Cruisin...

I don't think I have had so much going on at one time in my life.  It is going way to fast, yet impossibly slow at the same time.  Moving can be such a pain, and even worse when you own a home.  We found out about the job after the best time of the season had already past.  Right around the holidays are the worst to buy and this is no exception.  But I keep having faith that things will work out ok.  We might just have to rent for awhile in Medford until our house gets sold.  So double house payments should be fun..... but I feel really good about the house and I need to exert more faith in my Heavenly Father.

 

It has been so cold here lately.  Wind blowing, snow and freezing rain.  It just doesn't seem to end.  And since there is nothing to do in Douglas I just hang at home with the girls during the day.  I am guessing being cooped up at home has transformed Danni into such a dare devil.  She is fearless and hence lots of fall downs and accidents.  Which results in crying and crawling after me till I give in and pick her up.

 

Danni has opened up to the world of food...all food.  That girl will eat some baby food and then chow down at the table till I stop feeding her.  I have fallen in love with these baby food packets.  Not only do they make on the go feedings a breeze they really know how to combine flavors that babies will eat without protest.  This one has beets but they threw in blueberry and banana to cover up the taste.  There is a spinach one as well that Danni loves and I feel that much better as a mom to say I got spinach down her.



 

Here she goes....she will climb up next to anything even if it is not a stable object hence all the accidents.  She is walking up and down the couch already.  Not even 9 months and I am thinking she wants to just take off and walk.  I want her to stay down and crawl but she is determined to be standing most of the time.

 Don't you love the outfit? Lexie got her dressed.

 

Poor Hailey can't get a bath in unless Danni is standing right there....and mom's showers are not so relaxing anymore.

 This picture is so funny to me because she is rebelling that I won't buy her a walker.  She uses the bin as one....you would think her back would hurt.

 

I feel bad that Hailey has been dethroned as my photo child so I decided to throw one in there for good luck.  She is mom's little buddy and if there is anyone who enjoys lunch out as much as me it is her.  I am one lucky mom.....

Nomadic Lifestyle

Isn't the Medford OR temple pretty?  Of course I think all temples are beautiful and since we live 4 hours away from any temple I find temples a big plus wherever you live.  Looking back at our lives Corey and I have moved a ton.....I mean like every 2 years.  And just as our 2 year mark will roll around this December we will again be making another move.  Corey has been looking for a different place to work considering the place he is at now has no potential for him to grow.  Corey is driven and I love that quality about him.  So for him to just sit in a job and know he has no where to move really was bugging him.  So he applied for a position with the same company in Medford OR which would be a nice increase in pay for him and the ability to move up.  We have been waiting for weeks to find out if he actually got the job or not and finally today he got the official offer.  So we will be moving to OR as soon as we can sell our house and get things in order. 

The hardest part was telling our kids because they are at the age now where they have made friends and are fitting in at school.  They all cried when we told them but we at least could soften the blow by telling them we would be close to Grandma and Grandpa Esquibel.  So we are busy busy trying to get the basement finished up and odds and ends done before the relocation people call to get our house on the market.  If everyone could cross their fingers and say prayers for us that it will sell fast we would appreciate it.  My worst fear is being stuck here over the holidays with the kids alone while Corey is in OR.  Here goes another adventure....stay tuned.

Football and babies

I am the first to brag that I never get sick.  It seems my kids bring home every bug under the sun and it usually skips right over me and invades everyone else.  This past week Danni got this cold.  She was happy during the day minus all the snot coming out of her nose but at night she was miserable.  She would wake up a lot and so I was awake a lot.  She is now finally getting back to her regular schedule and guess who gets this cold....yep me.  This thing is horrible.  My sinuses are all clogged and even when I take  medicine it does not good.  Night is the worst of course and I just keep squirting saline up my nose in the hopes it will not turn into a sinus infection.  I have no idea where Danni got it, except for maybe the grocery carts or high chairs at restaurants.  I am just hoping it goes as fast as it made it's appearance.  I don't have time to be sick....

