Jenn and Richard

LONG Overdue Update

2011-11-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

I have been HORRIBLE at keeping up with my blog! I am sure my two readers have found something better to do, but still, I like to do this for my history keeping purposes as well.

This past summer was CRAZY busy with all of our traveling! We went to Baltimore/DC in June and then Utah and Boise to work doTERRA!

doTERRA is going really well and I am loving that I am able to share it!

We are wanting to sell our house and as Richard finishes up those last few finishing touches it will be up on the market! We realize the market isn't great BUT we want to jump on another deal in a home we might like a little better. We feel blessed to live in the home we do and have definitely made it our own =)

Saydee is as cute as ever! She has so much personality and has developed an undying love for Elmo! I am not big into the princess craze, (have you seen Toddlers and Tiaras)? I am quite happy with her affection towards Elmo.

We are excited for Christmas and the many new excitements this new year will bring! Even if it does include me turning 30!!!!!!

Much needed change

2011-09-26T12:16:00.001-07:00

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Denver

2011-08-11T21:04:00.001-07:00

We are visiting my sister and her cute little family in Denver. We have been having fun swimming, going to the park, going to the zoo and just playing with cousins! Melanie has showed us a fabulous time and kept us busy with lots of fun activities:)

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Summer Pics

2011-07-17T23:43:00.001-07:00

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Summer Fun

2011-07-17T23:39:00.001-07:00

We have had a crazy busy summer! We spent a week in Baltimore, a week in Utah, Boise and more to come! This past week we went camping at Heise and went swimming. Saydee is a fish! If you want to see her super excited mention the s word.

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Tell me

2011-06-11T13:24:00.001-07:00

Tell me that this isn't the cutest thing you have ever seen. We are in utah and we have been out at the farm all day. Saydee is loving the animals. She especially likes pounce the three hundred year old cat. She has been asking for him all day.

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Saydee and Her Hair

2011-05-24T08:46:00.001-07:00

Saydee loves to have a bow or hats on her head. In an attempt to stop one of her little fits I told her to get her basket of bows and that I would do her hair. She came out looking like this. I'm thinking of asking her to do mine next.

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Little Miss

2011-05-19T22:53:00.001-07:00

Saydee has a love hate relationship with sun glasses. She loves to wear them but hates leaving them in one piece

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Garage sale models

2011-05-16T18:59:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we had a garage sale with some good friends of ours. We decided it would be most affective to hire some furniture models. It must have worked because everything is gone!

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Sick Baby :(

2011-04-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

Last night Saydee was having a hard time falling asleep, after two times of going in there and finding her completely naked because she thinks it's funny to undress, it is completely silent. I go in to check on her one last time and she is FRYING!!!! She is laying there completely lifeless and not moving her eyes are open and her breathing is labored. NOT what a mom wants to see.

I got her out of bed and took her armpit temperature (which is lower than what it really is) and she was 104+, NOT good. We decide to take her to the doctor, but since it is closed we got to the ER. All the while I am DUMPING oils on her! I am putting on Peppermint, Melaleuca, Breathe, On Guard and Melissa quite frequently. We wait for what seems like an eternity and they FINALLY bring us back and take her temperature, which is down to 103.2.

They get us back to be seen by a doctor and she is NOT feeling good. She isn't moving and laying there just struggling. I felt so bad. They told us they didn't want to release her until her temperature came down and they wanted to run some tests on her. They didn't think anything was seriously wrong so we wanted to leave. Let's be honest at 1:30 am, the best place for her is at home in bed.

They told us they didn't want her to leave until they got the fever under control (they also commented on how good the room smelled of peppermint). We told them that we thought it had come down and they took her temperature. The nurse took it twice and said, "that can't be." He took it a third and fourth time and realized that her temperature was in deed down to 99 degrees. That is the beauty of peppermint my friends!

Today she is running around like nothing is wrong!

Funnest Week EVER

2011-03-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

Well I am happy to report that I just experienced one of the most fun weeks EVER! The even better news is that this summer I will get to beat that! I had so much fun touring the east coast with my family and friends that I am going back this summer. This next time I will be bringing my two favorite people, Saydee and Richard!

On Sunday the 20th, I packed up my little suitcase and hopped on the Salt Lake bound shuttle. I packed my backpack chuck full with granola bars and bagels =). I successfully made it to the Salt Lake City Airport and boarded my flight to Washington DC. It was a long day but well worth the travel! I met up with a dear friend that I had never met in person. I kinda felt like I was meeting up with a boy off the internet. Fear not, my friend was NOT a bald 60 year old man, but a fun girl that is my age. I felt we made a very quick connection and I felt like we had been friends for ever.

Monday we headed to the Baltimore Aquarium! It was so fun and while I really enjoyed it, I kept thinking about how much Saydee would have enjoyed the aquarium. My sister came with us and it was fun because she is miss-biology-know-everything and was able to explain lots!

That night we went out for crabs. I am such a wimp when it comes to venturing out and trying new foods. Not sure what on earth my problem is but I did it, I ate 2.5 crabs thanks to Dan who started decrabbing my crab =). It wasn't too bad! I can now say that I have eaten Maryland crabs, which to some is a right of passage.

Tuesday we got up and got ready and headed to Ellicott City, which is a bunch of old homes that have since been turned into shops and restaurants. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and when I go back this summer, I want to finish going through the rest of the shops! That afternoon I had to work, dang me, I need to learn to take a real vacation and not work while at play. I stayed up late late late that night talking with my friend and was so sad that it was going to be my last night there :(

Wednesday I met up with the lady who owns the company that I do most of my work for. We went to a fun little Jewish Delli and I had a Schwarma (sp?). Again, I was quite proud of my adventuring taste buds because typically I would stick with something boring like a hamburger or even worse a slice of pizza. The schwarma was a pita type thing filled with stuff I didn't really recognize, apparently I live under a rock :-) It was very tasty and I would be all for going to get another one next time I visit a Jewish Delli.

Shortly after lunch I boarded the DC Metro and headed to Washington DC to see my sister and meet up with my parents. My sister is doing her student teaching at an "urban" high school. She is conquering the classroom and is a great teacher! She is not student teaching, she is actually the teacher because the teacher has been out with health problems since the Fall. That night we went to the Washington and Lincoln Monuments, it was so neat to see those!

Thursday my parents and I put on our walking shoes and toured the Holocaust Museum and a couple of the Smithsonians. BIG MISTAKE! I should have not put on my walking shoes, but my regular old brown shoes! Seriously I got the WORST blisters ever from wearing "walking shoes." My blisters were growing blisters. By the end of the day I was hobbling around and some lady asked me if I "sprained my toe." I still laugh at that because honestly........have you ever seen somebody limping and thought...."hmmmm, wonder if they sprained their toe?" It was kind of her to ask and I don't mean to talk trash about the nice lady!

Thursday evening we took an elevator to the top of the Washington Monument which was cool. Friday we went to the Air and Space Museum and my mom and I got stuck in the WORST RAIN STORM EVER! I was tempted to strip and walk around in my nothings because I was FREEZING cold. My pants were so wet that I could have taken them off and wrung them out! They were SO wet! The rain was coming down horizontally. Seriously straight at me! It was crazy but it made the day a true adventure.

That afternoon we hopped on the Metro and headed for the bus! We took a bus to New York City where we met up with my other sister. Not gonna lie, I have the maturity of an 8-year old boy, but it makes life fun. The bus ride was really bumpy. There was one of those fancy bathrooms in the back of the bus. A man walked in to use the facilities and all of a sudden the bus driver slammed on the breaks. We hear and thud and a groan coming from the bathroom!!!! It was so funny. The man emerged from the bathroom and appeared unharmed. Seriously hilarous!

It was a great weekend in New York! That was my first experience with the city and honestly it was OVERWHELMING! I am definitely a city girl and love big crowds, shopping and walking around. I think what was so overwhelming to me was the fact that I only had 24 hours to take it all in and that is not NEARLY enough! I would LOVE to go back! In New York we went to Ground Zero, Battery Park, Central Park, Stage Delli, Stardust (DEFINITELY going there again), Times Square, the M&M factory (which is MUCH cooler than the Hershey's factory) and last but NOT least.....WICKED! Wicked was amazing!

My favorite scene in Wicked hands down was when Elpheba sang, "No Good Dead." She was amazing! She was a "new" Elpheba and I can't imagine that anybody could be better than her! It was a great night! We even had AMAZING seats! We were really close to the stage (thanks Dad).

Sunday morning I hopped back on the plane and headed home. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO ready to see Saydee and Richard! Poor Saydee probably thought that I up and left her. Thank goodness for my nightly and morningly (yup it is a word) Skype calls. I don't think I will leave a child that young again for that long. She didn't understand what was going on and has been super clingy this week. I feel bad I traumatized the poor girl.

Alll in all it was a GREAT trip and I am excited to go back this summer! It will be fun and I can't wait to expose Richard to the East Coast and hopefully convince him to move there =).

Saydee Needs a Baby!

2011-01-31T16:57:00.000-08:00

I think everybody is keyed into the fact that I really, really want another baby! =) You know me, always great at hiding my feelings. Saydee is the one who really wants another baby! She has an unreal mothering instinct. Here is a list of things that I have caught her doing.

-At 11 months old we were babysitting a friend's baby. The baby was extremely fussy and Saydee stood by her carrier and patted the baby's head, gave her her binky and rocked the carrier. She hasn't ever seen me do that!

- She changes her baby's diapers. Yup, she grabs a wipe and then "changes" them.

- After changing her diaper a few weeks ago, I found her wiping her baby's bum. I thought that was cute. Then, a I hear a commotion in the bathroom. I go in and check on her and she has stripped her baby down and bathing the baby in the toilet. Awesome right??? Sort of......

-Yesterday we had some friends for dinner! One of the girls who came had a 6-week old baby. Saydee wanted to mother that baby! As soon as they set the baby on the floor she RAN to her room and came back out pushing her stroller. She kept grabbing his legs because she wanted to get him out. She wanted to put the baby in her stroller. It was TOOO cute. After completing dinner, I set her on the ground to go and run. I went in the other room to check on her and sure enough she had pulled all the blanket off the baby so she could see him and she was trying to put a binky in his mouth (an old one she found in her toy box).

Saydee loves baby and it is so cute how gentle she is with them. I love it!

It's Been Crazy

2011-01-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

Check out the curls! Love the curls!

The past month has FLOWN by! Here are few events that I want to document since this is my only form of a journal! SLC trip, Utah, my birthday, Christmas, Anniversary and my Grandpa's funeral.

This time of year is crazy! I celebrate my birthday, anniversary and Christmas all in two weeks. It is not my favorite but it is okay. This year we decided to head down to Utah for the David Archuleta/Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It was AWESOME! We left Saydee at home with my parents and took off for a little getaway! It was so fun to go and look at the lights, eat my self silly and enjoy the Christmas Concert. Seriously, the performing artist makes a HUGE difference. Natalie Cole was not my favorite last year and after that, I vowed I was never going again, until that is I found out that David Archuleta was the guest artist this year. Now, I am all about going down this next year too! I can't believe that three years has gone by since marrying Richard. It has been a fun ride! Can't wait to see what is next. I am sincerely hoping that a new baby will fit into the equation sometime soon.

