Malec Blessings

Beautiful Park!

2010-08-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

So Handsome!

I just love old bridges!

God's Beauty!

Mommy and Emilee!

Mommy and Joshua!

Mommy and Issy!

Time for family poses!

Me and my blessings!

Such Love!

My silly Emi!

Another bridge I couldn't resist!

I'm so sorry that I totally forgot to post the pic's from that beautiful park that we found on the way home from the Crayola Factory so here they are and I hope you enjoy them as we do! We didn't get a chance to go back to this place as we wanted to, but we have the pic's to look back on. Thank you for checking back on this blog!

Our second week here!

2010-08-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

The view as we were approaching the Castle!

Here it is up close!

A side view of the slide that Emilee loved and kept saying it was huge!

Joshua playing with the sand!

Joshua standing and trying to take a step!

oopss, now he's down!

Emilee's favorite spot in the castle town!

Emilee found the hidden crown!

Girl's in front of the Castle!

This is when Joshua started to say "good-bye before bedtime!

Yep, the street light's were also shaped like Hershey Kisses!

You can make your own chocolate bar here!

Just getting into the park!

Mommy and kid's stop for a kodak moment!

Daddy and kid's stop for a kodak moment!

We caught Hershey before anyone else saw him and while Issy was on ride with Daddy!

My first ride with Daddy!

Patroling the streets!

Rocket ride with sissy!

Time for a pic with all the chocolates mommy could find!

Dinner time!

Pony Express ride!

This was Issy's favorite train ride!

Emi and sissy enjoying another ride!

Mommy going down a big slide with Issy! She loved this slide!

Emilee and mommy posing for a pic in front of Jolly Rancher candy sign!

Joshua at the end of the night, exhausted!

Our beauties with their chocolate dolls!

Joshua with his Hershey shirt on and ready for bed!

Well I can't believe how fast this last week went by! We did some more swimming, some more park time, but we ended up going to a few other great places as well. I found out about a park that would be great for my kids to spend a lot of time at and have tons of fun so I had to look it up to see how far it was from the hotel. It ended up being an easy place to get to so I surprised them on Thursday morning by telling them we were going some place special and kept giving them hints, but they had no clue where we were going. This place was called "Castle Park" and it was only 15 min. away from our Hotel. As we were driving up to the place and coming around the corner they could see a little bit of the castle and they went crazy, but still couldn't believe what it was. I told them it's a castle that was left behind for them to play in from other Knight's and Princesses. Only because Emilee kept asking where all the princesses were and why weren't they in the castle. Oh that made them even more excited about being there. We were there for about 4hrs and did I say that they truly loved it there. This was an 8 story castle that had tons of fun it it. Plus, it had a little town off to the side that was in the castle gates for the smaller knight's and princesses. Joshua loved playing in the sand, swingin and eatin whatever he could find to put in his mouth. He loved going down the slide at times too! Issy loved following Emilee around, but had a hard time keepin up with her. Emilee, well, she loved it all and couldn't stop talking about it for day's to her daddy. They had a scavenger hunt in the castle and she was able to find at least 3 or 4 of the items on the wall all by herself. She was determined so she kept going till she found what she was looking for. I loved the excitement in her voice! After that long time day in the sun they were all exhausted and ready for bed. This was also the night that Joshua started to say "Bye-Bye!! Well, the weekend was finally here and we couldn't wait any longer because instead of going to the beach, we decided to go to another amusement park and we chose, Hershey Park in Hershey town. We arrived in Hershey town around lunch time so we decided to get something to eat outside the park and we found a Wendy's just across the street from there. We couldn't believe the roller coaster rides we were seeing from Wendy's. The girl's kept getting more and more excited by the minute. We finally arrived at the gate which was about 2 miles from where we parked the van. There were buses to take you, but we had the stroller so we just walked it. As soon as we got into the park the kiddie rides were just to the right. Issy was so excited to be able to ride a ride with here daddy! They had so many kiddie rides here and a great water park as well. Emilee had the honor of meeting all the candy bars up close and personal. She was one of the first kid's to catch Hershey right when we got to our first ride. Issy was afraid of them up close so I didn't get any pic's with her or Joshua. We finally headed to their water park and daddy took them on the lazy pool ride, but had to wait like 30 min before even getting in because of the line being so long. I believe the water park was the worst with lines because all other rides they didn't have to wait but 2 to 3 min or none at all! Both Paul and I were able to ride a roller coaster of our choice. I encouraged Paul to go on his first wooden coaster and he enjoyed it. Then I went on a wooden coaster that had two carts going at once in different directions. It was so awesome that I went on it twice! Time was getting away from us fast so we were happy that the park didn't close till 11pm instead of 8pm like Sesame Place. We definitely got our moneys worth here and we will be back in the future sometime. We finally left the park like around 12:30am so we didn't get home and in bed till 2am. Everyone was exhausted beyond belief, but so worth it all. On Sunday we were out the door by 12pm to head to the Crayola Factory in Easton, Penn. The girl's could hardly wait to get there, but fell asleep about 10min after we were in the van. There was so much to do in this place that we didn't know where to begin. Emilee said her favorite part was seeing how they made a crayon and a marker. It was a three story building with tons of crafts for the kid's to do and a hands on museum on the top floor. I think this was Joshua's favorite part because he didn't want to leave the block area for nothing. We finally left the factory, but had to hit the Crayola store and of course was there till it closed at 6pm. After we left the store we hit McDonald's for dinner. On the way home I spotted a beautiful, beautiful park by a canal and a huge bridge so we had to stop for pic's. I loved this area!!! I couldn't stop taking pic's of my kid's and this beautiful area. Thank you Jesus for allowing us to enjoy such a place. As far as Paul and his class, this week has been great for him because it was all role play. They would act out the whole investigation even the part of surveillance which he did very well with and found the people that were watching him. This next week he will be doing cases in downtown Philly so he could use your prayers. He can't believe that he is already on his third week of class. He is enjoying the experience though and hearing all the speakers too! Well I guess this is it for now! This weekend we are looking forward to seeing one of Paul's classmates from ICE and good friend of ours in DC and then back to Sesame Place on Sunday. This will be our last weekend here so we are making the best of it and what a better way to end it with some great friends we haven't seen in about 2yrs or so. Love to all and thank you for keepin up with us on our journey blog. P.S.... I'm so happy to say that i'm still working on my training for the 5k run in Sept. On my second week and feeling good. Just love that i'm sticking with it still!=0)

Our First Week Here!

2010-08-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Just a view of their favorite park up the street from the Hotel

Issy smiling for the camera!

Here is Emilee's favorite spot!

Cooling off!

This was Joshua's favorite place in the whole park!

Issy and Josh on the climbing blocks!

Here he comes!

My Beautiful girl's!

Family fun in the pool!

Mommy take a picture of me, please!

Two girl's ready for some fun at Sesame amusement Park!

Entering the park, finally!

Happy 30th Birthday, Sesame Street!

Here we go, up, up and away!

Around the corner we come!

Here we are at the end of our ride!

Part of the huge splash down park!

This is Count's Splashdown!

Here is what the bucket does!

Splash!!!

Elmo in the street parade! Issy hated being this close to him, but Emilee loved it!

Ernie and Bert in the parade!

Joshua finally able to enjoy some water time!

Issy was exhausted! Can you tell Josh was too?

They all got their favorite character doll at the end of the day!

Just leaving the park before it closed!

