Christmas Spent In the Pond

Well I hope everyone's Christmas went well, before I explain the title I wanted to post some pictures of how ours went...Don't worry I'll keep the one's of me barfing all night long to myself. Got the Stomach bug Christmas Eve...it sucked...anyway..

Mya's First Barbie from her cousin...isnt she lovely..she looks like "Meteora" from The Christmas Toy...which I found at Target!
Play Food for her new Play Kitchen!
SpongeBob Squarepants...has already turned into a bedtime necessity.
Look what Santa brought!
The List of instructions for putting the Kitchen together..Santa owes Kimball big time




Sweet Aiden's first Christmas

The Wreckage after the Christmas Tornado came through...



Now before I forget..the title explanation..Before we left to return home, Chanda invited us to her house to try out this awesome tree swing that Earnie rigged up over the pond in the front of there house. Let me 'splain. Chanda has a cute little dome tucked away in the woods in front of which is a huge man made pond. In the summer the kids can swim, canoe, and as of recently, swing over it from a giant tree swing that you jump off a 15 foot high platform and swing out over the pond. Can you dig it? Well I love stuff like this so I'm all for it, the only thing making me nervous is getting off the swing once my momentum has stopped, so I say "Someone needs to catch me so I can get off"...here comes Karey, my brother (actually my BIL but since I dont have any brothers and we're the same age and fairly close..anyhoo..) to catch me, and by catch me I mean slide down the bank and stop himself from falling into the pond and leaving me to hang out in the middle with nothing to do but let go and swim back. So figuring I was already drenched I went ahead and got out, climbed back up into the tree and went back out on the swing and just jumped off into the middle of the pond...Oh well Life's short and it was Christmas after all, I thought I'd give everyone a laugh at my expense this year! Merry Christmas! If I get any pic or videos I'll be sure to post them!

13 Hams Later...

Ahhhh...the sweet sigh of relief....a) the christmas ward social is over,it went well. I think we had close to 300...wow.. A lot of people came up to me afterwards and said they enjoyed it. During meetings on Sunday, the Bishop already had ideas for next year...sheesh b) Kimball is on break until the 6th and his next rotation is an every other day attendance...what will I do with him around so much? c) We're moved in, its finally starting to feel like home. I took some pictures of course!

Fire place...we've had a fire already but are having to figure out the propane still
Master bedroom
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!....finally!
Kitchen...slightly bigger than the last...
Most favorite part about the new house...a play room! Mya loves playing in a room that she doesn't sleep in... for now its a room full of toys all to herself!
The other half of the play room...craft room/office
Bathroom
Second favorite thing about the house..the master bathroom still stays in commission when the toilet is being used because it has a separate door...Yay!

d) Surprisingly most of my christmas shopping is done, mostly since Kimball and I aren't shopping for eachother since we got a new couch and bookcase! Which we both love!


e) Rehearsals are over for the time being. I was invited to sing 3 musical numbers on Sunday and I'm happy with how it went. I'll actually miss having rehearsals a couple nights a week, not only because it got me out of the house, but because I'll miss the opportunity to do something I love and enjoy, but don't always make time for.

Anyway, right now Kimball and Mya are out shopping, my house is picked up, and the baby is asleep...what to do, what to do.....

Love Notes for my Birthday...

Snippets from my favorite birthday present this year...

To Holly,
My one and only Love, It has not been long since you first came into my life and changed it forever. I remember how lonely and frustrated I felt before I knew you. You have proven to be a light and beacon in my life...I hope you know what joy you bring to me. I hope you know what peace I am filled with knowing you are by my side...
"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, thy God my God; Where thou diest, will I die." Faithfully yours, Kimball

For Kimball..

Physicians' Outlook on the Financial Bailout Plan

The Allergists voted to scratch it, and the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.
The Orthopedists wanted to cast it in a different light.
The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve, and the Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception.
The Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.
The Pathologists yelled, 'Over my dead body!' while the Pediatricians said, 'Oh, grow up!'
The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, the Radiologists could see right through it, and the Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.
The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, 'This puts a whole new face on the matter.'
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists felt the scheme wouldn't hold water.
The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.
In the end, the Proctologists left the decision up to some rear ends in Washington.

