Pictures taken over thanksgiving

the kids were done at this point.

Oh our family is growing. . . . love it. ( all the other kids are Casey and Miriah's in case anyone was wondering 3 year old twin girls, and then two boys, one nine months older than selene, and one nine months younger than selene. )

this child is obsessed with dogs. . . . and we will probably never get one. . . sorry selene. . just have to settle for grandma and grandpa's dog.

bathtime with cousins is always fun.

tinkerbell for halloween ( I love the disney store and all their great sales. )

birthday cake

Birthday presents

Boy I sure do take my time getting around to these blogs don't I. I can sit for hours looking at other peoples blogs, but mine gets pushed to the back. I think it's because I don't really have much to say, and I don't want to expose the real me too much. If you knew how I really was, and how I think realllllly weird things, you might be scared. . . we're all a little weird in our own way though aren't we. for example. I think of weird scary scenarios and what I would need to survive them. like where would I hide if murderer's came to my house. where would I hide my food and money if I had to, and if there was no electricity and we were in a state of civil war, how would I survive. . . everything from food to home made soap and sanitary napkins. . . okay that one was probably a little too much info for you, but that would be a concern. Did you know I'm completely obsessed with Martha Stewart. I like the idea of doing things myself, having a functional household, and being an amazing cook. . . . I have a long way to go with all of those. I'm thinking about taking some cooking classes to get a little better. I'm always very disappointed at the recipes that are demonstrated on TV, and some of the ones found on the internet. I think I am a picky cook. People rave about it, and then I cook it, and I'm like . . ."well . . . it's okay, but it sure isn't anything to rave about. ". I watched Julie and Julia tonight, and I'm thinking I should try my hand at french cooking. I do love butter after all.

I ramble a lot, but it's just what's on my mind. ooohh back to martha stewart. . . I got her book, "Home Keeping Handbook", and I can't put it down. it talks about how to care for anything, it talks about preventative maintenance, and it's like 700 pages. . . Matt got it for me for christmas, and he hasn't had a chance to wrap it yet, because I keep looking at it and reading it. . . . .Love it. I'm a bit worried to get her cook books because I'm afraid of being disappointed . My Lion house cook books are my favorite, Maybe I should just pick a recipe a day to make out of those. I haven't been disappointed by them yet.

a few weeks ago, a christmas package arrived for matt. ( it was for me, but it was ordered by him) I really like surprises, and I didn't want to know what it was, so I told him I would be really careful not to look at the return address so I wouldn't know what store it came from. I tried so hard, but directly on the box, in HUGE letters was the word "CELLO". . . I started freaking out, I have wanted a cello for 3 years now. . . I have obsessed about it, I have dreamed about it. . . . and my most amazing wonderful husband bought one for me. so I get to learn. . . I'm way exceited. ( he had me open the box when he got home anyway. I told him I knew what it was, and could I pretty please open it. . .. . ) I love christmas. I'm waiting for my instruction books I bought off of amazon, and they are taking forever . . . . guess they have to compete with all the christmas cards going out . . . . .

a girl and her dad

Selene is most definitly a daddy's girl. she has his toenails. she has his ability to fall asleep almost anywear



this is Matt asleep in a toybox




Matt works from home alot, and Selene enjoys going into his office and playing. If either one of us is working on a computer, she wants to help. She is really good at turning on options we didn't know existed by pressing random keys.



My garden this year was pretty pathetic. We got it in way too late, as we were waiting for the grass seed to take before we walked on it. pictured below, is a jalepeno plant. there are a few jalapenos on it, and then these tomatoe looking things . . . .anybody know if those are normal, we were kind of wondering if there was some cross polination going on, as it was right next to a tomatoe plant.
My zuccini plant has finally taken, but I don't think we are going to get any zuccini before it starts to freeze. My radishes have grown really well, and I have gotten one tomatoe. my lettuce is growing pretty well, but my carrots are not. they have leaves, but no roots. My strawberry plants are growing really well, but are bearing no fruit. I know what the problem is. . . . . the soil. the soil where I live has a ton of clay in it. next summer I am going to get some Mels Mix soil and fill my garden with it. . . that stuff is supposed to be able to grow anything. so better luck next year I guess. I hate vegetables out of the store. I think they are gross. tomorrow I am off to Idaho with Selene for a family reunion. I am way excited to go, but I hate that I am leaving Matt here.

Matt's company is doing great. It looks like they are going to be getting funding, and will probably be building an office building across from thanksgiving point. Its getting very exciting for us. Hopefully it will all work out for the best.

