The Bitter Family Blog

Backtracking....

2009-07-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

I don't normally like to try to play catch-up on the blog, but I wanted to post about Logan's perfect attendance award. On the last day of school they presented the perfect attendance medals to all the kids who didn't miss a single day of school. Logan got a medal for the 2nd year on a row! Pretty crazy, huh! My kids don't seem to get sick very often and Logan really loves school and doesn't want to miss it. We were really proud of him!
After the medals were given out all the recipents got to go to the cafeteria with their parents and have donuts and juice with the principal. There were a few other kids from our ward that got the award too. I felt bad for Mason because he only missed 1 day of school, but there's no award for that. I gave him one of my old medals from junior high and said it was the "Almost Perfect Attendance" award. He seemed okay with that.
Today we'll be taking Logan to get an MRI like Noah had a few months ago. They just want to check that Logan doesn't have a similar brain problem as Noah. Wish us luck!

Kids say.....

2009-06-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

I know no one is reading our blog anymore because I only seem to update once every 4 months!!! Oh well, life is busy. I feel a new resolve to be better at using this blog as a journal, to update more often, and to blog about everyday life- not just the big events. Here's my jumpstart effort! The summer has been pretty boring so far. We did just go camping for a couple days, that has been the highlight so far. I'll post on that soon. I just had to get the ball rolling.

Today, Noah asked if he could watch the movie "the Chronicles of Narnia". He means the first one. Roman got all excited and said, " I wanna watch the "barnicles of marnia!!" I just laughed and said, "sure! you can watch the barnicles of marnia!" I love it when he says things wrong!

Photography blog updates!

2009-03-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

I've been updating my photography blog with some fun pics of the boys. They're such good little models. I also did a fun shoot with this engaged couple. Become a follower of my blog so you can keep up with my updates!

Noah's 24 hour EEG

2009-03-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

So this time we went to a company who is contracted to do the 24 hr. EEG's. We went to this office and the technician was just soooo sweet to Noah! She knew just what to say to make him comfortable and happy. He got to watch a movie while she applied all the electrodes, etc.... Since this was his second time he was much more relaxed than the first. She told Noah he was getting a special space helmut like Buzz Lightyear and a spaceranger computer. He was so excited about that.
Here he is getting the electrodes attached with a special glue.

Once they got all the electrodes on she covered it all up with layers of stretchy gauze so he couldn't take the electrodes off. We were to write down most of his activites over the next 24 hrs. especially when he went to sleep and if he woke up at all in the night. Dave had to sleep on the floor in Noah's room that night to moniter him. Noah did great and never bothered with his "hat" until an hour before his appointment to get it all off. I was feeding Baron and looked up and he'd pulled his hat off! The pic below is what he looked like after that. I kind of gently tried to cover his head back up with the leftover gauze.

you can see all the wires sticking out from underneath the hat.

Here he is with the electrodes glued on his forehead.

the pic below is from the first day when he was all done being fitted with the hat and he had his little computer battery pack in his fanny pack.

We love our little Noah so much, even more now that he's being put through all of this. He's been so brave and such a little trooper. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on his and our behalf. I'll update more on his diagnosis later.

Noah's EEG experiences

2009-03-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

Well, we've had a busy last couple of months. We took Noah to Sutter Roseville Hospital to get an EEG, electroencephalogram- {taken from WebMD} a test that measures and records the electrical activity of your brain. Special sensors (electrodes ) are attached to your head and hooked by wires to a computer. The computer records your brain's electrical activity on the screen or on paper as wavy lines. Certain conditions, such as seizures, can be seen by the changes in the normal pattern of the brain's electrical activity. EEG is the most useful and important test in confirming a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Here's our sweet little Noah, all happy and excited to take the test. We were instructed to keep him up until midnight the night before and then wake him up at 5am and give him a big pancake breakfast. Basically, they wanted him sleep deprived and full and happy to take a nap. We tried to prepare him a bit ahead of time but it wasn't enough. When we got into the testing room he started to get a bit scared. (He's been through a lot lately). It took us an HOUR to get him to finally let the technician to prep him for the test. The prep work takes a long time too!

(Here he is giving himself "bunny ears")

First the guy needed to draw blue dots all over his head where he would place the electrodes. Then he rubs the dots off with a q-tip. Then he puts a glop of glue on all the dots where he then placed the electrodes and covered them with cotton balls. There were 32 electrodes all over his head and a couple on his chest and neck. He was violently fighting us to avoid all this. It was very sad to make him do it. Once he gave in he realized it didn't hurt and he was okay with it all. Once he was all prepped the tech turned the lights off and told him to get comfortable and take a nap. He just sat on Dave's lap and slept there. He only got to sleep for like 30 minutes then the test was done. We were glad to be done and get home. I took him to Target afterward to get an ICEE and pick a toy for being so good.

We also took him a week later to do an MRI-Magnetic Resonance Imaging
{WebMD}
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a test that uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures inside the body. In many cases, MRI gives different information about structures in the body than can be seen with an X-ray, ultrasound, or computed tomography (CT) scan. MRI also may show problems that cannot be seen with other imaging methods.

For this test we had to go downtown. He had to be given general anesthesia for this one. That was a little scary but he's done that twice before with his eye surgeries so we're used to it. He prepared him better this time so he wasn't as scared. He did so well! No pictures to share from that because we couldn't be with him during that. He was pretty funny coming out of the anesthesia. He couldn't walk too well and then was just really cranky. He kept demanding chocolate. That's not really like him at all so we kind of giggled. When we met with the Pediatric Neurologist we were informed that the EEG results came back abnormal and that we would need more testing. GREAT! So glad to hear! (heavy sarcasm) I've got more pics from our next adventure, the 24 HOUR EEG!!! Stay tuned.....

Our Scarey Experience....

2009-02-20T13:27:00.000-08:00

(Noah getting a CT scan)

We've had quite a crazy last 6 months with hospital visits. On February 3rd, our sweet little Noah had a seizure in the car while I was driving home from his opthamologist appt. downtown. After his appt. we met Dave for lunch and then began the 30 min drive home. Noah fell asleep on the drive home so I wasn't really paying attention to him in the backseat. When we were almost home I heard some noises back there and figured he was waking up. When I looked in the mirror he looked a little odd and falling over in his seat. I asked him if he was okay and he didn't answer me. I noticed that his head was turning to one side repetatively and he started drooling. I knew then that something was wrong. It's kind of weird but I remembered my dog doing the same head movement and drooling the day we had to put her to sleep. I realized he must be having a seizure. I was nearing the freeway exit home but I didn't know what to do. I decided quickly to get back on the freeway and I called 911. They met me when I pulled over into a business park nearby. Needless to say I was crying uncontrollably and totally scared for my sweet little Noah. The firetruck arrived first then an ambulance. They checked him out and put him on a gerny(sp?). The rushed him to the ER and I followed behind. I called Dave in a complete panic and told him to meet us at the ER.
To make a long story shorter....he was given anti-seizure meds in the ambulance and put on an IV and oxygen when he got to the ER. He started to return to normal slowly. He was very scared and crying so we tried to distract him with the red light attached to his finger. We told him it was a laser like Buzz Lightyear. So he lasered everything in the room. He became happier until they gave him a catheter! (Yikes) They ordered a CT scan and the results showed a part of his brain that hadn't completely formed together. That made him more susceptible to seizures. They sent us home with instructions to meet with a pediatric neurologist and to have an MRI and EEG done ASAP. He's been doing just fine since we got home but we're all a little scared. He is such a trooper, he has been through soooo much and always has such a sweet smile on his face. We were so blessed to have so many caring friends and family there for us, praying for Noah and keeping us in their thoughts. We'll update as we get more test results, etc.... We would appreciate your prayers for Noah.

(Noah's laser finger that kept him happy!)

BWO!!

2009-02-15T22:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, now that I have 5 kids I have a completely legitimate reason to become a fairweather blogger. I have now decided to take up the mindset of BWO: Blogging Without Obligation. I have enough in my life to be stressed about, I cannot stress myself out over not blogging in two months. HEY, I just had a baby for crying out loud! That's the best excuse there is besides dying really. So now, I am back into the swing of things a bit but I won't be blogging as often as I used to I'm afraid. So maybe I'll try to make my posts longer when I do, or I'll make multiple posts when I finally get around to it. We'll see. I'm lifting the burden off of my shoulders, I refuse to feel guilty for not blogging. So THERE!
Here's my cute little baby bear smiling! He's such a little cute muffin! He's really grinning a lot now. Especially when he wakes up in the morning. No laughing yet, but we'll get there. We've got him on Prevacid now for acid reflux and that seems to help with his crankiness. It's hard to enjoy his cuteness when he's crying all the time! He seems much happier now. What a relief! And incase you're wondering, even when he was cranky all the time, he actually slept pretty well at night, like 6 hours straight. Thanks for checking up on us, I'll be blogging more I think but without guilt.

Please Welcome Baron David Bitter

2008-12-09T23:18:00.000-08:00

(one day old)

Ok, ok....I know it doesn't take very long to make a blog post. I'm crazy behind on my blog, but what am I NOT behind on these days....seriously. Besides having my baby 3 1/2 weeks early, I still had some portrait sittings to edit after I had him, so I've been a little overwhelmed lately. My photography workload is slowing down finally and I can think about Christmas and my darling new "baby bear". Here are some details in a nutshell....

I had a baby shower on the 19th, went to see Twilight on the 21st and my water broke after church while napping on the 23rd. We got the the hospital around 4pm, in a great mood I might add. I got potocin (sp?) and began contractions, I breathed through them for a while then decided I was ready for my epidural. Unfortanately, the contractions got really painful really fast, too fast for the anestheseologist to give me my epidural. He ended up flying out in one push ....au naturale!! He was 5lbs 15 oz, 18 in. long. born at 7:40pm. That was definately the most pain I ever remember feeling, but it was over pretty quickly and my recovery has been amazingly fast. I really only had to recover from some muscle aches for the first week. He's been such a sweet little guy. Didn't nurse that well in the beginning but he's doing much better now. His brothers ALL adore him, in fact they fight over getting to hold him and kiss his head. We've been so blessed with our fifth and final boy!

Noah's eye surgery!

2008-10-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for a while because I've been busy taking care of everyone!! We're still working on Dave's leg, but I'll post later about that. Meanwhile, we've finally had Noah's eye surgery done.

On October 1st, we went to the surgery center at 7am. We simply told Noah that Dr. Satterfield was going to fix his eyes. We didn't want to scare him too much or he'd never come with us. He was actually pretty excited, he really didn't have a clue what was coming.

Here is Noah in the waiting room when we first got there. He was just his happy little self, like usual. You may notice his left eye is not centered like the right. That is why we're having the surgery, to tighten up the muscle that has slipped back and won't allow his eye to go much farther.

He's always so happy we just love our little Noah. This is his second eye surgery, his first was when he was 1 yr. old.
After a while they brought us back to another waiting room where we dressed him for surgery and he got to watch a movie on his own little DVD player while we waited for the "silly juice" to come.

We told Noah they would give him some "silly juice" to drink that would make him silly. He was pretty excited about that...until he tasted it. YUCK! He spit it out! They ended up having to shoot it up his nose to be absorbed through the membrane, it actually works faster that way anyway. He wasn't so happy about that, but he calmed down fast and kept watching his movie. He eventually got really sleepy and limp. His speech was slurred and he was talking about weird stuff. He was ready for his anesthesia! They took him away and got started. We were a little nervous, of course, but we've done this before.