It has been a long week adjusting to so much around here, but I think we are finally comfortable here. We've eaten at different places every night to get an idea of what is good here, but it's been hard to find that favorite one when they are all good. We found a park right up the street from our hotel which is very, very nice in a woods setting. Plus, it has a walking area. That is the big question every day from each of our girl's, "can we go to the park today, mommy?" I was happy to finally find a Wal-Mart and a scrapbook store. It was then that I felt more comfortable being here.=0) We've gone swimming just once, but only because Paul has been getting out of class later and it finally rained here a couple days this last week. It was nice though. The humidity wasn't high afterwards so we enjoyed the rain. The weather is suppose to get nicer this week so we plan to get in a couple more swim times. Paul has been enjoying his class here because it has been a lot of hands on experience and out in the field. His instructor has told him a few times that he is doing very well with this course so that is good. We were so excited that Friday finally came around because we knew it meant pizza night and Daddy would have a couple of days off before going back to class. Sadly I ended up with a migraine and was in bed early for the night, like 6pm, but the kid's and daddy went to Chick Fil - A to play in playground and had dinner there too. They were all a little tired of having so much pizza I guess. Emilee was so worried about me because of how bad the pain was for me that she called me a couple of times to check on me. Before going to bed I heard Emilee say a short prayer under her covers that went something like this. "Dear Jesus, please, please, please help my mommy feel better so that she can wake up feeling better and so she can get some rest so we can have some fun at Sesame Place cuz I really want her to go with us, in Jesus name Amen". She is such a blessing to me! Well, the sun started shine through our window at about 5:30 and I just couldn't sleep anymore because I was excited to take my kid's to this exciting place called Sesame Place in Philadelphia. I finally whispered in Emilee's ear at around 6:30am asking her if she was still wanting to go to Sesame Place and she turned over and smiled at me and then asked me if I was feeling better so that I could go with them to this happy place. We both started talkin about this and just couldn't stop. I had showed them on the computer what this place looked like and what we would be doing. We were out the door by 9am and was at the park by 10:15. We stayed there from open to close and the kid's actually did very well. Not much bickering except for when they were hungry! The weather was great, but of course hot. Good thing we were going to a water park and amusement park in one. Emilee was old enough to go on many rides, but my favorite part was to see her go on her first big roller coaster. She loved it, but was in shock right after the ride. We ended up getting a two day pass to go back again before we leave here and we are so happy we did that since we didn't get to all the rides before we left the park. We can hardly wait to go back again especially since we know what to expect now and where to go and what to do. I even have a plan to pick out my picture areas so I'm excited to get there and get some really good pic's. We plan to go the last wknd we are here so that will be something to look forward to. On Sunday we were planing on going to the beach since it is so close to us and the kid's love the sand. Well the weather took those plans away from us and we just ended up going to a Philadelphia Pretzel Factory! All I can say is mmm good! Paul and I had a Philly Cheese Steak Pretzel and it was to die for. For those of you keepin track, this was definitely a cheating day for me. Then we went touring the city by driving the van around town and stoppin to shop here and there. The rain finally stopped in the evening, but we just ended up doing laundry and having family time at the hotel. Looking forward to another great week, but the wknd is what we are really looking forward too. I think we are doing DC and New York City and ground zero! Lots of pic's to take and share. Love to all and I hope you enjoy seeing the pic's. I was able to find a great camera for a good price and small enough to carry around with me in my pocket and be able to now download pic's! I'm still hoping to get cord that fits my other camera.=0) Thank you for following us along on our journey while here in Pennsylvania. Love to all and God bless all!

Our Summer Journey 2010

2010-07-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

Emilee sharing a drink with brother

Our first stop in Midland, Tx for lunchtime!

This was in Dallas as we were leaving!

Here we are visiting with Chris and Rachel!

Paul and his step-brother Chris!

stopped in Virginia for dinner!

Found these huge marshmellows in the store and the kid' loved them!

Joshua thought this was a huge treat for him!

Well, for those of you that didn't already know of this, we decided to go with Paul to a training that was in Pennsylvania for a month long. This is the story of how it all went for us with our oldest being 4 and our youngest being only 13mo's old and driving all the way to Pennsylvania in our minivan.

The first day all went well as far as getting on the road when we planned to after having breakfast at The Bagel Shop in El paso. We drove all the way to Dallas and was there by around 8pm. The girl's loved seeing all the lights on the buildings downtown and was really hoping they could stop in at Six Flag's Over Texas for a short time. Or even the water park across the street from the amusement park. It was all such a thrill for them to see. The girl's did well in the van playing games, playing dolls, coloring, watching movies and looking at the map to see where we were at. Josh on the other hand we believe started teething and also started to have the runs. Not good for being on the road. He didn't want to sleep for nothing in the van. If he did sleep it would be for a short while and then he would wake up screaming. As soon we got to the hotel in Dallas we ordered pizza and the girl's played doll's for a bit and then off to bed, but Josh didn't go to sleep until around 1 or 130am. We were off on the road by 12noon to the next destination which was Nashville, Tenn. We stopped for a brunch at Denny's and then we were off. The second day on this journey was much better with Josh then the first so we were very thankful for that. He was in a really good mood with lots of laughter and love to share. Thank you Jesus! We finally got to Nashville around 11pm which was good timing because we didn't think we would get there till way after midnight. We got into a hotel by the skin of our teeth through our step brother in law, Chris Hughes. He lives there in Nashville with his lovely wife, Rachel and we were so grateful to be able to finally meet up with them after 6yrs. and have brunch with them at Cracker Barrel our favorite restaurant. Anyway, everyone got great sleep that night including Josh so we were all off to a great start. After spending about 2 or 3hrs. with Chris and Rachel at Cracker Barrel it was time to say goodbye and get back on the road. We were also grateful to see Chris on the day he was leaving to boot camp for the USMC. So thankful to get pic's to cherish. Emilee was happy to meet someone going to fight for our country because she is learning daily about how soldiers fight for our country. She can't wait to send pic's that she has colored. By Sunday night we were in Virginia and by 3am Monday morning we were in Pennsylvania. The trip from Virginia was the worst because it was getting to the end of our journey. All our kid's ended up getting sick of some sort. Emilee was aggravated with her allergies. Issy was just having stomach pains and Josh was overly tired with teething pains and having the runs. Stops were getting more consistent and the cries were getting worse oh and my headache was beyond belief. Then there were tolls in the highway that we weren't aware of nor had the cash for and they didn't take debit cards so luckily we had our checkbook. We weren't suppose to check into the hotel until 4pm on Monday, but they were nice enough to allow us to check in at 5am with no extra charge. It was so nice to finally get into the hotel and get everyone their med's and into a bed and settled in. Then about 2hrs after we settled in Paul heard water dripping in the bathroom. Long story short, the man upstairs fell asleep while running his bath water and it leaked and leaked and leaked into our bathroom below him. The hotel mgr. felt really bad for us with little ones and treated us like gold to make sure we were comfy. It sure was nice to get such treatment like this after what we had been through the past 3 day's. Today is Monday and all we did was rest, rest and rest. I've had a strain all day today on my neck so I've done nothing but lie around to hopefully get rid of the pain. About to go to bed for the night and i still have the strain in my neck. Paul starts his training tomorrow and is eager to learn so much. I don't think we will do much around here, but I plan to start my training for a 5k run that is happening at Paul's work on Sept 18th. I really hope i do well at training for this, but we'll see how it goes. Right now it's all about getting rest and getting to know the area around us. I will post weekly about our adventure here only for those of interest and for my kid's to see and read about in the future. We figured out some great places to go see so we are excited for the weekend to come. I'm not liking the time zone here because it just goes by to fast and i end up being up till 2am every night. I'm sure I'll get use to it. I've started training for my first run that I'm hoping to do in Sept. It will only be a 5k, but it is my first one of hopefully many. I set a goal of wanting to do a half marathon when i turn 40 as a celebration of entering that new life and it's something I've always wanted to do so we'll see how that works out. Love to all and I'm sorry there are no pic's, but it's only because i forgot my cord to download. If i can get another one, i will then post the many pic's taken on our journey here.=0)

Joshua's 1st Birthday!!!

2010-06-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

Can I Really Eat This?

The Results of the Cookie!

Eating Hamburger for the First Time and Loving it!

Wow, My First Drum!

Look at this smile!

Let me show you Grandpa how to do this!

Joshua's Cake and First yr Pic!

Enjoying his part of his cake!

Well I'm a little late on this post, but I guess better late then never right? What a blast we had celebrating our son's first birthday. We had our niece, Bella and nephew, DJ here from Louisiana so that made it extra special. When Joshua woke up in the morning he was in such a great mood and just had a smile non-stop on his face. I got Josh a cookie with heavy frosting for him to have in the morning so we put a candle on it and sang Happy Birthday to him. He just loved the attention and clapped for us while we were singing. He was so cute! He liked looking at the candle being lit and wanted to grab it. Time went by so fast on this day after the morning thing was done. I couldn't believe that before i could think straight it was already time to greet people at the door for his party. I invited like 30 people to the party, but was happy that only 15 to 20 people were here because I was going crazy with all the hospitality work, but loved it too! Joshua loved opening up his gifts from everyone. He would clap after every gift that he opened. He really enjoyed the drum instrument that my dad got for him and knew exactly what to do with it when he opened it. Joshua also enjoyed everyone singing to him at the end before having cake and ice cream. He would smile and clap for everyone and again enjoyed seeing the fire on the candle.

