My Borthers

I was thinking today how grateful I am that I chose to come to this earth, I have been reading a new book that has kind of opened my eyes to how easy it would have been to follow satan. I can see why so many did. And I wonder how I got where I am. I hope I was strong and never doubted the plan. But I can't know for sure. I am so grateful for my Savior who gave so much for me and my life. Anyway me thinking always turns into rhyme.

My Brothers

How do I see him? I've opened my eyes

This brother of mine who is made up of lies

He sits high on a throne, his angels surround

But his glory is stolen in lives he has found

Stolen souls of people I love

People who gave up light from above.

Souls who never will know what they lost

A body given at such a high cost

Scared for the pain a body would bring

He told them salvation was a sure thing

They chose comfort and joy over sorrow and loss

The deceiver deceived them and became there boss

now never being able or free to choose

They wander this earth finding souls to loose

They do his bidding and honor his will

They know me and loved me and live with me still

My brother sends them to bring me down

He wants my soul to adorn his crown

How do I see him this brother of mine

Those beautiful eyes that for me shine

The man who loved when my soul was born

The man who for me his life was torn

The Son of the Father who lives for Him still

The brother who bends to The fathers will

He sits among men, he works with us all

He lifts every brother he prays us not to fall

His life and his power he never shows 

The Fathers light, is the one that glows

He wants so badly to bring me home

He's given so freely, he wandered alone

How much do I give to these brothers of mine

Which one do I glory who's light do I shine

Who do I pick when I pick every day

Who's love do I choose when I walk on my way

Do I take the glory for me and my stuff

Or do I let my Fathers light be enough

My two big brothers who fight for my soul

Who do I choose, Who is my goal.

Everyday I wake up every day I fight

Everyday I get up and I choose the right

Do I fall? Of course I am human, I chose

But the brother who loves me the most arose

He gave his life so I could give

He rose again so I could live

He suffered and toiled was spit on and beat

He gave up a life and I won't be weak

I will wake every day and start again

The gift of repentance I give back to him

I'll use his life to make mine more

I'll use his gift to be clean and pure

Choosing the brother who loved me the best

Giving my life letting him give the rest. 

Random pictures

I just thought I would put up a few pictures from our house over the last week or so...

Abby's foot after 5 days of heel pricks. the other one looks like one big huge bruise!

Sleeping with Grandma Pender's beautiful blanket! It is so soft and warm I had to pass it down from Ora to her little sister

My turn hanging the lights

Joe noticing the pattern will be off when he hangs the next string, will he fix it, bulb by bulb... Yes he just might!

Poor joe trying to fix the bathtub drain with too many kids in the tub. He does not have the heart to tell them the were in the way!!

Fondue sure is Fun-to-do!!

You all already know I'm a dork!!!

One of my favorite things in all of the world I owe to my friend Marianne! She and I met in Vegas right after I had Michael. We were living in the same condo development and we practically lived at each others house for a while! Then I moved to my house(UGH), Mark (her hubby) graduated from UNLV and she moved to Utah, and we followed a while later. But way back in Vegas We were invited to dinner at Marrianne's house. We entered and saw for the first time A big pile of raw meat sitting on the table! AACK!!! Right next to the meat was a bowl overflowing with pieces of bread. What were we going to do.... I will say Joe tightened up a little bit. Raw meat and bread??? but we stuck it out to see what it was and fell in love with our new favorite treat! Fondue done right. Before this experience the only thing I knew about fondue was chocolate! And now a few years later we are getting it down to a science. 

We start by deciding who will host the event. Who gets to clean and who pack up there laundry basket to head over to the others house. Then we divide the shopping list. I will bring meat, bread, bananas, apples, strawberries, sour cream french onion dip, ect... Then we get together and laugh and talk while we all get a little bit fatter. And by fatter I mean seriously drunk on happiness and carmel. 

Last night we got together to do it again.  Heres some memories from the night. 

Okay this one has nothing to do with fondue. But, I saw this moto bike trailer. It was so funny Joe said "The guy goes into the trailer shop and says give me a trailer for my bike nothing else, not a gas can not a rope, just my bike."

Prep for fondue means cutting the french bread into bite size peices!

