Been a while...

Since we got hooked on Facebook we seem to do more of our posting there.  Kate has fully integrated herself into our family.  She is just our little pumpkin!  We just love her.  If only she slept a little better at night! We are blessed to have Aunt Sarah to watch her during the week.  The whole Reinstein family just loves Kate and take such good care of her. 

Speaking of the Reinsteins, we will be having Thanksgiving Dinner with them at our house.  We will have Turkey, Ham, Cornbread/sausage/apple dressing, a corn souffle, seven layer jello salad, Sarah's homemade bread and who knows what else.  Maybe a Dutch Apple Pie and Pumpkin cheesecake. 

This is the girls at our Neice's wedding in August

The Saturday after Thanksgiving my sister MaryK will come to our house. My nephew Mark and his new Bride Carolyn will be in Tucson or the holiday. We are exicted to see them and for them all to meet Kate. 

Ellison is going to UT with her Dad for the holiday (BYU v. Utah) game.

We went to Disney for my Birthday. 

Speaking of football - GO STATE  Beat Missery tomorrow.

Kate with her friend Lexi

Kathryn Ann Harrigan Has Arrived

At 2:51 pm on Tuesday June 30th Kathryn Ann (Kate) Harrigan joined us. Amy's water broke at 10:30 on Monday night and at 1:30 we headed to the Hospital. After a couple of hours of walking circles around the Maternity Ward they moved us into a birthing room. At 7:30 they gave Amy an epidural and started her on a pitocan drip. Everything was great. She progressed to a 6 at about noon and they ramped up the drip. She got checked again at 2:00 and was still a 6. At 2:15 she got checked again and she was a 1o and then told her the relax and they would get the doctor there ASAP! Dr. Martin arrived at about 2:35 and at 2:40 Amy started pushing. After 15 pushes Baby Kate joined us. Big Siblings Patrick, Mary and Ellison were waiting outside the door to meet her.

She is just an angel. She is perfect and sweet. She is doing a great job nursing. She has been on a couple of walks around the maternity ward and enjoyed them (slept the whole time). She has a fair amount of dark hair and blue eyes (but who knows what color they will end up).

She has had very little time to lay in her little bassinet. When Elli and Mary are around they hold her! They are both just gaga over her. They got to help her get her feet prints done last night and Mary helped her with her first sponge bath also.

Amy is recovering well. The Epidural really helped her. Up until about 2:15 she really felt nothing. At 2:15 Kate was ready to get the show going so the pressure started to build up. The good news was Amy had less than 15 minutes of hard labor. She only had to push about 15 times. Amy is sore for sure.

Sounds like we are going home tomorrow morning.

We are so happy to have Kathryn. She completes our family circle. Thank you for all your prayers!

Love PJ

We moved!

Well, what has happened lately...

We have sold my house (we hope). It should close next month. But with that, we moved to Amy's house and are neck deep in boxes and can not find anything. Thankfully I had help from friends from Church because we would not have gotten it done with out them!

The kid's rooms are pretty much done (Patrick has to share his closet with me and we do not have that done yet). We have a ton of stuff for sale on Craig's list and hope to have a big garage sale sometime after Kate arrives. Tonx is not sure about the move. He is a bit out of sorts not having his normal places to lay and watch the birds.

Amy is miserable....she was hoping they were going to tell her to go straight to the hospital on Tuesday when we had our appointment. We start going weekly now. She still swears she will deliver before the month of July. Her back is hurting and she has trouble sleeping. Kate likes to move around a lot at night. We moved the recliner in our room and that has been a savior for her. We did finally go out and buy a crib, stroller, car seat, pack-n-play and some other baby stuff. The Relief Society held a shower for Amy and invited some of her work friends. The gifts she received was overwhelming! It was pretty incredible.

Kids are good. We had a piano recital for Elli a three weeks ago and a guitar recital for Patrick two weeks ago. Both did outstanding (I will post Patrick's performance on Face Book). Mary is going to go to a day camp next week at the Boys & Girls Club by our house. Ellis is doing gymnastics one day a week. Patrick is being a bum :). Patrick and Mary are spending some time with us these two next weeks which is fun for me. Though, because work is so busy I have not been able to do as much with them. We have done some bike rides and gone to the park. That is the great thing about the Grayhawk house - the community is really geared to families (that and we are so much closer to our friends like the Reinsteins).

This weekend Elli will be with her Dad and her Cousins from California for Fathers Day. We used some of my hotel points to get a room at a nice hotel in Scottsdale with a water park. We are going to go to a Zoo with a new Aquarium on Friday afternoon and then just hang by the pool on Saturday. It will be fun (we just hope the rainy season does not start on Saturday!).

