TEAM GREER

2011-05-03T19:47:00.002-07:00

Cool new post here ... I'm such a lazy jerk.

2011-05-03T19:47:00.001-07:00

Cool new post here ... I'm such a lazy jerk.

Florida - Oct 9 - 17, 2010

2010-10-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

July 24th

2010-08-22T10:01:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, July 24th, we had Kenny and Susan's family over for a barbeque. After the BBQ, we went and hunted frogs!

There is this little place in draper, next to a swap that is CRAWLING with frogs! It's insano! They are tiny at this point, almost the size of a housefly ... maybe a tad bigger, with some as big as a quarter. I think they're actually baby toads, but anyway, this is the third year that my family has gone and it's FUN! I think we collected well over 20! Then we released them all. The boys were not as into it as I hoped. Maybe next year. The girls had a lot of fun ...

In years past, we would bring the frogs home and let them loose in the backyard. I'm sure kitties and birds find them and gobble them up. It really is so much fun!

After the return home, we set out a blankie and watched neighbors do their fireworks. It was such a fun night! It was a Saturday, so we didn't have to wake up early the next day. My camera's date is off by a day ... it was really 07.24.10.

We'll have to do it again next year.

Dinner with Lana

2010-08-22T09:50:00.001-07:00

I met up with my Lana for dinner. Lana has spent the last year transforming herself and reinventing her life! The time we spent was amazing! She really inspired me to get back on WW. Lana did 'The Best Life' diet. www.thebestlife.org. I guess it's more of a philosophy, etc. It's a good program, like WW. It focuses on retraining ourselves on eating better, getting more activity, etc.

I don't know how much weight she has lost in total, but I believe it's 90-100 lbs. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?! For her will power and strength, she is being recognized by Bob Green and is currently on their website. She has run a few races as well.

What a good example she's been for me. Hopefully I can also triumph over my weight. So far since starting WW again, (starting my 4th week today) I'm down 6lbs! That's a 2lb per week average.

Summer Fun with Kami and the boys!

2010-08-22T09:36:00.001-07:00

My best friend Kami, lives about 3 houses away. Her youngest son, Bridger has a powerwheels type vehicle that he calls a 'scubadiver'. Yeah, I don't know either ...

Anyway, he gives the boys rides. He's really good at it! I think my boys would crash or something.

2010 Greer Family Reunion

2010-08-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

In July, we had our Greer Family Reunion at Reid Ranch. This place was great. I wish we could have spent more time there. The kids loved it! I wish Ian and I could have enjoyed it more. Having twins means you don't get to do anything.

Next year it's Nate's turn and we'll go to Idaho. I know he'll plan some great things.

2010-08-22T09:17:00.001-07:00

Lydia lost her first tooth! It was a bottom tooth, and the one next to it is loose as well. BOTH permanent teeth are already in, so I fear we'll have to pull the loose one since Lydia isn't helping.

I don't understand my kids, I LOVED having loose teeth ... I would pull, twist, bite, whatever until that tooth came out! But both of my girls have been 'afraid'. I don't get it.

We also don't do the 'tooth fairy' here ... I just give them cash. Well, I did on the first tooth, but after that, nope.

Happy Birthday Lydia!

2010-06-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Lydia was born on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 ... it was later in the afternoon, if I remember correctly around 4:00 or 5:00 ish.

She was 7lbs 9oz.

She was an ugly baby ... and she porked out as she got older. By 6 months she had a 'moon' face. ha ha ha.

Lydia gets prettier and prettier. She's almost grown out of her tantrums and moodiness.

She's still a weirdo though.

At any rate. I love her very much.

Happy Birthday Lydia!

Lydia's Kindergarten Graduation

2010-06-01T20:43:00.001-07:00

Lydia graduated from Kindergarten on Friday, May 28th.

When Lydia entered kindergarten, I thought for sure I'd be getting a call from her teacher telling me to take her back! I was terrified for her. I even wrote a little note on her 'info sheet' apologizing in advance because of her insanity. I know, I'm a horrible mother.

However, the opposite has happened. Lydia seems to have almost 'caught up' emotionally with all her peers. She rarely has the same outbursts and tantrums that used to hold our family hostage. She was so unbearable I (and everyone else in the house) were on the brink of madness. I know that sounds dramatic, but it was true.... she was a living nightmare.

