Mason's Exciting Night

I will let him tell the story. Check out his blog at http://theworldofmason.blogspot.com/. He loves getting comments, or new followers, of course *shameless plug* so go find out what he is so excited about and leave him some luv!

California Vacay- Getting there

I'm sorry I haven't yet blogged about our trip. I have been sorting through the photos and it's taking me a while :) So I thought I would blog it a little bit at a time.

Day 1: Everything was packed and ready to go. We dropped the baby boys off at my Mom's house and drove to Pocatello where we met up with my sister, Miriam and her family. We moved everything over into their van and headed to Vegas baby!The kids were great on the long, 10 hr (ish) drive. We had 3 laptops, a DVD player, and webkinz for them to play. They were so happy to see each other that we had no issues with them at all.

We got into Vegas very late, checked into the Stratosphere, and wandered around town a bit. We went to the Bellagio and let the kids see the fountains, and hit a few other places while we were out and about. The next morning, we got up, took the kids to see several more places. They thought it was very neat, and learned quickly about "don't look!" at just about everything on the strip :) Savannah would say, "Don't look at that huh mommy? Don't look at the naked bum" Eek! I'm from Rigby. When we see buses passing by, it's school children, not something you wouldn't even want your school children to know exists.

Savannah, Dan, Me, Mason, Jeremy, Kiana, Miriam and Keegan

I was so happy that I was able to meet up with my friend Heather for lunch while we were there. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe. The kids loved it, and I loved getting some time with Heather!

On the way out of town, we stopped at the Silverton where they have the Mermaid Aquarium. The girls thought it was the most amazing thing ever! I think they liked that more than anything else in Vegas.

I am a Nine

My friend Carrie posted this on her blog, so I gave it a shot. Hit the nail on the head. This is me to a T.

You Are 9: The Peacemaker

You are emotionally stable and willing to find common ground with others. Your friends and family often look to you to be the mediator when there is conflict. You are easy going and accepting. You take things as they come. Avoiding conflict at all costs, you're content when things are calm. At Your Best: You feel connected, trusting, and fulfilled. You feel at peace with your place in the world. At Your Worst: You compromise your values to make sure peace is maintained. You give in to bullies. Your Fixation: Harmony Your Primary Fear: Causing conflict Your Primary Desire: To preserve things as they are Other Number 9's: Marge Simpson, Ronald Reagan, Audrey Hepburn, Jerry Seinfeld, and Abraham Lincoln.

What Number Are You?

And another deal for ya...

After finishing up the aforementioned girl shopping *HOLLA*, I was wishing I could do the same for my boys. Turns out, I can :) Some of you know this (Tatiana, I finished my purchase and came on here to blog about it and saw your comment, so you and I are on the same page today!), but Old Navy also has a coupon code for an additional 50% off. The code is EXTRA50. I got $259 of stuff for $66. So check that one out as well, if you wish. I'm feeling goooood that it's January and Im nearly done with next Fall's school shopping! Heads up that the site is running VERY slow due to the traffic, so be patient.

AWESOME deal on little girl's clothes

For those of you with girls sizes 6-18.

Limited Too (which is now Justice) is having a great sale, and there is also a 50% off coupon code. You can use the code on clearance merchandise, including clothes, accessories and even Webkinz. I just did a lot of Savannah's school shopping for next year this way. I love their stuff but it's usually so expensive that we don't buy much there.

I got- brace yourselves.....

$857.46 retail price of merchandise for.....

wait for it......

$153!!!!!! YAAAAAAYYYY!

Here are a few of the things I got, and then you get the code :)

Retail price: $99.50

Sale Price: $39.99

After Code: $19.99

Retail Price: $24.50

Sale Price: $8.99

After Code: $4.50

Retail Price: $39.50

Sale Price: $19.99

After Code: $9.99

Retail Price: $46.50

Sale Price: $19.99

After Code: $9.99

Retail Price: $29.50

Sale Price: $12.99

After Code: $6.50

Retail Price: $59.50

Sale Price: $29.99

After Code: $14.99

Retail Price: $29.50

Sale Price: $11.99

After Code: $5.99

Retail Price: $36.50

Sale Price: $19.99

After Code: $9.99

Retail Price: $28.50

Sale Price: $13.99

After Code: $6.99

Retail Price: $22.50

Sale Price: $13.99

After Code: $6.99

Retail Price: $28.50

Sale Price: $14.99

After Code: $7.50

Retail Price: $46.50

Sale Price: $19.99

After Code: $9.99

I also got a some basic shirts, henleys, a dress, a headband, a couple of Webkinz.... Anyway, very good deals, lots of selection, and such cute clothes! A lot of them only have a few sizes left, so I would hurry. I wasn't able to get some of the things I wanted since they were out of Savannah's size.

So here is what you do:

Go to http://www.shopjustice.com/

Click on sale/clearance

Click on the left hand side on clearance (the sale stuff is listed first, clearance under that)

Select the category you want, buy whatever you want. At the end, enter coupon code 649, and it will take 50% off your purchase. That's it! So go ahead and get a head start on your school shopping and save yourself some moolah!

When you're own voice comes out of your children's mouths

How often do your kids say something and you swear it was you speaking? My daughter probably does it the most, but Mason does it often as well. Usually I get a good chuckle. And occasionally, I get a glimpse into how it must sound to listen to me all day :)

Yesterday, I was getting gas at the gas station, and Savannah was with me. We were sitting the car waiting for it to fill up when a guy started to back up and he got kinda close to the front of my car. I mumbled something under my breath, and Savannah looks at the guy backing up and says, "DUDE! SERIOUSLY!" I guess I've said that a time or two ;)

The last time we did this....