9 month appt

I took Selene in for her 9 month appointment today ( only two months late ) anyway . . . even at two months late, she is only 17 lbs 6 oz. she isn't quite gaining weight the way that they would like. I think it is because she is crawling and trying to walk so much. she is a really good eater though. she likes to stand up in her crib now. I have to get the mattress lowered today. But her standing up is making it a bit harder to get her to sleep at night. . . I lay her down, and she immediatly starts crawling towards the end of the crib so she can stand up . she's pretty proud of herself for being able to stand up . she also claps alot and points at things. . . actually she does a lot of pointing at complete strangers while we are out shopping. yeah, that's all I have for now.

update

I'm not so great at this blog thing . . . but here's an update . . . things with matt's company are really starting to pick up well. If all goes as planned, he will be getting a raise soon. ( don't hold your breath though ) We may also be getting a new piano. I am pretty excited about that. I have a little roland electric piano thing that I bought a few years after I moved to utah, that I will get rid of if that happens ( if I get my grand piano, and you want my old one, and are willing to come pick it up . . . it's yours ) . We are looking at grand piano's ( because that is what I love ) . and it will have to go in matt's office, and his office will move to one of the downstairs bedrooms. We are looking at probably a used steinway or a new boston. we'll see what I like and what we think is reasonable if and when this raise comes through. When we were looking, one of the sales people told me that while the steinways were nice, they would be compared to like a lexus, where his ( mason & hamlin - also very nice, but a third of the cost of a steinway ) was more comparable to a bentley . . . at that moment, I knew he was going to only tell me what he thought I wanted to hear in order to make the sale, and at that moment , I decided I was leaning more toward the steinway company . . . . . sorry, I'm a bit of a music geek sometimes.

We are also looking at upgrading to a ford expedition. ( I married into a ford family ... . my family just buys whatever they get a good deal on, but we seem to be all ford around here . . . I don't mind though . . . I like ford ) The tags on our explorer expire at the end of this month, and I know if I renew them, we will get a new vehicle like a week later ( we always seem to buy new vehicles right after we have put a bunch of money into the old ones. )

Matt is going to go to Hawaii on a business trip, and I may be going with him at no cost to me . . . . but I am having serious reservations about leaving my 11 month old . She will be with my parents, so she will be just fine, but I have trouble enjoying going on dates when she's home with a babysitter ( and we have some really great babysitters) , how am I going to handle being a plane ride away from her. we have to get her weaned onto cow's milk before then too. ( my mom told me it was time to wean her anyway when she heard I was still nursing her. . . ha ha ha ) ( she's just about 11 months old )

Selene is pulling herself up to standing position now, and she is crawling well. she also . . . . okay, I don't know what else I was going to say . . . . that's us for now.

down 8 pounds in 7 days

freaking awesome. . . nothing like good weight loss to encourage you to go another week. I have lost 8 pounds in the last week . . . granted a good portion of it is probably water weight. . . fine by me. . . all I have done is ate well ( biggest loser type diet . . . lots of fruits and vegetables, and some lean protein and whole grains ) , and worked out 4 of the 7 days. . ( need to make it five, but I got lazy on saturday ) . . the nice thing about where I live, there are a LOT of hills. so I walk up the hill as high as I can, then I wind back and forth through the streets to get back home . . . try to make it about an hour. I'm sure this is probably the biggest weight loss I will see in a single week, but it sure is nice to get a jump start on it.

off to take Selene to the doctor . I think she has an ear infection. . . she's had a bit of a fever for the last 3 or 4 days, and I'm pretty sure she's not teething. she's also been waking up crying every morning for the last week or so. . . .. very out of character for her.

what can I say, there's not a whole lot else going on right now . .. . My house is a disaster, and I've decided I have to just get rid of stuff. . . the biggest problem is my kitchen. . . .I don't need 4 sets of plates, 50 cups, or rusted pans that aren't really safe to cook in anyway. . . . time to box stuff up for later and throw away the trash. having that much stuff just allows my kitchen to get reallllly dirty before I clean it. . . .with less, I will be forced to at least do dishes once a day.

forever long

so it's been forever long since i have written on here . . . not really sure why. guess I'm just enjoying spring. . . I still haven't planted my garden, but I have watermelon and cantelope that I started inside that is doing quite well. pretty excited about that. Our back yard is coming in pretty good too. I went to Idaho last weekend to visit my family. . . Matt went to fish with his buddies while we were there. Got to see all the cute shumway neices and nephews that I adore . . okay so there is only one nephew right now, but it was still great to see everybody.

I've decided that I have to lose some of this weight, so Starting June 1st, I am going to be doing some massive excersize and diet . ( I don't beleive in doing it half way. . .if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it all the way. ) I've done it before, so I know how to do it, so I am going to go pretty hard at it for 90 days, and then scale back to moderate excersize and healthy diet. the plan is to lose all the weight I've gained since I've known matt and all the weight I've gain since Selene was born ( Nursing makes me hungry and I like processed sugar . . . the combination of the two means weight gain ) . . I say 90 days, because at that point, We will be transfering selene to Cows milk and I may possibly be going off birthcontrol at that point ( we'll talk with the doc on that one first before any decisions are made . . . I'm not so sure my body has recovered from delivering Selene . I don't want to keep putting on weight with each baby, so I have to get rid of some of it so that I can have more healthy pregnancies/babies. Nursing and birthcontrol are not going to make it any easier, but I am pretty sure my body needs a bit more time before I get pregnant again, and I intend to nurse selene for a full year. which will be in just 3 months


sorry if this is too much information, I just think writing down my plan will help me remember it. and stick to it.

as far as Matt's company is concerned, not too much new information there, it is going really well, and growing quickly. they are currently looking at getting some investment. but don't hold your breath too much on that one. . . .we've been down that road too many times ( have had too many investors say they are interested and have multiple meetings with them , had them say yes, only to get scared and back out when it came time to sign papers. ) . . . .seriously too many times to count. but things are going pretty well, and are evolving pretty interestingly too.

