Jacqui and Josh

Baby Gap

2012-02-12T20:47:00.000-08:00

Macie had her first ever audition! It was for a Baby Gap ad campaign!
SO Macie and I flew to Cali for her first ever plane ride.
I planned it with plenty of time to spare, BUT there had been some blackouts and trees down due to the Santa Ana's the night before, so what normally would take 1/2 hr to get there, took almost 2 hrs! SO I didn't have time to feed Macie before the audition. But she was a pro!
The audition went great! They took some pictures of her and she looked right at the camera and smiled!

Afterwards, we had time to spare, so we met up with Amy Vanney ( I coached her daughter until they moved to cali in May) and went to pick her boys up from school. However, we made her late picking them up, because Macie decided to EXPLODE her diaper all up her back right before Amy pulled up! After we picked up the boys, we headed to their house to hang out till Kaia got out of school! We let Christian and Macie play together for a bit!

Christian held her hand, but I didn't get the camera out fast enough!

When we went to get Kaia, there was a LONG line to pick up kids, so I got out and went to get her. Her face was priceless cuz she didn't know I was coming! We then went to grab food at Chipotle and then Macie and I headed back to the airport...

This is how Macie chilled in the stroller... feet up... enjoying life!

Go Brody!

2012-02-12T20:34:00.000-08:00

GO HIGHLAND! AND #2, BRODY ZAUGG!

Josh, Macie and I went to watch Brody in Action! We sat with Angela, Anthony, Lucie, Clayton and Uncle Greg. They are some crazy cheerers :-) We sat in front of the heater Uncle Greg brought, that way Macie stayed warm and Uncle greg even got me a Hot Chocolate! YUM! We loved watching Brody and Can't wait to go again!

Macie fell asleep in Angela's arms :-)

Goodbye Gold Medal :-(

2012-02-12T20:28:00.000-08:00

3 1/2 years... all of my married life... (started when we got back from our honeymoon) I have worked at Gold Medal Gymnastics... saw them probably more than I saw my husband during that time! But it was time to move on and spend my time with my baby Macie... I was so sad and excited at the same time. There has been so many changes since I started and I have watched the program grow and expand to what it is today and the girls grow and do such amazing things! I cannot express into words the way these girls have impacted my life and I will always cherish all of our experiences...

The Team Christmas party was the last time seeing the girls... until I sub at least!

Gonna miss Amanda...

Gonna miss Penny! So many good and funny times!

and of course ALL the girls... Going to miss ALL of you!

Working Outside

2012-02-06T13:51:00.000-08:00

The leaves are falling and Josh went outside to trim the trees!

Macie loves it outside and loved watching Josh!

But, I think she loves the leaves even more!

Decorating for Christmas...

2012-02-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

Macie was bored while I decorated...

But this is what we got done!

Still bored...

This isn't Christmas, but I got this put up above our sink in the Kitchen, so I thought I'd take a picture of it... Thank you Stef for making it for me!

The stockings are hung... (I ended up getting $1 stockings and putting our names on them with puff paint like Josh wanted since I only had two nice ones... Josh wins... this year)

Hung up above the tree...

I decorated alot more and gave up on the pictures, but I am done!
Yay! Macie is happy now!

This has nothing to do with decorating, but just a picture I took of Josh later that day!

TEXAS- Part 2

2012-02-03T13:11:00.000-08:00

My birthday was the day after Thanksgiving this year. Black friday. So Mom, Stef and I went shopping. After a morning at the mall, and the trip to the base, we came home to have sweet pork tacos and dirt cake!

Josh surprised me with an Ipad!!

The next day, we went to Six Flags! We didn't expect it to be so cold there though!It was FREEZING with the windchill and we didn't dress for it!
Macie put on Tyson's hat.

Macie and I rode the cowboy boots... It was kinda crazy, it went much faster and up and down then expected.

Josh rode a milder ride with her later...

Tyson and Preston rode too!

we had to push jenny around all day, but that meant skipping lines!

Playing with lights...

2012-02-03T13:07:00.000-08:00

Yum...

Wow

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2012-02-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

I wanted to have someone do a photo shoot of our family for our first ever Christmas Card... However, Josh always complains about those and so I was surprised that he came up with the idea to do a Snow Christmas Card and drive to Payson... JUST TO TAKE FAMILY PICTURES!

It just happened that a couple days later, Payson had a HUGE snow! So we drove up and had breakfast at the Strawberry Lodge... Where Josh saved the day when this woman went out to her truck and slipped and fell... He helped her back in... She was ok, so it was funny. We then went to find a good place to take pics...

It was snowing and freezing, but Josh kept driving higher into the mountains. He wanted to take a picture here with the fence:

I tried to tell him it wouldn't work for a few reasons: One, I had to set the timer and run out to them down a little hill with at least a foot of snow and all in ten seconds. Two, it was so snowing and foggy that you can't really see us very good. Three, it was FREEZING that high up. I made him scoot forward and I DID try it a couple times. It didn't work...

I made it, but the tripod was in so much snow that it sunk in more and cut off Josh...

SO, off down the mountain and to Payson we went. we went to the road that takes you to Lomia and Josh took me to where his friend's cabin was. Close to Trisha's grandma's cabin...
this worked MUCH better...

There was only one problem... we didn't think about... There was noone there to get Macie's attention...

These were the best ones...

This is where Josh was laughing at me as I tried to get down a little hill of thorns in time and slipped and fell into the thorns and made my finger bleed because of course he said "It wouldn't be hard", but he underestimates how slippery UGGS are compared to his boots....

Finally a good one of Joah and I...

However the Creek was too distracting for Macie... SO, I took a picture of her and Josh and I got her attention and the above picture became the following on our card, thanks to Photoshop:

Macie's first taste of snow:

Decorating the Tree

2012-02-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

Macie watched as we set up the tree...

After hanging the ornaments... It was time for our "special" ornaments...
Josh hung his "Indiana jones" ornament, the only non-matching one I let him put on the big tree! Then I hung my "Baby's First Christmas" Ornament, then it was time for Macie's. We got her a "Baby's First Christmas" as well, that she will hang every year until she is old! :-)

Watching the lights... Macie's favorite game soon after would be to lay under the tree and try to grab the branches as it spins (Yes, we have a spinning tree!)... it entertained her for hours and I was sad to put the tree up because of this!

Our family picture!

Texas - Part 1

2012-01-30T20:40:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in Texas. But who's idea was it to DRIVE? 15 or 16 hrs to and from with a 4 1/2 month old? No, really she wasn't so bad, BUT it was SO LONG and next time, we will fly!

The trip to visit the Hyers was so nice!
It was filled with:
Josh and Tyson playing XBOX

Sleeping... well some of us!

Good food! ( And cute nephews)

Cooking and eating Thanksgiving Dinner...

... I made the green bean casserole!

Playing with Cousins.

