What blessings life brings

Twinkle Light Parade

2010-12-18T12:56:00.000-08:00

She waved the entire parade without stopping

It is hard to see but its a car that was made to look like a train.

Twinkle Twinkle

2010-12-18T12:50:00.000-08:00

I finally have some time to update the blog!! The tiny teething monster is snoozing right now and the little bug is playing :)

We, as a family, can finally breath a little easier now that the semester is over!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!!!! It has been a pretty ruff one. It was my last semester for a while, so hopefully that makes everything easier.

We have been chugging along with our normal Christmas/holiday traditions. We were a tad late putting up lights (which has become a continuous project) and our tree because we all came down with a bug for Thanksgiving :( We took the kids to see the Twinkle Light Parade, which has become a tradition for us. We haven't made it to see the Bugg light display yet, but plan to this weekend or next.

ho ho ho

2010-12-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays

It’s that time of year again when we gather together to enjoy the holiday spirit and spend time with family. This is also a wonderful time to reflect back on the past year and remember our joys and all that we are thankful for.

We began our year by being sealed together as a family on January 2^nd. It was a wonderful experience and we were blessed to have so many come and partake of our joy.

On February 24^th we were blessed with our 2^nd child, a little boy named Maximus Myers McCracken. He has been a wonderful blessing to our family. He is now walking all around and waves hello. He enjoys following his sister around and doing everything she is doing.

Lana turned 3 this year. She has really become a big girl in the last year. She is a wonderful big sister and a big help around the house. She is full of life and energy and has recently put it all to use with dance classes. She really wants to be a ballerina. She is also very excited to start school this coming January.

Larry is busy with school working as hard as he can to graduate by next December. He was accepted to the University of New Mexico and is pursing his degree in Nutrition/Dietetics. He became a certified personal trainer during the fall semester. He fills his spare time playing pranks and going to the gym.

Nina has been busy with school and work. She also became certified as a personal trainer in May. She has worked as a trainer at a few gyms here in town. She also watched a few kids over the year; one being Lana’s best friend Emma. She keeps busy with everyone’s activities and has started doing baking and crafts with Lana.

All in all our year has been a busy one with a lot of people we love. We look forward to the coming year and all it has to bring to us. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from our family to yours.

Up, up and away

2010-10-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

Since we are the poor college students were we skip events that require any type of payment. This includes the International Balloon Fiesta. Every year we find a place close enough to watch the balloons take off or wait for them to come over the neighborhood.

This year was no different. We waited for balloons to com e into the neighborhood and did our annual chase the balloon until it lands.We saw one balloon crash thanks to power lines and then we found the hot spot at the food stamp and SSN office's parking lot We watched 5 balloons land.

The kids each got a balloon card and a balloon pin. They had a good time. Once again I was in sweatpants and slippers for the events,

And he's off!!!!!!!!!

2010-10-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Little man has been cruising around for a few weeks now by holding onto the walls. In last last couple of weeks he has been doing it freely. We were able to capture this awesome moment on camera!!

So we will soon have a toddler on our hands.......... Now I can't wait to finish school!!!!!!!!!!

very over due post

2010-09-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

So it has been a while since I lasted posted. I need to make more time for myself :) It's been a crazy summer with school, work and kids. For most of the summer we had an extra 3 kids (awesome kids I might add). I went back to work and my first gym closed :( but they placed me at another gym that was far away. I worked both gyms for a couple of weeks (I'm slightly crazy I suppose). I have recently got a job at a really great gym here in town as a trainer. The schedule is flexible enough that I don't miss out on being mom :)

Larry and I started school again. Larry is splitting his time between CNM and UNM. We are getting closer and closer to Larry being done!!!!!! WHOO HOOO!!! I am only taking two classes since my life is already fairly full.

The kids are doing great! Lana loves Go Diego Go and Dora the Explorer. I swear those shows have taught her things I wouldn't think to teach her. She knows a little bit of Spanish from it and has taking a love of helping/sitting with me for my Spanish homework. Lana tells us all the time she needs to do homework and will get out a notebook and pen. She is a sweetie and we love her a ton. She has been such a great big sister.

Maximus is a cruiser these days. He started holding on to furniture or objects and pulling himself up and walks all around. he even holds the walls and gets around. He has been doing this for a few weeks. Here in the last couple of weeks he has decided to start crawling. I figured he stared this so he could get from one point to another and then walk again. He really loves his sister. He wants to be anywhere his sister is. He follows her everywhere!!!

The one handed stand man.