Amy and I are both swamped at work. It is good to be busy but both of us are pretty stressed with the work load. Amy has a couple of classes she is teaching this week and then is going to start backing down her work load. She has hired a young man we met through the class at ASU we teach to help her out. He is an amazing guy. Today he spent the afternoon correcting all the issues with our home wireless network I created when I swapped out the cable modem. He has been doing all types of things for Amy to make her life easier at work and he gets to learn the mortgage business from a great teacher. He and his wife also expecting a baby.

That is about it for now. I am sure there is tons of stuff I am missing. I have started riding my bike again (another benefit of Grayhawk) three or four days a week and it has helped me connect with some old friends who I use to ride with who live up this way.

I hope you all are well. We miss you all.

PJ

Easter and the Spring Show

fatty here...

As much as I tried to get away from the commercialization of the Easter celebration, it is tough to do when you have such great kids! Easter weekend PJ and I decided to spend some individual quality time with our kid(s). PJ and Patrick spent some time at the bookstore while Mary was in vision therapy and he got the book he had wanted. PJ brought Patrick home to stay with Elli and I, then took Mary to go see Hannah Montana the Movie...seriously what a great dad. He even admitted that he liked it. On Saturday, it was Elli and my turn.

Elli for months had been trying to earn a chance to go to Build a Bear Workshop. We used to go there a lot when she was younger, but it had been a long time. When I gave her a basket full of plastic Easter eggs with the secret message "Let's go to Build a Bear", I was very surprised with how excited she was. Her day had been made!

She was so excited to get her Elephant, "Elowise". She just loved every minute of that day!

Sunday , the Easter Bunny suprised all of us with baskets full of candy and little gifts. PJ even got a replacement shirt for the one he ruined with his "fancy Levenger pen". My gift was best of all. Elli made me a beautiful card with a Poem and gave me a necklace that she had from Chicago and PJ actually gave me the gift certificate for the Pregnancy Massage that he gave me for Valentine's Day! (I am just teasing PJ...it was exactly what I had been needing since the charleyhorses in my legs were getting severe!) I can't thank him enough, it was wonderful.

Elli here...
She was right,it was fun.
But today something was also a lot of fun...MY SPRING SHOW! (if you don't know what a spring show is , it is where each and every class does a singing and dancing performance) On Wednesday, we got to see the builders build the gigantic stage. We even got to see them to use the jackhammer! Friday, the stage was ready for business. Then, the big day came! It was so much fun! There was a snow cone shack and dip n dots! Jumpy house and a carnival! what a fun day! Here are some pictures of me and some of my friends...

Catching Up

It just seems like there is never really a time to "catch up" and "take a breath" anymore! I have all these great intentions that don't really pan out! But I decided, "Hey, it's 4:00 in the morning, what the heck am I doing wasting this valuable time...I should be blogging!"

Over Spring Break this year, amazingly enough, all three kids had the same days off from school. Since I think the only time I have ever seen PJ "guilt-ridden" (he sooo didn't grow up Mormon!) has been over the fact that he had not been back to Iowa in 5 years, we decided to head to the Midwest for Spring Break! Because really doesn't everyone Spring Break in Iowa?

PJ loaded up the car and started his adventure with Patrick and Mary to drive to Texas to see his sister and her husband, Colleen and Dale. Where we (this is PJ) got to stay in their beautiful new house. On Saturday, after a huge breakfast, we headed out to the World Famous Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round Up, where we saw way too many snakes. It was fun. Mary got a Rattle Snake Head and Patrick got a hat to add to his hat collection. Unfortunately, after waiting in line for 25 minutes to takes some local fried Rattler, they ran out! So we had to settle for sausage on a stick instead (and it was very good!). Even ran into a guy who worked at ISU. After this we went back and Patrick got to shoot a gun for the first time. He shot Dales' Snake gun (a 410 shotgun) at a can. It was fun. We also got to feed all of Colleen's pets - four horses, seven bull calves, two dogs, two cats and six kittens. Mary was in heaven holding Smoothies new baby kittens! It was a lot of fun.

Noticeably absent are Elli and I, but through planned scheduling conflicts...ha ha ha...Elli I and flew to Kansas City on Tuesday since PJ had some meetings there that day, to catch up. Although we were sad to miss the "Rattlesnake Roundup"in Texas...we were glad we could at least meet them in Kansas.

