What's On My Happy List?

Trip Down The Red Carpet....
To celebrate the Oscars last Sunday we had
a Hollywood style dinner. The Friday before
the Oscars, Rachel Ray, on her cooking show,
made dishes for each of the films nominated
for an Oscar. She made a pizza with buttons
(topped with tomatoes) in honor of the movie
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." I
thought that was so clever so we
copied the idea for our Sunday meal with
Jaren's family. Tis the season for themed
dinners around here. For five straight weeks
in a row we've had something to celebrate...
We have one more this Sunday, Jaren's b-day,
then we'll only have a one week break until St.
Patricks. I think we're getting a little themed
out around here! LOL


The book Hannah made about Brie
Hannah made the cutest book about Brie
during her writing workshop time at school.
Once it was "published" Hannah got to invite
Brie to come to her class and be the guest of honor
while Hannah read the book out loud to
everyone. I could have shed a tear but I kept
it together. It was precious!


Disney Souvenirs
Grandma and Grandpa C. went to Disneyland
AGAIN. They came back with some fun
souvenirs for the grand kids. One being
this darling Mickey apron and spatula for
Emma.


Young Women's New Beginnings....

The Young Women had a great time doing a

news broadcast for our YW's New Beginnings

program. Kyleigh and her good friend were the

anchors. We also had a roving reporter, church house

corespondent, sports reporter, and calendar woman

that reported on the latest in Personal Progress, values,

goal setting, accomplishments, as well as this years

calendar. The newscast even had breaking news about the

addition of the eighth value "VIRTUE", special

segments and commercials. The latter were a hit!

The broadcast was short and sweet, to the point, yet the

spirit was felt. The girls had a ball doing it, and us leaders

enjoyed watching it unfold. It was fabulous!

These pillowcases were made for each of the Young

Women. The General YW Presidency has encouraged the

girls to set a daily goal to pray, read the scriptures for at

least 5 minutes and to smile. We thought this gift would be

a great reminder to do those three things each day.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

What's On My Happy List?

Emma's Birthday

We even had Scooby Doo dog bone snacks

in the favors...

My peace loving, thoughtful, creative, helpful,

funny, darling, t-shirt/levi wearing, Valentine

baby turned 11 this weekend. She had a dog

themed birthday party with her friends. She

is a dog lover! Oh, how I wish I could have

surprised her with a real dog for her gift!

Unfortunately, between her allergies and

mine, a dog for a pet will not become a

reality unless we consider allergy shots.

UGH! We went to the theatre to see the

movie "Hotel for Dogs". She had the

playroom set up as a veterinarian office

so she and her friends could play "vet"with

the stuffed animals. They had a good time

just doing their thing.

Since I did this for Kyleigh on her birthday,

Emma wanted this done for her too. Such a

girl thing! LOL So here it goes…..

DUE DATE? February 17, 1998

DELIVERY DATE? February 15, 1998

DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? No

WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Don't remember

anything in particular, although I do have

a memory of crawling in bed at night with

little Kyleigh and eating bananas. Jaren

seems to remember it was Wendy's

frosties. :)
WAS THERE ANY ARGUMENT OVER THE

BABY'S NAME? No, the only two names we

were trying to decide between were Emma

and Hannah. I remember Jaren taking
the baby and having a quiet moment with

her. He came back and said I think it should

be Emma. Sweet memory.

HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN

THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?

I believe 38 ‘ish lbs.

DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS

DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? In the early

stages some blood work came back abnormal. I

had to have an early ultrasound and opted to have

an amniocentesis to check for Down Syndrome. Of

course having an amnio, there is no question what

the sex of the baby is.The results of the test got sent

to my OB where my mother in law was the office

nurse. She looked at the results thinking that we

would be finding out the sex but that wasn’t the case.

We didn’t want to know, so I went throughout my

pregnancy not knowing the sex of my baby but my

mother in law did. WEIRD! I thought I was carrying

a boy for quite awhile and then towards the end

I just wasn't sure.

WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? LDS Hospital...
(Love that place!)

HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?

After being induced, which I have been with all

four babies (so convenient I might add), I was only

in labor 3 ½ hours…so different than my first

delivery of 15. I hit a six now and I’m ready for

delivery within the half hour.

WAS IT VAGINAL OR C-SECTION? Vaginal.

DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?

Yep!! But the epidural came way too late. The nurse

kept asking if I was okay. I had lost all color from my

face, obviously from being in quite a bit of pain. I kept

replying I was fine. However, as I progressed further

the anesthesiologist found himself in an emergency

situation with another patient. AHHH!
So it took him awhile to get to me. The nurse said I was

at a nine before the epidural kicked in. I wasn’t

screaming or swearing yet, so I probably should have

gone without any pain med but it’s the pushing the

baby out that freaks me out. I have big babies…big
heads. OUCHY OUCH!

HOW MUCH DID THE BABY WEIGH? 8 lbs 8 oz.