Summer fun somethings begun

2010-06-18T11:38:00.000-07:00

So this summer has kept us all very busy. A good busy though. I have learned that I can in deed handle 6 kids varying in age. My oldest nephew is keeping us on our toes with normal teenager stuff. My other nephew is a home body, who I discovered has a love for baking. So far this summer, Wyatt, Lana and I have made bread, a cake and some whole wheat Spenda mini M&M cookies. Wyatt has been so happy and excited about each project. It really made Larry's and my day when he was telling his dad about everything. Here are some pictures of our end products. Note: the cake has two different types of frosting on it. lana did the pecan side and Wyatt did the cream cheese side.

Each treat was delicious and brought two wonderful smiles. I love being a mom and an auntie. Now to have Wyatt makes something else.

Here comes the summer.....

2010-06-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

        So it has been a while since I have last blogged and their is a good reason for this. I have not just been busy, I have been overloaded. Yes I have (and Larry) done it again. We have piled as much as possible upon ourselves. It's what we are good at and we succeed at it :) So for many people summer is a time of fun in the sun, vacations and down time, for us McCrackens it means complete as much as you would in a semester in less time. We love it though and it keeps us going and gets us to sleep at night, many times in mid sentence.

       Larry is transferring to UNM this fall but is already into his major work. He has a little over a year left (I can't wait!!). He is going for a major in Nutrition (a fav. topic in our house) and is thinking of a minor in chemistry. They go along really well together and the nutrition program requires a ton of chemistry classes. He is loving his classes this semester, 3 classes and 2 labs. They are each keeping him busy. I am finishing up my Social Work degree this December (hallelujah!), although I may continue on to Highlands Univ. for more schooling but I don't know. My classes this summer are a little overwhelming but do able. I am taking 5 classes and a lab. EEK! Three of my classes are on campus. Last month I took my personal training certification test and passed. WHOO HOO! I am a certified personal trainer now. I had been working on that while I was going to school and working. I am slowly chipping away at my goals. I plan to take a fitness nutrition program here in the near future as well. Larry is working on his personal training as well. He should be finished here in a month or so.

           So not only are we going to school, we have our two little angels. They are also keeping us busy as well. Lana has a trampoline and a swing set that she has really enjoyed and she got a new puppy. His name is Scooby Doo and he has kept us pretty busy so far. Now I am sure you are telling yourself, man that's a lot but I am not through :) On top of our two little angels we have three other angels that we watch. My nephews (who arrive at 5:30 AM) are here for the summer, which I thought 13 and 12 year olds didn't need much watching. LOL. Although they are independent they still need to be reffed. We also watch our friend's daughter aka Lana's best friend Emma. Lana and Emma really know how to keep a house busy :) It's a ton of fun though. Thankfully Larry is here to tag team with me.

        Since Larry and I have our schedules worked out pretty well there is even some time for the gym. Oh what a wonderful bliss hour it is. I love the gym, there is nothing like lifting weights to clear the mind and strengthen the body. My weights have gone down since I stopped lifting about 3 months into this last pregnancy. Larry and I have also been riding our bikes to school. That is some nice alone time as well. Somehow we achieve all of this, plus our mini projects and somehow get our homework done. Mini project= 1994 5.0 Mustang. We also have a 1968 Cougar (Vicky you may remember this machine cruising our neighborhood). Both are at a stand still until we are completely fixed on a good schedule.

     I can't wait until we are done with school, but I have no clue what we will do with the extra time. We are hoping to put Lana in ballet this November. She really wants to dance and we are putting the word out that a wonderful present would be a month of dance lessons for her. That means less stuff in our home and our pickle can live her dream.

   Thankfully Larry did some housework while I was at school today, kids are down for naps and I could finally write! I hope to have some pictures sometime soon!! If I am MIA for a while that means this semester got crazy.

Amen

2010-04-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a huge milestone in Buggies life. I asked her who she wanted to say the night night prayer and she was a being a weirdo. So finally I asked her if she would like to say it and she agreed. So I began telling her to start :Dear Heavenly Father:, well she repeated it which was wonderful bad thing is she felt the need to scream it. The whole prayer she screamed. Even Amen...... now I am glad she is saying her prayers but hopefully next time she can say it in a quiet indoor voice. I didn't even know she had started the prayer until Larry said something. Our sweet princess is growing on up.

one step, two step, more steps

2010-04-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

So Larry and I celebrated our 3 year mark being married on April 21st. I am very grateful to have such a loving and caring husband, who is also a wonderful father. For those that don't know it has been a long road for us and many many years of friendship to get to where we are today. Those that have stayed by our sides: we are indebted to your kindness and support. I know many people have had to listen to me over the years yap my mouth over the "cute boy". I still feel sixteen around home, and I think I may feel like an eternal teenager because of him.

