash.

Even though I knew she would hate my guts, I threw the cake away, again. And she was really upset about it....so she did this:

Immediatly tried to dig it back out AGAIN....

And then got really upset that her fat little hand didn't fit this time. What a little dumpster diver. Way to go Jared.

Some new blankies :)

2010-01-16T15:03:00.000-06:00

I've been letting myself sew again for the last couple of days and here is what I have finished up...

Christmas Time Rewind...

2010-01-16T14:45:00.001-06:00

I just realized that I never put any pictures or anything up from Christmas! This years Christmas was a little different...we are usually in Houston for the Holidays, but several things kept us in Dallas this year. One being the fact that I left for London on the 26th. Anyways, Christmas Eve was so beautiful!! It snowed and snowed, and no I have no pictures of it, but I imagine that the images in my head will last for quite a while. Especially considering it was 75 degrees the day before. Seriously. I'm gonna tell you about the special Noche Buena that I was in charge of making this year....mainly so that years from now I can look back at this post and remember what a disaster it was, and why I'm glad Jared's mom has this responsability and not me:) First off, I forgot about the dinner all together. So the day before the 24th I ventured into Walmart (Kid free thanks to Ashley Howry) and got what I thought it was that we needed. NORMALLY the meal is a yummy pork roast, white rice, black beans, some yucca, and platinos, with a giggly flan to top it all off. WELL. I bought a pork TENDERLOIN, one can of black beans because we never finish them, no yucca (completely forgot about it), no platinos (they didnt have any), and I already had the stuff for flan and rice. I was pretty sure of myself. Until it came time to make dinner. The tenderloin needed to cook for about 45 minutes in the oven, and about 35 minutes into its cooking I open the oven and the thing still looks raw, so I thought...."huh, I guess it just cooks right up in the last 10 minutes...". Or maybe my oven spazed out and somehow changed the temperature to 80 degrees. I know what your thinking, "oh, she probably changed it on accident or something"...that's not the case, that would be impossible for me to do unless I were to stand there and hit the button 50 times to make it that low. It's just a Christmas Eve mystery. So I reset the oven and got it going...for another 45 minutes. I went ahead and made the rice, and Jared got one of his guys at work (yes he was working Christmas Eve) to pick some platinos up for him from a market out there. So Jared called him mom to find out what goes in the black beans. A little bell pepper and onion, easy. Only I put way too much bell pepper and onion, so much that they outnumbered the beans. And I only bought one can of beans if you recall. Oh well. As I was looking at the rice, I decided to make a little more because it just didn't look like enough.....and we never even finished the first batch. I forgot to mention that the plantains were GREEN....which meant they weren't going to be sweet the way we like them but at this point everything else had gone wrong so who cares. I made the flan that morning, which I thought turned out perfect, except that I accidently let the carmel at the bottom of the pan harden. Which made it REALLY hard to get out of the dish. Anyways, dinner turned out to be pretty good despite all the things that went wrong. So I'm going to leave it alone. We spent a couple of hours at the McDonald's house that night and we sang carols and drank some yummy homemade egg nog. Then we went home to get the kids to bed and wait for Santa! I got to go to my Mimi's for Christmas morning breakfast, which I haven't had the chance to do for a couple of years now, so that was a really nice treat for me, and then we headed back to our house for some naps before it was time to go to my parents for Christmas dinner and my mom's side of the family. Let me just say, the kids were SPOILED...totally spoiled. You'll see in the photos. It was exactly the way I remember Christmas being while Dallas and I were growing up. They had a great time. And now I am going to document my mom's disaster of a Christmas Dinner....lol, because it made me feel a little better about my noche buena. We have mom's homemade potato soup every year...and she makes a HUGE pot of it, you could call it a vat I think. And I was so excited about having some. And we have a big ham to go with it and we make sandwhiches and stuff. But this year while we were getting the soup nice and warm we taste tested it...uh oh. Something was WAY off and we couldn't put our finger on it. It tasted like the sour cream or the milk was bad. she bought brand new of both for the soup so we ruled that out. Dad tasted it because he thought it was because we had just had onion dip....but even he made a face, and if you know my dad you know he will eat ALMOST anything. And he said to dump it. DUMP IT! AHH! Well at least we have the ham....the 20 pound ham that says to cook it I think 20 minutes for every pound. No one read that before hand. But its a ham...so it's precooked right? It cooked for about 2 hours I think and we all took our chances. As far as I know we all made it out okay. Anyways, that was our Christmas! Now on to some pictures :)

See what I mean by spoiled?

Dallas in McQueen and Wylee & Gunner in the Police car.

*edit*That would actually be JARED in McQueen...not Dallas. I mix them up quite often to be honest. Especially when I am yelling :)

Reading her new book.

Such a cute little guy :)

Sweet Wylee Bear

My fabulous trip to LONDON!

2010-01-04T15:12:00.002-06:00

2009 was a good year for me when it comes to vacations. I am so lucky!! First we had the amazing cruise, and then I was invited to explore London for 4 days and 4 nights with my Aunt Donna, Uncle Klaus, and my cousin Francie! We left December 26th from DFW ( scheduled to take off at 7:45 p.m., but actually took off sometime after 10:00 p.m.) and arrived at Heathrow Airport around 12:30 p.m. on the 27th. Lets stop right there....this is only my second time on a plane. The first time was to San Diego, so it was a 3 hour flight. This was around a 9ish hour long flight....keep in mind I am pregnant. Also keep in mind that when I am pregnant I throw up all day long, for every reason, and for no reason. Car rides are terrible. Apparently plane rides are terrible too. I filled up two bags during the landing alone. Talk about embarrassing, haha! ANYWAYS, we finally landed and headed to Customs.....ahhh Customs. We were told that Francie didn't need a note or anything allowing her to travel with me (she's 15)....but apparently we were told wrong. Customs was pretty sure that she was a run away and that I was helping her. We said we were cousins but we look nothing alike (not uncommon) and we don't have the same last name....oh yeah and I look like a 12 year old wearing a wedding rind. Awesome. So the man asked us about 30 questions, with his "hard to understand African (I'm guessing) accent". Francie is a shy person...so I was doing all the talking which looked even better I'm sure. Anyways, we convinced him that we were really only there for a short vacation and she fully planned on returning home to her parents in 5 days. So we went and found Donna and Klaus and hopped on a Subway headed to London! Oh yeah, Subways make me feel sick too...I luckily didn't throw up though, because there was NO WHERE to do it. 45 minutes later we emerge from underground to find LONDON!!!! And it was beautiful! So we grabbed a taxi and headed to our first stop...the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel right off of Thames River...it was amazing.

The Lobby

This was on the front desk and I loved it....

Also the Lobby...leading into the bar.

Okay, after we got unpacked and settled in a little bit we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner....the ORIGINAL Hard Rock Cafe! I took pictures of some of the memorbilia they had, but I don't think I'm going to put any up...I may change my mind later.

Francie and I in the Taxi on our way to HRC.

After that we went back to the hotel and Donna, Francie and I went for a little walk along the Thames River and took a few shots of the Parliment and Big Ben at night. The pictures don't do the beauty of it justice...but it's all I have :)

Big Ben is over on the right side.

Oh yeah, and we had to take silly photos of ourselves pretending to talk in a phone booth...duh!!

The next day (our first full day in London) we had some breakfast and then bought some passes for the Big Bus Tour...you could hop on and hop off as much as you wanted for 48 hours. And it included a river cruise too, which we didn't get to go on because we ran out of time the first day, and then it rained the second and third day. I took so many pictures while we were on that bus, and I don't really remember what any of them are of. The buildings there are just amazing to me, so I guess I don't really care what they are of, I liked them anyways.