TIME OF BIRTH? 12:01 p.m. on a snowy, Sunday

afternoon

WHAT DID YOU NAME THE BABY? Emma Abigail
This was before the name Emma became so popular.
In fact we got a few raised eyebrows over our choice of
name (so rude) but little did they know I was just a step

ahead of the fast growing trend of using more traditional,

old fashioned names. Not only is Emma a family name on

my Dad’s side, but I have a lot of respect and admiration for

Emma Smith, the Prophet’s wife. I loved the movie EMMA

with Gwyneth Paltrow and ‘Emma’ Thompson is in my all

time favorite movie, Sense and Sensibility. There was also

a family we knew, when we lived in Loma Linda, that had a

child with the same name, but they called her Abby. This

was about 4 years before Emma was born but I remember

falling in love with the name then. If Emma would

have been a boy, Brennan is the name we had chosen.

Memories of the day? Her head of black hair and the nurses

wisking her away to suck out all the meconium she had

swallowed.

Love you Emmsie!!

Celebrating President's Day

Draper Temple Open House

We took the youth in our ward to tour

the new Draper Temple before it is

dedicated. Beautimous! The chandelier

in the Celestial Room is

absolutely stunning!

Hugs and Kisses

What's On My Happy List?

VALENTINES....
*Cupid's visit to heart-attack the kids
*new pink vacuum for the girls
*Hannah's book she made me at school
*heart shaped french toast
*strawberry milk
*IL DIVO's Vegas summer concert tickets going on sale TODAY!
*the movie 'Love Actually'
*Emma's pink bands for her braces in honor of Valentines Day
*my free pedicure compliments of Kenyra (and Mark!)
*gift wrapping Valentine goodies and presents
*Bumbles jewelry
*"Crush" pop
*Kyleigh and Emma's special Valentine friends

*romantic dinner with Jaren at Roma's and dot dot dot :)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

What's On My Happy List?

REMINISCING ABOUT MY FIRST BORN'S
BIRTH.....

To a beautiful baby who has grown into a beautiful

young woman....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Today I am officially a mother of a teenager as Kyleigh is

celebrating her 13th birthday! I recently got tagged on

Facebook to do a survey all about your first born! With

Kyleigh's special day today, the timing for this survey

was just right. Let's see how much I remember!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes .

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Uh ya..dumb question.

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Excitement...I have a pic of

me holding the dang stick I peed on.

4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 23 by the time she was born

5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?

The pregnancy test I took in the bathroom of our little apartment

in Loma Linda, California.

6. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? My husband.

7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? No! Neither

Jaren or I did, and we haven't with any of the rest of our

babies. Wouldn't have it any other way.

8. DUE DATE? February 13, 1996

9. DELIVERY DATE? February 6, 1996

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? No

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? I remember having Jaren

make a run to Artic Cirlce to get me a lime rickey. :) Other

than that nothing in particular, although I do remember

having a lot of peanut butter sandwiches on my work

break with my sister who was also pregnant and due the

same week as I.

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Having to

wake up so early to get ready for work.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Girl

14. WAS THERE ANY ARGUMENT OVER THE BABY'S

NAME?

No, the only two names we were trying to decide between

were Kyleigh and Madison (if it was a girl) but Kyleigh was

pretty much the front runner all along. I fell in love with the

name my Freshman year at BYU when I had a crush on my

clogging instructor, a cute boy named Kylee (kind of a weird

name for a boy!). Whats even weirder is when we ended up

being in the same ward in Draper as he and his little family

11 years later! If it were to have been a boy...Garrett is

the name we had chosen. For months we called the babe in

my womb Kyleigh Garrett. Don't even like the name Garrett

anymore so I'm glad it wasn't a boy. Even though we didn't

know the sex, I just knew she was a girl!

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT

THE PREGNANCY? 40 or was it 45 lbs? :)

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING

YOUR PREGNANCY? Towards the end... high blood pressure

and signs of toxemia

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? LDS Hospital...

(love that place!)

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 15 hours..

I looked like death warmed over..and I have a picture to prove

it!

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Jaren

22. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural.

23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Yep!!

24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 8 lbs

25. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? Feb. 6, 1996

at 4:31 a.m.

26. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Kyleigh Dawn

(middle name after Jaren's grandfather, Don, who passed away a

few months before Kyleigh was born. He had a soft spot in his

heart for little girls and not only that.... she would have been his

first great grandchild. )

27. ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES THE DAY OF

YOUR FIRST BORN'S BIRTH? My mother in law came to the

hospital bearing unexpected gifts...a baby Madam Alexander

Doll to add to our collection and a HUGE box filled with tons of

new baby girl outfits. Her intuition was right as well as she had

been shopping throughout my pregnancy for a baby GIRL.

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 13! And I love it!

People seem to always cringe when they talk about their kids

becoming teenagers. I love this stage....not only is Kyleigh a

wonderful daughter but a good friend. I'll always cherish our close

bond and relationship.

What's On Our Happy List?

Football Food-

In honor of the Super Bowl we had

another themed Sunday dinner with

Coopers filled with football decor and

food, which included ribs, little

hamburgers, and nachos..YUM YUM..

I even found limited edition NFL oreos to

top things off. Jaren was excited that

Pittsburg won as they have been his favorite

NFL team since he was a little boy. GO

STEELERS!

Us girlies busied ourselves with other

things instead of watching the game...

like watching Princess Bride (wuv..true

wuv) and making these Valentine

magnets.