Sleeping next to Mommy and Daddy, since Macie wouldn't sleep very well in the crib and we didn't want to wake everyone!

Getting bundled for the cold Texas air!

A trip to Shephard Airforce Base... Where Tyson is stationed and now an instructor.

Jenny apparently is British.

The plane is HUGE!

... If only the men could carry the babies before they are born.

Solid Foods.

2012-01-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

4 months= Solid foods
1st food, beside oatmeal: Sweet Carrots.
She loved them. As you can tell.

Gilbert Days Parade

2012-01-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

This was one of my favorite mornings! Josh had the idea to take our little family to the Gilbert Days Parade... doing stuff like that is not normally suggested by Josh, so it made it even more special! He used to go all the time as a kid and I had never been. We went out to eat at the Old Country Buffet, something I have wanted to do for a long time. I hadn't been since Grandpa passed away and that was his place he would always take us on Saturday mornings. After that we headed to the parade. It was so fun to take Macie. Even though she is little, it made it so much more exciting to watch her look at all the new things she had never seen.

I was SO sad when the camera was being dumb and ended up erasing the other pictures I took at the Gilbert Days Parade! We did take her out of her carseat so she could see! I think this should be a family tradition!

My Hippie

2012-01-30T20:24:00.000-08:00

So one of the mom's at gym gave me SO much of her daughter's old clothes,, which included these AWESOME Jeggings! I remember when her daughter used to wear them and i couldn't wait until Macie fit in them! Another mom gave me this Beatles onesie at my baby shower... It was a perfect match!

Zzzzz....

2012-01-30T20:21:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned how much Macie (and I) LOVE the Baby Einstein Videos? especially the Baby Santa one! No matter how fussy or grumpy she is, she will automatically be quiet and stare when I turn it on and she will sit there until I turn it off usually! I was trying to edit pictures and she was being fussy, so I put her in her Bumbo and turned on the video. I kept looking back at her and one time, I looked back and this is what I found. Poor little tired baby!

Macie in October

2012-01-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

In October, Macie learned to: Roll over and sit up on her bumbo...

She looks scared, but really she loves it!

Happy 29th Birthday Josh!

2012-01-29T20:50:00.000-08:00

For Josh's Birthday, I wanted to take him out quading since we hadn't gone since we were married and we used to go ALL the time, until he had to sell his quad to buy me my engagement ring!
SO it ended up being a couple weeks after his birthday, but we did go! Clint and Natasha's cousin let us borrow his quads. We dropped Macie off at my Mom and Dad's and then off we went. It took FOREVER to pick up the quads and get out to the Desert at Sycamore Creek, but it was SO worth it! Once we did get out there, we started going and Clint realized that their quad didn't have much gas left, so we went back to the truck and we transferred some gas from our quad to theirs and after that it was smooth sailin'!
SO MUCH FUN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH! I LOVE YOU!

Does anyone want to eat some Lobster??

2012-01-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!

We made Macie into our little Lobster...

And then we cooked her! :-)

We won "Most Original" at the ward Halloween Party... which is funny because I found out that my cousin, Alyson, that had her baby a week after Macie, did the EXACT same thing! We said great minds think alike I guess!

Then on REAL Halloween night, we went to my Mom's for the traditional homemade rootbeer and to hand out candy...

Baby's First Halloween...

2012-01-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

This isn't her costume...

I found this pumpkin hat at a Goodwill and she was given the Halloween PJ's so we of course had to take Baby's First Halloween pictures!

The following aren't edited, but I love them!

Especially this one!

Chick-Fil-A

2012-01-29T20:34:00.000-08:00

There is a Chick-Fil-A right next to us. I have never been a huge chick fil a eater... until now. This Chick Fil A is AWESOME. They give you free breakfast on MON and WED for the entire year!Therefore that is where I was om Mon and Wed... And every once in awhile, Josh wouldn't have to work till later and he would join me!

Macie and the Olympians!

2012-01-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

When Olympic Coach, Mary Lee Tracy came to visit Gold Medal Gymnastics (Where I was working), we made sure to get a picture of Macie with Mary Lee and of course my boss, 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist, Amanda Borden... I didn't want to be in the picture, but Macie was going through a phase where if anyone but Josh or I would hold her, she would scream at the top of her lungs until we got her again... thus I ended up in the picture too

Our little Buddha.

2012-01-29T20:27:00.000-08:00

Up until November, Bedtime went like this, After November- the same thing, Minus the Swaddling!:
Medicine for Macie (Acid Reflux :-()
Bathtime (Daddy's job, while Momma gets ready for bed)
First kisses for Mommy (1st kiss after her bath)
Daddy gets her dressed and sucks her nose if needed.
throws her on our bed and gets her all excited and laughing until Mom is ready.
When mom is almost ready, Daddy swaddles Macie and carries her like this to Mommy.
We called her our little Buddha.

Mommy fed Macie, while Daddy turned out the lights, turned on the fan or humidifier, got mom a drink and then usually headed downstairs to play X-box.
Mommy usually fed Macie in the dark with only the light from her laptop, where she usually played solitaire, spider solitaire or was on Pinterest.
Macie fell asleep and Mommy laid Macie in the bassinet/co-sleeper on Daddy's side of the bed.
Mommy snuck out of the room to go have family prayer with Daddy before bed.
Goodnight, baby. I Love You.

Costa Vida and more shopping

2012-01-29T20:14:00.000-08:00

When Stefy was here, we met her at Costa vida and then a little shopping at Dana Park...
Macie and Preston hung out,

While Bryce got in trouble for not listening and running away from his mommy!

I hung out with the babies!

Macie loves her monkey!

Shopping with the Hyers

2012-01-29T20:02:00.000-08:00

When Stefanie and Tyson came to visit in October, Macie and I met Stefanie and my mom on Main St. to go shopping for a bit... Stef and I always enjoy looking in contagious, while my mom took Bryce to get some ice cream! I STILL cannot have ice cream because it makes Macie's belly sick, so I was jealous!

Preston looks so much like Stef when she was a baby!

My little Cara is all grown up!

2012-01-18T23:12:00.000-08:00

Macie and I went to Cara Carpenter (now Manis)'s bridal shower... I miss her so much! I can't believe she is old enough to get married! I coached Cara at the YMCA and then at Olympic... She was like family for so long and was even a bridesmaid at my wedding !

Here are a few pictures of Cara and I in the past:

The Farm

2012-01-18T22:57:00.000-08:00

When the Hyers came to visit in October, we all went to the Farm on Power and elliot... sorry, forgot the name! Macie fell asleep right away! I have been there many times to do the corn maze, but this was the first time with little kids and doing all the little things they have to do... It was actually really fun and I would highly recommend it!

Yep, there was a dead mouse in the path of the corn maze... gross.

Oh how she loves her gym...