 

Now to my regular post....Danni is now 7 months old.  She is really a character and loves attention.  In fact you would think she would shrivel and die without it.  It really doesn't help that all the kids cater to her.  If she cries one of them has mercy on her and picks her up.  but this has turned into scream fest if she is put down usually.  She is loving food and really likes everything I put down her.  I have tried the Gerber puffs that melt but she just seems to choke on them and not sure what to do with it.  Hopefully soon she can start just eating what we eat instead of buying all that puree food.  Danni loves to inch worm everywhere.  She semi crawls because she will get up into position and then rock and fall forward to get to things.  I have seen her crawl maybe a hand and knee forward a couple of times but not into a full crawl yet.  I have this sinking feeling it will be soon.  She already army drags around trying to find things to put into her mouth.  My favorite thing she does now (well I guess there are two) she will say mama when she wants me which I find so cute even when she is crying.  And when she gets excited she pants like a dog and will chew on your shoulder.  Good thing she only has the two teeth on the bottom.  Time has just gotten away with me it seems and I want it to slow down because I love this cute little fat stage she is in.

 This is her panting face...

 Crawl position

 She just looked too cute in this one...

 Oh and this one too.

 

 

We signed the boys up for football this year.  It worked out great because it is 5th and 6th grade boys in one league.  So I don't have to do double practices and double games.  There is nothing cuter than little boys in those cute football uniforms.  Logan and Gabe are just so different and you can see it in the way they play football.  Logan is so laid back it takes Corey to yell at him to get a fire going.  He just is not very competitive and that is fine.  He says football is ok and so I am not sure if he will want to play school football next year but we will wait and see how that goes.  Gabe is a big attitude in a little body.  He says he loves football and can't wait for games and practice.  He catches really well and he has a lot of fight in him.  Corey took all the action shots and I basically sat and had kids on me the whole time.  

 Gabe getting a pat on the head from the ref.

 Gabe doing a great job of defending

 Hailey just trying to not be bored.

 Logan doing a tackle

 Logan tackle number 2....he is a red stripper which means he was too heavy to play anything but the line.  He was a little bummed about that.

Danni and I hanging out.

 

And as an ending note, Gabe tried out for the choir group here called Sunny Singers and he didn't get in.  Gabe is my social butterfly and wants to participate in everything at school.  He was pretty bummed that he didn't get in.  I told him not to worry about it.  They just didn't have a bass part in grade school.....lol.

First Day of School and TOU Half Marathon

I can not believe school has started again.  Usually summer last forever for me, but for some reason this summer just flew by.  I think as the kids get older it is easier for me to hang out with them and have fun.  I have some witty kids and there was rarely a day where I wasn't laughing.  But we had some huge changes this year for school.  Lexie moved up to the intermediate school which is much bigger.  Gabe got to move into the new upper elementary school and be the first class in that school.  It is super nice.  And Logan moved into the Middle School this year.  They have the rotating AB schedule and he changes classes every hour, has lots of teachers and even his own locker.  When I went to open house it really made me sad to think my oldest is getting that old.  He will stay in the middle school until he enters high school in 9th grade.  They were super excited to go to school.  I had to take the first day of school photos.

 Gabe going into big 5th grade.

 Hailey would be in Preschool if I paid for it or the school offered it.  Next year cutie.

 The crew all together.  Notice that Gabe did not want to sit beside Lexie.  He was being such a brat and Logan could tell it was hurting Lexie's feelings so he put his arms around her.  What a great brother.

 Lexie in big 3rd grade.

 Big Logan in 6th grade.