Isn't this amazing!!?? Minus the head that is in the way.

We just HAD to go on the London Eye, so we waited in line for like an hour and a half so we could see a 360 degree view of London. And it was so worth the wait!

Not a full view of the city in this photo, but I love this one.

That night we went to "We Will Rock You". It was fantastic! It was a show about Queen's music, and time after "Rock and Roll died". I loved it! And that was the end of that day.

Let's see if I can remember exactly what we did on day 3 (second full day). Okay, we went to see the changing of the gaurds at Buckingham Palace...which kind of sucked because you really couldn't see much unless you shoved your way to the front, and we all know I didn't bother to do that. I didn't want to get stabbed in the eye by someone's umbrella. Ugh. Buckingham Palace was beautiful though!!

Buckingham Palace.

The only part of the guard changing that I got to see.

This was inside the Buckingham Palace Store.

After that we decided to get OUT of the weather and go hang out at Harrod's (the world's largest department store in my opinion...) We had some lunch at the Harrod's Cafe and then tried to shop a little, but there were so many people there I couldn't even enjoy it! I was afraid of getting lost :) After Harrod's we went back to the hotel to relax a little bit and then had dinner at the Texas Embassy!

Day 4 (3rd full day) we started out at the Westminster Abbey, of course! We got there early enough for there to not be much of a line, thank goodness. You couldn't take pictures inside, but I got a couple outside.

Westminster Abbey.

This was right above the doors to the Abbey.

After we were done at the Abbey we went and had some lunch and then got on the bus for our Rock and Roll Tour, which was so cool! We saw so many things that I can't even write about them, I will have to put a video up so that you can see. I think if you go to youtube and google Rock and Roll Tour London, someone has actually put a video of the tour up. It was really interesting, I recommend taking a look if you are ever in need of something to kill some time. After the tour we went to the Hard Rock Cafe Vault for a few minutes and then went back to the hotel to rest before we went downstairs for fish and chips on our final night. The next morning we left the hotel at 6:00 a.m. (midnight in Dallas) and headed to the airport for our flight home. I didn't throw up this time, even though I really wanted to. We finally got home right before 3:00 p.m. and then had a lovely 2 hour car ride home, so yes, I was asleep by 9:30 on New Year's Eve. I woke up a little bit before 11:00 and my sweet husband and I shared a New York New Year's Eve kiss and I passed out again. It was an amazing trip and I loved every second of it...even the parts that made me sick. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and I will never forget it! Here are a few more random pictures from the trip, I will eventually get all 430 of them up on facebook :)

Pounds....worth tons of dollars. Dollars...worth not so much pounds lol.

Inside Hard Rock Cafe.

I am going to go ahead and say I did a great job taking this picture :) thanks me.

Elton John.

Francie and I in front of the Thames River.

Some sidewalk boat decor...

I took this while I was on the Eye.

Of course we weren't looking...Parliment and Big Ben during the day.

Another cute little decoration in our hotel's lobby. Look, I'm actually wearing make up, lol.

And last but not least! The flowers that the boys had for me when I got off the plane!!!

Jared checking out his souvineer pjs from Buckingham Palace...aren't they cute?!

A little big....but cute!

He was pulling the pants up, lol! But I think he is channeling Michael Jackson in this one!!

Family walks

2010-01-04T13:18:00.001-06:00

While we had big Jared home for afew days thanks to the New Year, we went on a couple family walks around the neighborhood. Well, we did on the nice days. The dogs have been locked up in our house so much lately due to the nasty weather. Our back yard looks like a pond. So needless to say (but I'll say it anyways) they are going crazy inside, and driving me nuts. We thought a walk might help them get some energy out....or just give them a little taste of freedom and then YANK IT AWAY! Jared opted to drive his Diego Jeep instead of walk, so he gave Wylee a ride. We'll have to get a 4 seater before long so baby number 3 doesn't get left out.

Jared holding on to Candee

Jared and Wylee going for a cruise :)

Aren't they sweet!? I think at this point Jared was asking Wylee if she was happy...he does that a lot, lol.

It was hard to get a good picture while they were driving...so that's why there is only 3/4 of them in this shot :)

Love.

My little kitchen helpers

2010-01-04T13:02:00.000-06:00

So since I have been home from my trip to London...Jared has been doing a lot of the cooking!! I don't know why, he says he is just trying to help a little more, so I am going to leave it at that and love every minute of it! Last night he made us dinner, and it was AWESOME!! My dad killed a deer this year (well last year) and gave us a lot of the meat. So Jared made us some chicken fried venison and mashed potatoes with green beans last night, and of course some home made gravey! It was sooooo good. So with their aprons on, the boys made me dinner. I'm sure little Jared wasn't as big of a helper as he apears to be in the photos.

P.S. Jared bought me a new camera for Christmas so that I could take good pictures while on my trip. I love it!!

Where did SHE go?!

2009-12-22T15:31:00.000-06:00

I know that I already posted today...but I had to do just one more. I was getting ready to go to my mom's house for a family movie night...and a not too unfamiliar moment arose. I thought to myself, "Why in the world can I no longer put together an outfit that doesn't consist of some form of jogging pant and a t-shirt with a sweat shirt over it? And why can't I figure out how to do my make-up anymore?!" This happens a lot when I'm pregnant...just ask Jared. I often wonder where the heck that cute 20 year old blonde girl went that could put an outfit together, always had cute make-up on and could spark up a conversation with any stranger, never a dull moment with her. She's gone. Long gone I am afraid. I can't put an outfit together to save my life. And I forgot how to do make-up. It's the saddest thing. Sure I started having kids at 22... but did SHE have to leave me in the dust!?!?! Having kids doesn't mean you lose your sense of style and you forget how to be cute! But for me however, this happened. This is a picture of me when I was 21:

I want this girl to come back, but maybe put a little sweater on or something because this dress isn't that modest...

Or maybe this girl could come back...she isn't blonde anymore, but she's still cute, and she knows how to dress at least a little bit!

I'm just feeling sorry for my frumpy self today!! I think I will go study pictures of my life before kids and see if I can get a hang of things again...wouldn't that be nice?!

I give up :)