Close up of the table, We had a blue cheese and a more traditional fondue cheese made with Emmentaler and Gruyere YUMMM!!!! Oil in the middle for perfect meat sour cream dip for the meat to the back, Chocolate and carmel on the sides with the fruit surrounding!  I almost forgot the best drink to go with fondue is grape cool aid!

Mark already cooking meat for the kids Joe's hands ready and rearing to go!!

Collin after he got done with his strawberries! So stinking cute, he kept rubbing his poor little eyes and making the strawberry juice pain worse. 

Ora Again

She is so funny! I hope you all don't think I'm sharing too much but this was hilarious. 

"She stopped crying, WoW... Them are magic boobs!!"

Our gratitude Tree

We have sprouted a tree on my living room wall. It's made out of left over brown fabric and paper. It is the most beautiful tree I have ever seen. It is filled with the things my little family is grateful for. Aunt Dixie put up a post a while ago about having a gratitude tree for thanksgiving. And I loved it. So for Family Home Evening the first week in Nov. we began. We cut out the tree and taped up our first few leaves. Now when people come over they can add to our tree the things that they are thankful for. My mom put up a few that are great. But, I really don't have anyone else coming so I thought I would throw it out to you all. Leave me a comment and I will add all of your thankful thoughts to my tree. And then you can be with me all through this season. I will post a picture of our tree at the end of the month and we will see how many leaves grow inside my house as the leaves outside fall.

Yeah Pictures

Mom found my camera yesterday so I have some pictures to post.... YIPEE!!!

She found her thumb last night

She's got Dad ear. See how its all folded over around the rim!
Moms lap

 She has super long feet. I wear a size 5 ring



She is doing so much better today! We have had to take her to the doctor everyday for a Billirubin test and she has barely kept out of the hospital. But, today she is down in the medium high risk group so I do not have to take her back until her two week check unless she stops doing well. My mom leaves today which stinks. She has been so great to have around with me. She has not only kept my house up so I could just sit and relax. But she has been playing with my kids nonstop. Abigail's "sunny side up" birth has been hard to recover from and I truly do not know what I would do if she had not been here. Love you mom!!!

Sorry No pictures.... Yet

Abigail La Nore Short was born Friday November 14th at 6:15 pm.

She weighs 7 lbs and is 19 inches long. She has the most beautiful black hair all over her head. Getting her here was so very hard and I was not sure why I felt so scared until things came to light at the delivery. I had that weird placenta abruption diagnosis that the doctor never really knew if it was a true abruption or not. And I just never felt "good" about her being safe. Not the whole time I was pregnant. I justified it by saying I was just nervous about the birth and not having my family here with me. But I know now it was the Holy Ghost driving me to a hospital to deliver. 

With every contraction I had Abby's heart rate would drop, not enough to worry us for a while but, enough that the Doctors and Nurses were watching for it when she arrived. She was born Sunny side up with the cord wrapped twice very tightly around her neck. She has a small heart murmur that she will have probably forever. The doctors were able to take her  to monitor her to make sure she was getting enough blood to her extremities. She is going to be just fine. But I for one am so grateful that I was able to follow the holy ghosts (along with my trained midwife who said I needed to make this decision by prayer) prompting to take her to a hospital where all of these things compounded together did not do her any damage. Mommy's doing well too. Having her born face up did one heck of a number on my backside, but things will heal and all will be back to normal soon. 

Sorry no pictures I lost my camera on the way to the hospital and so my mom has to get home and email me my pictures before I can share them with you, I will do it as soon as possible. 

Tomorrow

I'm no Annie but my tomorrow is worth a song too!

The Baby comes out tomorrow

Bet your bottom you'll be sore tomorrow

But tomorrow 

you'll be done! 

Just thnkin about tomorrow 

Clears away the water

and my cankles 

could be gone!

When I'm stuck with a pain 

That's long

And tugging

I just stick out my chin 

and grin

And say 

OH!

The baby comes out 

Tomorrow 

So I gotta hang on 

till tomorrow

Comes the drugs

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

I'll see her tomorrow!

You're only 

A day

A way!

Short funny Ora

Or should I say Ora is a funny Short!!!

Tonight Joe came home from work right after Little house on the Prairie ended. It was the episode where Lora thinks she sees Mr. Olsen's chop off Mrs. Olson's head, if you are a praire freak you know the one. Anyway it was a little scary and Ora felt she needed to share it with her Dad, every detail. It took a while and when she was done. Joe said ...