Now for a condensed version of our "courtship":

I first met Larry at youth way back in late 1996. My friend Ruth was talking to his buddy Mike, who let the cat out of the bag that Larry liked me. Well once that knowledge was made known to Ruth she did everything she could to set us up. Luckily Larry and I really hit it off on the phone, and soon he was tying up my parents phone lines for hours on end. We went on our first "date" sometime in March of 1997 to see Grease when it was released in the theaters. I say "date" because I wasn't 14 yet and my mom dropped me off and two friends went with me.
We dated for some time then broke up. We stayed good friends for the next couple of years, but grew apart in social activities and drifted away from our friendship.I would call him occasionally to check in on him and he would do the same to me. So for the last couple of years of high school it was a phone call here and there. I did see his buddy Mike's mom at church and she would keep me updated on how the two were doing.
After I graduated high school he started contacting me again and I would occasionally receive the phones calls. More of the time my roommate got the calls. We started talking more once I started college in the fall of 2002. By Thanksgiving of 2002 we had finally saw each other again. The last time I had seen him before that was probably sometime in 2000. We met up and instantly hit it off again. We dated once again this time for a short 3 or 4 months before he pulled a disappearing act on me. He did give me a promise ring and promised that when the time was right he would marry me :( I had to wait for him for a different type of mission then most girls. He needed time to figure himself out and wanted to protect me.
After the break up I was pretty devastated and it took me a while to move on and be okay. We both went our separate way for a short amount of time. I made my mistakes and he did his. We lived and learned what we needed. I had moved away for a short period of time and came home to visit my family when you wouldn't believe it, I ran into him. I happened to be going to get my dad for a lunch date and saw a small care accident and it was him! I was excited, scared and frustrated all at the same time. I told my dad about the run in and he asked why I didn't stop to say hello (my parents are old school and make small talk with anyone they know). As I was re-telling the story to my younger brother the house phone rang. After all the years he still remembered my parents number! First thing he did was apologize. Seems as though he didn't want to hurt my standards or pull me down and felt that it wasn't the right time for us. So it took him a little more then 2 years it happened. We began talking on the phone again in May 2005. Since then we have done a lot of talking. From May 2005- January 2007 we saw each other twice, but talked on the phone contently. I must have been his New Years resolution because we have talked and been together since then.

This is very condensed because so much has happened to us. I love him with all my heart and I know I can trust him with my life. It has been an uphill battle to get to where we are today but I am grateful for every moment of it. I have learned a lot about myself, the atonement, forgiveness, laughter, forgetting, and living because of him. I look forward to the next 60+ years with him and some more kiddos.

Now for the cools, as we say. We spent our anniversary being fairly boring. Larry went to school I hung out with the kids. Larry did come home early from school to spend time together though. His mom came over and watched the kids while we went out. We took the motorcycle for a cruise down to El Pinto restaurant, which was very nice. We had a nice meal and a good time. It was nice to get out. We then cruised around some and then went up to the temple. We sat for a bit and talked. It was very windy that day so our ride down to El Pinto was, needless to say, exciting. We then came home and cuddled our munchkins and went to bed. Even though the date was simple it was very enjoyable and relaxing. It is something we need to do more often.

Mommy-hood and more

2010-04-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

So our new edition to the family has been one heck of a hit!! Lana absolutely loves her baby brother. She will be a great big sister. She is always wanting to help with diaper changes, getting him in his car seat, giving him his blanket and pacifier and she likes to cuddle while he eats. She is always kissing him and hugging him. The poor little guy doesn't get much sleep thanks to his big sis. She is more then ready to have him up and playing. Although we have explained many times he isn't big enough to play yet, she still insists on dancing with him.

Since she has been such a wonderful sister we treated her to a trip to the Natural History museum. It was Maximus' first big trip out of the house. I was pretty tired and sore after carrying him the whole time but it was worth it :)

We have really enjoyed being a family of four. It has been a little more work then before but worth every moment. Lana is a ton of help. Two-three days a week I watch Lana best buddy and they keep each other fairly occupied and busy. Two toddler/preschoolers are busy people! This summer Larry and I are also anticipating our two nephews to be with us as well. Those two are a huge help with the smaller ones :) We have discovered we can handle 6 or so children but we don't know if we want that many yet........Over spring break we finally painted our house, and had more then just our two kids here :) I can multi-task which is great.