2012-01-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

Macie plays with her little playmat gym thing every day... she never gets tired of it!

ya, I had to put this one... I have good timing in my picture taking...

Crystal and Jared tie the knot!

2011-12-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

They finally did it!

Natasha, Clint, Macie and Josh enjoyed hanging out, while I took the reception pictures!

Vicki, Josh and Callie even came down from Snowflake for the occasion!

Natasha modeled.

Jared and Crystal were so cute!

I loved her decorations!

Trisha came and helped hold Macie!

We got a roomie picture minus Leslie... on her mission!

Good Job! You did it!

Grandma and Great Grandpa

2011-12-20T21:32:00.000-08:00

She loves all her Grandparents !
But here are a just a couple snapshots!

Macie and her Grandma Schlink...

Macie and her Great Grandpa Allen

Girls are so fun to dress up!

2011-12-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

Girls are so fun to dress up!

Macie and Daddy

2011-12-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

SEPTEMBER pics

2011-12-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some random pictures of Macie from September...
Just trying to catch up to today!
Some edited... some not.

Macie... Meet your other boyfriend... Lucas Silvey

2011-12-16T08:47:00.000-08:00

Bekah and I have been friends since, well a long time... I was 18? Can't even remember.
Well, somehow we ended up having our 1st babies 2 months apart... only Bekah was very brave and didn't find out if it was a girl or boy until HE was born... Lucas Silvey
After talking to Bekah, it sounded like we had a very similar experience too... and not one we are looking forward to doing again!

Oh and did I mention that we were put in the exact same recovery rooms too???? So weird.

Shots... yay!... sense the sarcasm

2011-12-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

2 month shots. Not fun.
Before this, we had finally started to sleep good.
Then came the shots.
I had to fight back tears.
Josh is so taking her next time.
Fever for a couple days and did I mention Crankiness and no sleep??
Then had to re-train to sleep through the night again. blah.

Poor girl. At least she got a rockin' bandaid!

Just hangin

2011-12-16T08:31:00.000-08:00

Just hangin out with Mommy and Daddy....

Onesie Dress

2011-12-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

Here is a onesie dress that I made for Macie...

I'm so sad when Daddy leaves...

2011-12-15T21:48:00.000-08:00

Josh had to go to an overnight Scout campout in September,
and I was so nervous and stressed to have a night alone with just Macie and I...
So I took these pictures of Macie the day he had to leave and put one up on the computer screen
with a text bubble that said "I will miss my daddy" or something to that extent...
needless to say, it didn't make him stay and it ended up storming that night and so Macie kept waking up...

Playing...

2011-12-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

Macie loves her lil gym!

Picture Taking with Macie

2011-12-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

Yep this is what we do when we're bored!

Decorating onesies

2011-12-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

This is a black onesie I decorated for the Mace...

Macie, Kaia and Christian

2011-12-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

I miss this girl SO much (and the rest of her family!) I coached Kaia for a long time and she moved to Cali in June :-( But they came back for a visit in August and Macie and I were able to meet them at Paradise Bakery for breakfast!

Amy (Kaia's mom) had Christian 8 weeks before Macie was born... he's so big compared to Macie!

We call him her boyfriend... (Wait, Amy... does that mean I would have redheaded grandkids????)

Mary and the Priest

2011-12-07T08:15:00.000-08:00

Let's start at the beginning...When Grandpa Neff moved into his house on Fraser, there was a huge Mary and (what we call) the Priest statue in the backyard... he left it there. So when Josh and I moved into his house after he passed away. We found this one day...Brought to you by Laura, Eric and Jenny.

...not the statues, but they did this to my Patrick Dempsy doll

Part 2.
When Laura and Eric moved to Seattle, Josh snuck Mary and the Priest into a dresser drawer. Too heavy to ship back and take on a plane, they were stuck. Well, little did we think that when Laura and Eric left our house in August (They drove there) that we would find this...

(The sign says "Shut the Dang door!")...
and man, Macie looks different...

Well, not sure how, not sure when, but one day, the Prist and Mary will find their way back to Seattle.

WARNING... GROSS

2011-12-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Yep... the pictures say it all...

.. And yes, I was holding her when this happened!

Hangin' with the Cousins

2011-10-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

The Allred's stayed with us while they were here since Aline was at Mom's house and Mom and Dad already had spent alot of time with them in Seattle...

Which meant... fun times...

Holding Macie

Playing at the Park...

Photo shoots at the pool...

And of course, Ticket to Ride Games, Bahama Bucks and the Dance game on Kinect that Eric stayed up late practicing by himself! We loved having them!

Macie's Baby Blessing

2011-10-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

Macie got blessed by her daddy on August 14th, 2011 at the Gateway Gardens Ward in Gilbert at 12pm. Afterward, we had friends and family over for Hawaiian Haystacks...

On our way to church...

Afterwards...

Gpa schlink, Jen Schlink, Mckenna Allen and Tim and Janeen Conway.

Cheyenne Schlink, Nathan and Summer Schlink, and in the back- Kacin Allred, Natasha Rucker and Macie!

Matt Allen, Dan and Jake Schlink

Clint Rucker and the food

Eric Allred, Gma Allen, Aline, Laura Allred, Jenny Allen

Gma Schlink

Natasha Rucker and Baby Macie

Ashleigh, Cory and Ella Hodnett, and Tiana Ellsworth

Linnelle and Brylee Rucker

.... and many more people were there, but unfortunetely they escaped my camera! I think our house was maxed out! But I was happy that it all went well and that we had the perfect amount of food! Oh and that Macie didn't scream through her blessing! She really is such a blessing to our family!

California... Here We Come!

2011-10-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

My sister, Laura and her family were driving down from Seattle with my parents and my parents old exchange student that was visiting, Aline. They were going to surprise the boys and take them to Disneyland for 3 days! We decided to surprise them and show up at their hotel and go to Disneyland for the last day!

Daddy changing Macie's diaper when we stopped to eat lunch! Macie did so good and slept for the entire way there unless we made her wake up to eat!

We left Macie in front of their hotel room and decided to knock and hide...

All bundled for the nice Cali weather and ready for her first trip of many to Disneyland!

Kacin lookin oh so handsome and ready for the day!

Macie's first ride ever (besides when I was pregnant!) was Snow White...

Laura and Eric took her on a 'WILD' ride on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...

Kyler and I waiting in line for our wild ride!

Family photo op at the happiest Place on Earth!

Of course, we had to take breaks to feed Macie...

But, not too much later we were back to the adventures!

Kyle got cold after getting wet and had to wear Laura's white jacket! How Pretty!

So many people stopped us to look at Macie...she still looks 'adorable' even with this funny face!

What a great trip!

She found it...

2011-09-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

Her thumb.

Love me some Pei Wei's

2011-09-04T02:41:00.000-07:00

Every so often Josh's family does a sister/sister-in-law lunch... this time it was at Pei Wei's... yum! (The best is their touch screen drinkn dispenser!) And we had just bought a new point and shoot camera that day, so I had to bring it to try it out!

