The big 2-5.

UGH. That means Im half way to 50! That is really scary :)

Well my birthday was almost a month ago but as you know I am way behind. And since I am skipping my nap today, which I am already regretting. I figured I would blog a little.

I went to Wyoming to see my family for a week. That is the LONGEST I have ever been away from my husband. Including while we were dating. It was hard to be gone from him but nice to get out of my daily routine in Nevada. While all of my family live with in a 3 hour circle of each other you would think it would be easy for me to see everyone and spend quality time with each of them...but its not! Each have a different schedual of course. So everyone planned on coming to my parents house for one day to get together. This isn't unusual. Like I said, everyone is busy and has different scheduals so we usually are able to get together for atleast a couple of hours. As my nieces and nephews started showing up, they got out balloons, ribbon, party decorations and again I thought nothing of it. Just kids finding things to do at Grandma's house I suppose. As we started to play games, I started to get a wiff of lit matches which I just shrugged off as pregnancy nose catching someones fireplace or something. Then all of the sudden out of the blue my sister and her husband come around the corner with a cake singing happy birthday and suddenly I realized that this was all for me; making sure everyone was able to come, the kids blowing up balloons, the smell of the buring candles they were lighting on the cake. I dont know if it was suppose to be a suprise or not but it was! And it was great! I'll have to get pictures from my Mom since she took all of them on her camera. But it was really really great and I felt very very loved!

When I got home my husband greeted me in the airport with a big hug and kiss and 2 birthday presents; a movie and child cabnet locks. I really did need to put some locks on cabinets so I again assumed he was getting me a practical gift. When we arrived home, there in the middle of the living room sat a cherry wood DVD cabinet with doors that close and will fit all of our movies from 2 shelves into one. Tyson constantly liked to pull movies off the open shelves and Kurt knew how much a closed cabinet WITH LOCKS! would mean to me! What a great way to spend my 25th Birthday! I got a lot of amazing gifts, was suprised a lot and got to spend it with people I love!

Baby boy #2

We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and found out we are having another boy! Kurt and I(and everyone else I think) thought it would be a girl...then the ultrasound tech lady asked if we had any guesses and when I said the word "girl" I knew in that instance it was going to be a boy! He was being a little shy at first but after alittle shaking and wiggling he decided to show all! And there are no doubts that he is infact a boy! I think some where deep inside, Tyson understood. Because for the rest of the day he was extremely hyper! We were chasing him around last night while he laughed, trying to get his P.J.'s on and I couldnt help but think how fun it will be chasing two little guys around! Call me crazy but I am excited for those times.

Lets start with Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was low key this year. Kurt, Tyson and I stayed here in Nevada. Our families live far away and in places where it likes to snow a lot. So instead of spending the outrageous amounts of money that airlines like to charge over the holidays and instead of risking our lives through the ice and snow storms, we have decided to spend the winter holidays at home and travel to see family in the safer summer months. I must say it was hard to be pregnant over Thanksgiving! I wanted to eat everything before it was even made and when thinking about eating one thing it would trigger another craving. I tried to keep the "steph" foods to a minimum but I still made way too much and ended up not eating half of it! But I did attempt to make everything from scratch which I did except for the mashed potatoes!

 My mom makes awesome pies and knows how to fold the edges just right to make them look perfect. Mine however....did not look so great!

 I am not very good with baking things that require yeast and raising. But this year I made a recipe of my Mother in Laws which turned out great!

 Kurto even helped make the stuffing!! Such a good husband I have!

 We also continues my families tradition of playing cribage...which I won!

The day after Thanksgiving we put up Christmas Lights on the house for the first time!!

 And decorated the tree! Sometimes I wish we could travel and see the whole family over these Holidays but I really love making our own traditions and making memories in our home with our new family!

Finding the Time

I wish I had time to blog everyday or atleast every week like I use to...but between an 18 month old, a Christmas tree that is very appealing to that 18 month old and baby that is keeping me very tired and very sick, I cant seem to find the time to sit down and write. I wish I did because I really love it. I need to post about Thanksgiving, about the baby, about Tyson, about my week trip to Wyoming, about my birthday, about our fencing blowing down, about our house full of sickies and oh so much more. So please be patient as I slowly catch back up!

Come and Play

 Grandma and Grandpa Jensen came to visit this past week! We had a fun and productive time. I always feel bad because there is NOTHING to do in this sad little town of ours. You have to drive an hour to Reno to do anything halfways exciting- but hopefully they enjoyed there visit anyhow.

