Happy Halloween!

50's style



Tonight we went with the Clouses trick or treating in our neighborhood. We do this every year and the kids always have a ton of fun. Our neighborhood isn't the greatest neighborhood to be proud of living in. There are beginning to be a ton of rent houses which means more and more houses that aren's taken care of. The usual yard work doesn't get done by most people every week(just Jenny & I are mad women about our yards), sometimes nearly a month will go by before they mow.
Well back to my point... When it comes to Halloween and trick or treating there are so many people out it is lik ewe live in a different place for one night. Most homeowners make it known that they are welcoming trick or treaters not by having their porch light on, but by pulling out their lawn chairs and sittign on their driveways, with lots of them playing scary music, flickering strobe lights, and some even dressing up, to share in the spookiness of the night.



We always some on with more than our fair share of cavity causing candy. Last year we went through the candy after the girls were in bed, picked the things WE liked, a little of what they like, and then the rest was delievered the next day to the pediatric floor at some of the hospitals Greg was working at. I'm not sure of the parents and nurses wanted the patients drugged with the extra sugar but we thought it was better than it staying here. We sure didn't need it all. I'm sure that is what we will do again tonight seeing as how much candy we came home with.



Happy Halloween!

Things about today that started with H...

Hill-morning walk and the dreaded Abe Lincoln hill
HEB-grocery shopped at HEB(forgot my list-arrgghh!)
Housework-the usual beds, laundry, dishes, sweeping...
Hot-way hot for halloween 86*
Happy-"happy" mail day (will post later)
Hair-not 1, not 2, BUT 3 girls' hair for halloween!
Haunted-scary costumes seen while trick or treating
Hide-I hid the candy I'm throwing out so the girls won't notice
Holler-I did this several times when the kids decided to not listen and ran wild through the streets while trick or treating.

*BLOGGER IS NOT LETTING ME POST ANY PICTURES! I"LL TRY AGAIN TOMORROW*

Maryn's growing up!

Today Jenny and I returned to the mall to return some of the things we had bought on Saturday night. We shopped a little then let Maryn & Weston play on the little playground they have. While we were sitting there chatting I mentioned getting Maryn's ears pierced sometime, not at all thinking I would do it today. She convinced me to do it.

We persuaded them to leave the playground area. Not very happy about it we decided to not strap them into the strollers and let them walk to Libby Lu. Mackenzi & Maci love this place and always ask to take friends there to get makeovers. THey will be so jealous that their little sister had her own sort of makeover there today.

As you can see, she had no idea what was about to happen to her. She was all grins thinking "i'm getting pretty earrings!" And then..

the earrings were launched into to her sweet little ears without any warning at all. Immediately, I felt I had betrayed my little baby girl. I have asked her several times if she wanted earrings and she always would either nod her head yes or say the cutest little "lisp yes" I had ever heard. I just couldn't convince myself to traumatize her.

She actually just screamed for about a minute and then she was all better and so cute when she looked at herself in the mirror. She was so proud of her new look. As soon as the girls came home from school Maci immediately noticed them and that made her feel even more special.

Days like today remind how much I enjoy having girls and the fun Mommy Daughter things we are able to share together.

A Walk Through Our Weekend

We have had a fun weekend this weekend(even in spite of Greg being on call) so I thought I would share some of the highlights with you.

Friday was a typical school day for the kids. I had scheduled a visiting teaching lunch to make it easier for us wince it was so late in the month. It went pretty well but have to admit I was thinking, the whole time I was there haow I wished I was at the pumpkin patch instead. Jenny and I thought we would go on Thursday but the weather was not on our side. She mentioned going on Friday but I ha already made my VT plans.
After school, we had planned on going to the Fall Festival for the Ortho department but didn't end up making it. Greg didn't get home until 5 or so, and then Irealized Nikki (our dog) was at Pets Mart getting a haircut and need to be picled up. By the time one of us could get there to get her and then back home(rush hour traffic) it would not have been worth trying to get to the party.