Our house is no longer the ugly turquoise house any longer!! We have a nice brown normal New Mexican home :) It makes me very happy. It was a ton of work and Larry and I were both very tried after all the work. We had some help from Robert and Stone.

This is from when it was primes. I will blog another day about the painting. Right now Mr. Maximus is cranky and mad because his sister decided to jump on him...............

Maximus Myers

2010-03-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

We welcomes Maximus Myers McCracken on February 24th at 11:47AM. He was 21 1/4 inches and the hospital said he weighed 5lbs 15oz (which later was determined as a mistake). He actually weighed 7lbs and closer to 12 or 15 oz. He was a big boy :) He left the hospital at 7lbs 5oz. The labor was fairly easy and went quickly. I stayed home for most of the laboring which made it easier to relax.

Unfortunately the little guy decided to go potty while he was inside and the NICU team had to be called in case he swallowed the meconium. Not only did he swallow it but he swallowed too much amniotic fluid as well. The poor little guy spent the first couple of days in the NICU getting everything out of his lungs. Thankfully the staff at the Lovelace Women's Hospital is amazing and he was well taken care of. The staff at the hospital really impressed us and really kept us informed. We were able to bring little Maximus home on the 27th. He seems to be doing pretty good. He had a few respiratory problems while he was in the hospital but we haven't seen anything yet at home.

We are so happy to have him home with us. Lana has loved having her brother home and spends much of her time giving him kisses and wanting to just give him loves. She is always asking if she can hold him and likes to climb into the recliner with me while I feed him. She decided the other day she would suck on my arm. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was hungry. Apparently I leak milk everywhere. :)

Almost there!!!

2010-02-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I have updated the blog. Well I am super pregnant and ready to pop :) We are both ready to have our little guy join our family and move on to the next chapter of this adventure. We had waited until the last couple of weeks to get Maximus' room prepared but now we have it and are waiting on him. We thought he would surely join us weeks ago. I dropped about 3 or so weeks ago and have been graced with the Braxton Hicks.
Here we are trucking along at 39 weeks and almost 1/2 weeks. The contractions are coming more often then they were so it can't be too much longer! Lana is pretty excited about the baby and tells us all the time stuff is for the "little baby".

To eternity and beyond !!!

2010-01-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

We made it!!! Larry, Lana and I were sealed together on January 2nd in the Albuquerque, New Mexico LDS temple. It was such a wonderful and beautiful experience. It was worth every moment in our lives that lead up to getting there! Larry and I did our endowments the same day as the sealing. Although it was a long day it was worth it and the time seemed to fly. Both events were beautiful and worth all the work it has taken to get there!

Larry and I were lucky enough to have two wonderful people who have impacted our lives in many ways, go threw with us as our escorts. We appreciate the love and support Vicky and Sebastian have for us and for their wonderful spouses who allowed us to stealing them away for the morning. We feel so grateful for them being there with us. We are grateful for all the people who attended the endowment and the sealing. Having that support there is priceless.

We have spent so much of our life together dreaming of this moment. It is the one thing I wanted more

then anything since I was a little kid. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful and loving man in my life that I have been able to share this great experience with! He is one terrific guy who I love more the anything!

We were even more grateful for our little angel! She is the cutest little angel ever! She was so well behaved and calm while she was with us. Although we only saw her briefly, she was being so good. She looked so beautiful in her little dress. I loved even more that the first words out of her mouth when they opened the door was "mama". What wonderful words!! She didn't want to leave when it was time, which really touched my heart :) She loved playing outside and looking at the "waterfall". She is a cutie pie. We take occasional strolls at the temple and she loves it!

I was so excited and thrilled to have my childhood best friend come down to be with me on this journey. I kept crying all the way up to her arrival because of how grateful I was for her being there.

We are so happy for our little family. This was an experience worth everything we have worked for. Its an experience that we can only agree with Spencer W. Kimball on when he said "It wouldn't be far to crawl if one knew what he was getting and what he was missing if he didn't go." What a blessing to our life! We love our life and only want to continue changing for the good.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