It's only going up from here! Lydia has learned a lot. She can read all her sight words and she's absolutely average. :) I'm very proud of her.

Her program was really cute. They sang several songs. Make sure you watch the video below.

I love you, Lydia ... craziness and all.

Mom

Lydia's Teacher, Mrs. Kunze

Lydia showing us her diploma

Accepting her diploma

Singing with her She-Ra headband ... oh lordy ...

Her part of the program! Right on!

Being a patient, good girl.

Mrs. Kunze

Waiting for the program to begin.

Being a good girl.

Disney Insanity!

2010-06-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

So, on Saturday, May 29th I worked for two hours in the morning, from 7:30am - 9:30am. On my way home, a crazy idea entered my brain...

I should take my family to Disneyland for one day! I should drive down as soon as I get home, go to Disneyland on Sunday, then drive home on Monday, May 31st aka Memorial Day.

Nevermind it's a holiday weekend with holiday traffic ... nevermind Disneyland is going to be insanely busy ... nevermind this is going to cost a FORTUNE.

So, I asked Ian what he thought, and he said, "Sure" ... holy crap?! Really? Okay then, let's go.
5.
I got a room at the Holiday Inn Express (where we usually stay) on priceline.com for $85.00 a night. Not bad considering it was Memorial Day weekend. I packed within 15 mintues and we were off.

The drive down was uneventul. We stopped once in St. George for lunch at McDonalds. We were back on the road around 4:00pm. We drove straight to Anaheim without a stop. It was really fast time. I acutally sped, shocking, I know. I drove 80 mph as opposed to my normal 75 mph.

That night we went swimming. The girls LOVED it ... the boys also loved it. I sat in the hot tub and watched the kids. We were in bed by 11:00pm, but the boys had a hard time falling asleep in a different environment. Eventually they fell asleep as well.

We were up early at 6:00am on Sunday. We got ready fast, ate breakfast and made to DL by 8:00am for opening! We knocked out Fantasyland in about 2 hours... we went to Adventureland/Frontierland area. The boys are really in to the Haunted Mansion... they watch a youtube.com video all the time.

We went back to the hotel for lunch and swimming again. Had naps, etc. this took 4 hours then we went back to DL for another 5 hours or so.

Disneyland with kids/babies totally sucks. It's sad, but true. Once your kids are about 8 years old or so, they can go on all the rides, hopefully they aren't very whiny and basically it's fun. I like 'reliving' old memories, etc, but I always build up so much hype that it's a let down for me. I need to be more patient.

This trip was much better than our December trip. 6 months really makes a difference with the boys. They were much better this trip ... still difficult, but much better.

We ate breakfast on Monday morning then left. The traffic getting back in to CA was HORRIBLE. I'm so glad we were on the other side of the freeway. We drove straight from Anaheim to St. George and ate at the same McDonalds. I picked up Cafe Rio for myself'/Ian because I didn't want burger fare. From there, we hopped back on the road and arrived home by 7:45pm.

The girls played with friends, I did laundry then watched the news and went to bed.

All in all it was a fun weekend. It was tiring. I didn't take ONE BLESSED photo. How lame am I? Oh well. My only souvenier is a ring. It's a silver band with Mickey heads inlayed, filled with colors.

Meredith

Oh lordy ...

2010-05-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

I'm so so sorry I haven't posted in April, and now we're ending May with out a new update.

I promise to get something up soon ... the last day of school is this Friday.

What am I going to do?

Death in the family

2010-03-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

I received a frantic call today from Lily around 3:30ish.

She couldn't find her hamster. I was confident it was somewhere in the house, but I didn't know where. It had gotten out of it's cage by chewing through some duct tape that Ian had put on a hole. Hamsters can escape from *anything* ... duct tape might as well be cobwebs.

After searching the house, Lily found the hamster in the kitty dungeon. 'Hamstey' was found in the kitty house-carpet thingie. It wasn't eaten. My guess is Kitty somehow broke it's neck or something because if Sammy or Kisper found it first, it would be kitty poop by now.

Poor Lily.