( :-) Thanks Mer! Kimball's 2 favorite things to talk about.. Politics and Medicine...Perfect)

A Chance to be Heard!

I'm just gonna throw this out there:

a) I'm so over med school. I'm so tired of it. Kimball has 18 months left of school. i feel like I do when I'm 38 weeks pregnant...the torture of being so close yet so far away! Tonight we had a conversation that went a little something like this...

H: Don't you wish you had a job and they were handing out fat christmas bonuses?
K: The Dr. I'm rotating with is getting a $30,000.00 bonus
H: What kind of bonus do Med students get?
K: $200,000.00....in debt

b) This house situation couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm am craving the feeling of a warm, comfortable, inviting home, that puts me in the christmas spirit. Instead I am packing up every trace of our personalities, we are living with the bare essentials.

c) My kids will not stop crying. I know they are feeling the stress of the moving situation...they just want a normal every day life again. We have arrived at the "wooden spoon" stage with Mya...for now its just a threat, but I hate it.

Amidst all this, I am reminded that there are so many people out there who have no money at all with no end in sight EVER. There are people out there who don't have homes to fill up with warm nice things for the holidays, some don't have homes at all. And even still there are families out there who's kids are sick, hurt, or not with them anymore. We are so blessed, even though the Holiday season started off with some pretty unpleasant things, and problems seem to be coming one right after the other, we are still immensely blessed by our loving Father in Heaven who has a plan for us. Thanks to everyone who has helped us during this. We have some of the greatest friends ever! We love you!

Twilight! (again)

(thanks marcia!)
Okay...I'll admit it...I actually DID like him as Edward...he was probably my favorite aspect of the movie..I thought I'd never see him as anything else besides Cho Chang's tragically lost love.


I Loved it and I hated it...I'd better go see it again so I can make up my mind!

Twilight!

Who cares if I'll be homeless in a week....I get to see Twilight tonight!!!!

Vacating the Premises ...

Well it appears a sign that looks just like this one will soon grace our lawn. The month before we had Aiden we got a letter in the mail addressed to the owners of the home we're renting stating that they were 6 months delinquent on their mortgage payments, we notified the property managers and nothing became of it. It was our fault for not following up, but with the baby coming and Kimball starting rotations it just slipped our minds. Well we received letters from about 15 different law firms on Friday all with statements like "Get out of Foreclosure for Free" in big bold letters. We called the property managers again and long story short..the owners are almost a year behind in mortgage payments and were using the rent we were paying for something else, and are subsequently waiting for the home to foreclose and be sold at auction. Said auction will take place the first Tuesday of next month..which is in 15 days! The property manager continued to say that they no longer represent them (the owners) as clients, they will mail us our deposit in full (no inspection) and basically are jumping this sinking ship that we are now living in. In an attempt to be positive I'm now going to list the pros to this situation
1) I don't have to re-paint, clean, repair, or do any work for my deposit
2) My mom might come out to help us move!
3) There is a house available with 4 bedrooms instead of 3 (craft room!), a fireplace, and about 600 more square feet! Its also in our ward boundaries so we wouldnt have to say goodbye to our ward family!(Just when you thought you were getting rid of us =)
4) We've already had a huge outpouring of help from friends who have offered to watch kids, help us move, and even live with them while we try to find another place!We also have a friend in the mortgage business who has been a tremendous amount of help (thanks Michelle!)
5) We won't have to pay rent in December since there won't be anyone to pay rent to...maybe some new couches to put into a new house! At the very least we get to pocket the money!
6) Finally there was a SpongeBob Squarepants marathon on Nickelodeon today so Mya was entertained while I was on the phone all day with property managers, law firms, etc. She gets to go to school tomorrow and learn new things so I'm not to upset about her watching t.v. all day long!

and since there isn't enough time to list all of the negative things I'll just keep trying to focus on the positive. Please pray for us that this will all work out!

Is it already time for this??