           We hope everyone is enjoying the season and remembering the wonderful blessings that come from the gift the Savior gave to each of us. Our year has been full of blessings that have brought us closer together and closer to the Savior.
           Lana is growing like a weed. She enjoys everything life has to offer and takes advantage of all there is to learn about. She has started to sing along to songs and enjoys playing the piano and drums. She is also our little artist who spends countless hours drawing and coloring. She loves the idea of her baby brother and enjoys kissing my belly. This year she has really taken in the Christmas season and has found a love for Christmas lights. We have taken her out a couple of times to cruise around Albuquerque to see some well decorated homes.
          Larry has spent most of the year as a full time student. The company he was working for was sold and we decided there is no better time for him to gain an education. He has declared his major in Psychology and is still deciding if he wants to be a counselor or get his doctorate and become a clinical psychologist. The expected graduation date from UNM is 2011. He is our A student who enjoyed most of his classes. He is very active in the church and doing service. He has been a great dad spending a lot of time working with Lana. He has been pretty successful with potty training Lana so far.Larry was called as a Sunday school teacher of the 12 and 13 year old. He loves every moment of teaching.
        Nina has been a busy bee as well. In June we found out that we are expecting our 2nd child. We have enjoyed the pregnancy and are excited about the new baby boy that is joining the family. Nina is still in school and should have her associates by the end of Spring term 2011. At some point she will finish up at Highlands University. She is still working as a pharmacy technician and plans to work up to her due date. She is looking forward to the break from doing both work and school. She loves being mom and tries to find time to do fun things with Lana. She was recently called as a Young Womens adviser for church. She has enjoyed teaching the classes and working with the girls.
        All in all it has been a fun year full of adventure. We look forward to the coming year with all the blessing we have coming. We look forward to being sealed together on January 2nd and Maximus coming in February. We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season.

Big news!!

2009-12-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

Larry and I are very excited to announce that we are going to the temple on January 2, 2010. We have worked so hard for this and are very grateful for all the preparation we have taken to get here. We are ready to take this next step in our lives and make the life long commitment that is involved. We are also very excited to be sealed together as a family, which we are doing on the same day. It's an exciting moment in our lives that we can barely wait for.
We are very grateful for all the love and support we have received from family and friends. We know how important this moment will be for the rest of our lives. We are blessed with so many wonderful people that have contributed to the happiness we feel in our lives.

November

2009-11-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

November has been an exciting month. Our pickle bug celebrated her 2nd birthday with lots of friends and family. I couldn't believe our little home held so many people. It was a great time and wonderful company! She really enjoyed being sung to and eating her cake.
The picture of the car above is from November 28th from the Twinkle Light Parade in Albuquerque. It was a lot of fun. The rain was a little bit of a bummer but we all stayed pretty warm and dry.

Of course it's that wonderful time of year when joy, thanksgiving and thoughtfulness is in the air. There is something about Christmas time that just makes the soul sing. For the McCracken household its time for lights. We have our house decorated and are sharing our joy with all who want to see it. We are hoping each year it can get bigger and better. Larry really enjoys putting up the lights and did a pretty fantastic job! We plan on putting our tree up here really soon. We seem to keep our selves so incredibly busy this year. Good news is that the semester is almost over for a nice little break!

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, sibilings, The McQuarries and Larry's parents; all at one time!! It was great. It was a feast with a lot of people. I couldn't imagine life any other way. I love being surround with people that I love and love me. After the big gathering, Larry and were able to make it to his Grandma Smith's house to again, be surrounded by wonderful loving company. We showed up a little early and were able to visit and hear cool stories from Grandma. it was a great Thanksgiving and we truly are grateful for all the blessings in our life. Our 1 1/2 kids, who have really brought us joy, for the gospel, for repentance, for family, for school and the support we give each other to make all our dreams come true.

YUM!!

2009-11-04T20:02:00.001-08:00

Since I have been pregnant, Larry and I have been a lot better about our time management. I have tried to incorporate more baking into my time. I really love cooking/baking and being in the kitchen. The best part is Larry gets such a sweet tooth when I am pregnant so all my goodies have a place to go. I found this website on my friend Jessica's blog and took a look at all the cute ideas for treats. I found this recipe for pumpkin bites that look so magically delightful. I thought I would share it with everyone, since they look so dangerous. I hope to make them here soon. When I do I will let everyone know how they are.

http://www.bakerella.com/pumpkin-pie-bites/

I'm blue.......

2009-11-03T16:25:00.001-08:00

So there is nothing like doing your homework and thinking your child is quietly playing or watching the T.V. I suppose for the first rule of parenting is: If you can not hear your child check on your child. A quiet child is always bound to be getting into something.

Larry and I were busy doing our homework the other day thinking how well behaved our little angel was being. Larry was on the phone when little miss angel comes up to me with blue hands. I was far from happy that she had colored her hands and left her in the living room with her daddy to get a baby wipe to clean. Needless to say a baby wipe was far from what we needed. When I made my way back to the living room I found Larry laughing as hard as he possibly could and Lana as embarrassed as can be. Not only did she manage to color her hands, and her mouth, she decided to color from her chest down to her pants. I couldn't believe her. She was a huge mess.