When I finally got home she had take photos of Hamstey and created this tribute video.

RIP Hamstey.

Blue Hair

2010-02-27T15:22:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Ashlee, my niece, I got my hair done!

As you may remember, the previous color was red, now it's blue in honor of nothing in particular. I also had her dye my regrowth, etc.

Looks pretty good huh?

Meredith

Lame-O

2010-02-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

So, I didn't take any photos in January. How lame is that?! How do I miss taking photos?! I'm such a lazy jerk.

Well, good news, I got the job in Motors. It's going to be a great opportunity and great move for me. Even thought it will cost me more in daycare. I'm excited to have my weekends back with Ian and never have to ask for a holiday off. wwweeeee!!!

Weight watchers is going well. It's still easy, but it sucks that I will have to watch what I eat for the rest of my life. NO FAIR! Okay, so it is fair, it just sucks. I love food so much. >.< I'm on track to loose 5 lbs a month. It's very reasonable, and I can still have some yummy food that's important to me.

It's official that Laura and I are going to FL in October! This will be the first time I've gone to FL since I was 16, with out trip revolving around Disney. I don't know what to do with myself. ha ha ha. No, but really it will be nice. We'll be staying at the number one rated beach in America - Clearwater Beach, FL. We're staying at a fabulous beach house: http://www.vrbo.com/262139 and it's literally walking distance to the beach, BUT it also has a pool. The kids are going to love this place. I'm not taking the boys at this point, unless something changes. I've asked Mary, my SIL if she wants to babysit, so we'll see if that works out.

We will go to Disneyworld for ONE day however since they are running their 'Give A Day, Get A Disney Day' promotion - http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day ... so, that will be awesome, and since it's October, I think I'll go on a day when they are also having Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, too. SOOOO COOL! Everyone needs to go!

Also, my birthday was this past Tuesday, the 2nd. I am 32 years old. I can't believe how young I am, yet how old I am too. Weird. My mom was 33 when she had me, and she still had TWO kids after that! I'm glad I was done by the time I was 30. I was 29 when I had the boys.

Well, that's all for now. I promise to take some photos for next bloggy post.

Update

2010-01-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

So, weight watchers is going very well! It's slow, steady and manageable. Hopefully within a year I'll be down to 150 and it won't have been very difficult. wwwweeeee!!!! I have also walked for an hour on the treadmill THREE TIMES! It's a miracle. ha ha ha. I'm only walking at a 2 mph pace though.

My birthday is next week. I'll be 32 years old. I like getting older, personally. I truly feel like I become wiser and calmer. Ian and I are going to Indian food. I'll have to figure out how to chart that with my points.

We also have Valentine's Day coming up. I told Ian just to send flowers to my work for my birthday and that will take care of Vday and my birthday.

I applied and had a second interview in the eBay Motors dept. I have a good feeling, but until I'm actually offered the job, I'll just have to wait. It was a pretty popular job and a lot of people applied. A lot of qualified people. If I don't get the job, I'll just stay in TCC until something else pops up.

Laura and I am trying to plan our Florida trip. Who knows who will show up.

Mer

I started Weight Watchers!

2010-01-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

So, last night was my first meeting. Laura and Ashlee are also joining in! The program is SUPER SIMPLE ... the not so simple part it following the plan. I am allowed 27 points per day. Everything you eat is assigned a points value. For example, I'm eating a turkey sandwich right now for lunch. It's two slices of whole wheat bread, two tbls of Miracle Whip and 3 oz of sliced deli turkey. Super delish and it's 6 points. If I wanted to, I could add tons of veggies and it wouldn't raise the points, or if it did, it would be like 1 point. I also get 35 extra points every week to 'fudge' with. So, I'm going to try and NOT use those. Maybe when I go to dinner or something.

I'm hoping to get down to 150lbs. We'll see ... only time will tell.

Recap

2009-12-31T15:54:00.000-08:00

Guess who didn't take photos on Christmas ... yup, that would be me. I was too busy filming with the video recorder, I forgot about the camera. Oh well, at least it was document.

Today is NYE and I won't be doing anything fun. I have to work in the morning so I'll be in bed by 10:00. I'm so lame. I promise myself that next year I will not work Christmas or New Year's Day. I'll see if I can talk Ian in to taking off the time as well.