Selene is still not crawling, but she is really close. . . . I'm not in any hurry, because I still have to baby proof this house and put up a gate at the stairs. she just rolls and scoots where she wants to go. she gets up on all fours, but can't quite figure out how to get the arms and legs to work together. in this particular picture, she went around the side of the couch, and started crying, she got caught up in the strap of the diaper bag. it was pretty funny.

okay, off to do laundry . . . . .

Earth day or Hippie tree hugger day

so today is earth day . . . .. . why am I so opposed to this day . . . why do I roll my eyes every time I see some stupid promotional ad on tv talking about the environment. . . . I can tell you why . I looked up how earth day got started, and it was by some senator in the 60's and grew quickly from there.. so it was started by a government official, out of his government office, and supported by our government funded schools, and promoted by our media biased tv. ( can you tell I'm conservative yet ?) I don't believe in global warming ( oh, I can hear the gasps now ) here are a couple of reasons: 1. I don't think God is stupid and wouldn't plan for the earth to be resiliant. 2. I think the earth has it's natural fluctuations that we don't completely understand, because we only have records that go back so many years. 3. there are too many scientists that say global warming doesn't exist. ( I could go on about the science issue . . if you want a good watch, watch 'expelled - no intelligence allowed ' . . . awesome documentary about the scientific community. I think my biggest problem with earth day, is that it is so politically driven, that I am driven away from it. why don't they call it, beautify the earth day. or cleanup your junk day. or something a little less libral. I am not opposed to the idea of earth day. I quite enjoy planting flowers and vegetables and trees, and I like to have clean water and feel it is important to keep our water sources clean. I like to have our hyways be free from trash. and our air smelling good. . . . but I tend to rebel heavily from anything I feel is government or hippie funded. Maybe I'll start my own day, and I'll call it beautify day . . . in fact I think I will . I will have it in may, when you can actually start planting vegetable's at least, because it's after the last frost. . . . .Oh, I know I'm a nerd. I just get so irritated when i feel like I am forced to do things for a government party that I don't agree with. and if I don't agree with it, then I am a bad person.

favorite cooking blog

this is my new favorite cooking blog getoffyourbuttandbake.blogspot.com it has lots of recipes that I can use . . .unlike most of the other blogs that have some weird stuff . . . . this one has lots of good everyday food. . . . . . I somehow randomly found this blog, the lady that writes it is the wife of one of the couselors of the bishopric way back when I was at ricks like 11 years ago . . . . it caught my attention because of the unusual - ness of her last name. . . . now I'm off to search it to find something to make for dinner

my new favorite TV show. .

I used to watch MTV cribs alot . . .I liked it. The novelty has worn off. the rappers and actors just started to all seem to have the same house. . . . . . they had one of two things. . . 1. a big house that was just that . . . .BIG! , or 2. a dinky condo that was a complete mess. I liked to look at the big houses, but it almost seemed like the people bought them because they were big. they put extravegant things in them that were pretty much useless . . . . solid gold toilet??? come on . . . a crapper's a crapper. Now don't get me wrong. . . I am not in any way against wealth. . . in fact I hope to someday be in that category myself. I just have a problem with wasted wealth. . . with that, I have found a new obsession. I like Teen Cribs. ( on MTV at 4. . . set your tivo today ) it showcases Homes of families with Teens, where the parents have geared a lot of the rooms in the house to entertain their children and keep their children at home. . they know where their children are, and have ample opportunities to get to know their childrens friends. . . .I guess the biggest reason I watch this show, is because Matt and I have that same attitude. We want our house to be the cool house that our kids and their friends hang out at. . . . that way we have some control over what is going on ( of course we would never have complete control, nor would that be healthy for our children. ) As much as I worry about Selene now, it's only going to get worse, and I will feel much better if the late nights are spent at our house. . . . .We have a pretty cool home theatre for starters( high def projector and screen measures 13 feet on the diagnal - much more affordable than one might think. ), someday we'll have more. But for now I am going to get some good ideas about what I want in my "dream" home by watching MTV's Teen Cribs. i'm such a nerd!!!!