I have really never been to this part of the country so to appreciate it more, Elli and I went to the library that weekend and checked out some books on Iowa. It was interesting to learn more about where PJ came from. Elli's favorite tidbit was that Ashton Kutcher, the meat-pants guy from Cheaper by the Dozen, was from there! (Fort Dodge is the home of Composer Karl King and the Cardiff Giant. We also drove close to the birth place of John Wayne in Winterset - where Pig Boy is from).

Once PJ picked us up from the airport, it was a short hour and a half drive to see his niece, Heather and her wonderful family in Ankeny, IA. I love Heather. She is so sweet and has the funniest personality. Elli thought it was so funny how much she looked and sounded like her mom, Mary Kay, who has been to our house in Scottsdale a few times.

After our quick visit to Heather's it was back on the road to finally get to see where PJ had the opportunity to grow up into the wonderful man he is now, Fort Dodge, IA! Patrick and Mary stayed with his mom while he went to Kansas City, so he was happy to get back to the kids. I was very excited to see his childhood home and experience more of his mom's amazing cooking. He grew up in this great little town where people know each other and stay in contact. His mom has rented the same home from her next door neighbor since before I was born! Although I am sure his mom was ready to have us out of her "space" and not have to cook for us anymore, we sure enjoyed it! Those Iowans sure know how to cook!

We were able to go about 45 minutes away to the farm in Palmer where PJ spent most of his summers from the time he was 9 until he graduated from high school (The Poppens - Allan is shown on the tractor with me). What a great place and great people he had around him. PJ showed us where he helped with the pigs and the chickens. They still have one pig...and that's "Some Pig!" They also frighteningly enough let PJ take each of the kids around on a ride in the John Deere tractor! My dad would have been in John Deere heaven at this place.

We sadly left Fort Dodge after a few days and drove to Ames where we visited PJ's alma mater Iowa State and were able to see his old stomping grounds. It was a beautiful campus and lots of fun. We then headed to Des Moines to see where he worked at Principal and even got to see and visit his old neighbor from where Patrick and Mary were born. We drove to Drake where PJ got his MBA and saw a few of the sights from there.

The following couple of pictures were taken at the new Iowa State Alumni Center.

We then headed to stay with a couple of PJ's friends, Mark (BoBo) and DeAnne Wiltse. They live in this great house in a great neighborhood outside of Des Moines. I can;t thank them enough for such wonderful hospitality and such a great time! They have 2 kids and a great kid-friendly house that was a blast for everyone. I kept telling PJ how "space" jealous I was of their home.

They took us to this fun restaurant where when the kids ordered shakes, the waitress would pour it into a cup the they had placed on their head! It was so fun to watch the kids have a blast. The next night the Wiltses' had a few of PJ's old friend's over (Ken & Kristin Sherman, Lang & Linda Wightman, Pig & Cindy Mitchel). It was so great to see PJ so happy to be around his friends. They were all such great people and it was so wonderful to finally get to spend sometime with them.

The next morning it was time to start heading back...the part I had been dreading! Over 24 hours in the car over 2 days. Mind you, I am not a "road trip" kind of girl...throw that on top of "I'm pregnant" and what a nightmare this was going to be! But to tell you the truth, other than the look I got from PJ every time I said I had to go potty, it was a much better than expected drive back. We stopped in Oklahoma City to see the Memorial which was an incredible experience, and made our stop for the night in Amarillo, Texas. Who would think it would be hard to get a hotel room in Amarillo, TX? Holy Cow!!! Luckily we were able to get a suite at the luxurious Drury Inn & Suites!

I had purchased a little notebook for Elli before the trip for her to keep as a travel journal to write down what she enjoyed about the trip and she figured out that we had been through 7 states on this trip...Arizona, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. It was a great experience for all of us.

While we were gone, my niece Carly got engaged to someone who will fit perfectly into our crazy family, Jordan Checketts! She will be married on August 13th and I am praying that I have this baby in June so I have time to recuperate to make it back not only for the wedding, but my 20th high school reunion as well.

When we got back PJ and I went in for my checkup and everything looks great with our baby girl. And finally last night, after a downright crazy work-week, we found out my niece Melissa gave birth to her beautiful Eva Jean Larsen. I can"t wait to see how she topped her awesome son Anders!

So I am signing off. My allergies have subsided enough that I almost feel like I could get another hour of sleep before the day starts.

We miss you all.

Stake Conference

This weekend was our stake conference for church. PJ, Patrick and Mary had already left for Iowa for spring break, but Elli and I were able to attend and it was very good. We were able to hear from Elder William Walker who is in the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. It was wonderful to hear from a General Authority specifically on the issues we are facing right now. Elder Walker's wife also spoke and opened with a poem that I thought was so fitting and apropos that I thought I would share it with everyone. You may have heard it, but it is one that is worth hearing again.

