Waiting

We are waiting on two big things.

Waiting for this baby - Wade's guess is next week, and he doesn't think I will have to be induced, he thinks she will just come. I know that's early, but about normal in comparison with the boys. We've never gotten this close to the babies arrive without really deciding a name. We have two in mind and will just have to wait and see her.

Waiting for Match Day. Wade was gone to Chicago last week for interviews and they went really well. Now we rank our top programs and the programs rank their top picks. March 9th is what is called Match Day and we find out. It will be nice when everything is final and we can really start house shopping.

Waiting.

~~

We are also moving this weekend. Posts might be few and far between, so I posted a few tonight on here and updated my 365 blog as well.

Forks

I don't know why my parents get to do all the fun things...I guess after raising six kids you think you can relax a little and have a little fun during retirement.


Anyway - a couple weeks ago they spent a few days at a resort close to FORKS, Washington (Twilight fans!) I told my mom she better come back with pictures for me to blog - so here we go! Too bad that I'm not as witty as my sister Jenny in my commentary. Her post would be so much more interesting to read - if she weren't private we could all enjoy it.

First off - Forks High School. Nope, my mom has never read these books. She's probably heard enough about it from her daughters, daughter in laws and granddaughter who have read it to know the whole story. I'm pretty sure if we took her to the movie she would think we were all loony. I'm glad she humored me on their trip.

Bella's truck parked out in front of the Chamber of Commerce. I love the wreath hanging on it. So not something I think Bella would do, but my parents trip was right after the holidays.

The pictures are all wet and grey - just like you would expect. My parents trip was during the rain storms and floods that Washington received. She said their romantic walks on the beach were a little rainy. You can see all the water in the back of the city limit sign.

My mom and dad got a kick out of all the Twilight signs and paraphernalia you can find in this tiny town. I guess when you are that small and a hit book and movie come out about you you've got to at least try to bank on it.

The sign above actually reads: Twilight/Forks themed Gifts and Souvenirs. When you can live forever what do you live for - duh, shopping.

Anyway, they had a good trip and weren't too bothered by all the rain. Was I jealous of their trip? - maybe the part about staying in a relaxing resort without kids, but the Forks that Stephenie Meyer paints in my head seems much more interesting of a place to me. Forks without the vampires just might not be as interesting.

Wade's always talking about how he wants to go deep sea fishing again, so maybe some day I can talk him into taking me up there.

Scrapping Simply

While I don't do a ton of digital scrapbook pages, one of my whole reasons I don't like it is that most people don't print their pages out. So I print mine out, usually as soon as I do them and put them in the album. I print some 12x12 pages but mostly 8x8 pages because of the cost. I usually use Costco to print pages too - until recently.

My sister in law Chandra told me about Scrappingsimply.com. It's s site that will develop and send (or in her case she can go pick them up) your digital prints - and the best part, 12x12 pages are a whole dollar cheaper per print than Costco and 8x8 pages are 50 cents cheaper! It might not seem like much, but it can really add up.

So, it might be cheaper, but does it look as good? That is the question. Last year I blogged in January about a 12 idea I read about in a magazine - {click here} 12 pictures on the 12th of every month that shows your every day life. Well, I didn't quite make the 12th on every day idea, but I did gather pictures from every month. I then found a digital template that I liked that happened to have 9 pictures, so my 12 idea became 9. I was still pretty happy with it and couldn't wait to print it and put it in a book.


I thought I would try out this new site, since I had 24 pages to print and I loved the results. I got the pages in the mail this week. They were delivered super fast, the quality great too. I can't wait to use them for more pages. Here are a couple of my favorite from the year:

Now I can at least pretend to be done and caught up with 2008! haha!

BabyMaker

I saw babymaker on my friend Lindy's blog and since I'm having trouble getting pictures off my own camera of real life things, I am posting this. I think they are all a little odd looking - I'll let you all be the judge. Wade chose all the celebrity guests....

Wade and Shania Twain

Debbi and Adam Sandler

Debbi and Brad Paisley



Wade and Chris Farley

Wade and I both agree that the Chris Farley baby is the cutest of the whole entire bunch...including our own. I have no idea how this happened I chose the most crazy picture I could find of him? (oh and we made baby with the joker from Dark Night but it was WAY to freaky to even post on our blog!)

And finally but not least, our babies....I'm glad our real babies are much cuter in real life. The more I look at these babies the more I laugh at how special they look.