Self-Employed

Matt is officially self-employed now. . an opportunity that we couldn't refuse came up thursday, and on friday morning, Matt quit his job. ( scary thing to do in this economy ) . . for the past 8 months, Matt has basically been working two full time jobs, one to support us, and then his own company to one day support us. On thursday a very-very large company( perhaps to be named later ) had a phone conference with matt, and offered some pretty amazing support via joint marketing and software development. The work will be hard and there will be just a many hours away from home ( for a while anyway ) as there was before, but I now have a husband who enjoys what he does. I am determined to be the supportive wife he needs for me to be in order for this to work. Matt and I both feel that this is the right thing for our family at this time. He is out right now installing something for a client at his old job, and when he comes home, he will officially be done with that place. If this new opportunity works out, in the long run, Matt will be able to spend more time at home than he would if he had a 40 hour a week job, we will hopefully have income more than sufficient for our needs, and will hopefully be able to help out family members. We will be able to get out of debt and build our food storage. I really would love to give you all the details, but I am afraid if I do, it may not work out. . . . .then I would look like a liar, and we don't want that.



On another note, our back yard is almost in. . . . If it would ever stop snowing, then we will have them come hydro-seed it. I need spring to be here . My mom made Selene a really cute easter dress. . . . I will post pictures of it next week after she wears it and I actually take pictures. I've been experiementing with my camera, and I am finding some really great settings on there that make my pictures look better. notice how she is more the focus in the picture, and the background is blurred. . . . . I like it.

Oh, and Selene is finally teething. . . . friday night, she was up every few hours, the only relief for her was tylenol. poor thing. . . Her two bottom teeth are coming in at the same time. . . .Last night she did sleep though the night though. it looks like one of her teeth has broke though her gums finally, if not, it's so close to the top, that it looks like it's broken though. My sister in law gave me 3 boxes of clothes for Selene. it's so nice, I'm not going to have to buy her anything at this point until she's like 2 1/2 . gotta love hand me downs.

Oh, and I found that if you like the hair bows you can buy at the kiosks in the mall, there are great instructions on Youtube ( the hairhardware ones are the best http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjDOfMoRvEY&NR=1 . .) . . . and you know those cute gerber daisy's that people put on their baby headbands. . . . easy to make, I make 4 of them last week . . . I just went to Roberts and found 4 gerber daisies that looked pretty flat, then I pulled the flower part off of the stem and glued them down to a clip . . . really easy and super cute. I'll post pictures of all of those later too . . . I'm too lazy to go take pictures of them now. I still need to practice making the bows, as they don't look quite right still, but I will I'll get it down here pretty soon. My goal is to have them looking like this http://www.katelynandco.com/item_141/Celadon-Pink-Wheat.htm

where'd my baby go?

in the last week, my baby turned into a snot.. suddenly she screams when she doesn't get her way. she screams in the morning because I'm not immediately there to get her. she screams when take away the diaper wipes that she's sucking on, she screams when I take away plastic bags from her. she screams basically whenever I take away something she wants. I'm hoping it's because maybe she's starting to teeth. hopefully my easy going baby will be back in a few days. for the first time in her life, she's a difficult child. for now, it's back to a strict schedule . . . got to make sure we at least get in those naps.

50 things

I'm totally copying ( sp? ) jenn and keeley on this. . . I need something to blog about