 

 

School started on Thursday and I had planned on running a half marathon on that following Saturday.  I didn't know what day school would start when I registered.  It was 6 months before hand.  So they went to one day of school and then we took them out on Friday so I could drive up to Logan UT and run.  I know everyone is tired of my posting race pictures but this was a special race.  First off it was the first half marathon I got to run with my brother Thor.  He looks big and you figure he wouldn't be that fast, but he spanked it.  He ran 13.1 miles in like 1 hour and 54 minutes.  Not bad by any one standards.  It was also important because I started my good friend Bonnie running when she lived here in Douglas.  We laugh because when she first did 1 mile she didn't think she would ever get up to 13.  So I issued her the half challenge and she ran with it literally.  That girl took to running like you wouldn't believe.  So she flew in from Montana and we ran together.  I told her I would stick with her and I did up until about mile 11.  She was getting frustrated and walking and was about to give up.  I gave her tons of positive talk but I think I was just getting annoying after awhile.  I could tell she needed some space so I told her I would see her at the finish line.  I took off and finished fast and got a time of 2 hours and 2 minutes.  Bonnie finished at 2 hours and 9 minutes.  I was so proud of her.  Not a bad time for her first half.  She was so upset at herself for getting frustrated and letting it get to her.  If you have ever ran long distance you sometimes hit something called "The Wall" where you mentally hurt yourself and give up.  She hit it hard.  But she recovered well from it.  This was my first race post baby and it has given me the racing bug.  I am taking the fall off for the holidays and then I will be back in it in January training for a half in the spring and maybe if I feel good a full in the fall.  It was a great experience.

Corey got me coming in on the home stretch.

 Bonnie and I afterwards.

Here is our little crew.  Thor and his friend from work and then Bonnie and I.  I had a blast.

Run Forest Run

I know I haven't posted anything in regards to my training and up coming race but I seem to have lost myself in my life...lol.  I had a long 13 miles run one Saturday and these lovely ladies helped me finish the last 4.  We look pretty pasty but I think it was the camera.  I have my race this Saturday with my brother and my good friend Bonnie.  I am way excited and love that I am back in the racing game.

Danni 6 Months Old

 

6 months old!!  I can hardly believe that she has been here a half year already.  Time really is going pretty fast and she is just getting so stinking big and fat.  I love it.  Her thighs alone have enough rolls to serve a whole family.  She is for the most part a pretty well behaved baby and for some reason has it in her head she has to have a visual of mom 24/7.  I get lots of compliments on her cute cheeks and her frizzy stand on end hair (which I frequently do in a Mohawk).

 

 This girl loves her food.  She has eaten every kind of baby food I can find.  She opens right up and on the fruits she will even hum mmmm after each bite.  Leftover sweet potatoes anyone?

Something so cute about a happy smile and a snotty nose....

 Wants that camera really bad...

 She is starting to get the hang of sitting up.  She can sit for awhile if she is occupied with a good toy.  I see so much of Logan it is crazy.

And guess who got her bottom teeth in....yep both at the same time.  Now she has these cute little guys to add to her already adorable smile.

Kindergarten Night

 

This post was supposed to be dedicated to my YW activity last night but I found these lovely pictures on my camera and couldn't resist posting them.  I came into the living room and Hailey had crowned Danni princess for the day.  She kept it on for awhile too.  She just looked so dang cute.....

 

Now back to my original purpose of posting.  As you know from my past post I have been dumpy lately.  And I can't help but feel the Lord has blessed me with the calling to be in YW.  There is something so contagious about being around teenage girls who want to be around you.  We don't have a ton of girls, but what we lack in quantity we make up in quality.  I am over the Mia-Maids and I only have 2 girls.  Ashlee ( the crazy girl down front) is my president and we came up with kindergarten night.  So I made the girls get pigtails and freckles and we had a night of kid games.  It was pretty funny to see the girls do hopscotch and a bubble gum blowing contest.  But I have to admit the best part was playing red light green light and red rover outside on the lawn.  We had so much fun and I am sure if you were to drive by you couldn't tell the leaders from the girls (well maybe if they got up close and noticed all our wrinkles).   I had such a great time with the girls and they really did lift my spirits for this week.  They will probably never know how much they mean to me.