Our little artist in training. Why she had to pick herself as her the canvas I don't know.

Flying kites

2009-10-13T20:34:00.001-07:00

We bought a kite at Smith's that was marked down. We had so much fun flying the kite and playing at the park. It was a lot of fun. It's amazing that the wind is strong enough in the fall to enjoy the kite.

Balloons

2009-10-13T18:44:00.002-07:00

We took the time out to check out the balloons on opening day of the Balloon Fiesta. It was pretty neat. We didn't go to the actual balloon fiesta park, we went close enough to get a good view. We were able to see the balloon inflate and everything from where we were. It beat sitting in traffic and dealing with all the people.

Chase that balloon!!

2009-09-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

Some Sunday mornings are more eventful then others. This happened to be one of them. This past Sunday (September 20th) Larry was making his special Sunday breakfast when out little outdoor toddler spotted hot air balloons. Our house is a good place to watch balloons, they constantly fly over us. Last year one landed up the street from our house.

We saw how excited Lana was about the balloon, so when we saw two descending close to our house we jumped in the car and followed them. My work is about 2 or so miles away from the house and a lot of balloons land in the open lots. Lana and Larry had seen one land up the street from my work about a week earlier. Well anyways we followed one balloon to find a different balloon getting ready to land. We pulled up just in time to watch it land.

While we were out watching the balloon be taken down, Lana got so scared. The loud noise that the burner made scared her so bad she wouldn't let us put her down.

Zoo trip

2009-08-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

Mama, Lana and a Zebra. Lana kept saying neigh neigh. At least she gets the idea of sound to animals. She loved them. It was hard to make her part from them.
The elephants were also a hit. We stayed and watched them a while. They were very animated and full of life. The little one was a ham and a half. A train went by and scared them so bad they were circling each other and in a protective circle. I didn't know elephants made such crazy noises. One resembled a lion growl, who would have ever thought.

The zoo was a lot of fun this past week. Even though we all caught a little cold. Lana really liked the seals, but it was hard to catch her and a seal in the picture at the same time. Even though she barely slept the night before and woke up early she was a fairly happy camper. She enjoyed most of the animals. Yes, it's true she only enjoyed some of them. She wasn't a fan of the apes.

Here she is hiding from the gorilla. She really disliked them. She kept hiding her face and saying ewe and ahh. She cried some when we set her down to look in the window. She didn't even want to see them. She waved at one and then got shy and scared.

This guy cracked us up. He was peeking at people. It is a very playful large kitty. Lana loved him though. Our camera kept dying so we didn't get a whole lot of pictures. We hope to go to the zoo again next month before school goes into full swing. Its something we can afford to do other then the wonderful hiking and cruising around we do.

To Fenton and beyond

2009-07-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

We spent the last part of our week camping at Fenton Lake in the Jemez mountains. It was beautiful and wonderful weather. I am very glad to report the bugs were few in numbers. There was mostly nats, which I can deal with it. Our camp site was a prime location for chipmunks, which at first were cute and enjoyable. They soon became a slight annoyance and were everywhere. The only other animal run in we had was with some racoons trying to find something to eat and bothering the near by dumpster. Lana did very well with everything. She didn't cry too much and she only threw one tantrum when she was tired, over some dogs she saw

We spent Friday looking around at the hatchery, fishing and hiking. It was a busy day that left us with a tired baby. She had a blast fishsing, granted she needed a lot of helping casting and was more interested in the passing trucks.

One happy kid!

The Hatchery

Lana helping Daddy with the fire

The flower Lana picked for me :)

Helping with the tent set up
All in all it was a wonderul trip and the families that stayed next to us were both wonderful and very kind. We were able to enjoy a beautiful mountain rain storm on Friday afternoon. We made a shelter and ate some soup with it pouring. Nothing is a bigger reminder of God's love then being out in the open with nature. We enjoyed our fires with nice long talks and readings. We are excited for our next big camping adventure. We stopped off at Soda Dam and stopped for Indian tacos and frito pie on the way back to reality.

Here ducky ducky ducky

2009-07-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to take a trip to the duck pond. Trying to get our daily walk in can sometimes be trying. We enjoyed our little family trip, having some good laughs at Lana. We fed the ducks, turtles and fish. Oddly I never knew turtles or fish ate bread, but we figured they have adapted to their their life in the pond!

Baby Due Date!!