The surgery took about an hour and then his recovery from the anesthesia took about 45 minutes or so. He was not happy when he first woke up. He was very mad in fact, and probably in pain. I felt a little guilty for not letting him know what was going to happen, but he never would have cooperated otherwise. He fell back asleep quickly (with some help) and when he woke up the second time he was much happier. He was, however a little nervous when he saw 2 Mommys. "Mom, look behind you!!" I looked and saw a mural on the wall... "No, mommy! Who's that behind you?!!" He was really scared at first. We had to explain to him that since they fixed his eyes they were being a little silly right now. He would see 2 Mommys and 2 Daddys for a while. Eventually, he thought it was hilarious and that's all he talked about the whole way home! "Look, there's two cars, look there's two carseats!"
Here is his eye after the surgery. The Dr. decided it was only necessary to operate on the left eye, that should fix the problem. He was pretty happy when we got home, not complaining or in lots of pain. He was just so in awe that there were two of everything. It made him a little clumsy though. He couldn't walk well and was bumping into things. Still happy though.
We bought him a toy at Target and an Icee. That made him feel pretty special. His recovery has been great. His eye is slowly looking more normal and he's seeing better now. In a few weeks he should be all better!!

What has Dave been up to you ask???

2008-09-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

Dave is a busy guy, usually. However, because of his virus and leg infection he hasn't been into work since last Wednesday. So, many of you have been asking...."So what is he doing all day?". I caught him while he wasn't looking and got a picture to show everyone what an awesome husband I have. Here he is, stuck, immobile on the couch....he could be playing video games, watching TV, movies, etc..... What is he doing you say??? He's reading Eclipse, the 3rd book in the Twilight series!! He told me he was having Vampire/Werewolf dreams last night. He also was dreaming of an X-men guy that was a vampire and caught bad guys for the government.
Trust me, he's as manly as they get. He really likes the books though. But for different reasons than most women do, he likes the superhuman characters and all the action. He complains about how annoying Bella can be sometimes and how melodramatic she is. (In her defense, I think anyone would get a little dramatic amidst life with vampires and werewolves....)

Dave and I actually have great "Twilight series" discussions sometimes. I appreciate that he's interested in something I'm interested in. Depending on when he gets better and goes back to work, he may get Breaking Dawn finished!!

*************************************************************************************** I just thought I'd add a couple pictures of the kids. Noah fell asleep in this weird position at the dinner table last night. I couldn't believe he was possibly comfortable. He'd had a long day though.
This is a cool Lego pit that Logan built for the Lego Magazine's Cool Creations. He had me take a few pictures to send into the magazine. This one has Mason in it, but he didn't help Logan make it. Roman promptly destroyed it after only a few hours. It's been rebuilt a few times now, thanks to Roman's destructive nature.

The moral?....Wash your cuts boys & girls!!

2008-09-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

WARNING: SOME GRAPHIC PICTURES OF MY HUSBANDS NAKED LEG. ALSO A LOOONG STORY TO GO WITH IT.......

Many of you know that Dave is an avid mountain biker. He rides just about every Saturday morning at 6am with a group of friends. He took advantage of his extra day off work last Monday and went riding that morning with two other guys. Its not weird for the guys to take a fall now and then when they hit a jump wrong. Dave actually doesn't bail very often. This trip, he took a jump wrong and his pedal swung back and smacked him right hard in the shin. It hurt pretty bad but just barely broke the skin. Not a big deal for a mountain biking accident. He walked it off. It began to throb a bit at work on Tuesday but he even played basketball that night.

He ended up with some kind of virus that hit him that night around 11pm. He began throwing up and continued for 7 hours, getting up about every 45 minutes or so. He was stuck in bed Wednesday and Thursday recouperating from this GI bug. All the while, his leg is starting to feel worse everyday. Thursday night he was able to hold down his food finally but now he couldn't move his leg enough to even get up and walk to the bathroom. He was crawling on the floor to get there. It had swollen up pretty bad and we couldn't figure out what was going on...was it just bruised really bad? Had he possibly cracked the bone? Wouldn't that have hurt bad right away instead of waiting days to happen? It was bad enough Thursday, that I made him a docter's appt. for Friday morning. He could barely get to the bathroom, we decided he'd need some crutches to help get him to the car and to the Dr.s office. (A HUGE thank you to all the ward members willing to give us crutches in such short notice!) It took him about 45 minutes to get downstairs to shower and get dressed and into the car, this usually only takes him about 10 minutes. So the docter took a look at his leg and seemed pretty concerned. It hadn't even occured to us that his leg was infected, but that's the diagnosis. Even though his scrapes from the biking accident were minimal, they were big enough to get some bad bacteria in there. His whole right leg from the knee down was red and swollen from his small cuts getting infected. The Dr. prescribed an antibiotic and some Vicodin for the pain. WOW, I can't believe this is all from an infected scrape. He can't walk, he can't go up and down the stairs, it takes him a good 10 minutes to get himself to the bathroom a few feet away.
(this is his ankle all swollen, it looked much worse yesterday. Notice you can't even see the bone.)

This has been quite an experience for me. I have a hard enough time being 6 months pregnant and taking care of all the kids needs. Now I've got Dave to take care of too. It doesn't matter that my back hurts from going up and down the stairs so much, that I was getting up in the middle of the night to take care of Dave's needs and not getting to nap later. I'm not complaining, it's just a bit exhausting. My house looks like it was hit by Hurricane Gustav, but that's okay, taking care of my family is more important. Charity truly is the pure love of Christ. I am grateful for the opportunity to gain a testimony of service and charity through serving my husband. I'm so grateful for those who were inspired to help our family at this time of need. My sweet visiting teacher Vanessa brought us dinner last night and my neighbor Hilari brought us dinner that I could freeze and I'll use on Sunday. My wonderful mom took Logan and Mason to the movies last night to get them off my hands, that was so helpful.
Unfortunately, this isn't over. He's getting better but these kind of infections don't go away over night. The Vicodin isn't working that well either so he's still in a lot of pain. He should be better by the end of next week hopefully. We appreciate all of your prayers!
(These pics don't really do his infection justice, my White Balance was a bit off I think. It's much more red than it appears in the picture. )

My little Scout!

2008-09-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

Logan is our first boy scout. He actually started in June but we didn't end up getting his uniform until a couple weekends ago. This was the first meeting he got to wear his uniform to. He looks so handsome and he just loved wearing it. No joke...he wears his scout hat to bed every night! He wants to wear it to school too but I told him I don't want it to get lost. I've still got lots of patches to sew on but you get the idea. He's doing great in scouts so far. With Daddy's help, he's moving quickly through the Wolf scout book, passing off all kinds of badges. He'll be an Eagle Scout in no time!
I just had to include this picture. Noah is such a sweet brother. Instead of being jealous of his older brothers' activities he is excited for them. This day was actually scouts for Logan and Mason's first soccer practice. Noah was so excited for both of them. He keeps talking about how he'll turn 8 and get to go to scouts. He loves seeing his brothers doing fun stuff.

The end of the summer.....

2008-08-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a random picture but I kept wanting to blog it so here's my excuse. Logan, Mason, and Noah went to a primary Pioneer Day activity a month ago and had a great time pretending to be pioneers. They went on a long "trek" from the park over to the church building, played some pioneer games, learned about some of the trials the pioneers went through, and even made butter! At the end of the activity all the kids got a packet with some snacks to use to make a "pioneer wagon". Logan's was the only one to make it home before it got eaten. He followed all the directions and got it done really quick. It turned out perfect!!
****************************************************

The first day of school!!

On Tuesday Aug. 19th the boys started back to school. They were sooooo excited! Logan began 3rd grade in Mrs. Baker's class. So far he's enjoying being a big 3rd grader. He'll be starting piano lessons soon from our neighbor, we're excited for him.

Mason is now a big 1st grader! He gets to go to school all day with Logan and eat lunch in the cafeteria with all the big kids. He's been so excited to have recess with Logan but this year the 3rd and 1st graders don't have recess together, DARN! He is in Mrs. Cern's class with some of his friends from the ward. He's beginning soccer this week and his Sunday school teacher will be his coach!! We had to pull a lot of strings to get him on that team. He'll be with all the other boys his age in the ward. We're soooo excited for him!

Noah starts preschool again with Ms. Danai on Monday. Most of the kids from his class last year are there again, with just a few new ones. He's so much more comfortable this year. Last year he had a hard time leaving me for the first few months of school. Now he's dying to go back. We're looking forward to a fun year for him this year!

Roman isn't starting anything this fall. But he will get to enjoy some one on one time with Mom while his brothers are at school. Hopefully this will help ease the pain of getting kicked off his throne when the baby comes in December. We'll get him involved in something in the spring to help him too. He's actually doing pretty good potty training lately. I just hope he doesn't regress when the baby comes....

Noah's new glasses!

2008-08-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

We're on the road to trying to get Noah's eyes "fixed". He has bad vision so he now needs glasses. He also has an over-corrected strabismis. His eyes used to be crossed and we had a surgery when he turned one to un-cross them. They were fine for a while but then become over-corrected...they were going outward. We will have to have another surgery to correct the over-correction soon. Meanwhile, we just need to get him to keep his darn glasses on!! He got the glasses on Monday and they were broken by Tuesday! Luckily Costco was nice enough to do their best to repair them, but if it happens again, we may just need to buy another pair. I actually don't think his prescription is correct. The prescription is as if he were far-sighted and we are ABSOLUTLEY sure that he is very near-sighted. We'll go back in a few weeks and the Dr. will see him and hopefully change his prescription. Wish us luck!!!

Happy 100th Post to MEEE!! (and my little nudger!)

2008-08-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe this is my 100th post!! A great opportunity to dedicate it to my little peanut! These are the most recent pictures from my ultrasound a couple weeks ago. I've been waiting to do my next post, my 100th, and saving it for a special occasion! I'd already posted that we found out that our 5th child will be, of course, another boy. But I've yet to post pictures of him. We've been lucky to get some really great profile shots of him. I'm now 21 weeks along, that's OVER half way, yahoo! He's just starting to kick me a bit. They are really just gentle nudges, love taps.... no rib breaking here! (BD reference)

I'm thinking since we're pretty exhausted on boys names, I may post a poll to get peoples vote on which of our faves they like. After naming 4 boys, we're at a loss. We've got a couple ideas, but no clear winners. We're just really hoping for a healthy baby. Noah thinks we need to name him after the characters from Scooby Doo: Freddie, Shaggy, Scooby, Velma!! I explained to him that Velma was a girls name, but that didn't seem to bother him. Then he settled on baby "Pikachu". Not bad, especially if he can perform electric attacks like his Pokemon namesake. Only 19 weeks to go!!

Twilight Confessions...

2008-07-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

I've just updated my Twilight Confessions blog regarding the Breaking Dawn Release Party at Border's in Roseville (Douglas/Rocky Ridge) on Aug. 1st. Add your name to the comments if you are planning on joining us at the party!!
**I'VE ALSO JUST ADDED THE NEW TWILIGHT TRAILER TO MY BLOG TOO!!***

The Ballards Rad 80's Party!

