The Hughes Family

Christmas Morning 2011

2011-12-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

Christian and I were up until 1:30 in the morning doing some very last minute gift wrapping and other Christmas preparations. The kids woke up early and they waited, and waited, and waited until Christian and I were able to wake ourselves up enough to go down stairs. We had some very patient children for a Christmas morning.

December 24, 2011 - Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T00:44:00.000-08:00

We went to Bedstemors and Bedstefars house for our Christmas Eve dinner tonight. She made roast beef, roasted potatoes, peas and corn, rolls, hollandiase sauce, we had martinellis, and ris al amande. I took our foster daughter to her mom's house so she could be with her mom and other family members on Christmas Eve. My family waited until I got back to start the rest of our evening. We sang a couple Christmas carols and commenced to open our presents.

Peter was extra funny tonight and was quick with the quips and silly jokes.

Bedstamor had her house decorated so beautifully.

Uncle Peter, Melody, and Aaron, patiently waiting for all of us to start singing so we could start opening presents.

Abby enjoying her candy cane, that turned out to be a very sticky mess. It kept her quiet for a long time though.

Peter looks awesome in his new Diamond Backs Jersey.

Bedstefar trying on his new slippers

Baylee crying for Christian's Christmas candy

Baylee discovering that Black Liquorish doesn't agree with her. All that crying and she didn't even like it.

and oh yeah, I was there too. In case you were wondering.

Melody snuck my camera

2011-05-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

Every now and again I'll pull up pictures on my cell phone that I don't remember taking. Melody sneaks my cell phone and snaps all kinds of photos. She's actually really good at it too! She took a bunch of photos on April 12th that I thought I'd post on here. Melody is becoming quite the photographer!

Reading A Banner is Unfurled

2011-05-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a part of the book that I'm reading. This book is about my pioneer ancestors and I hope you get the chance to read it. On my mom's side, we are descended through Benjamin Franklin Johnson, and his second wife. His brother, Joel Hills Johnson, was the eldest son of Ezekial and Julia Hills Johnson. Joel is also the one who wrote "High on a Mountain Top" and built a sawmill in Kirkland that is still standing today. This part of the book that I'm about to share talks about Joel Hills Johnson and his thoughts after reading the Book of Mormon. It touched my heart and I wanted to share it.

"As he studied and prayed, he came to four conclusions. First, that as all protestant churches had sprung up from the Church of Rome, they had no more authority to administer in the ordinances of the Church of Christ than the Church of Rome had. Second, that a supernatural power did attend the Mormon church. It had risen independently of all denominations. Therefore, its origin must be of heaven or the devil. Third, it seemed unreasonable to Joel that God would suffer the devil to bring forth a work with the gifts and blessings of the ancient Church of Christ, corresponding to that which He promised to bring forth in the last days for the gathering of the House of Israel. Fourth, the principles taught in the Book of Mormon corresponded with the Bible, and the doctrines of the Church were the same as those taught by Christ and his apostles, with signs following the believers. As Joel voiced these conclusions and recorded them on paper and in his heart, great peace filled him. He embraced the work of God with his whole soul." (pgs. 128-129)

Although, Joel would not attend meetings for a period of time, he allowed Annie (his wife) to go. He writes that he "never would abridge any ones liberty in religious matters" (J. H. Johnson, Diary, 6). He did use his personal Bible to compare the teachings of this new sect to the ancient Church of Christ. The actual words, the four different points of comparing doctrine, are taken from his journal. He was baptized on June 1, 1831.

I wanted to record these 4 points so I could remember them. I'm not able to go to church today so have been doing some family research, and doing some studying on my own this morning. I was so excited when I read this part in the book, but realize not everyone who reads my post will agree. My blog is my journal and I hoped to remember this as a point of reference for myself.

The kids first Diamond Backs Game

2011-04-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

Christian is always getting Diamond Back Tickets or movie tickets from work for being a good worker. He got 4 tickets to go to tonights game a few weeks ago and the plan was for he and I and the kids going but I cant be there with them tonight. I'm a little sad about it since this time around we could have all gone together. Usually he only gets 2 tickets and then we still can't go to the game because it's on a Sunday, or some other reason. Christian is there with the 3 older kids and texting me pictures of the kids on my blackberry. I'm uploading them to the laptap so I can post them on the blog. They are having so much fun. I'm sure Christian will get more tickets in the future so I can go with them next time. He's spoiling them with cotton candy and icecream in helmet bowls. I'm sure he won't forget the caramel apple because he loves to get those when he and I go. Dane is so into sports so I know he's got to be thrilled to be at the baseball game with daddy. Christian and my first date was to a Diamond Backs game so it's always fun to go back and remember that.

Dane very inently watching the game.

Radioactive Iodine

2011-04-28T00:28:00.000-07:00

My apologies for anyone that has had to be around me the past 4 or 5 days. I've been having my blood drawn weekly to check the TSH levels in my blood, trying to prepare to take some radioactive iodine. I've been off my medications for a few weeks now and each week that has gone by it feels like I'm dragging more and more.

Sunday rolled around and I could tell I was very much not myself anymore. Mind over matter really does work though, I'm pretty amazed I was functioning at all. A week ago Monday, my TSH levels were at 24 and I needed them to be at 50. This past Monday and Tuesday got really hard for me and I knew my levels were to 50. The nurse from the radiation oncologist office called me this morning and said your levels were at 213 yesterday and we need you to go tomorrow to the hospital to get this done. I asked her if 213 is high and she said that's extremely high and started laughing at me. Not a courtesy laugh mind you, like a shocked laugh. I laughed back and said "Oh, I guess that's why I'm not feeling well huh?". She agreed and said lets get you in.

I"ll go to the hospital tomorrow to take the radiation then I'll finish up the week radioactive at my mom's house. I still have to stay on my low-iodine diet until the nuclear scan is done. My mom read and studied up on the things I can and cannot eat so hopefully she can help me because I've been a little bit of a mess yesterday and today. Between my mom's, mother in laws, and my friend Jolene's books, I think I'll have enough reading material to keep me sane for the next week. My hope is that I'll be concious enough to read them.

Melody was a huge blessing to me today. Today was an early release from school and when she got home she sat down to do her homework at the table and kept an eye on the babies for me. I was dead to the world and pretty close to being in a coma if you ask me. She kept the house running until Christian came home from work. Thank goodness Bestamor is coming tomorrow to stay with the kids. I love my hubby, but I struck gold when I married into his family and got my mother-in-law.

Next Thursday I'll have my nuclear scan uptake done and I'm hoping to close this chapter of not feeling well, shut for good. I'm hoping to feel great just in time for summer so I can play hard.

Abby's 1st Birthday

2011-04-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

I think I know what Abby's party themes are going to be most every year...Easter! We put together a last minute get together at my house for her birthday. I went to the store to buy a cake mix to bake her a cake and all the Easter decorations and candy were being clearanced. I bought decorations between $1-$4 to have for her "get together". Even the Easter cake mix and frosting were being clearanced. Here are pictures of her on her birthday.

2011 Easter!

2011-04-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

This year we went to my parents office on Gilbert Road near University in Mesa. We hid somewhere around 150-200 Easter eggs filled with candy and prizes for the kids to find. My mom put on a ham and there was potatoes, corn, watermelon, and other delicious things to eat. The roses bushes were blooming like crazy so I cut another bunch of roses to take home. They are so fragrant and beautiful! It was wonderful to be with so many of my family to celebrate one of my favorite holidays. I took some pictures of the Easter egg hunt. I didn't get any of Abby though because she was chowing down on some yummy food and hanging out with her Grandma, Aunts and Uncles.

After we left the office, Christian, the kids, and I went to Bestamor's and Bestafar's house. She had prepared some more deliously yummy food. Lamb, potatoes, asparagus, her home-made rolls that I love so much. And she made one of the best desserts ever, pound cake, berries, and cream. The kids had another egg hunt in their backyard and got $3.00 each! My mother-in-law has so many beautiful flowers growing in her yard as well. I love spring time and it made for a neat Easter Sunday.

A Saturday at our House

2011-04-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

Christian bought a water toy to play with the kids in our backyard. It was a little cold still to be doing this but they had fun while it lasted. A few more weeks and the weather will be perfect. I put Abby in our baby swing and Baylee went over and wanted to push her in it. Baylee loved pushing Abby in the swing.

Christmas letters in April...whaaat?

2011-04-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!

I found a stack of Christmas cards I never mailed off and the kids just got their school pictures today. I thought I would send a letter with updates about our family as well as some pictures, and those of you who never got their Christmas cards...here they come!

Christian: is still working for APS and tries to get all the over time he can right now before that all goes away. He and Melody are getting ready to go on their annual daddy daughter camp-out this weekend to Globe. He just took me and the kids to Las Vegas and we stayed at Circus Circus. Christian has a really fun talent of being able to win the carnival games. He won helicopters, guitars, and lots of stuffed animals from very small to very large for me and the kids. We all had a lot of fun and Christian asked what we’re doing for our next vacation. He likes to have fun things to look forward to. Christian has received a fairly recent calling in church as the Gospel Doctrine teacher.

Emily: has to go for another radioactive treatment in about 3 weeks. I have to stop taking my medication for a while and have my blood drawn weekly. Good news is, in 2 months I should be feeling better than ever. I was getting ready to get a part time, evening job at the Olive Garden close by our house but I will have to wait a couple of months now. Stay tuned though. Today I was outside digging and shoveling, getting ready to put in another garden in our backyard. Each year we add a little something more to our backyard. At this rate, our backyard will be finished in about 6 years but it’s been fun to work on it together. As for church callings, I’m the 1^st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency.

Melody: is in the 3^rd grade and very smart. Now if we can just get her to do a little more work and lot less socializing she'll have it made. She has lots of friends and loves to spend time with them almost as much as she likes spending time with us. She loves to be outdoors and loves animals. She just got a couple of rabbits which she/we named Ginger and Dillweed or “Dilly”. Christian built her a really nice rabbit hutch to go in the back yard. She’s always giving us hugs which I really appreciate, and is great at saying “I love you”. She can do laundry, wash dishes, change diapers, make bottles, there’s nothing that she can’t do and she’s a big help to her mom with her baby sisters. She found my Percy Jackson series that Christian got me for Christmas and has been asking if I’d read them to her, so right now I’m reading the series to her each night.