There once was an oyster
Whose story I tell
Who found that some sand
Had got into his shell.
It was only a grain
but it gave him great pain.

For oysters have feelings
Although they're so plain.
Now, did he berate
the harsh workings of fate
that had brought him
To such a deplorable state?

Did he curse at the government
Cry for election
And claim that the sea should
Have given him protection?
'No,' he said to himself
As he lay on a shell
Since I cannot remove it
I shall try to improve it.

Now the years have rolled around
As the years always do
And he came to his ultimate
Destiny - stew.

And the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.

Now the tale has a moral
for isn't it grand
What an oyster can do
With a morsel of sand?

What couldn't we do
If we'd only begin
With some of the things
That get under our skin.
-author unknown

So Many Emotions...So Little Time

I really can't complain about being pregnant...yet somehow, I still do. My poor little sister is chained to a toilet bowl and literally hooked up to an IV to keep her hydrated, and I complain because my leather boots won't zip up past my fat calves! Or that I have to take tips from my 14 year old step son on how to handle my new found combination skin and pre-pubescent breakouts. But I have to say the worst part so far has been my absolute inability to keep my emotions in check.



I am getting huge paybacks from constantly teasing PJ about his "sensitive" side. I am not a super emotional girl...however, right now all bets are off. I am putting him to shame. (Although, just as a sidenote, he did tear up at the end of the final episode of The Bachelor the other night and I did not. Although, I had already cried twice that day.)



Unfortunately, it is not just the crying, it is the complete inability to handle anything in the least bit stressful. Most of you know...my world is stress. Normally, I don't get out of bed unless the stress meter is at least a seven! Now, if my cat even meows in the wrong tone, I am on my knees crying that I am a bad cat mom! I don't even like cats. Animals should be worn or cooked in a delicate whitewine sauce! Is it possible to get post partum...pre-partum?



Poor Elli gets the brunt of it because she knows my moods better than just about anyone and she is constantly asking me if I'm ok. She knows one wrong mood swing and she's in for Niagra Falls and a just touch of crazy just for good measure. She doesn't evenbother me now when I am on the phone...she is probably just happy that she doesn't have to listen to me!



PJ is probably bonusing his travel scheduler at work to throw in all the extra "salestrips" he's taking right now. In the last 4 weeks he's been traveling for work for at least 3 of them. Impecable timing? Or planned "I would rather be in 10 degree weather on sales calls than sleep with the crazy fat chick that I has taken over my wife's mind and body?" I don't know jury is still out on that one.



Patrick is the smart one...he is being so nice to me and tries to make me laugh, but that is probably just because he wants to see if I really will gain 50 lbs with this baby.



I have to think I am not the one who deals with this. I don't drink anymore (even before the pregnancy) so I can't cry in my beer. I don't drink coffee or soda anymore so I can't take the edge off. The economy sucks so I can't just go get a pedicure or massage anytime I would like. Work isn't ANY fun, so I'm not throwing myself into that anymore. I have become a little obsessed with coupons and the grocery store lately (I did save $96.00 yesterday at Albertson's-which gave me a little happy) but that is offset by the fact that I hate grocery shopping.



So here I am at 5am pity-blogging. I miss my family, and down-time and vacations with my husband. I don't remember being this emotional (read unstable) when I was pregnant with Elli, but PJ says that's just because he's so emotional and the baby is throwing me some of his emotional side in my system. See I knew it was his fault!



Well, we will see how today goes. See if I can hold it together. Wish me luck!

Locks of Love

Patrick and his new doo.

It was hair cut day at the Harrigans. First Patrick and I went to the barber, though, from looking at his picture he did not get his cut much (though it looks a lot better!). Then, we met the girls where both Ellie and Mary got their hair cut.

Ellison getting a trim

It was the second time that Mary had grown her hair out long enough so they could cut 10 inches off for Locks of Love. Locks of Love is a program where they take hair and make hair pieces for kids (and adults) who are either battling cancer or have Alopecia. The first time Mary did it I was raising funds for a Team in Training ride for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. A few weeks after she had her hair cut, we found out her cousin, Jackson Odle, had Alopecia. We are very proud of her for doing this for Locks of Love. And she sure does look cute!

Mary with her new haircut.