We opted for plan B, and took Maci and Maryn to kid's night out at the gym we workout at. They were having a costume party, pizza, games, and movies from 6-10. It always ends up being a cheaper babysitter and we don't really have to worry much about them. Mackenzi chose to not go to the gym, instead she went with her friend, who is also named McKenzey, and her family to a high school football game. After we dropped the girls off Greg and I grabbed a quick bite to eat at Tin Star before Greg had to be at his football game. I tagged along but in my own car so I could leave in time to get the girls from the gym. The game was fun, but different. He was covering a small Christian private school team, so it was a change from what I had been used to. It was really crowded because ti was Homecoming, but nothing like I remember our Homecoming being. It was chilly, well FREEZING to me. I couldn't get warm so I decided to leave a little earlier than I had planned. I stopped at Super Target to look around without children. Boy was that fun. It seems so wired to walk around browsing with no interruptions, whines, screams, "I wants"...

Saturday I went for my walk and mentioned to Jenny that I might take the girl sto Fiesta Texas since it was the last weekend they would be open until Spring Break. We ahd been promising them we would go for about a monthe but never found a Saturday that we wanted to take on this adventure. Jenny immediately said I'll go with you. Knowing Jenny all to well, I knew that wouldn't be her first choice of activities for her day. I got the girls ready to go and Jenny said Doug decided to go along since he had already gotten his studying done and his exercising in for the day. I met them there and we let the kids ride rides for about 2 1/2 hours and then it became too crowded. Mackenzi was a bit dissapointed. She is too tall for all of the kid rides and is not allowed to ride them so she has become a big fan of the big roller coasters. SHe was excited that Doug was with us so he could be her riding partner. Every ride they went to ride they were back really fast. All of the lines ended up being way to long to wait for. We get spoiled, having season passes we go so much, and any wait at all is so not worth it.

The Clouses invited us to have a late lunch early dinner with them. I called Greg and he took a study break and ended up meeting us for lunch at Stonewerks. I am always a bit skeptical to go to places with our big clan but the kids actually proved to be well behave today. After lunch/dinner we went into Target(can you tell I love this place) to return something and look around. Greg headed back to study and the girls and I stopped at Costco to look at a few things. I think everyone in SA was shopping there so the two things I wanted I left behind because the checkout lines were unbelievable.

On my way home I thought of a FABULOUS idea. I called Greg to make sure it was okay, then I called Jenny to see if she was up for closing down the mall with me. We left all of the kids with Doug for about half an hour until Greg got home, and we headed to La Cantera. Our main goal was to find Doug and Greg something for their birthdays but really wanted to look for jeans for us. The main goal was accomplished, the jeans however was a strike out. Shopping for jeans is the worsed, well besides swimsuits, but we won't go there right now.
As you can see we found the "cutest" clothes and had to get them on camera. Ha Ha Ha! Not really we found some hideous things that looked like they were from the 70's and couldn't resist trying them on. I almost wet my pants when we were trying these on and the sales girl that was helong us cam to check on us. Little did she know we were in the dressing room making fun of, what was probably her style of clothes. We left the mall with all intentions of stopping to get a treat to take home but somehow ended up at Jason's Deli eating soup and muffins. I guess our late lunch early dinner was a bit too early to satisfy our tummies all night. We had fun chatting, laughing, snorting, and being goofy. Nights like this make me feel so young and fun.

Hot Mamas!!

Church today was a bit chaotic. Greg was at the hospital in surgery so I was swingin' single witht he girls. It usually isn't that bad now since I only have to get through Sacrament Meeting with out losing it, but Maryn has been a little challenging lately(stay tuned for post on this). She just wasn't doing well with sharing colors, paper, books... and had to be taken out several times because of her EXTREMELY loud scream. I survived the hour and ten minutes, as did the girls and then I was off to take Maryn to nursery. I then made my way back to the chapel to practice for our primary program that we have in two weeks. Well, to say my class(the CTR 6's) is active is quite an understatment. They all, including Maci, are always a little strung out on what seems like a sugar high, like mothing you have ever seen before. We practiced, practiced, practiced, but still they were not getting it. This is everything they have worked on all year, that their parents long to see, and they were just not into it. After making it through almost two hours of practicing I was never so happy to get into my car with just MY 3 energizer bunnies.