Aaron: is a super smart little boy and is in the 1st grade. His teacher does an awesome job of making sure he's challenged enough in school. He moves to different classrooms to learn reading and math. He’s also a great help to his mom and can be very enthusiastic about vacuuming or picking up when he wants to, which is often because he knows it makes his mother happy. Aaron can also put up a good argument for why he doesn’t have to do things when he doesn’t want to, but I'm still the best at arguing ;). He is a good money saver when he earns money for doing his chores. Melody is always trying to borrow from Aaron’s piggy bank.

Dane: joins his very first soccer team this Thursday. He loved watching Aaron and Melody play soccer and can’t wait to start playing too. He’s our big time sports player and loves to play soccer, football, and basketball. His wardrobe consists of mostly jerseys and he won’t let me switch it up for him. Sometimes I just want to see him wearing a t-shirt or collared shirt, but nope! Dane is our night owl and he likes his one-on-one time with his mom and dad in the evenings.

Baylee: is almost old enough to go into nursery. She’ll be 18 months on April 23^rd and we can’t wait until she can go into nursery each Sunday. Right now she wanders all around during Sunday school class and the last half of church with Christian. Our ward members try to pick her up but she’s strictly a “just look and don’t touch” kind of baby. She slaps the chairs with her hands and has a lot to say. She started a snack exchange with the other toddlers in Sunday School class. The other mom’s and dad’s in the room try to coax her over to them with snacks and toys so they can hold her. She’s our little “tank”, she may only be about 18 months but she’s wearing size 3T and 4T clothing. She is so busy at home. She’s constantly letting the chickens out of their coop and filling their water bowl full of dirt so they have mud to drink...she's so considerate. I pull her off the kitchen table at least a dozen times a day. Other favorites of hers is emptying out the toy box, emptying out the bottle drawer with the lids, getting into the trash can, and what we like to call “attacking” the toilet paper roll. I watch her as she walks around the house with a very mischievous look on her face just looking for the next thing to get into and entertain her.

Abby: has been catching up to other babies her age, finally. She was a few months behind developmentally but has had a lot of things click for her the past couple months. She’s still a very little baby and we like to tuck her in our arms like a little football. She’s started crawling now, clapping her hands, feeding herself, and just started to say momma a few days ago. Her foster case is moving towards adoption on April 25^th and we’ll be able to adopt her by the end of summer, hopefully. Christian and I are shortening her name to just Abby and giving her the middle name of Jane. Abby Jane is the name of my great grandmother so we’re pretty happy with it. She has a half brother or sister (we don’t know which yet) being born in about 5-6 months time. I’m not sure if I’ll be well enough to take another baby as a placement but we’ll be the first home they call when he/she’s born. I’ll have to update you later on what we decide to do. I’m having a hard time imaging 3 babies in 2 years. Abby turns 1 year old on April 26th.

Love,

Emily, Christian, Melody, Aaron, Dane, Baylee, and Abby Hughes

Rabbits for Easter

2011-04-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

Christian and I were driving away from my mom and dad's house and the neighbor had a sign out for baby bunnies. We stopped to look at the babies and they were adorable. We ended up buying two and used Easter as an excuse to do it. What were we thinking?? I have no idea, sometimes we just leave our brains at home. Christian built a hutch for them lickity split though and did a fantastic job. So meet Ginger and Dillweed aka "Dilly".

GINGER

DILLY

Our Las Vegas/Salt Lake City Vacation

2011-04-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

Viva Las Vegas! We started off our vacation by staying at Circus Circus. Boy was that Fun with a capital F! Can you see me amongst all of the prizes that Christian and the kids won? I went back to the hotel room to take a nap and woke up to all of these fun things and some really excited kids...and hubby. He's really good at playing carnival games apparently.

Then we headed to Salt Lake City, UT for general conference where we stayed with our friends, the Sirrines. On Saturday, we met up with Eric and Jenn there in Utah for Riverdance, saw the SLC Temple, Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the old Tabernacle.

Christian, Eric, and our friend Brian Sirrine went to the Priesthood session while us girls played at Aunt Loni's house. After Priesthood session, The Sirrines, Eric and Jenn, Christian and I met for dinner at the Garden Restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith memorial building...and it was not easy to do. Us girls were there thinking we could arrive early to reserve a table until our husbands got out of priesthood but the restaurant wouldn't let us in until our full party was there. We were so early but couldn't get in until the hubby's joined us. We kept watching as the men started arriving and coming in and the more we watched the more we didn't think we'd get to eat there. I text Christian to run or we weren't going to get a table. They got there 1 minute before the last table was to be given away. They ran up the stairs while other husbands took the elevator and they were able to head them off in time to get to the last table. Fun times!! And it was delicious by the way, in case you were wondering. Well worth it to eat there. This was the view from that upper floor.

Eric and Jenn, you guys look fantastic if I do say so myself...and I do.

We woke up Sunday morning to fresh, fluffy snow. The kids thought it was awesome and so did I! It was so beautiful. We got to the Temple and the grounds were slushy but so pretty. What a cool morning it was walking through the snow falling on top of us, going to the tabernacle for the morning session of conference.

Here we are in the tabernacle! I sat down in my seat and was a little emotional for a bit because I've always wanted to be in the same room as the a Prophet and to see General Conference in person. And I was sitting right next to some of my very best friends which made the event so much more special for me.

After conference we went to load up our van and gather our kids so we could head out. But not before we got to play in the snow. After we said our fun but sad goodbyes to the Sirrine family, we headed back to Las Vegas to spend one more fun night at Circus Circus.

This time we stayed on the 32nd floor. Dane thought Las Vegas was quite the site from our hotel window. Christian won yet another guitar and helicopter since he'd mastered the games.

Then we headed home to Arizona, but not before we stopped at the Hoover Dam to take a look around. It was a vacation full of firsts for me and the kids. First time to Las Vegas, first time seeing General Conference in the tabernacle, and a first time for me stopping to see the Hoover Dam.

One of the things I love love love about Christian is the fun things we do as a family and for his hard work so we can plan ahead to our fun times together. This is a man that loves Chuck E Cheese even more than his kids. And I think it's because he loves to have fun with them. So until our next vacation!

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

2011-03-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Christian surprised me with a trip to Tombstone, Arizona. We had been wanting to get out of town just the 2 of us and I didn't think that we'd be able to. He pulled it together and got a day off work so we could go. It was a really nice surprise! We checked into a really cute motel and the room we reserved was the Doc Holiday room. We got a jacuzzi tub in our room that was about 2 feet from Christian's side of the bed. A little weird...but still a really cool place to stay. I guess back in the day, John Wayne used to stay at this motel and couple other famous people that I cant recall at the moment.

We took a ghost tour that night and learned about the "Town too tough to Die". That was kind of fun. Our tour guides said if we snapped photographs we might catch a ghost...I don't see any, do you?

The next day we walked around tombstone, got some homemade fudge, watched the reenactment of the okay coral shootings, took an old time photograph together. Oh! And Christian bought me a very cool cowboy hat to wear around town.

Thanks for the fun trip honey! Happy 5th Anniversary!

2010 Christmas Day

2010-12-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

We woke up at 8:30 to open up our presents and had a really enjoyable time unwrapping our gifts. The kids loved the toys they got and were entertained for the rest of the morning. I made scrambled eggs, biscuits and country gravy, sausages, hash browns, and orange juice. Then we headed over to Jenn's house to see her and the kids. They made a delicious early dinner for all of us and the kids had fun playing with their cousins. My niece, Emma, came home with us and on our way home we stopped at a couple different places to look at Christmas lights. First we stopped at Loop of Lights and Santa, Frosty, and the Grinch were there! The Loop of Lights is set to their own radio station and the lights on the house flash and light to the music. It's really neat to watch and fun to listen to music and watch the lights. Then we headed over to see Christmas Land. We got out and toured through some Christmas lights. Then we went home and watched Elf and drank hot cocoa. "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?" haha, I love that movie. Merry Christmas!

Temple Lights

2010-12-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

Christian and I took the kids to go see the Arizona Train Lights and Temple Christmas Lights. It was a fun outing until I discovered towards the very end that my purse had been stolen. I set it down to have a picture of us taken in front of the Temple nativity. We started to walk away when I remembered and went to get it. It had been taken by then. Someone stole my purse at the temple...what the heck!! Everything in my purse was pretty much replaceable. The things I'm going to miss the most are the actual purse ( I really liked that purse) and the key fob that locked and unlocked my van doors. It wasn't done at the most convenient of times either with Christmas only a few days away.

Santa Baby!

2010-12-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

We came home from church today and Baylee was walking around looking so pretty in her dress. Christian put a Santa hat on Baylee's head and she looked adorable. She was so cute I had to run and get my camera. These were some pictures we took of her.

APS - Light Parade

2010-12-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

Christian works for APS and they sponsor a light parade every year. The employees spent some time putting some floats together after they worked all day. The kids and us got to participate this year, and we rode on the float in front of thousands of people. It was a really fun experience.

2010 Halloween

2010-10-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

Melody: Witch
Aaron: Ninja
Dane: Spider Man
Baylee: Batarina
Abby: Witch

We did two nights of Trunk or Treating on Friday and Saturday night. Halloween night was on a Sunday and we stayed up as a family and watched movies and handed out candy. Dane and daddy would race to the door whenever we heard the doorbell ring. What a fun year it was for Halloween.