Joshua is now 13mo's old now and finally has two teeth at the bottom of his mouth. He is babbling a whole lot of baby talk now. He says a lot of peoples names now and it is so cute! I like to hear him say "Emi and Bella"! Bella is our niece from Louisiana---his cousin! He is trying to walk, but not quite there yet. He takes a couple of steps, but then falls, but he makes a lot of attempts. We know we are in trouble once he starts, but sure would be nice so that we don't have to hold him all the time. He already climbed all the way up our stairs one day when we weren't looking and totally scared me, but he just laughed. He is a big charmer with all my lady friends and such a big flirt too. We look forward to what our little Josh will be like in a few months or even years, but pray it is all in God's will. I hope to get better now with this blog posting, but with so much going on right now with my niece and nephew being here, it can be difficult so bear with me. Love to all and thank for keeping up with our blog.=)

Memorial Weekend!

2010-06-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

Breakfast from Mc'Donald's to start the exciting day!

Joshua looking at a balloon as it took off!

Breathtaking for sure!

Sisters!!!

Me and my beautiful girl's!

So beautiful!!!

My little charmer!

Emilee and Isabella in a fire truck at the Balloon Festival!

Daddy and Emilee trying to come down the hill for the first time!

Joshua touching the sand for the first time!

Here I go, mommy!

Mommy, you are so doing it wrong!

Just trying to make it down the hill!(lol)

A beautiful pic of White Sands!

Issy climbing to the top all alone!

Faster mom, faster!!!

Loving the craft time as a family!

Very focused on her craft!

Emilee feeding the deer's in the morning!

Waiting patiently to go shopping in Ruidoso!

My squeeze with my sissy!

Get a pic of me too mom!

Emilee wanted to show off her new sandal's!

Emilee blowing and making a wish!

Emilee giving mommy a (weed) flower!

Emilee couldn't believe how big this Indian was!

We finally got to see the deer eat their food on the day we were leaving!

The last deer to eat the food!

Smiley bear faces!

Our mean bear faces!

What a great time we had together as a family with lots of stuff to do. We started off with the Balloon Festival that was just down the street from our house. The girls slept in our room the night before and we woke up at 5am and was out the door by 5:30 to get breakfast and to the launch for the balloons. The girl's just loved being up when it was still dark. The first Balloon didn't even get off till around 6:30, but the girl's were in awww. We were sitting pretty close to the balloons so the noise from the fire in the balloon scared Issy at first. Emilee was the same way when she was that young. We stayed there till around 9am and then we headed to the flee market for the first time with the kids. Emilee just loved seeing all the garage sale stuff. She walked away with nothing from there, but then we had to hit the Dollar General next door for something to drink and they all came out with new summer shoes that lit up. From there we went over to my dad's house to visit with Grandma and Aunt Sara one last time before they left for Michigan on Sunday. We stayed there for a couple of hours and then came home for a nap and then we were on the road by 6pm for our weekend at the cabin. We rented a cabin in Cloudcroft for 3 1/2 days. It was a blast for all of us. We did crafts, played games, washed dishes together, went on nature walks, played at the park in town, fed the deers, watched some movies, went to white sands monument park and went shopping in Ruidoso on our last day. Our cookout on Memorial Day was delicious! We had hamburgers, veggie chips and fruit salad. Then for dessert we had some cake. Oh and we also collected pine cones to decorate! It was all very fun and included so many memories for us to cherish. At then end of our time here we took a couple of bear pic's with the bear hat's that were there. Emilee keeps asking when will we go back again.=0)

Our Newest Family Member!

2010-04-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't believe we have another member to our family! No, it's not a human, but it's our little kitty named Princess by Emilee. We found her in Cloudcroft, NM when we were visiting the cabin with our friends who own it. The baby kitty was screaming from the top of her lungs and we had no clue where she was at. We thought it was a couple of birds, but the sound wouldn't stop. My friend finally went on the hunt to find out where the sound was coming from still not knowing it was a baby kitty. She found the kitty trying to climb up a hill. The kitty was petrified beyond belief. We took the kitty in the cabin and put her in a warm box to try and calm her down. The kid's were beyond belief on how little the kitty was. Anyway, it was a for sure thing that my friend wasn't gonna be able to take the kitty to their house because her husband wasn't/isn't a kitty lover. So I took it on myself to take the kitty to our house, but I told Emilee that she was gonna have to ask her daddy about keeping it as her own baby and taking care of it. I also told her that if daddy says no, we are gonna have to take it to the humane society hoping to find it a home. As soon as we got home and Paul saw the kitty sitting in the box asleep it became his little baby. Paul didn't want to let the kitty go for nothing. It was so cute to see them together sleeping. I then asked Paul if we were going to keep the little kitty and he said "yea, i guess cuz she is so cute"! Emilee has been very good about caring for this kitty. She named her Princess! We went shopping for Princess at Pet Smart and couldn't stop! Emilee picked out a cute purse carrier to take her in when we go to the vet for her check ups and she also picked out a cute pink, velvet, igloo bed for her to sleep in at night. Yep, she is already spoiled. Emilee has realized how big of a job it is to be a mommy and still have time to play and pick up her room. Having the little kitty is a great bribe for mommy cuz i use it against her that if she doesn't pick up her room or take care of her kitty we will take her to a new home. It works for the most part, but I could never give up our princess to someone else because she loves cuddling with me and follows me around all day long.=0)

Joshua at 10 months!

2010-04-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic that I just had to post! It's a picture of Paul @ 8mo's! Joshua Paul looks just like his daddy! So precious!

This is the kind of smile I get to enjoy daily!

Joshua is enjoying a piece of cake for his 10 month birthday

More please!!!

Look at me stand up next to the furniture!

I am cute, right???

These are 12 month clothing, but mommy couldn't resist!!!

My drummer boy!!!

Mommy is starting me early!!!

So fun!!!

Joshua was clappin for his performance on the drums!

Joshua is changing on us everyday now so it's hard to keep up with his progress. He turned 10 months on the 5th of this month. He just started to say Dada today(Thursday 8th) and doing more baby talk. He also started to clap at the beginning of this week when he is happy. He loves to stand when we are holding him and tries to walk too. I can't believe he is standing along side the furniture now. We didn't get to see any of this with our precious Isabella so it's all new to us once again and exciting! Joshua loves to crawl all over the house, but he has a funny crawl and he is very fast. He crawls by using just one side of his body which is the left side. He may end up being a lefty. He tries his best to keep up with his sisters. He still loves to smile and laugh when you call his name. I just love how happy he is and has been since he was born. He is eating moo shy table food, but still doesn't have any teeth. He stopped using a pacifier on the 22 of march and it was done so easily. He did very well giving it up for good. He truly enjoys going on our family walks that we try to get in daily. He just sits up in the stroller and he does his baby talk the whole time. He also started sitting in the grocery cart all by himself and he just looks darling. He gets a lot of attention as we go through the store and he just smiles. I can't believe that a year ago about this time we were in a terrible situation with my health and having our handsome son stay in my tummy. To look back and remember is huge for us since we didn't think we would be able to do that some day. God is so good to us and we are so thankful to all who kept us in your prayers. God bless each of you for blessing us with your love, friendship, food, visits, but most of all prayer in our time in need. We love and miss you all so much! I hope you enjoy the pic's of our son. Next post of him will be when he is 1yr. old! Oh boy!

Easter!!!

2010-04-05T13:48:00.001-07:00

Can I eat this egg please?

Joshua enjoying an egg for the first time!

Nana and Uncle Donny and Emilee hard at work!

Finished products!

My center piece for the tables!

My Easter table decor!

Enjoying an Easter breakfast with Little Debbie cakes!

These are special animals from Grandma Dawn and Grandpa Malec!

My snack table!

Issy finally smiled for her aunt Cinda!

Isabella giving her bunny a squeeze or love as she would say it!

I couldn't get Isabella to smile for nothing, but had to catch this picture!

This was the only pic I got of them together because of being so busy that day!

Mommy this is so much fun!

I found the gold one mommy and it has a dollar in it!