My birthday, well, all I have to say about that is that since everything was so crazy with my grandpa's funeral I will have to postpone my 29th birthday to next year....DARN! Seriously though, I am having serious issues with coping with this whole aging thing. I know that 29 is "young" but what scares me is how quickly the last 10 years went by! For real! SLOW DOWN! I also feel stressed because I would love a big family and this whole getting pregnant thing has taken me significantly longer than in the past and I am not getting any younger.

Christmas was awesome, I am very grateful I live next to my parents. I LOVE my family! I love that my mom and dad see the best in me and truly support me for who I am. They are able to look past my many weaknesses and love me anyway. They are great cheerleaders! They are also amazing grandparents to Saydee. I feel grateful that we live so close. They are great people for her to associate with. Anyway, back to Christmas, this year we did Christmas on our own. We did the traditional going to breakfast and a movie with my parents, but this year we slept at our own house and did our own Christmas morning. I would highly recommend it. It is a great way to start your own traditions and I think it is fun! Richard did a great job with his gift giving this year! I am excited about everything he got!

Saydee was super cute! She had no clue what was going on, but she got all sorts of excited when she saw her new toys! She enjoyed attempting to open presents WHILE I was wrapping them more than she did when she was supposed to be opening them. She is a doll! I can't wait for next Christmas when she understands it a little more.

Utah was an interesting experience for me. I enjoyed most of my time there. At least I know I have a home here in Idaho with a husband who loves me no matter what. I am grateful for that! Let's be honest, traveling with Saydee is not fun so we probably not be going down near as much. I had a lot of fun playing in the snow with Richard. I have learned that I am the wimpiest snowboarder ever. Seriously, my whole problem is that I am freaked out by going fast and really, I think that is a good portion of the POINT of snowboarding! I do enjoy sledding and watching Saydee in the snow. The sub zero temperatures don't seem to intimidate her and she loves digging in the snow. Apparently she takes after her dad because snow isn't so much my cup of tea.

My anniversary! WOW - three years has gone by quickly! I watched my wedding video on my anniversary just to be as cheesy as can be! Really, I have decided that I miss my wedding day! For one I miss the fact that I was 25. I can't believe all that we have been through in 3 years. Just for fun here is a list of the things we have accomplished or gone through in 3 years.

- Lived in Utah, Boise and Idaho Falls. NEVER thought I would live in Idaho Falls, even if it is just for a temporary amount of time.
- Held a combined total of 10 jobs! Really, we didn't get fired from any of them. They all ended for legitimate reasons like moving and having a baby!
- Had a beautiful little girl! Saydee has been so much fun and SO much work =)
- Bought our first home and remodeled the whole thing! Love my house!
- Bought two new-to-us cars.
- Gone on many adventures ranging from near death plane rides to camping in the Mountain Ranges of Wyoming in the freezing cold/snow!
- I joke and say three years down, 5 or 6 to go depending on how it goes, but really I love Richard and even though marriage is a lot of work, I love it! I am excited for many more adventures together.

Last but not least I wanted to talk about my grandpa's funeral! My grandpa had been suffering from dementia for the past 5 years. He was 93-years old and lived a great life. It was his time to go and I am happy that he is now at peace! It is always sad to say goodbye to somebody, but really, I felt I said goodbye several years ago. I don't think my grandpa remembered me for the past few years. That is okay, still love him! I had a lot of people offer their condolences about his passing and while I appreciated it, I really wasn't that sad! He is happy now and has quality of life! Despite my many complaints about life being too short, I am so glad that someday I will get to see everybody again! I will be surrounded by all the people I love and I am excited about that!

Phew, what a long post! Sorry to bore you all to death. I have been such a slacker at updating my blog and really I have no excuse. Sure, life is busy, but it is all about priorities!

Saydee's Favorite Things

2010-12-07T10:39:00.001-08:00

Saydee has three favorite things and YES they are in order.

1. Grandma Fager. Most kids cry when their mom leaves, Saydee cries when grandma leaves and she has to stay with mean old mom.

2. Her pink and furry coat! NOT to be confused with her dark pink coat. Seriously, I tried to offer her the second of the two above mentioned coats and that was not a good idea. She started backing away very apprehensively shaking her head no. I think she thinks the coat is a stuff animal (her fourth favorite thing).

3. Her boots! We went to the Winco the other day and she would not go unless I put her boots on. Silly girl!

We are loving miss Saydee.

Happy Birthday Richard

2010-11-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

Can anyone see where Richard is??? For Richard's birthday he got an ELK =). He is hunting in Colorado with his dad and brothers while I am in Denver visiting my sister and her family.

Last night when I was talking to him on the phone I reiterated the fact that if he was going to go hunting he might as well shoot an elk. Well, this morning at 7:00 am I got "the" picture. Way to go Richard!

Pictures!!!

2010-10-31T16:13:00.001-07:00

More pictures for your viewing pleasure! I was actually crafty this month, TWICE! I am quite proud of myself. My friends Shyanne and Kira came over and we made jackolanterns out of mason jars. I found a nifty little blog and decided to get my craft on. I also made some block letters that have the names of the season on them! Saydee has been quite the helper! She sees me doing something and wants to copy me. She is great at moping the floor, emptying garbages and sweeping.

Do you think it's been long enough....

2010-10-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

SINCE I LAST POSTED!!! Geesh, I am getting bad at this! The funny thing is I used to post more BEFORE I had a camera. So I have a bunch of cute pictures of Saydee. Man, that girl is a sass!!!! She was a lady bug for halloween and the bell of the ball wherever we went. I put a pair of glasses on her and she LEAVES THEM ON! Seriously, what 1-year old does that? Mine apparently. She loves glasses and likes to leave them on. The funniest is when they are my mom's reading glasses. Since it's probably not the best idea to put prescription glasses on her, I bought her a pair of glasses that are not prescription.

Saydee is officially walking all over. She is now a walker instead of a crawler! So fun we love it! Now if we can convince Oldham baby #2 that it's time to come down then we would be set. Any of you others out there experienced the phenomenon of NOT being able to get pregnant as quick as you did the first two times? Weird! I figured that since I got pregnant easily 2 times, that this time would be a breeze. No such luck this time.

Saydee is super fun! She loves to climb in and up things. Her favorite spot is in her closet. There is a little shoe shelf that she loves to climb on and read books. She is a funny kid! She also loves my toothbrush. I am sure you can imagine how much I loved it when I went into the bathroom and found her swishing my toothbrush in the toilet and then sucking on it. Awesome!

Hope you all are having a fabulous halloween! I am thoroughly excited that I have an excuse to go trick or treating again=).

Look Who Has Decided to WALK!!!!

2010-10-08T18:49:00.001-07:00

Saydee is finally walking....sort of. She is starting to take steps. I didn't think this day would ever come because at 13-months she was still perfectly content crawling. My back has really been bothering me lately, and I have been desperate for her to walk so I can function!!!! Anyway, this weekend at my grandparents house she decided that walking would be a grand idea....a grand idea in deed I say=) Go Saydee go!!!!! We got some of her steps on camera although they were unusually slow and she was quite apprehensive about showing off her walking skills to the camera.

A Much Needed Face Lift

2010-09-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

We have given our kitchen a much needed facelift: a NEW TILE FLOOR! Now, let me clarify, when I say we, I really mean Richard. Saydee did attempt to help, but got her hand stuck to the STICKY floor and after that was extremely cautious around the kitchen floor. It is exciting our projects seem to be getting smaller and smaller=) Next up, patching the holes.

Organization

2010-09-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure what to title this post! But, this big news in our life is that I quit my job at BYUI and I am going to be working from home. I am SUPER SUPER SUPER excited about this for several reasons. First of all, I loved working at BYUI for 20-hours a week, but the problem is, I was gone for more like 30, which is WAY too much. The commute was killing me. I was gone way more than I liked from Saydee, and even though she was in good hands with Richard, I need to be a mom. Last week I got an email from on company that provides remote work for deaf and hard of hearing students. At any rate, I had applied to work for them over a year ago and never heard anything back. I got an email this last week asking if I wanted to work for them. I get paid more than I do working for BYUI. I work about 16 hours a week and I work from home, which means there are only 16 hours that Rich has to watch her. The even better part is that some of those hours take place before Saydee even wakes up and when is she is napping. I LOVE this work from home gig. PLUS I am saving $100 in gas because I don't have to drive to Rexburg. I love BYUI and will miss the great people I worked with, I just have learned that a daily commute of 1.5 hours is not for me.

Okay, so the picture. Saydee loves to stack things, pull things out, put them back in etc. Here is my essential oils box. I had taken about 6 of the oils out leaving 6 holes in the box in random places. For a good 20 minutes, Saydee sat there and played. I looked over a while later and noticed that she had moved all the oils into the three bottom rows. I was amazed, she is 1 and wanted them perfectly lined up =) Go Saydee go!

Saydee is 1!

2010-08-24T11:16:00.001-07:00

My baby is one! It is crazy how fast time flies. I took her to her appointment this morning and she is getting tall, FINALLY. I was wondering when she was gonna sprout....she has always been above average, but usually 80%. I was thinking back to exactly one year ago to the day, when I took her to the doctor at 2 days old. My has she changed. Not only has she gained 14 lbs and 10.5 inches, but her developmental growth has multiplied by about a million. She has gone from laying there struggling to stay awake to going through all the drawers at the doctors office and trying to stand on the scale to be weighed and waving at the doctor while he examined her.

Saydee at age one:

Weight 22 lbs 7.5 oz - 74% (last week at the doctor she was 23 lbs)
Length 30.5 inches - 90%
Head 18 inches - 70%

*crawling all over
*almost walking
*has 8 teeth and one that just wont come through even though it is RIGHT there
*absolutely hates being in her carseat
*very social, loves to play with others
*very good at sharing
*not so great at church
*loves birthday cake =)
*loves bath time
*loves her milk
*really likes music
*loves to read books she will sit there and read to herself for a good amount of time
*NOT snuggly

What We've Been Up To!

2010-08-15T15:22:00.001-07:00

Our little family in Yellowstone

Saydee and her daily Q-Tip. Some people have their morning coffee and Saydee has her Q-Tip. She likes to open my bathroom cupboard, pull out exactly 1 Q-Tip and then crawl around with it in her mouth.
This was taken at our camping trip to Bear Creek. Richard and Saydee went wading in the river.
Saydee and my mom getting ready to go watch the Blue Angels. She is great about leaving her sun glasses on.

We have had a very busy summer. We have taken on an investment property with Richard's dad that we are excited about it. We have been camping about every other weekend and we went to see the Blue Angels when they were in town. Saydee did NOT like the noise of the jets flying 100 feet above us. I think that she had an ear infection (never had it diagnosed cause it cleared up with oils) and we kept covering her ears when they went over head because they were SO LOUD!! It was awesome though.

We have been camping in Yellowstone and Bear Creek, by Palisades. While Yellowstone is beautiful I am not sure I want to camp there again. It is too cold!!! It was like high 40's low 50's during the day and then at night it was low 30's. I did have a blast with our friends the Nielsens. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing a grizzly bear and her two cubs. I have seen multiple black bears in Yellowstone but never a grizzly. I was even more excited to see her about 30 miles from our camp ground.