2008-07-14T10:28:00.001-07:00

This was seriously one of the funnest parties! Just seeing everyone dressed in their best 80's clothes was fun. The Ballards are moving this week to LA for Annie to go to film school at USC. They wanted to go out with a RAD bang! I'm so sad they're moving, they are soooo fun to hang with. They went all out for the party: hiring a couple hot bartenders, and a DJ to keep the 80's tracks rolling.

Dave and I had to go to the Goodwill to get some 80's inspiration. Dave ended up with a Marty McFly style "life preserver" vest, so he went as the 80's Back to the Future star. I just did my best to hide the prego belly under a huge (3XL) cut up sweatshirt, off the shoulder of course. Add some nasty leggings and fingerless gloves, an obnoxious hairbow, too much makeup and I'm an 80's rock star wannabe! The party had a few hairband members (Matt & Corey), some preppys (Mark & Ben), one hot Olivia Newton-John (Rachel), a few bodacious Prom Queens (Tiffani, Amy, & Emily), a Valley girl crew (Tiffany, me, Annie, Keri, Stephanie, Mrs. Macy...)... and more! All the 80's reminiscing made me want to rent all the old John Hughes movies I grew up on: Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful, Better off Dead.... I think I'll have to have an 80's movie night....! Wanna come?

"Thy will be done...."

2008-07-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

So, this has been an interesting and confusing last couple of days. For those of you who don't already know... I'm pregnant. We're expecting our fifth child in the middle of December. I'm now 17 weeks along and finally getting over some of the crappy phase. Many of our friends have taken this DNA gender detection test to find out the gender of the baby as early as 8 weeks into your pregnancy. It's a little pricey but nice if you're not too patient and like planning far in advance. It's supposedly "more accurate than an ultrasound" so people say. My mom got pretty excited about wanting to know the gender early to she convinced us to do it. With her help we completed to test kit and sent in my blood sample, paid an extra $27. to over-night it by Fed-ex. That was a Wednesday somewhere around my 10th week I think. I called and bugged the staff at the lab about when I would get my results, I wanted to find out the Friday before Memorial Day so I wouldn't have to wait until Tuesday. I waited on pins and needles all day and around 2pm I got a call from the lab that I could check my results online. I nervously punched in my secret codes and VOILA! My results were there!

"Congratulations! You are likely to be expecting a baby girl. Your Baby Gender Mentor Test result is female, which means that only female fetal genetic materials were present in your blood at the time that you took the Test. This means that you are likely carrying one or more baby girls. "

Okay! After giving birth to 4 wonderful boys, this was a bit of a shock, but none the less exciting! I began to cry a bit ... out of shock, gratitude, happiness, and more shock! I called Dave and tearfully told him the result, needless to say he was slightly shocked as well. (He's so manly he didn't think he could produce a girl!) I proceeded to call a few friends who were also waiting to hear my results.

Since then, I've not really let myself get too wrapped up in the "girl" thing. I honestly just couldn't believe it was possible. Everyone, especially those who had previously taken the test and received correct results, couldn't believe I wasn't completely sure of my results. I thought, perhaps it's just because it's in my nature to prepare myself for the worst. It just never felt safe giving into the idea that I was actually carrying a baby girl. I bought a couple cute pink things and began searching for girl names, but not much else. I decided I would feel more secure once I had an ultrasound and saw for myself that the baby was indeed a girl.

I scheduled a social ultrasound for this last Saturday the 12th. I thought it would be fun to bring all the kids and have my mom be there to see it. Really, I just wanted to validate my previous test results so I could give myself permission to enjoy the idea of expecting a girl. So I lay down on the table ready to hear whether we wasted $250 on a DNA test or whether it was right. It was a bit loud in the room with all the boys laughing at how the baby looked like a skeleton or a peanut. The technician quietly said, "It looks to me like it's a boy.." He asked me to roll over to see if he could get a different view. He proceeded to point out 3-4 times that it looked like it was indeed a boy.

I knew it. I really knew it. Maybe the Spirit had been preparing me all along not to get too excited about it being a girl because it wasn't one. No crying on my part, or Dave's for that matter (he's half robot). Mason got a bit teary eyed, he wanted a baby sister so bad. I tried to joke with him that he really wouldn't want a baby sister with a "wee-wee", that made him laugh and kind of get over it.

I've since had a hard time not thinking about it. I keep telling everyone that I'm fine. I can smile and laugh at the irony of it all. No one that I know that has taken the DNA test has ever received the wrong results. How ironic that a mother of 4 boys would be falsly told she was having a girl on her last pregnancy. I've just been reminding myself that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and he has great reason for giving me the children he has. There is a reason I'm meant to be a mother of all boys. Only he knows that reason. I feel so blessed that I have been able to bear healthy babies at all, a task which some never have to chance to do. I am so grateful for all that I've been blessed with and put my faith in the Lord that I know he has a plan for me and my family. Sometimes it takes experiences like this to remind me that those inconsequential things don't really matter, which gender your children are. What matters is that they are healthy and happy.

So the moral? Don't waste your money on dumb early gender determination tests/scans, just prepare for a healthy baby and enjoy the blessings.....

My little boy was baptized!

2008-06-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe my first baby boy is 8 yrs. old and was baptized! I've been so busy that I haven't updated the blog for a while. But this was too important to not blog about. I was able to take Logan out before his baptism and do a little photo shoot. He was such a great sport. I was fast and he's so handsome it wasn't hard. He's growing up so fast I just can't believe it.

He had a wonderful day on Saturday June 21st. We had a small gathering of friends and family who came and supported Logan at his baptism. He just smiled and felt so happy that day. I was so touched to see how pleased he was to be baptized.

My future Missionary!

Logan's Mother's Day Tea

2008-05-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

Logan's whole 2nd grade invited all the moms to a Mother's day Tea. The kids performed a bunch of dances that they'd been learning for weeks. Logan kept telling me how much he hated it. He's not the dancing type I guess. Plus, I think having to dance with a girl bugged him a bit. It was sweet to see all the kids and their dances. Logan was visibly miserable through out the entire thing, so I felt bad for him, but I tried to enjoy it anyway.
Here, Logan was supposed to be doing the Macarena, but I think he was a little confused...

This is Logan and his partner Leah. She was so patient with Logan, leading him around. They were really cute together.

I think their couples dance was the Minuet.
The boy standing next to Logan clearly enjoyed the dancing and was really good at it. Logan just kept watching him to see what he was supposed to be doing.
Despite his misery and embarrassment, He looked so handsome! I love my Logan!

Noah's preschool Bike day...

2008-05-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind here on my blogging but I'm gonna try to make up for it with a few posts. Noah had a fun "Bike day" at his preschool a few weeks ago. For the last hour of school all the kids came out front with their bikes and helmets and rode around the chalk paths that a few of the moms had drawn for them. It was so cute to see all these four year olds on their little bikes.
Noah has a cute retro looking tricycle that he kind of knows how to ride. He had fun with the other kids, they all kept bumping into each other. A few kids bumped into me while I was taking pictures, OUCH! Noah is such a sweet heart, I couldn't help but smile with pride while watching him try so hard to ride around.
He is such a happy kid!

Twilight Trailer!

2008-05-06T23:55:00.000-07:00

Things are moving along in the world of Twilight! This is the official movie poster that was released yesturday and the teaser trailer was also released. It is 60 seconds of dazzlement! I am so excited for the movie, December 12th just can't come soon enough! I've posted the trailer on my Twilight blog, so check it out! http://twilightconfessions.blogspot.com

My much needed Vacation!!

2008-04-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

Wendi and I have been best friends since we were 14 yrs. old. We have been though a lot together and always been there for each other.

We decided we needed a break from life for a couple days and why not do it together!

This is where we went...

This is where we stayed... (FIVE STAR, WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!)

We ate here....

and we ate here....

and we both spent a lot of money here....

Some beautiful places we saw along the way....

It was actually snowing the day I got there (the 24th) .....

and continued to be cold until the day I left (27th).

We also ate here twice, the Red Rock Cafe....

I'd never been through the Salt Lake Temple so we went through just hours after I got off the plane....

We had so much fun, from start to finish! Wendi, like I do, appreciates great food so needless to say we ate alot! We also stayed up very late watching chick-flicks and reminiscing about old times. We plan to get together like this once a year now, but we'll see if life permits us.

Happy Birthday to me!!

2008-04-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

I found the best birthday present so far!! An awesome video from Mtv all about the upcoming Twilight movie. This is the most amazing video so far!! I've watched it like a gazillion times. I've embedded it on Twilight blog, check it out!! Yahoo for me! http://twilightconfessions.blogspot.com

My sister's birthday at Leatherby's!

2008-04-16T10:33:00.001-07:00

Anyone want a darling puppy???

2008-04-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Rachel has to get rid of their puppy, Delilah. They were taking care of her when her brother couldn't. But now she realized it's a lot of work with four busy kids and she works too. They love her and want her to go to a happy home. If you are interested in a darling little puppy for your family please comment and I will give you Rachel's info to contact her. Delilah really is so cute, my kids love her. If I could, I would take her in a second, but my fish just died. I'm thinking if I can't keep my fish alive, a dog might be a tad harder.

Name: Delilah

Breed: Yorkie-maltese

Age: 11 months

Weight: 6 pounds full grown

Color: White with tan undertones

Condition: She is house broken, has been spayed, has had her baby teeth removed, has received all of her vaccinations and boosters and has been extremely well cared for.

Cost: To be negotiated

Mason lost his first tooth!!

2008-04-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

(Mason held my camera and took this picture of himself)

On Saturday morning Mason came to me to tattle on one of his brothers for hitting him. While he was talking to me I noticed his loose tooth was gone...."Mason, where's your tooth!" I say. He quickly feels the spot with his finger and notices that his tooth is missing. Screaming now, "Logan, Logan, I lost my tooth, I lost my tooth!" It was so funny. He didn't even know he'd lost it. The bad news was that we never found it though. Luckily, the Tooth Fairy was nice enough to still bring him a dollar. He is so proud to be part of Logan's tooth loss club now.

Our April Fools Day dinner!

2008-04-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Dave had all the April Fools day ideas this year! Remember to thank him for that! He thought it would be fun for the kids if we had a crazy dinner. We made German pancakes with green food coloring and called it "Monster guts" and we added red food coloring to the syrup so we could pour "Dragon blood" all over our "monster guts". The kids were a little concerned at first.
If you look at Noah's face in this picture, you can clearly see the concern on his face. He's our pickiest eater already. He did eventually try it and finally love it. The others eventually said, "Hey this is just German pancakes with red syrup!" They too enjoyed it.
Dave and I are both jokesters and always love a good practical joke! This is always a fun day for us! BTW, I totally freaked my mom and sister out with our OTHER April Fools day joke!! So much fun!!

We're MOVING!!! (April Fools!!)

2008-04-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Wow! This is all so sudden but we are really excited to let everyone know our news! Dave was offered a job as a software securities developer with a company called Iron Mountain in Boston. He has an old co-worker who was a great friend of his that moved out their two years ago for a job. He's been hounding Dave ever since to move out there and take a position with his company. He made Dave an offer we just couldn't refuse. SMUD is great and stable, but he'll never make $300,000 a year there. We are just so excited. We've even found a beautiful older home near his friend Tom that we're going to make an offer on. (pic above) It's amazing all of this is falling into place. Just last week a family came by to view our home (which we thought was off the market) and they made a great offer!!