We had dinner at the Clouse House for Doug's 34th birthday. They grilled yummy steaks, had baked potatoes, veggies, salad, & I made cream corn. After dinner we carved pumpkins for our FHE this week. The Dads did most of the work with help from the kids while Jenny and I caught it camera and cleaned the kitchen. Our kids love carving pumpkins and are usally begging to do more than one.

After the carving was through, we sang happy birthday, and had some sinfully sweet cake from Sam's Club. It was good but almost took a toll one me. I may have to double up on workouts a few days this week after all I have eaten this weekend.

Gordon's on left. Clouses on right.

Maryn wanted no part in the picture taking. She was too upset about
not having any "pumkin cake" yet.

We finished the night off with the kids performing their dance talents for us. It was really amusing to watch their moves, grooves, and attitudes to the beat of their favorite songs.

Greg got a phone call from a lady in our ward about one of her horses being sick so he spent about an hour trying to help find a large animal vet for her. He made the comment about bever being on call as a vet and ortho at the same time. He was so gald he could help her out and he knew just who to call to find someone to see her. After answering horse questions he got called into the ER to see a kid with some sort of knee injury, so now here I sit in a quiet house blogging about our fun weekend.

*How was your weekend?* *Do any fun things or just painful ones?*

I've added several posts...

I have had problems all week with blogger so be sure and scroll down to see what posts you haven't seen. I've had to just save them as drafts and publish them in groups. Have a great weekend!

Hard Work Pays Off & Dreams Come True!

After dreaming, looking, test driving, looking some more, test driving more, while continuing to dream, f inally, Greg has his very OWN, BRAND SPANKIN' NEW, TRUCK! No one is more deserving of this than him. Never has he had a new car all his own. Even though we have had three new cars while we have been married, I was the one that ended up calling it "mine" and he just continued to drive the "old" car or the "hand-me down" one.

This has been a long time coming and am so glad he is able to have something much more dependable, safer, and nicer than he has ever driven. He keeps thanking me for letting him get his truck. I don't understand it. He is the one that works such long hours and so hard to provide our family, with not only the things we need, but also the things we want! He should have been driving his dream truck alot sooner but instead has been driving around, in what I call, little clown cars for the past 11 years.



Thanks to Greg for thinking of others before himself. Thanks for all you do for our family and for sacrificing of yourself, your time, your energy, for everyone else. I love you and am so glad you can now "step up " into your vehicle instead of "squat down" so you can get into it. You look great in your truck!

Grease Lightening

...Danny, Sandy, & The Pink Ladies




Last Night we had our ward trunk or treat and halloween party at church. I have been wanting evry year to dress alike as a family but could never really find anything that we fit since we have all girls.

I decided Greg & I would dress up like Danny & Sandy from Grease and asked the girls if they wanted to dress up 50's with us. Of course, I couldn't sell them on the idea at first but after some bribing and talking "it up" they agreed.



Jenny and I had an assembly line going making poodle skirts last week and ended up making Maryn, Mackenzi, & myself one. I only had a kid size 3-8 pattern and after making Maryn's , the size 3, I knew we could somehow alter the pattern for other sizes. Maryn's ended up being way too big and would have fit Maci. I did all of the cutting, and Jenny was the master behind the sewing machine. I still haven't successfully caught on to the whole seamstress thing. I think I sewed one hem ob Mackenzi's skirt and even that one Jenny had to go back over!

