Losing grip

Yes, I do feel like I'm losing my grip on my journal. The end of September and month of October, while we are only 12 days in was FULL of stuff! So I will do an overview so as to catch up as I'm sure there will be much more "stuff" to come.

Since I got the new camera I was in fact able to take pictures of Livi at gymnastics. She really does enjoy it and we've already signed up for the next session.

Aaron is having fun but I think he is having some difficulty with his teacher. The week after one incident where the teacher was having a tough time getting the class to listen, Aaron said to me, "Maybe Miss Vanessa won't be there." I replied that I'm pretty sure she would... why would she miss? Aaron responded, "Maybe she's at the temple." This made me smile. (I've been attending the temple in the early morning so when the kids wake up I'm just getting home. I love that that is something that my kids can see me doing.)

While Bill was gone in New York for a couple of weeks at the end of September, the kids and I had the privilege of having dinner with our bishop and stake president. The bishop's wife and I are friends and they had invited us for dinner and a Family Home evening. They also invited the Stake President over cause his wife was traveling. And so as not to be awkward, they had a couple other couples over as well. It was great. The kids all had fun swimming beforehand, followed by a yummy BBQ and a fun FHE with President Tue sitting/singing with the kids as bishop Gardner played guitar to "I love to see the Temple". Not a very common FHE... pretty special. (Bishop Gardner, and his wife Liane have 4 children with a 5th on the way, but their two current youngest are Aaron and Livi's ages, respectively boy girl. So Livi love Ellie and Aaron is warming up to the idea of playing with the boys. Thanks Drew for being patient.

On September 23rd a friend of mine had her 4th girl! We were lucky enough, on the 24th, to be able to visit mom and her new baby in the hospital. When we walked in Mom, Kacee, was sitting cross legged on the bed looking like nothing had happened. So great! Aaron and Livi both were able to hold Malani and loved her. Aaron couldn't stop giggling. Very cute little girl, such a precious little angel sent from God's arms to earth.

Later that day Livi had her primary program rehearsal. I took the camera not knowing that Bill would be able to see the performance on Sunday. (He wasn't due back 'til Tuesday, but ended up getting home Saturday!) On Sunday, it was so fun to see her up on "stage". She sang her heart out. And more than once we could hear Livi's voice ringing clear above the rest of the primary. Her line that she "read" was, "I hear the words of the prophets when I listen to General Conference." It's funny to us how if she had to "say" it she would freeze. Buy because she can read it, she's perfectly fine and very capable of being in front of a crowd.

That same evening we went to Cold Stone Creamery to participate in the Make-a-Wish fundraiser there. Livi had volunteered to be one of the "honoree's" and so was able to scoop and enjoy her own ice cream. Aaron had an equal amount of fun. Our dear friends, and old neighbors, Elaine and Jan, even stopped by to donate to the foundation and hang out with us for a while. The kids had a lot of fun coloring and talking to some of the other Wish kids. (Yes, it was a very busy Thursday. Add to all this, Aaron's gymnastics, and pictures at the elementary school that I was to help with through PTA... I was glad to see Friday roll around.)

Friday night, we, along with our neighbors, took advantage of our season pass and went to our local high school football game. Bill had decided to take on this tradition, and we have enjoyed it. We picked the underdog team, unbeknownst to us, but it gives us a free Friday night whenever we want to take advantage. Go BULLDOGS!

Saturday Night, Miley Cyrus was in

town doing a concert. Make-A-Wish had given us 8 tickets when we went to the Cold Stone thing Thursday night and so we invited some friends and went. Thank you to Terry, my awesome neighbor for joining me. Aaron was the only boy and kept asking when Hannah Montana was going to sing, she did not make an appearance. (He doesn't even really know who she is.) We took our friends Marley and Macee Allred (their mom, Kacee just had the baby), and our neighbor Terry and her daughter Trinity. The kids were all very excited for the show. The venue was the

Thomas and Mack Center at UNLV and was pretty empty considering. So, our seats that were at the very top of the arena were quickly upgraded to front of the balcony. Besides the sound being way to loud and the singing being... well, she's no Cher, the costumes were interesting and... honestly it wasn't that good. It was nice to be able to take the kids to the event though.

And while they didn't love the concert either, pour little Macee

flat out fell asleep, they did love the idea of being there. We got pizzas from the food vendors and enjoyed dancing to the warm up singer which happened to be her older brother... who knew... I surely didn't. The best part of the night was coming home to dad! What a great surprise.

The following weekend, October 3rd, brought a trip to San Diego, CA for Bill's cousin's wedding

Wyatt Ellison was marrying Brigid Shaw at her parents' house in

Ramona, CA. LOTS more details and photos to come, here's the preview pic. So cute!

This final piece almost catches me up to current day. But I feel this part very much needs my attention. Many of you have heard me say that our family is complete and we are done adding to it. Well, I figured I'd better get this out there because it's going to be hard to keep hiding it for long. It's a girl and her name will be, or is Annie. Not Annabelle or Ann, just Annie. She's very healthy and about 6 pounds on delivery. We said we never would, but we did...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

. and we couldn't be more excited. When Bill was in New York the kids and I watched "Beethoven's 2nd". Afterwards, as most kids would, they started saying how much they wanted a dog. I said, "you know what, I kind of do too. You should talk to Dad." When we spoke to Bill on the phone we told him our idea and I said it would be nice for the kids to have that constant in their lives with him traveling for work, especially for Aaron who has a very difficult time when Bill is gone. To my pleasant surprise, Bill said, "start looking". Two weeks later we found a litter of English Creme Golden Retrievers in St. George Utah (an hour and a half northeast of here). Thursday, the 8th of October, I drove the kids up to St. George and after a hard hour of deliberation on which of the 10 to pick, we chose Annie. She was one of two very calm and gentle female pups, and of the two, she was a bit bigger. The trip home was good. She lay on my lap and drooled on my arm as she slept most of the way. Unfortunately I missed our exit and she ended up puking in my lap 10 min away from home... what can ya do?! I really love the idea of a big dog to cuddle up with the kids. I remember laying on the back of a mixed irish setter we had as kids. Bill and I both grew up with dogs and had decided it was time to give that bond to our kids. We love her. She isn't perfect, as we first thought. (The first two days she stood by the door whining to go pee outside, then Saturday she got all backwards and now comes inside to pee! But today is Monday and she is doing great. She only gets up once or twice at night to go potty. She'll whine in her crate, downstairs in the kitchen, until we let her outside, she goes out does her thing and then it's back to bed. Very much like an infant. Even so with the calming affect it has on me to have her cuddle next to me and sleep. Personality wise, she already has us very figured out. She loves to really play hard with Bill. Aaron, she pretty much teases with forward progression towards him as he thinks she's going to attack him. (He doesn't get scared... just not quite sold on the idea of a little hair ball invading his space.) Annie lovingly plays with Olivia and loves to climb on her. With me, well, as with any mommy figure I'm her nurturer. She cuddles with me and I discipline and give praise. After an accident inside she came up to me whimpering... when I got up is when I found the accident. As far as her name, I wanted a name that had something to do with where we lived when we got her. Red Rock didn't have any good trailhead names so I thought of our street, Anatolian... Annie, perfect! With this new addition will come a lot of needed discipline and even more fur to be shed, but we are excited for the love that will be shared throughout the years.