We will really miss our family and friends here, but oppurtunities like this don't come very often. We have so much in store for us, so much to look forward to! Stay tuned for more details later.

(BTW- April Fools! Gotcha!)

Blowing bubbles by hand!

2008-03-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Perrow is fast becoming one of the coolest people I've ever met! She is so fun to be around. She's so easy going, relaxed, interesting, inspiring, etc.... I could go on and on. She and her family came over for dinner last night. She showed us a really cool trick with dish soap and your fingers.
If you just put dish soap on your hands, mix a little water with it and rub your hands together, your ready to blow bubbles. You then rub your thumb and index finger together and open them into a circle (above) making sure not to break the fingers apart, you just blow and VOILA!! She's amazing at this! She was blowing the biggest bubbles! Logan just loved it and wanted to learn.
After just a few minutes Logan had picked it up easily and was blowing some great bubbles too!
Thanks Jen, for showing us some new family fun!! Bathtime will never be the same! (She said Dove body soap works too!)

Dave goes on a hike!

2008-03-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Dave went on another campout with the Young Men and this time they hiked to their campsite. This new calling is requiring him to go on a campout once a month and he's having to buy lots of fun new camping gear. For this trip he bought a hiking pack, a better sleeping bag, some new hiking boots (which ended up hurting his feet) and a few other smaller items to help with the camping. He's had so much fun being in YM's. It's like being a kid all over again! We sure miss him while he's gone for 24 hours but he's learning a lot that will help us when we go camping as a family!

I've been tagged- by Keri D..

2008-03-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

A- Attached or Single?- Married (attached) to my husband Dave, 11 years on May 10th!
B- Best Friend? - Dave and Wendi Sorenson
C- Cake or Pie?- Definately cake!
D-Day of choice?- Friday man! I love date night with Dave!
E- Essential item?- cell phone (to feel connected), computer (for blogging/surfing), and makeup
F- Favorite color?- right now? hmmmm...Red
G- Gummy bears or worms? Definately Gummi bears, Haribo from Deutschland!
H-Hometown?- Citrus Heights, CA
I- Indulgence(s)?- Twilight obsession, biweekly manicures, clothes/shoe shopping
J- January or July? - tough one...I guess July 'cause kids are out of school and we can go camping.
K-Kids?- 4 boys, Logan, Mason, Noah, & Roman
L- Life is incomplete without?- Family, friends, the Gospel
M- Marriage date?- May 10th, 1997
N- Number of siblings?- 1 sister
O- Oranges or apples?- Apples, I hate peeling oranges
P- Phobias or fears?- losing my family or friends, evil things
Q- Quotes?- "Forget yourself and go to work!" Gordan B. Hinckley
R- Reasons to smile?- My kids being particularly cute/funny, beautiful weather, a good shoot, a compliment
S-Season? - Spring! After a lame cold winter, I love when the sun comes out and we can PLAY!
T-Tag 5 people?- Brooke T., Nikki C., Katie E., Tiffani M., April S.
U- Unknown fact?-I am horribly unorganized, I seriously need help!
V- Very Favorite store?- Target, TJ Maxx
W- Worst Habit?- disorganization in every aspect of my life!!
X- X-ray or ultrasound?- ultrasound
Y-Your favorite food?- Mexican, pizza, italian
Z- Zodiac?- raging Taurus!

Twilight, from a Mormon Husband's point of view

2008-03-17T23:32:00.000-07:00

I came across this guys blog as I surfed my TwilightMoms.com site. This guys is hilarious, a great writer too! His perspective on Twilight is really funny! I added a comment, you should too if you feel so inclined!

http://mormonhusbands.blogspot.com/2008/02/twilight-series-for-dummies-and-totally.html

This one is from a different husband's perspective, also very funny! It's worth the read!
http://twilightmomsforums.freeforums.org/twilight-from-a-husbands-point-of-view-t3163.html

The Bitter Boys' Bug

2008-03-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Dave know's I've always wanted a Volkswagen, in fact, we almost bought a VW Jetta back in '98. Unfortunately, my VW dream never had anything to do with an old car, only a new car. His Volkswagen dream, however, starred an old 1967 Volkwagen Beetle. He's been wanting one for a couple years now. Some friends at work (thanks guys!) convinced him that buying an old beetle would be a great place to start learning how to work on cars. I'm really impressed that he's so anxious to learn how to work on cars, and even more excited that he wants to teach his sons too. I just didn't expect it to happen until Logan was a few years from driving. He's not even 8 yet!! Well, let me introduce the newest member of the Bitter bunch.....
We haven't named her yet, but the boys (all 5 of them) love her already! We picked her up on Saturday and they were already fighting who got to ride in the new car. Logan and Mason rode in the bug on the way to church and Noah hitched a ride with them on the way home. It was so cute to see the smiles on my boys' faces as they drove past me. I had to laugh when Dave would have trouble with gear switching after every red light. He's a little rusty at a manual transmission I suppose. As reluctant as I was to have Dave buy this old car, it seems to be pretty popular. I'll admit, it make's me smile.
Dave bought the car from one of his old Sunday School kids who restored it with his dad. They've done so much to this car, it's crazy. Dave really doesn't have much to work on for now. Maybe a wash down and some new carpet, but that's about it. It's in great shape and Dave's convinced me that they retain their value so I don't feel like (in this horrible economy..) we've made a bad investment. On the contrary, Dave thinks we've made a great investment, we'll see about that. ;)

My MAD Scientists!

2008-03-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

Today was full of science! I was watching my sisters kids after school, which my boys look forward to every week. Logan just finished his last week in his Mad Science program yesterday. All of his fun projects have inspired his brothers to be excited about science. Today all the kids wanted to make "potions". Mason got a water bottle and filled it with water, then we added salt, pepper, and some lovely green food coloring (because potions HAVE to be green). He was so excited to have his own bottle of potion that could possibly turn you into a pokey weed! His cousins, Sophia and Kian wanted to make their own potions too. Sophia's potion contained water, salt, pepper, and yellow food-coloring and if you drink it, it will turn you into a banana bigger than the earth. Kian's potion was blue, Noah's potion was light green, and Logan's had one drop of red, one of yellow, one of green and one of blue. This was a blast for them and soooooo easy. I recommend it for any kids who are interested in "science".
My little "scientists"!

Dave's snow camping trip

2008-03-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

Matt Ludlow in the snow cave.

(pardon the crudeness of the pictures, Dave used his phone to take them.)
Dave was finally called into the Young Men's program as a Teacher's Quorum advisor, he is so excited. One of his first major activities was to go snow camping this last weekend. Wow, I was a little worried how Dave would handle that. Don't get me wrong, he loves camping, in the summer! He's just very picky about getting a good night's rest, even when he's camping. That's sounds like a nightmare to me, I loath being cold while I'm trying to sleep. (Dave in the snow cave)

So they built a "snow cave" similar to an igloo. You dig it out of the side of a snow hill and leave a small opening. It was supposedly going to keep them much warmer than a tent would. Dave said it took them three hours to dig, ouch! But he did confirm that he slept great and it really didn't get that cold. I was so proud of him!

He had a great time getting to know all the young men that came on the trip. We really don't have many young men anymore, only like 15 total. Matt Ludlow and him are over the teachers and I think they've got two guys. Oh well, those two will get a lot of attention!
Matt in the opening of the snow cave.
A larger view of the snow cave.

A disclaimer: Just to clarify....

2008-02-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

...my last post was a contest entry and by no means my way of sharing how I live on a regular basis. This was an isolated incident and not something I would normally share with the world. I'm not the best housekeeper out there (hey I've got 4 little piggies) but I don't function well in that much chaos. I appreciate the words of sympathy and encouragement, but please don't think less of me because my house looked like this once. I have actually been working really hard to keep my counters clean everyday, my floors picked up and table all clear. Life can be really crazy with 4 boys, especially one's that rarely if ever help clean up. I promise my house will never be perfect, I just don't have the time or desire to neglect my kids that much. But I'm definately trying to keep it tidy and manageable.

I don't mean to brag but.....

2008-02-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

....my house is messier than yours!!

So my friend Keri posted pictures of the mess she woke up to on Monday morning. She's having a contest of the messiest house I guess. Well, I'm entering the contest Keri! My kids have been sick for weeks, Mason has missed his fifth day of school in two weeks. When he's sick he whines for me to cuddle with him every 5 minutes. There is no house cleaning for me. I had to take him to the docter at 5pm yesterday so Dave brought pizza home for dinner since I was gone. We tried to pick up his prescription at Target after the DR. and they never got it so we left. When I got home Dave left for Young Mens and I inhaled some cold pizza and began our nightly routine of bath, books, and bedtime. I didn't come back downstairs until 9pm where I saw the huge mess. Dave had returned from his activity and was playing video games on the Playstation. I plopped down next to him, exhausted and we just had our first conversation of the evening. The mess went untouched.
When I came down this morning and remembered the huge mess I just wanted to cry. Then I thought of Keri's contest.... I could turn this mess into a winning entry! Well, maybe I'm not the only mom that deals with this on a daily basis, but you can't win unless you enter, right! So what can I win??? A 7 day cruise to Mexico? A romantic weekend in Carmel? A shopping spree to the Galleria? I'm guessing not, but recognition would be fine I suppose.
I will say, the mess already looks 10 times better. When I'm motivated I can clean quickly, but this is still where it all began. Maybe I'll post "after" pictures later if I get it lookin' really good! Thank you to all for the feelings of sympathy and pity, they are totally deserved!

Our goldfish NEMO

2008-02-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

Logan and Mason each won a fish at the school Harvest Festival in November. We wanted to Noah to have one too so we all went to PetSmart to buy supplies for the fish and let Noah pick one out too. Logan and Mason's fish died after only a week or two. But Noah's fish Nemo is still hanging around. He is a strong fish, let me tell you.

I'm really the only one who takes care of him. A week ago, while I was cleaning his bowl, I accidentally poured him down the garbage disposal. I looked up at Mason who was watching me and said "Oops, I guess Nemo is gone now. " Mason actually laughed. I felt really bad and kind of anxious. I looked down the sink and saw his life-less body sitting on top of last night's noodles. I realized he might still be alive so I reached in and grabbed a handful of noodles and Nemo and threw it in the fish bowl quickly, and too my surprise he started swimming around!!! Yahoo, Nemo is still alive, I didn't kill the family pet!
What a strong fish! He has been through a lot, that fish! We sure love Nemo!
Noah loves to climb on the counter and watch Nemo swim around. I read that kids who have a pet fish are actually better at math than kids without a fish. Not sure why, but at least my kids will have a good chance. We love you Nemo!

Introducing the CULLEN FAMILY!!

2008-02-19T22:51:00.000-08:00

A huge treat for TWILIGHT fans!!!!
Okay, so I am beyond excited, I'm hyperventalating! This is the first look at the actors and actresses cast as the Cullen Family in the Twilight movie. (LtoR: Emmett, Rosalie, Esme, Edward, Carlisle, Alice, & Jasper) I'm warming up to Rob Pattinson as Edward...Alice looks great, and Rosalie looks good. Emmett should be bigger in my opinion, and Jasper too. I imagined Carlisle and Esme a tad older, but all in all not bad. This means that things are really happening now and I am so excited!! This will be the most anticipated movie of my life so far. I have never been this excited for a movie to come out, EVER! Check out the other pictures on Stephenie Meyer's site. http://stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html

PLEASE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!

