My Genius At Work Again

For the past few years, my poor piano has been having issues with the damper pedal. No matter how hard I would push down on it, it just wouldn't sustain any notes at all. Needless to say, everytime I played the piano, it was very staccato-y and just really bothered my ears. I have a habit of jumping my fingers off notes to let them ring better and that just doesn't work at all if you have no pedal action! So today I decided to see if it was something I could fix since I don't have any money for piano repairs at the moment. First I opened up the top sections to see if the pedal action was even working. Well, it was, but just barely. Not even enough to move the damper keys out of the way. So I took the front panel off to take a look at the pedal rods themselves. Have you ever wondered what a 20yr old piano looks like on the inside??? Coated with cobwebs. And I mean coated. After wiping away the mess, I noticed there are wing nuts on top of all the pedals. So I started tightening the damper pedal up and lo and behold...the pedal now sustains notes! Hooray!!! Can't wait to start playing more now that my music will sound normal again!

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday was WONDERFUL! We had so much fun! I'm not going into detail today though cause I left my trusty (yeah right!) camera at my dad's last night and when I do go into detail, I'd like to post pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. So...it might be while since my dad lives on the other side of the valley from me.....If anyone wants to volunteer brining it out to me, that would be awesome! In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great weekend and next week, too. Love you all!

Another Fun Week

As Christmas draws ever closer, it seems like our weeks are filling up with lots of fun activities. We decorated our tree, had a visit from Tera (here for Nana's funeral), went to a free college basketball game (thanks Air Force!), and had a blast at the Farnsworth Christmas party. And even though I have to work Monday - Wednesday, I get to sleep in cause Amber has no school and I don't work till 11! Woohoo! And Christmas is on THURSDAY!!! Now, I freely admit that I'm the biggest kid on Christmas. David will tell you all about our first Christmas together and how I woke him up several times before 5am to go open presents. This year will be no exception. I'll be waking the girls at 5. =)

Thankful Thursday

It's been a few weeks since I posted a Thankful Thursday, so I'll try to be better in the future. Too many Thursday holidays this year...Or something! Hahaha! Here we go....

1. I'M PREGNANT!!! I'm so very thankful that a little someone wanted to join our little family here on earth. I've always felt like there was at least one little person missing, and now there's a little guy/girl coming!
2. I'm thankful that my two little girlies are so very excited to meet their new littlest sibling. They both talk to my stomach now and like to rest their little heads on my growing lump. They're so sweet and will be great big sisters for this new one.
3. Again, I'm thankful for David. I came home late from work Tuesday night to a wonderfully clean home. It had been a hard day (it rained alllllll day so we couldn't take the kids outside in the afternoon) and I really didn't feel like cleaning the house up for Tera's arrival. Much to my surprise, everything on my to-do list had been completed by me sweet husband. And even things that weren't on my list had been done! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
4. This may sound just a bit weird, and I feel a little guilty about it, but I'm just a little grateful that David's Nana died. I know...horrible. But she really was very very old and sick, and had outlived 2 husbands, a whole slew of friends and family, and she really did want to go, too. I'm grateful that she's at peace now and hopefully she's happy where she's at. Plus, because her funeral was yesterday, Tera got to come down and see the family again. She met the newest niece, saw our new home and a whole bunch of cousins/aunts/uncles.
5. I'm thankful that all our bills are paid and we still have food in the fridge.

How Fun!

This weekend was a blast! Friday night was Amber's "Christmahanakwanzakah" concert at school. She did wonderful! She sang her little heart out for all of her grade's songs. I was so proud!

Jade was a boogerhead, but what can ya do?After the concert, we went out to The Cracker Barrel for dinner to celebrate my pregnancy and also how great Amber did in her concert. Amber's old enough that she looks at her menu and orders what she wants. When did she get so big, anyways?? We then took the girls to Walmart to spend some Christmas money they got from their Great-Grandparents. They both chose some Littlest PetShop toys.
On Saturday, Tai and kids graced us with their presence. (Love ya, Tai!) We had so much fun making Christmas cookies, opening presents (for the kiddos), and enjoying each other's company.

Then we went and picked out a live tree for my family room. It smells WONDERFUL!!! I love it!