Jen meeting Macie...

And Yet Another...

2011-08-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

Popsicle Palace Bridal Shower...
It was a sad and yet happy day... It was the last day I would see one of my bestest friends for a year and a half... Leslie was going on a mission to Wisconsin! So we had to celebrate Crystal's engagement and throw her a bridal shower so Leslie could be there for it since she is getting married in October! Leslie came over in the early afternoon and helped me get my house ready and get the group gift ready. It was good to have one last day of just her and I before she left!

Everyone came over around 7...

The Bachelorette...

Macie...

Our group gift...

The guests...
Laura Nelson

Leslie Huber...

Natasha Rucker...

Crystal Solorzano (soon to be Bradshaw)...

Vicki Seigfried and Calli Seigfried...

My cute baby...

Vicki's Cute Baby...

Trisha came late so I didn't get a picture of her! :-(

We made toilet paper wedding gowns... Ours was a two piece with flip flops... an Hawaiian wedding perhaps?

Not sure what theirs was...haha

Then we had a wedding cake making contest out of cupcakes using crystal's colors... yellow and gray/silver... crystal gave us all awards.

Mine:

Not sure who's was the rest but here they are!

Then we opened presents... of course we gave crystal some skimpy stuff... it was funny to watch her reactions!

The Many Faces of Macie

2011-08-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

Silly

Gross! Took this at the right (Wrong) time!

Surprised

Mischevious, but cute!

Curious

Mad

Belly hurting

posing while she sleeps

The "Ohhhh" face

Peaceful

Back Sleeper?

2011-08-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

Up until a few weeks ago, we could get Macie to sleep anywhere BUT her back. If we put her on her back, she would either 1. Wake up OR 2. Roll to her side

FINALLY she is sleeping straight on her back and doesn't wake up when we put her there!
BUT, here are some places that she has fallen asleep before that!

Nap with Daddy

Nap with Grandpa

On her side on our bed- did I mention she always woke up when we put her in the bassinet until recently too! But she loves our bed...

On her side on the floor.

The Carseat... every time!

Another nap with daddy.

On Mommy's lap.

On her side on the boppy.

She LOVES her swings!

Even Mom's sling.

But finally... we've got it down. Back sleeping in her own bed!

Baby Pictures

2011-08-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures as soon as I felt at all good enough too... so she was 4 days old in most of these!

SPLISH, SPLASH it's time for a 1st bath!

2011-08-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

Macie's Room... Finished!... Mostly...

2011-08-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The Scary Ride home...

2011-08-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

No, nothing scary really happened... but it is a scary thing the first time you drive home with a newborn in the car... Josh drove really slow and extra careful...

We got Macie out of her hospital clothes and into what we packed as her "coming home" outfit... however, we did not not anticipate her being so small and she was just falling out of her "newborn" size outfit...

... and it's off to a scary but exciting brand new adventure!

Visitors Galore...

2011-08-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

Although we didn't get pictures of all of our visitors at the hospital, we did try to! Here is a tribute to all of our lovely friends and family that came to visit! (Minus Laura and Stefy's families that visited us via Skype! LOVE technology!) I wish we got pictures when all of Josh's family came to visit... but somehow they all came at once and with all the excitement, forgot to take pictures!

My momma... my Dad came too but of course somehow avoided pictures!

Josh's Dad and Mom

Natasha

Macie's 1st picture with the Popsicle Palace Girls!

Leslie and Crystal

Macie's 1st friend... Callie Seigried

Trisha

Bekah and Macie's future friend (Girl or Boy???)

Macie and her Aunt Jenny

And then we were three...

2011-08-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

2 weeks early. Went in for my 38 week appointment and they told me to get my bags and go to the hospital... thought I might be starting to get preclampsia and didn't want to risk it...

Josh was working an hour away. So I packed up the car and was going to meet him at his parents... the car didn't start. SO I waited for Josh to come home and we took... the CAV (our '99 Gold Cavelier) to the hospital... we couldn't even fit the carseat in there with all of Josh's work stuff!

Here are some numbers for you...

27 hrs of no eating

13 hrs of an epidural that wore off as soon as I started to push

32 hrs of the hospital BEFORE I started to push

1 1/2 hrs of pushing (and feeling like I was gonna die since the epidural was not working right)

6 lb 4 oz

20 inches

9:26pm

7/6/2011

Macie McKinsey Schlink

joined our family

Yes, I LOOKED like I had just given birth

Pregnancy Pictures!

2011-07-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

We got together with Marcia Kuyper on Memorial Day and took these pictures! She is awesome!

These next two, we were goofing off, but they turned out pretty cool!

And now... It is our house!

2011-07-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is the MOST unattractive picture of me ever, but needless to say, it is the only one we have of us... Signing the papers for OUR house! We are officially home owners as of May 13th, 2011!

My first trip to the Hospital

2011-07-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

I have always been so afraid of hospitals.
One Friday in June, My feet had been swollen since the night before.
It didn't go down while I slept, in fact, my arm even started to feel swollen.
I went to work.
Afterward, Amy Vanney commented on how swollen my feet looked.
She told me to check my blood pressure.
It could be a sign of preclampsia.
On the way home, I went to walmart and checked it out on the free BP machine.
It was really high.
So off to pick up Josh and go to the Hospital we went.

They monitored me for like 4 hours and the blood pressure and swollen feet went down. So I was released.
I had faced my fear of hospitals though.
The picture below is after we got home and my feet sweeling went down... but they are still huge!

... They didn't keep me then, but a week later, they started to find protein (a sign of preclampsia) but no swollen or high BP... and eventually ended up inducing me 2 weeks early because of it... before it turned into preclampsia. I do have to say I am so glad we got good nurses when we did have Macie. When we went in to the hospital that first time, the first nurse was awesome, but the 2nd.... she came in to take my blood. I turned my eyes and held Josh's hand and she said " If you can't handle this how in the world are you going to handle having a baby.." Yes, that is definitely such a great thing to say to a very pregnant girl about to have her first baby. Just makes you feel so good and less scared!

Baby Showers and more Baby Showers!

2011-07-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

We have been so SO blessed with so many people that have been excited about Macie's birth and have wanted to throw us a baby shower! Not only that, but because of these showers and people who have given us their used baby and maternity clothes, bassinets, swings, etc, we have not had to spend hardly any of our own money the entire pregnancy!

Baby shower #1 was at the gym (Gold Medal Gymnastics) and thrown by a few of the Level 5 mom's. All the Level 4's and 5's came to celebrate!

Amy Vanney (Kaia's Mom) and I, and our pregnant bellies!

Angela Zaugg (Allen) and I

Jenny Dropped her plate and spilled everywhere!

Lucy Zaugg and I playing the smelly diaper game!