Wow, where do I begin? We had such a great Easter this year being able to be around family! I decided this year to have Easter at our house because of the room space and because I love to host and have people over. I invited 20 people over and 18 of them showed up so it was a lot of fun, but of course busy. We ended up coloring eggs on Friday night because I knew I would be way to busy to do it on saturday night preparing for the luncheon on sunday. Anyway, my mom and brother came over and we had a blast coloring eggs and watching a movie and having pizza. The bad part about that night was that Paul ended up taking Isabella to a 24hr. care place because we were thinking she had strep throat. It sorta snuck up on us after her nap time that day and by dinner time she was just miserable. The doc said she just had a small cold so we were happy with that and she was better by saturday afternoon. She didn't end up coloring eggs, but she smiled when she saw all the ones that were done. Saturday was a very busy day with last minute shopping from 9am till about 12pm and then off to a birthday party. One of Paul's Border Patrol friend's son was turning one and they invited us to go. We weren't planning on goin, but since we hadn't seen them in over 5yrs and they hadn't seen our family, we had to go for a couple of hours. We had a great time, but we were exhausted by the sun. I've never seen so many people(300) at one place for a birthday party. Then off to finish up more shopping and finally home by 7pm. Emilee was so excited to go to bed since she was going to wake up and it would be Easter. I couldn't find their Easter baskets so I ended up putting their stuff everywhere through out the house and they loved that! The big gift for the girls was their bed set for their bed's.(Princess of course) I also got them some outside toy's which was a big winner for them as well. I knew they would end up with lots of candy from other people so we decided to get them other things. The luncheon at our house was a winner. I can't believe how smooth it all went and how much fun everyone had. I made all the center pieces as well as the Easter treats. I made a ham that I put in the slow cooker during the night and it turned out great! The whole menu really came out great with everyone bringing something to help out. This was my first big get together and hopefully not the last, but Paul said he wanted me to take a couple of months off.=0) He knows that won't happen since I enjoy it so much! I hope you all had a great Eater as we did and hopefully it was spent with family or someone special. Happy Easter to all and God bless you! We love and miss each of you!=0)

Our Home!

2010-03-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

Well, i'm sorry once again that it has taken me this long for another post, but I've been so busy trying to get moved in and settled. We just hit a month of being in our home and can hardly believe it. We our loving the weather here so far because it's been high 60's and lower 70's. What we are having a hard time dealing with is the horrible wind that goes from 50-70mph, but we still prefer this over the cold snow storms in Utah. We don't understand the freeway only being 3 lanes in such a big city compared to 6 lanes in Utah. We aren't use to going to Wal-Mart and not finding what we want on the shelves because it is so stinkin busy here. We also have to get use to parking very far away from any store unless we get lucky, due to business too. We are about 20 min. from the closest grocery store and my favorite place to shop, wal-mart. Not use to that either cuz we were only maybe 5 min. from anything in Utah. We are still church hopping because we want to make sure we pick the right church that our kids can grow up in and have great friends too. We are thinking that it is going to be Coronado Baptist Church which is the one I picked out from the beginning. This church has a Saturday night service which we both enjoy and in the fall it will have all children classes available during this service. Plus, this church has MOPS which I plan to attend in the fall as well as AWANA's for Emilee so we think this church will be the one for us. It is only maybe 10min away from where we live. Paul is loving his new job, but can't believe that it's not as busy as what he thought it would be. He is on 24hr. call every 8 days, but has only had one case since he started so hopefully it will start to pick up for him as he gets more cases. He doesn't seem to have a problem with anyone on his team so that makes it easier to work with. He is still able to come home for lunch pretty regular because his work is about 15min. away and the girls just love that. I just think it's the cutest every morning to see the girls waving to their daddy as he leaves and yelling out to him that they love him and hope he has a great day at work. Emilee always reminds him about calling and checking on us in a little while. We haven't met our neighbors on one side of us for some odd reason, but on the other side of us the house is up for sale so we hope that God will bring some little kids to be friends with our kids and grow up with them. We haven't been out much to meet other people in the neighborhood since I've been busy unpacking and getting settled, but hopefully soon we'll start to meet more people as we go on our walks. The neighborhood is very quiet and peaceful at night so we can hardly wait for our summer nights to really enjoy the stars at night. We finally ordered the girls their bunk beds from Wal-Mart.com and should be getting them this next week delivered to us. Plus, I ordered a storage shelf to put more of their toys on and get organized so I can hardly wait to get it and have it all together for them to enjoy. Their old furniture went to Joshua's room so we had to start all over with their room and that hasn't been easy. We just got Joshua's bedding at Babies r us and couldn't wait to get it home and put it all together. We changed his decor for his room because we didn't want to have to change it in a couple of yrs when he is older so we are going with a sport theme that Paul picked out and I love it! Joshua just smiled and started to move a lot showing us that he liked it. We got our bedroom set not very long ago and we just love it too. Slowly, but surely things are really coming together here at the Malec home. Paul is excited about our pool table that we got used, but in very good condition. He had a sign made that goes perfect for the pool table area. We plan to have a big get together here for Easter and can hardly wait to just have everyone here for some good fellowship and fun. This is only the first of many get togethers we will have here. Well I guess that is it for now. I'm hoping to get an Easter post up next on this blog, but we'll see how that goes. I guess this is it for now! Thanks so much for your time in reading our blog and we hope you'll be back again soon. Love to all and God bless you!

P.S.

I just had to add a picture of my kidoes!=0)

Our Journey Back Home to El Paso, Tx!

2010-01-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

I know it's been like forever since I've posted anything on this blog, but I've been addicted to facebook and it's much easier to use when I'm posting pic's. Facebook isn't so easy to use when I have a story to tell or update on us. I'm trying to get better at this, but I'm just not a computer person to know how to do all the incredible stuff you can do to a blog to make it so cool. I really hope that I'm able to conquer that someday. Anyway, we've been through so much within the past six months in the event of moving closer to home that I just have to share how God blessed us! It all started after my final surgery last year of having a hysterectomy. That was our final straw of really looking into moving closer to family. In September of last year we made a trip down to El Paso just because it was a holiday wknd for Paul. Since we were talking about possibly moving back to EP we decided to start looking at houses on line before taking this trip. We found several and were excited to start looking without telling our families about the idea. We made the decision that if we forego this move that we weren't going to move unless our house sold. Well, we had fun looking at many houses, but it just wasn't what we were looking for. You see this was going to be our final move till Paul retires in another 15 to 20yrs. so it had to be our dream home. We were thinking about building, but that didn't work out with our plans, but sure would've been nice. Anyway, after coming back to Utah we continued to look at houses on line daily. We then found a few in the Canutillo area that would be close to Paul's work. I ended up going to El Paso for a funeral in October for a wknd and had a chance to look at these few houses that we really liked and I fell in love with them the moment I walked into a couple of them. I wanted a house that would be big enough to have family celebrations and holidays and not be squished in one area. Well these two houses were just the ones we were looking for. Plus, I was hoping to have a pool and one of these houses had one. I took lots of pic's for Paul and he loved them both too. The prices were at our rage as though we thought at the time. We went down for Thanksgiving and ready to tell everyone that we decided to put our house on the market and that we were looking for houses in El Paso. Paul was then able to view the two houses and was very excited. I was just happy that they were both still on the market. When we got back to Utah we started to get our house ready for showings. We had our house on the market since the middle of October and that was when our journey began. Thanks to Dad and Dawn for coming out here for a week to do a total home makeover right after I had surgery done. If it weren't for them we would've never been able to put our house on the market. They did a super job!!! Lots of hard work paid off! Our house was the only one on the market with as many showings that we had. It was booming and very hard on us as a family to get out whenever they wanted to see it, but knew it would all be worth it in the end when a contract would be signed. Well, January came around and we started to get very depressed cuz after having 40 showings and not receiving one offer on any of those, it was hard to understand. I then decided that I would get back involved with Bible studies and MOPS etc... We continued to pray and continued to stress out with showings and not getting results. Through all this Emilee was praying every moment of everyday to "Please move me closer to Nana" and "Please sell our house". There were times where Emilee would even cry out to Jesus saying "Jesus please, please, please sell our house so I can be closer to my Nana and cousins and my sweet Aunts"! That nearly broke my heart. Emilee also wrote a letter to Jesus and made Him a picture hoping to get an answer. Well it was on the 13th of January while driving home from dinner that we got a text from our realtor, Jen that within an hour we should have an offer on the house. We had two showings that evening and that was one of the reasons we went out. Within 24hrs of that text we had a final offer on the house that we all settled on. It was unbelievable for all of us! Then by the 17th they had an inspection done on our house. We were working our tail ends off for this inspection because we really wanted it to pass. We had Bible study that evening so we told the realtor to text us when they were done so that we could come let the dog out. Well God blessed us once again because they didn't even have a licensed inspector come and check the house, but the buyers dad came to look over everything. We were very honest with them on things that needed to be fixed. I wasn't gonna start my packing till we heard that we passed the inspection and sure enough we did. We got the text from the realtor and she said that we could continue to pack and not to worry, but she will send an email of stuff that was needed to get done. I couldn't believe it! Now here comes the good parts. After knowing this we decided to go check out the house that we had been looking at to see if it was still available. Sure enough it was and the best part was that it had dropped another $10,000 within the last week that we looked at it on line. So since we first looked at this house it had dropped $40,000 in price. Then we found out when we started the paperwork that they would pay $3,000 in closing cost if we took it at the price they were asking for it. We were in shock and jumped right on it. Still praying about it and asking God to continue to show us His will in all this and the finances too. We started to get a little scared cuz the relocation company wanted money up front that we just didn't have. Plus, we had to pay for the inspection to get done within 10 days of the contract. We didn't know what to do. Without sharing this with anyone else about the money situation we got a phone call from a family member that wanted to help us out and take care of a few finances for our move. We again, were in shock! Then through facebook I found out that a friends husband does inspections and he gave us a really good deal for our house that is over 2700 sq ft. God is so awesome! Now we are in the process of closing on our dream home in Canutillo, Tx on the 24th of Feb. Paul doesn't have to report to work until the 1st of March and that too was a gift from God. Once the ball started to roll in our direction it just didn't stop and we are now down to two weeks on monday the 1st till we close on the house here in Utah and 3wks on monday till we close on the house in Tx, our dream home. This one doesn't have a pool but we plan to put one in later with the backyard being very huge. So exciting!!! I share all this not to gloat about what we are getting, but what our wonderful Saviour has blessed us with to share with our friends and family when you all come to visit. Thank you once again for all your prayers during the past few months. God had a plan all worked out for us and we couldn't be happier. I'm so excited to see what His journey is for us in Tx.

