Holy Surprise!

Yesterday Zeb and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary! While we were out to dinner Zeb gave me the biggest surprise EVER! 

Yep, this is our new car. One that will fit all our princesses once Julia arrives in March. As we walked out of the restaurant I went to walk to our Camry and it wasn't there. I glanced around the parking lot and saw it parked in a completely different spot. I started walking towards it while asking Zeb if he moved it and his response, as he unlocked an Acura MDX was, "This is our car." I was Confused. Shocked. Floored. GIDDY!!! He got me a car? Of course squealing followed, then screaming in the car.

Needless to say, I had to turn off a part of my brain that has to do with numbers. I was fully concentrated on percentage rate, car payments, the whole nine yards. Poor Zeb was like, "How about, this is the best Anniversary present ever!" And boy was it. He had thought of everything. It's already registered, plates are coming, insurance is covered...you name it, it's done. Talk about a sweet present. I don't have to do a thing but drive it!!! 

Zeb's plan was almost spoiled when we got a letter in the mail from his professor congratulating Zeb on receiving the graduating senior scholarship. I was thinking, "Zeb didn't get that. Or did he?" I thought maybe he had a surprise up his sleeve since he didn't tell me we got it and we didn't have a car yet. The reason a car came to mind was because he looked at them daily. But it wasn't that suspicious because we were going to get one soon. He explained that the reason he didn't tell me he got the scholarship was because we ended up getting a little money in cash and he was going to surprise me and the girls for Christmas. The CRAZY thing is that he got the message from me WHILE he was in San Antonio on the way to the dealership! But he kept his cool and totally convinced me that was it. 

THEN...yes there is more. The guy at wells fargo called a few days later and told me to tell Zeb that,  "everything is set and they will see him tomorrow." I called him confused and asked him what that meant, thinking what if he really does have a surprise up his sleeve. But he said the guy was new and Zeb had been talking to a bunch of banks about consolidating our student loans. The guy didn't know we were still in school and was just jumping the gun to get us to use them. I TOTALLY bought it. Zeb is GOOD.  Again I was totally convinced there was nothing else to it. 

The car was delivered at 3:00 yesterday at the law school (after a ton of work on Zeb and the dealerships part) and 3 hours later we went to dinner. Zeb pulled off the biggest surprise EVER. It was the fourth car he had tried to buy. This particular car and year is in high demand and they sell the day they are posted on Auto Trader. The dealership didn't know this and had planned on sending the car to another dealership so they gave Zeb a good deal. A really good deal. 

So the day of our Anniversary I had NO IDEA he had bought me a car. I am so stinkin excited! Now when we drive to Utah we will have a lot more room. SWEET! 

So to my sweetheart, thank you. You are the best.  I can't believe you pulled this off. I love you, I love you, I love you. And to all the friends that knew, thanks for not spoiling it. And to Chad Workman, thanks for driving Zeb to San Antonio, not cursing me when you got a flat tire, and for bringing my new car to dinner. This was the best surprise EVER!

A little late...

When we were at Josh and Carol's for thanksgiving I took advantage of their camera and took a picture of my growing tummy. I look even more pregnant now that it has been 2 or 3 weeks since it was taken.  I can't believe I am 25 weeks already and in 3 weeks I'll be in my third trimester. Wow. A little scary.

Okay Steph, let's have it. Where is your tummy picture?

Come what may, and love it!

I absolutely love this talk by Elder Wirthlin. With him passing away it makes it all the more special that he gave it. Sometimes I feel like talks are given directly to me, this is one of those talks. 

I have really tried to be better about laughing things off and enjoying every moment in all areas of my life. Not that I'm not happy. I couldn't have a better husband, children, family or friends. I love being a mother and wife with all of my heart. I just want to reach my fullest potential in those roles. It is something I will strive for my entire life. 

Sunday afternoons are designated for quiet time in my house. Audrey naps and I usually put on a movie for Claire and Hallie so I can rest. A few weeks ago I decided that I should spend some time with the older girls. I told them I had an idea and we built a fort together. We sat inside the fort and watched a movie together with popcorn and chocolate. Isn't that a necessity? The girls absolutely loved it and I had a lot of fun with them. I just cuddled and snuggled them. Claire said, "Thanks, Mom." I asked her what for and her simple reply was, "For this." It was so precious. Then Hallie said, "I love you mom." I know I have a lot to work on as a mother but this was a special afternoon with 2 of my girls.

(Oh to have a camera to take pictures with!)