We had a bit of a hiccup in our great day when we got home. Everyone forgot we had a tree on top of the car, and David tried to drive into the garage like we always do. Well, as you can imagine, it dented the door and threw it off the track. David then spent the next 3 hours fixing it. He took the door completely apart (all the sections) so it was in 4 pieces. Then he put it all back together after making sure they were all straight. And after tightening the tension cords, it works! It's a Christmas Miracle! I'm very glad he was able to fix it as garage doors are Not cheap. Especially if you have to save for a crib. It was so sweet cause Amber said the dinner prayer and she prayed that Daddy would have help fixing the garage. So full of faith. And her prayer was answered. Tonight we're decorating the wonderful smelling tree and watching a Christmas movie. Maybe we'll have homemade ice cream and hot chocolate, too. =)

Guess What.....

I'M PREGNANT!!! YEA!!!!! After 4 1/2 years of trying, I'm finally pregnant! With no drugs! I went in to the Luke Clinic to get a referral for the Fertility Specialist and they had me pee in a cup just to be safe since I haven't had a cycle since the beginning of September. I told my doctor it was a waste of money since I'm not pregnant and pee tests don't work on me anyways. Well, I got a phone call at work this afternoon and the nurse told me the results were positive! Hooray!!! So I guess I'm 3 months pregnant which would explain why the pee test worked. I'm still in total shock. Tomorrow I have to go in and register at the OBGYN clinic and they'll probably do bloodwork to get an estimate on how far along I am. All I can say is, about freakin time! =)

Fat Girls, Skinny Girls

Hahahaha! My girls loooove to play with their stomaches and belly buttons! First of all, they are both so flippin thin that their little belly buttons have no hole to hide in...so even though you can tell they're suppossed to be innies - they look like outies! I'm highly amused by this and tonight told them I was going to take pictures of their bellies.

This is the girls trying to push their bellies out to make them fat. Amber had a really hard time with this and kept trying to flex instead so I could see her awesome 8-pack (it's seriously a very nicely defined 8-pack!). So this is her best attempt. Jade "fat" belly just looked and felt like she was preggers....round and hard!

Here's my skinny little girls. Apparently it's much easier to suck it in than it is to push it out. Not sure why.....Hmmm. Do you like all their ribs sticking out???

Here's To Us

8 years ago (technically 8 years ago tomorrow), David and I took the plunge and said, "I do." I can hardly believe how fast time has flown by! It really seems like yesterday, but here we are 8 whole years later! And my girls are getting bigger and bigger, but it still feels like yesterday. I guess that just means I still love him - right? =) We went out last night for the first time in months. I know that probably doesn't sound like very long to many of you, but it's a very long time for us. We've gotten used to weekly date nights and haven't been able to keep it up since moving back. So last night felt good. We went to PF Chang's (thanks Tera!) for dinner and then to Cold Stone and some James Bond. The movie wasn't half bad....as in it could have been a lot worse! Hahahaha! Not a huge James Bond fan, but David wanted to see it, so I complied. And I admit it wasn't so bad. Here's to another year!

Our Thanksgiving Extravaganza

I had planned on a nice quiet Thanksgiving in my new home with just my little family to feed. I was half right. Wednesday afternoon, David gets the bright idea to go over to Zach and Tai's house for the whole weekend....starting Wednesday night! So I packed up all the clothes and necessities we'd need for 4 days, plus a box full of food I would need to make Thanksgiving dinner. We got to Queen Creek around 11pm, put kids to bed and then stayed up and visited till who knows when! Zach and David went to play football early Thanksgiving morning while Tai and I started getting things ready for our separate dinners. They went to her families house, and I cooked dinner for my little family at her house. I know...wierd....but whatever. Alex and Onya came over later that night and we played a really fun game till Zach and Tai got home. Friday was pretty uneventful. David and I took the girls to see the temple lights. It was freezing! I could see my breath and everything! Hahaha! The girls really liked all the lights and had a lot of fun. Saturday we drove down to Tucson to visit with David's step-family and dad. We went to church with Zach and Tai on Sunday, then went to Lila's for dinner. Holy Cow there was TONS of food!!!!! We were all pretty stuffed! So now here we are, back in Buckeye. And I get to sleep on a nice, soft, ultra-plush, pillowtop, king bed instead of the floor. Hooray!!!!