Less than 4 weeks until we get to see our real life baby number 3! My blood pressure is up still so it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if at my next appointment on the 5th my Dr. would just say that I should be induced!

Dinner Conversation

Tonight at dinner Gage volunteered to say the blessing. I said he could and reminded him to thank Heavenly Father that Wade's interviews went well.

Near the end of the prayer he said this,

"And bless daddy that he can have energy."

While I'm sure he will be appreciative of that blessing, I'm not sure that Gage understood what I was asking him to be thankful for.

Dinner then proceeded - as normal as it gets. We had Alphabet soup for dinner tonight. (Two reasons - 1. Wade isn't a fan and isn't here for dinner and 2. Gage loves the PBS show Martha Speaks)

Gage and I were discussing letters as we found and ate them. All of the sudden Noah exuberantly said, "HEY LOOK! HEY LOOK! I found a BEAN!"

I had no idea beans were so exciting.

Weekly Review

It's Friday! I can't figure out where the week has gone and I am sorry for the lack of interesting posts, pictures and comments. I don't have the camera, so no pictures here either.

Things that have happened this week include:

1. My blood pressure is up. This is why I was induced early with both boys. I now take it several times a day and try to relax. Although I'm all game for having this baby at anytime after next week.

2. Stress about trying to relax.

3. Packing, sorting. Figure out what goes in the storage unit and what goes with us. This is one of the exact reasons I didn't want to do this in the first place. I really wish we didn't have the lemon unit and could just stay here for 2 more moths. Hardest part of packing - crafts and clothes. I don't want to leave all my craft or all the kids craft stuff in storage that long because I want to do projects. I also will need all kinds of sizes of my clothes for now and after the baby. Frustrating.

4. Nurse sick kids back to heath without getting it. I really don't want a cold, I haven't had one this entire pregnancy!

5. Called or visited main office every day to remind them that professionals have still not sprayed our house. We still have a leak in our wall and they are NOT holding up their end of the bargain. Found out that they knew that they knew they had a flea problem in this unit before we got here, and had bombed it 4 times while it was empty. The girls at the office (who have now been replaced) when we moved in were so rude to me and made me feel like we brought the fleas with us and it was our problem. GRRRR.

6. Started to compile letter to property management in my head, need to put it on paper. I am so frustrated.

7. Vacuum every day and take out vacuum bag. We haven't seen any bugs since last Friday, but I still don't want to see anymore.

8. Try to relax.

9. Take blood pressure and stress again that I should relax.

10. Think about packing a box.

11. Think about updating blog.

12. Think about commenting on every one's fascinating and fun blog posts.

13. Worked on blurb book, good thing I got it slurped, now it isn't accepting blogger anymore!

14. Try to be supportive to Wade and help him this week. He finishes his last residency interview tomorrow.

15. Visit the OB, got another lecture about weight. I gained 6 pounds in 2 weeks. I know it's not good, but what can I do about it now? Besides, I only gained 4 during the whole month of Yummy December.

16. Pack hospital bag because I freaked myself out Monday when I didn't feel good and my BP was so high.

17. Let the kids watch too much tv. I tell myself it's just good practice for when the new baby gets here. :)

18. Looked at my book I started a month ago and thought I should read it.

19. Played Lego Star Wars on the XBox 360 for the first time last night with the boys. They usually play with Wade, who knows how to play. Last night was...Embarrassing. I had to call Wade just to figure out how to get the game started. We got in one room and couldn't get out. I was laughing so hard that I kept falling off a cliff for 10 minutes. Finally Gage and I both fought each other with swords, bombs and guns for 30 minutes while Noah sat there laughing at us. At least we laughed a lot. Wade really would have enjoyed seeing my efforts.

20. Try to remember to take a picture a day. Wade's in charge now and he has the camera with him, so I have no idea what the end of this week will look like. I really don't want to pack away my 365 book, I just got it!

~~

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I probably won't blog much next week either. Perhaps February?

Sunday the fog lifted and the sun came out. We went for a drive through one of our favorite parks and enjoyed the sun, spotting raccoons and the sunset. Wade took some photo's for my 365. Sometimes I focus so much on the rain and the fog that I forget what beautiful things Heavenly Father has blessed us with.

Blurb

I've slurped. Have you slurped?
I got passed the word today that Blurb is working with Blogger again.
Check it out and slurp 2008 before they change their mind or it quits working!
(Because if you have your posts downloaded they won't go away - even if it quits working!)