Saydee is almost one!!! I can't believe how fast time has gone. She has an extremely long torso like her mom, however she lacks my long legs =). So her shirt or dress size is 2T and her pants are 12 or 18month. It makes me laugh, short legs (let me clarify that average to me means short) with a long body!!!! She is learning sign language and I am amazed at how quickly she picks up on the words we teach her. She is quite talkative as well here is a list of the things she says (I know I am forgetting a few):

Mom
Dad
Book
Dog (she says dog and then she barks like one)
She moo's like a cow
How are you
Thank you
Hey
Hi
Hello
Oh yeah

She is so much fun, and a lot of work. She is a champ at eating her fruits and vegetables. I am mean though and haven't exposed to her to many sweets or fatty foods, not even fruit snacks, my poor deprived child. She eats whatever we are eating and she is a great little eater!!! I am only nursing her once a day and she loves her whole milk=). I am very proud of myself for making it a whole year.

She loves crawling up and down the stairs, climbing on everything and reading books. She is very social and loves to play with others and is very good at sharing. She is great on walks but horrible in her car seat. Being good at church however, is a different story. Hey she has some spirit, what can I say. My child is ALWAYS on the go, very busy baby.

We LOVE Saydee.

Camping at Granite Hot Springs

2010-07-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

I love how much Saydee loves the outdoors and camping! She is the best. I felt even better about the whole thing after some friends agreed that 11-months is the roughest time to take a baby camping because they can't quite walk, but yet want to crawl all over. Yup, that fits Saydee's description. Saydee is a great little camper and at the worst age to camp with. She is getting really close to walking. I bet she walks right around 1-year. Fine with me. She is crawling all over and getting sassier by the minute! She loves to "talk" on my cell phone. She holds it up to her ear and says things like "wahda", "oh yeah", and just yelling in general. Cracks me up. She is so funny.

So back to camping. We went with our great friends the Passeys and Harts. We had a blast. The kids thoroughly enjoyed playing with Richard. Really he is just a glorified big kid. He loves to climb things, through rocks in the river, and goof off. The camp sight was BEAUTIFUL and the weather was perfect. Toasty enough to wear shorts and a perfect temperature at night.

4th of July

2010-07-15T16:13:00.001-07:00

I am still laughing about this. Richard went to put his church shoes on and Saydee had taken out the shoe laces=).

We went to Utah for the 4th of July. We went to watch the Stadium of Fire Fireworks. Saydee loved the fireworks and stood in her pack 'n play and watched. I was worried they would scare her, but she was great. We slept in a camper on my inlaws driveway and since I am no longer going to be buying a private jet, I am seriously (this is for real this time) considering buying a camper. I loved the camper, it was great because we had our own space, but yet we were still right there in on the action.

We went for a horse ride and I lived=). I am quite proud of myself. I don't know what has gotten into me because I have ridden a horse millions of times WITHOUT ever falling off or being rammed into something, yet this last time I was freaked out of getting on. I survived and enjoyed it. Mansey treated me very well.

Speaking of horses, my inlaws have a stud (stallion) and they are breeding some of their mares right now. It was like a train wreck and I couldn't help but stare! I am grateful I am not a mare.....if any of you have seen a stud's you know what, you will know why! GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY. The horse they were breeding was named Liberty and the next day at church everybody kept mentioning the word liberty in their testimonies and you can of course imagine the image that was entering my mind. I never said my mind wasn't in the gutter!

Just as I was completing this post, my father in law call, he works at Liberty Press. He called my husband at work and the phone announces who is calling. It said....LibertEEEE Press. Enter image again.

Our Little Camper

2010-06-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went up Logan Canyon to go camping. We went with our friends the Cronins (we MISS YOU GUYS). I was a bit apprehensive about taking my 10-month old camping. First of all she won't sleep with us and I wasn't sure how to keep her warm. Richard set up our airmattress and her pack and play in the tent. It was a snug fit, but it fit. We threw in a million blankets and put her in 3 pairs of jammies. She was FABULOUS. She fell right asleep and stayed asleep all night. Apparently we need to set up a tent in our backyard for her to sleep in seeing as she slept better in a tent and 45 degree weather, than she does in her bed at home.
This little munchkin loved camping. She loved the outdoors, the fire, the river, trying to grab the leaves on the trees on the hike. Oh and speaking of hike, she rode in a child carrier on Richard's back. She thoroughly enjoyed cracking the whip. She literally had a stick in her hand that she would whack his head with from time to time.

I miss Logan. I have lots of fun memories of going to USU and it was fun to go back for a night. If I could move back, I would!
Saydee enjoying a nature hike!
Our lovely camp! It was a great spot. It has a nice river literally 10-feet from our tent. It was nice because the sound of the river took the place of the fan I have to sleep with every night to drown out noise.

This is how we find Saydee at night. The poor thing will sit and cry for an hour before falling asleep. When she does fall asleep, she is usually still sitting up.

Saydee Has Some Serious Personality

2010-06-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

It is so fun watching Saydee's personality emerge. Here are some of the things that I love about Saydee:

1. She is extremely sassy.
2. She is very social, no clue where she got that from.
3. She LOVES to eat. She will eat ANYTHING you give her. I didn't realize how great of an eater she was until I spending time around a few other babies. I have also had people comment about how their kids wouldn't eat squash or what have you. She will even eat those nasty baby food meats. I love my non-picky eater.
4. She loves balloons.
5. She has decided that standing is so much more fun than sitting. She is still quite wobbly, but she can at least hold onto things by herself.
6. She likes to try to drink her water in the bathtub, maybe I should say lap up the water. She is like a puppy dog.
7. She takes amazon woman steps. She likes to hold onto your fingers and walk and she takes giant steps and pounds her feet on the floor.
8. She is just plain cute.
9. She is very helpful at organizing my cupboards.
10. She enjoys pulling out the wipes from the container as fast as possible.

New Car

2010-06-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well, we got a new car!!! It is a 2009 Toyota Camry. We got it from the Hertz Dealership. Normally we would do a private party deal, you know where you sell your car and then go buy one=). Considering the reason we were getting a new car was because the 2005 Impala aka Crapala was conking out on us. We wouldn't have felt right having somebody buy the car seeing how the speedometer didn't work, the heater didn't work, it would overheat from time to time, it needed a new water pump and new brakes. Lovely. So we did what any honest person would do, we traded it in. We LOVE our new car and it is nice having peace of mind again. This girl is a die hard foreign car fan. I tried the Chevy thing for a while, and I must say I love Toyotas and Hondas. There is something to be said about a car that will always start =). Shoot, my 1995 banged up Civic is still running just great. It had fewer problems that our 2005 Impala. Plus we don't have to crawl in the passenger side anymore, we got the door banged out just enough so it opens.

In other news, I don't know about anyone else but I feel like I need to start building an ark. We have had so much rain! I could have sworn by June the weather is supposed to be nice and sunny. The only thing coming up in our garden is mushrooms. I think I even saw a fish floating in my flower garden. We recently had our backyard hydroseeded and I am anxiously awaiting grass. It is gonna be awesome.

Our Best Third

2010-05-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Saydee is 9 months! I can't believe it. She has now been out as long as she was in! I know people always say it goes by fast and man, they weren't kidding.

People always refer to their spouses or significant others as their "better half," so if that be the case, then Saydee is our best third =) Saydee is continuing to eat like a beast. She eats a full bowl of cereal for breakfast (right after nursing when she wakes up). Full as in, the same amount that Richard and I eat. We make cereal and divide it equally into thirds and then put applesauce into it. Not sure where she is hiding all the food she eats because her weight gain has slowed down considerably. Saydee isn't showing many signs of walking, but that is okay. I think that is a blessing for now. She will get there soon enough =).

She has 6 teeth (I think). I know that sounds weird, but I can't tell if the new top two teeth are in because she won't let me check. Last I checked they were ALMOST there. She will have four teeth on top and two on the bottom. That makes for more enjoyable eating and she LOVES food. It doesn't matter what kind of food it is. She had salmon for the first time today and seemed to like that. She eats whatever you give her and LOTS of it.

She is a little sass, no I didn't say ass, there is an S in there :P. She loves to crinkle up her nose and blow in and out really hard. It's her scrunch face and it is adorable. She has a ton of personality and most of all, she still has her awesome cheeks!

Saydee NEVER falls asleep unless she is in her crib. We had to document this first time occasion.
Saydee playing with sticks, REALLY big sticks. She was having fun whacking Richard on the head with them.
This is what happens when you eat your cheerios like...........
This! I know these are different pictures on different days. But the result is the same =). Ha ha, love it!

Endless Projects

2010-05-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

I really should have taken "before" pictures of the terrace. It was a NIGHTMARE! Richard redid the rock walls and they are FABULOUS now. You couldn't even see where they were before. Just rocks everywhere.

This is the side of the yard that DOES have grass, although we are currently killing the grass to start fresh. Ignore the backyard neighbor or ghost house I should say. Nobody has lived in the home in the 18 months we have owned this home. It is a nightmare yard now.

This house has been one big project. Of course that was why we bought the house in the first place. Fixing it up and making it beautiful has been very gratifying and made me appreciate my home so much more. Last year we did the inside of the house. We still have a few minor things like redoing the kitchen floor, painting the bathrooms, and installing my new sink in the guest bathroom. I love garage sales. I found a brand new pedestal sink at a sale for $22, I bargained the nice man down from $30. I am so excited to install it. I hope to have it done by the time my friends come in June.

This year has been the year of the yard. The yard was a MESS! The man who we bought the home from had a bunch of big dogs that trashed the back yard. We literally have no grass back there and last year it was so over grown with weeds you couldn't get back there. This year we put a stop to it. We tore down one of our two huge sheds and got rid of multiple trees and dead and overgrown bushes. We are on target to hydroseed the yard next week. I should have taken more before pictures, but here are in between pictures. While the yard might look barren to you, that is a dang good thing considering what it used to look like. Stay tuned for pictures with GRASS!!!

Working Woman

2010-05-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

I have very mixed feelings about working!!! Well, let me back up and tell you what happened. I was going about my business on Thursday, when I got a phone call from BYU-Idaho asking if I wanted to transcribe on a substitute basis. I figured sure why not! I wouldn't mind the extra money and Saydee could go to work with Richard. I figured as long as it was a parent watching her, it wouldn't be counted as daycare....right?? Not that I have anything against daycare, I just vowed to myself that when I had kids, I wanted to raise them myself instead of paying somebody else to do my job. I totally understand if you want to work, totally fine, I just didn't want to.

Anyway, I agreed to work 40-hours the next week. They are paying me a FABULOUS rate (I was shocked when they told me what it was) and we could REALLY use the money. Richard is a great provider, but considering each time we have a baby we have to pay $7,000 out of pocket, we have some serious saving to do. ANYWAY, I agreed to work 40-hours the following week and part time for the next two months. I hate being away from Saydee. But, I figure it won't be too bad because as I mentioned Richard is the one watching her, I will only be gone four hours a day, and mostly likely Saydee will nap 2-3 of those four hours.

I have about five years of transcribing experience, however I have been out of the loop for 4 years. It has been challenging to not be as good as I once was, but I am getting there! It shouldn't take too long. I just MISS my baby!!!!!!