How I'm Doing

2010-10-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

I've had some interesting experiences these past couple of months. After many months of testing and trying to figure out why I haven't felt good, my doctor was able to diagnoise me with Papillary Thryoid Cancer. It's been a positive thing though and I'm not worried in the least about it. I'm actually very happy with the real possibility of feeling better again, now that we know what we're trying to cure. It's been lots of doctors appointments this past year trying to figure me out. At times I felt like I was making it all up and I just needed to eat better, and excerise and would mentally tell myself to get up and get going even if I was exhausted. Everything I've felt seemed explainable too, like I'm exhausted because I have a wonderful calling and little babies at home. Its been a couple of months of more blood work, ultrasounds, a nuclear scan uptake, and most likely a surgery in the next few weeks. My doctor is very involved with doing medical research concerning thyroid nodules and has asked me to take part in some genetic testing since my sister and my mom are both experiencing the same things I am. I told him I'd do it and then I found out he was going to pay me to take part in it...well of course I'm going to do it! I was trying to keep all of this to myself because I didn't want any attention. My mother-in-law has been to my house to help me with my kids so I can go to appointments, and friends like Brian and Karleen Sirrine never hesitate to help me with transporting my kids to and from school if I need them. Friends are sending me emails, and leaving me phone messages which are always spirit boosting when I'm having a particularily emotional day or experiencing lots of fatigue. Ward members always seem to be there when I need them most in taking care of my babies during Sacrament meeting, Sunday School, and Relief Society (thank you Roberta Bugbee, Barbie Richner, Mandy Bailey, Lynette Austin, Brianna Lee, Ginger Coleman, and Esther Hoffman for the help during the last few Sunday). I think the most alarming symptom I'm experiencing right now is the loss of feeling in my arms so having sisters step in to hold babies has been such a relief. Sometimes my arms feel like the strength goes right out of them and they tingle, shake and go completely numb. I'm not really sure why that is but apparantly I could be feeling that in my legs as well and I'm not...so thank goodness for that. My doctor thinks this has been going on for the past 2 years and maybe as far back as 5 years. I had a sweet sister in my ward, that I don't know very well, send me a long email with the nicest things to say about me and about having faith, and then she knitted me an afghan which is beautiful and it made me feel very special because she felt I was deserving of such a beautful gift. My friend Jolene calls me and checks on me to see how I'm doing and I feel like she's got the entire ward praying for me, and it's such a feeling to know that so many people want to see me feeling better. I've got my friend Tiffany, and my sisters Laurel and Christi, who believed me all year long when I'd tell them I wasn't feeling well and they were my best cheerleaders in telling me to keep going to the doctors until something was found. (haha, now I feel like I'm giving a speech) I guess what I'd like you to know is that I'm okay, and I'm going to be feeling even better soon. Mostly I want you all to know that I appreciate everything you've done for me. At times I don't feel deserving. Thanks Mom, Karleen, and Laurel for being available to answer my questions when I've wanted to know more about what I'm experiencing. There's going to be some more interesting weeks ahead and I'll update my blog with how my appointments are going. Christian has really stepped up these past few weeks in helping me with the kids and the house. There are days where he finds me walking around in circles because I don't know what to take care of or because I can't remember what I was doing. I feel very blessed right now and it's because of all of you. Love ya,
Emily

Ohio - Part 5 (Indians vs. Twins)

2010-09-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

Friday: We did some grocery shopping, made cinnamon rolls, watch Wuthering Heights (a depressing movie), and then got ready for the Indians Game. Baseball between the Indians and the Twins. It was the shortest baseball game I've ever been to. It lasted about 2 hours and the Indians won! After the game was a really cool fireworks show and they blasted the song Cleveland Rocks while lightening off fireworks so they exploded to the beat of the song. Pretty cool...and Baylee thought it was very cool!

Ohio - Part 4 (Farm Park)

2010-09-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday: Today was our visit to the Farm Park. I got to milk a cow today, pet some really big horses, and walk through a corn maze. The corn maze had a bunch of different questions posted throughout and you had to answer correctly to know which way to turn. We mostly had some really easy questions but there was one that Caleb had to answer for us. He's really into dinosaurs and we came up to a question that asked us during which time period did the Tyrannosaurus Rex live A) Jurassic Period B) Crestatious Period Caleb shouted out Crestatious when Eva and I were pretty sure it was Jurassic. Sure enough, that little boy Caleb knows exactly what he's talking about when it comes to dinosaurs. What a little smarty pants. Baylee loved seeing the different types of animals on the farm, she liked the pigs the best but I think that's because there were cute piglets right up by the bars for her to touch. She disliked the sheep the most but I think that's because they were bleating very loudly. There were some little short ones that she sat in her seat and looked at but there was another pen where there were some very big and tall sheep that had very loud and very deep BAAA's...she wanted nothing to do with them. I was holding her at that point and she was trying to crawl over my shoulder to get away from them.

Baylee wasn't to fond of the sheep. They were loud and a bit nosey.

She really liked the little piglets.

MOOOO!

Baylee loved this cow. She thought it was so neat and kept smiling at it.

YO. Yeah, that's right. I'm the one that ran LeBron James out of Cleveland.

This is Bella the cow. Caleb and I got to try milking her before they hooked her up to the claw. They milk her every morning and every evening and she gives about 4-5 gallons of milk at every milking.

Baylee smiling at the cows.

Getting lost in the Corn Maze

Here is one beautiful little baby.

Here's me exposing my best side while getting a lesson on how to milk a cow.

Ohio - Part 3

2010-09-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

Wednesday: Today we went to Kirtland, Ohio. We took the LDS tour of the Whitney home, store, and the sawmill that my great-great-great uncle Joel Johnson built. For those of you who recall, he's also the one the wrote the hymn "High on the Mountain Top". I took some pictures of the little community that used to be near the Whitney store and where Joseph and Emma Smith lived for a short time. I also was able to take the Community Church aka RLDS tour through the Kirtland Temple. It was such a neat experience to see and sit in this temple.

First brick building in Kirland, Ohio

Joel Johnson's saw mill. He was a big help supply wise to the building of the Kirtland temple.

the water wheel can work in as much as 2 inches of water.

Eva and Caleb are standing in front of the river where baptisms used to take place. The river is pretty low but is said to fill up very quickly whenever it rains.

Caleb doing his funny pose in front of the school house.

the temple is having some restoration done to it right now.

I look a little confused. Anyways....this is Eva and Clayton's back yard.

Ohio - Part 2 (lots of pictures)

2010-09-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

Monday: Eva, Quinton, Baylee, and I drove out to Amish country today. The drive was through the countryside and very beautiful. We saw where the Amish people lived andh their knickers hanging out on their lines, and they were driving their horse drawn buggies down the side of the roads. We visited the general store where they sale their flour, ice-cream, candy, and so many other things home made. Then we all headed back to Cleveland to make it in time for the air show. That was super impressive to watch. I'd like to look up when one will be in Mesa next and take the family to see it. The jets were loud but completely worth it. Baylee wasn't bothered by the noise a bit but I think that's because her screams have just about the same effect on the ears. After the air show ended we dog piled back into the car, oh yeah...I forgot to tell you about that. Eva and Clayton's car is a 5 seater but there's 6 of us so Eva sat on my lap as we drove to the park where we watched the air show. We stopped for dinner where I ate my very first spaghetti-chili dish for dinner...its an Ohio thing apparently to mix your spaghetti and chili together. Then we stopped at the "nice" Wal-mart to pick up some baby formula and a few other things. I wish I had thought to get out my camera phone and start snapping photos for the peopleofwalmart.com. Holy cow people!!! What on earth are you thinking when you step out of your home wearing...that?!?! And the lady driving her cart mobile but has a belt dragging a stoller behind her...that was the winner.

I can't get over how green it is out here. Whenever we drive under these canopy of trees I'm amazed.

I felt like such a dork snapping this photo....but obviously not dorky enough because I still did it.

ME: Eva, do you think that guy noticed I took a picture of him?
EVA: Yes Emily, I'm pretty sure he saw you.
ME: How embarrassin...

Tuesday: We went to the beach at Lake Eerie. It was sooo nice. I actually enjoyed it more than the California beach trips we've taken the last few years. No sea weed, no crowds, no trash...no sharks, just really big bass. We could wade in for a long ways out and the sandy bottom felt so great on the feet. The sand was very soft and cushion-y. Baylee didn't like it at first but then she discovered how much fun it was. It took her just a little bit to get used to the water and then she was crawling around in the low wakes. Eva made home made pizza for dinner tonight and it looks way yummy. She and Clayton went to a Parent/Teacher meeting for Caleb's pre-school so I took the pizzas out of the ovens for us. They better hurry home or their not going to get any! Just kidding Eva...but really.

Look at how cute this house is. When you walk in the front door you walk into a mud room and then into Eva and Clayton's house.

Baylee with her Auntie Eva and cousins

Holy Knee Caps!

Here's Duke. He's starting to look a little gray isn't he?

Baylee wasn't sure how she felt about the beach in the beginning.

"But it's dirty!"

Baylee never wore this swim suit. It's size 12 months and you would think it would stretch enough to fit a 10 month old. We were sqeezing Baylee as much as we could into this swimsuit. There were some major wedgies...poor Baylee.

Quinton doesn't need toys to play with. He plays with the soda boxes quite often and loves it.

Ohio - Part 1

2010-09-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

Wednesday: Flew into Ohio. It took from 8:00 am until 8:30 pm when my sister Eva picked me and Baylee up from the airport. We did some visiting and I took a quick tour of their house...including the scary basement with an even scarier room in the basement whom no one wants to go into. But the house is so cute! Duke was excited to have a visitor too.

Thursday: In the morning, Eva drove me to her garden plot where we picked jalapenos, okra, banana peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, egg plant, and a couple other things from her garden. Then in the evening, Eva took me to where she works and we took a cookie decorating class which was really fun. It's very obvious I should not go into the cookie baking/decorating business. I got to keep a memorative apron from our class together. Then we walked around the shops and I was introduced to a shop called Charming Charlies...way awesome! I picked me out some jewelry that matches a couple of my Sunday dresses. It's a jewelry store that's organized into sections of different colors and they have coordinating purses, hair bands, and some clothing. An affordable jewelry shop but be careful because it's easy to lose self control in a place like that.

Friday: Met up with some sisters from the ward and other friends of Eva's at the Lake view Cemetery. It's a HUGE cemetery that's been made into a beautiful park with lakes, walking paths, some amazing landscaping, decorative architecture and mausoleums. We saw a few gravesides that belonged to famous people, walked underneath trees that were 150-200+ years old. They were enormous and when it started to rain we would stay under the shade of the trees and stay dry.

Saturday: Woke up early to go to the Columbus, Ohio temple about 2 1/2 hours away. We came upon an accident involving a semi and were stuck in traffic for a long time. We were late to the temple but were able to do some sealings before we had to leave. The temple looks a lot like the new Gila Valley temple in Thatcher. It's approximately the same size with a shorter steeple. For a late lunch/early dinner we went to the Ohio North Market where we chose our own food vendors to buy food from. I got a waffle for Baylee and a banana/nutella crepe for myself. We made it home and started to watch the movie Fletcher, but I fell asleep and didn't even get half way through it. I'm still on Arizona time I think.

Sunday: Went to church and reaffirmed for myself that the church is true and exactly the same anywhere you go. I enjoyed the fast and testimony meeting and met some of the people in Eva's ward. When we got home we made dinner and cleaned up. Eva and Clayton made pot roast, home made mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley from the things we picked from Eva's garden. It was delicious of course. Eva showed me (again) how to make creme brulee. Maybe I'll be brave enough to make it again when I get home. I taught Eva and Clayton how to play the game "Kill Dr. Lucky". Clayton won twice tonight. Eva and Clayton invited their next door neighbors over for dinner and to play Kill Dr. Lucky with us. That game lasted for 2 hours before Clayton won for his 2nd time.