1. Do you like blue cheese? No, I think it tastes like dirt and cheese mixed together.
2. have you ever smoked a cigarette? Nope.
3. Do you own a gun? Yes, I have a Glock model 30 ( it's a compact that shoots .45 . . . not a granny gun.
4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic - I like the blue coconut stuff
5. Do you get nervous before a doctors appointment? Only when I am pregnant and worried about the baby or have to get checked to see if I'm dialated . . . I really hate that.
6. what do you think of hot dogs? I like them with mustard . . . I like them once in a while, but not too often. . . I also like them to be all beef.
7. what is your favorite christmas song? Oh holy night
8. what do you like to drink in the mornings? usually milk
9. can you do push ups ? haven't tried in a long time. . . I could probably do a couple
10. what is your favorite movie? I like disney movies and christmas movies . . my favorite cult film is Red Dawn .
11. what is your faorite peice of jewelry ? My wedding ring.
12. favorite Hobby? probably cooking or taking pictures.
13. do you work with people who idolize you? Yes, Selene loves me a lot.
14. do you have ADD? No.
15. What is the trait that you hate about yourself? My weight . . . good thing it's a trait I can change.
16. what is your middle name? Shumway . . . I had no middle name growing up, so my last name became my middle name when I got married.
17. name 3 thoughts at this moment: I wonder what is wrong with Selene, she's not acting like her usual happy self today. I need spring to hurry up and get here. I want that backyard in pronto.
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday. . nothing, lets go with the last time I went shopping. a new doorbell button, chocolate milk, orange rolls. . . . yummy
19. current worries right now. . . Money
20. current hate right now. . . the president . . . need I say more.
21. favorite place to be . disneyland with matt and selene
22. How did you bring in the new year? I think we watched a movie. . . not really into that stuff too much. . . .guess we're getting old.
23. where would you like to go? I'm itchin' for a 4 day trip to vegas.
24. name 3 people who will do this? ????
25. who's answers do you want to read the most? any who does it.
26. what color shirt are you wearing right now? mint green and white striped golf looking shirt.
27. do you like sleeping in satin sheets? YES
28. can you whistle ? sort of
29. favorite color? Purple
30. would you be a pirate? Sure why not.
31. what songs do you sing in the shower . . . .usually just primary songs. . . . I can't tell you how many times I've sang 'head shoulders knees and toes' in the shower . . . . seriously . . .it's not funny.
32. favorite girls name : Hadlee ( matt hates it though, so we won't be using it. )
33. favorite boys name : ???? We're in trouble if we have a boy.
34. What's in your pocket right now. my cell phone
35. last thing that made you laugh? www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com . . . . . hilarious
36. bed sheets as a child? ugly blue flower things from the seventies.
37. worst injury you've ever had? broken nose
38. favorite snack? anything chewy and sweet.
39. favorite thing to do on sunday. . . watch movies. . . .wait, we do that pretty much every day.
40 . who is your loudest friend. . . ???
41. how many dogs do you have? zero . . . we're planning to hold off on the pets until our last kid is at least 2.
42. does someone have a crush on you? Ummm hopefully matt sort of does.
43. what is your favorite book? I don't really read much anymore.
44. what is your favorite candy? any thing with carmel or chocolate.
45. what is your favorite sports team . . I like the dallas cowboys because of troy aikman. . .even though he's retired, I still root for them. I'm surrounded by denver bronco fans though, and they all think I'm crazy.
46. what songs do you want played at your funeral ? 'another one bites the dust ' would sure lighten the mood . . . my mom got mad at me once when I told her that . . . . really I think she was mad that I was planning my own funeral . . .
47. what were you doing at midnight last night? trying to get selene back to sleep . . rough night.
48. what was the first thing you thought this morning? at 6 am . . . .'why is she awake again. . . it's too early'
49. what is your favorite meal? anything with alfredo
50. where is your happy place ? with matt and selene or in idaho with my parents and bro and sis's

6 months old.

Selene is now 6 months old. . . the time has flown by. I took a few pictures and "fixed" them in photoshop.

a few interesting things about Selene so far

she has started sitting up on her own. . . She was sitting up on her own a week before she was rolling over. We've already cut 1 1/2 inches off the back of her hair. She adores her dad and completely lights up when she sees him. . . . We think she's started saying ' da da' . . . not sure she knows what it means, but her dad is definitly reinforcing it. She loves little toys that she can hold in one hand. She does not like to try new foods. she has no teeth yet. she likes to stay up late, and lately we haven't been able to get her down for the night before 11. She's a good shopper. . . she can go for hours in the stroller or car seat while we are shopping and will be pretty good about it. . . good thing cause we like to shop at our house.

30 things about me you may not know.