2009-07-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

It's offical the baby's due date is Febuary 28th, 2010! We had orignally thought Febuary 5th, as did the doctor but the sonogram says the 28th. The baby is healthy and has wonderful measurments and a very good heartbeat, 169 beats :) We are very excited about the baby and are already planning how we are going to fit everything.

our grass

2009-07-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

We have succesfully planted grass in the desert!!! It has come in very full and green!! We are very excited!!

Where's your car?

2009-07-02T09:50:00.001-07:00

Well Sunday morning was a beautiful morning, like any other. Larry got up early as usual to water the grass in the back yard, eat breakfast and study. Me, being the lazy pregnant mommy I am, was still in bed getting some rest with the buggy monster. Larry went to open up the blinds to let the morning sun in and in shock he ran back asking "Where's your car?". I don't know if I have ever jumped out of bed so fast! He ran back to the living room and ran back in asking me "where is your car?". All I can think is, where ever you parked it last night. Very puzzled I ran to living room and to my surprise it was gone!!!

Someone had stolen our car Saturday night. In a panic I called the police and rushed to get ready. Larry ran out to his car to find it had been riffled threw. The cop came and got all the info he needed and told us that 14,000 cars were stolen in 2005 and 10,000 were recovered. All we could hope is that we could find our car because we couldn't afforde another one. The cop also told us the owner tends to spot their car long before the cops. Well we quickly got ready and jumped in the Maxima, which I should add was having some car problems (which ended up being a broken coil). we drove around sad and disheartened. My parnets called and brought us lunch and sat and talked with us, helping us with some other options. Well my parents had some things to do and said their goodbyes.

As we sat in defeat so sad, my mom called "I found your car! I found your car! Whooo HOO!!!" I couldn't believe the words she was saying. They found my car 2 blocks away from our house with out a scratch! Some low tires but that is minimal. We went to them and waited for the police and CSI. We were able to take our car home. The bum used 1/2 a tank of gas (my Versa didn't even use a full tank from ABQ to Durgango. 1/2 a tank can last me a while!). I am guessing they went about 50 miles. I am so glad we found our car the same day it was lost! We have had the keys changed and the computer reset.

What a Sunday it was.

adding on to the family

2009-06-15T20:05:00.001-07:00

Great news! We are pregnant again!!! We are very excited. The "d-day" is Febuary 5th, 2010. We can't wait and are very excited to the addition to our family. We are a little over 6 weeks (yes we have a long way to go!)

Small update

2009-06-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

I know I am horrible at keeping this up! I am staying pretty busy with school and work and then life :) Lana has seemed to adjust very well to having daddy home with her. Larry, for those that don't know, was laid off in April. He spent a month working on our yard and spending time with Lana. He is now back in school and enjoying his classes. We have somewhat adjusted to the bump in our road. We are looking into both going to school full time and working part time. I may just take a class as I can and continue to work full time until he finishes school. Daddy has been wearing our angel out during the day. She can't even stay awake to enjoy Blue's Clues :)

We bought Lana a little pool, well it was bigger then expected, that she has enjoyed swimming in.Larry and I have jumped in with her. She is a very active child. She loves to dance and draw. I had my study guide out and found her coloring in my body parts for me. She will know the muscles in her body better then anyone else now. We are BioPark Society members, isn't that nifty, and took a trip the zoo around the time of our anniversary, We have been trying our hardest to keep activities going on. Our schedules are so busy that we just need a break!

All on all we have been pretty good. We have planted 3 trees in our yard. 2 Aspens and an Autumn Blaze Maple. Our yard is finally starting to look alright. Our neighbors have been very happy with it. We had big plans for the yard but with the lay off we bought them on hold. Our run down shack is become a beautiful palace that we have fallen in love with.

I am still working on gettin my personal training certification. I am hoping with it I can have more free time to be mom and student. Working in the pharamacy has been alright but its not the business for me.

I will try to keep up better then I have!

hunting

2009-04-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

Lana's big thing lately is to put objects into baskets/boxes/canisters and such. So Easter was right up her alley. Unfortunetly the wind was so bad and cold we couldn't have the hunting outside. It has also rained the night before and we have nothing but dirt in our yards. It's kind of awful!! Lana had fallen alseep while everyone was over, after she ate some BBQ. When she woke up we did some hunting in the living room. She is one funny kid, she gathered her eggs in her basket and later put them into her purse. I think she had a good time.

We really enjoyed our Easter. It was busy but fun. The sacrament meeting was wonderful. Some really great performances. It was also nice to see family and spend time with everyone!