So, this is embarrassing. My new year's resolutions for last year were to loose weight and have an orgasm everyday. I'm sure you think that's lame, but it isn't. Husbands and wives need to be together more. Maybe some of you have time to be intimate, but I/we don't. I'm not embarrassed to say that if we can do it once a week, I'm surprised. It's so damn hard! I hate that Ian and I don't have the relationship we used to have. I can't imagine that anyone has the same relationship they had when they were childless and new wed. Ah, those were the good ol' days. Now I have kids who come knock on my door while Ian and I are, ahem, "occupied", saying, "What are you guys doing in there ..." ... "come out, I need to talk to you".

Oh lordy.

Anyway, this year my only goal is to loose weight. Laura, Ashlee and my co-worker are joining weight watchers. If anyone wants to come along, you're more than welcome. I would LOVE to get to 150lbs. I don't know if it's even possible. I love food so much. It also means I have to stop drinking because of the empty calories. Totally sucks. I'll have to 'celebrate' every 8 weeks or so.

I'd love to travel in the new year, but I'm not sure that will happen. Ian and I are saving for my 'mommy makeover'. We're saving money AND pto from work. I always struggle with travel, too. Should I take the kids or not? I hate that I feel guilty if I don't bring them with, but then when I do, I don't enjoy myself. *sigh*

So, no photos this post ... just rambling.

Meredith

Disneyland 2009

2009-12-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

Halloween Pics!

2009-11-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

Ian was a pirate, I was a witch, Lydia was a vampire, Lily was a dark fairy, and the boys were Nemo and Squirt. I don't remember which was which ... oh, wait, Duncan was Nemo and Arik was Squirt. We went to Rosemary's because Lily was trick or treating there with their family. We also stopped at my parents house for a photo op. We came back home and I took Lydia on the street, came home then Ian took her out for a few more houses. We didn't take the boys because they were very, very sad. It wouldn't have been worth it. Still too young, I guess. We'll try again next year.

Cornbelly's

2009-11-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

We went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. We took the boys and Lydia and met up with my friend Kami. It was a lot of fun! I'm glad we had discount coupons and a free entrance for Lydia. It only cost us 12.00 or something to get in. If we had to pay full price it would have been like 30.00 or something ... that's pretty steep.

There's a lot of fun things to do there. The boys loved playing on the wooden train. We walked through 'the creature' which scared Lydia and the boys temendously ... don't recommend that for little kids. We went on a little train ride and also went in these pedal go cart things. Super fun! We'll definitely go again next year.

Lily's 10th Birthday

2009-11-06T08:19:00.001-08:00

Lily celebrated her 10th birthday with friend party on Saturday, October 24th. We had 8 girls, plus Lily. Her friends, Aja, Averie, Sage, Alexa, Danielle, Chloe, Talia, and Cari.

Anyway, we met at our house at 3:30pm, then we went to Classic Skating in Sandy. It was $120.00 for 9 girls, then Lydia and me. We had unlimited soda, got ice cream, and a pizza. We also got like 100 tokes or something. Lily also got to spin a wheel of prizes and enter some sort of money tornado. It was a dream come true for her! I thought it was a bargain because I didn't have to clean up or feed anyone.

When Lily has a 'friend' party she doesn't get any additional birthday presents from us. She was thoroughly taken care of by her friends, Grandma Rose, my parents and rest of the family.

Afterwards, we came home and watch a spooky Halloween movie. It was The Watcher in the Woods. I loved this movie as a kid and it was neat to introduce it to the girls. ha ha ha... I hope they liked it, I could hear screaming from the theatre room. I think it was mostly the music and theme-ing, really.

Make sure you look at all the photos!

I love you, Lily.

Lincoln City, Oregon Oct 2009

2009-10-20T19:32:00.001-07:00

Well we're back from our way too short trip to Oregon. Boy, it's just such a neat place and we'll definitely be going back. LOVED LOVED LOVED it.

We rented a house ... it was non pretentious (humble?) and not luxurious, but was very comfortable. Kind of like Grandma's house or something. It was about a 10 min walk to the beach. I could really appreciate this place in the summer months. There were some very beautiful homes that were very pricey.

