Las Vegas

We spent the 26th-28th in Las Vegas with Devin's parents. It was a nice trip because we were able to visit with them and the kids adore their grandparents...well Contessa & Collin anyway! Cameron doesn't get to see them very often, so he doesn't quite know who they are. He was okay with them if they kept their distance, but didn't appreciate being picked up! Eventually, he will realize how great they are and want to be around them more.

The kids loved having adjoining rooms, since we left the doors open so they could go in their room when they wanted. This also helped Cameron as he didn't have to stay in their room, he would sneak in and then leave as he wanted to.

We do love our home though, so it was nice to get back here. Now I am spending the day cleaning so Scott & Miss can have a fairly decent place to stay tonight. And naturally, I have a bad cold so that is making it difficult to work! But, that is my life, and I love it.

Happy Birthday Devin!

Well, the head of this household turns 30 today! Unfortunately, he does have to work, so that stinks. We are going to get a cake to celebrate Collin's & Devin's birthday tonight though. I am hoping to also make a great dinner to, but we will see how well that works!

Kiva.org

If anyone is interested, this site kiva.org is a really neat website. They are a non-profit loan place. You make a "loan" of $25 or more to a specific person or group in a 3rd world country. You can look at why they are requesting the loan (all are for business purposes) and what the payment terms are, if they have already had loans and the status of those loans. After the loan is repaid, you get your money back.

It is a really cool thing, and since the loan amount you are giving is small, I consider it more of a donation than a loan, although we should be repaid. You even get email updates about how the money was used and how the business is running. The non-profit does not keep any of the loan money!

If anyone is interested in helping out, check it out. There are several businesses waiting for loans.

What Holiday are You?

Well, I saw this fun little quiz and just KNEW I was going to be either Christmas or Thanksgiving...guess not! What holiday are you?

You Are Easter

You are an optimistic, hopeful, and genuinely sweet person. Sensitive and affectionate, you are easily touched. You love nature, animals, and anything cute or cuddly. For you, every day is a new chance - no matter what happened yesterday. What makes you celebrate: Almost anything. You love most holidays and celebrations. At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The peacemaker. You can prevent any squabbles that might break out. On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Remember to include everyone

What Holiday Are You?

We gave blood

Someone in our stake has luekemia and one of his friends decided to do a blood drive as his eagle project yesterday. So, we went down there to donate blood for my first time and the first time since Devin's mission. Devin was told in the past that he couldn't since he lived in the UK during his mission, and mad cow disease can be passed through blood. So I did some research and it turns out he can because he arrived in March 1997 and the cut off was Dec 1996.

My donation went well, I was done in about 10 minutes. Devin's didn't. He ended up having a collapsed vein and after several of the phlebotomists dug around his veins for a while, they gave up. He was able to donate about 1/2 the usual amount. So his will be used for babies instead of adults. (yeah, a baby hero!)

Poor man has a very bruised and sore arm. I don't think he will ever donate again! I don't blame him though, I wouldn't either.

What kind of Christmas tree are you?

This was a cute thing to do. I am TRYING to get into the Christmas spirit.

You Are a Cranberry and Popcorn Strung Tree

Christmas is all about showcasing your creative talents. From cookies to nicely wrapped presents, your unique creations impress everyone.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

This was really fun, hope you all enjoy it and let me know what kind you are!

You Are a Christmas Sweater!

Over the top, colorful, and totally flashy. You're not afraid to be a little tacky.

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

I lost weight!

Okay, so some of you know that I was having strange reactions to the IUD. I had gained quite a bit of weight, which they claim the IUD does not cause. WELL, I had it removed on the 7thm and I have already lost 5 pounds, without trying! In fact, I have been enjoying way too many sweets the last few weeks. SO THERE! It does cause weight gain!

Bad time for Grandmas in our family!

Well, my grandma has been in the hospital and was transfered to a nursing home temperarily. Last night, we also discovered that Devin's grammy temperarily died. She was having dialysis, so they were able to bring her back quickly and she is now on a ventilator. We are hoping she recovers quickly. So yeah, bad time for grandmas.