2009-12-22T14:46:00.000-06:00

Today is one of those days...although if you are my poor husband, then I don't need to tell YOU that now do I? My phone is broken AGAIN. Go figure. Who would have thought that a "Go-Phone" wouldn't last very long. You can call me, I can hear you saying "Hello, Hello..can you hear me? Hello." but you can't hear me saying "Yes, I can hear you, but my phone is broken. Sorry." CLICK. It broke on Sunday right before we left Kingwood....which is a whole different sob story itself. We made the mistake of NOT leaving first thing in the morning. So I eventually had to eat something because it was noon and I was starving. I should have just starved. It took us 6 hours to get from Kingwood to Rockwall (not a 6 hour drive on a normal basis). Jared had to pull over about 6 times so that I could throw my life up in a parking lot, a hill made of rocks, a different parking lot, a dirt road, and a sonic cup. I begged him to leave me in the Walmart parking lot in Huntsville. I said I can't do it, I can't be in the car anymore, I am for sure dying. If you haven't figured it out yet, I get horribly car sick while pregnant. I honestly thought i needed to be checked into a hospital. I spent the entire ride with my head in my own lap trying to forget that the car was moving. Eating a disgusting ginger snap....while chugging anti-nausea medicine every 15 minutes (not to exceed an hour...so that didn't help me). It was by far the worst trip of my life. I don't know how to describe it to you other than take the worst case of food poisoning, or the stomach flu, that you have ever had and then go hop into a car for 6 hours. the whole time I hear freaking Dora the Explorer in the back seat and every time I start to cry again sweet baby Jared says "Mommy, what happened? You bout to throw up? You sick? What happened?" Then Jared saying "It's okay Jared, leave mommy alone, she doesn't feel good, she can't talk". So sad. ANYWAYS, that was two days ago and I am just now feeling right again. Back to my bad day. I'm sick of not being able to call my husband because my phone is a peice of junk...or anyone else for that matter. And poor Wylee just would NOT take a nap this morning! I have blankets to finish by Christmas with a massive case of tendonitis hanging over my head and sweet Wylee just crying at the pedal of my sewing machine. After arguing with jared via yahoo chat about my phone...I walk into the living room to find an ENTIRE bag of pop corn smashed all over the living room floor. All over it. I asked Jared what happened and he said he spilled. I said why didn't you clean it up? He said he just couldn't. I said so you decided to dance all over it instead? And he said "yes." SO I vacuumed that up for the next 25 minutes while Wylee just screamed in her room for me to come get her out of jail. Let me back up a little bit....while at Peyton's funeral on Saturday baby Jared took a lovely spill down the stairs out front. It bruised almost instantly but that was it. This morning however there is a nice substance oozing out of the corner of his eye....like he has a blocked tear duct. AWESOME. Dr. Dad is going to take a look at it when he gets home. I feel so bad for him. Anyways, so I keep looking at Jared's eye today and thinking, wow that looks gross, and it came out of nowhere. BUT ALAS! It is 2:39 and both kids are finally napping...and at the same time. I said it once and I will say it again...it is a Christmas miracle! For now anyways. So after this post is finished I will be hopefully finishing one blanket at least and getting a few presents wrapped and under the tree, maybe even getting a SHOWER in at some point (would I be so lucky?)....assuming no one is going to open them when they wake up. We'll see.

P.S. Where is the spell check on this new post editor!?!?! I need it!

Pictures...

2009-12-21T17:13:00.002-06:00

I bet you guys would like to see some of the kids lately, huh? Maybe next time! Just playing....well sort of. I will have to get all of our new ones from Jared :) That is if there is anyone left out there still interested in our boring little lives in Fate, Texas! :) Merry Christmas!

Peyton is famous...

2009-12-17T13:15:00.002-06:00

...well sort of. Jared sent me an email today with a link in it. A guy that he works with spends some time on a few hunting forums and it seems that Peyton is well known on one of them. I clicked on the link and of course cried when I read about all the people that have never met Peyton but somehow heard his story and have been following his CaringBridge journal. Someone posted the news of Peyton's passing and it was touching to see how many people were touched by Peyton's story without even knowing who he is. I have no idea who first put the post up about him in the first place, but apparently a lot of these people got the number to his prayer pager too and used it often. I did good yesterday, I only cried for part of the day instead of the entire day like I did on Tuesday. We are leaving tomorrow, the funeral is on Saturday. Hopefully it will start to get easier after this weekend....I doubt it, but maybe! I have to remind myself to just pray about it every time I get upset, and let the Lord help me. Not to mention remind myself that Peyton has a lot of work to do up there, and that's the reason he's gone. Because Heavenly Father needed him. I don't blame him. Anyways, here's the link that Jared sent me. It really is neat that perfect strangers have been sending prayers Peyton and his family's way for a while now. I love that.

We will miss you Peyton!

2009-12-15T08:47:00.004-06:00

My heart hurts so much this morning. We got news that our nephew, Peyton, lost his battle with cancer early this morning. He was 8 years old. I keep reminding myself that it's a good thing, because now he isn't in pain anymore. Now he gets to live with our Heavenly Father and do his work. And that's a great thing. But I'm still sad, and it still hurts. I am so sad for my brother in law and sister in law, and for my 3 nephews and neice that have just lost their brother. I'm sad for Ruth and Rebekah's kids who will have to deal with the pain of losing a cousin that they are SO close to. I'm sad for Sarah who is on her mission and hasn't been able to spend the same time with Peyton in his last months that the rest of us have. And I am SO sad for his two grandmothers who are probably in a world of hurt this morning. I don't have the right things to say in a situation like this. I am so bad at it that it makes me sick. For the last year and a half I have watched their family handle this with such grace that I have been amazed. I would like to think that if it were Jared and I, I would be able to handle it the same way. I don't think I would though. They have been such a strong inspiration through everything. I'm, not going to spend too much time on this post because I think I said enough, and I could go on forever. I love my family with all of my heart and I'm so lucky to have all of the in laws that I have, and my own family as well. I will miss Peyton so much and I only knew him for a little over 3 years. So rest in peace Peyton, you have been such a strong little boy. We love you Peyton Thomas Ricker!

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ourpeyton/journal

SURPRISE!!!!!

2009-12-05T20:26:00.002-06:00

We found out on Tuesday that I'M PREGNANT AGAIN!!!!!! We were planning for this one, so yes we know how close our kids will be in age....no need to remind us :) And YES we know how expensive kids are, please don't remind us of that either. We are thrilled so let us be! If I got pregnant when I think I did then our due date will be mid to late July which means I will probably have surgery mid july. Sonogram pictures to come!!!!

Scentsy Party!

2009-11-17T14:23:00.004-06:00

Okay, if you are reading this then you are MORE than welcome to come! And bring a friend, or two friends! A good friend of mine has just become a Scentsy Consultant so I'm gonna throw her first party. I am SO excited about! I never do anything like this, and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. I'll have some home made pizza rolls, some dip and chips, and of course a little dessert and punch! Bring your kids if you want to! I have plenty of toys around here lol! Okay, so here are the details....

Date: Thursday, December 3rd

Time: 5:30-7:30 (open house style, come and go as you please)

Location: My House

101 Jerome Prairie

Royse City, Tx

Consultant: Rachel Moore (https://ramoore.scentsy.us/Home)

*Come and check out some of Scentsy's fantastic products with me! There is absolutely no pressure to buy at all! Just come have fun, eat, and hang out! Bring some friends if you want to, and your kids are welcome, too. If you can't make it but you still want to see some of the stuff, I will have a little basket of products that you can come check out when you can.*

