Fiesta Days

 I have been wanting to start blogging again for the past few weeks but I don't know where to start so I'll just start with this week and go from here.
It's been a pretty laid back week. For the past 2 weeks I've been d-cluttering and reorganizing the house. I feel like I'm back "on top" of things. I'm hoping that I will be able to continue to keep up on it because geez life is so much easier! What's even better than that is that I'm not so scatter brained and feel like I know where things are and know whats going on. It's been something that I have been DYING to do and everything finally came together. When I say everything I mean that I finally had the time, motivation and energy to do it.
Anyways, Buzz had to work yesterday and so while he was gone I did 2 loads of laundry, straightened up the house, fed and took care of the kids etc. The usual daily mom stuff. When he got home I hurried and vacuumed the house because I had the chance. The kids were awake and for the most part everything was off the floor. Then we put the kids down for a nap so they wouldn't be cranky when we went to the carnival later here in Spanish Fork. When they woke up we all got ready to go.
This week is Fiesta Days and ever since they had Art City Days in Springville back in June, I've been promising Hurley we would ride the ferries wheel when it came to Spanish (He's getting so big and smart. He's starting to remember things. When we're out and about driving around he recognized where the carnival was last year and mentions it every now and then). I have also been wanting to go with Buzz and take him and Roxy. Our little family. It's so surreal that I have my own family. I try to imagine how things will be later in life and think about my Mom and Dad and how things were. That's going to be a different post. Anyways, back on subject....We had fun. At lease I did and Hurley and Roxy seemed to as well. It was laid back and we weren't in a big hurry to do anything or go anywhere. I love that feeling. We had plenty of time to just be together as a family and do something fun. It was nice the way the day had gone and worked out the way that it did. Breakfast, Lunch, Naps, Laundry and everything else went smooth and ended up being timed just right.

We finally left the house and went to the carnival. We parked 2 blocks away, loaded up the stroller with hoodies, diapers, wipes, the bottle and anything else we might need and headed over to main street where all the vendors and rides were set up. They had a bunch of classic cars parked on the lawn and we looked at them and took some pictures. I love old cars and it was cool to see that people had restored them and kept them in good shape. I would love to have enough money someday to buy and restore an old car. I'd like to get a Trans Am like my dad had when he and my mom got married. Anyways after that we walked through all the food booths to see what we wanted to eat. We decided to have some mexican style food. I had a chicken quesadilla and Buzz had some tacos. They were pretty good but nothing to rave or get excited about. Buuut it was good. The price was even better for being at a carnival. It was definitely a nice surprise. We all shared our dinner then crossed the street to ride the rides. The ferris wheel was 3 tickets per person and the guy who took our tickets "charged" us for Roxy! We hadn't paid for Hurley to ride the ferris wheel until last year when he was 3! Oh well what do you do? It was fun but Hurley got scared after they loaded us up and sent us up so they could load the next seat. The 4 of us couldn't ride in the same seat so Buzz and Roxy got onto the next seat. Because Hurley was scared I put my arm around him and told him that it would be ok and that we were safe. We looked at the lights of the other rides and saw all the people below us. I was distracting him and honestly was putting my slightly rattled nerves to ease. While we were sitting there waiting for everyone to get off and on the ferries wheel, the memory of my dad taking Gia and I popped in my head. I was telling him about my memory of my dad going on rides with us at the different
carnivals and at Lagoon. I could see his face with his eyebrows raised and his big smile. I was telling Hurley about it as they were loading the rest of the seats on the ride and how much his Grandpa liked taking me and Gia on rides. I also took some pictures while we were hanging in the air. It took me a little bit to convince Hurley to let go of my arm and I gently pulled my arm away from him so I could take some pictures. Well the ferries wheel was finally loaded with new riders and around we went. Hurley had spurts of fear and fun. Buzz said Roxy enjoyed the first half of the ride and the 2nd half she didn't like so much. After the ferries wheel we asked Hurley which ride he wanted to go on next. He wanted to ride the motorcycles so that's where we went. They were just loading the kids on and the worker told me I could help him onto one of the motorcycles. As I was looking for one that was available there weren't any. I realized that 2 kids could ride on one and just as that dawned on me a little girl on a green motorcycle says "he can ride on here with me." She was so nice! I sat him on and she says "I'll
help buckle him in." She was really cute and I was glad that she offered to let him ride on the motorcycle with her. After that we had 1 ticket left so I figured we could buy 2 more tickets so Hurley could go on 1 more ride. He decided to ride on the boats that went around on the water. On this ride he got to have a boat all to himself. He was really cute and I got some ok pictures of him. It was especially cute to see Roxy sitting in the stroller and Buzz leaning on the gate watching him.