"MY SPARKLERS"

2009-07-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been a couple of months since you've seen a blog from me and I apologize for that only because some of you are only able to keep up with me by this blog. I've been a huge fan of Facebook lately and would just put pic's on there instead of updating my blog because of how much easier it is. I'm sorry for not keeping up on my blog for you to enjoy. Anyway, today is the 24th of July which is a huge holiday here in Utah. Many people are celebrating and I'm just loving my little sparklers. My girls and my little boy are the joy of my life and although we have our struggles once in awhile with having 3 under 3, I can always just look at one of my sparklers, Emilee, Isabella and Josh then my troubles seem to disappear. They light up my life with their litle sparks which is their smiles, words that bring laughter, words of encouragement like "it's going to be ok mommy" and most of all just to hear them say "I love you mommy and daddy so much" from Emilee and wuv you from Issy with a blown kiss.

On the 4th this year we took our kids to our city fair here in Sandy. This is starting to be a tradition for our family now. It was a lot funner this year because Isabella was able to take part in some activities, but best of all, just being able to walk and not be held was good for all of us. We were here at the celebration for a few hours and then it was time to come home for a small nap. During their nap time I decided to pack up our pic-nic basket and load up the van to go see our city fireworks. There is a high school just up the street from us that hundreds and hundreds of people come out to and park their tents, chairs and even rv's for this show. We got there around 7pm which was the perfect time because within an hour after we got there it was jam packed with people. Emilee loved the fact of us having a picnic, but she was terrified of the fireworks so she would hide in the van from time to time. She was afraid of the ones close by, but luckily it was against the rules this year to not set off any fireworks because of how close everyone was to each other and a safety hazzard. That made me so happy! When it got dark I came up with the idea to give both Emilee and Isabella the headphones that they use in the van to watch the dvd player. It totally worked for them and they loved watching the show. The show is put on with music that you can tune into on a local radio station and of course it made me cry. It brought tears to my eyes to see my lovely husband and his girls sitting there watching this show. At that moment I closed my eyes and said Thank You Jesus ! We hope you all had great memories for the 4th to always remember and cherish.

Emilee's Dance Recital!

2009-05-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

Emilee had her dance recital on Saturday the 16th. She was so happy to be done with this class because she is really wanting to get into Hip Hop. This dance that she did was a tap dance to a 50's song. It was so adorable to watch her because she was the youngest and smallest girl in this class. I was so proud of her though for walking out on the stage in front of so many people. She was the leader of her class to walk on the stage. I don't think she knew what was going on until she saw the big crowd. I thought there was going to be a teacher down in front of them to direct them on what to do, but they were left to do it all on their own. So the class was pretty lost, but did great at remembering certain parts. Emilee just kept watching the other girls and followed what they did and that was the best part. She would stop and go whenever she would remember the steps. If I can learn how to download the dance from the video player to the computer I will send it to everyone to watch. I'm just very proud of my princess Emilee for doing her best and not giving up. I probably would've walked off stage if I didn't see a teacher there to guide me on what to do next. So for next year it will hopefully be Hip Hop and gymnastics. I'll keep you posted on that one. I hope you enjoy the pic's and I apologize for how the pic's are being posted on here. I'm still not getting how to put them on here correctly.=0( I know I'm doing something majorily wrong, but don't have time to sit and figure it and it's frustrating.(sorry!) Love to all!

35 wks on Mothers Day!

2009-05-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

Hello to all,

I Just wanted to give you an update on how things are going on this end before we have this baby. This will probably be my last posting until the baby arrives because there is so much to do to prepare for this exciting arrival. I have been doing really good since I hit my 35th week, but the contractions are more consistent and the pain is worse because of the incision from the surgery. The incision is healing up really good, but when my tummy grows or is having a contraction it makes the incision feel like it is trying to open. So that becomes very painful. The rash that I had all over my body finally went away after the doc put me on steroid creme and steroid meds to take. That was a living nightmare too, but I made it through. I'm just so happy to be on the downslope now on all of this. I feel like I'm gaining weight daily. The baby is still trying to play football in my tummy with very little room for him/her. Emilee loves seeing my tummy move and likes to feel it when it goes on. When we ask Issy where is Baby she comes to me and pulls my shirt up and says Baby and gets really excited. It is the cutest thing to watch. We are still trying to figure out a name for a girl, but we have one for a boy which will be "Joshua Paul". Emilee has her ideas too. So we've been having fun listening to her for a new name everyday. Emilee would like to name the baby "Julianna Joy", but we aren't stuck on that just yet. So if anyone has any ideas, please let us know. We want the first name to rhyme with the middle name being either faith, hope, love or joy. So let me know if anything crosses your mind. This friday I will be at 37wks with only 2wks to go.(ya-hoo!!!!) There are times when I don't think I'm gonna make it to the scheduled c-section day on June 5th because of the hard contractions I've been having, but it's nice to see that light at the end of the tunnel once the contraction goes away. I've made it this far so I know I can keep going unless God has another plan for us. We are hoping to have our deck down and the girl's swingset up before the baby arrives. Plus we are hoping to cement where the deck was at so that we can put our new patio furniture out there and be able to enjoy after the baby arrives. So we have some big projects going on outside that will keep us busy till the arrival. I have my bag packed and baby bassinet ready to go. We are still in need of getting a new stroller and car seat before the baby comes, but we have old backups just in case. Well, I guess that is it for now. I can't thank you all enough for the prayers that got us through all of this. God is so incredibly awesome and we are so blessed to have each of you in our lives! God bless you for blessing us during this time. I'm hoping to update this blog again once I'm home from the hospital with some pic's. Those of you with facebook will receive pic's a whole lot sooner.=0)

Another Malec Miracle

2009-04-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe how I survived this, but I know without a doubt that God had His hand in it all. I'm gonna start from the beginning of how all this fell into place. I'm not sure how many of you were aware from before of me having a cist on my right ovary way back in my 20th week pregnancy with Emilee. Well, the cist had stopped growing and I had hardly any trouble with Isabella's pregnancy. So the cist was forgotten about and I just moved forward. I was going to have surgery to remove the cist, right ovary and the fybroid that was outside of my uterous, but the doc said that if I was planning to have more kids that I should hold off. When we got pregnant with our 3rd baby the cist was seen on the sonagram, but it had decreased and I wasn't feeling too much pain. I was being seen for the spotting that I was having and the cramping too. Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, I didn't have anymore pains in this pregnancy until about March. I started to feel sharp pains off and on and I knew it was the cist again because I couldn't possibly forget how that feels. So the doc kept watching me and giving me meds to help me get further into my pregnancy. On Wednesday April 1st, 2009 I couldn't bare the pain anymore and I couldn't walk or sit. I was having minor contractions through the night on the 31st of March and finally in the morning Paul said that we needed to go see the doc. I ended up being checked in the Labor and Delivery room and had to stay overnight because they wanted to watch the baby and watch my white blood cell count. Everything was fine except for the cist being at 7cm. So I was released to go home by 12 noon the next day and of course with some pain meds. I'm not a person to take pain meds because of how they make me feel and I can't be like that with 2 little ones. So I just took Ibuprofen for any pain that the doc perscribed. Everything seemed to be better until around sunday the 5th. I started to have major pain and could barely handle sitting or standing and was very uncomfortable. It was even hard to lay on my bed. I was scheduled to see the doc on monday the 6th and Paul was also leaving that morning to go to DC for some training. His mom had come into town for a visit for easter on the 4th. So she took me to my doc's appt. scheduled at 3pm on monday. As soon as my doc saw me he said that he wanted to get a sonagram done on the cist because of how much pain I was having. I was then sent over to the hospital across the street to get that done. I knew something was wrong when they had 2 nurses and 2 doc's come in at different times to see my cist on the screen. It was even unbelievable for them. They kept saying no wonder you are in so much pain. I was able to see my baby on the monitor and was told that he/she is already at 4lbs and doing very, very well. I then felt a warm sensation go through my whole body and It was then I had peace about everything. I was told if I was going to have surgery that the baby would be just fine to come out because of the weight and how healthy it is. The doc came back in and said you are now going to be checked in at Labor and Delivery and your doc will meet you there to tell you what is going on. Remember, this was all going on while Paul was in DC. I checked in and still didn't know anything until around 7pm that night on the 6th. I started to panic only because if I was going to have surgery done I really wanted my husband to be there. I told the nurse to please ask the doc what is going to happen so that I can call my husband and let him know. Within an hour or so, I was given a band to stay overnight and the nurse told me that I better call my husband because within the next 24hrs. I was going to have surgery. The surgery was going to be a surgery that they were going to use a camera to locate everything and then take out without having to cut me open. The doc came in the room to see me and said he was sorry, but he was going to have to do a normal surgery because of how far along I was in my pregnancy and he didn't want to risk anything at this point. So at 5:30pm with Paul at my side and few women from my small group and Bible study group they all said a prayer over me and into surgery I went. I was out within an hour and don't remember a thing since I left my room. I was so amazed by how everything went. No one in Labor and Delivery could believe that I still had a baby in my tummy. I was in the hospital for a whole week before going home. I'm now at 33wks tomorrow(friday 24th) and I'm still having pain, but I'm doing well for just having surgery. I'm having more contractions now, but very far apart. The contractions just hurt because of the pressure it puts on the incision. Every evening the baby is wanting to play football with my tummy and that is really painful too. I'm just glad the baby is doing fine and I'm healing up great. I will see the doc again on the 28th.