The downsides to working are that I completely miss Saydee all day long (I am in the middle of my fulltime week) and somebody has to bring her to Rexburg once a day for me to nurse because the pump doesn't do nearly the damage that Saydee can. But it is nice to see her in the middle of the day.

All in all this job has been a huge blessing. It's getting my little old ADHD self out of the house every day for a few hours and honestly for the time being, I think that will help me be a better mom. I do feel guilty about working, but I don't think working for 2.5 months will hurt anybody. Plus, Saydee LOVES her dad. She will have ages 11 months-18 with me at home all day, so I think this bonding time with Richard will be a good thing.

Checkout this AWESOME Giveaway!

2010-05-03T11:04:00.001-07:00

I don't know this lovely gal, but she is offering a great giveaway...check it out!

Merry Christmas Saydee

2010-04-30T13:57:00.001-07:00

Balloons, tissue paper and RIBBONS! Oh my, could there BE anything more fun than this for an 8-month old?! Thanks Clancy for letting me throw you a baby shower at my house, Saydee THOROUGHLY enjoyed it =)

What is with CREEPY followers?!

2010-04-26T10:15:00.001-07:00

I added the "Follow" feature to my blog a few months ago. It is always fun to see who is reading my blog. Recently, I have had strange people adding me. When I say strange I mean the following:
1. Their names are usually all typed together like CADJENX
2. Most of their names are not your typical American names, example Gabriel (with accents on it).
3. I go to their profile and it is blank.
4. I am the only blog they are following, okay creepy.
5. Their names don't even SLIGHTLY ring a bell.
6. Sometimes their blogs are in other languages.

At one point I think I had ten of these "friends" of whom I had no clue who they were. I deleted and blocked 7 of them and then MORE added me. WHO ARE YOU?!!!!! LEO GABRIEL, who are you?? CADJENX....WHO ARE YOU??? JAQUELINE CLEIDE....WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?!!!

I must add that you are MORE than welcome to read my blog even if you don't know me. I mean shoot I am a total blog stalker myself. I don't even a have a problem with you following my blog. But please, at least have a valid blog so I can see who you are. It is also preferable that you speak English too!!!!

Any insights on my followers??

Little Mo

2010-04-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Saydee has a double crown and thus has a mohawk. I love it!

My Favorite Saydee

2010-04-07T10:21:00.001-07:00

Here are some precious pictures of Saydee. I think my favorite would be the one where she is an absolute mess. She LOVES to reach for and grab things. As you might imagine, mealtime is a constant battle. Yesterday I decided to see what would happen if I let her loose. Let's just say that Saydee, highchair and all, ended up in the tub:)

California Vacation

2010-03-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

We just got back from California. We started out by driving to Spanish Fork and spending the weekend there. Saydee rode on her first horse. Saydee loves animals=). She got so excited when we walked up to the horse. We decided to throw her on Mansey and go for a ride.

Sunday we loaded up on the plane (stay tuned for the return flight story at the end) and flew to Lodi California. We went to visit Richard's sister and brother-in-law and their new baby Saylor.

My awesome sister in laws Karen and Sarah came with their cute little girls and we stayed in an awesome house and each had our own room and bathroom. Every day, we went on fun outtings. We went to the beach by Santa Cruz, toured the Jelly Belly Factory, went to Target about 87 times, went shopping, kayaked, and did a few other little fun odds and ends.

We thoroughly enjoyed the California weather. Saydee enjoyed sitting in the grass and picking it. I am disappointed that despite the calendar arrival of Spring, it really seems to be nowhere close to arriving here in Idaho.

We were sad when the week came to an end and it was time to come home. I need to back up and tell you about the plane we flew out on. We flew out on a private plane. After the first leg of the journey, I was seriously contemplating buying myself one, cause you know that would just pocket change for me and Rich;). It was so nice to literally pull up to the plane, hop in and fly away. No security or long boring waits! It was quite nice.

As you might expect, I was thrilled to to hop on the plane and come home. I had thoroughly enjoyed my first leg of the of the flight and was expecting nothing less for the return trip home. I was sitting in my seat and holding Saydee when we hit some MASSIVE turbulence. It literally knocked me out of the seat and onto the floor. Saydee bumped her head on the way down. She was totally fine and I didn't even notice the little bruise until after we landed. I was yelling out to Richard to grab Saydee because I was so afraid she was going to get hurt. He came and grabbed her. I stayed on the floor in a fetal position and endured a few more NASTY bumps. Luckily, the turbulence subsided and the pilot assured that it was just fine and nothing to be worried about. Although he did admit later that it definitely caught him by surprise too.

I was FREAKING OUT after that. I was truly convinced that I was going to die in a crash on the way home. It was slightly comforting to know that my whole family would die all together, but I was still HORRIFIED at the thought.For those of you that know me daredevil is NOT my middle name. I am a wuss and I am proud to admit it. You will never catch me on any sort of adrenaline seeking adventure. I am definitely no quiter, not even when it comes to scary things. Why you ask.....because I don't DO scary things so there is nothing to quit. So while the turbulence definitely scared us all, I took being scared to the next level. I was on edge for the next 20 minutes. I was having a panic attack and it was horrible.

After that I went into the cockpit with the pilot and my father in law and the pilot assured me that the plane wasn't going to crash and that turbulence is just like hitting waves in a boat (except you can see them coming). The pilot was extremely therapeutic to talk with and we managed to safely land in Spanish Fork. You could definitely say that I am having second thoughts about purchasing my own airplane =)

Here is a super cute picture of Saydee. She was helping me pack my suitcase to come home to Idaho. I think she pulled everything I was trying to pack right onto her. Silly Saydee. Don't mind the double choking hazard in the picture (my cell phone cord and the plastic bag).

Some Pictures and a Trip

2010-03-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Saydee and I just got back from Denver. We went to visit my sister and her two darling boys for a week! It was so much fun to get out of Idaho Falls for a week. We went on an airplane for the first time and Saydee was a champ=). She did GREAT on the way there and charmed everybody including the pilot (he came out of the cockpit to see her). The way back was a slightly different story. They delayed our flight 35 minutes (which is a big deal when it is bedtime). Then after we boarded the plane they had us wait another HOUR to wait for passengers that were on a connecting flight. Not so much fun sitting with her for 2 hours in an extremely confining place where you can't even sit on the floor. Oh well, what can ya do.

I have decided that I would love to move to a big city. Let's be honest, I decided this the minute I was born. I have always been a city girl. I loved the diversity and culture of Denver. Plus, it has the four seasons, but it's not as frigid as Idaho Falls (at least for as long). I would love to move to Denver someday, hope Melanie doesn't mind.

We are COMPLETELY Responsible Parents!

2010-02-27T18:36:00.001-08:00

Saydee loves to play with utensils, and really anything for that matter. My favorite was when Richard handed her a spoon and I warned him that she might hurt herself with it. No sooner after he told me she was fine, than she whacked him right in the tooth with it. So we decided to move onto a more sensible table utensil....a knife=)

Saydee is Full of Personality!

2010-02-19T09:04:00.000-08:00

Back in November I bought this little toy from DI for $5. Don't worry Folks, I scrubbed it half to death with clorox wipes so I think it is safe now. Saydee loves to lay under the toy and play. She talks to her toys and laughs at them. It is fun to listen to her. I am worried that she has become upset with the toy because her new favorite past time is pin the toy, WWF style. She is quite proud of herself when she "pins" her toy and always has the cutest look of satisfaction on her face. This toy is lucky to last 10 seconds without being dominated.

Also, I love this kid's tongue. She sticks it out often and it makes it hard to see her new little teeth. That is probably why I didn't know she even had a tooth until after it had emerged. I didn't even KNOW she was in the process of getting a tooth. I just got bit...OUCH!

In With the New Part 1

2010-02-09T12:39:00.001-08:00

My food storage room and TV room.

It has been a year since we moved into our home and doesn't our house look great. Richard did 85% of the updating himself (we paid to have the carpet in the basement installed). Here is a list of the Richard's newly acquired home remodeling skills:

* Demolishing an entire kicthen
* Installing cubpoards, countertops and appliances
* Painting, painting and MORE painting
* Adjusting baseboards so they actually touch the floor
* Refinishing Floors
* Drywalling
* Texturing
* Various electrical work

In With The New Part 2

2010-02-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

1. The office (in our basement)
2. Room at the bottom of the stairs (the spare bedroom, office, storage closet, hot tub room, laundry/bathroom, foodstorage room, and TV room all branch from this room).
3. The is a picture taken from the bottom step where you can see the closet and the guest bedroom and office.
4. This is another picture of that main room at the bottom of the stairs. The back door is right next to the window. This is a walkout basement.
5. Saydee's room, which is upstairs.

In With The New Part 3

2010-02-09T11:51:00.000-08:00

Pictures in order:

1. The living room (there are better pictures of it on an older post)
2. The upstairs hallway (our bedroom, bathroom and Saydee's room are off of this).
3. The breakfast nook
4. The kitchen
5. The kitchen

Out With The Old

2010-02-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

We moved into our house about a year ago. We bought it in January of 2009 and spent a month making it livable. Poor Richard has worked his tail off to turn out house into what it is today. But we love it! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

FOR MORE PICTURES OF WHAT IT LOOKED IT WHEN WE MOVED IN (click here):

doTerra

2010-02-03T10:39:00.001-08:00

A Little about Jennifer Oldham

* I have serious ADHD (97% folks, my specialist has only treated ONE person who has it worse than I do).

* The only medication that I have found to help is Ritalin.

When I was five years old, I was diagnosed with ADHD. It was determined that I had a three minute attention span and I was put on medication. Battling ADHD has been just that, a battle. I felt like I finally had it under control and then I decided to have a baby. When you are pregnant or nursing Ritalin is not an option. When that reality hit me I felt as if I had been completely stripped of all my personal ammunition and armor that helped me fight this.

I would like to have 4-5 kids and I like to nurse my babies until age 1. So if you do the math I will not be able to treat my ADHD until I am done having and nursing babies. This could severely impact relationships with my kids, husband, family and friends. It is a hard pill to swallow.

SO, I am left to deal with UNMEDICATED ADHD!!!

There are several implications of my ADHD, one of which is the inability to control my thoughts and obsess. I am worrying myself to death! More than just the normal worry. I worry obsessively and it is a problem.

Possible Solution?

I talked to my friend Teresa about it and she told me that essential oils might help. I am not going to lie, I laughed because the only medicine (and I have tried MANY) that has done anything to help is Ritalin. I was the queen of skepticism. She was kind and gave me some oils to try and they work MIRACLES. The even more amazing thing about them is that they are gentle on your body. I felt like Ritalin is helpful, but I am constantly worried (remember my obsessive worrying) that it is killing my kidneys.

A Little About doTerra and How it is Helping Me

When I first heard about doTerra Essential Oils, I was not quite convinced that they would do the trick. I was quite quickly proven wrong. They are working miracles in my life. They are a completely natural cure to many, many problems.