1. I like guns.. . . .a lot . they are a lot of fun to shoot. and I have no problem shooting someone if I am protecting myself or my family. I own a .45
2. I'm a pretty good cook. . . . I think so at least. and I love my taste of home cookbooks, and my lionhouse cook books. . . they're Great!!!
3. I'm pretty good playing the piano, and I really enjoy doing it, but find that I don't have the time I used to now that there is a kid around. in the next house, I plan to get a grand piano.
4. I want to learn to play the cello. . . more than just "want", I obsess about it. I took violin lessons for two years while in college and loved it, but now I need a new instrument. and the cello is it.
5. I am in the process of writing a book. . . may just be for my own posterity, but it is a way for me to have a creative outlet.
6. I am very conservative, and get very angry when people's view points don't match mine. . . I don't see why they don't see things the way I do and why they don't prioritize the sanctity of life like I do.
7. my favorite vacation spots are las vegas and disneyland.
8. I need to lose married weight ( I don't have pregnancy weight, I have married weight) I was in great shape before I met my husband . . .I was running 3 miles every single day, but then I met him and he didn't want to ever go running with me, and I was afraid I would lose him to someone else if I didn't put the time in . as a result, I have gained a bit of weight that is probably going to take a year to get off.
9. I worry about my baby dying or getting hurt really bad, or someone stealing her. . . it scares me a lot, to the point that I have nightmares about it.
10. me and my husband are "that couple" that everyone says, ' she's so nice, how did they end up together '. . . .people either hate my husband or they love him.( it tends to fall down political lines ) . . . and I love that about him .
11. I like to look on KSL.com and imagine 'what if' the houses for sale were mine. . . I like to look at the decor and the furnishings, and the landscapes.
12. I wouldn't trade my problems for anyone elses. . .I have plenty of problems, but I'm glad I don't have other people's problems.
13. I really like my floors clean, I can't stand walking on a kitchen floor that has crumbs all over it, or that is sticky.
14. we are a shoes on house. ( you can keep your shoes on if you so desire) Matt always hates it when people want you to take your shoes off when you go to their houses, ( I make him do it anyway, especially if they have new carpet ) so he made me promise that we would never have that rule at our house. . . I like that rule though. . . . . those people have decently clean carpet.
15. I love to listen to Dr. Laura, and I agree with about 90% of what she says. her book 'the proper care and feeding of husbands', changed my relationship with matt . . .in a really good way.
16 . I think Sean Hannity and Rush Limbough are AWESOME!!!
17. I'm very scared about the direction this country is headed. . . glad I cashed out my 401k when I only lost 25% . . . .if I cashed it out today,. I would have lost 50%
18. our entire wedding cost less than $3,000 . . that includes a dress for me and a suit for matt and both of our rings, lucheon and two receptions.
19. i wouldn't be too sad if we moved . . . never really felt like we fit very well into the ward or neighborhood . If we were to move but stay in utah, I would love to live in the highland alpine area, or davis county area , or lehi - american fork area. those would be my top choices( we change houses more often than we change cars, so it's not really out of the question.
20. i know how to build an emergency fallout shelter .
21. i have a hobby of researching ways to live, if the country completely fell apart and we had to be completely self sufficient. . . . I'm so weird!!!
22.there are things i am trying to teach my child extra early, but i don't tell anyone what i am doing because i think they will think i am a complete nut job. . . ( I always tell my mom though, because she will tell me right off the bat if I'm doing something completely unreasonable.
23. I wish I was more of an extrovert
24. if people come to the door, and I peek through the slats of the blinds and see that they are holding a clipboard and there isn't a delivery truck parked out front, I don't answer the door. . . we get a ton of salesman here.
25. I want to be a really amazing mom. . . . one that my kids friends tell my kids . . .'your so lucky, your parents are cool'. and I'm not talking about being the type of parent that tries to be their kids best friends, I'm talking about the parent that talks to their kids, disipline's their kids fairly, sets reasonable boundries, has reasonable expectations of their kids. I want my kids to want to be at home. I want their friends to like to be at our home. and to feel comfortable there.
26. I don't really like central vac. . . it's kind of a pain dragging those hoses all over the house. . . i do like the under the counter kick plates though. . . those come in really handy. I wish I had a real vacuum. I would totally use it more than the central vac.
27. I want to have a lot of kids, but I think i got too late of a start. . . so I am hoping I can have at least 4. ( I guess some people would say that is a lot . . . )
28. my weekly playlist of shows are: jon and kate plus eight, 17 kids and counting, little people big world, biggest loser , house, bones, 24, american idol, the simpsons , robot chicken ( don't let your kids see this one ), the soup, kids by the dozen, chelsea lately, heros, lost, chuck, south park ( don't let your kids see this one either), the girls next door , dollhouse, terminator, the office, kath and kim, supernatural ( gives me nightmares sometimes), my name is earl, lie to me, desperate housewives, and stargate . . . sounds like a lot of TV huh . . . . yeah, it is. good thing we DVR our shows. we usually start watching TV about 8, and we are done by 11. so it's really not that much. especially when you skip through all the commercials. ( how do we get all these shows you ask. . . . we have 4 HD over the air tuners, and 1 satelite tuner. pays to have a husband that is a geek.
29. when I drive past houses, I wonder what their lives are like. what they do for a living, what their daily routine consists of. If they are happy. gosh, I'm like a stalker or something.
30. I hate doors that have the wood dividers in them so that it looks like there is a whole bunch of individual panes put together. . . . I can't get them decently cleaned ever, and we have three doors with them. . . .they look terrible. maybe I should just have them frosted.

my family

( sorry, I don't know how to make these pictures so you can click on them and enlarge them. . . anyone know how? )