Easter cookies

2009-04-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

We decided to do cookies with Lana. We bought sprinkles for her to use and man was it messier then expected!! She managed to dumb all the stars on one cookies and was stamping them with the shakers. We really enjoyed spending this time with her. We don't always have enough time to do fun little activites with her like this. We both really enjoyed it.

Larry's transformation!

2009-03-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

For those that may not know, Larry has taken a huge interest in body building. He loves the gym and very dedicated to it. Right now he is training to be a personal trainer as is planning to finish his certification by May. Many who see him now forget how far he has come! He is bigger now, still trying to get to his goal weight before he cuts down some. He is proud of his 365 lb deadlift!! he did 5 sets of 5.

2009-03-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

Lana has been going to Gymboree for a couple of months now and really loves it. We are working on being more independent, which is a huge issue for her. She is a very cautious mommy loving girl. Getting her to go on the obsticales alone has been difficult. She is very weary of other children as well. She is growing so fast!

We have been finding a lot of "art" on our walls lately. Thank goodness for paint!! Even better is she has parents that like to redecorate! We have been working on the house some more. We took a small hiatus, because of work and school. We just redid our kitchen floor and painted our bedroom.

Ou Bedroom was all blue before, but we decided to leave one wall blue and do the rest brown.

Here is our finished project!

Lana is all about helping dad!

This is everything we found under our floor

Long time!

2009-03-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

Well we are still trucking along! Larry is still studying for his personal training test, and is still being the ultimate college student and being undecided about a major! Nina is working as a Pharamcy Technician and looking to take her test here soon. She is still working on finishing her degree(although its coming along slowly!)

Lana is still growing so fast!! What an amazing and wonderful little girl she is. Lana loves to draw, and read. Lately she has been trying to draw in the books. She is always talking, although no one understands what she says. She loves to play our piano. Our little artistic girl!

The house is coming along, slowly like everything else! We have redone our bedroom and are working on our kitchen. Its great and something fun to do together.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T08:23:00.001-08:00

I won't lie, I am about the worst at keeping this blog up. I keep forgetting about it!! Lana has been walking since August now. She has mastered running, climbing and saying 'no no no no'. Our poor dog Xena gets chased all day being patted and told no. Xena has a lot of patience, thank goodness, and is well tempered. I have never seen Xena snap at anything!! So much for Pit Bulls being dangerous! I know one of our neighbors would disagree since they put a dangerous dog flyer on all our other neighbors houses, but everyone knows Xena and ignored it all. One neighbor went running threw the neighborhood to take them down!

Larry and I are still studying hard. We are both in the process of getting certified as personal trainers. We both love lifting weights and being in the gym! Lifting together has really brought us closer, and it has taken over our lives! I love it though we can push each other and be each others best supporter. Its fun. We have both found a love for nurtition, which I am slowly chipping a degree away at.

Larry is still working for Sento, for RX America. He excels at it (even though he hates

it!) I am working at Express Scripts right now, as a copay exceptions tech. It isn't too bad of a job. Makes me a little grumpy at the whole pharmacutical industry. I feel for those older people that have saved and saved and barely get help!

School was put off this semester because lack of funding to pay for it. I have talked to the ROTC to help, but I might just go active now while Lana is young and finish school while I serve. We will see how that goes!

All in all everything is good and Larry and I are a good team. We compliment the other and are enjoying Lana and all of lifes little suprises!!

Lana is one child that keeps us very busy. She is

always wanting to read, draw and play. I look

forward to seeing her continue to develop!

been a while

2008-09-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

our first trip to the zoo was a ton of fun!! Lana really enjoyed looking at all the animals and riding the train. It was a nice day out before I went back to work!!

I can't believe I finally went back. I never thought I would do it, but I have!! I love my job its enjoyable and work the effort. Besides I get to work 4 10s so I am home 3 days a week and Larry is home 3 days a week. Ol angel cakes is only with my sister two days out of the week!!

I realized I haven't put any pictures of the stinker on here. She has gotten very big! She started walking about a month ago!! exciting for her, bad for us!

We hear a lot of words out of her too.... where would she ever get being talkitive from... she loves to say uh oh, hey, dada, mama, doggy and a weird ahh.

baby on the way

2007-11-04T13:28:00.001-08:00

<---- 31 weeks pregnant

2007-11-04T13:20:00.001-08:00

Married April 21st, 2007. This was the happiest day of my life.
My wonderful Husband and I stayed and helped clean our reception
Feeding the little Devan monster

My sister and I!!

our new blog

2007-11-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

My good friend Vicky has a blog on here where she is able to share photos and update those of us who are far away on her family. I figured with Larry's and my little angel about to come it'd be a good idea to have one.