As you can see, Greg went all out for me and donned the greaser wig and all. He looked pretty funny especially when I caught him coloring in his gotee with my eyeliner pencil. There were lots of people at the party that didn't recognize Greg. When the party was almost over, one girl came up to me and said,"I'm so sorry Greg had to work and couldn't come with you tonight". What? I replied, "He's here, you didn't see him?" She laughed so hard when I told her what he was dressed as and couldn't believe it didn't click when she saw me and saw him. Too funny!!

We all had a fabulous time and have to say it was the best ward party we have been to here in the six years we have lived here.

TEXAS...Where Everything's BIGGER!

I have been wanting to do some sort of Everything's BIGGER (in Texas) post but never knew what to say or what pictures to use so I finally came up with a few things. So here goes nothing...

As most of you know, we are native Texans and even though neither Greg nor I went to the University of Texas, we have still been affliated with the UT system in med school and residency so we kinda feel like we are Longhorns. We might not bleed burnt orange and white, like most true UT fans, but we are pretty close. A few weeks ago the UT mascot, BEVO IIIX, a real live longhorn steer died. Bevo travel to all of the games with the team and stands on the sideline with what is known as the boreguard. I think this is pretty unique to have a real live animal as your school's mascot and how respected he is.

If you know much about Texas or have ever even been here you know there are lots and lots of ranches, farms, barns, pastures, etc... along the roadways here. We were out on a Sunday afternoon drive last Sunday with my parents and came across what could have been the biggest longhorn steer we had ever seen. Of course I couldn't pass up this photo opportunity and made Greg turn around so I could get a quick shot of him. It was amazing to be standing just feet from this HUGE beast and only be seperated by just a small barbwired fence. He seemed really calm and content with the stange human looking him straight in the eye and wanting so bad to ask him to say cheese. I think the picture turned out great and wonder if Bevo IVX has already been named. If not this longhorn looks like the perfect fit for the job...



As everyone knows Jenny and I have our weekly outing to our favorite mexican restraunt Chuy's and wlays order the same thing. We always share this Texas sized burrito and hardly ever eat more than three bites before we are asking for a togo container. Of course, we always leave we our burrito, a togo diet coke, and chips, tortillas, and creamy jalepeno dip. I am beginnig to feel a little embarrassed when all of the waiters recognize us. I'm sure they think we must be crazy to frequent the place so often. Maybe we are but we love it so I guess it is okay.



I think I have already posted my Texas quilt, but thought it would go weel with my BIGGER post. I really like the Texas flag, and am not sure if it is because I'm a native or because it is just a cool flag. Anyway I can't wait to see the finished project after it returns from the quilting shop. It has been a long time coming being finished and am so excited to see it.



Since I posted the TEXAS sized burrito I had to post our favorite TEXAS SIZED hamburger. This thing is called the MACHO cheddar cheesy burger and you can only find it at Chris Madrid's here in SA. We were introduced to this place by a friend and have taken most of our out of town visitors here. My dad almost never comes to town without stopping to get his MACHO fix. He loves it, I think more than anything else! We went to Chris Madrid's on Saturday night with the Clouses, and the Notts(another ortho family) with our 10 kids. We had fun chatting and stuffed ourselves with greasy burgers and fries and then decided to top it off with ice cream from Shakes. I'm paying for it now. SInce it has gotten a little cooler here and I had to break out the jeans they all seem to be TOO tight. I swear they all fit great at the end of spring and now I have to stretch them out by squatting down several times after getting them on. I think we need to back off of the Texas sized food portions.



My last TEXAS SIZED item is none other than my ROUTE 44 Sonic Diet Coke I consume way to often. Jenny found this one Sonic not far from our house that will upgrade your drink to a route 44 for just 20 cents. So that means our before 11 am 99 cents, large becomes a Route 44 for 1.29. What a deal! I'm lovin' the deals, especially ones that keep me sane throughout the day.


So, if anyone is ever heading to Texas make sure to check out all of these BIGGER things and any others you may run across.

Happy Sweetest Day!