let me just tell you about my extended family .. . I'm not talking about my brother's and sisters, or inlaw's . . .I am talking about my dad's family that I grew up with. . . My grandparents had 8 kids. their third child is my dad, and the other 7 are of course my aunts and uncles. . . I grew up with most of these people living fairly close by. I don't think I can completly convey how much these people mean to me. I love them! and I feel so loved by them. I have wonderful memories of sleep overs with my aunts, of family reunions that usually had a large water fight involving most everybody. I remember going to a lot of weddings, and quite often being involved in gathering the gifts. I remember thanksgiving and christmas were so much fun. when I was really young, we had it at my grandparents house in the basement. I remember playing in the huge toy room. . .. I don't remember any of the toys that they had, but I remember it was a ton of fun. I remember my grandpa paying me a quarter to comb his hair. I remember my mom and grandpa out working in the garden. I remember my grandma's wheat bread that I loved. . . ( grandma sycamore's taste somewhat similar) I remember my grandparents had butter when my family had margerine ( I exclusivly use butter now because of the memories the taste brings . . .and I highly prefer it. ) I remember going over to my grandparents house on sunday nights and watching the disney movie on TV. I remember my grandpa's jar of small hard tack candy. I remember the year at our family christmas party where we had to guess how many peices of candy the jar had in it. Out of all of the grandchildren, I won, and I won a cute stuffed mickey mouse. I remember my grandma teaching me how to play the piano when I was 4-ish. . . something that I still love to do. I remember giving a scripture or a talk in primary and I was so scared that as soon as I saw my audience, I turned around and hugged and cried to my aunt who was at the time I think in the primary presidency. I remember going on bike rides around the "block" with my grandma. I remember always getting birthday gifts wrapped in comics from my grandma. I remember my grandma's green beans, and still to this day I can't cook them like she did. I remember the little babies being given scrambled eggs at my grandma's, and they smelled so good. I remember the cookie jar that always had cookies in it. I remember the cool old fashion looking phone in my aunt's bedroom. I remember traveling with my grandparents to Utah to watch my cousins dance recital. I remember that on the way back we stopped at smith and edwards and emily bought a gi joe, and I bought a barbie case . . . emily tried so hard to talk me out of it. I remember going camping with my family and my grandparents at warm river. It was when my grandpa had cancer. I remember playing cards with my grandma in the camper. I remember feeling left out and emily and angie invited me to make dolls out of clothes pins with them. I remember so many sleep overs with nichela and stacie. I remember sneaking into my cousins house while they were gone, and gathering up some new toys, I took them outside to play with . . . I got caught, and they weren't too happy. I remember hiding nichela in my closet and not letting her leave, while everyone was frantically outside looking for her . . . I kept her in the closet, because I didn't want to get in trouble and I wanted her to stay and play. . .. . If I was my kid, I would have probably recieved the beating of a lifetime for that . I remember playing in the sandbox for hours with Luke. I remember playing football with my cousins and the neighborhood kids. I remember emily helping me learn how to play basketball and I credit her for teaching me how to ride a bike.

Everytime I go back to my parents to visit. I want to stay . I want to move back. I want my children to have the same memories and happy childhood that I had. I want them to know how wonderful it is to have a large family. I want them to have as many examples of righteousness that I had. everytime I go back for christmas or thanksgiving or a wedding or what ever . . . I feel so loved and so wanted. I feel like I belong, like I have always belonged, like I am an inportant peice of the family. I love these people so much. they are incredible examples. They make me want to be as good of an example to others as they have been to me. everytime I visit with them now, I learn more about them. I see them as a peer, I respect their opinions ( it helps that their opinions are right in line with mine) I love talking with them. I miss them. growing up like this . . .makes me want a large family. I know I probably don't have time to have 8 kids. . . .but you never know. get a few sets of multiples in there, and it could happen. we'll see. . . . . . . . . . .

Mommy Survey

Mommy Survey

Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself!Let's see how much you remember!
1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? yes
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? yes
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? "about time!"
5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 29
6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? thought I had some sort of bug . . . it was taking so long to get pregnant, I didn't think that could possibly be the culprit. . . then matt told me I should probably take a pregnacy test.
8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND THE SEX? yes, my attitude is . . .it's still a surprise, its just an early surprise so you can plan for the event.
9. DUE DATE? 8/26/2008 . . . born on her due date
10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? I threw up for about the first 20 + weeks...
11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? nothing really . . . didn't want to eat, but had to otherwise I would get more nausious
.12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? nothing really . . . I remained pretty emotionally stable the whole time ( matt may tell you differently)
13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Girl
14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? I was thrilled it was a girl.
15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? Lets just say that by the time selene was born, I weighed less than when I initially got pregnant with her( total I gained about 5 - 10 pounds
.16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, thank heavens, Matt had been out of work for 6 months, and the showers were very much needed . . . . don't know what we would have done without them.
17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew
18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? sortof . . i had a subchronich hemmhorage at 12 weeks . . . and they had to use forcepts to deliver her
19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? American fork hospital
20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?27 hours
21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Matt
22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?matt and hospital staff
23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? natural i guess . . .someones embarassed to say vaginally . . its okay to say it, its not a bad word.
24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Yes. Eppidural worked great
27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? i seriously can't remember . . . .
28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ?august 26th 2008
30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM? selene allison
31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? almost six months

all about Matt

Yes I know it's been a while . . . the baby tends to keep me busy, and my free time it spent cleaning or reading other peoples blogs. . . but in honor of the month of february quickly approaching, I thought a post about matt would be suitable. . . . . Not only do we celebrate Valentines day, but, the following day, we celebrate matt's Birthday.

( ends up I need to take more pictures of matt . . . I don't have very many. . . .This one is from christmas 2007, but before I found out I was pregnant. . . My SIL had just had her baby a few weeks before ) . . . Ps, what is up with my hair ??????? Matt is the one next to me if you didn't guess already. ( behind my mom )

WHAT IS YOUR HUSBANDS NAME? Matthew Emerson Freestone

HOW LONG HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN MARRIED? 4 years on March 26th

HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? 2 years

HOW OLD IS HE? will be turning 29 on February 15th. . . . 1 1/2 years younger than me.

