Petting Zoo 2009

For the girls' birthday party we had a petting zoo and over 20 very excited and very loud little girls (there were a couple of little boys, too, but they were severely outnumbered.) It was so much fun, and it made Scott and I realize even more how much we want to have our own little farm. We had a calf, several dwarf goats, many rabbits and chickens, a couple ducks, a pot bellied pig, a sheep, and a llama with an anxiety disorder (sounds like a Disney movie, huh?). Seriously, this llama gets anxiety when it is around people for too long and it will start drooling. He lasted about 30 minutes, it was pretty funny.

Thanksgiving and Birthdays Galore

It has been a very exciting couple of months in our house! We had a great Thanksgiving, Macey turned 8 on the 29th of November, Heidi turned 6 on the 6th of December, and I turned the big 3-0 on the 7th. Wow! I taught a Permanent Makeup class from the 4th-7th, so I didn't get to spend mine or Heidi's birthdays at home, but the girls are having their birthday party this Saturday so we can celebrate then. I am teaching another class on the weekend of the 18th, and then we will be ready to have an awesome Christmas together as a family up in Pinetop. What a crazy month!

Thanksgiving 2009

Trick-Or-Treat!

The kids had a very fun Halloween! We went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood for about 30 minutes, and then the girls wanted to go home and hand candy out to the neighborhood kids. I remember being little and trick-or-treating for hours, trying to fill the bucket up to the very top. They love seeing all of the different costumes, though. Poor little Ryan did take a tumble out of the wagon and got some nasty road rash on his forehead. He was fine once I gave him another piece of candy :). Once we were out of candy we went to a Halloween party with our small group from church. The kids all ran around like crazy people on a sugar high, and the adults got to talk and hang out. It was the perfect Halloween.











I think I jinxed our family when I said how nervous I was for the Swine Flu in my last post, because we all got it except for Scott! I don't know how he was able to glide through, but I was glad he did so that he could take care of the rest of us. Hopefully we are done for illnesses this winter, I definitely think we have had our share!

Here's some very exciting news: Heidi had her yearly visit with the cardiologist this morning for an echocardiogram, and both of her heart defects are GONE!!! She has a perfect heart! We are so happy and thankful that she was able to overcome this all on her own. She is such a sweet little girl, we just absolutely love her to pieces.

My procedure went well also. The doctor called me when he got the biopsies back, and it looks like I have Crohn's. I have to have a couple more tests done before we know exactly where I stand, but at least we are starting to get answers. I am not happy that this is what I am dealing with, as it is a lifelong disease, but it is also nice to know why I have been so sick and losing so much weight. We are going to try to do as much homeopathic as possible, as I really do not want to have to take several medications every day for the rest of my life. I would also like to prolong if not avoid any surgeries as well. From the research we have done, it seems that by being very careful with your diet, you can go into remission and stay there for a while. That diet is no grains, dairy, processed foods, sugars, sweeteners, starches, blah blah blah. Most fruits, vegetables, and meats are on the "legal" list. I sure am going to miss my breads and mashed potatoes! But if it helps me feel better, it is worth it.

Lately

We have had a big change in our family within the last couple of weeks. It was a very hard and emotional decision to make, but Scott and I felt like we made the right decision for everyone involved. Marley is no longer living with us, she has gone to a very loving home where she will be adopted and have an amazing life. She is still in the family, and that makes it easier for us, but we still have feelings of sadness and guilt. I won't get into all of the details that went along with our decision-making process, but we know that in the end, this will be a positive experience for everyone. We are so happy that we were able to have her in our family for a year, and see her develop into such an amazing little girl. It is strange with her gone, and we miss her.

Scott and I have recently joined a Life Group for married couples at our church, and to say that is has been an amazing experience would be an understatement. We are studying the book His Needs, Her Needs, and it has been an eye-opener. As a wife, you want to believe that you are meeting all of your husband's needs, and when you realize that you could be doing better, it is very humbling. It is so exciting though to know that Scott and I will be able to improve our relationship in ways that we didn't even know needed work! We have made some incredible friends as well. God definitely directed us to this specific group of people.

Macey and Heidi were on Fall Break all last week from school, they didn't go back until Tuesday of this week. It was nice to spend time with them, but we were all ready for school to start back up. Unfortunately, they made it back for one day of school and then both got sick. The cold and flu season is not nice to our family every single year, whether we get flu shots or not. Like everyone else, we are paranoid about the Swine Flu, especially with Ryan's asthma. Hopefully that particular germ will STAY AWAY!