UPDATE- Poor Baby

I took Cameron back off the milk and put him on soy milk again and the rash cleared up. So I guess my little guy is still lactose intolerant. He is doing better with the ear infection, he doesn't seem like he is in pain anymore. He isn't taking anitbiotics either now. They don't always give antibiotics for ear infections anymore, but this one was really bad. Luckuly he is back to his normal happy self!

Cameron has been taking antibiotics for his ear infection. The medicine is giving him a horrible diaper rash. Poor baby just screams and cries quite a bit right now from the pain. I feel so bad for him...and me! I am hoping that the pain goes away soon for him, I can't stand seeing him suffer. My house is starting to suffer too!

New wall color

Okay, so if you have noticed some of my pictures, we have wood paneling EVERYWHERE! We don't live in a cabin, so I don't want it to look like it! Besides, cabins are usually nicer wood, not this horrible paneling. I HATE it. We are trying to pick a new paint color for the living area and for our room. Contessa has a pink room (naturally!) and Collin wants a red room (his favorite color). Our bathroom is a light blue/purple.

Our kitchen has hideous wallpaper and orange countertops (seriously, who would choose orange countertops???) Our livingroom, diningroom, computer room, kitchen are all connected and completely covered in the paneling. My room is 1/2 paneling and 1/2white.

So what colors do all of you suggest? I have brown couches and medium brown wood tables/entertainment center. Devin wants white - I say NO WAY! I was thinking a brown, but I don't want too much brown and with my furniture I think it would really be boring. So I also looked at blues & greens, but just can't decide. For my room, I was thinking a deep color, but again can't decide what color.

Oh, and also the house color. Our house is a horrible yellow with white trim. I really want something different. Yellow is fine, but this yellow is just so gross!

Anyone have ideas?

Snowy Monday

I should put up some pictures, but I am being lazy! We came home yesterday to several inches of snow. It is cold (the high was 18 degrees!) and cloudy. I had a ton of errands to run, so naturally Cameron was sick! He has had a temperature since Saturday night and was pulling on his ear. I knew it was an ear infection, so I finally just went to the clinic and one of the doctor's checked him. Yep, ear infection.

The doctor is concerned about the size of his head compared to the rest of his body. He hasn't gained more than a few ounces in almost 3 months either. They think he might have chronic ear infections, we just aren't aware of all of them, since teething can cause the same symptoms. So we are suppose to go in every 3 weeks to have it checked. I just hope its not really true, I don't want to have to have tubes in his ears, poor kid has already gone through enough!

I also over did it this weekend, so I am really sore. and my pants sit right on one of the incisions, so that hurts. I have had to keep my pants unbuttoned so it won't hurt so much. One of my friends laughed about that and said it looked like I was pregnant because they were unbuttoned, so I am just waiting for the rumors to start!

My surgery

Well, I went in at 6 am (well really 5am my time, since we were in Salt Lake and we are an hour behind them!) and was prepped for my hysteroscopy and possible laparoscopy. The anestesiologist came in and put my iv in, which didn't hurt AT ALL! I was pretty impressed, usually they hurt at least a little, but most of the time alot.

So anyway, they take me to the OR just before 7:30 am. I don't actually remember anything, not even getting onto the OR bed. I remember them fooling with the IV bag as we entered to OR, so they must have given me the sleeping meds then.

They were hoping to be able to just do the scope, but ended up having to do the laparoscopy. So I have a 1 inch incision in my belly button (or somewhere right around it, I can't really tell, and a 1/2 inch incision on my left side. Iam pretty sore today, but I only had to take 1ibuprofen yesterday. So I was pretty happy about that. I think I will need to take another today though.

Devin did not do well with the kids. He was very frustrated by the time he got to the room with them. I guess breakfast went well, but as soon as they go to the hospital, things went down hill. So he took a nap as soon as we got back to the hotel at 9:30am.

So anyway that is how I am doing now. It looks like I should be recovered completely in about a week or so. Hopefully sooner, but you never know. I can at least walk pretty well, and that is important!

Something Different - Bridal Showers

I was thinking about my bridal shower today, I don't know why. Anyway, almost all bridal showers I have been to have been informal and just basically a big gathering of friends. I remember Autumn's bridal shower (a little, I was only 10!) had a theme and each guest was given certain invitations with a certain type of gift to get. There were things such as kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc. I don't remember all of them, but it was an interesting idea.