Lesson Learned

You know when they say to buy things for your food storage that you USE? Well, you should listen. I wish I had. I don't know if I can even tell you how many jars I had to throw away this past weekend because they had expired. It is so humiliating and depressing I don't even want to think about it. Maybe I will let you all guess how many jars/cans you think I had to throw away.

Why am I telling you all this? No, not so you can all gasp and think I am a total idiot (although I sure feel like one) but so that you don't make the same mistake I did. Granted, my intentions were good. Really good. Before we moved here I wanted a substantial food storage. I got things on case lot sales and even canned a ton at the cannery. The only thing I did wrong was think, "Oh, we'll eat that if we have it." Well, dozens of expired jars of applesauce, not so tasty salsa, soup, and other canned vegetables later we still haven't eaten them and they have to be thrown out.

I am sick about it. I can't believe I had all that food in my pantry and never used it. The other thing we did wrong was that we didn't unwrap the cases after we moved. We had done cellophane wrap all over them in order to get them safely here and then never unwrapped them. Somewhere in my mind I left the hall closet untouched because it was our food storage.It was stored away in my mind for a disaster.  Hello! You are supposed to rotate your food storage so this doesn't happen! Well, now I know you buy what you eat and you get a system that works to rotate the food.

Lesson learned...the hard way.

A little Trick or Treating!

Here are some overdue pictures of Claire and Audrey. Hallie was home sick watching Tinker Bell and was so sad to miss out on all the Halloween fun. :(

Someone asked if her nose was make up or real. Since she was Belle I told people she jumped in front of the Beast when the wolves came. Great story, huh?

I love this of Claire and Audrey. They have so much fun together.
I can't believe how grown up Claire is. She is so big and can't wait to have a baby sister to hold.
Audrey's cut is healing so GREAT! I can't believe it. I'll have to post pictures of what it looks like now. 

Audrey and Gabby held hands the whole night and had so much fun together. 

After we went to dinner at the Hudson's and trick or treating in their neighborhood we went home. Hallie was feeling MUCH better and wanted to put her costume on. We went to a few houses on our street and Hallie was so HAPPY! I'll have to post pics when I get them from Cindy! Man we need a camera.

Julia May

Yep. It's official. We are naming our sweet little baby Julia.  Zeb and I both love the name and I don't see us finding one we like more. I just love it.

I told you when I put my mind to something....

:)

What a Day

On Thursday after getting Claire off to school I was balancing check books and listening to Hallie and Audrey play. We were just about to run errands but the girls were chasing each other and having so much fun. Hallie was running away from Audrey and Audrey tripped and started crying. She was only a few feet away from me. I saw that she was bent over by the frame of the bed and I thought "Oh, she could totally gash her face on the frame." I turn her around to comfort her and blood is pouring out of the bridge of her nose. My fear was true. I grabbed a towel and tried to clean her up and we head to the ER. That was visit 1. 

Poor Audrey had 3 stitches in her nose since the cut was too close to her eye to do the glue. She was a trooper and was so brave. When I had to leave for x-rays she did great. They actually told me she was the best patient they had had all day. When they wrapped her up in the sheet she was great. It wasn't until the shot and stitches that the crying came. It was so sad. I sang her popcorn popping and tried to distract her. Luckily Jana came to help with Hallie so she didn't have to witness the traumatizing stitching. (Thanks for the advice on that one Ang). 2 hours later we were back at home and getting ready for nap time.

Hallie was still not feeling very good so I took just Claire to gymnastics. After dropping her off in her Halloween costume I picked up Zeb who is studying for finals. When we swung by the gym to get Claire on the way home the car battery ended up dying. Thank goodness Zeb was with me. It was a quick jump and we were on our way.

Just after dinner I got the girls ready for bed and Hallie started crying and moaning. Her tummy was making her miserable. I have never seen her like this. She wasn't throwing up, it was the other stomach problems. Anyway, it got worse and worse and Zeb and I thought I should take her to the ER. Trip number 2. 

At 9:00 we took off and the Doctor ran a bunch of tests. They gave her an IV just to get more fluids in her and did blood work. When she needed x-rays,  again I had to leave. She was about to freak out but I explained that it wasn't safe for the baby. She realized she needed to be brave and she did great. All the tests and x-ryas were normal, she just has a virus. We didn't get to leave until after 1:00 in the morning. 

After 2 visits to the ER, a dead car battery, and a husband studying over 15 hours for finals I would say my day was a little exhausting.

Nap anyone?

*The pictures are horrible since they were taken with my camera phone but my fam wanted pictures. ;)