 After that we headed back to the car. At the last minute I decided I wanted to look at the vendor booths. So we pushed through the crowd and looked at all the things people had made. I wanted to get Hurley a bracelet that one lady could custom make. He doesn't have a common name so I thought that that would be cool. Actually the reason I stopped to look at them is because Hurley noticed them first. I decided not to get it because we are going back to the carnival on Monday with my friend Sharee and her son (who is friends with Hurley) Kasey. Ugh money haha. After we walked through all the booths we started back to the car. They had a stage with lights and a band set up on the blocked off street. As we were passing Buzz saw Afton and Raquelle. He wanted to stop and say Hi so we chatted with them for a little bit. While we were talking Hurley was really cute and "rocked out" (doing his little dance).



After that we walked back to the car and went home. We put the kids to bed and we didn't have anything to do so we decided that we might as well go to sleep too. I took a shower first though. I felt all sticky from being hot while we were at the carnival.
Well, that's about it for this week .Oh and Hurley ran a fever back on (I think it was Wednesday) the 11th so I kept him home. He's still really congested and has a cough that comes and goes. Roxy was
pretty fussy this past week too. I'm pretty sure she's cutting teeth. Her bottom gum feels swollen and I can't really tell on the top. At the daycare almost all of the kids ended up getting Hand Foot and Mouth disease. Roxy had it the last week of May and so I'm hoping she doesn't get it again. We did what we could to prevent it from spreading but it still happened. One of the kids' parents didn't believe us when we told her that we thought her daughter had it. She took her to the Dr. and was diagnosed with something different. She did have some different kind of sores but as contagious as Hand Foot and Mouth is I wish she would've kept her home just in case. Oh well. Welp.....Ok I think that's it for now. Hope this week runs pretty smooth like this one did.

lets see if I remember how to do this

Wow! It's been a long LOOOOOONG time! I was talkin to Buzz the other night and thought that I should start blogging again. I did good to blog once a week when Hurley was first born and after my dad passed away, I went off the deep end - literally! So now that I feel like my life has become stable again, Roxy has come into our lives and Hurley is 3, I thought I should try to do this again. So here goes.

Hmmm...I'm not 100% sure where to start. Lets skip to the point where we decided to try for little Miss Roxy! We talked to our Dr. last summer about getting pregnant with another baby. I was concerned that it would take a while, given that it had taken 5 years to finally get our little Hurley. She said that we had to try for 6 months without success before we would move onto infertility meds again. So when Hurley turned 2, we thought we'd give it a shot. I thought for sure we would go the 6 months with no luck. After all, Buzz and I just don't have "good luck." I didn't want our kids to have a HUGE age gap if it took about a year to get pregnant and that's why we decided to try when Hurley turned 2. Well, on Christmas day, Mom and Buzz kept joking around that I was pregnant. I hadn't been feeling too good for a couple of weeks. I wasn't COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED like I was when I was pregnant with Hurley though. I thought "Nope I'm not. I know what it feels like to be pregnant." I thought I had some type of bug. I was so physically weak on Christmas Eve that it took every ounce of strength I had to finish our Christmas shopping. Well, 2 days after Christmas I decided to take a test to get Buzz and my mom to give it up. I was home alone with Hurley and didn't think anything of taking a pregnancy test. EVERY test I had ever taken in the past came back negative. The pregnancy test for Hurley was done by the nurse at the Dr.'s office so I personally had never watched one turn positive. Well, those 2 little lines showed up so fast! I hadn't even finished washing my hands when I saw both lines starting to appear. I didn't know what to do! I was so excited I grabbed Hurley and gave him a HUGE hug. He looked at me weird like "I was playing with my toys Mom. Put me down!" Then I realized Buzz would be home any second. So I hurried and put the little test in a box, wrote on a little paper "Hurley's gonna be a big brother!" and wrapped it up. I finished just as he walked in the door and I walked in the front room and said "I found one last Christmas present that I forgot to give you." He opened it and was all smiles! Well, we called the Dr. because I had no idea when this baby was due (I didn't have a cycle to base it off of - TMI? Sorry). We had an ultrasound that day. They determined I was 6 weeks and that I was due August 28th! WHAT!?!? NO!?!? Being pregnant in the summer with Hurley was horrible! I told myself I was never going to do that again. Never say never I guess huh?