OH HAPPY DAY TO ALL TWILIGHT FANS!!

We ROCK!

2008-02-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

So I am OBSESSED with Rock Band now! It's the first video game Dave has ever owned that I'm actually asking if we can play. Actually, we've been inviting people over to play on the weekends for 8 weeks in a row. I started out just singing the songs, the instraments seemed too hard for my little brain. But I decided to give the guitar a shot and I started to LOVE IT! It is so much fun to play and it's an excellent party game. We have a few friends who love to play with us: Matt & Rachel Ludlow, Brantley & Erin Garrett, and our new veteran Rock Banders Andrew & Tiffani Morgan.
They are quite impressive I must say. Andrew totally rocks the guitar, his fingers move so fast it makes me dizzy. Tiffani does it all, she plays guitar, drums and sings. She encouraged me to give the drums a try, I did and did okay. I think I'll stick to singing and guitar for now.

We've had the Morgan's over two weeks in a row, they are so fun to play with. Their son Carson just sits there and soaks it all in. He's preparing for his future as a member of the band!

A Happy Valentine's Day to me!!

2008-02-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

So this year was Dave's year to plan our Valentine's date. I reminded him about two weeks ahead so he could start planning. He did an awesome job!! He secured my mom to babysit then wisked me off on our date! First we drove to old Rocklin and I couldn't imagine where we were going on this side of town. We stopped at a cute little "boutique cupcakery", as they call it. Dave had gone a week ago and put in an order for some gourmet cupcakes. We had to pick them up before dinner because they closed earlier than we would make it back. The shop is darling, with a bunch of cute women busying themselves with cupcake orders. Dave had ordered four kinds: red velvet, apple pie, chocolate mint, and regular chocolate. They threw in an extra coconut for free! That just made my night right there, that Dave had planned this out ahead and it was something special and different.

The cupcakes are amazing and I highly recommend anyone in the Rocklin area try them! It's a super fun dessert with TONS of varieties to choose from. They have a website, PLEASE check them out: http://www.icingonthecupcake.com/

We proceeded to dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory. I know, I know, not super romantic. But, Dave doesn't like pasta and he took me to a pasta place because he knows how much I adore pasta, that is so sweet of him! I love their spaghetti with Mizithra cheese in brown butter sauce, mmmmm my favorite. Actually Dave ordered it too and we both loved it! We rarely get to have an uninterrupted conversation so it was wonderful to talk with each other. This was a great Valentine's Day for both of us! Thank you so much Dave for planning such a fun evening, I love you!

"Twilight" MOVIE NEWS!!!!

2008-02-14T00:28:00.000-08:00

I can't even tell you all how excited I am for this movie to come out. No joke, we are all going the day it comes out, the minute it comes out, even if I have to go at midnight (right Emily!)!! That theater will be so full of women dying to see what they've made of Edward.....they better make us happy, darn it! I check Stephenie Meyer's site now and then for updates. Here is one that was fun. Click the link for some fun "Twilight" movie news!

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/02/04/kristen-stewart-wants-a-twilight-series-that-sucksin-all-the-right-ways/

The Brasher's Valentine's Party

2008-02-12T10:11:00.001-08:00

Roman turned 2 years old!!

2008-02-10T22:08:00.000-08:00

That's right, my baby is now 2 years old! It's gone too fast! He still seems like a baby to me....

Today was his birthday and since it was Sunday and most of the kids were still sick, we didn't have anything planned. I took him to church with me while the sick ones stayed home with Dad. He had fun in nursery. He had a nice long nap after church and then we opened his presents. He still isn't all that great about opening wrapping paper so we put all his presents in bags to make it easy on him. He had fun seeing all his fun new stuff.

He is saying "cheese" in this picture, he's great at posing for pictures. We got him this little water pump for the bath. All the kids had fun with it at bathtime. He got lots of little cars to play with, which he loves, and a cool ball, and some books. He's such a sweet part of our family, we are so blessed to have him. He is such a talker these days. He even sings his own little songs. Happy Birthday buddy, we love you soooo much!

Happy 4th Birthday NOAH!!

2008-02-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

My sweet little Noah is now four! That is crazy! I was pregnant with him when we moved here, the time sure flies by. He is such a sweetie pie. We had his birthday party yesterday afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese. He's been asking ,"How many more days 'til my party?" for the last two weeks! He had so much fun. I, unfortunately, was sick the day before and the day of his birthday but I cleaned up in time for the party. Poor Mason lay on my lap with a fever almost the whole party. Because of being sick I forgot my camera at home (errrrrr!) so I only got a few pictures of him opening presents when we got home from the party. He got so many presents, it was like Christmas all over again! Most of his darling little friends from preschool were there and a handful of friends from church. It was great!
"I'm four!!"

My Comment Challenge

2008-02-05T06:51:00.001-08:00

Ok, so some of you may have noticed I extended a little "challenge" to all those who are out there "blog-stalking" me. I seriously don't care who looks at my blog, but it would be cool if you left a comment now and then! Hey, I'll admit it.....I totally blog-stalk. I'm always trying to find people I know through clicking on other peoples link-lists. I usually end up looking at the blogs of complete strangers though. I love it! I'm pretty much obsessed with blogging so I spend a lot of time at my computer. I deserve some entertainment now and then, come on people!! So, I have finally received my first two "Comment Challenge" winners. Not a bad start, a little shy though. I want to laugh guys, keep trying! Check out the side bar to see what my blog-stalkers had to say....

PS- Edward & Bella- If you haven't already noticed, you guys are on my list of people who need to start a blog!! Get to blogging, I need some info on what happened after Eclipse!!! I'm dying here!! Thanks for stalking!!

Our new Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson

2008-02-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

"Thomas S. Monson is the new president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it was announced today at a news conference in the Church Office Building. President Monson, 80, succeeds President Gordon B. Hinckley, who died 27 January 2008.
The new world leader of the Church has called to serve with him in the First Presidency, the top governing body of the 13-million-member faith, President Henry B. Eyring, 74, first counselor, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 67, second counselor. "
I can't say this was unexpected but a thrill nonetheless. I have a great love for President Monson and the wonderful things he has done for the world. I remember so many of the touching stories President Monson has shared with us over the years. He, like President Hinckley, has been in the first presidency since I have been a member of the church. I look forward to seeing the great work he will continue to do on the Earth as part of his duty to our Heavenly Father. We love you President Monson!

Our last night together as a ward family.....

2008-02-04T10:33:00.001-08:00

Mormons are a funny bunch....

2008-02-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

This week has been emotionally draining for many of the "ward-split speculators" in my ward, myself included. On Sunday, our wonderful Bishop Jason Merrill read a letter from our Stake Presidency that all of the Lincoln wards were invited to a special "Re-alignment" meeting. This meeting will be this Sunday night at 7pm in our stake center and involves Lincoln 1st, 2nd, & 3rd wards and they will be creating Lincoln 5th ward. Wow!! People have been wondering when this would happen. Lincoln 2nd ward is GINORMOUS, we have over 800 members in our ward. As soon as our time changed to 10:30am from 8:30am all of a sudden we gained like 200 more members (not morning people I suppose). We were filling up the foyers with families who couldn't fit in the cultural hall during sacrament, it was crazy. Well, I believe the stake felt inspired that now was the time to make the change. This is hilarious. As soon as people hear "the ward is splitting" everyone goes crazy speculating....

"Oh, I'm sure Brother So-and-so is going to be the new bishop, definitely bishop material....."

"They can't possibly cut Such-and-such neighborhood out of the ward, that's where all the youth live...."

"Well, I heard from a really, really good source that our Stake will be splitting soon, so this is only temporary...."

"I work with the boy scouts and they showed me the new scout troop boundaries including the new ward boundaries, they're cutting your neighborhood out of the ward....." (Thanks Josh!)

"There's no WAY they'll release Brother Watchamacallit, he's only been in for 2 years...."

"How could they draw the boundary up Watsadoodle street, they need the leadership of the Smithjoneson Family in our ward!!"

Nobody knows for sure what they're doing (unless they're directly involved), but it's just so fun to speculate, wonder, predict, and hypothesize what might happen on Sunday night. This is such typical Mormon behavior, it's just part of our culture, it's what we do. I'm sure there are those rogue saints out there who just sit back, content in their faith and testimony that it is all inspired. I too have a testimony that even these insignificant life changes are truly inspired of God, but it's so much fun to go CRAZY wondering what future ward lies ahead......

The passing of our beloved Prophet, President Gordan Bitner Hinckley

2008-01-28T09:44:00.000-08:00

" President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through twelve years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97.
President Hinckley was the 15th president in the 177-year history of the Church and had served as its president since 12 March 1995.
The Church president died at his apartment in downtown Salt Lake City at 7:00 p.m. Sunday night from causes incident to age. Members of his family were at his bedside. A successor is not expected to be formally chosen by the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until after President Hinckley’s funeral within the next few days. "

- taken for the official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, http://www.lds.org/

I heard the news last night around 10pm and I just bawled. President Hinckley has been in the first presidency since I was first introduced to the church when I was 11 years old. He was the first counseler to President Ezra Taft Benson when I joined the church. He has been such an amazing part of the growth of the church over the last 12 years. He has been such an amazing example of hard work. He's has spent so much of the last few years traveling all over the world, visiting saints and dedicating temples, a great feat at his age. I absolutely adore his sense of humor and the great happiness he had for life. I was so sad for him when his sweet wife Marjorie passed away in 2004. I'm so glad that he can be with her now for eternity. It's hard not to be sad when you lose someone who has made such a difference in your life and in the life of millions all over the world. But, fortunately, I have the knowledge that he is in a better place, reuniting with our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. He will be sorely missed by millions of people all over the world. We love you President Hinckley....

Grateful for friends.....

2008-01-26T15:14:00.000-08:00

I finally had to take down all of my Christmas cards....this was sad. Receiving so many Christmas cards each year is one of my favorite parts of that season. My little card holder was bursting at the seams this year! It was actually difficult to try to fit them on there, I only put the pictures up, no cards. I love seeing how people change over the years and how their kids grow. We received 70 cards this year. Not bad..... I send out around 100, so at least I'm getting almost as many as I'm sending.

It is such a blessing to know we have family and friends who love us and want to share the Christmas season with us. I've been having a bit of a struggle this last week and my friends have meant the world to me. It make life so much easier to get through when you know you have friends out there praying for you when you are down. I have a testimony of prayer, I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I have felt so much comfort this week and I believe it is because of the thoughts and prayers said for me. I would do just about anything for my friends, even my friendly aquaintances.....I hope you all know that. I am so grateful for my friends.....

Counting my blessings....

2008-01-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

The following quote was given to me at Christmas time in a journal from my friend and Relief Society President Jennifer Penney. The journal was to be a "Grateful Journal" like the one President Eyring spoke of in his conference address titled "Oh Remember, Remember". He reminded us to think often of our our many blessings and to record them for posterity. After the business of the holidays, I've finally been able to settle down and get back to normal. I finally picked up my new journal last night with the intention to write down some of my many blessings. I opened the journal and read this quote pasted in the front cover. It came at the exact time that I needed it. Even with the Gospel in my life sometimes I forget what to do when I'm having a hard time. This was the perfect reminder that I needed.