Haircuts today!

2010-08-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Amber is giving Melody and Aaron haircuts today after school. I thought it would be fun to do before and after photos of them. So here's the before....

Oh gorgeous hair, if only thou couldst maintain thyself...

But...Oh yeah!, we did it. We chopped our little lady's long locks off. Her newest 'do is the ever-so-stylish-and-easy-to-maintain swing bob. I made the appointment after tens of thousands of , "Brush your hair, no...do a good job brushing it...you need to take care of your hair or I'm going to have it chopped off!...be still while I comb it!...It wouldn't hurt if you kept STILL!...Quit whining!"

Isn't she a beauty?
and Aaron got a short textured haircut that he can take care of himself too.
What a handsome boy you are...

Emma and Taylor Bailey, September 20, 2006 - August 10, 2010

2010-08-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

I know Heavenly Father has a plan for us even if I don't understand what that plan is. You're so loved and there's a lot of us who are missing you girls an aweful lot right now. You've changed my life and you've taught me to appreciate so many things, and I'm still learning from watching your mom and dad. Your mom and dad are such good examples to me in so many ways. I love your family and it's going to be hard for me to watch them miss you so much. We love you.

Our baby girls

2010-08-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

Abbygail - 3 months old

Baylee - 9 months old

I'm having fun dressing up two baby girls with dresses, bracelets, and hairbows. I haven't been able to dress little girls alike until now and I'm loving it. The girls are just 6 months apart and we get lots of weird looks when we go out into public. One of the first questions people ask us is "How far apart are they?" and then we watch as they try to figure out the math in their heads.

Reactions to my new Haircut

2010-07-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

My friend Amber cut and colored my hair for me this morning. I was needing my hair cut and colored for such a long time now and I'm really very excited to show it to you all. These were the reactions I got from my family today.

Dane: He was with me at Amber's house while she was coloring and cutting my hair. "I don't like your hair (would walk away and come back), I don't like your hair (stares at me and Amber), I don't like your hair". He didn't like the way I looked at all when I had the hair dye on. In fact, he brought me a popcicle for me to open for him and wouldn't come any closer than he had to. He was leaning back but stretching and reaching to hand me his popsicle so I would open it for him. I must have looked really scary.

Christian: I texted Christian when I got out of the hair appointment to say I'd got my hair cut, and it was now chin length. Here's his text word for word. "Sweet, send me a pic of it and be topless in the pic." So I took a picture of my hair (with my clothes on) and sent him a picture of my new haircut. Then he said "Hey, it looks really good."

Melody: (Picking Melody up from school) She sees the van so runs over and hops into the front passenger seat. She turns and looks at me and says very surprised, "Mom! What happened to your face?!?" My reaction..."What!, What's wrong with my face??" Then Melody, "There's something very different, Oh!! you cut your hair!!" Oh good, so there's nothing wrong with my face.

Aaron: (7:00p.m. at night) Aaron has said nothing at all about my hair so I finally ask him at the dinner table. Aaron, do you like my hair cut? Aaron says, "You got a hair cut?"

Here's a not so glamorous picture of my hair cut. I'll post a better picture of it later.

Melody's 8th Birthday

2010-06-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

She had her 8th birthday party at her Uncle Kevin's and Aunt Lori's house. We got together with family, swam, ate, and she got to open some fun presents. Happy 8th birthday Melody!

Melody's Baptismal Dress

2010-06-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

I got a wee bit emotional today thinking about Melody and how fast she's growing up. She and I looked at dresses for her 8th birthday and she chose one that is just perfect for her. Fits her personality and she looks lovely. Melody tried it on and we took some pictures of her in the backyard. Her daddy's going to baptize her on June 26th. Tonight is Family Home Evening and we'll be talking about the importance of baptism, making covenants with Heavenly Father, and the gift of the Holy Ghost...and then we're going swimming.

Peaches!

2010-06-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

My sister Laurel and her kids came to stay with us for the week and we've been having a lot of fun together. I took her and my kiddos to Schnepf Farms to pick us some locally grown peaches. MMMMmmmmmm...fresssshh peeeeaaches. We were pickin' them, rubbin' them on our shirts, and eatin' them right off the tree. Soooo good. Laurel made us some homemade peach cobbler, and together we made a double batch of peach jam to split. The kids snacked on those peaches for a few days, then I made peach smoothies with the left overs. It was a fun experience. Dane couldn't reach the peaches in the trees so kept bringing me any he could find on the ground. We met my friend Tiffany there with her kids and we had our strollers for the younger kids. It was a fun day. The only disappointing thing is no ninjas jumped out of the trees at us. After picking those fuzzy fruits we went over to the otherside of the farm where we took a train ride around the farm and saw other vegetable gardens, took a hayride and got off half way to feed some deer, went to the petting zoo and came into contact with some very friendly goats, rode a carousel that was built back in 1912, and played on a very fun playground with tractor trikes, slides, tractor tires, haybales, and a little house. Seriously, if you haven't been there you should make a point to go. October is my favorite time to go because of the chilli fest, pumpkins, and corn maze. After Schnepf Farm we went home and jumped in our neighborhood pool to cool off for a few hours.

How does your garden grow?

2010-05-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

I finally planted a flower garden at my house...YAY!!! It only took me 2 1/2 years to do it. We had our ward's enrichment activity this month on gardening. At the activity we all planted a whole lot of things in our egg cartons. I planted various things but I planted a lot of sunflower seeds in one of my egg cartons. I kept it on our window sill above our kitchen sink and I'll tell you...those things grow really fast! All of a sudden I needed a place to plant them outside and I hadn't prepped anything outside. So the last two days I've been digging, and digging, and shoveling, and mixing dirt in the back yard by the wall so I could finally plant those little flowers. I bought a nice cheap border to go around the whole thing, I bought 10 packets of various flower seeds, and a few potted flowers that were being clearanced at Walmart. You can get some really nice flowers for $1.50 at the Walmart by our house right now.

Here's the pictures of what I've been working on the last two days. You can see the flowers that I purchased from the store but what you don't see yet are the tons of seeds that I threw out there that hopefully will start growing. I'll do some updated pictures later on. I can't wait to see how the whole thing fills in...at least hopefully it does. What I should have done was take a before and after pictures of this.

Now I just have to work in the side yard where I want the vegetable garden to be. I'll do some before and after pictures of that project. And just like Sis. Snyder quoted us at enrichment night..."The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

Maggie Hughes

2010-05-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

I got Maggie for Christian for our 1st wedding anniversary. He had been telling me how awesome he thought Rodesian Ridgebacks were while we were dating and so on. I had never heard about a Ridgeback before and didn't ever give them much thought even after Christian would tell me about them. Then we talked about getting a dog and I started doing research. After reading and comparing breeds I found that the Ridgeback was exactly what we were looking for. Good temperment, great guard dog, no high need to walk, short hair, no smelly hound smell, hardly sheds, and can be very protective of home and family. I found a breeder in Mesa and went to look at the puppies. They all looked exactly the same to me but they were really neat so I paid for our puppy and then left her there for another week so I could pick her up on our wedding anniversary. I brought Melody with me to look at the puppies and had to swear her to secrecy. All I kept telling Christian was I got him something really great and wouldn't give him any hints. Then as I was driving home with our little puppy on our anniversary I was talking to Christan on the phone and as I pulled into the driveway he guessed! I couldn't believe that he would guess and he came out of the house to see her. He opened the sliding door to the van and there was the cutest little puppy dog looking right out at us. I still think that was by far the best wedding anniversary present I've ever gotten Christian.

Then we had Dane. Take a look at these pictures and you tell me whose dog this really belongs to.

Often times while we're watching TV together this is what we'll see. Dane just laying right on top of Maggie chilling out and Maggie absolutely loves it. Dane and Maggie are very much a team and together a lot. I'll put Maggie outside and next thing I know she's back inside because Dane missed her and wanted her back inside with him. I had to hide the doggie-bones because Dane thought Maggie needed those all the time. I think Maggie thinks Dane is her own little puppy.

Cleaning out the garage

2010-05-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

Christian and I have been cleaning our garage for the past 3 days and I cannot believe the amount of junk, scrap, rubbish, and garbage we've been storing in there for the past 2 1/2 years. We never fully unpacked everything when we moved in over 2 years ago. So today we were opening boxes upon boxes of stuff just to make sure there wasn't anything of value in them. Nope, not really anything worth keeping. Why have we been storing this stuff for soooo long is what I'd like to know. We took a van load yesterday and Christian is taking another van load right now. I think I had somewhere around 5 garbage sacks full of just fabric. Why?

Deseret Industries...it's on its way! We probably have enough in our garage to easily keep you afloat. And it feels SO good to get it gone. Maybe we can park 2 cars in our garage instead of just the van. We'll be taking advantage of the DI Pod at the stake center for the rest of the week.

Aaron is being promoted!

2010-05-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Aaron and thank you so much Mrs. Moore for guiding my son in kindergarten this year. I am so happy that we got you as a teacher again. Aaron, you are on your way to doing great and important things. Thank you son for being a good student and getting your work done. I think you are an excellent reader and a smarty-pants. You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. Whatever you choose to be when you grow up, I know you'll be great at it. You look so handsome in your promotion picture.

Her name is Abbygail

2010-04-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot recently about getting a job so I can have some extra cash for our family...but mostly just for fun money for me and the kids. I don't know if I should go full or part time... I don't know how much I want to make or how far I should drive, and with all these questions I went to Christian this past weekend. Christian just said okay but ultimately left the decision up for me to make.

Tuesday morning I had finally decided that I would start searching for local jobs close to home. As I'm sitting down to the computer to look at Queen Creek employment opportunities, I get a phone call from my foster parenting case worker. Christian and I have taken our names off the list for foster parenting until at least June so we could have a little break after Alynna left. I thought our caseworker was wondering if we had signed up for our annual parenting classes...nope! "How would you like a brand new baby boy?" She asks me. "I know you're not on the list but I thought I'd just ask you first. He's 2 weeks old, tested positive for Meth and is being discharged from the hospital today." I told her I needed to talk to Christian about it and would get back to her. After talking/debating with Christian whether this really was a good decision, he left it up for me to decide. So I said a prayer to Heavenly Father and said I would love to have a little baby but I needed to know if I should tell the case worker yes or no and if this was a wise thing to do. I'm thinking about all the things that are so coinsidental like; Dane potty training so quickly which means we won't have 3 babies in diapers, and I don't really believe in coinsidences so thought maybe I wasn't supposed to be looking for a job. I had felt pretty good about all of these things and didn't receive a resounding no or any negative feelings as a result of my prayer so decided that I guess that meant my answer was yes.