Well, it took a while for the reality to sink in for me. The physical exhaustion was almost overwhelming the entire pregnancy and was my constant reminder that this was not a dream. I had so many mixed emotions. I don't think my hormones went "wacky" when I was pregnant with Hurley. If they did, I'm sure that they were drowned out by the extreme happiness and excitement that we were finally going to have a baby of our own! While I was pregnant with Roxy though, I would be extremely happy one minute, pissed off at the world the next and then crying the next minute. I was a mess! Then the pain set in. My hips and my back hurt almost constantly. I couldn't sit too long, I couldn't stand too long. I had to lay a certain way when I slept and I had to walk a certain way if I sat or stood too long. I was miserable. Add the heat to that and I was done with being pregnant loooooong before this little one was due. But, we found out when I was 17 weeks in March that we were having a Girl!!! The first niece and granddaughter on my side of the family! I couldn't believe it!!! We had a follow up ultra sound when I was 20 weeks and they confirmed that it was a girl! I couldn't help but think "How did our luck change and we were able to conceive on our own and not only that, but we're also having a girl!" Life was good! The rest of the pregnancy went on without anything being wrong. I was miserable because of the pain and the heat but everything medically was fine with me and the baby.

I had my last OB appt on August 5th. My Dr. told me that if I hadn't had Roxy by August 21st, that they could induce me that day. I prayed that this little one would not wait that long. I had been having INTENSE back pain for the last 2 weeks and I didn't think I could take it anymore. Like I said before, I was ready to not be pregnant anymore! I cried at some point everyday during the last 2 weeks I was pregnant. It just seemed like too much. Well, Buzz came down with the flu (or something) that following Sunday (the 7th). He worked the next day but called in sick on Tuesday. I also called in sick on Tuesday. I had been cramping and my back pain kept me up for a good chunk of the night. Then Wednesday I woke up around 2:30 not able to sleep again, because of the back pain I had. I called in sick again, and so did Buzz because he still wasn't feeling too good. 9:30 that morning, I had just sent Gia a text about Hurley's birthday dinner and I got a contraction. It wasn't TOO painful so I questioned whether or not it was really a contraction. But after a few minutes I had another one. I was able to breathe through the contractions, but we started timing them. They were anywhere from 3 - 5 minutes apart. I thought "I still need to vacum out the car and get Hurley's snack bag packed." So we went to the car wash and the grocery store. After everything was done, I called the Dr. and they said to go ahead and go to Labor and Delivery. We dropped Hurley off to Grandma Cheryl and headed to the hospital. By the time we got there it was a little after 1 (maybe 2 I can't remember exactly). I was dilated to a 3 and hooked up to all the monitors. I was checked again an hour later but still hadn't dilated so they had me walk. An hour later, still a 3. They gave me one more hour and I still hadn't progressed so they gave me some morphine and sent me home. My contractions eventually started to slow down and became less painful as the night went on. We put Hurley to bed that night and he only slept for about a half hour in his bed when we heard him start crying. We could tell he knew something was going on, but he wasn't sure what exactly. Buzz put him in bed with him and I took the couch so I didn't keep my boys awake. I couldn't sleep anyways because of the contractions and my aching back so I read for a while. Around 4:30 Hurley came in the front room and wanted a drink. So I got him some milk and he says "come lay by me mom" so I went in the bedroom and layed down by my baby boy. He kept rubbing my arm and face and the next thing I knew I had 2 BIG PAINFUL contractions. I got up to go into the bathroom and while I was washing my