Me, Rachel Binkley, Olivia Cadien and my lil Cousin Lucy

Yummy Food!

Madison Weber and I

The Girls all had to dress someone up in a diaper and bonnet, using toilet paper!

...Getting ready to open presents!

Baby Shower #2 was for Family and Friends, thrown by McKenna and Kristen, and held at Josh's sister, Carol's house...

Me, Kristen Schlink (Sister-in-law) and McKenna Allen (Niece- nope not from the Allen Side, but from the Schlink side!)

I LOVED the diaper cake and the adorable "Macie" letters... I keep getting compliments on them!

Jenny, Laura and I (So excited that Laura was able to come down for the shower! But, I did miss Stefy!!)

I was so excited to see my Junior High /High School friends Lisa Bennett (Ray) and Abbie Lewis (Court)(Left before we took a picture, so I only got one of Lisa)

The Popsicle Palace- Leslie Huber, Vicki Flake Siegfried, Laura Nelson (adopted member and my first roomie), Me, Natasha Mangum Rucker, Crystal Solorzano, Trisha Sabin

Baby Shower #3- Thrown by the Level 6 and 7's and held at Mary McWilliams house...
Highlights of the shower include: Notes from the girls giving me parenting advice... drawing a picture of Macie on paper plates, with the paper plate on their heads... and of course yummy yummy food!!

Jacque, Kora, Penelope, Sara, Skylar, McKenzie, Moira, Jordan, Seneca, Cassie, Me, Leah, Katie, Erin, Cienna

And this is what they normally look like!

Baby Shower #4- For the GMG Staff- Thrown by Amanda and Brittany, held at Britt's house.

I really regret forgetting my camera on this one! Brittany did an AMAZING job of decorating and definitely needs to start a party planning business! It was fun to just hang out with some of the staff and I was the most surprised when Amanda gave me... our stroller and carseat! Talk about a HUGE blessing!

Again, we are so so thankful for all we received and can't wait to spoil Macie with it all!

Surprise!

2011-04-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

So I woke up on Friday, April 8th and saw I had 5 calls from my dad at 6 something in the morning and a text from my sister saying that there was a present for Macie at my parent's house and I needed to go get it asap this morning. I figured that was why my dad had called too. So I called my dad first. He asked if I could come help him move stuff at his office right away. When I pointed out that I was pregnant, he stammered and then said that I would just need to help balance things and that my mom would make me breakfast if I came right away. Ummm, I didn't have to be a detective to figure something was up. Then my sister called and told me to go get my present this morning... when I asked why... she said that it was alive. Ok so by this point I figured it was either Stefanie or Laura that was there to surprise us. Laura had been at Stefy's house in Texas until the day before, so it could have been either one of them....

It was.... The Hyer's.... All of them!

Including Bryce, who I haven't seen since last July! He got so big!!

... and my new nephew Preston, who I had never seen!!!

Here are some pictures from the week they were here:

Bryce, Stefy and Jenny

Tyson was throwing Bryce in the air and spinning him at the same time

Tyson and Bryce

Bryce got really tall!

Bryce has the "Allen" space between the teeth so far!

Josh trying to be scary

Grandpa Allen

Mom getting a massage from the massage chair, while Bryce tried to get anyone and everyone to go "outside"

Jenny and Grandpa Allen chillin'

Dad and Bryce

When we went to eat at Mango's, Bryce insisted in climbing threw all the chairs against the wall... don't worry, noone else was in there and the worker's know us!

Bryce and I "Outside" waiting for Stefy to shop at Contagious!

If you hadn't noticed... "Outside!" is Bryce's favorite word!

So happy I got to see my sister and her family! Wish it could have been for longer!

26 and 27 weeks

2011-04-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Ok for those of you that ask for them...

Here are the latest baby bump pictures...

26 weeks.

27 weeks.

... and counting...

WE GOT A HOUSE!

2011-04-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

It was meant to be, we figure! We put 4 offers on houses. 3 of them we didn't get. One of them I felt really good about right away. But the bank got 4 offers for that house. We were the 1st offer, but turns out we were a little lower than the other ones. The agent new how badly we wanted it, because WE have the best agent ever! SO he gave us the opportunity to raise our offer so we were $100 over the other offers! And we found out yesterday... we got it!!
It is a foreclosure so the people left it really dirty, but it is about 600 sq. ft bigger than all the other houses in our price range! AND in the neighborhood we wanted! And hopefully we can close in 30 days, because we have to be out of ASU East here by May 15th! So we may be homeless for a short bit!

3 Bedroom, 2.5 Bath, almost 1900 sq. ft
in Gilbert!

The Upstairs Loft is huge... this picture doesn't really show it!

Downstairs living room... huge too!

Kitchen/Dining room... definitely needs upgraded, but it works for now!

We are SO excited! Everyone just pray that the loan goes smoothly now!

Take me out to the Ballgame...

2011-04-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

It was the last day of Spring Training,
Natasha, Clint and Josh and I decided to go check out the new Diamondbacks Spring Training facility and ballpark in Scottsdale...

It was a sold out game! I'm glad we bought our tickets ahead of time! Diamondbacks Vs. Royals...
I was the only one of us that had even ever been to a Spring Training game...
But we had our blanket and sunscreen and we were ready!
Turns out we didn't need to bring the sunscreen...

I've never seen Complimentary Sunscreen!!
After a few innings, we got some Coldstone Ice Cream for everyone else and for me... a HUGE snowcone!mmmmm...

We stayed till the very end, to see the Royals win :-(

But it was a great day at the ballpark!

Yummy

2011-04-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

Girls night Thursday!

We met at the Monkey Mansion.

Leslie made yummy Acai Berry smoothies with Granola (A Hawaiian Specialty she learned)

Vicki brought her new baby, Callie.

It was a yummy and enjoyable night!

It's a mystery... Can you help solve the crime?

2011-03-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

HELP! ANY IDEAS?!!So our house started having this weird smell in the kitchen and living room area a couple weeks ago... we went and threw out anything and everything in the kitchen that could have been even remotely old... the smell continues. But only sometimes during the day. Usually when we wake up in the morning, sometimes we will come home and it is there, sometimes it won't be. ...continued in comment...

Sometimes it seems to be more in the living room and not in the kitchen, sometimes the other way around. I turned off any air conditioning, thinking something may have died in there and maybe it only smells when the air is on... not the case... still random smellings. Josh looked up in the attic... no smell up there. Almost seems to be the wall between the kitchen and the living room that smells... but why only sometimes.... ????? HELP!!!

23 weeks- Belly Bump Pic- For all those that keep asking!

2011-03-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here you all go! You've all been asking! So here is my belly at 23 weeks!

California... here we come!