So I told the caseworker yes and then waited all day to hear back from CPS for when the baby boy (not named yet) would be discharged from the hospital. And I waited, and waited, and I finally get a phone call that a family member has stepped up to take him home so he won't be placed with us afterall. Which I felt fine about, and I had to laugh because apparantly Heavenly Father felt I needed to be prepared but...my answer wasn't a yes or no...but a "wait".

Then I wake up Wednesday morning and I'm feeling a little confused because I really thought I had gotten an answer from Heavenly Father that I probably shouldn't be looking for a job. But baby boy isn't coming to live with us so I guess that was all me so I should start looking again. Then, as I sit down to my computer to look for jobs I get another call from my case worker. "Are you ready?" she asks me. Ready for what? and I'm thinking "ready for my foster parenting classes in May?" Yeah, I'm ready. "Good, she says because there's a 2-day old baby girl, whose tested positive for meth and needs to be placed in a home. Are you ready for her?" Okay, I say. And I'm thinking to myself, is someone playing a trick on me?

This morning, I started putting away baby boy clothes and pulling out the newborn girl clothes. Christian and my mom are totally on my same brain wave...we'll see if a family member steps up for this baby girl.

Fast forward to right now (2:00PM)...I have lil' baby Abbygail, 6lbs 4ozs, asleep in the baby swing downstairs. I picked her up from the hospital today at 12-noon. I don't know how long we'll have her, maybe just a few short days, or maybe a lot longer. I've decided though that I need to continue to be a stay-at-home mommy. I guess that's where I'm supposed to be.

Isn't she cute? I've always loved the name Abby.

Hahaha, that last picture really cracks me up. Such a cute baby you are, Abby.

Here are some more pictures of me and Baylee waiting this morning to see if we really were going to bring home a baby girl today. This is my happy face, because I'm happy to have such cute little girls to dress up. Melody is going to be really happy too when she gets home from school.

**It's now Friday morning and I thought I'd update you. Looks like a family member has been located and will be taking Abby home. I'll find out more later today. I knew that was a likely possibility yesterday before I picked her up so I have been waiting to hear more. But I got to snuggle another cute baby girl for one night at least...we got to snuggle at midnight, 2:AM, and 5:AM. Thanks, Abby, for the consecutive 3 hours of sleep...that really helped.**

Dane is a big boy!

2010-04-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

I'm impressed with my boy. He was ready for potty training and had it down in 2 days. I'm not saying we haven't a had some accidents...we've had a handful, but I'm confident when I say our boy has got this potty training thing down already. He's wearing his undies to bed and even wore undies in nursery at church! Christian installed a very nifty toilet seat for Dane on the big big potty. Dane was always scared of falling in which is why we bought the little big boy potty. This toilet seat is so cool! There's a strong magnet in the lid that the little seat will stick to when you need the bigger seat. Dane, I think you might have even beat Melody at potty training and she was pretty darn fast.

Camping with friends

2010-04-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

We went on a real quick camping trip last weekend with some friends of ours. Although I didn't take many pictures, I did get some of Christian and his friend getting ready to go paint ball shooting with the other guys. Christian cracks me up. I thought I'd share...one picture is of Christian all charged up to go paint balling and the other is our friend Austin looking pretty darn official in his get-up.

and then Sunday, basically my entire family met at a park in Mesa to celebrate my nephew's birthday. I'm waiting to get some pictures back but I was able to snap a quick one of Baylee having a very in-depth conversation with her Poppy Crandall.

Christian's New Car

2010-04-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

Drum roll please

..........................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................

TA DA!!

Christian has been driving his 1998 Chevy Monte Carlo with no air conditioning, bad struts, a leaking radiator, and most recently bad brake lights, so we decided...(or more like I decided) it was time Christian got a new car. This is his very first almost brand new car! He's been looking at cars for a long, long time now but having no car payment has been a blessing for us. He kept putting the notion out of his head and toughed the commute to and from work in the heat. It's getting warm already in AZ :( and I could tell he was not looking forward to another summer with no A/C. The Malibu is a car he's been looking at constantly so I looked some up for sale and I found a great deal yesterday. Great enough that I went down and test drove the car and then called Christian to go down after work to take a look at it. Doesn't he look happy?

and a few side notes...

Dane's potty training!!!! We keep books, capri-suns, and clean underwear by his brand new Disney's Cars big boy potty. He's had a few accidents but mostly he's been pretty good about using his potty. And he's super excited about his new big boy underwear. I hope this goes well...

And one of our chickents lays green eggs...isn't that cool?

We love you Alynna

2010-03-23T07:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Alynna was moved to another foster home and I couldn't sleep very well last night. I kept waking up and worrying about her. What was she thinking? Was she scared? I'm sure she told the family to hang up her star night light for her. Will we ever see or hear from her again? She loved Baylee so much that I could see she was having a hard time leaving Baylee behind. She just held, and kissed her for a good 30 minutes saying things like I don't want to leave my baby sister, and what if I never see her again. And she hid behind our couch. I promised her she'd see us again. I'll have to put a little mini flip book of pictures together for her and send it her way. I told the CPS caseworker to please let Alynna call us if the new foster parents were okay with that. And to tell the new family that we'd like to pick up Alynna to take her to the park or the dollar movies with us. When Alynna left I felt like something went missing. It was that same feeling of losing something that is so important to you but you don't where it is all of sudden so you search and search all over for it. I went inside my house after she left and just had to sit for a while to let the whole thing sink in. I'm also the one that had to tell her that she was being moved to live with another family. I pulled her aside to her bedroom and told her I had some news and I didn't know if it was going to make her sad or not. I told her that my friend Tiffany from CPS just called and they had another family that wanted to have Alynna come live with them. They had a 13 year old girl that was excited to have a little foster sister come and that Alynna would be the youngest in the house just like Baylee is the baby in our house. And I told her I loved her and that I would never agree to something like this if I didn't think this would be a really good thing for her. I asked her if she believed me and she said yes. I wasn't really happy that they would be taking her out of the elementary school here but after finding out more about the new foster family I knew this was exactly the home that she needed to go to. The new foster mom is an elementary school teacher in Mesa, they live in the city where Alynna's from and where all of her appointments are every week, they have all older kids that can help give Alynna the attention she needs, the mom is enrolling Alynna in the school where she teaches so will be able to be watchful and work with Alynna at school as well. I told our foster care agency to give me a little reprieve so I could pull myself back together after having cared for Alynna. When Alynna left yesterday I literally felt a mountain of stress come straight off my shoulders and leave. Melody is the child I worry about right now having some affects of no longer having Alynna here to play with, work with, write notes to, and argue with. She was already missing Alynna last night. I snapped some last minute photos of the girls together in Alynna's room just before she left with Tiffany. We love you Alynna. I hope we get to tell you that again someday soon.

Superstition Springs Mall Fun-ness

2010-03-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

For our wedding anniversary I got Christian an hour massage at a place in the mall. So we went to the mall this morning and while he was getting massaged I was keeping our 4 kiddos entertained. Here's what we did!

We visited candy corner and Melody was such a sweet heart. She shared lots of her quarters with her two brothers. They all picked out things from the candy/toy machines. Dane of course chose bouncy balls which is one of his obsessions. They have a new "little" playground that's nearby so we played there for a very short while.

Then Dane wanted to ride the elevators which cracks me up. It really is a fun ride for him. People thought we were a little weird riding up and down but then they'd see how much fun Dane was having and they cracked up too. After riding the elevator a few times I spotted SEES Candy so took the kids to see if we could get some samples. Melody wanted desperately to buy her own pieces of chocolate so I asked the lady if there was anything for 50 cents. The lady said the cheapest piece is actually 65 cents. The lady thought Melody was super adorable though and let her pick out a few pieces of candy and she was able to pay for all 3 for only 50 cents. Then the lady gave the rest of us our own samples of chocolate. Then we rode the elevator back down to the 1st floor to check on "daddy".

Christian was almost done with his massage so we sat in some comfy chairs and took turns chasing after Dane's bouncy balls. Good thing the mall wasn't crowded with people quite yet.

Then on our way out of the mall we passed by a bigger vending machine that was selling "splat" toys that you throw at the ground. The machine must have been messed up some how with the prices. They were all exactly the same size and toy but they were all different colors. One of them was $5.00, some were .75 cents and some were .15 cents and other various amounts. It was kinda weird and we felt guilty for ripping off the toy machine somehow. So the kids have been playing with these .15 cent toys all day. That concludes our morning family outing at the mall.

And Happy Anniversary Honey. The flowers were lovely!

Subway Fun

2010-03-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago I took Melody, and Aaron and we escaped for a meal at Subway together. Those 2 kids are a hoot...it was a very entertaining meal. I had a lot of fun and I hope we can do it again soon. It's cool having a camera on your cell phone. It means I can catch silly moments like this pretty much all the time.

New Earrings

2010-03-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

I took Baylee to Superstition Springs Mall today to get her ears pierced. Melody was 7 months old when I got hers done and I figured Baylee was old enough at 4 months. She looks so girly and I love it! She was stinkin' cute with her blinged out headband, bracelet, and earrings. Now we just have to work on growing some hair.

Here's what Baylee is doing at 4 months!

makes really nice spit bubbles
grabs for things at the table
smiles a lot now
sleeps all the way thru the night (whoo hoo!!)
is stubborn with her giggles
sucks on her fingers
turns her head to look at whoever is talking to her
turns, arches, and moves her body to look at people
rolls from side to side
opens her eyes really wide
stares and studies things near her
grabs at the toys hanging by her
grabs her toes and lifts her bum-bum high in the air
sleeps in her crib
loves being held, and cries when you put her down
when she gets tired of her carseat she goes stiff as a board and makes you bend her body to fit her in
loves taking baths
smiles, squeals, coos, and gurgles
weighs almost 13 lbs, and is 25 inches long 75% percentile on everything
makes "swimming" motions with her arms and legs when put on her tummy
does lots of drooling
fusses and demands to be held
loves her swing

Melody, Aaron & Dane are awesome big brothers and sister. Melody loves to dress Baylee and picks out her hair bows for the day. She also goes and makes her bottles. Aaron loves to make funny faces at her to try to get her to smile at him. She always smiles at Aaron because he's so goofy. Dane is great at giving her a pacifier and asks if he can hold her all the time. I love my kids!

Baylee's Blessing Dress...Finally!