hands, I felt a trickle down my leg. My VERY FIRST THOUGHT: My babies are gonna have the same birthday! That's exactly what I didn't want (remember I said we don't have good luck haha). Anyway I went into the bedroom and woke up Buzz telling him that I thought my water had broke and that we needed to go. He asked me if I was sure and as soon as I had another contraction I was sure!!! He was really delirious and it took him what felt like an eternity to get dressed and I was going as fast as I could to get Hurley and I ready to go because the pain was intensifying. The ride to the daycare was painful. I was trying so hard to be quite and not scare Hurley in the car! But I would moan and clawed the back of my seat. He kept sayin "it's o-tay mommy" while I was moaning through the contractions. I felt so bad. We got him dropped off to my mom at the daycare and Buzz started talking to my mom. I was pounding on the window telling him we had to go! AHHHH! The pain was excruciating! So he got in and off we went. We got to the hospital and as soon as we parked I started to walk inside. I got about a 1/3 of the way into the entrance and turned around to see Buzz still in the car. I walked back over to the car and asked "what are you doing?!?" I don't remember what he said, it had to do with making sure we had everything we needed, and I just started shoving things that had fallen out of the back back in the bag so we could go since I was leaving a puddle in the parking lot. We walked inside and he asked me if I wanted a wheel chair. I said "no" and got into the elevator but he got me one anyway. I tried to sit but that just made the pain worse - now that I think about it, I don't know where the wheel chair ended up lol. Anyways, we got up to Labor and Delivery and it felt like an eternity before the nurse came up to the desk. She got a little bit of information and FINALLY took us to a room. I got a contraction before I got to the bed and grabbed onto the table when a nurse came in and says "yeah, she's definitely ruptured lets take her to 4-11." So she says "come on." I told her "wait I'm having a contraction!" So as soon as my contraction was over I waddled into another room. The rest of the story until I get my epidural is really blurry. I don't really remember getting the gown on and I don't remember them putting the monitors on my belly. I do remember them checking me! I wanted to kill the nurse. SOOO PAINFUL!!! I believe I was still at a 3 but they kept me because my water had broke. And I do remember getting my I.V. and immediately asking for some pain meds while I waited for my epidural. I was beyond thinking logically because of the pain. I remember telling myself to quit being so loud but with each contraction as the pain would mount, I just couldn't help it. I thought that I was going to rip Ryan's hoodie into pieces or the bed rail off the bed from gripping them so tight. They got me some pain meds in my I.V. and that took the edge off. Then, FINALLY, the Anesthesiologist came in. Sweet relief was just around the corner. The Anesthesiologist was EXTREMELY nice. I had 3 contractions while he was getting my epidural in. I couldn't move and I thought "I can't do this." But the Anesthesiologist kept telling me "it's ok My Dear, we're almost done My Dear" and someone (I'm assuming a nurse) walked me through that last contraction and after what felt like an eternity, the Anesthesiologist was done and my pain started to subside. Somewhere in that time, they checked me again and I was at a 5. I don't know when that happened and giving what that entails you would think I remember but I don't. I do remember at around 9:45 I was a 6 and at 10:50 I was a 7. Around 11:10 I remember feeling lots of pressure but I thought "No way! They just checked me!" But I called the nurse in and sure enough I was ready to go. They called Heather and she came and delivered our little Roxy at 11:26 a.m. The first thing I asked was "Is she ok? WAIT! It is a she right!?!?" Then they laid her on my tummy and she was PERFECT!!! She was 6 lbs 10 oz and 18 1/2 in long with lots of black hair! I couldn't be more relieved!