NEVER, have I ever heard of this holiday until this year. A few weeks ago when I was looking for anniversary cards for Greg I came across a section in Hallmark, like the Halloween section or Mother's Day section, that said Sweetest Day. WHAT? Did someone jsut make up this holiday or have I missed it the past 34 years.

I browsed through the cards and they were much like Valentine's Day cards and decided to pick one up for Greg. Yes, I jsut gave him a Love (anniversary) card three weeks ago but he deserves many of these cards for making my life so happy and blessed. I didn't think to look on the back of the card to see if there was somes sort of explaination about sweetest day and forgot to check it out online when I got home.



I remembered buying the card last night and dug through my cards I pick up when I'm out and found it. I turned to over to see if there was indeed a reason I was giving this to Greg other than because I love him and his is really sweet! On the back of the card it read...

Celebrated on the third Saturday in October, Sweetest Day started in 1922, when a candy company employee organized a group to help deliver candy and small gifts to orphans and others whose lives needed brightening. Today, lovers and romatincs embrace the day as well, but it's still atime to remember those who bring happiness to our lives.

Rats!! Why didn't I research this sooner? This would have been a fun and uplifting service project for our family to embrace. I don't know where there are any orphanages around but plan on finding out in the future so I can maybe make this a yearly family tradition. If there aren't any orphanages around us maybe we can just deliver or mail things to people who bring joy and happiness to our lives.

*As anyone ever heard of this holiday? Have you ever celebrated it? *

More of Maci and Our Weekend Company

Maci and her Tinkerbell cake

I was feeling guilty about not posting more of Maci's birthday and the weekend that was spent with both sets of grandparents that I decided to jump to it.

My parents drove in really early (they left their house a 4 am) Saturday morning to make it to Maci's Chuck E Cheese party. This is the first time Maci has ever had a party not at our house. We always choose to have things at our house and just grill hotdogs and ahve cake and ice cream. This always tends to be very stressful for me. I spend several days cleaning things that usually never get cleaned. I always have to make sure the yard is looking nice. I end up going to the grocery store no less than five times to get all of the supplies needed to feed 30-40 people and I'm so done by the day of the party. I never get to enjoy visiting with the family and friends that have come so far for the event becuase I'm too busy beignth hostess. Well I did things differently this year. I forked out the cash(Greg's cash) and let soemone else handle it all. I have to say it was really nice even though I still didn't get to visit much since my stress this time was if the kids that had been dropped off by their parents were safe and sound running wild through mass chaos.

Maci dancin' with Chuck E Cheese

The kids all had a fun time and Maci left with quiet the loot of gifts. It looked like Santa had visited two months early.

Greg's parents came after the party was over (Greg's Dad got off of work at the last minute) and were waiting at our house when we got home. We visited for a while and then Greg wanted to get my dad's and his dad's opinion on trucks so we spent a couple of hours test driving trucks while Grammy and Nana had the girls.
Greg and I were able to go to dinner for a late anniversary date since we had four great, loving, capable, and enthusiastic babysitters just dying to watch the girls. We pratically have ZERO qualified sitters that we know. Everyone has grown up and left and the ones that can babysit really don't care to do it, or I don't feel comfortable with them, so we just haven't gone out lately.
This isn not good. I really am one who needs a break occassionally and really get reujuvinated if I get some alone time with Greg.

Grammy & Poppy with the girls in Boerne

Sunday afternoon after church we made dinner and then took a Sunday evening drive woth my parents. We are still considering staying in San Antonio for a job and decided to drive around Boerne(pronounced Burney) where we would most liking live. We stopped off and let the girls feed the duck along the river and then drove around the Texas Hill Country(our version of the mountains). My dad was in "hog heaven" seeing all of the deer and acreage land. If is so pretty and it feels liek your not even in Texas when you are driving through hills. This is where we saw the biggest Longhorn steer I had ever seen. *SEE MY TEXAS POST*

Feeding the ducks

On Monday, I took Maci & Mackenzi lunch to school both at different times and they both eanted something different. Maci chose Chick filA and Mackenzi wanted Sonic. I later took Maci's class a cookie cake and they sang happy birthday to her. It was so fun to see her face brighten up when she was in the spotlight!