WHO IS TALLER? Matt

WHO CAN SING BEST? Probably me, but if there is a britney spears song on, he is really good at matching his voice to hers. . . No , he's not gay,

WHO IS SMARTER? no question . . .Matt . . . He's a freaking Genius . . . . he knows just about everything about everything.

WHO DOES LAUNDRY? me,

WHO PAYS BILLS? He does . . . It stresses me out too much, and he would rather I be happy than stressed out.

WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Matt ( if your laying on the bed )

WHO MOWS THE LAWN? I really enjoy doing, but I was pregnant last year and so he took it over.

WHO COOKS DINNER? Me, unless I am in the first half of a pregnancy, then matt has to do it.

WHO'S FIRST TO ADMIT THEY ARE WRONG? Me, no question ab out it. . . .

WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? He kissed me first.

WHO WEARS THE PANTS? definitly him, unless he's done something to really make me mad. then I take the pants.

4 month appt.

Today I took Selene in for her 4 month appt. she was 25 inches long and 15 pounds 2 ounces ( 75th percentile for both ) her head was in the 90th percentile . . . crazy kid has always had a big head . . . I'm hoping that means lots of brains like her dad. they gave her 4 shots, and for the first two she didn't cry, but the third and fourth were just two much, and then I felt really bad for her as she was screaming for help. . . .as soon as the last shot was given she stopped crying and was very cuddly. . . I love that part.

What a Dweeb am I . . . I was telling Matt how I wouldn't pay $4 for a dozen cookies, but then I asked him to buy me this barbie princess cookie. . . . .it cost a dollar. . . for one cookie. . . . not near as tasty as it looked. . . I never did finish it. homemade or lofthouse sugar cookies beat smith's bakery cookies hands down.

pictures

let the bad habits begin. . . I think I mentioned it before. but here is the documentation. . . she has begun to suck her thumb . .. the good news is, she's pretty muched stopped on her own. if she's really hungry or she is having trouble going down for a nap, then she will suck on it. but other than that, she doesn't really touch it. . . instead she puts everything else in her mouth.

selene is starting to notice things around her. . . I found her like this a few weeks ago. . . she's never really cared about the mobile until now. . . she sat like this for like half an hour just watching it go around and around.

she really likes watching TV. I will lay her down on the floor, and leave her there and she will use her legs to turn herself so that she can see the TV. . . it's pretty funny. in the mornings, when I am nursing her, she will stop and twist her body around so that she can watch TV. . . .not so funny when I am in a hurry. ( I had a picture of her and matt both staring at the TV, but I need to get my husband some longer pajama shorts . . . . not sure it's very appropriate for me to broadcast to the world my husbands religion )

when I make a low mono-tone humming sound, she starts to cry . . . It's really funny. ( is that bad that I kept doing it over and over again so I could get a picture. . . .) she'll appreciate it when she's older.

In 2008 in Matt's family. there were 4 little girls born. . . first we have zoey who is 3 months older than Selene, then we have Selene, then we have Evie, who was born on the same day as Selene but a little later in the day, then we have the youngest of the 4, Tanya, who is I think a little less than a month younger than Selene and Evie. I am going to make a few predictions. . . .these girls will grow up to be good friends, or these girls will hate each other ( highly unlikely), or these girls will like each other, but if there is more than two of them together, they may not get along so well and will form cliques ( I say this is most likely. as has been my childhood experience. . .. three's a crowd when it comes to family)

for christmas this year we had most of matt's family at our place and it was great to spend time with them. I am hopeing that we can continue to do this every few years. . . It will probably get harder as the families grow and but hopefully we will be able to arrange for it every few years. . . . ( I am hopeing that someday we will have a really big house so we can continue to host it even with lots of people. . . I think that the memories these family get togethers will provide for these kids will be priceless.

Selene

Can I just tell you I have the best baby in the world. she lets me sleep in until at least 8:00 am every morning ( this morning, it was 9:00). I think that she does wake up during the night, but I think she keeps herself entertained, until she falls back to sleep. Sometimes I find her on the opposite side of the crib. Yesterday I put her down for two naps. . . she never cried. I just put her in her crib and covered her up, and she went right to sleep and for one of her naps, she slept 3 hours. to this day. . .this girl still doesn't really cry a lot. When we have a lot of company, she gets a little out of her element and doesn't want to take naps, and wants to be held a little more, and if I hold another baby, she becomes very clingy, but even then she is still pretty good. I have found that the more relaxed and not-stressed I am, the easier Selene is. She hasn't started rolling over yet, but she has started scooting herself around a little bit on her back using her feet. On monday we have her 4 month check up . .. I am convinced she will have high percentages. she is fitting into clothes for a 9 month old. . . . what's up with that. I will post pictures soon. I have a lot from christmas when we had most of matt's family over.