2011-03-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

So Josh and I had been planning a trip for awhile now. I had to go to Cali for a gym meet the first weekend in March and he was actually going to get to come with me! We got a hotel and everything! Well, then I ended up having to coach all day Friday and then till 3 on Saturday. But we were still going to do something Saturday night and Sunday before we came home. Well THEN, a day before we were going to leave, he ended up getting a 2nd interview for a Job that would get us free rent... the group interview was Saturday and mandatory. So after many tears of our long made plans falling through, Josh decided to buy a one-way plane ticket to cali for Saturday afternoon! Then since I did not want to drive to Cali by myself (if Josh wasn't going in the first place, I could have flown with the coaches), The Vanney's offered to let me follow them! AND I called my mom 2 hrs before I was supposed to leave and she agreed to come with me too! So off we went...

Yummy hot dogs from Costco (Thank you Amy!)
Pregnant Bathroom breaks
Getting on the wrong freeway (How many times have I been there?!! Proves it's been awhile!)
Finally, we are in Laguna!

The room ended up having a king sized bed and a sofa bed... perfect for once Josh gets here!

5 Long gymnastics sessions later...
I ended my last session just as Josh got picked up at the airport by my mom. They picked me up and we headed down the Pacific Coast Highway all the way to Huntington to eat at Wahoo's! My mom and Josh had never been there and it was a tradition everytime I came!
P.S> No pics of my mom cuz I forgot my camera and these are all pics she took on her phone!

Then we all headed down the pier...

... looks like we are on Titanic! haha

It was freezing on the pier so I stole Josh's sweatshirt from him that he just bought at Jack's a few minutes earlier!

We were tired so we headed back to the hotel... I forgot to mention that on the way to Huntington, my mom was making jokes about going to Disneyland, so Josh and I surprised her and told her we were taking her the next day!

We woke up early, got to Disneyland a few minutes after it opened and headed to Josh's favorite place anywhere on earth... the Indiana Jones ride.

I have to confess that I actually rode this ride, but it was the only one I disobeyed the rules on! I figured it couldn't have been as crazy on my stomach as four wheelin with Clint and Natasha! And I was right, I knew the ride so well and when it stopped and turned that I didn't feel it jerked me at all! But I was good the rest of the day! We went on kids' rides, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirate Cove (the old Tom Sawyer island... much cooler now!),

Soarin', Buzz lightyear, Toy Story 3

and then I sat out for my most favorite ride... Tower of Terror... it was tough! So Macie better appreciate what I went through! haha we drove home around 5pm, got home past midnight and then had a full day work the next day! I'm so glad it all worked out though! It actually ended up to be a really good trip!

MACIE = Spending money!

2011-03-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

It's official! We finally agreed on a spelling... Macie!
So first thing I did... was go to Hobby Lobby where I have been eyeing the pink and green lil' girl section for a long time and since it was half price that week, pretty much bought out the store!

And of course, bought letters to decoupage! So Natasha came over one morning and we decorated Macie's name to match!

Then, because I have the best husband in the world, he let me buy a Petunia Picklebottom Diaper Bag... no questions asked! He doesn't care, but I keep having to justify it to myself that it will last through all our kids and I tend to break purses all the time unless they are a good kind (or a good kind you buy in a back closet in New York for cheap!) I bought it at a boutique that only had a couple there, but I liked this one:

http://www.petunia.com/collections/original/boxybackpacks/teaonthethames/

However, once home, Josh told me he doesn't like it... so I told him he could look online and if there was one he liked better, we could exchange it and have them order the one he liked (as long as I like it too!)

So this is the diaper bag we have now, but that may change!

Either way, Macie is making us spend way too much money on not necessary things (yes a diaper bag is necessary, but not a petunia one!) and she's not even here yet!

The Cabin

2011-03-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

It was a present from all of Josh's siblings to his Parents for Christmas...
a trip to a cabin for the weekend with ALL of their kids and their spouses...
and no grandkids...
but really it seemed more like a present to ourselves, since Josh and I needed a break and time together to just relax!

We left Friday around noon... we got to borrow my Dad's Avalanche truck in case it snowed, which Josh was more excited about than the trip! He misses his Truck... me too!

We met everyone at the Snowflake Temple and went through a session all together. I had never been to a Temple session other than the Mesa Temple, so it was pretty cool! Afterward we went to eat at a Mexican food place... yum yum... and then to the cabin which was down by Showlow.

After some arranging and figuring out who slept where, Josh and I ended up in the Master Bedroom with two of his brothers and their wives... we got the bed (Yes, being pregnant can come in handy, but let's just say, Josh and I missed our King sized bed at home still! We cannot sleep on a double bed! I need my space!), Jake and Kristen slept on an air mattress in the bathroom (The area by the bathtub, not the toilet!) and Nate and Summer slept in... the closet! (The owners had turned the walk in closet into a room with 3 or 4 twin beds/bunk beds) They took all the mattresses off and made their own make shift bed though!

Saturday morning was filled with fun thanks to Josh and I... we brought our XBox Kinect (It attaches to your xbox and makes for hands free gaming! The little camera reads everything you do and copies your every move...) we got everyone to play the dancing game and the Adventure game all morning!

The rest of the day was filled with board games, a drive around the area and a trip to town to get Dairy Queen!

The next morning, I woke up to Josh excitedly saying that "It snowed!"... his brothers were making fun of him because he apparantly went out onto our balcony in bare feet... as you can see from the picture below!

The snow was so pretty! I wish I lived someplace it snowed... I never want to go outside here, but LOVE walking in the snow! Josh and I went on a walk when it was snowing pretty good! This is what we looked like when we came back:

My scarf looks white! But it is really a dark brown covered in snow! When we were walking we had to have our heads down since the snow was coming down so much and would get in our eyes! It was fun!

Good thing we brought my dad's truck!

Needless to say, I was sad to leave the snow!

It's a Girl!!

2011-02-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

We went to the doctor on Tuesday, February 16th to find out the sex of the baby... Josh and I were both very sure it was a girl... if it was a boy we would be in shock! It just always felt like a girl to us! Plus we agreed on a girl name: Macy (Macie? Macey? Maycie?) McKinsey Schlink... if it was a boy we would have fought over the name but it may have eventually been Grayson (My favorite) or Logan (Josh's Favorite)... but luckily there was no fight over the name when the song "Girl's just want to have fun" came on and the ultrasound lady told us "It's a Girl!"

.... the 10 week ultrasound...

...at 18 weeks...movin alot but I still haven't felt anything...

...enjoying the space and stretching her legs...

... the first thing we did... went to Target and we each got to pick out one piece of girly baby clothes.

JULY through DECEMBER 2010- Catching Up!

2011-01-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

JULY

The best 4th of July ever! It started with a surprise visit to Laura and Eric and the boys in Seattle (Eric knew though!)... Stefanie was already there with Bryce! We showed up on Saturday, July 3rd while they were outside with their neighbors... so we snuck in and sat on their couch and waited for Laura to walk in! We got it on video and it was hilarious!