Here's the photos, enjoy!

In case you are wondering, this was the carpet that was on the WALL in my basement bedroom. Nice.

HALLOWEEN HOUSE

2009-09-28T20:18:00.001-07:00

MAKE SURE YOU CLICK 'PLAY' ON MY MUSIC PLAYER FOR AN AWESOME SONG!

Here are some photos of my Halloween lights. This was *really* important to the girls; to have a 'spooky' house. It's not that spooky, but it's definitely fun. I'm not very good at photography ... I used three different settings on my camera, but it still isn't very adequate. Enjoy!

GREEK FESTIVAL 2009

2009-09-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Ian and I look forward to the Salt Lake Greek Festival every year!

Basically there is *one* reason why we go ... THE FOOD! This year we spent $30.00 on cafeteria style food. Can you believe that? I can! SO SO SO delicious!

We also went into the church for the first time ever. It's very beautiful. I took a photo, but I didn't want to use my flash, so it's a blurry photo, sorry.

I would really love to go to Greece someday.

Lydia's first day of Kindergarten

2009-08-28T08:45:00.001-07:00

Thursday, August 27th was Lydia's first day of kindergarten.

She's been waiting a long time for this. At the very last moment, I received a call to say they were switching her kindergarten teacher because they had too many students and just hired a previous teacher to lessen the burden on the other teachers (there were 35+ students per class, now everyone has around 25-30).

Lydia's teacher is Mrs. Kunze. She's very beautiful, I'll have to get a photo.

Lydia had a fun time, but now this morning she's giving me a hard time and saying she doesn't want to go to school. WHAT THE?! She's been begging me for two years now to go to school with Lily, and now she doesn't want to go? Unbelievable.

Photos are in backwards order ... sorry ... so the ones with Lily are the girls walking home from school.

Greer Family Reunion

2009-08-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

We had our Greer Family Reunion August 7 & 8 at Heber Valley Camp. Boy, it was a lot of fun. The cabins were great, the location was great ... I definitely think we could go there again. The girls and boys had such a fun time. It was difficult for me to make sure the babies stayed safe since they would/could wander away and there was a fire going in the fire pit. Ian really enjoyed himself. He loves the outdoors.

I'm afraid I only took 4 photos, but other members of my family took tons of photos, so as soon as I get those, I'll add them to this bloggy.

Babies are bad

2009-07-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

The boys were taking a bath and they pulled my Reader's Digest into the water ... *sigh* Magazine paper doesn't hold up well in water. It DISINTEGRATED.

I pulled out as much of the chunks as I could, but it was impossible to get all of it. I grabbed my colander and strainer and still couldn't get it all out.

It clogged the bathtub drain. I had to pull out the drain out using pliers. Then once it was opened pull out the goop with needle nose pliers.

I'm confident some of you would have barfed.

This is how it looked when I walked over.

The guilty parties. The stood on the side of the tub, and pulled it off the counter. You can see they are standing there for the photo.

After I drained it

Now I have to clean with bleach to get the ring out.

I'm a bad mother.

2009-07-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

We had a week's worth of fun with our Staycation! We started off with the McEuen family reunion on June 27. June 28th we went to the zoo. On July 4th we went to Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden, UT then on Sunday, July 5th we went for a walk on the Provo River parkway ... watch out for west nile virus.

Sorry about some of the duplicate photos. Enjoy!

Lydia's 5th Birthday!

2009-06-25T21:39:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Lydia's birthday this week. Lydia was born on Tuesday, June 22nd in Orem, Ut. She was mine and Ian's first child. It's hard to imagine she's 5 and going to start kindergarten this fall. WOW!

We had a family party for her on Sunday and a friend party on Thursday.

She got a bike and some Totoro toys. Both were fun days!

The top photos are the family party and the bottom ones are the friend party.

The very bottom ones are some I found of Lydia as a baby and younger times.

Devon's Memorial Day Hike

2009-05-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our annual Devon's Memorial Day Hike. We hike to the top of the "Y" on the mountain. This year we had our family, Geraden, Kane, Jenni's Family, Seth's Family and Kelly & TJ. The babies stayed with my mom.