My sweet family

2009-11-13T10:34:00.002-06:00

I don't know what in the world is going on with me lately....I keep having this overwhelming feeling at random moments throughout my day. They are good feelings, don't worry. But at the same time, I have to just sit down and cry sometimes. It's hard to adjust when you get married. Especially if your like us and you decide to live near one family, and not an equal distance from both. There are adjustments around the holidays that are hard because you both grow up with traditions and neither one is really excited about having to give up theirs. But you do, because that's just what has to happen. I am such a creature of habit. My parents still live in the house that I grew up in because I would just die if they moved. They have asked me a hand full of times if I would be ok with the idea of them moving somewhere else. Absolutely not. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I never got to go back there. This will be our 3rd holiday season as a married couple. The holidays are getting easier and easier for me, I have adjusted to the idea of going to Houston to spend the holidays with that side of our family. I like the idea. We don't get to see them that much and I really can't wait to go be surrounded by all of my nieces and nephews. There's that overwhelming feeling again...I love them all so much, and I don't know how to tell them. We have 9 nieces and 5 nephews on that side of our family. I am so thankful for all of them, including Jared's 4 sisters, brother and all of their spouses. They are a great family to be a part of. One of our sweet nephews, Peyton, has a tumor on his brain stem. They found it last year, when he was about 6 and half. I won't go into the medical terms, because I don't know them. I can't remember them, I don't understand them. I'm not going to insult him or his family by trying to talk about something that I don't get....but I know this much. It breaks my heart every single day to think about it. He isn't doing very well anymore and I don't really know how to deal with it, other than pray about it and know that I will get to see him again when my time here is over. That is really comforting, when I can actually look at the big picture. But as for right now I have so much regret. I regret that we live so close to my family and we don't get to see the Carruths, the Rickers, the Stocktons, Charite, Sarah, and Rosario often. I haven't gotten the chance to become the aunt to them that I should be. I'm not good at just calling the kids up to have a conversation, I hate that about myself. I don't even know what to say, I regret that. I hate to think that they don't know how much they mean to me and how special they all are to me. All 14 of them. I hope that they know. I hope they don't think I am as crappy of an aunt as I think I am. There are a lot of things that led to me being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But the biggest one is Peyton. I made a little prayer, at the time I called it a deal, with God the day we found out about Peyton. We knew that things didn't look great for him and time wasn't really on his side but I promised that I would be baptized if he could just get better. That was so dumb of me, BUT he has been doing well for a long time now, and I'm a member of the greatest church that I have ever known. Watching Robert and Jenna deal with this has taught me more than any class that I have ever been in. The faith that they have is undeniable. Much of my testimony is built on their faith, they know for a fact that they will all be with Peyton again. They are sealed for time and all eternity. And now that I am a member, my family can have that too. I get to be a part of the Ricker family for FOREVER. That's the greatest blessing that I can think of. I love my family and I am thankful for them everyday, even if I am bad at letting them know it.

My first Dress!!

2009-11-09T11:24:00.003-06:00

A VERY dear friend on mine needed a dress made of a certain material for a wedding that she was going to....so I said I would give it a shot. Truth be told....I waited until the day that she was coming over for the final fitting before I even started it. Hello diet coke and a no doz! BUT I got it done hours before she came over, and we did the final taking in and letting out, etc. I was so intimidated by this dress. At least she knew what she wanted it to look like. And Hobby Lobby did a $.99 pattern sale, so bingo. I had to get some pattern reading advice from my lovely friend Ashley, and she was a doll....got it all figured out in one morning. Even put in my very first zipper. I am somewhat proud of this little number...I make blankets, not dresses...especially not evening wear :) But from what I can tell it worked out well! So thank you Allyson, for helping me step out of my baby blanket box!!

Allyson is the one in the middle....isn't she GORGEOUS!?

Entrepreneurs :)

2009-11-09T09:46:00.003-06:00

I have been getting lots of requests on Facebook lately to "become a fan" of this page, and "follow" this blog....etc.. And I started going through everything and there are a LOT of people that I went to school with that are going down the road of entrepreneurship, as well as myself. It's so amazing to go look at every one's websites and pages and blogs, and see what they have come up with. I never ever in my dreams thought that I would start a business selling custom baby stuff....or any business at all for that matter. So needless to say, I am pretty proud of myself, I stepped out of my box and with the help of some friends and the encouragement from my loving husband and family....Laynie's Sewtique was born. And it's doing so well. I thought I would take a little time out this morning and mention some other wonderful businesses from old friends and classmates....there is QUITE the variety to look at :) ENJOY!

Ashley (Kroese) Howry- "Blue Cottage Kids", and the blog

Ashley makes the CUTEST little girl dresses and other outfits. She has an ETSY page which is super easy to go shop from (I think there is even some free shipping at the moment)! Ashley likes to keep her stuff super affordable for everyone! I love all the little outfits that she makes for her sweet Emma.

Leslie (Lane) Cunningham- "Platinum Designs", and the blog...also "Rhino Linings of Rockwall"

Leslie does interior design, party planning, and SO much more!! Spend some time checking out the shop page on her website, she makes BEAUTIFUL holiday wreaths that have a modern twist....not your average plastic flower decor :)

Anne (Greenhaw) Shields- "Scents of Elegance" (if you don't have Facebook you can't check this link out....but they make yummy smelling candles that I LOVE!!!)

Anne took Scents of Elegance over from her aunt....she, along with her sister Lacey, make these candles themselves and can match almost any scent that you love. They have an awesome line of holiday scents...I'm actually burning Autumn Berries right now and I seriously love it. The candles are so inexpensive as well ($10.00), and they burn for 55 hours!!

Lacey (Greenhaw) Bacon- "Scents of Elegance"

Brady Hill- "Brady Z. Hill Agency, Farmers Insurance & Financial Services"

Pretty self explanatory! Send him a message or email though if you have started your own company, he has a great Networking group that meets every Thursday at the Hilton in Rockwall. I haven't been able to check it out yet, but I can't wait until I can.

Ashley Del Rio- "Icing and Aprons", and the blog

I haven't gotten to taste any of the cakes by Ashley, but I love reading her blog and looking at all the pictures! Everything is beautiful! You need to at least check out her blog.

Kelly (Nichols) Rucker- "Kelly Rucker Photography", and her healthy eating journal

Kelly's pictures are AWESOME!! There isn't much else to say other than that :) and her healthy eating journal is fun to read!! It seriously has made me watch what I put in my mouth for the past few days. Check it out!

Christina Depuy- "Little Deities", such cute little hair clips!!

I asked Christina to make Wylee's hair clip for her first birthday outfit...I should be getting it any day now. Her clips are SO original! I fell in love with them instantly! And she is extremely affordable!

Evan & Katie (Cameron) Kaufmann- "Detail Films", they've done some great music videos, among other stuff!

The Kaufmanns are amazing! I haven't gotten to check out everything that they've done, but recently I have seen a lot about the Wade Bowen music video that they just did. It's awesome!

Rhea Ortamond- "Rhea's Ice Cream Shop"...coming soon, there isn't a web page for this yet as far as I know, but she did sign a lease!

Check it out...follow it....maybe pass it on?

2009-11-05T15:20:00.001-06:00

http://layniessewtique.blogspot.com

Slump-ola

2009-11-03T16:32:00.002-06:00

I can't count the days between this blog and the last. Sadly, maybe not that sad depending on how many people actually read what I say lol, I won't be able to say much. I did get caught up on everyone else's blogs that I used to faithfully follow.....Howry Family, you are MUCH better at staying up-to-date, I envy you :). I started a business!! Laynie's Sewtique is in full swing and keeping me just as busy as the kids are. And I love it!! I have 4 more blankets to get finished this week (finished and mailed one yesterday to total 5). And about 5 to do next week, and 4 the week after that. So yes, it's going well so far. I couldn't be happier with it :) I'll have to put pictures of my blankets up next time though, because both kids just woke up. :)

Jaylee's Mankies?

2009-09-23T17:37:00.002-05:00

So I have been super busy making blankets, shirts, and onesies over the past couple of weeks. Which is GREAT news! The not so great news is I haven't making too much of a profit off of them, because apparently the stuff is way too cheap. The good news is, my name is getting out there and people are asking about my stuff and my prices, etc. SO, I am trying desperately to come up with a name for my goods. I want to include my kids if I can....which is where Jaylee's Mankies comes from. (JAred&wYLEE)...you get it. And of course, mankies is what Jared has always called blankies around here. So the name makes sense to me. But probably not anyone else if you don't know my children. I don't know if that really even matters, does it? Does it sound stupid? I have no idea. I am not creative when it comes to naming things. Other than our dogs....Candee and Caine. Maybe I should skip the kids and make a name out of our dogs' names..... The CandeeCaine Co. Which has nothing to do with blankets or baby accessories. So that probably wont work out very well. I need input because I am so stumped! Here are a few projects that I have finished up lately....

"You Deserve Platinum Style"...