The girls had a really hard time with mommy being in the hospital, but on friday night we still had our family pizza night in the hospital with a movie. It was a great time for me and the girls. Thanks again for all your support, phone calls, emails, short comments on facebook, food brought to my family, but most of all the prayers. We are so blessed to have faithful, Godly friends and family to bless us during this time.

Another Blessing!

2009-02-20T22:37:00.001-08:00

Well, can you guess what we are having? Here he/she is at 19wks and doing very well. Emilee was overwhelmed to be able to see all this on the monitor. Plus we received a DVD of the whole thing to keep in our records. I'm now on my 24th wk and so looking forward to the 3rd trimester that I will be starting on next friday. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going now. I've been feeling really good lately. So good that sometimes I forget that I'm pregnant. My sister Cinda is really insisting that we are having a girl, but I feel totally different with this pregnancy so it makes me feel like we are having a boy. Only 15 more wks till we have our beautiful baby in our arms. That sounds really close if you ask me. I'm just greatful to be doing so well now. So I thank each of you for your prayers during this time. God is just so incredibly awesome.

P.S.

Sorry the pic's came out so small. Just click on the pic to make it a larger one to view.

Emilee's First Day of School

2009-02-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hello to All,
I've been trying to get back to this blog posting, but have been very busy. I can only imagine how hard it's going to be with 3 precious little ones. For those of you that don't know already, Emilee has started pre-school at a Christian school just up the street from us. She was able to start late January because there was room for her to start. On her first day of school, Emilee was beyond excited! She kept telling me "mommy it will be ok because I'm going to learn a lot at school, so don't cry k". I did pretty good leaving her for the first time, but only because she was so comfortable with staying there and learning. I was very proud of her to say the least. She has matured so much since she started going to this school. Her teacher, Mrs. Marcia has told me that she catches on so quickly with everything. They have show and tell for the girls every Thursday which means that they must get in front of the class and explain what they brought from home and why. Emilee finds crazy stuff to take every week, but her first show and tell she showed off her rocks that she had cleaned with her rock tumbler that she received from Grandma Dawn and Grandpa Malec for Christmas. The teacher said Emilee did a great job explaining about her rocks. So we are very proud of her. On thursday's they also have field trip days, but she hasn't been on one yet due to the weather. So they all wear colored t-shirts. Her t-shirt is yellow and it has her school name on it. Emilee is learning how to make the letter E for her name, but she knows how to pick out her name when she sees it. She has her own cubby that she puts her stuff in as she comes in the door, but she has to pick out her cubby first with her name on it. So she is doing well with that. We plan to keep Emilee in this school for now, but may look into home schooling once the other girls get older. Utah has a great homeschooling program that helps connect with other home schooled kids with activities, etc. So we'll see what God has planned in that area. Emilee will be starting 3 day's a week starting in Sept. so that may be better for her. Right now she is attending an afternoon class that is two days a week from 12:30 till 3:15pm. but in the fall it will switch to the morning class. I'm just blessed that this school is just up the street from us and that there is room for her to be there. Emilee is very proud of her school and loves to tell people the name of her school which is Hilltop Christian School.

Update on Isabella

2009-02-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on Isabella. For those of you that don't know, Issy was/is having some trouble getting around by walking. She was still crawling and not even showing a sign of wanting to walk. So we decided to get her evaluated by a therapist. After the evaluation the therapist diagnosed Issy at only progressing at a 9mo old baby stage. So she is 5mo's behind. She has low muscle tone in her legs and that is why she is afraid to use them. They also plan to work with Issy's speech because she is still just saying daddy and blabing the rest. They said she should already be saying at least 8-9 consonant's. So they plan to work with her along with my help on that too. The therapist will be coming to our house at least twice a month to do some exercises with her and other stuff for an hour on every visit. After the very first evaluation Issy finally started to make her way up the stairs and loves to do it all the time. I think she feels extra special when she makes it all the way to the top. We are working on her learning to come down now. I'm just proud of her for finally doing this. Emilee was doing this at 9mo's. Issy has also started to stand up next to the furniture, but no scooting yet since the last appt. She is also starting to pull herself up onto things. They plan to work with her for at least 6mo's and hopefully that is all she'll need. If she isn't showing an improvement by june then they will get an MRI done on her lower legs to make sure there is nothing serously wrong. We appreciate the prayers during this time for some patience and not to push anything.

Exciting Updates!

2009-02-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry that it has been awhile since I've blogged. It has been pretty busy around the Malec house. So I'm hoping to get caught up here. Going back as far as Christmas, we had an awesome time here as a family in Utah. Wewoke up to snow not only on the ground, but it snowed all day long. Emilee loved it! The girl's didn't wake up until almost 10am and that was because we went and woke them up. So that was really nice for mommy and daddy. We started the day out with the story of baby Jesus from both the Bible and then from the Veggie Tales Bible. Then we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. The girl's both loved having gift's to open from everyone and they were very good about being patient to open them. We also enjoyed being able to go see all the light display's throughout Utah which Emilee really, really loved. She thought she was in Disneyland. This year we were also able to attend our Church Christmas show which was so awesome! It was filled with great music and then ended with a candle light service. I've alway's liked those. This was a Christmas to always remember. Hope yours was just as nice.

Emilee's 3rd Birthday

2008-12-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

I was so excited for this day to finally happen for Emilee because we had so many fun things planned for her and this special. I can't believe that Emilee is already 3yrs old. We always have a little morning thing for birthdays because it was something that I was brought up on and really liked it. So Emilee woke up with lots of excitement knowing that she had a little something waiting for her downstairs. She loved all the little stuff, but really liked her Fisher-Price camera that her Na Na got her. I let her open that so that she could take pictures all day of her excitement. Paul said that we should have an Emilee blog, but I can barely handle this blog let alone adding another to keep up with. Anyway, Emilee had to hurry up and eat because her friend Natalie was going to come over and we were taking the both of them to Disney On Ice. Emilee was so excited because there was going to be over 60 characters to see and we bought them front row tickets so that it would be extra special. I had both of the girls dress up in their princess dresses and it was so cute to see them together. They held hands very well while walking through the stadium. The show was about 2hrs long and then we took them to get a picture done together and then we were off to Mc'Donalds for lunch which was Emilee's choice. We came home and only had about an hour for nap time and then it was time to get ready for the party. We planned Emilee's party at Jim's Playland which is where she had it last year. We only invited about 5 girls and 3 of them only showed up, but it worked out perfect. I asked each girl to dress up as their favorite princess because we were having a princess party. Emilee's favorite princess is Arial, but for some reason she wanted to dress up as Snow White. Her cake was Arial because that was what she picked out as well. It was all a blast, but we were all exhausted by the end of the day. I'm so proud of Emilee for being such a great little 3yr old after having such a busy day. She loved all of her gifts and I believe that was her favorite part of it all because she received so much. Thank you Emilee for who you are and for your love for your mommy, daddy and sissy. We love you so much and look forward to another great year with you.