" Never forget that you came to earth as a child of the divine Father, with something of divinity in your very makeup. The Lord did not send you here to fail. He did not give you life to waste it. He bestowed upon you the gift of mortality that you might gain experience- that will lead to life eternal. He has given you this glorious Church, His church, to guide you and direct you, to give you opportunity for growth and experience, to teach you and lead you and encourage you.
Of course there will be some problems along the way. There will be difficulties to overcome. But they will not last forever. He will not forsake you."

When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done....

So amid the conflict, whether great or small,

Do not be discourgaged, God is over all.

Count your many blessings; angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.

("Count Your Many Blessings" , Hymns, no. 241)

"Look to the positive. Know that He is watching over you that He hears your prayers and will answer them, that he loves you and will make that love manifest. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in all that you do as you look to become the kind of woman of whom you dream. You can do it. You will have friends and loved ones to help. And God will bless you as you pursue your course."

- Gordon B. Hinckley

Our trip to Arizona

2008-01-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

We stayed with Dave's parents while in Arizona. They live in a town called Queen Creek, outside Mesa. All the cousins live there so it was really fun for our kids to have all their cousins to play with. Dave's sister Amy and her husband Tom have five kids: Amanda(13), Adam (11), Ryan (11), Brooke (7), and Tyler (4).
Brookie with Roman, she was so cute with him.
Grandma has a golf cart to drive around the neighborhood with. We drove it to the cousins house since it is just around the corner. The boys LOVED it!!

Grandma bought Disney's "Underdog" while we were there and oddly enough, the boys loved it. They watched in while sitting on Grandma and Grandpa's bed, at least 8 times.
The older cousins couldn't get enought Rock Band. They got really good at the drums, guitar and even the singing. Uncle Tom gave singing a try too.
Amanda, Uncle Steve, Adam, Brooke, Dave, Ryan, & Logan at midnight on New Years Eve!

The nice thing about going to Arizona at Christmas time was supposed to be the beautiful weather. Well, it was unseasonably cold, like 50 degrees. Grandpa had heated the pool though so everyone still went swimming.

Grandpa & Mason

A Merry Christmas Day!!

2008-01-09T20:34:00.000-08:00

Here are all my boys on Christmas morning on there way down the stairs. I like to torture them by making them take a few pictures before they see if Santa brought them presents. They're still smiling though.
Santa put foam swords in all the boys stockings so they can swash-buckle each other up and not hurt anyone too much. Great idea Santa!!

Santa brought Logan and Mason a huge Lego Airport city. They were sooooo excited, they put the whole thing together that morning.
Santa also brought them a huge gumball machine that doubles as a piggy bank. They won't be saving much money though. We found out soon that you don't actually need change to get a gumball. No one bothers to ask for money before twisting the knob anymore. Well, the gumballs will be gone soon I guess....

We had a lovely Christmas! It was nice to have our own little family Christmas and relax a bit and enjoy the day to ourselves. Oma came over later in the afternoon for a bit to see what the kids got, that was nice to have her visit. We had to pack up that night to get ready to leave in the morning. I was pretty tired and didn't end up finishing my packing before going to bed. We ended up having lots of packing left to do the next morning and didn't end up leaving until 11am. We drove the whole way to Arizona in one shot. We thought about staying the night in Long Beach but decided to just power through. Dave let me drive for a few hours. I did great once we got my IPOD working. I discovered that if I listened to music that I could sing to I didn't get sleepy. I sang through both High School Muscial soundtracks and my "favorites" playlist that I run to, that kept me awake!! We arrived in Queen Creek AZ around 1:30am (our time)- 2:30am (their time).

Some of our Bitter Christmas....

2008-01-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

Dave got this ginormous stocking as a white elephant gift this year. We thought it would be cute to see if Roman would fit into it. Sure enough....
The best stocking stuffer ever!!

This is Noah at his preschool Christmas performance. He had little bells on his hands and shook them at a certain part in the song. He was so funny during all the songs.
Santa came to his school that day and brought all the kids a book and a candy cane!

On Christmas Eve, my family came over and we had a great dinner of finger foods and bbq pork sandwiches. Here is Mason opening his present from Oma, a Slurpee maker, he'd wanted forever!
This is my nephew Kian, he's such a cutie pie. He's opening his
Thomas the Tank Engine legos.Logan, our super reader, was so excited to get a Goosebumps book from Aunt Stephanie!!

Here is our family with our Christmas Eve jammies on! The kids were so excited to get in bed and wait for Christmas morning to come.
Here is my sister Stephanie and her boyfriend Aaron. Stephanie is holding her son Kian and to the right is Autumn and Elliott (Aaron's kids, who are awesome!!) and Steph's daughter Sophia. We had such a great time with everyone on Christmas Eve!

The Bitter Family 2007

2007-12-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

This has been a fun year for us. Busy as always, but not too eventful. Dave continues to work at SMUD as a programmer, enjoying his 6th year. We cannot express what a huge blessing it is to have stable and challenging employment. Dave has been so blessed with his technical-computer-mumbo-jumbo talents regarding computer things. He's had an opportunity to be in a role where he continually works on more and more complex systems and always seems to enjoy it. Ever since he replaced his mountain bike (for his birthday) he's been riding with a group a friends on an almost weekly basis and is loving that as well. Now that it's too cold to ride, he's taken up the fake drums with his new "Rock Band" game. Dave and his friends formed their own virtual band (the "8 Ball Bearings") and they periodically tour the virtual world, entertaining their thousands of virtual fans. Dave is ending his 4th year of teaching the 16/17 year olds in Sunday School. He is so good at relating to those kids. He spends his time with our boys mostly playing video games or building some kind of really intense train track that resembles a rollarcoaster. The boys are so excited when Daddy gets home, he's the fun one. I am the "nurturing"one I guess. I am constantly in a state of learning how to juggle everyones schedules and homework. I now have three of the four kids in school which keeps me in the car alot. I have continued to enjoy some of my previous hobbies as well as developing new ones. I enjoyed a tremendous amount of sewing this year. Everytime I am invited to a baby shower I make the mother a blanket. It is "sew" fun to be creative in that way. I also enjoy photography as some of you already know. I was able to take the family portraits of many friends of ours this fall. Click on the link to my photography blog to see some of the fun I've had capturing fun moments with friends. I don't read much anymore, but I finished off the Harry Potter series with book 7 this summer. I was also introduced to the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyers. So many women in my ward were raving about these "vampire romance" books, I decided to see what the big deal was. I am so obsessed with these books now, it's not healthy. I highly recommend them to anyone! I am currently serving as Assistant Activity Days Leader (the 8-11 year old girls) at church. I spent a lot of this year running (on the treadmill). I began in February and began to really enjoy it and actually look forward to running everyday.

We have been so blessed this year. We are amazed at how blessed we are to have such wonderful, healthy children. They make us very happy (most of the time). We are so grateful to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We have a fabulous ward family and a home to call our own. We have food on our table and clothes on our backs. We know we have so much to be grateful for. We hope all of you will have a very Merry Christmas and an exciting new year!!

Logan 7 1/2 years old

2007-12-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

Logan is awesome! He never ceases to amaze us with his growing intellect. He reads like a maniac and remembers everything he reads! He started 2nd grade this year with a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Morris. He checks out multiple books a day at the library. He reads them, then brings them back at recess to get more. He reads at above a 6th grade level. This summer we were thrilled when he read the first four Harry Potter books. He lost steam for Harry Potter when school started so he hasn't finished book 5 yet. He has already read the Book of Mormon on his own and starts it again when he's done. He enjoys math too. He is already asking us about Algebra. He loves making up secret code languages to write in. It's fun to try to dicipher his codes when he gives them to us. He has great grammar and makes sure to correct anyone who uses incorrect grammar, mostly Mason gets the brunt of it. He loves to play video games with Mason and Daddy. He enjoys building "inventions" and playing with Legos. He is a peace keeper in our home (most of the time). He is very protective of his younger brothers and is good at sticking up for them when they're being repressed. He is always happy and enthusiastic about life. He cherishes his "sleepy toys". He's got a bed full of friends, mostly Pokemon plush toys but there are a few random guys he's found. Logan is a never-ending ball of energy with so much to share with us.

Mason 5 1/2 years old

2007-12-21T16:19:00.000-08:00

Mason is such a mature 5 year old. He reminds me sooooo much of me when I was his age. He's even inherited my silly "Snoopy smile". Unfortunately, he's got the bad with the good. He is super sweet and lovey, very passionate about everything he does. He is a bit on the dramatic side though. Hey, I always say he's as close to a daughter as we're going to get. He is so "boy" though. Very rough-n-tumble and loves running around outside. He is really good at the monkey bars. He is enjoying his first year of school very much. Kindergarten suits him. He has so much fun with the kids in his class and he tells me he has a "girlfriend". I'm going to have to worry about this one. He loves to play video games with Logan and Daddy. They began the year off with lots of Pokemon and are ending it with lots of Mario. He is such a sweet helper. He has helped me "clean up" many times and relishes the praise he receives when he does good. He has a great vocabulary for his age, I assume it's all the reading we do with him, but I think he looks up to his older brother a lot too. He has a great memory....he retells the scripture stories we read to him and seems to enjoy learning about all the Book of Mormon heros. He cherishes his friends and always looks forward to us having people over to the house. He brings a lot of life into our home and a very sweet spirit. It's been so fun watching Mason grow this year!

Noah age 46 months (almost 4!)

2007-12-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

Noah is such a character. He is very animated with us at home. He is very shy and quiet around everyone else. That's weird for us, we never expected a shy child. He's learning to come out of his shell since he started preschool this year. He goes to the same preschool his older brothers went to so he was already familiar with it. He still is a little sad when I drop him off every Tuesday and Thursday morning, he always says to me, "Mommy, I'll miss you". It's sooooo sweet! He's very lovey and enjoys cuddling in bed with us in the morning. I can almost always count on him to wander into our room somewhere around 5am and crawl under the covers with me. He loves watching the Backyardigans and is so cute dancing and singing along to all the songs. He was Capt. Jack Sparrow for Halloween and still loves to pretend being a pirate. He has a really good sense of humor, good comedic timing actually. He is really good at making us all laugh. He finally got the potty-training down and he gets to wear "big boy underwear" all the time now, even to bed. This is something he is very proud of. He will be a "Sunbeam" at church starting in January, I wonder if he'll sit still because he's shy or if he'll get comfortable and be crazy. I guess we'll see. Noah always makes us smile, and we can't bear not to squeeze him!

Roman age 22 months

2007-12-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

I don't often get my kids to pose well for me, but today was a good day. I figured it was a good time of year to show how much he's grown and what he's up to. I've never sent out the form Christmas letter telling everyone what my kids are into, etc... Here's my chance to fill you all in.
Roman is our little angel! He is as sweet as he is cute! He is just learning how to talk and it is so fun. He says "mimi" for Mommy and he finally started saying "daddy". He is really good at saying "nooooo", of course. He is hilarious when we get him saying "oh ya" over and over again. He's just like his brothers, rowdy and loves to wrestle in the mix with them. He's pretty tough and doesn't cry much when he gets bonked or falls down. He loves it when we read to him, which we do everytime we put him to sleep. He is our first child who we call "a runner". This means he loves to run off whenever he sees an opening and when he hears us call his name he runs faster in the opposite direction. What a stinker! He's really quite fast too, very agile, not clumsy at all. He has the most infectious belly laugh when you tickle him. He has amazing blue eyes and people always comment on his "strawberry blond" hair. We're sure it'll fade soon, but it's fun to have a fair one. Roman is such a blessing of peace in our home!