2009-09-18T13:12:00.004-05:00

My blankets are being "Showcased" at the "Platinum Designs" booth (#193) at the Rockwall Aspasians this weekend! So exciting! Now I have to go put together my book and wait for my order forms.....oh yeah, and pray that people like them!! Thank you Platinum!

Miss Mia

2009-09-11T12:51:00.003-05:00

An old friend of mine (by old I mean we have gone to school together since kindergarten) had a baby girl about a week after I had Wylee and she asked me to make a blanket for her......soooo here it is!!! Maybe it's not really blog worthy but for now I have nothing else to write about.....

Baptisms and Blessings

2009-09-10T11:24:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in what feels like forever! Since the last post, we went to Kingwood to visit Jared's family and had a GREAT time. Our niece Aimee was baptized and our brand new niece Holli was blessed the next day! The only family member missing was Sarah, but since she's on her mission, I will let that slide. It is so crazy to me that when she comes home in January she will have 3 new nieces and 1 new nephew! 4 new family members and she will have only been gone a year and a half. I can't fathom that for some reason. Maybe because I am from a slightly smaller family...I have two cousins total. And they now have kids so I have 4 second cousins. Jared and Wylee have 16 cousins (that's including Dallas' son Gunner). If I could capitalize the number 16, I would, because that is just an insane number compared to what I am used to. But I love it. My cousins are quite a bit older than me and we really never got to spend a lot of time together so I absolutely love getting to watch our kids grow up with all of their cousins. It's amazing. I think Jared's new favorite person is Sage (Bekah and Matt's oldest daughter). They had so much fun playing together last weekend, it was so cute. Anyways, I have more blankets to make and errands to run so I should probably get off this thing.

Jared swinging on the swing set in our backyard....

Eating some of the delicious lemon birthday cake that big Jared made me for my 25th birthday! (It was soooo good!)

Sweet Wylee girl

Killer side burns.

Mankies everywhere!

2009-08-29T16:01:00.004-05:00

Front of Will's blanket....maybe turned the wrong way, I have no idea.

Sienna's blanket

Will's blanket

Jared doesn't want a single thing to do with this blanket.....what a waste!

Jackson's blanket

I finished up 4 more blankies! Lots more to go though!!! Hope my sewing machine doesn't break down ;)

Mankie Time

2009-08-26T11:31:00.004-05:00

I just got some of the cutest material with my birthday money!!! I can't wait to make Wylee a mankie out of it!! (Mankies are what we call our blankies around here) Someday if I ever make it big with baby blankets they will be called "Mankies".....I've got some sewing to do! Not to mention the 3 blankets that people have ordered and my dad's 50 million t-shirt blankets :)

**EDIT** So I started the mankie when i laid the kids down for nap time and I couldn't wait till tomorrow to finish it so when they woke up I got them out of bed and did the "what-nots" that get done after nap time and sat them down to play and I finished the mankie up...it is SO cute!!! It actually looks better than it did in my head, but the camera batteries are dead, and Jared isn't home with the good camera yet so you will just have to wait for a picture of it. When I was done I showed baby Jared and he said "Likey the mankie mommy, wylee likey the mankie, too!".....I'm giving myself an A plus for this one!

Bon Voyage!

2009-08-17T13:07:00.004-05:00

With Mimi and Papa on their balcony...in Jamaica.

Me, Franci & Brit

Dinner one night...

Dinner the 2Nd night.

Since I FINALLY have our cruise pictures on the computer, I can blog about it!

My Mimi and Papa celebrated their 60Th wedding anniversary on August 5Th, and what they REALLY wanted was for everyone in the family to go on a cruise with them. All 16 of us (minus 5 of the great grandchildren)! We left EARLY Sunday morning, the 2Nd, and arrived in Galveston around 10:30 or 11:00. We dropped off our bags, parked the cars, and made our way to the ship! We were all so excited that while we were boarding the ship someone thought they saw Britanie's luggage on a rack about to be loaded, so like a bunch of rednecks we all ran to the window in amazement. It sounded something like "WOAH look there's Brit's luggage!! Oh my gosh they are about to put it on the boat! Where's my bag!?! Oh no wait....that's not Britanie's bag." Dad said we looked like Jed Clampett and his hill-billy family. It was funny. Here's the itinerary for the week:

Day 1- Fun day at sea (a.k.a. we'll be sailed for quite a while so find something to do)

Day 2- Another fun day at sea!

Day 3- And another fun day at sea!

Day 4- Mimi and Papa's anniversary and we arrive in Montego Bay, Jamaica

Day 5- Cayman Islands!

Day6- Cozumel!

Day 7- Last fun day at sea

Day 8- Get the heck off the boat

So let's go back to day one....about 3 hours after we boarded, ate lunch and checked out rooms and unpacked. Jared, Dallas, Britanie and I decide to go try out one of the pools. We get in the pool and all of the sudden my bathing suit FALLS APART. The only one piece that I have that was slightly too big for me as it is. The lining stayed in place but the outer "shell" I guess you would call it, lost all elasticity known to man. It looked like I had lost about 200 pounds and I had nothing but extra skin to show for it. My butt looked like I had taken a crap in my bathing suit. Nice. We have 6 more days of "bathing suit wearing time" and my suit crapped out after 3 hours. I had brought a couple of two pieces for Britanie since I didn't plan on EVER wearing them again.....ugh. So yes I thought ok I'll wear one of these just for the next two days till I can buy something in Jamaica. I figured, "I've seen a lot worse around here, and in bathing suits a lot smaller then what I'm gonna put on". Jamaica couldn't have come soon enough. Well on day two, the ladies were laying out and guess what....no one told me that the sun was stronger the closer you get to the freakin equator! So my SPF 30 didn't quite cut it. I was so burnt that you couldn't see anything but the halo of my star tattoo on my back (its a pink star). By Wednesday I realized I couldn't take the pain so Jared went to go to the store on the boat to get some highly over-priced aloe. But they weren't open. So he had to go all the way back to Jamaica to get me some even more over-priced aloe. How sweet. Jamaica was nuts. We didn't opt for the taxi drive deep into Jamaica, we settled for the shuttle bus ride to Margaritaville and the "Center City Mall" or whatever it was called. Basically people literally come OUT of their shops to try to drag you back in with them. Yikes. They don't believe you when you say you are broke. The Cayman Islands were SO much better than what we saw of Jamaica! We went to the beach after a few hours of shopping and souvenir buying. Dallas and Jared brought home pockets full of stupid rocks that they dug up with their feet in the ocean. Can't wait to display those little beauties in a jar in the bathroom. Come to think of it, that is probably why Jared wouldn't let me throw away the empty pickle jar Saturday night. Great, that's so classy. ANYWAYS...I forgot to mention that every night when we would get back from dinner and whatever activity that was going on after dinner, I beds would be turned down with chocolates, a list of stuff to do the next day, and a little animal made out of towels! Which takes us back to day 2....before we even got to breakfast Jared accidentally erased all of our pictures on the camera....work pictures, Jared's 2Nd birthday party pictures, and our first day on the ship, which included a picture of the towel seal waiting on our bed. Okay, back to day whatever....we arrived in Cozumel and the water was BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't believe it. It was amazing. We didn't really wanna do a whole lot there so we shopped a little bit and then caught up with mom and dad to get a taxi downtown and shop there and eat some real Mexican food. Okay downtown Cozumel was worse than Jamaica. And I forgot to mention that in the Cayman Islands they don't bother to stop at the stop signs, and I don't think they even have stop signs in Jamaica, people just pull out in front of each other and you honk to say thanks. It was crazy.