In The Shadow of Gotham

 

I have been avoiding the library lately....I admit I haven't walked through the doors since I was pregnant with Danni.  I just always assume that I won't have time to read with how demanding she is.  But on the off chance she would take a nap and I would get some quiet time I decided to get back into reading.  Plus a librarian in our ward decided to start a book club that I am pretty excited about.  So it got my book worm wiggling with reading excitement.  Some times I just go to the library and walk up and down the aisle till I find a book that looks interesting.  Doing this I have either found a great book or a big disappointment.  This time I did really well.  I picked up this book titled "In The Shadow of Gotham".  It was written by Stefanie Pintoff and it is a murder mystery.  Normally I don't go for these, I usually go for the dramas.  It is about a detective in New York in 1905 who is working to solve a case.  I like it because it is a historical fiction which is my favorite time and also the mysteries are solved more in the old deduction way.  I like to think it is comparable to the Sherlock Holms series.

 

It was a good read.  Really well written and I read it in just 2 days which is really good considering I could only read a couple of hours a day.  And the best part is I couldn't figure out who the culprit was until the very end.  It kept me on my toes.  I would recommend this to really anyone who wants a quick read that is really interesting.



Down and Out

Sitting in bed two nights ago I didn't even realize how down I was until Corey asked if I was ok.  He really is such a great loving husband and can tell sooner than I realize that I am getting down in the dumps again.  It was a much needed relief to have it out in the open that I was going down road of blues as I like to call it.  Now I am usually not one who suffers from any sort of depression.  I never even thought about it.  But after having Danni something happened probably with my hormones and the fact that my life has changed so dramatically that I notice myself getting blue more often then not.  On top of that is my own problem with trying to be a certain way physically that no one else cares about but myself it seems.  I am guessing that is why I haven't been up to blogging, haven't really been up to much of anything.  So I know, why am I blogging about it?

For me it feels better to talk about it and since Douglas is so small and I really don't have too many good friends here like I did in my other places this is my place to vent.  I can't even say how much I miss my dear friends Jenn and Christy.  I was always with one of them and I miss that so much.  The hardest thing is the fact that Danni is really time consuming.  She whines most of the day and has to constantly be in motion.  It exhausts me by the end of the day.  Some days I just feel like bursting out in tears because I have no time of my own.  And Corey gets frustrated with her because she cries a lot so he will only hold her for a small bit when he gets home and then hands her back.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change having her for the world, but I miss having just me time.  She doesn't even nap that well either which gives me even less time.  Combine all this with 4 kids all home all day in summer and you have one ticking time bomb.  I try to stay upbeat but there are days where it is just too much effort.  And running which gives me more energy and really makes me feel better has become harder because Corey always has to leave early it seems so I have to get up at 4am to get my run in before Danni wakes up.

The only comfort I get is when I went grocery shopping yesterday and had kids all over the little old lady looked at me and just said, "cheer up, this wont' last forever.  Soon they will grow up and you will miss this moment.  Trust me."  So I will just plug along trying to be brave for my kids and trying not to get frustrated or angry with them when it is all just my internal dialogue causing the problem.  School should help........

Danni 5 Months Old

 

 

Yes I know what everyone is thinking...could Danni possibly be 5 months old already?  These past 5 months have just flown by and I sit sometimes and stare at Danni and think she is just growing up on me way too fast.  I do miss the newborn snugly stage but I will gladly give that up for sleeping through the night.  Let's see what little miss Danni is up to these days.....

 

Danni has discovered how to roll over.  She can roll both ways which makes for movement which makes for I have to pick up constantly.  She never stays on her back too long before she flips right over.  She used to hate tummy time but after learning to turn she will play for a little while with toys on her tummy.  I got a couple of sequence shots of her roll...