Here is a list of problems that essential oils have helped my family with:

* ADHD/Anxiety

* Sore throats and getting sick

*Stuffy nose and congestion

*Helping my young infant QUICKLY getting over a cold

*Helping me sleep

*Headaches

*My husband's wart on his foot

*Joint and muscle pain

** There are several things that Oils have helped my family and friends with, but I only included a list of what I have personal experience with.**

I have decided to join forces with doTerra

I have never been interested in doing direct sells for a product of any kind. I HATE pressuring people. But since I am using this product every month, I decided to get involved. This is an opportunity for me to have a natural products help me and also a chance to make a little bit of money. The products sell themself. Nobody talked me into doing direct sells with these oils, they just simply gave me some to try and I was SOLD. I asked my friend how I could get involved.

**For more information or questions on doTerra please email me at oldham.jenn@gmail.com**

Saving it for Later

2010-01-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

Saydee cracks me up! We are trying to get her to eat rice cereal and vegetables now that she is five months old. I decided it was time because she is always HUNGRY! I am nursing her every 1 1/2 hours and that gets hard. The first couple of weeks she ate like a champ and couldn't get her food in fast enough. Lately she has decided that she prefers to eat her food off her bib. She would rather lick it off than eat from a spoon! I guess whatever suits your fancy Saydee :-)

Saydee has learned to blow with her tongue and also likes to help with laundry! She is quite the little helper. Love me some Saydee!

Big Jud's

2010-01-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

Back in 2000 when I was attending Ricks (Before it was BYUI), my roommates and I went to Big Jud's. We never did attempt to eat the 1-pound burger, but it was a fun place to go. As most of you know, I am not a winter time girl and I am always itching to get out of the house. I made a deal with my parents that if I cleaned their house, they would pay for Richard and I to go on a date.

Richard and I decided to go to Big Jud's. Again, we were boring and didn't attempt to eat the 1-pound wonder burger, but instead we ate the dripping with grease, quarter pounder. I am not gonna lie, I was disappointed with food but it was fun to get out!

Saydee 5-Months Old

2010-01-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

My fabulous friend Shyanne took pictures of Saydee today. She is so amazing to take these for me, especially since right at the moment, we couldn't afford to do professional pictures. We sure do love Saydee, even if she isn't smiling in these pictures=)

I can't believe Saydee is 5-months old. She is getting to be so much fun! She is starting to form an absolutely darling relationship with Richard. It is so fun to watch. She refuses to do tummy time now that she can roll over. Oh well! I guess the flat spot on her head will have to stay, although really I think it is an Oldham head. Richard has the same flat spot on his head and he doesn't lay on his back all day:P. Neither does Saydee for that matter, she prefers walking around (in my arms) and touring the house.

The Lovely Month of January

2010-01-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

January is a month I seriously struggle with. I am always so excited for the Spring time to come. Having little Saydee around is making my least favorite time of year much more bearable!

I am 28!

2010-01-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

Okay seriously, I swear I just barely turned 10, while living in the lovely little town of Dillon Montana. Okay fine, maybe not. BUT I know last year I was celebrating my 20th birthday with some friends in Logan at a Pizza buffet. Naturally, you can see why I am extremely confused as to how I could have possibly aged 8 years in 1 year. A mystery I tell ya.

Richard was great on my birthday! First of all, he knew I was not quite ready to get out of bed so he brought Saydee in to me so that I could lay in bed a while longer. He fixed me a lovely breakfast and baked a cake. He made the cream cheese frosting from scratch. I love Richard! Birthdays are much more fun with him around.

Dude....Why Me AGAIN!?!?!

2010-01-14T21:36:00.001-08:00

I have bad car luck!!! Let's review my history:

Spring 2004
Car vandalized ($3300 worth of damage)

Summer 2004
Rear-ended 2 times within 20 minutes

Late Summer 2004
Rear-ended and then sandwiched

Summer 2006
Basketball hoop fell on my car causing $1100 of damages

Spring 2007
Backed into=)

Fall 2009
Backed into at a gas station
Hit a deer

Now you can understand why, when I went out and saw today that my car had been the victim of a nasty hit and run, I thought to myself DUDE WHY ME AGAIN?!?!?! It is one of the more serious hit and run I have seen, but then again I haven't seen many other than the occasional parking lot mishap. The whole driver's side of my car is all dented in.

Thanks to whomever slid around the corner at my parents and hit my car and then drove off. I can't even get IN my car now and all we have on it is liability coverage. I hope your 2010 is as fortunate as my 2004 (my worst car mishap year). Fun fact: in 2004 my little green Corolla was worth probably $5,000. I received about $10,700 in cash and repairs that year. (I had originally said $8,500 but I forgot that after I got in my last wreck, I received $4400 from the insurance company and pocketed the cash instead of fixing the car and then I sold my car for $2,200 a couple weeks later).

Yay We Have a Camera

2010-01-03T18:59:00.001-08:00

Richards awesome sister Kara gave us a MUCH WANTED/NEEDED camera for Christmas. We have had so much fun taking real pictures of our lil buddy Saydee. We had a fabulous Christmas that was spent at my parents house. Our 2nd Anniversary was on December 28th. I can't believe we have already been married for 2 years.

New Year's we went to Richard's parents in Utah. WE had a lot of fun playing in the snow and visiting all of our friends and family.

Our Big Girl!!

2009-12-21T16:41:00.000-08:00

Hello Blogging world! Sorry I have not updated my blog in forever! I hate turning into one of "those" bloggers. My sister has come home from her mission=) =) =). She looks GREAT! I can tell she was one fabulous missionary.

Saydee is four months old!! Tomorrow we take her in to get her shots, poor little buddy. She is quite the big girl now. Let it be known that Saydee flat out refuses a bottle. I have only attempted to give one to her all of four times in her whole life. She struggles with the whole bottle concept. She licks and chews the nipple. Once she realizes that it is still mom's milk she decides to give it a try....well those days are over. We went to the MoTab Christmas Concert and I left Saydee with my aunt. When we got back my aunt told me that Saydee refused her bottle, but instead drank her milk from a cup. BIG GIRL!!!

Saydee is now sitting up in her stroller. This makes for much more fun walking.

You Know You are Redneck IF...

2009-12-01T12:44:00.001-08:00

You ask your husband to watch the baby and this is what it looks like.

The Holidays Have ARRIVED!

2009-12-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

I love Richard for many reasons. One of those reasons is that he put the Christmas tree together for us this year. He even decorated it for us too. That is quite a nice thing of him to do especially since he is color blind and the red and gold ornaments that are on the tree all look the same to him.

Here is a picture of the stocking that I made. I made enough for my cute little
family, plus a few extra for any extra children that may come along in the future.

Saydee in her swing. She loves to pull on her pant legs. I know this quite possibly could be a picture only a mother could appreciate....but DANG isn't she cute.

It is no lie, Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I love the cooking and baking and crafting that comes along with it. I am quite proud of my $20 Christmas set up. I got a 6.5 foot pre-lit tree, a tree skirt, wrapping paper, and ornaments all for $20 last year. I went to one of those fancy after Christmas sales. I am sure glad I did, cause cute lil' Saydee used up quite of bit of our money with her grand entrance this year.

I made my own Christmas stockings with my friend Shyanne. I am quite proud of how they turned out because I am a horrible seamstress. In fact, I don't even know that it is appropriate to refer to myself as a seamstress. That might be like calling Satan a Christian.

Father of the Year!

2009-11-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

This was taken back in March. I am kinda thinking this was the last time I did my hair and put on make-up. I was 18-weeks pregnant with Saydee.

Well, lil buddy gave us a slight scare today. She had blood in her stool. I didn't freak out or anything, but it did concern me. Richard took her to the doctor while I went to work out (see father of the year). Anyway, they took some samples and did quite an invasive exam. Saydee was great and smiled and charmed the nurses the whole time, even during "the exam." Apparently, I ate something spicy. She is apparently on a mad dash to weighing 500 pounds. She weighs over 15 lbs and just shy of 3 months. What I want to know, is why do the chubby thighs look so much cuter on her? I have never seen such a cute cottage cheese bum either!!!! (Nope, not talking about mine).

Yummy Yummy in My Mouth

2009-11-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to Boise for my brother's soccer tournament. I slept with Saydee in my grandparent's pool room in their basement. I get quite thirsty while nursing, so I always fill up my trusty water bottle and put in on the night stand next to me. Then, I can quench the middle of the night thirst! Well, as usual, Saydee woke up at 5:00 am. You must understand that during my college years (yes all 7 of them), I didn't go to bed until 5 am. At anyrate, I woke up to feed Saydee and took a big swig of water. I felt a little floaty in my mouth. I was a little worried because I myself, had filled up the water bottle sans floaties, and couldn't quite figure out what would be in the water. I decided to investigate and spit out the water. No sooner than I spit the water out, than the little EARWIG I attempted to swallow hurried off. I was horrified not only because I almost swallowed an earwig, but it was ALIVE!!!

If you notice in the picture, my water bottle has a lid and a straw. That must have been ONE determined earwig. Also, not pictured, is the nightstand that my water bottle was on. That little earwig crawled up the nightstand, up my water bottle, UP the straw and back down it. I am not sure if he was waiting for me in the straw or if he was taking a midnight swin. Either way, his determination paid off....only if he was suicidal that is. As soon as he scurried off, I smashed him with Saydee's wipes. In the words of my cute nephew Carson, "Bye Bye Earwig."

If You Have Gone Private

2009-11-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hey, you know me, I am totally nosey! I love checkin out your blogs. There are few that I can't get into anymore. Also, when I got married, I changed my email. So if you wouldn't mind re adding me to your private list. I would be so grateful. Please send an invite to oldham.jenn@gmail.com

THANKS!!!!

Saydee in the Leaves

2009-11-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

My friend Shyanne took some pictures of Saydee in my front yard. They turned out so cute. Saydee is two months old in these pictures.

Who Does She Look Like?

2009-10-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

I need to get a picture of Richard, but until I get one, this will have to do? This is my baby picture and one of cabbage patch, of whom I think Saydee resembles. Whaddya think?

My Favorite Little Girl

2009-10-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

Saydee is getting big!! She is starting to sleep 7-8 hours at night, which is SO NICE!!! She is smiling a ton and starting to laugh. From what I hear she is a very alert baby=). I finally have all my canning done. I canned applesauce this past week. I actually having some plum juice and apple juice (from the apples I canned) that I need to turn into jelly!

Conference Weekend

2009-10-05T14:44:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we went to Utah to attend Richard's mission reunion and spend some time with his family. Well the exciting news from this past weekend is that Richard got his first deer
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WITH OUR CAR!!!!! Yup, that is right we hit a deer coming home from Richard's mission farewell on Friday night. Let me first back up and tell you that on the way to the reunion some random guy backed into us at the gas station. He was a very nice guy who left his information with us should we find something wrong with the car. On the way back we were driving up Highway 6 (Spanish Fork Canyon) and going about 50 MPH. There was a deer and his/her buddies that decided to jump out in front of our car. Luckily there was just one deer in our way. It was either hit the deer or the oncoming semi (we chose the deer). In the words of my grandpa, "You gotta hit the damn deer." That we did, we hit bambi. Actually it was a big bambi. I was just grateful that we were okay. Richard was good and kept his head on straight and hit the "damn deer" straight on (without swerving and rolling the car). Actually, we hit it with the front right of the car. We take the car to the doctor to get fixed today. Thank goodness for Richard and thank goodness for insurance, and thank goodness Heavenly Father sees fit to keep us around longer!!!!