Mimi had it set up to where we had seated dinning every night at the same tables with the same waiters which were amazing! The food was so good! I tried duck, lamb, escargot, lobster tail, lobster bisque....I hated all of those things, but it didn't matter because you could just order something else! Dallas and Jared had at least 3 entrees every night on top of their 2 appetizers, salads, and whatever else they wanted, followed by a few desserts. Our waiter was so nice to us, I'm sure we looked like a bunch of fat greedy Americans, lol.

There was SO much to do on the ships and we all had an awesome time. I am SO thankful that we got to go and share that experience with my family. I loved it. I want to go back already. Maybe someday :)

Happy Birthday Jared!

2009-07-30T11:04:00.004-05:00

Today is Jared's 2nd birthday! I can't believe he's already two. Two years ago today I never would have imagined the impact that our baby boy would have had on my life. He's so hyper (ALL the time), he loves being outside (especially if the dogs go outside with him), he talks all day long (which I never get tired of), and he already folds his arms during prayer, says Amen at the end, and tells me he loves me every night. He's such a blessing. He has lately decided that he wants to clean up his toys before we go somewhere, not always but sometimes. He has to say bye to each animal in the house before we leave, and sometimes he wants to give each one of them kisses....even the cat, which is sometimes a problem if she's hiding somewhere. Jared is already putting sentences together and he is really starting to make sense....to me anyways. I thought maybe I would use this blog to write a little something for Jared to read when he's a little bit older....

Jared: You're two today!! I've been telling you happy birthday all day long even though you don't understand what I'm saying. Right now your absolute favorite movie is CARS, every time you see a semi on the road you say "I see Mac!"....then two seconds later somehow you see another Mac. I'm pretty sure that your favorite character is Tow Mater, and then Lightning McQueen is a close second. You talk us into letting you take your cars to bed with you every night, and for naps too. You would rather be outside in the 100 degree weather than be inside where it's nice and cool. You LOVE swinging on the swing set in the back yard. Your favorite thing to do is lay stomach side down on the swing and get your daddy to spin you. You also love getting daddy to throw a basketball on the roof of the dog house so that you can both catch it when it bounces off. You made us do that for close to an hour the other day. And you love your little sister so much. You won't remember this, but just recently you have figured out that if she is crying and you hit yourself on the side of the head and say ouchie, it makes her laugh really hard and she usually stops crying. When we are in the car and the two of you are in the backseat together you somehow communicate. I can't figure it out, neither can daddy, but you both sit back there and just laugh at each other...and Wylee isn't even 8 months old yet! You are such a smart little boy and you are very loved by everyone in your life. I can't wait to watch you grow up! Well that's a lie, I would love for you to be little forever so that I could always protect you....but that won't happen. Anyways, happy birthday baby Jared (yes at two I still call you baby Jared and that is acceptable considering I am the one that gave birth to you). Mommy and Daddy love you with all of our hearts!

Anyways, have a good Thursday!

Easter

2009-07-27T14:53:00.003-05:00

I didn't know how to put up videos back in April so here is a late Easter video of Gunner and Jared. Jared has no clothes on because during the Easter egg hunt he fell in the mud so we had to change him. Gunner has no shirt on because Jared had no shirt on.

Happy Monday

2009-07-20T15:24:00.002-05:00

Since I don't really have anything fun to tell you guys about, I thought I would just put up some random pictures of the kids! Happy Monday! Her hair really isn't as red as this picture makes it look.

Aren't they cute?

This is how Jared takes pictures.....they are never normal.

Baby Jared was relaxing, while watching Days of Our Lives and eating a bowl of grapes....must be nice.

Doing his part to help out around the yard :)

It's been a BIG day for Wylee Ann!

2009-07-18T20:33:00.005-05:00

Wylee crawled for the first time today! Well sort of the first time, a few days ago she moved each knee once and each hand once, but I don't count that. Today she crawled to me! We got a video of it but everytime she did it either baby Jared was in the way or a dog was walking in front of the camera, but we got enough of her to where you get the idea. She first started sitting up on her own last Friday (7-10) and then started crawling 8 days later! We are VERY proud! After nap time we decided we would take baby Jared and Wylee to Bass Pro Shop so Jared could look at the big fish through the glass and see the turtles and other stuff. He loves looking at the fish! After that big Jared decided to stop by Claire's and just look into getting Wylee's ears pierced....and we did it! I couldn't watch, so I went around the store with Jared picking up everything that he took off of the racks, but just like that it was done and she cried and cried for about 2 minutes and then she was over it! Baby Jared kept grabbing his ears and saying "Me pretty too", he really wanted his ears pierced and cried when we told him no. He got a sucker instead which seemed just as good to him. Here are some pictures that I took right before bedtime, I don't know how well you can see her earrings in them, they show up really well in the Windows Picture Viewer, though. I think if you click on the picture it might make it bigger, I don't really know. Anyways, that's been our big day! I hope you like the pictures and videos!

PROductivity...

2009-07-16T14:47:00.004-05:00

So I spent all morning getting ALL of our home videos on the computer. Nice. And analyzing. And registering. Now I just have to crop and edit....someday. But for your viewing pleasure, I am going to try to post some videos of the kids playing together and some from the 4Th of July with family. Not too much is going on around here. Well, actually, as I typed that I thought to myself "If not a lot is going on around here then why am I so exhausted all the time and why don't I watch t.v. more often. Oh yeah that's right, I have two babies". I guess "Cars" and "Finding Nemo" count as t.v. for now. I guess we do have SOME exciting information....Wylee is now an INDEPENDENT SITTER!!! Yay for her!!!! I walked in the living room and heard baby Jared laughing at something behind the coffee table and as I peeked around there she was sitting straight up with her hands propped up on her fat little leg rolls and her bottom lip sucked in just lookin around at her new view. So then Jared and I were BOTH laughing at her. She has some pretty good facial expressions. I think my life is about to get much harder, it's easy for Jared to just take a toy away from her if he doesn't want her touching it....she can't go after it. But soon enough she will be crawling and Jared is gonna have a hard time keeping things away from her. So either he will just learn how to share with his little "sissy", as he calls her, or he's gonna be really upset, and often. Other than trying to get ready for the cruise, not much else is happening! Jared and Caine
Jared laying with Caine.....he was laughing so hard in there.

Jared got his Aunt Becky to get him that car while we were at Build-A-Bear and Wylee is just the right size for it!

Little sleepy Wylee and her baby doll :)

The video is from 4th of July, it's just a TINY bit of all the videos that we took. I'll put more up later. They are lengthy. The pictures are just some randomly taken photos from the last month or so!

Our amazing 4th!

2009-07-09T19:34:00.003-05:00

We had an AWESOME 4th of July this year!!! The pictures that I'm putting up are stolen from my sister-in-law's blog for now, we haven't uploaded ours yet. We got to spend our long weekend in New Braunfuls (I really can not spell that) with ALMOST all of Jared's sisters and brother and mom. His youngest sister is still on her mission so she missed out on our family fun, but I think it was too good of a time to not do it again soon. We had all of Jared and Wylee's 13 cousins, plus all of the adults....I guess technically there were 14 cousins, one still in the womb :) We spent almost the entire day at Schlitterban on Friday and we had about as much fun as you can have with a 7 month old and a 23 month old, lol. But I know that all the older kids had a great time so we were happy about that. And then Saturday was a big day too! It was miss Caitlyn's 9th birthday, so we had a chocolate flag cake in her honor (and it was sooo good), along with ice cream. Jared grilled chicken and sausages and we had a little cookout to celebrate! After cake and ice cream we went to the San Marcus fireworks and Charite bought all the kids those fun little glow sticks, baby Jared made us sleep with his, he was so in love with it. I have some good videos to put up to, all the kids were so cute when the firework show started. Jared's ready to get out of the bath now so I'll have to put more up later.