The trip was full of Ticket to Ride and other games ...

Beautiful walks through their picture perfect neighborhood...

Stopping on the way to eat yummy berries next to the sidewalk...

Silly Boys...(No not my nephews... the husbands!)

... I don't think either one of them fit in what they were trying to fit in...

AMAZING Fireworks in every direction every 30 feet till midnight! It sounded like a warzone!

It felt like a REAL american 4th of July! We had little fireworks but everyone else's were like the big ones the city usually puts on!

Eric took time off and we drove to the beach, had a picnic and went on a short hike!

When we were hiking, 3 of us sisters put on a performance!

We stopped in a small town while we waited for the Ferry... and had some yummy Gelato...

Then we hopped on the Ferry to go home and get ready for a BBQ! (or fish fry for some people... gross!)

The next day we headed to downtown Seattle!

After stopping at Pike Place...

... (and yes, Kacin was right... it was smelly)...

... running into my two men...

and seeing the first Starbucks...

... we headed to the Space Needle...

... we needed a break to rest our tired feet...

Gross...

...The Thinker...

.. The Studs...

... The Hotties...

Kacin was mad at Eric for pushing him through the water...

... Kyler wanted a turn though!!

And then we were off to the music museum! (forgot the name though!)

We formed a band named "All Rock" after the Allens and the Allreds... and made a music video!

Before we left on Wed, I took some pictures of my adorable nephews!

... It was a great trip and were sad to go!! :-(

A few days later, I took yet another trip. I went with my good friend, Natasha to California so I could do some acting workshops! We enjoyed sitting by the beach...

... walking the Santa Monica Pier...

... after reminding Natasha to put in money in the meter, she forgot until we had walked across the street. we returned literally 2 minutes later to put the money in... we went shopping and when we returned, we found a $50 parking ticket from the 2 minutes that we had forgotten the meter money! Gotta love Cali!

I did however, introduce Natasha to "LUSH" and we bought some face masks to enjoy at our hotel after we sat in the hot tub!

AUGUST

My Grandma Allen passed away... we love and miss her!

It did give us the opportunity to have (almost!) all our cousins together again...

and we celebrated Bryce's 1st b-day a little early while they were here!

SEPTEMBER

Goodbye Mazda! This car was the 1st thing Josh and I ever bought together! We bought it right before we got engaged! In fact, Josh drove it to Cali to surprise me and propose! But we decided to sell it, pay the difference on what we owed and then buy a '99 Toyota Camry used with cash. We are so close to paying off all our debts!!

October

I booked this hair presentation for a new color line... which meant i had to color my hair a little darker. It also meant getting paid to be pampered all day!

Natasha and I talked Josh and Clint into going to Tempe Marketplace that night to see our fabulously talented friend, Mary Hoffman, sing! She is so amazing! Natasha and I were/are her #1 fans! But since we both got engaged, I am afraid we have slacked off on going to see Mary! We will do better!

October also marks the month that Josh let me buy my camera! The Canon 7d... I took a picture of him the night it came in... this is what he looks like almost every night playing Xbox... I guess I couldn't complain about it that night since he let me get my camera!

Laura Nelson, Leslie and I decided to play and make a music video to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"...

Man people looked at us weird as they drove by!

Happy 28th Birthday Josh!

NOVEMBER

We are now debt-free! This has been our goal since we got married! I can't believe we did it so soon though!

A film I was a lead in, "Got Milk? " premiered at "Filmstock"... the theater had a lifesize pirate display, so we took a picture!

This month there was a crazy crazy storm! Winds out of no where that blew down huge trees all over the place and golf sized hail in north phoenix that dinted cars!

This month I had an audition for a commercial in Cali...
I flew there on Southwest.
So did... John McCain's Wife and Daughter...
So did... Paula Abdul! Just a two rows in front of me in coach!

My birthday was on Thanksgiving this year.
Josh took me out to breakfast... I wanted to go to Old Country Buffet, like I used to do with my Grandpa all the time and haven't gone since he passed away...

... too bad it didn't open for breakfast on Thanksgiving... only lunch and dinner!

So we headed to the first place we saw and "Black Bear Diner" ended up being very very yummy! I was 6 weeks pregnant that day and everything was making me sick... so I am so glad that I at least got to enjoy the morning without getting too sick!

We went to Freestone Park and rode my longboard down some hills!

... we even rode down the huge hill together on the longboard!...

... then we swung by my old house that my roomates and I lived in when Josh and I were dating... I miss that big nice house!

... after dinner at Josh's parent's (my parent's were visiting Laura) with Jenny, we met my roomies at the movie theater to see "Tangled"... it was a good birthday!

DECEMBER

I started the month in Texas at the National Training Center at TOPS camp with Becca.

Then it was time for our annual Roomie Christmas Party!
Laura Nelson joined us this year and was in charge of the game! We had Gingerbread house making contests!

... who do you think should win?
This is a close-up of Laura, Natasha and Vicki's...

This is a side view of Me, Trisha and Leslie's

Front view... notice the tootsie roll reindeer poo? Yes, the other team did the same thing... we thought we were being creative and funny...

Natasha was in charge of the story this year!

Crystal didn't want to partcipate with our Gingerbread houses because she was making presents for people at work... party pooper.

A very pregnant Vicki was in charge of our craft this year... we made snowmen out of socks. Mine is the 2nd one from the left!

Our gross feet... someone drew on them... I can't remember who now! Mine is the one on the left!

Christmas... I took no pictures on Christmas this year... but it was a momentous year since we were without Laura and Eric, Stefanie and Tyson and Grandma Allen this year. Plus, Cindy Lake and Uncle Randy came to celebrate with us! It was different than normal, but fun. We gave Grandpa Allen a card that told him his Christmas Present is that he gets to tell everyone that I was pregnant and that he didn't have to worry about my biological clock anymore (every time he sees me he says "Tic Toc, tic toc"). He told everyone and they were shocked! We also told Josh's family that night!

New Years Eve!
Josh and I went out to run some errands and then he asked if I wanted to drive to Payson to have lunch, and try too find some snow! We didn't even go home first!
We got to 30 miles outside of Payson and it already looked like this:

I've never even really seen snow in Payson! I've always had to drove past Payson or up to the Rim to find it!
We stopped at Arby's and it was still snowing!

We ate, spun the car in circles at the old Walmart Parking Lot, and then headed home!

We spent New Years Eve night with Clint and Natasha. First we went and bought some fireworks (the 1st time they were legal in AZ!), then we went to 4 different places to find Martinelli's Sparkling Cider. They were sold out everywhere. We finally found some!

We then had a wopping game of : "Friends Trivia"

... we went to get some hot chocolate at QT... then came back and let some fireworks off. It was so much fun!
I have to admit when we went back inside, I dozed off for a few minutes! But woke up just in time for midnight! We watched the ball fall on Times Square and broke open the Martinelli's!