Funtime in the Snow!

2008-12-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

Our first snowy day was an all day process. It took all day for us to get about a foot of snow. Emilee would ask all day long if it was time to go out and play in it yet. I finally told her that the next day would be a sunny day and that it would be a little warmer to play in it. So the next morning right when she woke up she asked me if it was time to play outside yet. I told her that after breakfast I will go out with her and play for a little bit. We had a blast sliding down the front lawn on a sled and then making snowballs to throw at each other. Then she wanted to go to the backyard to play with our dog Simba. She thought it was fun to throw snowballs at simba while simba just sat there and let her do it. Then it was time to try and build our first snowman. I hadn't done this in forever, but it was so much fun doing this with Emilee. I couldn't believe how well the snow was sticking together as we rolled our three big snowballs to make the snowman. I didn't have any buttons for the eyes so we used raisins.=0) I had a carrot for the nose, but it wouldn't stick in the snow so we used raisins for that too. It was hard to keep the raisins on with both Simba and Emilee wanting to eat them. Oh well, that was the fun of it all. After we finished the snowman Emilee was beyond excited to see it all done. She thought it was funny that the snowman was as tall as her and that he was wearing her snow hat. Then Emilee decided that she wanted to roll around in the snow and make some snow angels. It was such a joy to see her have so much fun. I was amazed that she was able to stay outside for about 2hrs before complaining about being cold, but we had a great time together. This year was Emi's first year for her to really enjoy the snow and play in it. She also enjoyed eating the white snow after I told her it was okay to taste. I made sure she knew to only eat the white snow and not any other color. She thought that was funny. We haven't had any snow since this snow in early November, but Emilee can hardly wait for the next time there is enough snow on the ground for her to play in once again. She gets very excited when she sees the snow falling, but just hopes that it will stick on the ground for her to be able to play in it.

Isabella's Birthday!

2008-12-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that a year ago today my precious little Issy was born. To this day she brings so much joy to me and the rest of the family with her great smiles and funny sense of humor. It is also unbelievable how much she looks like her daddy. Issy loves playing with her sister and smiles everytime Emi is around her. Paul and I love watching them play together. Issy is also a music lover and moves her little body everytime she hears it. When Issy woke up this morning we took her right down stairs to her special birthday chair that both Emilee and I set up for her. Issy had no clue what was going on, but Emilee made sure she knew that it was her special day. We all had doughnuts for breakfast this morning, but of course Issy had one of her own and loved every minute of it. We didn't do a party for Issy because of us not knowing many people. So we had a special day with just the family and then we shared some cake with our small group that evening. Issy loved having everyone sing the Happy Birthday song to her. She did really well with all the excitement and teething going on at the same time. Issy also loved opening her gifts from everyone that evening. She had lots of help from Emilee to open them up. We ended the day with lots of hugs and kisses for each other and lots of giggles to go along too. Happy 1st Birthday Issy from your family! We love you and couldn't be more proud that you are apart of our family.

Festival Time with the girls

2008-12-05T09:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry that it has taken this long to update my blog. Things have been a little busy around here lately, but I couldn't let this go any longer. I'm gonna try and not make this too long. For Halloween(festival) this year we took the girls to the mall and they received candy from every store. Emilee did a great job walking around to all the stores in her high heal snow white shoes. She ended up with a couple of blisters the next day, but nothing a bandaid couldn't help with. Issy also did well in her stroller the whole time. She liked seeing everyone else in their costumes and enjoyed receiving so much attention from everyone. After the mall we took Emilee to a trunk or treat that was being hosted by a Baptist church(suprisingly) at Chik-fil-A and she received more candy there then the mall, but was able to play games too. It started to sprinkle a little, but it was right when Emilee was finished going to all the trunks of the cars. The best moment of all this was when Emilee got into the car and buckled in, she said "mommy and daddy thank you for letting me go get candy at the mall and at Chik-fil-A". I couldn't believe that she said that all on her own. I'm so blessed to have a thankful 2yr old. Emilee also had a party with her dance class this morning. So she had a full day of excitement!

Another Miracle...

2008-10-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

Surprise!!! Yes, you are looking at a picture of our 3rd baby that we are expecting to deliver on June 5th 2009. We did not plan this baby. In fact Paul has a date set in December to get fixed. So we were a little surprised, but happy. The baby is 7 wks and a day old, but I actually hit my 8th week this friday. The reason we had to wait this long to let you know of this excitement is because we had a lot of difficulties in the beginning. I found out I was pregnant and the very next day I started to bleed and clots were coming out. So we were were rushed to the doc's and he took a look at me and really couldn't say much because of how early it was. He said everything was fine though. So I was seeing him every two weeks. I was spotting for about a week so that was very scary. Then I started to cramp beyond belief, but the doc said that was normal too. The only symtoms I have through this pregnancy is being nauscious which I will take over the throwing up anytime. So I never felt like I was pregnant which made it harder on me. Most of you know how hard the first two pregnancies were with the throwing up. So I'm very thankful to God for blessing me without the throw up this time. Anyway, I was very anxious to get to the doctor's on Tuesday of this week and when we got there we had to wait about a half hour to see him. I was just scared they were gonna tell us to reschedule because the doc had to deliver a baby. Then I wouldn't know anything for another week or so. Once we got settled in and the doc came in he asked if I was ready for this and I said oh yea. As soon as he got a picture on the monitor I was so excited to finally see a sac. Thats what he was looking for. Then I saw it moving around. Wow, I started to cry because then we were able to hear the heartbeat loud and clear. So the doc said that it is official and we are good to go. He said I was safe to let family and friends in on this excitement. I hope each of you will be excited for us, but also pray for His protection through out this pregnancy and for the delivery. Some of you may not know this, but I almost died after delivering Isabella. It happened after I was already in the recovery room for about an hour. For some reason my Uterous wasn't contracting like it was suppose to be doing so they ended up calling a code blue to my room because I was losing a lot of blood. I was in and out so this info comes from my husband. I ended up having 3 pints of blood pumped into me. It was a very scary moment for my husband as well as my mom and even the doc. He said he hadn't been that scared in a procedure in the longest time that he's been a doc. So I guess it was pretty bad. Emilee remembers that I was in pain. So after she found out that I was pregnant she said that she doesn't want mommy's tummy to get big again because it will hurt her. So I told her that God will be help me through this. So now she prays for mommy's tummy and the baby every night before she goes to sleep and when she prays for her food. She said she wants mommy to have 2 boys.=0)(yea right)We will take whatever God gives us. She told me today that she can't wait to hold her new baby. So she is definetely excited about this new one coming along. Issy will be a year and a half old when the baby arrives so I hope it will be ok. We are very excited about all of this, but of course nervous and know that God has a plan. Right now I've been having fever's everyday and chills, but it comes and goes. So the doc is wanting me to keep in touch with him on everything that goes on with this pregnancy. I don't see him again until November 20th for a checkup unless something else comes up. I wasn't going to tell anyone about this until I made it through my 3rd trimester which is after November 28th, but the doc said that all is well and should continue to go well. Well, God Bless each of you and I thank you in advance for your prayers during this time. All I can say is that our God is an awesome God!!! Oh by the way, this is our last baby. =0) We love and miss all of you and hope to hear from you soon!!!

Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Pointe

2008-10-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Finally this year we were able to visit Thanksgiving Pointe for the Cornbelly's maze. Our church had an outing there for the fall one night and we were unable to make it because the girls were both sick. So I figured out that the tickets didn't have a date on them. So we went a week later on a friday night. Then we ended up getting through the gate for free that night because there was no one there to take tickets. So we kept our tickets and said we would go back on Saturday because the weather was so nice that weekend. When it got dark it got pretty cold. Emi was able to jump on this huge jumping pillow and then we went for the slides and then she rode on little cow ride that took her through some corn fields. She loved that. We stayed at the Cornbelly's maze for a couple of hours, but then we had to leave because it was just to cold for the girls and me. Emilee loved going through the different mazes. She was trying to tell me how to get out too. It was all too cute. On Saturday we went around 5pm and stayed till about 9pm. By the end of the night, Emilee had visited the Pumpkin Princess, pigs racing, made it through the big kiddie maze with daddy,visited the Princess Palace and dressed up as one,went to a corn house that was filled with corn seeds to play in, had some treats with sissy, sat in a huge rocking chair and then before we left for the night we decided to take the girls on a real helicopter ride. They were giving rides to people for a good price and a good cause. So we couldn't pass it up. Both girls loved it. Issy was laughing the whole time and Emi was talking the whole time. It was great. So I hope you enjoy the pictures. I'll be in touch and Happy Fall to all!