We really tried to get a cousin picture but this is the best we got, lol. It was a good effort.
Sweet baby Jared

Me and Ruth

Big Jared, Aimee, Little Jared and Charite

Rane and Wylee

Just a Wednesday...

2009-06-03T13:52:00.004-05:00

Hey guys!!! Nothing too exciting is going on around here, not till this weekend anyways. I have two baby showers to go to and I'm so excited! this morning Jared got up EXTREMELY early, about 5:45, so I brought him into our room to watch A Bee Movie so I could maybe sleep a little bit longer. When his movie finished he ran into the living room and came back with his shoes on....yes he put them on all by himself. They were on the wrong feet but still, he's growing up so fast! And it seems that miss Wylee has taken up reading as a new hobby. Currently on her reading list is Happy Baby Words, also a favorite of baby Jared. After this weekend I can put up pictures of all of my baby shower gift projects, can't risk them getting a sneak peak before their big days! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday! One of the 1st things Jared likes to do in the morning is see if Wylee is awake, and he thinks it's so funny when she is sitting in her crib.

Doing a little light reading....

And being very happy about it.

The dog jumped on the bed, so she's forgotten about her book and is fascinated by Britches.

All by himself.

I forgot to tell you...

2009-05-29T18:32:00.002-05:00

While we were at the pool I had put my wedding rings in same bag that we had the camera in. When we got to the Palmers' house I noticed I hadn't put them back on yet so I went to the baby bag to get them and only the wedding band was in there.....so my engagement ring was missing. So Jared and Bruce left to go back to the pool to see if they could find it......they weren't there for very long. I had a good feeling about that though because if I know Jared he would have never given up that easy on something that expensive :). Sure enough, they found it! PHEW! It must have fallen out of the bag when we were getting the camera out....LUCKY ME!

Memorial Day Part 2

2009-05-26T13:30:00.003-05:00

We went for our first official swim of the year Monday afternoon! After Jared woke up from his nap we got the kids all sunscreened up and we headed to the Woodcreek pool. Jared LOVED the little kid area and Wylee just hung out with me and didn't mind the water at all. She looked so cute in her tiny bathing suit and little hat. We swam for about an hour - maybe an hour and a half, and then we dried off and had burgers and hot dogs at the Palmer's house with the Romneys. We had a really great time seeing all of them since the ward split. We finally headed home and just sat for a little while until it was bed time. It's safe to say we had an awesome Memorial Day weekend!

Sweet Wylee Ann

Before we got in the pool....she wouldn't look at the camera.

This was after we were done, she finally looked at me.

When we told Jared we were going swimming he ran and got his magnadoodle and Wylee's seahorse and wouldn't put them down...not even for fruit snacks and a ham and cheese wrap.

Jared enjoying the pool is his blue float!

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T11:11:00.003-05:00

We went camping at Lake Cyprus this weekend and had a ton of fun! Jared talked me into taking a tent instead of sleeping in someone's camper. I admit that I hated the idea especially since they were calling for rain. But we set up the tent anyways and it really wasn't that bad, if you don't mind sleeping in a hot sticky sauna. We had to keep the windows zipped up so the rain didn't get in, but we had a fan so it wasn't horrible. Jared is cutting 4 teeth right now, so he was kind of fussy, or a lot fussy. Wylee had a good time though. She didn't mind sleeping in the tent one bit. And Jared did really well in the tent too. So even though it rained we got to spend some time with family and really good friends. I'll put more pictures up later. Happy Memorial Day everybody!

I have no idea why this is upside down but I can't figure out how to change it.

Wylee makes some pretty funny faces sometimes :)

Big and little Jared after we TRIED to swim in the lake, it started raining as soon as we got in, plus it was freezing.

A family photo minus Wylee, she was already asleep.

Once little Jared saw the guys squating down to blow on the fire, he felt like he had to do it too, and he wanted me to join him but everytime I squated he would get up and run to another spot and call me over there. It was funny.

My latest

2009-05-21T23:02:00.003-05:00

So since not ALL of you are on facebook, most of you are though, I decided to put my dresses up here to show off. So sorry if you have already seen them on FB and you are completely sick of looking at all my projects...just avert your eyes :). This is the only thing I have going for me that doesn't require mopping, dusting, vacuuming, a boob in the mouth and it's butt to be wiped. Humor me.

My first creation....not as good as the rest, but not bad.

If she isn't the cutest little thing ever, then I don't know what is.

This is my third dress.

This one was my second one, and still my favorite.

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-05-18T09:34:00.003-05:00

I never got to let everyone know how spoiled I was on Mother's Day! Well I guess I COULD have written this sooner, but we've been really busy. Plus I was trying to wait for Jared to give me a few updated pictures of the kids from his camera but he still hasn't yet so I'll just have to add them later. We sort of had a Mother's Day weekend out here, Jared brought me Tulips on Saturday and for dinner that night he made me steak, shrimp, and mashed potatoes with cheese and bacon in them. Let me back up real quick, Saturday morning started off nicely when a neighbor started banging on our front door at 8 in the morning and when I answered it she started cussing me out because Jared was mowing our lawn. I mean CUSSING me out, it was terrifying. Apparently she had a late night out on the driveway and the sound of Jared's lawn mower wasn't making things any better. So she told me it was illegal for him to be mowing at that time and she could call the cops on him. So I did her one better, I called Dallas who was on duty and he laughed and said it wasn't illegal but he could come write HER a ticket for cussing me out. But they are our neighbors so I didn't want to do that. Dallas decided to stop by and say hello anyways and as soon as they saw Dallas' squad car, everyone in the house left and didn't come back for quite some time. I thought that was pretty funny. Anyways, back to my dinner... it was soooo good!!!! I'm so lucky that Jared knows his way around a grill :) He also cleaned the kitchen afterward! And then on Sunday morning he brought me breakfast in bed....I got fried eggs, bacon, and toast. It was PERFECT! I even got a little flower in a cup of water. It was really sweet. I almost made it through my entire breakfast without having to share with baby Jared, ALMOST. But it was an even trade because baby Jared hads some NERDS that he shared with me in return. Mom came and picked up the kids before we left for church so that my grandparents could spend a little time with them. The primary sang some songs for Mother's Day and it was so sweet. And we heard some GREAT talks about moms. After church we went over there for fajitas and sopapilla cheesecake. So I was spoiled and fed very well all weekend long! I hope everyone had a Mother's Day as wonderful as mine was!

Hey Everyone! Come See How Good I Look!

2009-05-08T13:17:00.012-05:00

Wylee got a hair cut today! I was so tired of seeing that comb over! I cut about 3 inches of hair off the top of her head. So now she is minus the comb over and her hair is all one length. I was sad, but it's not like bows would stay in her hair anyways and when I was finally honest with myself I knew she looked ridiculous. She has a double cow lick so her hair is waving to itself all the time. I decided to cut it while she was in the bath yesterday and Jared was so jealous that Wylee was getting a bath that he climbed into the tub with her.....clothes, diaper and all. He loves bath time. I took a video of it but since Wylee is naked, we decided not to put it on here.