Lately the last couple of days have led me to ask myself the question, "Is it already time for this?". As a lot of you know TxMommy's daughter D was in town and giving haircuts at $10 dollars a head, so the kids and I headed over. Mya was pretty upset at the idea of sitting still while there were toys in the other room, but I couldnt stop asking myself, "is it already time for her to be getting her first haircut?". It sure didn't feel like it. I couldn't get a very good picture because I had to hold her on my lap, but it sure is cute to see her with her big girl hairdo


Then today it was past time for me to put away the clothes that Aiden has already grown out of..."is it already time for this?" Keep in mind he just turned 3 months old a week ago and the clothes we are getting out are 6-9 months! Luckily we got so many clothes from the shower I have a whole box of bigger clothes to replace the small ones with, but still I can't believe it's already time for this.


Finally, I keep asking myself if it's already time to start thinking about Christmas! Didn't we just get done carving pumpkins? Is it time to start thinking about Gifts, Parties, Travel plans, etc. Some stores are already playing Christmas music! more and more it just feels like I just want to scream "I'm not ready yet!"


Quick Update:
Kimball just got a 99% evaluation from the Urologist he has been rotating with! We are so proud of him. The Doctor said he can tell when certain students are cut out for surgery (no pun intended)! Now we just hope he'll put it in writing for a good letter of recommendation.

We just had our turn for hosting dinner group, we had 13 people in all! It was a lot of work but even more fun!!

Mya is loving school, and the cutest thing happened when I dropped her off today. She walked in the class room and 3 or 4 kids came running up to her saying "Hi Mya!" and they were so excited to see her, it made my heart melt!

Aiden is now laughing! I have found that if I startle him or make a quick movement 1 of 2 things happens he either laughs hysterically, which in turn makes me laugh hysterically,

or he cries until he is coddled and emphatically apologized to. I've come to the decision that its so cute when he laughs that I'm comfortable with taking my chances.

For Laughs...

My sister and I laughed at this for almost 15 minutes straight...Turn the volume and enjoy a good laugh on me!

Our Little Family

Hungry for more? Go to www.toddrampy.com, click on "Enter Flash Website", click on "slideshows", click on "Mya and Aiden", type in "Holly" as the password. Enjoy!

Daily Thanks

Flipping through one of the many scrapbooking magazines I get each month (a girls gotta get inspiration from somewhere :) I came across a page that I've been very excited to share with everyone. It's titled "Daily Thanks" and is made up of pictures that the creator (Amanda Probst) has taken daily of one thing she was thankful for that day. Then at the end of the month she arranged all 30 pictures on to her 2 12x12 pages. The subjects of each photo can be big or small...one day she took a picture of a children's tylenol bottle, obviously grateful that today we have medicine to give children...a small thing that I know I don't realize wasn't available to mothers years and years ago. I really loved the idea especially for the photo aspect of it. Anyway I thought maybe it was something we could all use in our lives, I know that I already approach each day more mindful of the many things there are to be grateful for.

You can click on the image to enlarge it!

Happy Halloween!

Well I have to say my husband makes one handsome man, but one heck of an ugly lady. Everybody asked me how much I had to pay him, kind of like they asked me how much I had to pay him to sing with me at last year's Ward Christmas Party. But in truth he is just a fun loving guy who is very confident and doesn't mind making a fool out of himself once in awhile! We had such a good time Trunk or Treating, when Mya finally realized that all the cars were just GIVING AWAY the candy she was thrilled and she ended up with a great haul! Aiden's mouse costume turned out to be too hot (since when do you sweat on Halloween night?). I hope everyone had as much fun as we did!

Overwhelmed...

I watched this video on my friend Nikko's blog and by the end I was sobbing. With America the way it is today, I have to try so hard not to get scared and to have faith in Heavenly Father. I try to stay away from politics just because it's fear of the unknown that keeps me away, and I also get so disheartened by the way in which our society has changed. I wanted to share this video only because it gave me an overwhelming feeling that, though we are all different, we are ALL God's children, he loves us, he wants us to be happy, and he wants us to be successful. I think that if we all truly believed this we would live in such a different world. Even though I'm not catholic I believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, the sacredness of life given by God, and the right to worship freely how, what, and where we may, and I really appreciated the message this video had.

voting dilemma....