 

Pretty impressive right?  Once she learned this she can also inch worm her way forward to get to things.  If a toy is out of reach she will inch her cute little butt in the air and scooter forward.  Mobile already so let's hope she doesn't pick up crawling too fast.

I have been working on sitting but she hates it.  I mean really hates it.  She want to get down on her belly so she can move.  When I do get her in sitting position she just folds right in half and tries to flop forward.  I have nightmares that she will never just sit and play.  This girl is constantly moving.  Even when she is sleeping I go check and she is moving all over her crib while asleep.  I did put the boppy pillow around her and took some pictures...

It starts out ok....

 Then just a couple of minutes pass before we hit this stage....

 And the final act...yep every time.

 

Danni has already shown a love of food.  She loves her baba and all I have to do is say it and she gets really excited.  She is already drinking a full bottle per feeding.  And when we eat she is mesmerized by our food.  She stares at the food and then as it comes to your mouth she will look up and just stare.  Plus she is always trying to grab my food.  My Dr. thought she would be find starting some baby food.  So I started with bananas like my Dr. said and she loves them.  She will polish a whole container on her own.  And she is my cleanest eater.  I don't even have to use a bib most of the time because all the food that goes in stays in.  I have also tried carrots which she didn't like the first time but the second time she ate the whole thing as well.  I am so happy to have a good eating baby.  That would explain all the fat rolls she has acquired.

 

 You have to admit that is a pretty cute baby.....you can tell she is an Esquibel.

Supreme Court Ruling

As I was sitting down this morning after my workout I couldn't find too many stations that were not talking about the ruling the Supreme court decided on doing away with the traditional meaning of marriage.  People seemed so excited and happy that the ruling went through and I was upset that not one station had the reaction of the other side of the story.  They just keep saying how gay couples will have the same federal rights as traditional marriages including tax breaks.  When did marriage become defined as tax breaks???  I thought marriage was a covenant with God that you make with your husband or wife.  But not one broadcasting station even mentioned the religious and moral side of marriage.  We have pushed God out of our schools and out of our government and basically out of our lives.  Why are we not surprised by the events unfolding around the world when we won't listen to our Savior and his commandments.  The church released a statement regarding the ruling and I was so glad to see something in print that was agreeable with how I felt.  You can read it here.  I just don't understand Prop 8 I guess.  Why have the people vote on something if it will not be held up?  What a joke and I have to say this just felt like another blow that I have been let down by the government and people in general.

Drive Home

Really the drive home was uneventful.  Then as we got closer to home, right on the CO border we ran into this huge storm.  Somehow we drove right on the outskirts of it.  And we heard on the radio that there was a tornado located in Dix and we had just passed that town.  We had missed driving through it by like 10 minutes.  Really felt like that family prayer before we left helped us miss out on the worst of it.  It looked pretty mean.  But we made it safe and sound back to WY that night.

 

 



Jailhouses

We visited two jails while in MO.  In Independence we visited the county jail where Orson Porter Rockwell (who is related on my Dad's side) was said to serve time.  Now this is the way to jail criminals.  I think after staying in these places for a couple of months no one would want to go back.

 These are the cells from the outside.  It was super thick limestone, the whole cell.  It was said to get very cold in the winter.

 Josh and Corey inside one of the cells.  Doesn't it look homey.

The day that we drove back we stopped at Liberty Jail in Liberty MO.  It really was interesting to see what the jail looked like that Joseph Smith was held in.  Very depressing and just to see how they stayed for months makes it even more impressive that He received revelation here and stayed humble.  I didn't know that between the thick stone walls on the outside and the wood on the inside they filled with loose rocks.  This made it impossible to escape.

 The cell was only 6 foot tall and every one of the men were taller than 6 feet.  So they had to hunch over the whole time.

 The only door into the prison.  The inside door had no way to open from the inside.  You had to open it from the outside.

 Josh and Sally left early that morning so they are missing here too.