P.S. This is not the first time I have been in TWO wrecks in ONE day! Back in the summer of 2004, I was rear ended 2 times within 20 minutes. Lovely. Who on earth gets in two wrecks in one day....TWICE??

What is With My Tomatoes??

2009-09-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I feel like some sort of pervert growing these tomatoes!

Fun Boise Weekend

2009-09-28T11:27:00.001-07:00

Saydee and I took a road trip this past weekend. We drove to Boise to hang out with Melanie and her family before they move to Denver for Dave's new job. Also, they blessed baby Drake. My adorable nephew Carson says Saydee's name just right, but sometimes he got a bit confused as to what her name was. The result....baby Simby. LOVE IT.

P.S. Poor Saydee has a cold. It is just a stuffy nose and that is it. But considering we had some family in town last week with colds, and my entire family got it (mom, Richard etc....) it is understandable Saydee would get slightly stuffy. I thought since I was exclusively breastfeeding, she wouldn't get sick. Well, the compromise is a slight cold I guess. I will take it.

Saydee's Blessing

2009-09-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

Saydee was blessed on Sunday. She was beautiful and very well behaved. Rich did a great job and it was fun having our families and friends there to support us.

Some Picture of Saydee

2009-09-16T09:50:00.003-07:00

We are just getting ready for Saydee to be blessed on Sunday. We are so excited to have Richard's family come into town!!!

I am still so in LOVE!!

2009-09-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

I never knew how much fun it would be to be a mom!!!!! I am seriously loving it. I need to use my mom's camera to get some good pictures of her. For now, my camera phone pictures will have to suffice. Canning season is about to be in full swing. I have already done 30+ pints of green beans from my garden, and 10 or so quarts of tomatoes....now tomorrow it is on to PEACHES!!! Wish me luck with that with a 3 week old baby. Poor little thing, sometimes her tummy hurts and we are a bit fussy.

So Precious

2009-09-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

I am so sad that Saydee is going to get big. I am quite excited for more sleep and no more sore boobs, but I am sad to leave the newborn phase. I am sure I will love the upcoming phases just as much. Labor Day was a busy day for us, we got our house and yard ready for company that didn't end up coming anyway :(. It is okay though cause now our house is all pretty....kind of.

P.S.

Saydee's blessing is Sunday September 20th, we would love for all to come. She will be wearing the most BEAUTIFUL blessing dress ever!!!

Lovin' Princess Saydee

2009-08-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

This is Saydee at a week old. This past week has been very interesting to say the least. We are getting no sleep, I have a raging case of mastitis, and certain parts of my body are super sore still=). It is a good thing I have a dang cute baby to show for it!!!! My sister just had her baby today, welcome Drake Alvin Crockett.

Beautiful Saydee Diane Oldham is here!

2009-08-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

Name: Saydee Diane Oldham
Born: August 22, 2009 at 6:39 am
Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz (right on target for a 9 lb 40-week baby)
Length: 20 inches long

I am sure most of you know by now, but we had our baby. Thursday night I started bleeding and having some contractions (not bad contractions). I was concerned about the bleeding and called my doctor. He suggested that I go into the hospital to get checked out. I went in and they said I had not progessed since my appointment the day before (I was a 2 and 80% effaced). They called my doctor and he asked if I wanted to be started. I did not want to be started so I went home.

The day next (Friday the 21st) I started having regular contractions around noon. I was hoping to have my mom's labor genes and have the baby within the next four hours. Let me just tell you, that did not happen. I walked and walked and walked trying to get my contractions more intense and more frequent. Finally at 9 pm we decided it was time to go in. I had only dilated one more cm and I was almost completely effaced. I was SOOOOOOOOOOO frustrated. It was annoying because I didn't want to be having contractions all night long that only dilated me 1 more cm. Dr. Leavitt came in and broke my water about 10:30 pm. The fun began QUICKLY after that. I was disappointed to have had my water break so early because it made for a more vigorous labor, but it was okay. I really, REALLY wanted to go without an epidural but knew it was going to be tough because I was going on no sleep the night before.

By 1:30 am, I was dilated to 7 centimeters and I deemed myself done with natural labor (which I really regret, next time I WILL go natural) and got an epidural. I was so tired and gave into the sissy side. I will tell ya, the epidural was heavenly and while it was being placed, it was really nice to know that I was feeling the last of the horrid contractions.

The doctor came in around 5:15 am and told me I was complete and ready for pushing. He also told me she was posterior, which explained why labor was SOOOOOOOOOO tough. I started to push and she was born at 6:39 am. Richard was actually the one to deliver the baby which was cool. I won't give you the graphic gory details of that, but he did. He was Dr. Oldham.

When she was born we still had no idea what to name her. We liked Saydee, Paityn, Kambryn and McCall, but couldn't decide on which we liked and which name fit her. My parents came to the hospital told me they had it come to them about what I should name her. They said they each came to the conclusion on their own, BUT that they wouldn't tell me what it was until I told them. Anyway, Richard looked at me and said her name is supposed to be Saydee. Also, I spelled her name like that, cuz I think it is cool. I always had spelled it Sadie, but I figured I would try to make it a little different, since I was using more of a common name. It fits her perfectly.

We love our little girl and are so glad she is here. Now, if I can just figure out this nursing thing and this mom thing it will be all good!!!

Labor of Love

2009-08-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

Nope, I am not in labor yet, but Richard is. He was so sweet to paint my toenails for me. I about died laughing when he took off the toe nail polish because he was like, "why do girls do this...this takes FOREVER!!!" Richard is a good sport and I appreciate him trying to help me look beautiful, when I feel so much like a beached whale! Thanks Richard, you are a sport!

8 Months Down 1 Left !!!!!

2009-07-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

My due date is August 26th! I can make it! I hope this little baby decides that she is done sometime within the next month. This pregnancy (minus the worrying and minus the initial spotting) has been a breeze.

I WANT YOUR GUESSES!!! When do you think this baby will be born and how big will she be??? ****Here is the inside information - at 35 weeks the ultrasound measured her at 7 lbs. They are by no means the gospel truth as they say they are off a pound either way *****

Funny story: Friday night, my dad was in charge of a single adult dance (for those that are 30 + years) and I went to help him. I can't wear my wedding ring anymore. I figured that I would be safe from getting asked to dance seeing as I am VERY obviously pregnant. Nope, I GOT ASKED TO DANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then last night, we were walking back from the neighbors and while we were crossing the street somebody whistled at me=). I am sure that it was because they were making fun of me. My favorite part of it all was that after I got whistled at Richard looked at me and said, "sick!" Don't worry he didn't mean it like that.....I don't think at least.

**P.S. I don't really look this big in real life....it's the camera I swear =) **

Richard Goes to Canada

2009-07-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Richard went on a once in a lifetime fishing trips to Canada. He went with this dad and they fished for 4-5 days. They were fishing for Salmon, but while they were there they saw grizzly bears, bald ealges, a humpback whale and LOTS of fishies=). Richard said that his dad caught two small sharkies. Crazy. I missed Richard a TON while he was gone. I wasn't even able to talk to him on the phone because they didn't have phones where he was at!!!!

The pictures above are of a bald eagle that kept trying to snatch a fish head off of a stick and my father-in-law with his prized catch!!!

7 Months Down 2 to GO!

2009-06-26T12:19:00.001-07:00

Crazy, I am in my 8th month of Pregnancy. I am due exactly two months from today. Here is a lovely picture of me. Warning, I haven't gotten ready for the day. I have been busy cleaning the house while Richard and his brother Sam, install the new appliances, counters and cabinet in our kitchen.

I am starting to feel like I am getting huge. I felt slightly better on Wednesday when at my 31 week appointment the doctor did a growth ultrasound and she was measuring 2 weeks and 3 days big. Typically they say a baby at 31 weeks weighs a little over 3 pounds. Well the ultrasound measured her at 5 lbs. She is in the 87%.

Yellowstone Park

2009-06-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Yellowstone park with our friends from Provo, the Jones family! They are so much fun and we miss living by them. It was fun to go camping, but to be honest I don't know that I would recommend camping at almost 8 months pregnant, although I do love camping. We saw plenty of bears and bison. I think that is my favorite part of going to Yellowstone. An exciting thing is that my family vacation is to Yellowstone in two weeks. Unfortunately Richard will be gone to Canada, Salmon fishing with his dad. Hopefully he brings us back some yummy Salmon!!!

I will post pictures this week of Yellowstone!

P.S. I had to laugh when I posted the picture of the Salmon....I forgot what they looked on the outside, when I picture Salmon, I picture the color so I assume that Salmon are pinkish!

A Rekindled Passion

2009-06-07T17:42:00.001-07:00

While in San Francisco, one of my good friends Teresa taught me the art of garage saling (sp?). In San Fran, you could get killer deals on slightly used items. Well, this past weekend I rekindled that old flame and started it up again. I have been feeling overwhelmed with the amount of baby items that I need to get because I am getting ready to quit my job when the baby comes and Richard is in the midst of starting up a business. Needless to say, dollar bills don't fall from the ceilings around here....so we gotta be thrifty.

I bought a new car seat and stroller, and definitely splurged on that. But the rest of the items, I have decided that used will suffice. My top picks of this past week are a swing that has barely been used for $7 and a FREE FRIDGE!!! Wahoo....It works just great, it is butt ugly.....but then again so is our garage and that is where it lives. It is so nice having extra freezer space. Bring on the freezer meals!

6 Months and 6 NEW POSTS

2009-05-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

So I have a little less than 3 months left in my pregnancy and I am getting so excited. I am almost 28 weeks (I am 27 weeks 4 days today). YAY for the third trimester! I am starting to feel uncomfortable. I was trying to clean the bathroom yesterday and wow, it is hard to bend over the bathtub and get up and down and I know it is only downhill for the next little while.

**Make sure to check out all my posts. I posted 6 posts before this one detailing my brother's farewell, my grandpa's birthday and our trip!!!! SO check it out! I actually have REAL pictures.

Honeymoon Part IV

2009-05-31T20:49:00.001-07:00

Day 6: We drove over to Olympic Pennisula and stayed with my cousin Andrew and his cute little wife Kylie in Port Orchard. We drove up highway 101 and it was BEAUTIFUL. We stopped in a little town named Quilcene and ate lunch at this fun little lodge. The food wasn't the best ever, but the restaurant had a fun atmosphere, and even included a waitress that called everybody hun and sweetie.

After lunch we drove up to Mount Walker. It was a GORGEOUS view! Unfortunately it was a little cloudy that day, so the view wasn't quite up to par (according to the locals). Oh yes, and we didn't get a picture of it, but they had black squirrels up there. Kinda cool.

Day 7: We drove home to Idaho Falls. It was a 12 hour drive and by the time we got home I was SOOOOOO ready to be out of the car and sleeping in my own bed. We had a great time and I can't wait to go on another fun vacation again.

Honeymoon Part III

2009-05-31T20:37:00.001-07:00

Day 5: We left Bellingham and went drove over Deception Pass. HOLY COW FREAKY! This thing was seriously a million feet above water and was scary to drive over. Then Richard got the brilliant idea (actually it was brilliant because it was a beautiful area) to walk across the bridge. You can see how far down it is in the picture with the boat. The boat looks ant sized in the picture.