"Man, that sounds intense"

She turned around stomped her feet, and gave him the sternest look I have ever seen in her and said (hands on hips) 

"they don't live in tents, they live in houses" 

I'm looking forward

I know, it feels like I have been doing a ton of complaining! But I am down to 4 days, 4 days people! I know I can get through it even more so because MOM COMES TOMORROW!! She lands at eleven and is getting her own car so she will drive straight here. I am getting so excited. More so to have mom here than even to have the baby. I think I am probably more excited about mom because she is coming first.

Let me just say, I have the very best mom. Whenever I need her she steps up to the plate Big Time! When I was down and out pregnant with Jordan she was at my house every day. She kept my house running while I was on the couch! Not just kept it running but, on her hands and knees cleaning so I would not go crazy running. Then I moved away and got pregnant again. I know it has killed her to not be here. It has been so hard, I have realized how dang hard she worked before. But, Now she is coming here. 

Not to say I am only happy because she is going to clean, I am planning on being able to get my house cleaned top to bottom to my standards before she gets here. Then I can't wait to watch my mom playing with my kids. Lately I can not even read them a book without throwing up so I am going to love just relaxing while my kids have someone to play with. They need some serious Grandma time. She will make me relax and keep things up while I do just that. 

Then on Thursday we bring in Brittany, My Sista from anotha mista, really my adorable cousin who I love having in my home. She is staying the night on Thursday and watching my kids while Joe and I go to the hospital. I think my mom will stay Friday morning here with Brittany and then be left alone when Labor gets more intense. I am so happy that it is Brittany who is coming, she does not watch any T.V. at all. So I know my kids are  going to be entertained and played with while I am away. She has always been super creative and I know she has been planning what she will do with them since she knew she was coming a month ago. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. I just know they will have a blast.  

Then on Saturday I will come home, I know that I will bring this baby to a clean house that is ready for us to be in. My mom, Joe, and Brittany will make sure that it will be a nice thing to come home to. 

Every time I give birth Joe brigs me a present, this time I have requested the new quacamole bacon sandwich from Carls Jr. I have been wanting it since I saw it a while ago. But I will not spend the money to just throw it up.  He also brings in a box of lemon and kiwi chocolates from See's I have gotten this box with every baby. I eat it all by myself over the course of a few days. And I do not feel guilty about keeping it all for myself. 

So now instead of being grumpy (all the time) I am more excited and ready to get this week going. YEAH!!!! I am so ready.

8 days!!

It is a done deal. The doctor has scheduled my induction for next Friday! I cannot wait. Although an induction is not what I planned I am glad to not be worried about this anymore! I can't help myself from looking up all of the horrible things that can go wrong when you have a placenta abruption. I keep thinking everything that hurts is going to start me bleeding to death! 

I love having babies, the transition that takes place between heaven and earth is such an amazing moment to participate in! For me it brings an even bigger moment. I never feel my Father as close to me as when I bring a baby into the world. I swear you can still feel his arms on my babies when they come. I can almost smell him on them. My mom gets to hold them first she drinks them in and I watch as her and my dad dance together at the end of my hospital bed. My mom leaves this earth for a few minutes and my dad joins her in whatever realm they enter. I watch as she embraces and smells them for a few minutes before handing my child over to 

me. I am looking forward to this more than anything else. The joy that enters the room as Dad comes in to visit for just as long as he can stay. 

 

He stays with me for the first few months after they are born. I am not a good mom at night, I have gotten better but still waking me up is not a good thing for anyone no not even my newborns, so since I had Michael 5 years ago my Dad has made sure I was already awake before my kids started crying. Every time. I wake up, even if just for a few seconds, before they cry. Then in the moments where I cannot take anymore in the night I kneel down say a prayer and ask my Father in Heaven to send my Earthy father to come and sing to his grandchild. I then get up lay down my baby and leave the room. (I do not abuse this because it has worked every time) I sit outside the door as in just a few seconds this baby who has been crying for hours calms and falls asleep, I hum the lullaby my dad wrote and listen closely to my baby falling asleep to what I know is there grandpa's  familiar and calming voice. I am so excited to get not only Abigail here but Dad as well. 

8 more days!!

Being Frugal IS oh So Fabulous!

A little while ago I told you all about Being frugal is fabulous (see side bar). This wonderful woman has helped me learn so much. I am loving it!! 