SMUD Christmas Party

2007-12-17T17:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the crazy amount of toys Dave has at his desk at work.

Dave loves Jack Skellington, here is some of his collection.

Here are the boys following Dad around the office checking things out.

SMUD Children's Christmas Party

2007-12-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

Logan in front of his buddy Spongebob!

Roman was really cute hanging around with Daddy

Here's all my boys with Santa! We waited a good 45 minutes to see him. Each boy got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. I think he told Dave to get off pretty quick, he's a little heavier than to other kids.

Dave is the biggest kid of all. Just look at all the toys on his desk! The boys love to see all of daddy's toys. One of Dave's co-workers was at his desk with his son when we got there. His son was so excited to see all the cool toys on his desk. Some kids never grow up.

I love this girl!!

2007-11-19T16:11:00.000-08:00

Where do I begin!! This is my bestest friend in the whole wide world!! Wendi Weight (now Sorenson) and I met when we were 13 years old. She was this humble girl who grew up in Utah and just moved to California from Chicago. I taught her how to ROCK!! Just kidding, I did teach her a few things about music though. Our friendship is filled with music, so many memories! We've been through so much together! She now lives in Koosharem, Utah (what? you've never heard of it??? Don't worry, no one else has either.) We do get to see each other a few times a year when she comes out here to visit her family. This past weekend she came for her brother's fiancee's bridal shower. She was nice enough to invite me so we could see each other! I love her so much, I wish she would just move here already!!!

"Side by side, you and I, always friends- takin' every step walking hand in hand,

Side by side, you and I, till the end- we'll make it together if we're walking hand in hand"

"Did you ever know that you're my hero, you're everything I would like to be

I can fly higher than an eagle, you are the wind beneath my wings"

"All I ever wanted, all I ever needed is here in my arms

Words are very unnecessary, they can only do harm"

Ohhhh, I could go on and on. The memories will be with me forever, thank you for being the best friend I have ever had. You are like a sister to me, we will always be friends. We are stronger for the trials we have been through in our lives. I'm so glad that I have had you to go through some hard times with. I am thankful for our friendship, Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wendi will be turning 31 on Novemver 26th, Happy Birthday Wend!!!

The Bitter Boys on Halloween!

2007-11-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

This year Dave and I got to finally dress up as a couple. Dave was Jack Skellington from the movie Nightmare Before Christmas and I was his "lady friend" Sally. At our annual Halloween bash that our friends throw every year we won for best couple costumes!!

Well, after Logan reading Harry Potter books 1-5 it was Harry Potter fever in our house all Summer. It was no wonder that he and Mason chose to be wizards for Halloween. Logan got seniority and chose to be Harry and Mason was Ronald Weasley. For those of you not in the know about Harry Potter characters, Ron is Harry's red-headed best friend. This is the reason for the orange hair. Oma was so kind and knitted the boys each a scarf with the Griffindor colors, just like Harry and Ron had in the movies. I didn't realize until now, though, that Dave let them go trick-or-treating with flip flops on!!! Harry and Ron NEVER would have worn flip-flops! Then came our two little pirates! Captain Jack Sparrow, or as Noah calls him "Jackson Jackson Peerow" and his little first mate, Roman. They were both so cute! Noah has had a thing for Capt. Jack since Disneyland! He loved dressing up like his pirate hero. Roman was the cutest thing ever!! He waddled around the house with me while the big boys were out getting candy. When the doorbell would ring he'd run for the door and start handing out handfuls of candy. Then he'd wave goodbye and slam the door on them. It was so fun to watch him!

Dave's Jack-o-lantern!

2007-11-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

This year Dave decided to carve the old school pixelated characters from Mario Brothers Nintendo video games. He entered them in an online Nintendo pumpkin carving contest.
See?... It's Mario running!
Look....it's a Gumba!
See... it's one of those "?" boxes that Mario punches to get some gold coins!!

Pinewood Derby

2007-11-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

Dave entered our ward's Pinewood Derby Race this year. He took the boys with him and they had a blast watching all the cars racing. It was a pretty intense competition. Dave, however, decided to spend more time on making his car LOOK cool instead of actually being able to race. It was a black coffin with a little Lego skeleton head. Pretty cool looking, but would it be able to win??
Well, not only did it now win but it never even finished a race. (Unless you count the one when Logan helped it cross the finish line. ) Dave did win an award though. He won the "Slow as Molasses" award! He had fun which is the most important thing.
This is Dave's car when it raced the winning car designed by Ken Hodgson, here in the black shirt. Well, Dave learned his lesson for next year... it's all about speed!

Christ the Redeemer

2007-10-24T00:02:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite photo. My dad sent me a slideshow of this photographers photos of this statue of Christ overlooking Rio de Janiero in Brazil. This is absolutely breathtaking. Right now, when I look at this picture, I wish so badly that I could travel to Rio and experience this amazing statue in it's grandeur. I wonder if the Brazilians know how lucky they are to have such a beautiful reminder of their Savior's love for them. We have a friend, Steve Pinegar, who has just left to serve a two year mission in Sao Paolo Brazil, not too far from Rio. I printed this picture out for him because it was so touching to me.

The boys first day of school! (Aug. 22nd)

2007-10-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

What a fun year this will be! Mason started kindergarten at the end of August this year, which he's been waiting for forever!! All summer he asked when school would start. He was a tad nervous, but mostly just excited to be one of the big kids going to real school. He got the same Kindergarten teacher Logan had so we're very excited! We had to laugh the first week of school. When the kids break rules or get in trouble they get an "oops", if they get in trouble again it's double "oops" and a time-out. Third time is triple "oops" and a call home. Well, how interesting to hear that my fiesty little Mason got an "oops" on the second day of school. Then a double "oops" on the fourth day of school. Okay, now I'm concerned. Logan got like two "oops" the whole year of kindergarten. Well, weeks have gone by now and no more "oops". I think the teacher was just trying to scare the kids straight, and it worked! I've worked in the classroom a few times and Mason is doing great. PHEW! What a relief! Logan is a big 2nd grader this year, YAHOO! He got an awesome teacher, Mrs. Morris. She has been amazing! He's done so well in her class so far, we're so pleased. He is our little bookworm! That kid reads anything he can get his hands on. He reads books over and over again. This summer he read the first 5 Harry Potter books!! Amazing! We would even quiz him on the plot because we couldn't believe he was actually reading them that fast and getting everything. Well, he aced our Pop quizzes! Once school started, he's slowed down on the Harry books, of course he's only got two left to read. He's joined the Garden Club at school and is very interested in science. He's doing very well in math and shocks me with how quickly he can do math in his head. We're so pleased with his progress!

Best buddies! Logan and Mason have been getting along so much better this year. I think having Mason at the same school has helped Logan be more interested in hangin' with his little bro.
My little sweetie pie Noah started preschool this year! (sniff, sniff) I can't believe he's going to school already! When Logan started preschool with Ms. Danai I was just barely pregnant with Noah! Now he's going to her school, weird. He loves it there, but tells me every morning he goes that he'll miss me. He is so sweet. He loves to show me all the cool things he's made at school. What a big boy!

My great friend Jen Hinze!

2007-10-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

Jen and I have been friends since I was about 12 years old. She is one of my greatest friends! She is always so sweet to come visit me when she comes in town from Dallas. I haven't seen either of her kids since her daughter was newborn. Savannah is now 3 years old I think and Will is nearing 1 year. They absolutely gorgeous children! Jen has impressed me with her parenting. She has a blog that she updates religiously and she's always going on adventures with her kids. Those kids are the most travelled kids! My kids are lucky to leave the house to go to the store!
I miss Jen, but I am lucky to see her about once a year or so! I hope we'll get to see more of each other soon:)

Camping at Olema Ranch

2007-10-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

This summer, the weekend before school started, we went on a two night camping trip to Olema Ranch near Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County. This is the second time we've gone there with a group from our ward. This year there were 6 families that went. Tom & Emily Brasher, Caleb & Amy Summerhays, Mark & Kari Stacy, Mark & Alyssa Camblin, and Matt & Rachel Ludlow. We each have 4 kids, except Camblins and Stacy's who have two kids each. We totalled 20 kids and 12 adults, yes.........craziness! It was a blast though. Then men brought their mountain bikes and got to go on a couple of rides. This picture is after one of the rides. This is Mark and Kari Stacy. They are a couple of goof balls. We have so much fun with them. They were the only couple that stuck it out to the last night with us! Way to go Stacy's!!

I realized this camping trip that I better get used to this because this is the beginning of many years camping with these boys! They feel so much freedom camping: they can run around, get dirty, eat junk, stay up late, etc..... This is the life!

This was Roman's first camping trip and he had a blast. We had to keep an eagle eye on that kid or he'd end up yards away in other people's campsites! That kid can RUN!
These boys absolutely LOVE camping, there were so much in their element. They love running around and getting dirty. They LOVED the campfire especially!
The day before we left, we all went to Heart's Desire beach not too far from our camp site. The kids played in the sand and explored the beach. It was beautiful but rather small. Logan enjoyed collecting the seaweed.

We had lots of fun and plan on another few camping trips next summer!

The Hodgson Family

2007-10-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I took the Hodgson's family portraits. I was able to take their portraits last fall as well. It has been such a pleasure taking thier portraits. They are amazingly photogenic and the kids are so well behaved. This was my favorite of their family portraits.
The pictures were taken just around the corner from our homes on the corner of Westview Dr. and Lincoln Parkway. I will be spending the next few months taking family portraits for friends who would like me to. If you are interested please email me: davencathi at sbcglobal dot net I charge $30 for the session and will put all the portraits on a CD for you to have printed at the photolab of your choice. Thank you Hodgson's for a lovely Saturday morning!

Cherie and Ken

2007-10-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Just perfect!

Kate

2007-10-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

She is getting so big! Look at that smile!

Elizabeth

2007-10-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Another photogenic Hodgson! I have some beautiful portraits of her with a sweet smile, but I just loved this one of her laughing, it is so genuine.

Natalie

2007-10-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

She is such a sweetie pie.

Nicolas

2007-10-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

Nick is SO photogenic! He has a contagious smile. What a darling little guy.

The Idiot Next to me...

2007-10-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this story my mom emailed me-

I was barely sitting down when I heard a voice from the other stall saying:

"Hi, how are you?"

I'm not the type to start a conversation in the rest room; but I don't know what got into me, so I answered, somewhat embarrassed:

"Doin' just fine!"

And the other person says:

"So what are you up to?"

What kind of question is that? At that point, I'm thinking this is too bizarre so I say:

"Uhhh, I'm like you, just traveling!"!

At this point I am just trying to get out as fast as I can when I hear another question.

"Can I come over?"

O.K., this question is just too weird for me; but I figured I could just be polite and end the conversation. I tell them:

"No........I'm a little busy right now!!!"

Then I hear the person say nervously. ....

"Listen, I'll have to call you back. There's an idiot in the other stall who keeps answering all my questions."

A Sad Farewell to the Barneys...