 Tyson was of course shy for the first couple of days...accept at the dinner table. He seemed to think we always needed dinner and a show! He loved to jabber in his little language he has come up with and loved the attention and laughter her got each night(notice the Cardinals World Series shirt!!!)

 He did love to knock down blocks that Grandma and Grandpa would build into towers! And REALLY loved posing for the camera!

 We gotta put our guests to work right?!!! The tree in our front yard grows like crazy and especially this year. It hid our entire house by the end of the summer and people started calling that were coming over because they didnt recognize which house was ours. So we went out and started cutting. Kurt and his Dad got up on the ladder, in the tree and cut about 6+ feet off of the top.

                                    

 We piled the branches into the driveway(this picture shows about 1/4 of them!) the first day and Marita and I used small hand clippers to cut all the branches up into small enough pieces to put into garbage bags. The next day the guys helped with that part and we plowed through it all in 2 days!

 By the end people were pretty sore and pretty worn out! But we are SO greatful for their help and it looks 100x's better now! Tyson also warmed up to them by the last day(of course) would even put his hands out for Grandma to hold him. Stayed by himslef in his bedroom with her and read books, played with Grandpa with out needing Dad right there and even gave them hugs and kissed goodnight! Thanks for the fun times!

Halloween with the Jensens

This was Tyson's first Holloween that he actually got to participate! And he really enjoyed it!

Here is our little Tigger. He looked SOO cute!!

                                    Kurto is starting to love carving pumpkins as much as I do!

                                                             Tyson's first house!

                                                          Here is my 2011 pumpkin!

                                                    And Kurto's 2011 pumpkin!

        Tyson's first pumpkin. He liked coloring on the paper better then the pumpkin which suprised me. I      thought if he had the opportunity to color on something else he would but I guess I thought him well!

Skoobers...a girls best friend

My Mom called with some sad news today...
When we were little my Dad repetedly told us we could absolutly not get a dog. My Mom and all 5 children's vote for one, out weighed my Dads vote against one and so....we got him a Dog for his brithday! That was a long long long time ago. Skooby was his name (grubs,scrubs, goobers and skoob were just a few of his nicknames). I LOVE this dog. I can recall the day we went to the pound to get him. We walked up and down the kenels hoping for a dog to "just feel right" and one did! The workers told us not to reach through the fence or to pet the dogs at all but my Mom reached right through to Skooby where she recieved licks and licks of love and I hoped that he would be the new addition to our family! And he was. My Dad wasnt happy with us at all but he fell in love with him almost as quickly as we did and he soon became my Dads buddy! I like to think that this is how my husband will feel when we some day get a dog. He has some negative thoughts about what having a dog is like. But I believe if you train them right they can truely be mans best friend.
I showed Skooby in 4-H for a couple of years which he LOVED! My mom made a bag that I would carry his leashes and treats in when I would take him to "class" once a week. He quickly learned where we were going when I had this bag in hand and even started carying it around by himself hoping to go more often. He would ride in the truck, proud as any dog could be as we drove to class, and then once we were there he would prance up and down the isles as we showed. He was perfect! My instructor often used Skooby as the good example in class. I honestly think he was sad when we stopped going.
He was our buddy, like another brother to us. He went everywhere with us. Even when we would go up to the mountains in the deep, freezing snow we would put his coat on and he would trudge through right along with us. He went camping, hiking, sleding, to outdoor church activities to celebrations. Everywhere.
Well he is gone now. He was getting pretty old. Recently my Mom said that he stopped eating, drinking and even walking. She said he slept all day long and sometimes had little seizures. It had gotten so bad that my Mom finally had to get him put down. I think she is having a really hard time with it especially since she is home ridden for the most part since her back surgery and Skooby was by her side constantly. When she got home from the vet she found a tennis ball and pushed it to the side with her foot and said she thought she heard Skooby run after it. It will be weird going home to visit and not have Grub run up and greet us. But I'm sure he is happier and healthier now where he is and probably enjoying some catch up time with his buddie Chewbaka who passed away a year or so ago, his other buddy frisky who chased him all around the house years ago and my Mom's horse who she passed down to me who passed away after having a stroke.
I hope that some day my children can grow up and share a bond with a pup such as Skooby. A friend that never judges you, you never fight with, will never leave you. But will stand by your side through thick and thin and greet you at the door with his tail wagging, ready to brighten your day from whatever things have gone wrong.
I'll miss you Skooby, and I love you!