The last little while has been pretty stressful for me (kids, school, getting a business started, life in general), and a few months ago I started losing weight and having a lot of stomach pains. It is pretty common for me to lose a couple pounds when I am really stressed out, so I didn't think much of it. But the weight continued to come off, no matter how much I ate or what my stress level was. I have now lost 20 pounds, which is just ridiculous. My doctor did a lot of blood work and everything looked good. I was happy that everything looked normal, but frustrated at the same time because I really wanted some answers. She sent me to a specialist, and tomorrow I am having a procedure done so they can take a good look inside and get some biopsies, and HOPEFULLY we can figure out what is going on. It's hard not to get nervous, my mind starts going crazy with all the possibilities, but I'm hopeful that we will get some answers soon and get my body back to normal. So if you think about it, send some good vibes tomorrow to me and the doctors that we can get to the bottom of this.

Meet Jasper, the newest member of our family:


For some reason, I decided that I needed a little bit more chaos in my life. This time it came in the form of a Chihuahua puppy. He sure is a sweet little guy!

We are very excited for Halloween, it is a big holiday in our house. Scott goes crazy with his fog machines and he looks forward to Halloween every year. The twins are wearing their octopus costumes again because they are so cute and they still fit, and they don't really care anyway! Macey is going as a blue tiger (she is so funny and creative) and Heidi will be a butterfly. I am glad that it is on a Saturday this year so we can keep everyone up late. (I am also excited to raid the kids' candy!!!)

Labor Day

We were able to escape the heat this past weekend and go up to Pinetop for Labor Day to visit Scott's mom and grandparents. The weather was amazing, and as usual, we had a great time. The kids played outside all day long (without sweating to death), and we went on a picnic by a stream, caught a bunch of crawdads, and the kids all played in the water. Heidi found a crawdad that was so big it looked like a lobster! Unfortunately, in the chaos of trying to get 5 kids out the door, I forgot my camera on that little outing, but my brother-in-law Tim took his and got some awesome pictures which I will post when he emails them to me (hint hint Tim). We also got some incredible mountain storms, with crazy thunder, lightening, rain, and hail. I love storms, so I sat out on a hammock and read a book while it was pouring rain. It was so relaxing. All of the kids had so much fun playing, going on adventures with Aunt Clover, wrestling Dad and Uncle Tim, and playing in the stream. Scott and Tim took Macey and Heidi shooting, and the girls loved it! They are such girly girls, but they sure love doing things like that with Daddy.











My trip out to Madison was awesome. It was a very busy and exhausting week, but I am so glad that I went and got my certification. The class was Monday through Thursday, 10-11 hours a day. Then I would go back to the hotel and read for a couple hours before going to sleep. I missed the family, but it was nice to have a few days away. I have two classes almost locked down already, I can't wait to get started!

I recently finished reading The Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games and Catching Fire). Holy cow, those books are amazing! The third and final book doesn't come out for a year, and I don't know how I am going to be able to wait that long! I was really lucky with the Twilight Series and Harry Potter, because I didn't get into them until all of the books had been released. But this next year is going to be torture! Now I am waiting for the third Hunger Games book, the final Harry Potter movie, and the rest of the Twilight movies. Whatever will I do? ;)

Happenings

Macey and Heidi started school on the 10th, and they are absolutely loving it. Macey is in 2nd grade, and she thinks that her teacher Mrs. Cole walks on water. Heidi is in Kindergarten, and she is in heaven. We decided to put her in all day Kindergarten because she did almost 2 1/2 years of preschool/pre-K, and I thought she was ready and would be bored with more 1/2 days. We are so glad that we made that decision, she definitely was ready and has done so well already. She has the same teacher that Macey had for Kindergarten (Mrs. Tripathi), and we absolutely love her. Mrs. Tripathi has twins too, so she completely understands how crazy life can be at home. It is still weird for me to "only" have 3 kids at home all day, but there is still plenty of noise and plenty to do. Next year we can start preschool for the little ones, and then I really won't know what to do with myself!

I am leaving on Sunday to go to Wisconsin for a class to become certified as a permanent cosmetics instructor. I am really excited to do this; it is a great opportunity and I am so happy that I was invited to this school. It will be hard to be away from everyone for 5 days, but I will be in classes for 10-11 hours a day and then crashing at my hotel at night, so it should go by quickly and then I can get back to my family. I need to find some books to read on the plane, so if anyone has any favorites, I am open to suggestions. I just read all 7 Harry Potter books in 14 days (LOVED THEM!!!), so I need some new books. I have heard that Hunger Games is amazing, maybe I will try that one.

Finally, my website is now up! I am happy with how it turned out. I am in the middle of redecorating my salon, and once I am done with that I will add some pictures to my website. Check it out at www.emergeesthetics.com.