Well, after a making sure Roxy was healthy and fine, I got to nurse her and then Buzz and the nurse took Roxy down to the nursery for her 1st bath. And I waited in my L&D room. I called my mom and Gia & they came up with Hurley. We hung out for a little bit while they got my recovery room ready. After what seemed like forever, I was finally taken down to my room. After a while I called Buzz to make sure everything was ok. He said "yeah." So I said "Can I have my baby back?" It had been about 3 hours. They finally came in and I got to hold both of my babies. Life was perfect!

So that's the story of how our little Roxy Mac came to be.

busy busy BUSY

(another post written a few weeks ago. I want to post pics with every post but need to just post these because they sit in my edit box for too long) Wow it's been a while. I feel like I say that everytime I log on. Obviously my weekly goal has not been kept. Alot has happened as always.
Hurley has had his 6 month checkup and is still only in the 5th percentile for his weight. I had to take him back to the Dr. a few weeks ago for a follow up to make sure that he was gaining more weight. I've changed up his diet and he's eating 3 meals a day plus nursing every 2 or 3 hours - depending on his mood. Just this past Friday I noticed his bottom left tooth is trying to break through. His 1st one! FINALLY! Trust me I personally haven't been complaining but it's getting to be time. Last post I said Buzz was starting work in Vernal. Well, that time has come and gone. It went by fairly quick. He's now working in Richfield though. Ugh! But I am grateful for the work. Hopefully once this job is done they will be home for a little while. Now for the bad news:
Many of you know that my dad has been fighting a tough battle with cancer for the last 2 1/2 almost years. We found out 4 weeks ago tomorrow that his oncologist gave him 2-3 months left of life. No more chemo - nothing will stop it now. I've personally had a strange feeling since November (when we found out that the cancer was in his lungs) that it wasn't going to be much longer. But how do you tell others and destroy what little hope there is? I couldn't. So of course I turn to my bestest friend in the whole world, the ONLY person in my life that I can ALWAYS tell anything and everything to - Buzz. We've talked and talked and talked about knowing the end was coming alot sooner than we wanted it to but what do you do about it? It was never easy to talk about but I knew that I needed to and even after talking about it and knowing in the back of my head what was coming, the 2-3 month diagnosis still slapped me across face. I can't remember a time when I've cried so much! I feel so bad for my mom. I couldn't imagine life without Buzz! And for my little sister Melody and all the milestones that my dad won't be there in person for. But it's like my friend CaSondra said, there's always gonna be that "I wish he was here for this" no matter what. This diagnosis has sent my anxiety into hyperdrive and I feel like I can hardly control myself. I've been fighting with a little bit of anxiety for about 4 or 5 years now, but nothing like this. The clock has become my enemy and I can only hope that once everything is said and done I can be somewhat back to normal. Gia has been amazing with the daycare. I've had to cut my hours because of my anxiety and her and Tim have been nothing but GREAT! Like I said the clock is my enemy and everyday around 10 o'clock I feel like I have an elephant sitting on my chest. I try not to think about it but man it's hard. I can't take my anxiety meds because I'm nursing Hurley and that and the pill I take to keep my milk supply up conflict so this has been somewhat of a tough battle. I'm not trying to put the focus on myself so enought about my problems. My poor dad. I can't possibly imagine what it's like to sit and wait to die - and especially in pain. I know that we're all dying in a way, but to know it's that soon and to just wait for it. And the pain..... All I can think about is my poor dad and how much I am going to miss him. My dad is the foundation of our family but I know that he will be with us always and no matter how hard this is, I know that our family will become even stronger than we already are! We've already began to bond in a way that I never imagined possible. I try to spend all the time I can with my dad and I feel bad neglecting my house and my responsibilities as a wife, but I know that this is just temporary. I keep saying it over and over again in my head, but I love my dad so much and I don't know how I'm going to get through this. But like I said, we have a strong family and we will all get through this together - like we have everything else. I love my family so very much and I hope they know they all have their special places in my heart and this will be a long hard journey but we are Halona's! And Buzz. My one and only bestest friend in the world will be that boulder I will need more than anyone and I know that he will be there just as much if not more as the rest of my family will be.

Long time no blog

(this post has been sitting in my edit box for over a month. I'm so pathetic but it's takin me that long to get my pictures uploaded onto the computer)
I know it's been a while. Time flies when your having fun right!
Well our little man has defeated the task of learning to sit up. Buzz and I have been working with him quite a bit since December to try and teach him this new milestone in his life. We were sitting in the living room watching TV last Sunday and I sat Hurley between my legs like I have been so that if he fell one way he'd hit one leg and if he fell the other way, he'd hit the other leg (kinda like bumpers). After a minute or two he didn't bump either leg so after about 5 minutes, I moved my legs and he sat there for over half and hour! YAY! He continued to do that for the rest of the day and he hasn't gone back! What an accomplishment for him! We're so proud of him. He looks so little sitting there playing with his toys. Our friend Rachael said he looks like a little midget lol. He seems happier now that he doesn't just have to lay down all the time to play - not that he was a grump before but you know what I mean.

We've also been to the Dr. again. Our primary care physician actually had her baby Jan 21st. Her little girl weighed the same as Hurley and she was an inch shorter. We LOVE our Dr. and are so happy for her. Anyways, we ended up seeing the Nurse Practicioner (she's seein our Dr.s patients while she's on maternity leave) because I thought Hurley had an ear infection. Last weekend he would wake up screaming out of nowhere and I thought that maybe he was just teething. He also had the little low grade fever so I didn't think much of it until we noticed him start pulling at his ears. So off to the Dr we went. Turns out that teething pain can be refered to their ears. I was glad he wasn't sick but I did feel kinda dumb. Oh well. Better safe than sorry and at least we'll use the insurance :)
Hurley also had his first haircut yesterday!