I made my coupon organizer during the week by taking two pieces of cardboard and covering them in some cute fabric I had in my stock, then I labeled Ziploc bags with all of the different kinds of coupons I thought I would want to seperate out. For example.. Dairy, boxed foods, canned goods, beauty, medicine, ect.... I ended up with a ton of different ziploc bags. I stitched them together in groups of three or four and then got out my hot glue gun and put a little book together. Added a piece of ribbon to tie it together and it was complete.

I had scoured the coupons for the week and compared the sales to what I had. I used the list over at frugal is fab to make my Walgreens list, but had to go through the ads in my area to get the best grocery store sales for me. Then I had to put it all together, plan meals with what I had and go shop. 

I had to decide how to go about keeping things in my head organized, in order to save the most money I have to shop at a few different stores, so I got out some envelopes and labeled them with the stores I thought I would be going to that week. Then I put my coupons inside and wrote my list in pencil on the outside. (I told you I was cheap, if I write in pencil I can reuse these next week)

Then I was off to see how good I did...  Here is what happened!

At Smiths I was able to purchase $220.00 worth of stuff for $145.00 I am sure I can do better with more practice. But I was super proud of what I did. I did learn a valuable lesson here though. While I was checking out a few of my coupons two of which the store had sent directly to me to get items for free would not ring up. I was frustrated by this and felt bad for the people behind me so I just said I would get them later and left. But I had worked hard to use these things for my family and by the time I got home was mad at myself for not stepping up and asking the cashier nicely if she needed to ask a manager. Which I had learned is what you should do from frugal is fab. But next time I will be better. I had worked hard to come up with and use these coupons and should stand up for what I have done. 

Then I was off to Walgreens And here is where I won the lottery. Joe came wit me because he did not believe what I said I was going to do. But look what I got for $2.50.... I was able to purchase two packs of three razors each, 4 packs of gum, two almay mascaras, two cans of almonds, What you can't see are the 5 bottles of water I got as well. Now that was fun. 

Halloween weekend... Our CrAzIeSt weekend!!

It begins with Michael's birthday. He was born Halloween morning during the Regis and Kelly costume parade. So that is how we have started his birthday every year. We watch the show. But this year we started even earlier because Dad did not have to be at work until eight so we all rode over to the doughnut factory at 6:45 and got some breakfast with dad. Then we headed over to walmart to pick up our "fix up the costume supplies." We got home just in time to have a doughnut picnic while watching the show. Then we got to work cleaning up the house so we could fix the costumes. 

Michael insisted on a costume he loved, but had one little problem, it was 2 sizes too small. He could get it on but, barely. It went up his "middle parts" so bad I was surprised he could walk. So I had to detach the attached hood, and cut out the crotch as good as I could without "his middle parts" being seen by the whole neighborhood. Then we had to turn Ora's backyardigans costume into a pink dinosaur. So I cut off the antenna and added foam spikes all down the back. I have to say thank you to Aunt Cristen who sent up Jordan's costume. It was great not having to fix one of them.  They ended up pretty darn cute.

 

Joe took the kids trick or treating, and I had to stay home. (boo hoo) I thought he would go to a few houses and then come home. But, he was gone for over an hour with them. It was so cute. He got home from work just as it was getting dark so he did not even get a shower or even a chance to change his clothes when off they went. When they did get home they had their candy inspected and broke into a few pieces. Then it was present time. He got a nerf basketball hoop (which I will say Jordan got to and today the ball is no longer a ball but a victim of a dinosaur attack), and a power ranger dart shooter, and of course he got his skateboard. I will admit I did not think he was ready to have. Moms are too scared.

 

I will post about Saturday later because it was our first real coupon mom day and boy oh boy did I have blast getting cheap and even free things all day. 

Sunday was our birthday party day We went to church where Michael got up in front of the primary to be sung to. For Michael this is huge. Last week he did the primary program and this week in front of the primary. I am feeling very hopeful for him going to school this year. We got home from church and we just hung out for a while and then I got really sick and went to lay down for what I could swear was like 20 minutes, but it was really 2 1/2 hours. By the time I woke, It was six and time to be doing the party. So we hurried and put the cake together and sang happy birthday and had cake and ice cream. I felt so bad we did not get to do more because I had fallen asleep but, Michael loved it and I guess that is all that matters.