Grammy, Poppy, Papa, & Nana & the girls

What a fun weekend we had celebrating Maci and am so glad some of our family could be here for it.

$1 Tuesday...How can you resist?

WE CAN'T!!


I was planning on posting this, but didn't get to it last night. After reading Jenny's blog this morning and saw she had our outing linked tome I thought I better jump to it. Every Tuesday at on Baskin Robbins close to us, they have $1 scoops. After the usual run around afternoon(Mackenzi had activity days at church & Maci had dance) we met up with Greg and thought we would jsut grab a bite to eat out. We can never decide what to get so we opted for a rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club. I had planned on making grilled chicken salad but after my long afternoon of altering patterns and skirts I didn't get to it before having to head off as the family taxu driver. We headed home to eat dinner in a hurry because we planned on having $1 scoops for dessert before Greg took Mackenzi to swim.

The Clouse House called just as we were finishing up dinner to let us know they were heading out to get ice cream. We hurried and cleaned up the kitchen and away we went.

Not everyone was looking at my picture but it is still cute and so them smiling for the camera while lovin' their ice cream.

I will add to this post later. I had other ideas but wanted to hurry and get this on in case you checked Jenny's blog.
I almost forgot...Jenny & I got the QUESTION? again tonight and our husbands were there to witness it. This lady walked out after haivng ice cream and passed us and then turned around and said, "ARE YOU TWINS"? I don't get it. We really don't look alike, just have the same color hair(mine isn't all natural), we're about the same size, and we have lots of wild kids. Does these make us look like twins? It was funny!

Birthday Girl

Happy, Happy 6th Birthday to our sweet little girl

Maci Alexandra Gordon
Blessing Day -3 weeks old
our little monchichi


Our little ladybug
1 year old

Wow how times does fly. I can't believe our little Maci is 6 years old today. I can remember like it was yesterday of how my water broke almost 4 weeks early in October 2000. Greg was out of town on an away rotation when I called hin to tell him the news. My parents took me to the hospital and stayed with me while Greg drove the 4 1/2 hour drive. We were so nervous to have a baby so early and hoped and prayed that she would be okay. I hadn't gained much weight(only 13 pounds) so we were very concerned that she would be oh so tiny....

Well, after a practically pain free labor(I got an epidural soon after I arrived) and we welcomed our second daughter into the world. She looked very small but ended up weighing 6 lbs. 10 oz. and had a head full of black hair.

We are so blessed and proud to have Maci as our daughter. Here are 6 things we love about you, Maci.

*You are full of spunkiness and are so energetic.

*You are a friend to everyone you meet.

*We love your little mousy voice even when you shreel

*You are an awesome MIDDLE sister. Mackenzi & Maryn are so lucky.

*You love to try new things and never give up until you have succeeded in doing them.

*We love your beautiful blonde hair and sparkly smile.

4 years old

We are so blessed and proud to have you as our daughter. Thanks for bringing such joy and happiness to our family. We love you bunches and bunches. Maci Moo!!

Dance Recital June 2006

therapeutic goodies

I have been feeling a little BLAH lately to say the least. I haven't really let on to this I don't think. I have been keeping everything all bottled up inside and it hasn't felt very good. I have been in desperate need of some sort of "therapy" but didn't know exactly what I might need. Maybe a babysitter so I could run errands, a cleaning lady to help dig me out of my clutter, a babysitter so Greg and I could go out together, to find a winning lottery ticket jsut laying on the ground to help us out financially... WELL none of these really every happened but some therapeutic goodies have just shown up randomly and they have truly helped.


These are the cute earrings I won from one of Dana's riddles. I never win anything and was so excited to know I had won and to get them in the mail. Thanks Dana.