I had lost a little hope, but maybe I can finish my 2008 blog book before the baby comes in the next couple weeks! I am running out of time and have so many things on my list of things to do!

{{Blurb.com}}

3 weeks of 365

Here is an update on my 365 project. It's been fun and challenging at the same time. Sometimes I forget to take a picture. Sometimes I have way more than one picture I want to use.

I've now finished 3 weeks in my 365 book. It's such a fun and easy project to put together. I hope they get more kits in soon so everyone that wants to do this can participate!

Week One. I'm still missing a picture for Sunday and Saturday, but I know what pictures I want, I just need to take them. That's the beauty, you can totally cheat! I just have go back and take a picture of an object or place from that day.

Week Two. Completely done. I like how it turned out, I did just the basics. I like how even doing the basics looks really nice. It only takes 10 minutes to put this together.

Week Three. I added a few embellishments to this week. I also added more photos, I just stacked them behind the front photo in the pocket and then noted that. They also have just a bit of ribbon at the top so you can notice it and pull them out a little easier.

Goals for Week Four. I want to print some vertical photo's smaller so I can put them in the smaller slots the right way. I also might try making a digital page and printing it 4x6 to insert - this would work well if I had a lot of photos to put in one spot. I might try printing my journaling on the cards. I don't like my handwriting, but since I don't use it in my normal scrapbooking, I think it might be a nice addition to this journal.

New use for a pop gun...

Look mom. I am a fish.

Dear Aunt Pam

Dear Aunt Pam,

Thanks so much for the package of rubber ducks you sent with our Christmas package. They have been a lot of fun in the bath.

Tonight while Daddy was on the phone with Grandpa and didn't (or wouldn't) listen to mommies pleas for help we got her! It was 2 against one. We did so well she couldn't even refill one duck before we would fire at her again. At one point we even got a couple full cups of water dumped on her head and down her shirt.

You would be very proud of us. Can we bring the ducks to your house for a bath when we come to Utah?

love,
Gage and Noah

Look What I Got!

After feeling a bit sorry for myself all morning because of moving, bugs, leaks and just stuff, I didn't really want to answer the door when the doorbell rang. My luck it would probably be the bug guy showing up to spray today, which I thought was happening, until this morning, and I found out he will be coming tomorrow. Anyway,

At my door I found this! My 365 Kit of the Month!

I was about as giddy as a kid in a candy store! I can't believe I even took the time to finish folding and putting away the laundry. (If it weren't for Wade's dress shirts that I don't want to iron, maybe I would have left it.)

I totally didn't know if I was getting it. If you haven't followed the action with this kit, they sold out in the first four hours. It was crazy trying to order it. So many people were on the site the whole thing crashed. My card got charged and I got a confirmation email, but no email saying it has shipped. From what I could read on reader boards the people who got their kits got emails saying when it was shipped. I thought the best thing to do, instead of being upset (so many people were rude to poor Becky Higgins on her blog!) that I would just wait and see.

I can't wait to open everything up and do my first two weeks! YAY!

If you didn't get one ordered, there are tons of ideas floating around out there. Becky has been using her blog as a place to share. She also posted some free downloads yesterday.

Kung-fu Panda has been turned on and I am going to dig in!

saturday, burgers, pages and plans

In the past month we have asked ourselves, did we bring the snow and floods with us from Iowa?
The snow is gone.
The floods are gone. (except for the one in our apartment...grrrrr).
The rain ceased for a few hours on Saturday.
40's and 50's are back in the forecast.
We could never imagine doing this in Iowa during January.

~~~

Tomorrow I am 34 weeks. I really want bacon cheeseburgers all the time. Not from McDonald's or Wendy's. Red Robin could do it, but I really want burgers from these small local places. My mom's high school hangout Eagan's has really good ones. My friend Auprielle was in town during Thanksgiving and introduced me to a place called Express Burger. These places look like dives, but the burgers are so good. They also make really good thick homemade shakes. Wade almost had to go get me one at 10pm the other night.

Today I was working on a digital page for my book and Gage wanted to see what I was doing. He wanted to help so I handed over the mouse. He thought this was the most appropriate place to place a bow. He thinks I look pretty.

This is my final page.

Plans this week: packing, classes, errands, packing, and Wade's first residency interview!

Old to New

Plain, old, trusty blue car seat. It's been pooped on, peed on, spit-upped on and washed numerous times.

Enter the world of girls. Do I want a blue car seat? Does it matter? My mother in law sent baby sister some fun presents for Christmas. One was this fleece blanket, it fits through the buckles, under and around the baby. I love the idea, why have just one?

Today after some errands we ran by JoAnns and I found some fleece on sale. I was lucky enough to find some really cute patterns that had blue and pink and were on sale! This one is my favorite. Noah thinks it is pretty soft too.

Now our trusty old blue car seat looks fun and new and we just need baby girl - in a few weeks - to put her in it!