So here are a few ideas I had, if I were to have another bridal shower (I won't, but maybe I will host another someday!):

- An advise shower - the bridal shower invitations would include a card for a piece of wisdom for the new couple. They would be gathered at the shower and put into an album with pictures of the attendees.

- A Recipe for Sucess shower - The wedding shower invites would have a recipe card attached that you include your favorite recipe to share with the bride. They could be put into a file folder, or a cool recipe scrapbook. I REALLY want to do this!

- A Luau - wouldn't that just a blast?

- A Scrapbook party - IF the person was a scrapbooker or a photographer, I think it would be so fun to hold a scrapbook shower. Take pictures of the guests & gifts, then scrapbook them together (would need a photo printer!)

Does anyone else have ideas to add? We could even make come of these into baby shower ideas!

Our fashionable son, Collin

It has been really cold the last few days. We expected quite a bit of snow, but only got trace during the night time once. Well, Collin has been wanting to wear his snow boots really bad. So he put them on...without clothes. Oh, my silly little man, what are we going to do with you?

Contessa loves the camera.

I had taken the camera out of my purse while looking for something, so Contessa asked me to snap a few pictures. She was sick this day, so her smile isn't the best, but she tried!

Kid's don't need toys, they need crockpots...

Counter space is limited in our home, and we are still working on shelving issues. So my crockpot was on the floor in front of our shelves for a few days. Cameron normally just plays with the cans, but one day he discovered the crockpot...and climbed in. I had to take a few pictures it was too cute. He sat in it for about 20 minutes before moving on...to the cans.

Christmas Time!

Since my kids have been thinking about Christmas for several months, we started watching Christmas movies. They liked the Grinch, and last year I bought them stuffed animals. They asked me to take a picture so everyone can see. So here it is. You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!

I'm walking now!

If you remember, I took a video of Cameron's first real steps...months ago. Just this week he has decided to walk most of the time. So here are a few pictures of him walking to me, since I had a camera. He is such a ham.

Future Computer Expert!

Cameron is fasinated with the computer. He climbs up ONTO it (usually onto the keyboard, sometimes the monitor) or tries to play it. He spends quite a while sitting there banging on the keyboard.

Sick Kids

Devin and I were at the bus stop waiting for Contessa and then we were going to a flooring store, since it is going out of business tomorrow. Just as the bus pulls up, Collin throws up. Everywhere. The smell was horrendous and I couldn't get anywhere near the car without getting sick. After a few minutes doing the best he could, Devin got us all back in the car and we drove the 2 streets home.

He helped Collin get a bath and cleaned up while I set off getting the car cleaned up. I still can't believe I did it. I was able to get the smell out and the stains.

So we spent several hours rushing to the restroom and cleaning up when he didn't make it. Then Contessa gets sick, but luckily she was complaining about a sore throat. So here we are, it is 9:40pm, I have 3 more articles to write tonight, plus one tomorrow and Contessa is wide awake after taking a 3 hour nap.

I am exhausted. Today was not a good day for sickness! I was hoping to get the articles done (I have already writen 4 today) before the evening so I could focus on cleaning up even more. Oh well, that is the life of a mother. Thankfully, Devin was home and helped out a lot. I just wish he didn't have to work tomorrow!

Blogging for Money

If any of you are interested, there is a website I am going to start using called Blogvertise. Basically you sign up and once your blog is approved by the admin, you are given assigments to blog about various websites and products. You get paid for it! THe best part is that for most of the assignments, you don't have to be positive, you can complain and be honest. Of course, if you love the website or product it is better! So if you are interested in making a bit of money on your blog, you can check them out.

My Articles on Ehow.com

If anyone is interested in supporting me a bit, you can read a few of the articles I have written for www.ehow.com, my user name is AmyU (I know very original!) I get paid extra for page views and votes, so if you like it, give me some stars! Thanks everyone! Oh, and I still have 11 more to write this week, so they should all be up there in another week or so too.

And I also just started blogging for a natural beauty site, so check that out too if you want some great tips on natural products. http://www.hernaturalbeauty.com/ My first post on that blog was on beauty uses of Olive oil.

My mom's blog...

I was playing around on the internet (instead of working!) and found a very cute shirt that reminded me of Jessica & Lexi. It was a baby shirt that said, "My mom's blog is better than your mom's blog."