Good mail from Allison M. was a big surprise and cam at just the right moment. I had been having one of those blah days, well weeks, and I was so happy to get a package in the mail that was full of halloween goodies, the new Grey's Anatomy 2 cd, a cd for Mackenzi(we have it in our car right now and have listened it to several times already), and a sweet card. Thanks Alli for being so thoughtful. You made my week.

Greg brought home 11 red roses, 3 yellow roses, & one white rose for our anniversary. The red ones are for the 11 years we have been married, the yellow ines are for our three girls, and the white one is for the next year (12th year). We just gave each other cards this year and decided we would go out on a date and maybe go shopping together(that is when we can find a sitter). He also gave me the new Brad Paisley cd. My parents sent us a card with 40 bucks inside to go out with. Thanks Mom & Dad.
.

Kristi had mentioned on one of her comments to be on the lookout for some good mail. I was anxiously awaiting its arrival and was exctoed to open the mail box and find it. She sent me her favorite quote- A Righteous Mother will Raise Generations along with a "The Influence of a Righteous Mother", by Marnie Pehrson. It talks about five attributes a mother should possess. They are 1) WORK HARD, 2) WASTE NOT A MINUTE, 3) KEEP YOUR WORD, 4) BE CONSISTENT, 5) SERVE OTHERS. I am going to give these a real hard try and see if I can become a better mother and wife. She also sent me a CD of a great pianist that she plays in her home everyday. I love it. The cutest pink and brown pencils will have to be hidden from my two oldest girls that love pink and brown as much as I do. Also she sent me a sweet card of advice and encouragement. Thanks Kristi, I love it all!


This in itself is very theraputic. Jenny & I were able to go and get a much needed pedicure. I think more than my feet need to be pampered I just needed to have some time to sit and think and chat with Jenny. Don't get me wrong I love to have my toes done but anytime away from the hustle and bustle of kid life is so enjoyable. Thanks Greg and Doug for giving us some free time and thanks Jen for loving to do girly things as much as I do. You are great!

Abby & Maryn

I was able to have a service opportunity this week and that was something I needed to experience. I have been a real slacker when it comes to serving other lately so on Sunday I offered my help to someone without knowing if I would get the chance.
Our friend, and primary president, Ellice, was having mild contractions(if there is such a thing)at church. She was anticipating her induction on Wednesday and for her Mom to be here to help out with their two year old. I knew her neighbor, another girl from our ward was out of town an would have been their "oncall" sitter if something were to happen. So I offered to be "on call" if she went into labor before Wednesday.
Well I stayed up pretty late Sunday night and decided to lay down around 12:15. I think I had jsut dozed off and the phone rang. It was John, Ellice's husband. I knew she must be in labor and asked if they could bring Abigail to our house since Greg was working all night and wasn't home. They came right over an headed to the hospital. Abigail was a little nervous and that was expected. She has only been to our house once. Maryn wasn't awake and nowhere to be seen and I was wearing my glasses which she had never seen before. Poor thing, her heart was pounding so hard. I decided to just ler her sleep in bed with me rather than traumatize her more by putting her in a pack in play. She laid awake for a while watching tv but finally fell asleep a little after 2 am. She staye dwith us until John called around 1:30 to say the baby had arrived. They were excoted for Abby to meet her new baby brother so he ran right over to pick her up.
I was happy to be able to help them out and hopefully they were not worried about her while they were at the hospital. I remember this same thing happening to me when I went into labor with Maryn. Jenny had left two days before, for a week vacaation in Arizona. I was nervous to call someone even though I had several offers prior to going into labor. We dropped Mackenzi and Maci off at our friends' the Larsens, house. They were so nice to take them in until a family member could get there to get them.
This was good therapy. Focusing all my attention on someone else really helped me and how I had been feeling. I feel so blessed to have friends that can call me if they need a favor and visa versa.

The Wirthlins brought by this yummy "good mail" tonight.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Which car to drive and or buy?