My friend Kathy called me today on her way home from voting, and I got to thinking who I was going to vote for. Since I couldn't decide which of the candidates I DISLIKED the LEAST, I decided to go in a different direction...

...as long as he can keep his appetite under control around his constituency, I don't see why he wouldn't be the solution to all of America's problems.

Mya's "Juicy" Suit

Before everyone starts flipping out...Mya didn't get a juicy suit...if anyone is getting Couture it's gonna be me, and that's not happening for a long time. Anyway I bought a little teal "suit" for Mya, and when I was helping her get dressed today I said "Mya look, it's just like Aunt Rinni's juicy suit" and she said "Winni suit?" it was precious so I had to take some pictures before we headed off to school. I think all I have to do now is spell out the word "juicy" on the bottom in rhinestones, or maybe a giant golden crown...what a cute "winni suit!".

Photo Tag!

I actually am kinda worn out on the "Tagged" thing (thanks anyway Carlye) but I thought this one was kindof fun. What you do is go into the 4th picture folder on your computer, then choose the 4th picture in it and blog it. This picture was taken only a few weeks after Mya and I made our journey to our new home in Fort Worth. This was her first swim, at a BBQ for all the new med students at one of the professors' houses. I actually look at this picture and think about how far we've come from then. How much we've been through on this ridiculously difficult ride of med school. Maybe I only see it this way because things are especially hard right now. But I am grateful that we are in the home stretch. I think about graduation day and I cry, I know I'll be crying when he finally gets his name called. It's funny what pictures make us think of. She was so tiny, I love how they are staring at eachother. He's looking at her and she's looking at him...our first time trying to be good parents, in a place where all we had was eachother, probably our biggest leap of faith......ANYWAY I'm pretty sure this is suppose to be a funny post so I'll tag someone who will lighten the mood. I tag all my sisters...so Marinda, Andrea, and "Suzanne" your it! P.S. Try not to be a downer like me!

TCU: 32 BYU: WHAT?????

Kimball and I, along with a lot of other families in our ward, got to go to the BYU/TCU football game last night. For those of you who didnt hear about the outcome, please don't bring it up, at least to my husband. He's in a corner somewhere reviewing in his mind everything that went wrong...he'll be busy for awhile. Kimball loves BYU ever since he went to school there, and he's a football freak so he was so excited to go. We even got some new BYU apparel for the occasion. My favorite part was being away from the kids (thanks sandy!)it was the first time we've been out together since Aiden was born! We ate at one of our favorite burger places on campus, Dutch's, and since we had to park so far away we got to hold hands, walk, and talk to eachother. I think I took for granted how nice it is just to have an adult conversation with your spouse every now and then. Anyway we figured the guys would want to sit and be completely focused on the game without the wives chiming in every five minutes "whats a field goal honey?" so the girls sat together and we had a great time cheering and being silly. After we realized BYU didnt show up to play (halfway through 3rd quarter) Kimball could no longer stand to watch, so he insisted we leave. Either way I had so much fun, and hope we can do it again, hopefully we'll pull out a W next time so the huz can be more socially acceptable in public. Love you babe! GO COUGARS!
This is suppose to be our game faces
Mya found Kimball's old BYU hat, he NEEDED a new one for the game, now he wants to return it...bad luck
Together at Dutch's it was packed with people in Purple. We stuck out like two blue thumbs
Yum! Good thing we parked far away so I could walk off a couple of bites!
I like their tight pants!...well I do!

Two BYU alumni wives...we thought we were gonna have to ride home together and let the boys blow off some steam...

Glamorous!

Kimball was on call all night at the hospital and hadn't seen the kids since Sunday since they were always in bed by the time he got home. So when he finally got to see Mya we decided to dress for the occasion! Isn't she Glamorous! After all... every girl needs a petticoat!



P.S. The video is sideways...does anyone know how to fix this? Its dark too...I'll try and get a better one!