I had to laugh. So which one of our kids should be wearing this??

My First Homemade Apple Pie!

I just had to share with all of you, that I made my first homemade apple pie. I was going to take a picture of it, but forgot! dang it. So I guess I will just have to make another so you can see how pretty it was! So anyway, it was a Paula Deen recipe, so you know it was good! You can read the whole recipe here.

It was really easy to make, and only took about 10 -15 minutes to prepare, even with chopping the apples up! I used 2 different types of apples, granny smith and gala. We took it to our ward Thanksgiving meal and it went pretty fast. I was just happy I didn't ruin it! I'm always afraid of trying something new for other people, but since I had never made an apple pie before, I did it anyway without trying it first.

I'm just glad it came out great. And Devin wants me to make it again sometime. So if he wants it again, I must have impressed him!

Dang Jessica Tagged me! (Love Ya, Jess!)

4 or more places i have been on vacation......
California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri (Was that a vacation Lexi? I still haven't decided!)

4 or more places i have lived.....
I haven't lived in 4 cities, but here are the houses: East Mesa with Mom & Dad, West Mesa, Phoenix, Ely rental (or dump as we prefer to call it!), Ely home where we live now!

4 jobs i have had....
Babysitting, Rockin R' Ranch (who hasn't worked there in my family!), Papa Kelsey's, GM Proving Grounds clerk, legal secretary, account clerk, Mommy (my favorite job!), freelance writer (second favorite!)

4 foods i love....
Peaches, chocolate, lasagna, lemon chicken, anything we can't get in this small town!

4 hobbies i have....
blogging, traveling, watching movies, photography, scrabooking, camping, reading, decorating house

4 things you probably didnt know about me....
I failed English my sophmore year (and yes, I am a writer!), I am a mail decoy (companies send me stuff to see how long it takes to get to my zip code), I can't sleep past 6:30 even if the kids happen to, I order my Thanksgiving meal from a grocery store (well, its just us for Thanksgiving and my kitchen is tiny!), I want lots more kids (probably won't happen, but I can dream!!!)

4 things you would do if you were a billionare....
- Pay off my parents house and set up an account for them to live off the interest so they can retire and travel if they want.
- Donate to the church
- pay off all my debts and build our dream home (which wouldn't cost much, we already have a basic design!)
- Pay off my brothers & sisters houses (or buy them a reasonably priced/sized house)
- Adopt several kids



Well, I guess thats a bit about me.

I think I will tagging....
I don't know anyone else with blogs that haven't already been tagged!!!!

Organized...Amy???

If you know me, you know I am NOT an organized person. Far from it. The house is cluttered and in disarray way too often. I have many corners filled with stuff because I just can't figure out what to do with it.

Why do I bring this up? Well, because I participated in a blog contest and won...a home office organization package! I am working with a professional organizer to get my home office organized. Because my office is in the living/dining room area, we are working on the entire room.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled I won. I love talking with this lady and she has already been very helpful. But this requires me to actually work! You KNOW I don't like that!

Oh, and the sad thing...Devin asked what I wanted for Christmas. I said a DESK! What is wrong with me? I could have asked for anything and I asked for a desk. The desk we had bought for my craft stuff was taken to be used for our computer desk. So I want a desk to use for my stuff again. By WHY did I say I wanted it for Christmas?

I guess I really am becoming too frugal. Instead of just buying the desk I need and getting something else for Christmas (thus spending more money) I am combining the two. Oh well, at least I didn't say the shelves I need, so I can get more organized, are my Christmas gift!

My other motives

I confess, I often have other motives when I do things. Such as the kids halloween buckets. If you noticed, the kids were carrying decorated paint cans for their halloween buckets. Yes, they were cute and worked well with the costumes - Collin's matched his Robot costume, and Contessa's was a Hershey's Syrup container to go with her ice cream theme.

But, there was another reason I choose to use paint cans...I wanted them. I admit it, I have now taken the kids trick or treat cans and am using them. I cleaned them up so they are shiny again, and I am going to decorate them with scrapbooking materials. One will hold all my pens and pencils. The other I am still debating, I might use it as a Christmas gift - so obviously I can't say WHAT I want to do, although I think the idea is pretty good.