It was a great turn out. The weather was pretty close to perfect. I got a sunburn, but that is totally my fault. My calves completely KILL! I went very slow. Ian probably waited an hour for me at the top and he carried Lydia up on his shoulders nearly the entire way! We both walked down together.

It was a good day.

Here's Ian and Lydia on a rock. I was super nervous during this photo:

I think this photo of Lydia is too cute!

Here's on of Lydia sitting at the very tippy-top of the 'Y':

Here's a photo of Utah Valley looking North. If you look really, really close you can see my house. (okay, not really)

Here's on of Jenni and me. I look like a jiggly-puff. I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' on it.

Ian and the girls at the entrance to the trail.

Feces Face

2009-05-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is Duncan and yes, that is poopie on his face.

Duncan pulled of his diaper (totally my fault, I should have put him in a onesie) and smooshed his poopie diapee with his face.

Kudos for Ian for taking the photos and cleaning up the aftermath.

Being a parent is awesome!

My Tulips!

2009-05-12T09:53:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos of the kids in front of the 'mystery' tulips and daffodils I planted last fall. I love the orange... what a nice surprise!

I want to cry.

2009-04-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

Kelly wanted to dye her hair purple ... Lydia found the dye and thought it was 'paint'. Now the 'paint' is on the cabinets in my bathroom.

Just imagine, for a second, this was your house....

Here are some photos of the aftermath. Don't ask about Ian. Just don't.

Easter Photos

2009-04-23T18:12:00.001-07:00

We went to Thanksgiving Point for an Easter egg hunt ... it was WAY over priced with cheap candy. You also received '5 punches' for activities they had available. The problem was, there were SOOOO many people, that we only got to do ONE activity which was a pony ride. Unfortunately my camera died (of course), but we did get it recorded with the camcorder.

Lydia the thief

2009-04-09T17:03:00.001-07:00

Lydia stole these from the neighbor's house.

Awesome! Maybe if we're really lucky, she'll grow up to be a felon!

F O O D P O R N

2009-04-05T18:44:00.001-07:00

This is what I made for dinner on Friday night.

It's a disease, it really is.

Meredith

Lily the werido

2009-03-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

I was uploading some photos from the camera, etc ... While deleting stuff, I found this little beauty:

Apparently Lily is doing the 'Blood Elf' dance from World of Warcraft.

I honestly don't know what to say.

Meredith

Lily was adopted today!

2009-03-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Today was the day Ian officially became Lily's dad!

Of course, Ian has been Lily's dad since he and I got married in September 2003. At that time Lily was 3.5 years old.

At first she called Ian, "Ian", but slowly overtime she started to call him "Daddy".

The proceedings were nice. It was very efficient. (there are a lot of questionable people hanging around a court) ha ha ha. Afterwards we went to lunch at Chuck-A-Rama. This was Lily's choice. She also wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese, but we'll do that another time.

Here are some photos from today:

Our Annual President's Day Tubing Event!

2009-02-16T17:46:00.001-08:00

We went tubing for President's Day. We've gone every year since 2004, except in 2008 when my parents were in Australia.

I don't think you could have asked for better weather! It was amazing! Many people where not even wearing coats. The sun was shining and it was delightful.

The girls had a great time and so did I. Ian couldn't make it because Provo City (his employer) had some sort of development day or something lame. At least they give him another day off in compensation.

Make sure you watch the video. Sorry for the 's' word.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

Here are the flowers Ian bought me. We also went to dinner at Teppanyaki. Super tasty, and CRAZY busy. I bought him a card and some green M&M's. Nice.

2008-12-30T19:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2008

It was a fun day. Unfortunately I had to work from 9:00 - 5:30pm. Oh well, that's what happens when you're the bottom man on the totem pole. Oh well.

We only bought the children one present each, of course they ended up with more because of gifts that others gave them.

I've gotten to the point where I don't want to do Christmas anymore. I think that the family should travel instead. Save the money that would have gone towards Christmas, and create family memories instead. All I have is JUNK that the girls are already bored with.

I'm completely serious. I will phase out Christmas within 5 years. What we'll do instead is having Christmas stockings and then a family breakfast.

Here's to 2009! (Which I also work, *sigh*)

Meredith

Arik & Duncan are 1-year-olds!