The Big 5 M-O

2009-05-04T15:47:00.003-05:00

Miss Wylee turns 5 months old tomorrow!! I can't believe how fast that went, well I kind of can but still kind of can't. Wylee is the sweetest little baby that I could have asked for. No offense to Jared but we all know he wasn't the easiest baby to take car of, especially not for a first timer like me. She is so smiley, and happy and she laughs all the time. She is rolling over now, too! Just to one side though. Wylee is also sleeping in her big girl bed all by herself now :( . It was sad to have her leave our room but I think she gets better sleep in her own room. Plus she likes to wake up and stare at the pink walls. Who wouldn't though? She's 13 pounds, so she's a tiny thing, but she still has some rolls on her arms and legs. She isn't starving, don't worry. Rice cereal in a month and then the baby foods, it seems like it was forever until we could start feeding Jared that stuff. All that pretty hair that she had is falling out and starting to come back light blonde like Jared's. She has managed to keep all the hair that was on top of her head though. I like to give her a nice comb over. Well that's about all I have for now!

P.S.

2009-05-02T21:40:00.002-05:00

I have officially mastered the art of grocery shopping with two kids :) Thank you, Thank you.

I've been inspired...

2009-05-01T13:08:00.002-05:00

...by Ashley Howry! Haha, for real though. I have been feeling sooo down in the dumps lately. I think it's credited to staying at home with the kids and them still being too young to enjoy a lot of things. Sometimes I feel like the walls are just closing in. Well I knew that I needed to do something to get out of my rut because it was starting to take over. Ashley is so creative with her sewing machine and one day I hope I can be as good as she is :) Anyways, a very close friend of mine is having a baby boy in September so I thought that making her a baby blanket would be something that might cheer me up. Well it did. Not only did it cheer me up but it really lit a fire under me. I loved making that thing so much that I just had to show everyone that I thought might appriciate it, and even a few that probably wouldn't lol. Well, that email has sparked a few interests in my blanket making. So I have now completed two other blankets other than Johnna's, and I have a lady that I don't even know that is paying me to make one for her by the end of may and another in september. So as of the end of next week I will have sold two blankets. Not too bad for a stay at home mom, huh?!!? So now I am out of my rut, feeling creative again, and very happy with my life. I hope everyone is doing well and I'm sorry that it took so long to update......there just really wasn't anything going on.

Rotavirus

2009-03-08T22:08:00.003-05:00

So Jared woke up early last Tuesday morning (around 4) covered in throw up :(. Big Jared was throwing up all night long too so they stayed in bed all day Tuesday. We were told that this was going around and it would last about 24 hours. Well big Jared recovered in about a day or two but little Jared is still sick and we know now that it wasn't the bug that everyone is getting, but it's rotavirus. He has been given two different kinds of medicine and couldn't hold the first one down, but the second one seems to be better, we just can't really tell how much it's working. Most of you guys probably know what it is but in case you don't it basically causes him to have severe diarrhea and vomiting and dehydration. He has lost about 5 pounds since Tuesday and hasn't really been able to hold anything down besides a cracker here and there and some juice. It hasn't gotten to the hospitalization point yet but we don't know when he'll be over it, it's been 6 days now. You can see his poor little ribs through his back and he's so sad. Wylee, thank goodness, still seems to be doing just fine, and I haven't gotten sick at all either, so that's good. Anyways, keep baby Jared in your prayers!! Love you guys!

More pictures...

2009-03-05T10:01:00.001-06:00

New Pictures

2009-03-04T10:37:00.002-06:00

I haven't really had the chance to send any new pictures of Jared and Wylee to anyone for a while now, so I thought I would put a few up here for you.

I'm Saved!! (jk)

2009-02-19T15:43:00.002-06:00

Although the picture is EXTREMELY unflattering.....this is Jared and me on my big day! On February 16th I made the decision to finally be baptized. I had been feeling like it was something that I was ready to do for about a month now but for one reason or another I kept talking myself out of it. I won't go into detail but on Sunday I just had such an urge to do it that we almost went up to the church at about 8:30 that night, but we didn't. We decided that I would do it on Saturday. Jared wanted to take me to the temple and have a picnick and then head over to the church. The I remembered that my mom was going to be out of town so that's why I decided to do it Moday night instead, so that she could be there along with my dad, brother, sister in law and nephew along with a few of the families from church. It happened so fast we forgot to tell a few people about it that I would have liked to have been there.... (sorry Aubrey :) ). Anyways, there was a good turn out and if you can imagine Gunner and Jared put on QUITE a show. Gunner was growling at Jared and he was laughing as hard, and as loud, as he could. But it was funny and it helped calm my nerves. After everyone had cookies and brownies the Owens took us out for a little ice cream at Braums :). Needless to say, I slept pretty well that night.

2009-01-30T12:44:00.002-06:00

Here's a funny story for you guys. I went to the grocery store with Jared and Wylee this morning for the first time. I have taken Wylee but I left Jared with my parents and that was hard enough. Anyways....she started crying like 10 minutes in (of course) and like 15 people wanted to stop me so they could look at her and about 13 of them asked me if she was hungry....I said "no I just fed her she just doesn't want to be here"....one woman asked me if i forgot to burp her (gee maybe I did forget to burp her!! wow I'm just so new at this whole "mom" thing! I'm so glad she was there to remind me that a baby needs to burp after it eats).....another woman asked me if i watch Oprah and I said "no mam I do not" and she went on to tell me how one time she did a show about a woman who had such great ears that she could tell what each different baby cry meant and how she used to have it on vhs but she doesn't know where she put it and I said "oh thats nice" and then she asked me if I knew how to use the internet and I said "oh yeah sorta" so she told me I could probably find it online.Gee what a novel idea lady. Lucky me, I ran into this woman yet again in the produce aisle with Wylee still screaming and she asked me if she could walk behind me and hold her while I shop. Are you serious? I said "no, i just need to hurry up and finish so that I can leave". So I finally got done, paid, and had all the bags in the cart and my huge cart got stuck at the cash register and wouldn't budge so I was pulling on it so hard to get it free and like 5 people gathered around to ask me if Wylee was hungry or maybe it was cholic or maybe she was sad. My butt was litterally on the ground I was pulling so hard I was like freaking out. I almost lost it at the store. And then the very moment that I put her in the car she stopped crying. Nice. Real nice.

Jared & Wylee

2009-01-28T15:58:00.003-06:00

Ice Storm!

2009-01-28T15:18:00.008-06:00

Okay so putting these pictures up didn't QUITE turn out the way I wanted them to, but that's okay. Jared and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary last night! He brought flowers and a card home for me and then we went and ate at Texas Land and Cattle.....kid free!! It was soo nice! And then the ice storm hit about 30 minutes after we got home. Jared got to stay home from work today since the roads were all iced over so we had some fun with the camera and the kids, as you can see. Jared just loves it when daddy gets to stay home from work and play with him. For some reason little Jared decided to sleep in till 8 something, yet again making me look like a big liar for saying that he gets up at 6 every morning. I think he knows when Jared is here and decides to sleep longer for that very reason. Anyways, other than making it through the first two years without killing each other and the fantastic ice storm, that's all that we have going on!! I'm going to try to put all the pictures up from today and there is a video of Jared holding his little sister a few nights ago. It's pretty hilarious...to us anyways.

My very 1st post!

2009-01-23T13:19:00.000-06:00

We have finally caught up with the rest of Jared's side of the family and started our own page to help keep you up to date with our exciting lives here in Rockwall (technically Fate). There isn't a ton of juicy stuff for me to say right now except that we are SO excited that Robert and Jenna's new baby is here! We can't wait to meet little Jack. Wylee isn't really doing anything that exciting besides the occasional green poop, rather than yellow. And little Jared is picking up new words left and right, he just doesn't always remember them. He is into everything ALL the time. He has recently discovered Sesame Street....yippie for me. Anyways, we love and miss yall!