A Toast to the New Year!

Then it was back outside to put off the big fireworks that we picked out! I picked out the biggest one!

Happy New Year!!

2010: January - June

2011-01-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

Ok... so I started going through 2010 and writing about each month... I realized I have almost no pictures of Josh!! We really did see eachother, but having opposite schedules meant that when we did see eachother, it usually was late at night and when we were sleepy! And he isn't the one that takes a camera places, so I apologize that 2010 in pictures is mostly Jacqui's 2010 in pictures! It is now a New Years Resolution to take more pictures of the stuff Josh and I do!
January 2010

We started 2010 off by cooking our first turkey with Stefanie and Tyson on New Years Day! They came over and we made a full Thanksgiving meal to celebrate the New Year!

Josh and I started to look for houses... this was one of the 1st one's we found (and ended up being the 3rd short sale we thought we were going to get and then fell through at the very last second come June!)

My first trip to Vegas! Went for work (we had a meet there)... we had a fabulous coaches night out by taking a limo to the strip. Ate dinner with Frank Caliendo (his daughter goes to our gym) and then went to see the Frank Caliendo Show... walked the strip with a couple of the families... put a couple dollars in the wheel of fortune slot machine, won $10 and stopped there... played for hours in the elevator at night with some of the girls and a couple of the mom's (we froze like we were all doing something and waited for people to come in... some did and didn't say anything, some did and tried to make us laugh, and some were just too afraid to come in with us in there!)...

Eric and Laura moved to Seattle :-( But Eric had to work some days throughout January in AZ still, so he was our house guest at different times throughout the month! We played Super Mario Bros on the Wii until late at night and he bought us hot wings... YUM!

FEBRUARY

I got the awesome opportunity to play a 16 year old gothic girl at the age of 29! Opposite Christopher Atkins (Blue Lagoon) and some other fabulous actors!

Josh had to work, so I got the old roomies and we went to Washington DC ...

to visit my cousin Alyson and her husband, Andrew.

But, we just happened to go right after a HUGE blizzard back east.

They had snow stacked up to our heads in some places!

I look like a grumpy snowman, but I wasn't! The snow was awesome! It was so much snow and the biggest blizzard in DC history, that they let you sled down Capital Hill... Natasha stole some lady's sled and went down... luckily the lady understood afterward and we all laughed about it!

We got a personal tour of the Capital Building by Vicki's cousin (Vicki is our old roomie) who was doing an internship at his uncle, Congressman Jeff Flake's, office.

I took this of Nancy Palosi's office to make Josh mad, since he and Nancy Palosi are not on good terms! haha

On the tour, we even got to go into the room where they do the State of the Union address and sit on the front row!

The Library of Congress

We loved hiking around in the snow all day!!!

We even rented a car and drove to Gettysburg, where Leslie and I engaged in a battle... I think I won!

We ended our driving trip at Hershey, PA !

... we almost missed our flight when the google directions on the phone, or Natasha's reading of the google directions, haha, ended us on a Toll road that had no exits for like 20 minutes each direction! But we made it home!

Other February adventures were mainly just house hunting! Below is a picture of this super small condo and ugly kitchen that Josh wanted to get only because it was only like 48k and in Gilbert... too bad it didn't work out... ugh not really.

MARCH

Nothing too exciting happened in March... House hunting and work. That was about it! But I did take some almost 6 month pictures of my cute nephew, Bryce!

APRIL

Easter! We all went to my mom and dad's for our traditional easter egg hunt, breakfast and looking through our Easter baskets! It was fun having baby Bryce there!

... sorry I uploaded this from my phone and I can't turn it! But we did enjoy alot of Bahama Bucks from April through the summer!!

.. and we found a townhouse that we thought was going to go through... of course it fell through at the very last second!

... and the old roomies and I threw a roommate bridal shower for Vicki! This is Leslie modeling a toilet paper dress we made...

and poor Vicki let us do her makeup blindfolded! She looks like she's ready for a horror movie or something!

... the other big thing that happened this month was that we moved out of my Grandpa's old house and into Josh's Parent's basement... of course we thought we were closing on a house in 3 weeks... we ended up staying till the middle of June or so!

MAY

Vicki's Wedding! I was the photographer and she was a beautiful bride!

On the way home, it started snowing! So we stopped and took a picture!

JUNE

Josh's Nephew graduated from ASU, so at his Graduation party they had 4 generations there, so we took a picture!

Trisha and I went shopping at San Tan and although it was nothing significant, we did find these hats that reminded us of a Friends quote "This time all the hats joined together to form one giant hat!"- chandler on friends... so we had to take a picture!

June meant GMG Team Summer Camp... this year, Olympian, Courtney Kupets came out to coach... long but good week!

... ok JULY through December was much more exciting! AND... I actually have pictures of Josh during that time! It is all coming soon!

SEATTLE

2011-01-14T10:43:00.001-08:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

It's been forever....

2010-11-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

Wow! I haven't blogged in FOREVER! We are now living on the ASU East campus in the old base housing... which is great because it is forcing Josh to take a lot of school classes. He is also taking his Electrical Contractors License test this Wednesday! He got an 89% on the practice test so hopes are high!

One more week until meet season is over! Yay! But then I will be going to Texas for a few days in December to take one of my girls to the TOPS National Team Camp that she qualified for at the Karolyi's Ranch... We had two girls make A Team and 1 make B team, so Amanda and I are taking turns at the camps so we don't have to be there forever!

...But then... I will have my weekends back at least until the middle of January! I can't wait!

House hunting

2010-03-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

So everyone cross your fingers for us! We are trying to buy a house before the 1st time home owners tax credit is done... so we have to have a contract by May 1st! We have 3 houses that are short sales that we are just waiting for the banks to accept one of them! But that could be anywhere from 30 - 60 days! So let's all pray that it is 30 days!

Two of them are on Recker and Ray on the same street and one of them is on Gilbert and Guadelupe. Everyone cross your fingers for one of the Recker and Ray ones! That's my choice. Gilbert and Guadelupe is Josh's...

Oh did I forget to mention that we have to be out of our house now by May 1st?? Hmmm... we may come and live with one of you for a couple months!!!

Prom Again- March 27th 12:30 - 7:30pm

2010-03-12T12:27:00.000-08:00

Hey Friends and Family and Blog viewers!

My friend, Molly and I are doing an event on March 27th where you can sell your old Prom dresses/Bridesmaids dresses and/or buy prom dresses others are trying to sell! We have had so many girls we know comment this year on how hard it is to find a prom dress and when you do, it is SO expensive! So we wanted to give them an alternative!

Check it out and please spread the word!

http://foreveruniqueboutique.blogspot.com/

our "UNTALENT"

2009-12-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

Just a video you might enjoy from our family untalent show on Christmas... This is Josh and I's "untalent" ...