After leaving Deception Pass, we stopped at a Casino in Marysville and ate. It was a lot of food for $10.95. Richard had heard about this particular Casino in regards to the good food. However, missionaries are not allowed in Casinos so he never got to check it out. We decided that we would go ahead and give it a shot. It was a fun experience and I am so grateful that I am NOT addicted to gambling. I know that is random, but the reason I say that is we had to walk past all the slot machines to get to the buffet. It was crazy to watch all the little old ladies smoking their cigarettes and glued to the slot machine hoping to win! Don't worry this casino had TOP of the line ventilation and you couldn't even smell smoke in the casino. I made Richard check it out before I went inside.

Honeymoon Part II

2009-05-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

Day 3 continued: As previously mentioned we left Seattle and drove around Richard's mission. The first picture is a picture of Richard standing in front of one of the apartments he lived in while on his mission. This was in Kirkland (the starting place of Costco). Anyway, while we were there Richard told me that while he was serving in this particular area he would always see REALLY nice cars. Well let me tell ya, he wasn't kidding. We happened to drive past 5 Lamborginis and a Ferrari right in a row at a light. Then about 5 minutes later we drove past two more Lamborginis. I am fairly certain that this was the highlight of Richard's trip. I on the other hand was completely embarrassed to drive by PREGNANT in our little Impalla. Well, not really embarrassed, but definitely out of place. I was even wearing my KMART sunglasses that are peeling.

Day 4: This was a Sunday so we went to Church in Blaine, Richard's favorite area while on his mission. It was cool because several members of the ward recognized Richard and were excited to see him. Several of the members commented that I must be his wife because I am pregnant (not sure that this is my favorite area of his :P). While we were at church some of the members invited us up to their house for dinner. They literally live on the Canadian/US border. Before going to their home for dinner (we had a few hours between church and dinner) we went to a BEAUTIFUL park that had a waterfall in it. I wish I could have climbed down to the waterfall. I would have, except Richard would have had to carry me back out.

Our Honeymoon!!!

2009-05-31T20:11:00.001-07:00

Richard and I never really went on a honeymoon. We decided that since we are having a baby in a little less than 3 months, we would go on a final trip kid free. It was a blast. I love being married to Richard and I thoroughly enjoyed touring Washington with him. We left on Thursday after work and returned the following Wednesday. It was a great vacation.

Day 1: We stopped in Coeur d'Alene for the night and then woke up the next morning out and went to Lake Coeur d'Alene. It was absolutely gorgeous and I wish that we would have had some more time to spend there, but Washington was our ultimate destination and since our time was limited to 5 days, we couldn't stay long. The first picture is of us at Lake Coeur d'Alene although you can't see it in the background because we took the picture ourselves=).

Day 2: We drove to West Seattle/Alki beach and stayed with some friends. They are amazing people. They have a daughter who is severely disabled and it was neat to watch the loved and support her parents give her. They literally wake up with her 3-4 times EVERY NIGHT to turn her over so she doesn't get bed sores. There really must be a special place in heaven just for them!!!! ANYWAY, we arrived at their home Friday evening and we walked down to the beach area. This is the trip where reality really hit that I can no longer (well at least for the next 3 months) do everything I used to be able to do.

After walking to the beach they took us to dinner in downtown Seattle to an authentic Vietnamese Restaurant. It was a little hole in the wall place, but it was great and I was SOOOOOO proud of my boring little self for being adventurous and eating non-american food.

Day 3: We took a little ferry over to Seattle and toured the city for a few hours. It was great! We went to a little fisherman's market on Pike street and it was fun to check out all the fun fruits and vegetables and FISH that they had for sale! If only I had limitless money.

That evening we drove over to Bellingham and began to tour Richard's mission. We stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights.

Grandpa's Birthday

2009-05-31T20:04:00.000-07:00

Grandpa's Birthday!!! My grandpa Gabrielsen just turned 80 years old. We celebrated this event with a mini family reunion in Salt Lake. It was the first Gabrielsen reunion we had in 5 years. It was fun to be all together. One thing I forgot to take pictures of was the preggies! There are 5 of us having babies between now and October.

My sisters Melanie and Katie, my brother David, and cousin Reed (all on missions except for Melanie) were the only ones missing from the Reunion. It was just Ben and I representing the Fager clan.

David's Farewell

2009-05-31T19:59:00.001-07:00

I am super behind on posts so I figured I would catch up right now. I am just waiting for my homemade Rhubarb Crisp to finish in the oven =). I found two plants growing UNDER a bush and boy did those suckers produce a ton of rhubarb. 40 cups chopped. Yup, I have blisters on my fingers from chopping so much.

ANYWAY, here are a few pictures from David's farewell. He has been out in the field for about a month and we haven't heard much from him so I am assuming he is doing well.

Hello from Washington

2009-05-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

We are on our honeymoon here in Washington (our 18 month later honeymoon). It is a blast. We have been visiting Richard's old mission, Seattle and then today we are headed over to the Olympic Penninsula. I promise a nice HUGE picture post later. I just wanted to say hi for now and let you know I am still alive! Oh yeah and 6 MONTHS down only 3 to go!

Spring is KINDA here!

2009-05-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

So this Idaho Falls weather thing has been a bit of an adjustment for me. I am sure the summer will be just great, but as for this extremely late kick off of spring, I am going a bit crazy! We just got back from San Francisco from my sister in law's art show and SPRING is kind of here (great trip by the way, that will the topic of my next post)! I took some pictures of our yard. I really should have posted some before and after pictures. You should have seen our garden before Richard worked on it. He chopped down a big tree, raked up about 18 inches of leaves (not even joking), and weeded like crazy. Thanks to Morlin for all the hours of training you have given Richard digging holes....he is now a human rototiller. I can't wait for in a couple of weeks from now when we get to plant our garden!!!!!!

I have learned that Richard is quite the Tulip activist. I wanted him to get rid of all the tulips in the garden (the garden where we will plant our veggies, not the flower garden) and he wouldn't have it. I am glad of glad that he won that battle because now I am enjoying them in all of their glory, even though are very oddly placed.

As for me, I am getting as chubby as ever! I don't have a huge belly yet or anything, I just feel like I weigh 2736 pounds. But, I am so grateful that this pregnancy is going so well and that the baby seems to be developing just right=). I wouldn't trade that for the world.

Our Newest Family Member

2009-05-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

First off, ignore my sexy pink carpet and blue walls. They are going to be replaced in the beginning of June! That is right we are going to RECARPET our basement and paint it AND REMODEL OUR KITCHEN!!!! WAHOO!.. Anyway, now that I have been sidetracked. The real reason for this post. I have an organ! I am so excited about it because now instead of breaking into the church every Saturday night at 11:00 pm to practice the organ for church the next day, I can practice from HOME. What a wonderful luxury. My wonderful mother-in-law brought this down for me to use.

5 Months Down 4 To Go

2009-04-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

As of today, I have completed 5 months of pregnancy (22 weeks 4 days along). I am due on August 26th, which means I have 4 more months. I can do it. Physically, this has been an easy pregnancy. But emotionally...I am too much of a DANG worrier! I am starting to feel the baby all the time and I love it. I can't wait to meet this little girl of ours in 4 months. Hopefully it doesn't last forever.

Here are some belly shots!

Pictures of our HOUSE!!

2009-04-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Finally what you have all been waiting for. PICTURES!!! Here are pictures of our living room and our dining room. We will post pictures of the rest of the house as we complete it. We are waiting for our tax return to redo the kitchen and the basement =).

P.S. The exciting news of the day...is that RICHARD felt our baby kick (or body slam the side of my uterus) today. He was so excited. I think it was the breakfast sugar high that did it.

Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

2009-03-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

ARE NOT what my baby is made of. It's a GIRL. Yay!! Dr. Leavitt guessed about 4 weeks ago that it was a girl, but that was just a guess. Then 2 weeks ago he took a peak and sure enough it was a girl. Today was the big ultrasound to make sure that nothing is wrong. She is looking great and measuring a little big ahead of schedule, but as my doctor said we aren't exactly short people.

Oops, Forgot to Post Last Week

2009-03-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I didn't put a new post up last week. I am afraid that if I don't keep my blog updated, I will lose all my blogging buddies=) We have been quite busy lately and I am excited that it is becoming spring. Here are some of our highlights and not-so-highlights from the past couple of weeks.

1. WE FOUND OUT WHAT WE ARE HAVING!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, I can't post the results until next weekend. Richard would like to tell his family in person next week when we are in Utah. **Let me just tell you this baby does not like to make things easy! Twice in a row the baby was sitting breech on it's feet so you couldn't see a dang thing. Luckily, my doctor was kind enough to do one of those more invasive u/s to determine the sex. I am glad he did and now we know!

2. The beautiful weather! We have been able to go on walks so I don't completely explode weight wise (I am fighting it more than I thought I would with this pregnancy). Gone are the days of eating whatever I want. Plus, you have to remember I can gain 10-15 pounds and not realize it. Like a few years ago when I lived in California and found out I had gained 15 pounds and didn't realize it. I lost it, but it wasn't too much fun. It has a lot of places to go on a 6 foot figure without me catching on too quickly. The goal is for that not to happen again.

3. I am learning to play the organ much better. I actually played two songs with the pedal this last week.

4. We are going to Utah this upcoming weekend. I am quite excited.

5. We are starting to make friends in our ward. Our lovely neighbors invited us over for games last night. It makes church more fun when you have friends there!

6. I found out my in-laws are doing family pictures. I am starting to get over this, BUT I totally had a melt down when I found I got to have this sexy phase of my life documented in large print. SORRY fellow OLDHAMS I am such a butt. I am actually glad we are taking new family pictures as I will get to be in this one, however, I am still in that awkward stage where my jeans do NOT fit, Richard's aren't that cute on me and maternity pants won't quite fit (plus it is near impossible to find a pair with a 34 inch inseam that aren't super expensive). Plus, I am growing out my hair (including my bangs). Anyone want a copy of the picure??

7. Our yard is TRASHED. I didn't realize it because the yard was covered in last fall's leaves. We have raked and raked and bagged several bags worth of leaves. THE upside to all of this is that it should be great mulch for our garden and also, our tulips are coming up. Those suckers are HARDY....they have been growing under 10 inches of wet leaves. It will be a fun work in progress though.

Overall, life is great and I am super excited for our upcoming baby and THRILLED to be married to Richard. He is out of town for the next couple of days and I hate when he is gone because I really like him!

By Popular Demand

2009-03-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

BELLY SHOTS!!! Okay I have two disclaimers....first off, ignore what I look like today. I wore a pony tail all day and then took it out to take a nap. Needless to say, my hair is a little funky. Secondly, ignore my clothes (wait, don't pretend I am naked...just pretend I am better dressed). Nothing fits me these days. I KNOW I don't have your typically little pooch yet, HOWEVER rest assured, my waist is not normally NEAR as thick as it is right now. People always says "you don't look pregnant at all." While I know it is meant as a compliment, I promise you I don't normally look like I ate 29837 calories that day =) Here are pictures at 15 weeks, four days.