~~~

I started a blog for my 365 project. I posted about it - HERE. I haven't got my kit yet, so I think a blog will be a good way to keep track. It might go private at some point. If anyone is interested, you can see it HERE.

Moving

We are moving. If you would like our forwarding address, please email me - wadeanddebbi@gmail.com.

It will be an address we can be reached at for a while, although we will be in Utah again April and May, and then into a house (somewhere - we find out March 9) in June.

scrubs

I wanted to give the boys each a homemade gift for Christmas. I had found a pattern for scrubs on sale once at JoAnns and so with my mom's help I ventured into the world of sewing itty bitty scrubs. (I know - you can buy them. I thought it might be fun to do.)

After letting the boys pick their own colors, I started the first set. The pants are a breeze. So easy. I finished the first shirt with my mom's help, then I realized it would be too small for Gage. He really wanted pink or purple but I talked him into green. He was very mad at me that his shirt fit Noah and not him. My mom saved the day and whipped a pair out in one day so he could receive them for Christmas.

Well, it's been like pulling teeth trying to get a picture of my little (and big) foot doctors. Noah likes his scrubs. Gage is still pretty mad his aren't purple, or green, or pink. Someday he will be embarrassed that I even said this about him!

Here is a funny story about Noah and his favorite foot doctor. The other day he woke up and was really sad Wade had already left for work. He kept asking me where he was and why he was gone. I told him that he had to be at work that day. Then I asked him what daddy does when he works. He answered, "foot doctor." Then I decided to ask him where daddy worked. After a moments thought he looked at me and answered enthusiastically, "Walmart!"

The word hospital has now been added to Noah's vocabulary.

We love packages

Because of the snow "storm?" that hit us the week of Christmas, UPS has been holding some of our packages Wade's family sent us for Christmas hostage.

We got them today. What a great way for us to spend a rainy afternoon and evening that Wade has to work late. (This is only half - we left the other half to open when Wade gets home.)

The Christiansen packages are notorious for coming with lots of fun shredded paper. It can entertain them for a few days if I let it. I love it! (See another fun package mess HERE)

Apparently the package mess is even more fun if you don't wear pants either. If I only had a private blog I would post pictures of Gage - you can't tell, but something he is wearing is on backwards, and it's not his shirt.....

~~

Don't miss the new poll. We are taking this one very seriously. I'll be starting the cross stitch soon. HA!

New Year's Eve & Day

Never let the pregnant girl plan your New Year's dinner. We celebrated the end of 2008 with 7 layer dip, BBQ meatballs, jelly bellys, bananas, root beer and rocky road ice cream.

Do you have certain New Year's Eve that you remember? I know there are a couple in my life so far that have been the most memorable. 2000 - when we all thought the computers would crash and crazy things would happen....and 9/11 hadn't even taken place yet, what were we so worried about? I spent New Years 2000 in my apartment in Orem celebrating with Wade and a couple other friends.

Another New Years that is top on my list is a year I don't remember, but I do remember the festivities. We spent it at the Christiansens and Betty (Wade's mom) got all the adults silly string. We were able to go downstairs and go crazy - it was so fun! I won't forget seeing all of us crazy adults - 20,30,40, and 60 year olds going crazy with the silly string....and how long it took for them to clean it all up. I bet we could still find some today.

Well I couldn't resist. We surprised the boys with glow sticks and everyone got their own can of silly string. Then we had a silly string war.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I couldn't just sit and take pictures with a full can of spray in my hand!

New Year Day we did some hiking. We need to get the boys out in the mountains more because they kept asking us if bears were going to get us.

Wait - did you see the vampire run by in that picture? I swear it was Edward. (Saw the movie last week, laughed the whole time, I don't think it was supposed to be funny, but my sisters and I cracked up the whole time. I still laugh each time I think of Jasper!)

Hope everyone had fun holidays. I'm excited that 2008 is over and I can start on my blog book and finish some 2008 scrapbook ideas. Here's to 2009.