2007-10-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

For the last four years we've been friends with Reid and Emily Barney. They were in our ward when we moved in but then they were called into the Spanish Branch. Even though we weren't in the same ward we'd stayed great friends and hung out all the time. When we met they just had their oldest son Levi, who is Mason's age. As our families grew, it was so fun that we both had all boys. Boy, was our house crazy when we'd get together!! ( going down the slide with lightsabers and sword, Levi, Noah, Mason, and Zachery)
It was a huge ordeal just to have these crazy boys sit for 2 minutes while I tried to take a picture. No luck getting them all to smile but his one is close. They all played really well together.
This is Reid and Emily's youngest, Austin. He is such a doll.
I just love Roman's glowing blue eyes! He has the best personality too!!
Here's Dave with Reid and Emily on our last night together. Reid took a job in Utah, near Salt Lake. They currently live in Riverton. Dave and Reid were perfect for each other. Both self professed geeks and love playing video games together. Dave will miss having Reid to hang out with.
Me with Reid and Emily. I am really going to miss having Emily around. She's is one of those people you can always count on to help you, shop with you, chat with, etc.... She is what I consider an absolute, 100% true friend. I could talk to her about anything and I trust her implicitly. She would never say a cross word about anyone. She has been a wonderful example to me over the last four years. I miss her already...
Mason and Levi were such good little buddies. I'm sad for Mason that he won't have Levi anymore. He is such a sweet little boy.

Summertime Ward Park Days!

2007-10-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite activities this summer was going once a week to the Rocklin Splash park. We had a ward park day at that park once this summer and it was fun for the kids to all play together with their friends from church and for the moms to chat while watching the little ones. We had a great turn out this day. I decided to take some pictures to put on the blog for the girls in the ward to see. I ended up not taking that many though, sorry.
I thought these girls were so cute together. I am just in awe when I see little girls play together. My four boys are SOOO different. They would never just sit in the sun and talk. It would be more like wrestling or pouring water all over each other. ( Catherine Hughes, Hallie Dalebout, Maddie Merrill)
Allison Carter and April Shouse are some of the sweetest girls I had the privilege to get to know this summer. They both moved in this summer and got involved right away! I actually knew April's sister Becky growing up.

Our Relief Society President Jennifer Penney, Tierra Lowry, and our Bishop's wife Diana Merrill chat at the park.
Cory and Keri Dalebout are such cool people. They have a daughter Logan's age and a son Mason's age. He's one of the lucky husbands that actually got to spy on the women to see what we actually do during the day. He works at the Kaiser ICU during the graveyard shift. They just had their third child recently, baby boy Brody.
These two ladies are real go getters. Cherie Hodgson (left) has four kids and still manages to scrapbook, exercise, hold Mommy-n-Me activities, and teach Relief Society. Amazing girl! Tierra Lowry moved into the ward this summer and got moving quickly starting a scrapbooking and card making club. She's been a great asset to the ward!

I am so lucky to be part of the Lincoln 2nd Ward. We are a huge ward (nearing 800 members) and are mostly young couples with young children. There are so many wonderful friendly people in our ward and there is constantly something fun going on. I can't wait 'til next summer!

The "Barney Rubble" car has arrived!!

2007-10-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

When Logan was just 18 months old, we visited Oma and she had a new "Barney Rubble" car. We called it that because you have to peddle with your feet to move. Logan got to take trips around Oma's street in that car. I have pictures of Logan that look just like these pictures of Roman.
Oma decided to bring that car over to our house so that it would get some use. Roman was so excited, he could hardly contain himself. There was only one problem.....
His brother's love the car too! Here's Noah sitting on the roof while Roman's trying to drive it.
Here poor Roman is getting "car-jacked" by his older brothers, Logan and Mason.
Roman looks pretty distraught but he eventually had great fun on his own once his brothers were banned from the car for a bit! Thanks Oma!!

Roman's growing up so fast!

2007-10-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

Dave took these pictures of Roman this summer. He enjoys climbing on the table and checking out what food his brother's have left for him. Even though he won't eat his own lunch, he likes to check out what his brothers enjoyed.
Roman gets as messy as possible. He has no problems with having a messy face, hands, tummy, etc.....
Now and then we catch him falling asleep in his highchair. This seems to be part of childhood. I'm pretty sure every parent has a picture of their child asleep in their highchair, I know I do.

Mason's Preschool Graduation!!

2007-10-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

In June we celebrated Mason's preschool graduation. He enjoyed the same wonderful preschool that Logan did the previous two years. He had such a fun time and met so many great friends.
His teacher, Ms. Danai Mooneyham, has been absolutely amazing for the last four years! He had a class of 8 boys and 2 girls. Poor Sadie and Anna! They were a darling group of boys though.

Mason's shining moment!
This is Mason and his best preschool buddy Levi Barney. We are actually great friends with Levi's family. They have three boys so we got along famously!
Ms. Danai has become a Bitter Boys family tradition now. She now has Noah and has Roman to look forward to also. (as long as she keeps teaching!)

Congratulations to Mason, Kindergarten -- WATCHOUT!!

Catching up on my BLOG!!

2007-09-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

We've had a wonderful summer! Eventful and fun! The weather was amazing this year! Needless to say I had so much fun that I forgot to BLOG, so sorry to the three of you who actually look at my blog! :)
May 29th was Dave's 32nd birthday and we had a good time. His super fun present was a cool game called Guitar Hero. He's had a lot of fun with it and he's really good at it.
He's got such a baby face, he never really looks his age! He's young at heart! (Getting grey hair though!)

Logan & Mason's birthday party at Bounce U!

2007-05-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

On May 24th we had a combined birthday party for Logan (7) and Mason (5) at a really fun place called Bounce U. It is a huge building with two huge rooms with bounce houses. The party is 2 hours long and you start in one of the bounce rooms. You bounce for 45 minutes in that room and then move on to the next bounce room for another 45 minutes of bouncing. For the last 30 minutes you go into the party room where they serve the cake and ice cream and open presents. This is the best idea for a party for a bunch of boys!! We had 25 boys and 2 girls bouncing! The boys were loving life running crazy in these huge rooms full of bouncy things. The bounce houses contained obstacle courses, basketball, huge slides, climbing walls,...etc. It was so fun, I think the best birthday party ever!
Tons of bouncy fun!!

Nathan Pickett, Mason, Ethan Tenney, Levi Barney, and Kekoa Querto.
The birthday boys!!

All the kids ran and played until they were tired and sweaty!
This was the second room we were in....

Now all the kids are relaxing and ready to enjoy some cake and ice cream!
"Happy birthday to you....happy birthday to you... happy birthday dear Logan and Mason, happy birthday to you!"

Logan is now 7 years old!
Here is Logan with some school friends, Preston Summerhays and Koa Felipe.

They got some great presents! Many thanks to all their sweet friends for coming!
Mason is now 5 years old! (June 2nd)

Logan's 7th Birthday at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom!

2007-05-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Logan was so excited to go to Six Flags for his birthday! He wanted to ride all the scary rides. Unfortunately, the rest of Northern California felt that same way on that day. It was super busy, like Disneyland in July. Although, the weather was absolutely beautiful! No heat, just sunshine and a breeze! Logan is not quite tall enough to ride a lot of rides so that was a bit of a let down. He was not very happy at the animal shows, as you can see here in this picture with Oma at the Dolphin show.
Eventually we split up so Dave could take Logan on rides while Oma and I took Mason, Noah, and Roman to see the cool animals. Mason and Noah loved this walrus. He was so cool! If you clapped at him he'd clap his fins back at you. They loved hanging out with him.
It was so sweet to see how much Noah loved all the beautiful animals. He was enthralled with the fish and sharks. We later saw some giraffes, a tiger, an elephant and we walked around the butterfly experience. That was cool because they would fly right in front of you and maybe even land on you.

Noah and Roman were so good that day! We are so lucky to have such sweet little boys! They had a lot of fun and didn't mind that they couldn't ride a lot of rides.
Noah loved the shows! It was a special day with the kids....we'll go back again soon, except this time on a week day!! Logan said it turned out to be one of the best birthdays ever! (At least in the top 7!)

Bathtime Buddies!

2007-05-18T22:19:00.000-07:00

These crazy boys all love bathtime. It means playtime with water, which also means a mess of us and our bathroom. They have so much fun in there, too much fun I'd say. It's always a chore to get them OUT of the bath! Hey, at least they're clean....

Roman's first haircut...

2007-05-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

His hair wasn't too long but it was starting to hang in his eyes so I decided to trim it. He looked so much older afterward, it was kind of sad. My little baby is growing up and I don't like it!! He's supposed to stay a baby!! He is such a darling little toddler now. He makes us smile all day!

Kian is such a cutie pie!

2007-05-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

My boys have such a fun time playing with Kian. He usually comes over once a week and gets rowdy with all the boys. They love him!

Sophia!

2007-05-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Sophia!

2007-05-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Oma and her grandkids!

2007-05-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

The kids all see Oma at least once a week, sometimes more. She spends a lot of her time babysitting, but they love spending time with her. She gives them things that Mom and Dad don't normally let them have, so it's pretty fun.

Grandpa Longoria and his grandkids!

2007-05-18T22:03:00.000-07:00

We get together as a family for holidays and birthdays, etc.... I'm so glad the kids get to spend time with their Grandpa Longoria. He is always so proud of his 5 grandsons and his little princess Sophia!

The DeDanann Family- Easter 2007

2007-05-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad that my sister Stephanie and her family live so close to us. The kids get to play together often and we help each other out with babysitting now and then. The cousins have a blast together!

2007-05-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

My FIVE handsome boys!

2007-05-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

The Bitter Family Easter 2007

2007-05-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

We had such a wonderful Easter this year. We went to church in the morning and then came home and had an Easter egg hunt with the family. Oma, Grandpa Longoria, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Richard, Sophia, and Kian came over and enjoyed the day with us. We had a fun time and a lovely dinner.

Logan's lost his two front teeth!!

2007-04-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

One February 12th Logan lost his first front tooth. It had been loose for a long time and the new tooth was actually already coming in behind it. We were getting a little worried because it wouldn't come out and finally.....it got wiggled out! We were so excited! He was very lucky and the Tooth Fairy brought him a beautiful, 35 year old, shiny silver dollar!!!!! What a treat!

On March 10th, his 2nd front tooth came out! He was very brave and worked really hard to wiggle it out! He looks so cute with his two front teeth missing!

Roman's 1st Birthday!

2007-04-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

Our happy little birthday boy!! He thoroughly enjoyed his chocolate cake! He had a fun birthday with his brothers!

He got a super soft mickey mouse stuffed toy, a fisher price airplane toy and some others.

Before he was born some friends gave us this darling little birthday hat that we've been dying to use for a year! We finally got to crown him the Birthday Boy on February 10th! He's such a sweet little boy! He finally began walking about three weeks after he turned 1 year old. Now he's walking all over the house and climbing the stairs to his heart's content! He's very independent now and even knows how to get down the stairs by himself too!

Noah's 3rd Birthday!

2007-04-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Noah's 3rd birthday on February 7th at Chuck E. Cheese! We invited a few of Noah's little buddies and they all played lots of games and ate pizza and had yummy cake! He celebrated with his three brothers, Logan, Mason, and Roman, his cousins Sophia and Kian...and his buddies: Levi, Zachary, and Austin Barney, Preston, Tiffany, and Samantha Clark, Natalie and Elizabeth Hodgson. Fun was had by all and Noah got some fun little presents! He is such a darling little three year old!
( I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted, my blogger account was having problems....or rather I was. I'd forgotten my username and couldn't log on!! Silly me!)