Greg's "Ferrari" aka Saturn.

Greg really does call this his Ferrari. At one of the hospitals he has to valet park and the guys always ask him, wehn he is ready to leave, if he is driving the Ferrari. So funny. This thing is so far from being Ferrari! We got this car when I was pregnant with Mackenzi over 9 years ago. When we bought this car we thought it was so nice and such a family car. We traded in my black Mustang because we decided we needed a four door car and one with an automatic transmission knowing we would be moving to Houston. The traffic there is terrible and driving a stick shift would be no fun. Greg use to drive a Honda Civic hatchback but it died(well we sold it before it died) a few years ago. We then were able to borrow one of Greg's parents cars and when they needed it back my parents loaned us one of theirs. Last year we were able to buy the Odyssey so we were then able to give back the car to my parents and were back to being two car family on our own.
Well, with almost 200,000 miles on it the "Ferrari" is literally on its last leg. It has a number of issues one being some sort of oil leak causing it to smoke really bad. It has no pick up and go anymore, the radio works when it wants to, it has some awful rattles, clanks, and screeches, the headliner has fallen down and has been stapled, and now is stuck up with adhesive spray used for photos. Both the front bumpers have been banged up not by us but by dishonest people that think since it is already a crappy car and so them running into it doeasn't matter. WEll it does to us. It actually looked rally good on the outside until the past year. It just isn't the car it used to be. Not to mention it probably isn't the safest car to drive. It makes me so nervous for Greg to be in the "cracker box" travelling all over the city at all hours of the night.

Greg has never driven a new car and has been anxiously waiting the day he was finished with his training so he could buy himself the truck he has dreamed of having. Well last week he started looking because he doesn't see how the Saturn is going to last another ten months. Now we are trying to make a decision on a vehicle for him along with the decision of what job to take.

Purely Texan Monster Truck

He was able to drive this truck all weekend as a test drive. He loved it and it was totally him. He beamed everytime we went outside to get into it. The girls loved it as much as he did, too. Maryn usually wants to ride in Greg's car but hardly ever does, so being able to ride in this truck was a treat for her. It was so funny she kept calling it "daddy's house". She would say, "I wanna ride in daddy's house" It was big but not as big as a house, but I guess to someone as small as she is it looks REALLY big.
If Greg isn't able to get this truck I hope he finds one similar and with everything he wants.
He so deserves it after all of his hard work and sacrifices.

Greg's dream car a "REAL Ferrari"

After Greg gets his truck he wants a some sort of "date night" car. Everytime he sees a Ferrari he almost starts drooling. I think it is nice but never would want to drive such an expensive car. I just couldn't pass up taking Greg's picture by this car. After we had gone to dinner with Maryn at Stonewerks for our early anniversary dinner this car was parked by my van. He was oohing and ahhing over it. I admit he would look pretty hot driving this but then I would have to worry about all of the single women wanting to pick him up. hehehe

Any advice on cars and trucks. Which car would you choose? Should we just keep praying the Saturn will survive another year? What is your dream car? Do you think you will ever get it?

bats by billions

Well not really billions but somewhere near 1.5 million...




Tonight the girls and I (Greg was working) followed the Clouses to Austin to watch the bats come out from the Congress Street bridge at dusk. There are about 1.5 million bats that fly out every night from Mid May until mid October. They fly east about twenty miles and feed on mosquitos and other insects before making there way back to their cave (the bridge in downtown Austin) to stay during the daytime.

They are hard to see in the picture but they really are there

We have heard many people talk about doing this but had yet ventured out to see this. Since we probably will be living farther away from Austin than we do now (about 1 1/2 hours) next year we decided to go for it even though it meant not having Greg along for the trip.


It was amazing to see them and how many there were. We just all wished they would have come out about 10 minutes sooner because it was almost too dark to get the full effect. It was fun to see the girls run around amazed at the creatures and having fun with their buddies.