That was an experience. Poor kid. He did awesome at first when my friend Cassie started trimmin the top with the scissors but once those clippers came on he was pissed!

I had to hold him and force his head against my chest so she could trim the one side then we switched sides and did the other. I thought that he would eventually get used to it and calm down but he never did. He only seemed to get more mad. But it's all said and done now and he looks as cute as ever! Hopefully it'll finally start to grow everywhere and not just on top.
Oh, Buzz starts work in Vernal again this week. He's been out of work for about 3 weeks now and as sad as I am that he's going out of town I can't wait for him to get back to work. Stupid bills pile up fast. So wish him luck in the freezing cold!
Other than that I can't think of anything else too exciting that we have done... so for now - peace out!

Interesting weekend

Hurley's first time being officially babysat was this weekend. Buzz and I decided to go to a movie by ourselves this weekend with out our little fart. We dropped Hurley off to Auntie Gia and Tim around 1 and off we went. Not a real fancy date or anything but we grabbed a bite to eat at Gandolfos (the night buzz kissed me was on our 3rd date and we ate at Gandolfo's so it's kinda special to us) and went to the mall to watch "Defiance." It was the weirdest feeling when we left the movie theater because the 2 of us weren't just going straight home. It didn't feel normal to be just the 2 of us anymore. It felt so different knowing that we had to go pick up Hurley and then go home. Funny how something as little as leaving the movie theather can make you realize that life is so much more different with a baby. I LOVE IT! Anyways, that's not what made the weekend interesting. I had been waiting for Hurley to have a dirty diaper on friday and he never did. So Saturday morning we got ready for the day and I thought that for sure something would happen. It didn't. But we decided to go out anyways knowing whether we stayed home or not wasn't going to affect whether Hurley would poop or not. He had been acting weird all morning before we took him to Gia and Tim's and we thought that it was because he had a tummy ache from not pooping for a day and a half. We got home after picking Hurley up and he felt kinda warm but I thought it was just from being bundled up in his car seat. After a few minutes I thought that he would've cooled off so I asked Buzz to feel his head and he didn't think he was too warm. I had to do something in the kitchen so I asked Buzz to hold him and once he had Hurley in his arms, he noticed that he really was warm. So we took his temp and he topped out at 101.5 We got out the tylenol and before we went to bed his fever had dropped to a little over 100. Well, he woke me up this morning at 5 crying and when I picked him up, his onesie was sopping wet and he was burning up! His temp was 102.3 I called the Dr. and she said to rotate Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hrs and to keep and eye on him. She also wanted us to give him pedialyte. So Buzz bein the good daddy that he is trecked over to wal mart to buy some motrin and Pedialyte. His fever has gone down and he seems to be doing better but I can tell he doesn't feel good. Hopefully by tomorrow whatever bug he has caught is long gone. So Hurley had his first official fever!
Hurley has also learned to take a bottle. I went for a pedicure last Saturday and Hurley stayed with Buzz but when it came time to eat Hurley refused his bottle! He went hungry for an hour before I was able to get home and feed him. When I walked in the door he was sitting on Buzz's lap totally fine but the second we made eye contact he started crying. I think he was mad at me. So I decided that I would start giving him a bottle for at least one feeding a day at work. We went to the store before the weekend was up and bought him some different bottles with different nipples that were similar in shape to his binkie. Come Monday, he took his bottle within just a couple minutes. THANK GOODNESS! He'll even take it for me (which I hear is uncommon). I'm just glad we found a bottle that he'll take. Now he can stay with Dad whenever and he won't force himself to go hungry.
Other than that, not a whole lot went on this week. Work was awful but when working with women 24/7 there are bound to be some bad days. I don't have very many female friends b/c women are vicious and I'll leave it at that.
Not sure what else to write about so goodnight!