Scooter Ride

2008-10-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Emilee riding her scooter that we got her from a garage sale. She really wants to do this on her own, but is still learning how to steer the handle bars. There are some girls a little bit older then her that come by once and while with their scooters. So she is determined to do this. We are hoping to get her a bike for Christmas, but thought this would be fun for her work with for now. The helmet she has on is obviously to big for her, but again, it was from a garage sale and she is ok with it. I want to train her now about wearing a helmet because she will have to wear one in the winter time for skiing, snow tubing and sledding. Hope you like the pics and again, I apologize for the pics being all over the place. I've tried messing with them, but can't seem to get them to do anything for me. If you have any suggestions, I will be all open for them. I love some of the designs on the blog sites I see, but I have no clue how to do that. I hope to learn in the future though.=0)

"Pink Strides"

2008-10-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I just wanted to share with you a couple of pictures from the walk for the Breast Cancer Awareness on October 11th. We had a good time as a family doing this, but it was pretty cold. It was amazing to see how many people showed up to walk for this disease. We were like the third group of people to start off. So that was really nice. Paul and the girls ended up going around the park(Liberty Park) just twice and then I ended up going around 4 times. I found out later that I ended up walking 8 miles, but it was all worth it. I only saw 3 other people with The Pampered Chef shirts on which was even more of an encouragement to me to keep going. I was exhausted later that day, but more so on Sunday. I could barely walk. It was really cold that morning, but I made sure the girls were covered. It started to sprinkle right as I crossed the finish line and by the time I got to the car it was pooring down rain. It was suppose to snow that morning. So I was happy that God waited till we finished the walk to let the blessings fall down on us. I'm still accepting donations for this disease until the end of the month because I haven't quite hit my goal. So let me know if you are interested and I will send you the link. I want to thank those of you that have donated to help me out so far to get to my goal. I will be donating half of what I make from my shows for the month of October as my contribution. I will be doing this again in the month of may because I enjoy being able to help out like this and raising money for a good cause. God Bless each of you!

Our Little Princess

2008-10-07T11:16:00.001-07:00

Hello to all!

Just wanted to send a few pic's of Emilee and her dance class. She has a new teacher this year and her name is Meagan. The parents are allowed to come the first friday of the month to watch them dance and boy what a treat that is. Her teacher was very pleased with how well Emilee listens and how well she remembered steps from last year. She still goes every friday morning for about 45 min. She is learning a lot more steps in ballet. We are still hoping to put her in Gymnastics once she turns 3. The only reason she won't be able to attend would be if the class is filled up already. With her birthday being in November, she will be held back on a lot of things until the following year. Isabella is already 11mo old now and that is very hard for me to believe. She has her two bottom teeth completely in and the two top ones are poking through. She has just started to get up on all her fours. I'll have to get a picture of it because it is so funny. She is also starting to pull herself up on things. She has the funniest sense of humor and loves to make noise when music is on. Issy is no longer on a pacifier. Right at the end of 10mo. she just didn't want it anymore. So we are very happy about that. Her ear problem that she had before was caused by a horrible ear infection that she is slowly getting rid of with medicine. Emilee is having horrible allergy problems that just won't stop. On Sunday her eyes were closed with mucous in both of them. She kept complaining of them hurting, but they are better today after a lot of warm rags to clear them up. Now she has a horrible cough. We are starting to get into the cold season now, but we've all had our flu shots. So hopefully nothing will be to bad for us to handle this season. Well, I guess that is it for now. I'm trying to blog as things happen so that you all won't be reading a book at the end of the month or whenever. We have a lot going on this month. So I'll be in touch soon enough. Much love to all and we miss you!

End of Summer

2008-09-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

Hello to all!

I know that it has been awhile and I apologize for that. We had a very busy summer, but ended it with some with some great visits from family and then a trip out to West Virginia. My mom was able to finally come and visit us for 10 days and we ended up giving our front yard a huge makeover. It was kind of funny because neighbors were actually coming up to us that hadn't talked to us in the 3yrs we've been at this house and making conversation with us. I said it's probably because they didn't know we lived here because we were hiding behind all of the weeds and tall trees. I'm sorry that I don't have a picture to post of how beautiful our front yard looks because of my moms hard work. Great Job Mom! We were also able to take my mom to a few places because it was during the summer, but it was a little difficult because she had on a foot cast with a boot to help her walk. Anyway, we had tons of fun with her here and Emilee loved being with her everyday and playing outside with her. It was so nice to have her here and hope she can visit again. After she left it was only a few days later and we had Paul's step mom and dad finally come for a visit. They were here for a week and we did a alot with them too. We drove up to Yellowstone and stayed there for a couple of days and then drove back, but in those couple of days we covered the whole western side of the park including the Grand Tetons National Park. The girls were exhausted after all that, but the adults really enjoyed all the scenery. We came back to Salt lake and gave mom and dad a tour of downtown and also took the tabernacle tour. They also took Emi to the Aquarium up the street from us and Emi had a blast. After Mom and Dad left on Labor day we had only 3 days to get ready for our family trip to West Virginia. I was so excited to be able to go see my girlfriend in West Virginia that no sleep was getting done. The trip was great, but the best part was crying as I held my best friend in my arms as she greeted me. It had been almost 2yrs since we had seen them and that was way to long. We had tons of fun while visiting them and lots of memories to cherish along with many pictures to scrapbook. We were able to visit their great church and see Jay play in the worship band. What a blessing to see. We were also able to go visit some places that Jay and Jeana had never been too. So that was tons of fun. Anyway, I could go on forever, but I'm sure you all want to know more about how our girls our doing. Well, I'm going to be trying to find an ENT specialists for the girls to go see. After leaving WV, Issy had a very, very hard time on the plane. I was afraid they were going to tell us to get off, but with Paul being and Agent they all respected us very well. Issy cried for 3hrs straight and I felt so bad for her. We gave her everything we could possibly think to give her and nothing helped. So I'm in the search for an ENT because I now know that she is having some issues with her ears. So I hope you all will help us pray that I will find one that will care enough to do something for her before something serious goes wrong. Paul is staying busy with his work now because he has taken over the FBI area. So please pray that he will stay focused and know what to do with so much work at once. He will be working in their office at least 2 or 3 days out of the week. I'm doing pretty good with my business. I'm starting to get busy with shows now, but I'm loving it. I have 3 this next week. So please pray that I too will stay focused and remember to put God first in it all. Oh, Emi just started back at dance class and loves her new teacher. Her teacher said she couldn't believe how much Emi remembered from last year. We are hoping to put her also in gymnastics, but she has to wait till she turns 3 in November. Well, I guess I've posted enough info for now. We love you all and I hope you enjoy the pics that our posted. I just learned how to do this, thanks to my bud, Jeana. So I will post more pic's, more often along with updated info. Love to all and we miss you.

Family Update

2007-05-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. Just wanted to update everyone on how we are doing. I just found out how to do this blogging so i hope it works. For those of you that don't know already, i'm going into my 16th week of pregnancy which will be four months. The first three to almost four months, I was very sick. So I was out of touch with everyone for awhile. I was having severe pains in my stomach along with some bleeding that led to me being in the hospital a few times. I am doing much better now, but I now deel with having migranes and severe pain in my neck almost every evening. The baby is doing fine though and that is what keeps me going. This baby is due November 10th. Yes, that is 5 day's before Emilee's second birthday. We don't plan to find out what this baby will be. We want it to be a surprise for us. So hopefully it will work out that way. Emilee is now 18 months old and doing really good. She had her first bloody accident yesterday (23rd) which scared me silly. She fell off one of her little chairs because she was sitting on it backwards. Her top teeth went into her lip and took a little skin off. She is doing fine now. Emilee is a big talker in her own language, but we sometimes catch her speaking our language. We took Emilee to a Jazz (pro basketball ) game and since then she has learned how to say "go team go". She also does the hand motions of playing basketball.(Daddy loves that) Emilee loves to dance with any music that she hears. Emilee also loves to play with her babies and give lot's of love to them. We started doing some potty training with her and she has gone a few times in her chair. She actually tells us when she has poo-poo. So we are hoping to have her well trained before the new arrival of her brother or sister. Emilee knows that mommy has a baby in her tummy because she always points to mommy's tummy and says baby. She likes to give mommy's tummy a kiss for the baby. Well I know this is long, but it has been way too long since I've been in contact with many of you. If this blog works out I will update it monthly as I tried with Emi's website. I will also post pictures of us as soon as I learn how to post them here. Take care and God bless all of you. We love you!