2010-02-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

So these pictures are very late in coming...but I finally got them done and posted on our blog! Isn't she a cutie?

My Grandmother

2010-01-23T23:54:00.000-08:00

I am standing upon the sea shore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says; “There, she is gone! ” “Gone where? ” Gone from my sight. That is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at that moment when someone at my side says, “There, she is gone! ” There are other eyes watching her and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “Here she comes! ”

And that is dying.

My grandmother was such an amazing woman and she did well in raising my own mother. I'm so sad and happy at the same time. Happy that she's going to be with my grandpa very soon and so sad for my mom and for me because we will miss her. The poem above was in the book at the hospice where my grandma is and it was very helpful in describing what is happening. She will not be gone, just no longer in our sight. My sister told my mom an analogy which has been very helpful too. Death is a lot like being born. Sometimes it's quick but sometimes you have to labor at it. My grandma has been laboring at it for 4 days now and she's about to be born into the spirit world where loved ones are going to be so happy to have her. She was a good role model and I am so blessed to be apart of her family. I love you grandma, tell Grandpa hi for me.

2010 New Years Eve!!

2010-01-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas was great and so was sleeping in on News Years Day! We hung out with our friends Cori and Brian on New Year's Eve playing games, eating potato soup, setting off the noise makers/poppers with the kiddos about 9:00 I think, and watching the new James Bond movie. I fell asleep during the first 10 minutes of the movie though.

I also got a new church calling on New Years Eve which was a surprise...a pleasant one at that. I've been called to be the 1st counselor in the Relief Society and I was both happy and apprehensive to accept the calling. Now that I've had time to let it sink in I think I'm ready for whatever challenges come my way, but mostly I'm excited to work with a committee over the enrichment activities.

Baylee is starting to smile and coo when you talk to her. I've been told you can't spoil a newborn but this baby girl knows the difference if you're sitting down with her or standing and bouncing her. She's such a cutie-pie though and it's my fault she's so spoiled. I have a hard time putting her down. Baylee is such a snuggly baby.

The kids were excited to go back to school...but not as excited as I was!!! The first day off I took a much needed nap!

We enrolled Alynna in the 2nd grade and she's already making friends. She was disappointed not to be in Melody's class but I think she'll do so much better if they're apart and not competing with each other. It looks like Alynna will be living with us at least until March. It's nice having 2 big sisters in the house to help take care of Baylee when she's fussing.

Alynna and the Family

2009-12-16T13:53:00.000-08:00

We wanted to introduce everyone to our new foster daughter, Alynna. She's going to be staying with us for a while and we are very happy to have her with us. Isn't she cute? She is very motherly and loves to take care of our baby, Baylee. She practicly begs to hold and feed her whenever we'll let her. Our cat Tucker loves to sleep in her room and is doing a good job of keeping her company while she's away from home. Alynna likes to do things like play with Barbies, paint, do crafts, watch movies, and go to the park. Her favorite things to eat are cereal and pizza. She has a very contagious laugh and is fun to have as a playmate for the kids. She and Melody are both learning how hard it is to have a "sister" your age all of a sudden that wants to share your clothes, toys, and friends. And that's Alynna in a nut shell!

I'm also putting up some of the pictures that Breezy took of our family. I am so happy with the pictures that she took of us. http://www.breezystudios.com/ You could be happy too! Her pictures are totally worth every penny.

Baylee 1 Month

2009-12-04T05:54:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd post some more pictures of Baylee. We just had our friend Breezy Cartright take photos of our family so I'll post those as soon as I get them. She showed me some the other night that were so awesome!!! So I can't wait to get our Christmas cards done now.

Baylee had her 1 month doctors appointment yesterday. She's gained 2 lbs since leaving the hospital which is really good! She eats all the time so I knew she was getting bigger.

2009 Halloween Pictures

2009-11-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

Here's our pictures from this years Halloween. I stayed home Friday night with the baby while the rest of the family went to Walker Butte Elementary for their Fall Festival and then next door for the Ward Party's Trunk or Treat. Saturday we went into Mesa to go to the old ward's Halloween party with Bestamor and Bestafar. I was going to eat and run since I had Baylee with me but we ended up taking turns hanging out with baby in the car.

Baylee Loella Hughes

2009-10-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED

I went walking with my friend Amy at Fiesta Mall to help induce labor on Thursday. I had been feeling pretty strong contractions for a few weeks and was ready to have this baby girl. I got home kind of late and started separating out some scentsy orders. I was almost finished when the contractions finally started to pick up so I paged the doctor and she wanted me to get to the hospital. Christian and I made quick arrangements with some friends to watch our kids and made our 40 minute drive to Banner Gateway.

The contractions were definantly doing something but labor was moving so slow. The nurse monitored us for a long time but was unsure of what we should do since we lived far away. About 1:00am the nurse called Dr. Sodoma and she said to keep me there (for those who know the story about my labor with Melody...this was a very good thing). 7:30 am I was dialated about 4.5 cm so Dr. Sodoma came and broke my water.

The hard labor contractions started instantly which I wasn't prepared for at all. I told Dr. Sodoma she better stick around because I was already feeling the hard labor and I wanted her there (for those of you who know about Eva's labor story with Caleb...I didn't want that same story). I was going to go without the epidural like I did with Melody and Aaron but after the 1st hour I was so exhausted. I hadn't slept AT ALL. So I asked for the epidural at 8:30 am. My mom in law was there before I got my epidural and she was so helpful. She got me ice chips which helped me to handle the first hour of contractions. My mom got there right as they were administering the epidural. When I felt Baylee pushing down I let the moms know they better move to the corner of the room if they didn't want a view. It took 3 pushes and Baylee was here.

Baylee tried to come face first, the doctor saw her nose and face and had to rearrange her so her neck wasn't fully extended and so she would come head first...ouch! I had to stop pushing for a bit because the cord was wrapped around Baylee's neck twice. When she was finally out, Dr. Sodoma held up the cord to show me where Baylee had tied herself a "true knot" in the umbilcal cord. I think everyone in the room looked at it in disbelief. We were so lucky that knot hadn't been pulled any tighter or Baylee would have been cut off from everything.

So that's Baylee's birth story! I hope that wasn't to graphic for you. We are SOOO happy she's here! She's been a really mellow baby. Her jaundice count was high so she spent the first few days under lights to help get the numbers down. The numbers kept getting higher but stabalized at a 12-13 finally so the hospital let us go home on Monday. We were home by 8:00pm and we're so thankful to have dinner waiting for us from the Bailey's. And we were so thankful for my mom-in-law who stayed at our home and took care of our other kids.

Optimus Star Wars Prime

2009-09-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

Dane was running around this morning chasing Melody and Aaron before school with his light sabor and Optimus Prime helmet. What made it even more funny is the helmet will alter your voice if you speak through it so you sound like a machine. So he was running after them continually making these noises while swinging his "sword" at them but what you can't see is...he can't see! The helmet is so big he has to move it to the side so he can see out one of the eye holes with both his own eyes. What a super cute kid I have.

Calling all X-Men

2009-09-10T11:55:00.001-07:00

I always look at my blog and never know what to write so I move on to reading everyone elses! Which I of course love to do. It never seems like what I have to say is ever as interesting as reading my friends and family members blogs. So here's the Hughes family update! finally...

This past summer has had its challenges but Christian and I are learning to laugh at things and then move on to what's most important. Here are the things we've learned to laugh at.

We've had a finicky upstairs A/C unit that we've been babying through the summer. Van troubles where we've taken the van into get repaired 3 times in the same week (all taken care of though). The A/C in Christian's car went out in June so he's been commuting in a hot car after spending the entire day working outside each and every day (he's holding out for winter). I've been upset with my ex-husband and have been preparing to take him to court yet again. A broken dishwasher (as of Sunday). And the lawn mower is about to give up the ghost. The lawn mower is actually what has inspired me to write this blog today.

My husband is really good at counting our nickels and dimes. He's good at making things last that should have been replaced years ago. The lawn mower we have is one we inherited from my grandpa Crandall who kept it running for a long time. I think due to the summer heat the lawn mower can't function the way it's been jimmy rigged to do :). It takes Christian at least 3 days to mow the back yard because the engine overheats and dies on him. Yesterday Christian was so close to finishing the yard when he could feel the lawn mower choking again. So he quickly mowed a big X on our lawn, calling all X-Men. I don't think we'll be planting any winter grass.

But the things that are important are happening. I've been volunteering in Aaron's Kindergarten class which we both love. I'm getting to know his friends and am doing what I can to encourage him to do his best in school. Slowly but surely I'm preparing for our little baby girl to come in October. I'm gathering up items here and there and have had success in rearranging bedrooms (that was actually kind of stupid on my part, I kept praying not to go into labor while I was moving heavy dressers). We have had Adrianna which has been a really special experience for our family. My husband has a job and he is really good at it. And there has been a lot more than just these things to be thankful for.

Dane is a hoot as always. We moved him into Aaron's room onto the bottom bunk. He's in a big boy bed now and he sleeps in it! And he's able to put up with Aaron's talking at night. Our little baby is growing up.

Aaron is his usual. His talking, crying, yelling, and holding conversations at night (usually with Melody) while staying asleep is still pretty entertaining. He woke up Dane the other night and when I went into quiet Aaron down, he couldn't remember why he was sitting up in his bed. He loves school and is doing well. He gets mad at me if I don't pack him a school lunch everyday. If I don't pack him a PB&J sandwich from home, that's what he'll get in the cafeteria line but he throws the unopened bag of potato chips away. Either don't take them at all or give them to a friend right?

Melody has been a big help at home. She helps Aaron with reading books and doing homework. She hops to it when we need her help with the two babies. Melody is also doing really well in school. I'm really happy for the teacher she's gotten. It's Bro. Harris from the Johnson Ranch ward!

Baby Girl Hughes is due on Halloween but we're taking bets on when she'll actually arrive. It's gonna be fun times with 3 babies in diapers! And no I'm not complaining. I actually do find that rather funny. It fits us. Christian and I are still undecided on the name. This time around I think I need to see her to know what will fit her best.

That's our family update!

The Reunion and Our Foster Baby!

2009-08-08T14:58:00.001-07:00

These pictures are from the family reunion we just had a couple weekends ago. Melody was off having so much fun we barely got any pictures of her! While we were up camping, Christian and I took the kids to the deer farm nearby which was kind of neat. The deer loved being fed and the kids weren't afraid at all. And we can't forget to mention how much fun Maggie had up there! That dog barely ate her own food during the whole thing she was fed so many times under the table.