Daniel and I are taking the older 2 kids to Disneyland etc for 10 days. We are leaving on Friday and we are all so excited. We took them just over a year ago, in October, for the first time, and since we are going again, I couldn't help but be reminded of something unusual that happened the last time we went, so I figured, "Hey, why not blog about it?"

So October of 2006 rolled around. We decided to take the kids to Disneyland as a surprise for Mason's 8th birthday. We had our airline tickets, the secret was still intact, and I was packing our suitcases to leave.

As a female, I am so lucky as to have to think, when packing, about what time of the month it is, and whether I will need certain female items while on said trip (there is a point to this, I'm not just throwing that wicked mental picture out there for my health). I got to thinking about it, trying to remember when the last one was.....hmmmmm...let's see, it was when my brother Paul and Kristin got married...that was.......calendar.....5 weeks ago. WHAT???? Wait a second. 5 weeks? For me, that's like 6 years. 5 weeks is unheard of. Hmmmm....for most people, that would be a pretty sure sign that something was up, right? But for me, not so much. Most people who know me know that Mason, Savannah, and Jaxon were all fertility babies. So wondering if I am pregnant was not something I had ever had to do. I know when I'm pregnant. It happens after a lot of doctor visits, a lot of pill taking, a lot of shots, a lot of worrying and hoping, a lot of disappointment and expense. What it doesn't do is just happen. Weird. Well, I knew I didnt want to take a trip to the coast, wondering what was going on. So I decided it would be best to buy a test. I didn't tell Dan anything about it. I knew from past experience that it would be a complete miracle if I was. I also knew that with Jaxon being only 9 months old, Daniel would be more than a bit freaked out. So there was no reason to worry him over nothing.

I went to the store and bought 2 tests. I took one the morning before we left. Negative, just like I thought. No reason to even mention that scare to Dan at all. I was strangely disappointed, but I wasn't sure why. I told myself I knew before I ever took the test that it would be negative. I can't tell you how many times in 10 years I had a negative pregnancy test. So I went ahead and packed my female items, and off we went on our trip.

The flight went rather smoothly. Except for one thing. For some reason, my stomach felt very unsettled. Flying doesn't usually affect me that way. But I was nauseated not only on the flight, but right after we landed as well. Reaaaaallly nauseated. Odd.

A couple of days into our vacation, we decided to go swimming. I put on my swimsuit and immediately started complaining to Daniel. "Look at me! I must be retaining 10 pounds of water! I know I haven't gained any weight but look at my stomach! It's huge!" Since I was over a week late, I figured I was just having major PMS. I didnt even want to go out in my swimsuit looking like that, but I bit the bullet and just hoped that extreme bloating would go away soon.

That night, as Daniel and I hopped into bed, I snuggled up close to him and he said, "What is wrong with you? Are you sick? You are burning up!!!" I felt fine, and told him he must just be cold. "No" he said, "You are hot to the touch. You must have a fever." Mason had been sick the day we arrived, and I could have caught that, but I didnt feel hot at all. I felt fine. Weird. Again.

The next night, the same thing happened. There are only 2 times when my body feels hot to the touch- when I have a fever, and the first 10 weeks-ish of a pregnancy. But I knew I wasn't pregnant since I had just taken that test. But here it was another 3 days or so after that and still no period.....And yet I was totally convinced I could chalk it all up to an extreme case of PMS. Dan made a joke with me, saying, "Maybe you're incubating HAHAHA" Big Joke. I decided to reassure him, and told him about the fact that I actually had thought I might be before we left, but he could rest easy, it was negative. His response, "You BETTER NOT BE PREGNANT!" I kept reassuring him that duh, it wasn't possible for me to be pregnant, chill out.

Throughout the rest of the trip, I continued to feel sick to my stomach from rides, food, the car etc. But not badly enough that it ruined any of my fun.

It was a short trip so 4 days or so later, we headed home. Daniel and I got in a silly argument over something ridiculous on the drive home from the airport so we weren't speaking when we arrived home. By this point, I was almost 2 weeks late and I did not feel right, so I decided to take the remaining test the next morning.

I shouldn't have been surprised. I mean, all the signs were there. But after 10 years, and never being able to get pregnant on our own, I was shocked. I kept going back in there and looking at the test again and again. The strangest part was that even though I had just had a baby, and even though this was in no way planned, I couldn't help but see the miracle in front of me and be grateful, and happy, about this incredible surprise.

Now for telling Dan :) We still weren't speaking, and I wasn't about to drop that on him when he was already pouting. So I sat on it for a few days until the right time seemed to present itself. Let's just say he was far more shocked than I was.

It's ony been 14 months but how life has changed since then! Jayden is the best surprise we have ever been given. He is an amazing addition to our family. He is the sweetest, snuggliest little guy. I can't imagine our family without him. I am so grateful for the blessing he is. It is such a neat experience for me to see the dynamic between him and Jaxon, being so close in age. My other children are all close to 4 years apart, and my boys are over 7 years apart. I am so excited to see how their relationship develops as they grow up.

As we head to Disneyland this time, we are leaving 2 babies home with family, instead of 1 like we did last time. And I expect my tummy will feel much better this time around. But I think every time we take a Disney vacation, I will recall the big surprise we got the first time around.