2008-12-16T10:32:00.000-08:00

December 15th!

We had family come over to our house. We had dinner and Hor’dourves ... nothing too fancy, but very tasty.

The boys both received their own cupcakes and went to town! After getting cleaned up the bathtub had a brown ring of frosting left. SICK!

All in all it was a wonderful party!

Meredith

Devon Day

2008-12-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Devon was born on Thursday, Aug. 25th 2005. This was a few days before Hurricane Katrina, so I thought to myself maybe I should name her Katrina instead. : )

Devon was perfect at 7lb 8oz and was such a good baby. She was my best nurser, too. She had two older sisters, Lily 9, and Lydia 4.

On Friday, Dec 8th 2006, it was like any other day. Normally I leave for work very early, and my husband gets the girls off to the babysitter and school. This day however, I traded shifts for someone who needed to work an early shift, and I worked his late shift. I am so thankful for this... if I would have gone to work at my normal time, I wouldn't have seen Devon that morning. I would kissed my husband good-bye then left for work with out waking up the girls.

I was able to wake her up, give her a bath, and give her breakfast. After she was all ready, I made sure she looked cute for the day, and gave her a big kiss and said, "Momma loves you." and told my husband I was leaving and the girls were watching cartoons. That was the last time I saw Devon alive.

I received a call at work around 5:30pm that there was an emergency and I needed to call my husband. I called him immediately and he told me over the phone that Devon had died and I needed to get to the hospital. I didn't know how Devon had died, other than she stopped breathing. I completely collapsed to the floor.

A co-worker drove me to my sister's work which was on the way to the hospital. My brother-in-law happened to be at my sister's work as well because they were going to dinner as it was Friday evening. My BIL drove and my sister and I tried to call everyone to meet us at the hospital. My mother used to be an RN at the same hospital and now volunteered at the gift shop and she was working that night. She was able to go to the ER and be with my husband.

When we got there I was so shocked. Devon looked so different, but she looked SO beautiful. She looked yellow, and her lips were redish/purple. I took her from my husband and just cried. I held her so close. I tried to take mental pictures of everything I could. Someone went to the gift shop and bought a disposable camera. We took many precious photos. The experience at the hospital was by the far the sweetest experience for us. There was also a hospital volunteer woman who works with families who've lost children/babies. She had a nice camera and took some high-quality photos for us and also took molds of her hands and feet.

While holding Devon, I noticed she had a mark all around her neck and up to her ears. I didn't know what this was at the time.

All my family that could have come, was able to come to the hospital. Everyone who wanted to, was able to hold Devon and tell her how much they loved her. My 9-year old and 4 year old were able to come to the hospital and also say goodbye. My 9 year old was very emotional but I don't think my 4 year old knew what was going on at the time. We were with Devon for about 2 1/2 hours in the ER. I took a wisp of hair. The volunteer woman gave us a nice box to put our memories in. Devon was still wearing her sock and little, pink, "Robeez" shoe. I took it off and put it in the box.

My husband and I said our goodbyes and kissed and hugged her. We put her on the gurney and "tucked" her in with the blankies and left the room.

Afterwards, we had to meet with the sheriff for questioning. We still didn't know what happened. He told us that Devon had been sleeping in her infant car seat (Graco Snugride) and somehow had become strangled in the straps. The babysitter's daughter found her and immediately got her mother. Our babysitter couldn't remember how she undid the straps as she was pulling her out start CPR. But we now know that she put Devon in her seat with out fastening the crotch buckle, only the buckle that goes across the chest. Devon struggled to get out and while doing so, tilted the seat and strangled herself.

The irony is, we hadn't used this seat in months. She was now in a forward facing seat, but my babysitter had the old infant seat (that I gave her) and was using it like a bed or something.

I have forgiven my babysitter. There are many imaginary conversations I have in my head with her. Sometimes I want to ruin her life by suing her (and yes I've spoken to several attorneys) but it wouldn't be ethical. Afterall, it's still an accident.

The only thing I truly struggle with, is the unfairness of it all and how pointless her death is. I don't spend time wondering, "what if?"as it makes me more sad. In fact, I try not to think about it. I avoid it, otherwise I'll fall apart.