And I think most everyone knows that Christian and I have had our foster baby girl going on 3 weeks now. For privacy sake I can't really post information about her on my blog except to say that she is absolutely adorable! She just turned 17 months a few days ago and we love having her here with us. When the foster kids come through our home it's always an eye opener for Christian and I. We get that subtle reminder that our lives really aren't so bad after all. Thanks so much Laurel and Tiffany for letting us borrow some baby girl clothes. She didn't come to us with much so we had to make do with what was available. Thank goodness we were already prepared with a crib and car seat!

July Family Vacation to California

2009-07-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy month for me. (haha...like any month isn't busy for me) I think this time I'm really feeling it though. I'll be so glad when the kids go back to school next Monday. So far I've been away from home 8 days out of the last 13 and I'll be away another 3 for the Johnson Reunion.

We've been doing some Respit Care for foster kids during the week in between all the craziness. I totally love life though and am sooo glad I have Christian who is a good sport about it all. He would like it if I stayed away from Facebook a little more though. Anyways, I'm really sorry if you've been trying to get ahold of me. There were a few days where I was really tired and others where I wanted to throw my phone into the nearest body of water.

Here's some pictures of the family at Legoland California......

....and Mission Beach....

...and Sea World....

Vacation Times Last Summer

2009-07-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

I was emptying our video camera of some video footage and had forgotten about these clips I recorded! I'm gonna have to burn them to DVD so I don't lose them. I love doing fun things with my family and Christian spoils us. We get to do a lot and he always makes for a fun time. I'm the boring type that likes to sit back and observe...mostly, but he's fun to watch with the kids. You might want to pause the music at the bottom of the webpage.

JULY 4th, 2009: With Bill & Laurel down in Tucson

July 2009: California Beach Trip with Austin & Tiffany

Yay!!! Darn!!!

2009-06-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up at 4:00 AM like I have the past few nights....darn. So I watched the morning buzz at 5:00 AM and the news and heard all about Michael Jackson's death again.

So then I thought to myself, what could I do before all the kids wake up this morning?....hhmmm. I know! I'll paint the front door! I'm weird like that. So I grab my pale of red paint and start painting the front door. Yay! But I run out of paint at the very end...darn. Well, I can't leave my door only mostly painted or else I'm sure to hear from the HOA. So I wonder to myself again..."I wonder if adding water to the can helps....hhhmmm". Well it works out, kind of. The paint, being very thin, runs down the door as I'm trying to paint and is doing so at a very fast rate. It's good enough to get me by though.

Then I get to admire my front door! From the porch, then from the street. Hopefully it doesn't stand out to much or look weird. I make a mental note to grab more paint TODAY, or else I'll never do the touch up paint.

The kids and I have a pretty uneventful day which is nice. I like having those every once in a while. We met friends at McDonalds and sat for a long time, talking and playing. When we leave, the kids and I decide we're going to buy daddy a betta fish for his fish tank and pick up the same red paint from Walmart while we're there. The cashier lady lets me pay with the rolled coins that are weighing down my purse. I had 6 rolls in there and they were heavy! But I'm grateful because she saved me a wait at the bank with all the kids to deposit them into my account. Lol....I'm so embarrassed to having admit that.

Then we get home. Dane has fallen asleep in the car and the kids have run inside the house, leaving all the van doors open for me to close...again. That's so irritating! Close the darn door on your way out of it! It's not that hard!!! So I grab the fish in one hand, put my arm through the plastic bag loop that's carrying the red paint, and grab a sleeping baby from the car.

Now being my lovely, pregnant, and tired (4:AM remember) self, I lean down to put the red paint can on the living room/dining room table. It falls. DARN!!!! Dane wakes up and there's a nice pile of red paint on my living room floor. (I never think to take pictures while I'm in the moment.) I wish I could have shown you guys this scary pile of red paint. I'm trying to scoop it up and not drip anywhere. I'm wetting all kinds of old kitchen towels but ya know...red paint doesn't exactly soak up into anything. I spent the next 3 hours on hands and knees scrubbing at this sucker, talking to Christian on the phone saying we either need to re-carpet or buy an area rug..."no dice" he says. Darn!

But good news, the red paint mostly did come up. YAY!! Not with carpet cleaner mind you...nope, that stuff just made it into a dull pink, kool-aid looking stain. Spray and Wash did the job. So great news Christian!! I won't be calling Express Flooring after all.

Now I'm really exhausted. Looks like frozen pizzas for dinner tonight...the kids won't mind.

Dane's 2nd Birthday Party at Jeepers...

2009-06-16T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here's some video of Dane's birthday party at Jeepers back in May. I thought I should put it up here so family could see it.
The following clip is Melody and Dane playing Dane's absolute favorite game.

Melody's 7th Birthday

2009-06-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

Melody turns 7 years old on Father's Day this year! Seven! I can hardly believe it!! We told her she can invite a couple friends to go to the Phoenix Zoo with us on Saturday and then we could go swimming afterwards. We told Melody that there probably won't be any presents this year but that we were going to make it a fun birthday that she'll remember. We are still doing a birthday cake and icecream though and the blowing out of the candles for wish making.

So speaking of wish making...there's been one thing that Melody has been asking to get for months now and Christian and I were really "on the fence" about it. And the thing she wanted most was...a bird. Melody is in love with animals.

Since summer vacation began she's been taking care of our family pets and doing a really great job. She makes sure Maggie has water every morning, scoops the cats litter box, gets the cats their food and water, gives the baby chicks water a couple times a day, feeds the chickens, plays with the chicks, checks for eggs, and picks up dog poop. Even though she's totally proved herself to us that she can take really great care of pets, Christian and I did not want to add anything else to our "barn yard".

Last night we went out as a family to IHOP and then I had to run an errand to Home Depot. A Petco was right next to us, so we went inside to see the animals first before we went into the boring store.

And this is what we found there...

Petco was having some half off sales on their birds and the bird items were all being discounted. So Christian and I huddled together and decided we were going to give Melody her own bird for her birthday wish. They had a little bird enclosure behind some glass doors so daddy went inside with Melody so the lady could talk to her about taking care of a parakeet. Daddy was right there with her so he learned some important things too.

She's named him Timmy. He's young and already pretty tame for coming from a pet store. Melody has loved holding him and he sits on her finger and likes to hang out on her shoulders and chew her hair.

Happy Birthday Melody!

Love,

Mom & Daddy

"Daners"

2009-06-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

Dane celebrated his 2nd birthday - May 28th! I've been meaning to post pictures and tell a little about him. Better late then never??

Favorite Foods: Pancakes, Mashed Potatoes, Macaroni & Cheese, Pizza

Favorite Things To Do: Ride his tricycles, play outside, throw balls, suck his thumb and twiddle his blankets, take baths, run around nude after bathtime

Biggest Accomplishment this past year: Learning new words!

Yeah, No, Candy, Outside, Sit, Thank You, Shoes, Uh Oh, Daddy, Mamma, Mine, More, Drink

I can't think of more words at the moment.

Least Favorite Thing To Do: get his diaper changed

Pet Peeves: anyone leaving the house without him gets in trouble

Funny Things Dane Does:

-He'll pat/smack your arm, legs, cheeks, and anything else to get and hold your attention when he has something important to show or tell you.

-He loves to dance to music and he fist pumps to music which is hilarious to watch

-He'll run away from Melody whenever she tries to help put his shirt, shorts, or shoes on. This drives Melody crazy but he thinks its the best game ever.

-He gives the best hugs and kisses and gets so excited afterwards (because I always make a big deal about getting kisses from him)

I'll make another post about his birthday party at Jeepers. We invited family to join us at Jeepers and we were there for a really long time. 4 hours to be exact but the kids absolutely loved it! And I loved getting to hang out with brothers, sisters and both sets of grandparents.

Red Paint

2009-06-05T08:11:00.001-07:00

OUR PAINTED FRONT PORCH BENCH...CUTE HUH?

The kids and I had a fun time yesterday painting our chicken coop and our park bench red yesterday. During the day we let our nice, docile chickens out to walk around in our backyard. So we let them out while we did our painting. Helloise had to stay inside the coop though because she's a crazy chicken and the kids were a little nervous painting with her so close to them. That's why the perch inside is still unpainted. Helloise, can be a little scary. Even Christian is a little frightened of her. You can guess why we named her Hellouise.

HELLOUISE

THE CHICKEN COOP BEFORE

THE CHICKEN COOP AFTER

Speaking of Hellouise...we just acquired her and her 10 baby chicks. She joined the rest of our chicken brood only about a week ago.

My husband and I spent last Saturday trying to catch her and her babies. NOT an easy task. She was running lose, along with a rooster, and her 10 chicks on my grandma's acre property. They just decided to wander over and live there I guess. I wish we had taken some video or something to show you how funny we looked trying to catch these birds. Did you know that chickens really can fly? Well, we didn't want the rooster so he's still marching around over there. Anyone want a rooster? No? How about some baby chicks?

9 of the 10 Baby Chick-ies

I had my mom come over on Monday and we trimmed all 11 chicken/chicks wings so all they can do is fly around in circles now. Just kidding. Trimming wings sure calmed them down a lot though. The chicks are living in a little cage in our kitchen until they are big enough to add to our chicken coop. We've named most of them...the one's we can tell apart.

Spot, Mike, Stripe, Piggy, Dozer, Beaker, and Mario. So the chicks are pretty cute and the kids like to take them out and hold them every chance I'll let them. We'll keep a couple hens when we figure out what gender they are and then we'll be looking for homes for the rest.

We get brown and white eggs every day! It's a pretty cool deal.

Still a Mystery

2009-06-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

My recommendation is... don't schedule a late appointment on a Friday. Our technician didn't even try to find out the sex of the baby. She took measurements and we were out of there in twenty minutes. Christian thinks she was in more of a hurry to finish her work week then in giving us a thorough ultrasound. The baby was moving a lot and flipping over when she went to take measurements so I know it was hard for her. Good news is they're going to need better pictures of the head so I'm going to get to go back for another one. I've never had that happen before. Usually I'm in for 30-40 minutes and they give us lots of pictures to take home. That was not the case this time. Baby Hughes is still a mystery...stay tuned. And my mom-in-law thought it was really neat regardless. She said she was greatful the technician was pointing out different things because she had a hard time telling what things were.

Boy or Girl???