I thought Devin wouldn't be working quite so much

They just hired a 3rd person for his department, so he won't have to be on call and working quite so much. It will affect his overtime, but will be much easier on his body. It will also be easier to take care of all my doctor's appointments, since there are more people to cover for him. Maybe we can even get a holiday off! Not Thanksgiving, but MAYBE Christmas. We will see.

Yeah, so anyway after I posted this (seriously, less than an hour later!) she calls and tells Devin's boss that she got a better offer and hung up. So it looks like they are back to just the two of them again. Like Devin said, at least she did it before they got the schedule figured out. So if anyone needs is looking for a Respiratory Therapist job, call us!!!!

Contessa's Parent Teacher Conference

I had a parent teacher conference with Contessa's teacher a few days ago. She is doing well. They took computerized tests to see the level of each kid, and she tested off the charts basically. The average child had a score of less than 100, but hers was 197!

So they are trying to create a program for her to keep her challenged. We could request to have her moved to 2nd grade (she tested at a 3-4 grade level) but since she is the youngest in 1st grade, we don't know how wise that would be. So we will see what they come up with. (they have talked about teaching her spanish, she already is learning keyboarding since the computer games are too easy) But for now, her teacher is encourging me to take her out of school occassionally to visit other places and learn about them.

So if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Halloween Fun

Here are a few pictures of the haunted house Contessa & Collin were making until it fell apart!

Halloween party!

I had to share these pictures. Some people are very creative and talented when it comes to pumpkin carving!

Halloween!

Here are a few pictures of the kids costumes. Contessa claims she didn't like wearing her costume because people kept saying, "Your an ice cream cone!" although she was smiling while saying it. She did love the attention! Collin looked great as a robot and Cameron of course was cute as a puppy, even if he refused to wear the hood very long.
We attended our 3 ward halloween party, where we got tons of compliments on the costumes. People just don't make them anymore. While I don't think I did a great job, the kids liked them and that is what matters.

Oh, and Devin makes a fantastic chili!

Cameron Walking

I had to post some video of Cameron walking today. He had been only taking a few steps at a time, but when Devin got the camcorder out he thought it was cool and wanted to show off, so this is actually the furthest he had walked.

If you notice at the start Collin rolled and bumped into him, but he was able to stay up!

Cameron's surgery

Okay, I just saw these pictures again we took just before Cameron's surgery. They were just so adorable, I had to post them. Poor little guy had no idea what he was in for. I wanted to take pictures after the surgery, but didn't because he really just needed some mama love.

Cameron is starting to walk!

I was so excited this morning when Cameron decided to try and take some steps. He was able to go about 5 steps on his first few tries! Then I made the mistake of trying to show daddy and he stopped. Stubborn child! But there is hope that he may walk soon. YEAH!!!! He is getting way to heavy to carry everywhere.

Grand Canyon

I was asked to take a flight over the Grand Canyon and write a review on it. So before we headed down to Mesa, we went to the Grand Canyon. I was scared to death during the flight! I wasn't nearly as terrified when I went on the plane with David, so I don't know what the problem was. I kept having to close my eyes and pretend I was in a car...it actually helped! Then someone else got sick, so I was closing my eyes, holding my nose, and taking pictures all at the same time!

It really was gorgeous though...what I saw of it. If you can handle small planes it would be worth the trip. I booked it through a wesite called SignatureDays.com and it was easy to do. I can't wait to take the Kayaking the Pacific Ocean trip they offer!

Anyway, here are some pics of our short trip.

Cameron's Birthday

Here are a few pictures from Cameron's First Birthday party. Contessa & Collin didn't allow Cameron to open the gifts, but he sure loves them. The big gift was a lion walker/ride on toy. It makes noise and he adores it. It's really cute and he is standing there playing with it right now!

Oh, and I am very thankful Brian was willing to put together the big gift, sure was nice to not have to do it myself!

The cake was a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and several different colors of "balloons". VERY rich cake - only Dad ate a whole piece including frosting (did anyway say diabetes??)

Ulibarri Family Blog

Okay, I decided to set up a blog specifically for our little family. I will post pictures of the kids, input cute tidbits and anything else I come up with. Hopefully, it will keep everyone up-to-date on us and see how the kids are growing.