We are not religious and to some people that is uncomfortable. However, we are comforted in each other and the love we have for our family and friends.

Even though today is not the actual "date" Devon died, it still *feels* like today. Like Friday, two years ago.

I can remember the events perfectly. It's transparent.

Sometimes I think that one of the boys is Devon ... like she couldn't find a way to come back, so she somehow 'duplicated' the baby we were having, so she could come back to me. I don't care if she's a boy or a girl, I just want her back with me.

We had Devon's body cremated. It was the right decision for our family. She's here, with us.

It's not always hard, but today, it's hard.

Come back to me.

Too see a painting of Devon and my mother, visit http://www.altusfineart.com/home/afa/page_1377_194/looking_forward.html ... Devon was 3 weeks old when she posed for this painting. The original is in my mother's home.

We got our Christmas Tree!

2008-12-02T08:08:00.000-08:00

We picked up our Christmas Tree from Frederico's Christmas tree lot. They are very generous and have given us a free tree almost every year.

We decided to make it a family tradition that we would get our tree on the first Monday of December. Since yesterday was the first, it means we'll have the tree up for a long time. I guess it's not that big of a deal, I think everyone on the street has their tree up as well.

Lydia was a butt, but what can you expect? She wouldn't smile for any photos, or hold still. The babies really liked being out in the cold and looking and touching the trees. Lily just liked walking/running through the trees. I totally remember being the same way ... Lily and I are a lot alike.

We decorated the tree when we got home. The tree looks totally wonky. I'm afraid all our ornaments are old hand-me-downs. I don't think we'll have a 'nice' Christmas tree until the boys are 5 and won't try and pull things off and break them.

Overall, it was a fun night.

Meredith

Disney on the brain

2008-11-18T09:38:00.000-08:00

So, even though we were at Disneyworld only 2 months ago ... I am jonesin' to go back! Disney is running some AMAZING deals right now, and then yesterday my sister called me because she found ROUND TRIP AIRFARE from SLC to MCO (Orlando intl aiport) for $99.00 round trip!

That is so freakin' unbelievable! I was -----> <------ (this close) to booking a trip. AHHHHH!!!! Only two problems though, one - it would be financially irresponsible, two - I don't have enough vacation time accrued from eBay yet. Oh well ... another great deal will come along I guess.

I'm not exactly why I crave Disney so much. It's weird. I'd like to get to the point where I take two BIG vacations a year. One to Disney, and one somewhere else. It's not fun to travel with the kids quite yet, so I'll wait a few more years, then we'll start to do some major stuff.

On another note, I think I'll put my Christmas lights up today since it's mild outside. We'll see how lazy I am.

Meredith

Halloween!

2008-11-05T18:20:00.001-08:00

Well, I would have liked to post earlier, but things have been busy.

It's always busy around here.

Halloween was AWESOME! Everyone in the family dressed up. Lily was a vampress, Lydia decided to be Minnie Mouse at the last second, even though she had a new pirate costume. Arik was Squirt and Duncan was Nemo. Ian and I were both pirates. Ian looks so cute with 'Jack Sparrow' dreadlocks. *sigh*

We also carved pumpkins earlier that week. I thought it would be fun to make 'pumpkin surprise' and put the boys inside. It was fun for a few minutes, then they had had enough! Oh well ... it was fun while it lasted.

My dad celebrated his 70th birthday on November 2nd. We had a party for him on the 1st at Sizzler's. I was pleasantly surprised at the food. Not bad at all. My dad thinks he's going to die any day now. He's so weird.

Nate and Mary stayed with us. It's always nice when they come. The girls love it! It's all they talk about because they love their cousins, Kyla and Shannon. I'm sure once our boys are older, they and Asher will be best buds... not to mention Micah.

I'm still training for my new job at eBay. It's awesome ... hopefully I'll be able to move up fast and get back to my pay where I was at UPS. So far, the gamble is paying off.

That's all for now ...

Meredith

Bloggy!

2008-10-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am a *complete* moron and have no idea how to make this blog look cool or be interesting. I feel left out of the loop and I intend on writing at least once a week.

Please add us to your blog (not sure how to do that ... ) so, if I've left anyone out, they can somehow subscribe.