2009-05-29T13:28:00.001-07:00

We won't know for another 4 hours whether baby Hughes is a boy or girl. I'm so ready for my appointment!!! By the way, staring at the clock just makes it move slower in case you ever wondered. Anyways, I'm betting on a girl this time so I'll be sure to let you all know if my pregnancy intuition is correct. So far I've guessed right on my other 3 pregnancies. My appointment is at 5:00. That way my hubby could be there since he couldn't take any time off work. I also invited my awesome mom-in-law to be there since she's never seen or experienced an ultrasound before. This could be her only opportunity and ultrasounds are so neat! The 3 of us are really excited to see the baby. Hopefully baby Hughes cooperates. I have girl names already picked out and narrowed down to 2 that I really like. If she turns out to be a he...then I've got nothing and I'll be taking baby boy name suggestions. Stay tuned folks!

Easter Pics from Saturday

2009-04-15T09:18:00.001-07:00

Here everyone! I was just snapping pictures and trying to stay out of the way.

2009 Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-15T08:57:00.001-07:00

Our Easter Egg hunt was a success on Saturday even though it rained a lot. Amy Hadley and I were determined to not get rained out. Thanks to Amy, we were able to secure the Alma 11th ward building. A lot of friends and family showed up and everyone brought eggs to hide and share. After we utilized all the good hiding spots in the primary room we ended up just putting the rest of our eggs all over the floor for the little one's to pick up.

We had chocolate covered strawberries, capri-suns, pizza, and bread sticks to munch on while the eggs were being hidden. First we let in the kids 3 and under to look for eggs for the first 2-3 minutes by themselves.

Then we let in the older kids. The egg hunt lasted only a few short minutes after that. Those kids are pretty effecient egg hunters...

Thanks everyone for coming! That was really fun. I'll see about doing something similar next year. Hopefully we won't get rained out again.

My Retreat

2009-03-09T07:34:00.001-07:00

So last minute I decided I was going up to a retreat in Show Low with all the girls who pulled together the "Two Sisters One Heart" fundraiser. I wasn't planning on leaving until a little later Saturday morning but got a phone call saying lets go earlier! So I quickly finished packing and loading the van and made my rounds of picking up some ladies. I got to pick up and ride with Mandy Bailey which was really neat. I got a chance to get to know her better on the long long van ride up there.

We got to Jamie Kieta's family's "cabin" which was so cute and just perfect for such an occasion as this. We talked, ate, played games, Carol documented everything about our trip which was WAY cool by taking pictures of everything. For dinner Saturday night we went to the Mexican Restaurant and made a rucus. I think some of the ladies in our group even told the servers to put us away from everyone else because we were gonna be loud. The ladies in my ward are fabulous and I grew to love them even more.

How neat that not only being in a ward family but having this fundraiser was able to bring such a neat group of women together. We learned about all of our own highs and lows. I was surprised to learn that even the woman that I thought had everything together and in my mind were perfect had their own struggles. All of your testimonies made my own just that much stronger.

I missed Jamie's devotional Friday night because I couldn't get up there that early. Carol was in charge of Saturdays devotional though and it was magnificant! We went from laughing hard, to crying, to laughing, to crying...

What a wonderful weekend ladies...and sorry I was such a party crasher Saturday night.

A Night With Friends

2009-02-25T05:02:00.000-08:00

Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner, invited our friends Tiffany and Austin Lanter to come eat with us, and ate hawaiian haystacks. Christian and I like feeding the missionaries and getting to meet them as they come through the ward. They shared a 20 minute video with us afterwards about missionary work that I hadn't seen before. It was a great video and we have some really neat missionaries.

After the missionaries left, Tiffany, Austin, Christian and I got into our regular routine of playing Settlers of Catan. We are such nerds when it comes to this game. I won the first game and Austin BARELY won the second game. Only because I traded you that ore right before your turn...dang. Oh well, one cant get greedy about winning...can they?

Christian left this morning to go to work in Yuma and he won't be back until Saturday. Just like last time it was, "Yeah! oh wait, you're going to be gone how long? Oh...okay". The perdiam and overtime are extremely nice but that means I'm gonna miss him for 4 days. What's funny is I made a chiropractors appointment tonight to have my neck and back adjusted so Christian could be home to watch the kids, and I'm gonna end up taking them with me to my appointment anyways. They do have a play area there for the kids but Dane never wants to be in there. He has to follow me around the office and hold my hand and he goes and gets more lollipops from the front desk girl any chance he gets.

And as a last note...have you guys seen this commercial? After seeing this Superbowl commercial I realized that I really am just that much immature still. Why are toot's so funny? I'm a grown woman right? (Although Christian's are definantly not the ones to laugh at) Someday I will overcome the urge to snicker at even the littlest trumpet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc8mHUa5zFE

Here is what's up!

2009-02-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

So Christian and I are still waiting to hear back from Casa De Los Ninos in regards to getting children for foster care. We started this endeavor last March so we are coming up on 1 year of preparation for foster kids. Because of the economy, CPS workers are getting jobs cut, transportation services for the foster kids is being done away with, the government allowances for foster parents is being cut pretty significantly and I'm sure there's a lot of other changes coming, but I'm still ready to be a foster mom. I've been waiting a long time so I'm not about to throw up my hands and say never mind. Besides, I think Christian and I could help some chilren in a pretty significant way. So I'm here at home, trying to keep a home of order (and failing) but at least my kids are happy.

During the week I have multiple children that I watch. 3 Part timers and a whole lot of drop-ins. It's fun to be a stay-at-home mom and to have children that like to come over to "Ms Emily's House". I've dropped all my full time kids because I need to be within ratio for when we do receive foster kids, and I did this not only because...#1 it's the law and I have to follow a certain ratio...but #2 I really do want to give any foster kids that come to us a loving home that will be less chaotic then the one they just came from.

To compensate for the loss of kids I had been watching, I picked up cleaning houses in the evenings. I've started cleaning for family members and friends and I've gotten really good at cleaning homes in 2-3 hours. Christian still doesn't like the idea of me doing this because it's hard work and somehow he doesn't think it's dignified. But I like doing it just fine and I think he'll eventually come around to the fact that it's just not that big of a deal. I also picked up selling Scentsy. I figured having these side jobs would change up my schedule during the week and they are all things I can set my own hours to.

Speaking of watching children and cleaning houses, I think these two things have aggravated my already weakening neck and back over the last year. I'm starting physical therapy to help get my neck back in shape. My neck has absolutely no curve in it and is showing signs of degeneration. Actually, both doctors I went to see last Friday (it was a long day for me) told me it might have something to do with my height and me trying to slouch down all the time to make myself shorter. Perfect example: When we went to the dollar movies on Valentines Day I slouched as far down in my theatre chair so the people behind me could see the movie.

So I know people think I'm totally nuts for some of the things that I do. But if I don't try something, then how will I know if I'm good at it or not?

2008 Hughes Family Christmas Letter

2009-01-09T07:36:00.001-08:00

I really dropped the ball on getting out our family Christmas card for 2008 but I wanted to still send out our love to all our friends and family. Here's an update on what's been happening with us!

We moved into our home a few days after Christmas in 2007 so we have officially been in our new home for 1 year now! And guess what! Our garage, my moms, and my mother-in-laws garage are still containing things that have never been unpacked, packed or even moved. I'm sure I'll get a grasp on things when it's time for us to move again. Which, by the way, will probably be never.

Christian and I are Primary teachers over the CTR5 class and of course we love it. We have 17 kids in our class this year! Christian is also a ward missionary and I'm the sacrament music coordinator. I hope I get to have that calling for a while. It's been really neat to help with the music for sacrament. Hopefully I'm doing a good job! Christian and I completed our Foster Parenting course, family and home inspection. We've prepared one of our rooms to recieve children when the time is right which I'm thinking is fairly soon! It sounds like everything has finally gone through the state and we've been approved. We started meeting with Casa de Los Ninos in April of 2008 so we've been working towards this goal as foster parents for a while now.

Christian works for APS and is doing such an awesome job there. He recently transfered to the Casa Grande office and is happy that his commute isn't as terrible as it used to be driving all the way up to Deer Valley. He hasn't had as much road rage which is always good huh??

I'm still trying to find my role in everything. Christian has been a good supporter of everything I've tried or decided to do. He just rolls his eyes at me when I tell him my latest and greatest idea. He's pretty patient with me though which is something that I definantly love about him. I was busy this year planning and holding several craft fairs. Some that did great and some that did not so great. This upcoming year I'm looking to keep myself busy but simplify a lot at the same time. I'll let you know in next year's Christmas letter how I did.

Melody has lost her two front teeth and it happened right before Christmas. We all had fun singing the appropriate "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" with her. She is such a help with Dane and even changed her first diaper the other day. It took a little while because Dane made her chase him around the room before she could get the diaper back on. She really loves her younger brothers and finds ways to help out and make sure they are taken care of. She loves to read books and write notes to everyone. And she has a picture collection taped up all over her bedroom walls of family, crayon drawings and postcard pictures of the Savior. I keep taking them down because I don't like things taped to the walls but she keeps putting them back up.

Aaron. There are just no words to accurately describe that little boy. He is hilarious and I am glad I get to stay home with him. He is such a cuddly boy with a funny giggle and has the most expressive face ever. He is such a ham and a very witty one at that. He has so much to say all the time and sometimes I have to tell him to take a breath and give my ears a rest for a while. I get a hug, a kiss, an 'I love you Mom', and a 'can I play the nintendo?', from him everyday. I forsee him choosing a profession as a lawyer because he always has an argument and a closing statement for you. Aaron really loves to be with his family. He says that's his favorite thing to do. Well that and playing the nintendo. Our two kitty cats, Dexter and Tucker, love Aaron and he takes really good care of them.

Dane is our little blonde headed boy and likes to be carried around everywhere. If mommy won't pick him up then Melody will! He is such a daddy's boy which I both love and hate. When daddy's around I don't seem to exist anymore but sometimes that's okay with me. He started going to nursery in November which has made teaching in Primary easier on Christian and I now. He loves car rides because he gets both Aaron and Melody's attention at the same time and we usually have to quiet down their loud laughter. Dane likes to mimic Aaron playing the Nintendo Wii. He doesn't care about playing the game but likes to make the same movements that Aaron is making which is always funny to watch.

Then of course we have our family dog, Maggie. She is Dane's best friend. She and Dane are about 4 months apart in age and she is his protector, pillow, playmate and horse. Dane likes to sneak her food from his high chair so I have to keep an eye on those two around meal times.

We absolutely love our family and friends and always hope that everyone is doing okay. We hope you all know how much we think of you. Here's to a happy new year!!

Love,

Emily, Christian, Melody, Aaron and Dane