Happy New Year..... A couple days late

Wow another year has come and gone. Looking back I must say this past year was quite the experience. I remember bringing in '08 (zombified from being prego), thinking "If everything goes well, I'll have a baby next year for Christmas and New Years!" And now that that time is here, it's almost unbelievable. My pregnancy was great. I never got morning sickness and I know that I was lucky. I had an amazingly easy labor and delievery...mostly, thanks to anesthesia.
My summer activities were mostly indoors. The only outdoor activities I would participate in were those that included a pool. Because of this I didn't go fishing with Buzz much like I had the previous year so he and our good friend Rudy became quite the fishermen. A.D.D fishermen at that. I went with them once and it drove those 2 nuts to try to sit in one place for over an hour. But since that was the way I was taught to fish that's the way we fished that day. I'm sure they didn't mind me not going with them. Every fishing trip the 3 of us have taken, I've outfished them both. My favorite time to rub in their face is when we went up to Maple Lake. There was 4 of us - Me, Buzz, Rudy and Aaron (Abbies boyfriend). Between the 3 of them they caught a total of 9 fish. I alone caught 10!!! And I loved EVERY SECOND of it! Now that Rudy has moved onto bigger and better things, I'm glad that we were able to spend the time with him making some awesome memories!
This was the 1st year EVER that I missed our annual Halona Family Reunion. I get so mad at myself for not going but there was nothing I could really do about it. Buzz was working out of town and the timing just wasn't right. I can't wait for this year though. I get to show off the little man!
September was mine and Buzz's 6th wedding anniversary! We've been together almost 7 1/2 years and this was our 8th Christmas together - I don't understand the math either but whatever lol. This Christmas was a little different though. In all the time we have been together, we have never once had Christmas 2 yrs in a row in the same place until this year. Lame accomplishment but at least we feel kinda settled in - for now.
Holidays were great! Having a baby to share it with makes it that much better! My New Years resolutions (besides the infamous "loose weight") are to try and be more positive in life, find ways to helop me keep my house a little cleaner and a little more organized, send out more cards for birthdays and anniversaries and homemade ones at that! And anything else that will help me to be a better example to my son and a better wife, sister, daughter, whatever - just a better person!

ITS CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!

Well the time is finally here! It's Christmas eve at last! I love this time of year! And now that I have my son it's more fun than ever!!! I obviously forgot to post something Sunday but we were a little busy.
Things that happened last week:
The daycare christmas pary was Thursday. Everyone came and we all exchange cookies. I made coconut macaroons that were a huge hit at Thanksgiving so I made em again for the party. Santa came and visited the kids. Huge hit as always. The cookies were delicious and I ate one to many. But it was a fun party. Good job Gia!
We started Christmas shopping on Saturday. Yeah I know.... stupid huh! I'm usually more than finished by the last weekend before Christmas but this year money has been a little tight with all the Dr. bills that have rolled in. So we started Saturday and pretty much finished Sunday - ahhh sinners lol.
Sunday was our family Christmas party. Mike planned it and we had an "ugly sweater" theme. Buzz and I headed to Savers Saturday and found our awesome ugly sweaters. Mine looked like it needed immunizations of some kind and buzz looked like the white guy trying to be a native. We even found Hurley an ugly shirt. It was a bright green shirt with a Mickey's Christmas scene on the front and a black hood that had mouse ears on it. Even with an ugly shirt, he was still cute! We played games and voted for the ugliest sweater. Shane won the sweater contest by sporting an awesome Christmas vest decked out with all sorts of Christmas ribbons and sequins. It was great! So we had an awesome night spending time with the fam.
Monday night we went to Grandma Raulstons annual Christmas party. It was very laid back this year. We all sat around the living room eating pizza and talking with each other. Hurley was a hit, as always! We took carmel popcorn to pass out to the family and I would love to take credit for making it, but Gia saved me (I had no time to do it). So thanks G! Everyone loved it!
Last night we took Hurley to see Santa. He didn't know what to think of him. He wasn't scared, just a little confused. The picture fits Hurley's personality perfectly. Let me tell you...that was an experience. I can't remember the last time I stood in line to see Santa and it was weird to think that Ryan and I will be doing it for the next several years. Didn't think of that one lol.
OH YEAH! Hurley rolled over last night!!! It was so cute! He was squirmin and kickin trying to get off his belly. Dad saw he was getting stuck on his arm so he moved it for him and vwahla! He rolled over. It surprised him for a second and then he grinned and grinned cuz he was finally able to come off his belly. Daddy has been trying to work with him on his rolling over and sitting up skills. Looks like it's payin off. Good job Buzz!
Well with it being Christmas - I am so much more than grateful for my little boy in my life. I'm grateful that he is growning up happy and healthy. I love my Husband and all that he does for us. For working in the cold and for doing whatever he has to do to provide for his family. I'm thankful for my parents and my in-laws and all the love that they give to us! I am also thankful for all of my friends (you know who you are). I definitly don't feel like I deserve all that I have for I have truly been blessed!!! Here's wishing you and yours a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!