P.S. Sorry about the horrible picture quality. We don't have a camera so we have to take pictures using our camera phones =)

**Sorry for the negative tone of this post, I just feel like a dork posting pictures of myself online. Life is going just dandy, we are loving our new house, our ward and even our new callings. I wasn't fired as the ward organist after my first day! I even played one song with the pedals=)**

The Latest

2009-03-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

So we got ourselves a pair of new callings :P. I am quite pleased about our new calling too, although mine seriously scares the heck out of me. I have been called as the ward organist. The best part of the whole deal is that I DO NOT PLAY THE ORGAN!!! I guess I will learn quickly. I have tinkered around on the organ several times in my life but I have never played in a sacrament meeting. We will see how it goes. I have already secured myself a key to my building to practice like crazy.

Richard's new calling is a ward missionary. Cute huh =). He is already set to go out with the missionaries tonight at 6:00 pm.

**I failed to mention the most important news. My brother David, was called to serve in the Arizona Tempe mission and he leaves April 15th, which reminds me I need to get my taxes mailed in. WAY TO GO DAVID! We sure are proud of you**

Look What Richard Did

2009-02-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

Baby Oldham is on its way, due August 26th, only 6 more months to go! I have been feeling great, not sick at all. I have had some troubles with spotting and my doctor has been so kind to constantly reassure me the baby is okay with ultrasounds (I promise to not get another one until I find out the gender in 4 weeks). Here is the latest one taken at 13 weeks 1 day.

Funny story: Today I found out that my blood type is O-, which COMPLETELY shocked me considering that my parents and ALL my siblings are all O+. For those of you that don't know, if a pregnant woman has a negative blood type and her husband is positive, then she has to get a rhogam shot to prevent her body from from attacking the baby (or something like that). At any rate, we decided to have Richard tested to see if he was positive or negative, to determine if a rhogam shot was needed. Well it turns out Richard is A positive. I sent him a text and said "You are A+." He quickly responded and said "You are A++." He didn't quite figure out that I meant he was A positive. He thought I was giving him a compliment and say you are an A plus. Silly Richard!

Richard Does it ALL!

2009-02-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

Not only does Rich refinish wood floors but he COOKS too. Since we have church at 9:00 this year, we have our afternoons completely free. Lately, I have been in a roll and cinnamon roll making kick. Today I was ambitious and decided to do a double batch of dough and do rolls AND cinnamon rolls. The one thing I hate about making bread from scratch is the kneading part...well I found a simple solution to the problem: I married Richard. Check out the fun pictures.

HOUSE UPDATE: The floors are done and WE MOVE IN FRIDAY!!!!

Updated Pictures

2009-02-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

We are ALMOST done painting. We are done with the walls, we just have the trim left. However, we will not finish the trim until after the floor is finished. Richard sanded the floor down and it looks AWESOME!!! Next step....putting the finish on the floor. Wish us luck!!!! =). Go back a few posts and you will see the pictures of what it used to look like with those sexy orange walls.

What we have done so far:

1. Had our bedroom, spare bedroom and living room retextured.
2. Installed a light in our living room....brilliant idea to have a light in the living room.
3. Replaced outlets and light switches.
4. Painted the entire upstairs. We painted our bedroom, the hallway and living room beige. We painted the wood paneling white (turned it into white beadboard) and painted the top part blueish green. Our kitchen is red=).
5. Sanded down the floor. The floors look brand new again, I can't wait to get them finished.

What we have left to do:

WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY TOOOOOO MUCH!!!! Stay tuned for more pictures!!!

Progress on the House

2009-01-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

We are pretty much done painting the upstairs of the house. That means this next week Richard can start refinishing the floor! I need to go and take some pictures of the work that has been done, but in the meanwhile - here is a picture of the living room retextured, BEFORE being repainted. We had the living room, spare bedroom and master bedroom retextured. It looks loverly! Beginning work on this house has made me realize how much more I want to do with it to fix it up. I want new trim around the windows, floors and doorways. I also want to replace all the vent covers, and window covers too. Unfortunately those things will have to wait just a while. Enjoy the pics. MORE TO COME SOON!!!!

Fun That Comes in THREES!

2009-01-11T18:22:00.000-08:00

My birthday, Christmas and my anniversary are all within 2 weeks. It kind of stinks because all the fun happens in one short period of time. I am sorry that I have been so horrible at updating my blog for the past month. Part of it was because I was waiting ot take pictures to post - but that never happened. So, I figured I would just go ahead and let you know about my three favorite days of the year.

CHRISTMAS:

We went down to Spanish Fork to spend Christmas with Richard's family. They got tons of snow and everybody has a blast snowboarding and sledding. The new hit this year was the Rhino - the big thing with snow tracks that hauled everybody up the big hill to go snowboarding.

We got an abundance of wonderful gifts this year. We got new kitchen cabinets, NEW SILVERWARE (YAY!!!!), and lots of fun odds and ends for our new house. We also had a blast visiting lots of our Utah friends. WE MISS YOU GUYS!

ANNIVERSARY:

Because of the new home purchase we decided not to spend too much money on our anniversary. Richard was great and surprised me with a hotel stay at Thanksgiving Point. I thought that was great because I had never in all my Utahness been there. He also surprised me with a bunch of beautiful pink roses. Wow, I can't believe it has been a year already.

BIRTHDAY:

I have decided that I am done having birthdays. It stinks because all I do is get older and lets be honest - I like my twenties and think I want to be twenty forever!!! My parents bought me a frame for my Christ picture. My inlaws gave me some money, which went to the fund that has recently purchased new couches (well, new to us at least) and a new fridge. I am starting to feel kind of grown up now that I own MY OWN REFRIDGERATOR and TWO sets of couches.

Well, folks - that is the update for now. Stay tuned for pictures as this week we will embark on repainting and refinishing the floor on our new home!!!!

Our BIG News!

2008-12-15T17:46:00.001-08:00

We bought a home and got a KILLER deal on it! The home inspector came today and all looks good, so Richard gave me the okay to announce our news=). We fell in love with this home. I LOVE older homes and the potential they have. Plans are underway to repaint the entire upstairs (trust me the colors need to be fixed), refinish the gorgeous wood floor and redo the cabinets in the kitchen before we move in. I am gonna make this puppy shine and look beautiful just you wait! I have decorated the home top to bottom in my mind already.

Here are the basics of the home:
-Built in 1959
-2420 Square feet (all finished)
-4 bedrooms
-2 bathroom
-FOOD STORAGE ROOM - yup you have read all my canning posts so you already know how I feel about this wonderful feature.
- Indoor Hot Tub room. Random, I know - but kinda cool.
-TWO really cool man sheds for Richard.

The deal is set to close January 15th. We plan on moving in as soon as we get the floors refinished, the walls painted and the new cabinets in (a week or two after closing). Guess this means we are staying in Idaho Falls for a little while longer! We will have plenty of room for vistors so if you miss us that badly - come see us because we would sure love to see you!

Our Newest Family Member!!!

2008-12-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

Nope, not pregnant yet but soon. My parents bought a new treadmill!!! Since we are living with my parents still - I get to enjoy the benefits of this baby. It takes me back to the day when I used to work out all the time, like a million years ago. Anyway, it is nice because now I can run and get my work out on. Gone are the days when I can eat whatever and not gain a pound. I actually have to be careful =(. This puppy is even cool because you can hook your iPod into it and it has it's own speakers. Lovely huh....and great motivation for me to get back into good shape again.

Sorry, I didn't have any more exciting news or a better post for this week. To be honest I wasn't quite sure what to write about because this week consisted of going to work, eating, sleeping and RUNNING=). So out of those four topics, I decided the most interesting one (aside from my sleeping habits) would be running. Alrighty folks - Have a great week.

Thanksgiving!

2008-11-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a blast. We got together with my entire dad's famdamily=). We ate at the church since we had 20 people all together. I am obviously a huge fan of mashed potatoes as you can tell by the pictures. Friday morning Richard and I got up EARLY and went shopping. I bought a present for Richy and my brother Ben. I still have more shopping to go, but I am excited I have started on it.

Okay, so I almost got beat up last night at a basketball game...no joke!!I am sure you can picture the tiny seat allotment you get at a basketball game and can see how it is easy to bump people. Well here is how it all happened - some psycho 50-year old lady started SCREAMING at me because I apparently accidently bumped her head with my leg. She turned around and told me that she was going to deck me in the face if I hit her one more time. I honestly couldn't figure out what the woman was talking about because I didn't ever hit her. I looked at her kind of funny and then started laughing, which made her more mad but I couldn't help it. She was freaking out at me and yelling all sorts of profanities at me. She then told she was going to "wipe my &#! with the floor." I about died laughing because she got the phrase backwards. Richard was sitting next to me and told the crazy woman to go ahead hit me because he would love to see her in jail. I am sure you can guess how much she liked that one too. The people behind me tapped me on the shoulder to ask me what on earth was wrong with the lady. Seriously, picture a mad cat hissing and spitting all over the place and you will start to get an idea of the crazy ISU fan. The woman behind me was nice enough to tell me that should the lady try to start something with me, she would have my back. She then made a comment about the possibility of the woman in front of me being retarded and maybe that is why she was freaking out.

At any rate the game ended and I left. As I walked by el psycho, she starred me down while yelling "say something, I dare you just say something." I looked at her and laughed (along with the rest of my family). I must admit, I was tempted to say something JUST for the sake of watching her attempt to jump the bleachers to catch me and then figure out what exactly she meant by cleaning my $!& with the floor. But I decided against it. I didn't want her to feel too stupid when the most she could do was punch me in the chest - I am considerably taller than she and I am not about to get into a fight with somebody my mom's age. I can honestly say she didn't even make me mad - she was dang good entertainment. For all of you that are worried about my *&# after it was to be cleaned by floor...it is just fine. I escaped just in the nick of time.

Our Latest!

2008-11-21T10:23:00.001-08:00

Well, Richard had a great birthday if I do say so myself. For $69 he got some new Nike tennis shoes, a pair of dress slacks and 4 new dress shirts. Macey's and Sports Authority were having some killer deals!!! The day after his birthday we went to Utah to hang out with his family for a few days. So much fun! It is always so nice to go see the family in Utah. Richard has been HARD at work developing a website with my mom that should be very successful! He also washes windows on the side to help my little brother.

MY LATEST NEWS!!! I got a job and I wasn't even looking for one. After my horrible experience at the marketing place (nice way of saying a call center) I have decided that right now I would rather LIKE my job than make any sort of money. On Wednesday my mom went to the doctor because her knee has been bothering her and one of the ladies in the office asked my mom about her kids and if any of them needed jobs. I guess that a nearby clinic needs somebody to take the patients on back and check them in (you know the blood pressure, weight, pulse and the yada yada yada drill). My mom hurried home and gave the number to call and I got a job working at an OB/GYN's office! SO FUN! It doesn't pay tons, but honestly for the two days I have worked there I love it. I get to talk about babies and pregnancy all day AND I get paid for it. The best part of it is, is that when I get pregnant I will get FREE prenatal care. LOVELY! AND a huge blessing considering I have a $5,000 deductible for my maternity coverage. ALRIGHT BABY OLDHAM IT IS TIME TO THINK ABOUT LEAVING HEAVEN AND COMING TO IDAHO FALLS!!!