The Harrigans are doing well. Amy is starting to become uncomfortable. Mainly her back hurts (has nothing to do with the shoes she might wear......). Our peanut is going on 18 weeks old. We will find out on Feb. 23rd if we are having Jack Ephrim (my money is on Jack) or a girl. We get to do a 3-D high def ultrasound, which should be pretty cool.

I will be in UT next week staying at the Firth Resort and Spa and then the next week, I go to Colorado. I have not been to Utah since Christmas, and I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Amy is going to fly up and spend a day with mein Colorado. It is Franklin American's Annual Summit Meeting (we, and some other vendors, take people on the ski train to Winter Park to ski). While is sounds like a bit of a boondoggle, it is amazing the relationships that are created. Amy won't ski this year, but will just ride up on the train and hang out at the lodge for the day. I am excited to have coming along. And.....this year we won't staying at a Drury Inn like we did last year (the bed felt like a piece of plywood and that is being nice...).

On a related note, I learned last year from Amy's Uncle Ted, that her Great-Grandfather use to ride in one of the train cars used for the Ski Train, every month to attend a board meeting in Denver. He would take the Rio Grande train from Salt Lake City to Denver. He was on the board of Directors of Rio Grande. I thought that was pretty cool!

Patrick has his annual charity concert at School the 13th. He is playing his guitar and singing, On a Mexican Radio, originally performed by A Wall of Voodoo. Ellie and Mary both have projects for school we are working on. Amy is going crazy from the kids playing Rock Band all the time.

I hope you are well. I was bummed to not be able to make it to Iowa for PigBoy's 40th Birthday Bash. Seems so strange that PigBoy is 40. I still remember that day I took him out to Saylorville Lake for his first real mountain bike ride. It was the same day he bet me I couldn't eat a whole ear of sweetcorn without stopping. He lost the bet.......

Love

PJ

Go Cards...Bummer

Arizona...Kurt Warner...Superbowl...what could be better???? I guess them winning would have been better. What a week it has been in Arizona. Everywhere you go, it's Cardinals-mania. Elli's school even let then wear Cardinals Red every day this week rather than uniforms so all the kids were excited. In fact on Friday, it was "All Out Cardinals" Day, so I painted Elli's face with a Cardinal and she was so excited.

We had a couple of families over for a SuperBowl party and PJ whipped up some awesome food for everyone including homemade lasagne, guacamole and bread pudding...how did I get so lucky?

We have another tough week in the mortgage business, but had a great week personally. PJ and I had date night on Wednesday and we went to the Mesa Temple. We were excited because we hadn't been together to the temple since Christmas in Salt Lake. When we got there, they asked if we wanted to do sealings so we did. We were in the sealing room waiting for the last couple to enter and when they did, I leaned over and said, "PJ, I know that guy." Of course PJ didn't think anything about it assuming I knew them from church or something, but I said, "No, that guy used to work for me about 10 years ago." When the guy, John Shroeder, recognized me, he about had a heart attack...he had to stop and check where he was. Needless to say when he knew me 10 yearas ago, the last place he would guessed he would have run into was the temple. So quickly we had to catch everyone up that I had divorced, recently come back to the church, remarried and was expecting a baby that would be born in the covenant. It was quite a trip for him. We did eventually get to talk outside the temple and catch up and it was great. He was always a great guy and it was really interesting to think back about how much things can change.

PJ has a new hobby that is driving me nuts...Facebooking. It only drives me nuts because he knows how to do it and I don't...I know I am competitive. I am going to make him teach me how so that I can annoy him by being online with all my friends just like he is doing to me. He teased me all during church by pointing out all his "friends" in the ward. He knows it drives me nuts that he is being more "cool" than I am.

This is a fairly busy week for us. We have a doctor's appointment on Monday and lots of appointments this week. Please keep us in your prayers as you will all be in ours.

The Lion King

For Christmas this year PJ and I gave the kids tickets to see Disney's The Lion King at Gammage Theater on ASU's campus. The show was Friday night and it was a blast. Elli had piano lessons across the street from the theater and PJ had to get the kids from their mom's house in Mesa, so we met just south of campus for pizza before the show.





It had been a crazy week for PJ in that he had his assistant staying with us for the week while they did customer visits. PJ was so exhausted after a week full of morning to night meetings, but he was a trooper to be awake and alert for the show.





The kids were also pooped from the school week and about half-way through were fighting the sleepies!





The show was amazing, the puppets and skill of the performers was awesome. Patrick was fascinated and so excited about it. Mary and Elli were just trying to take it all in. The sets were beautiful and the dancing was so fun to watch.





We all had a great time. It is one of our favorite things to do as a family is to go to the theater and see a show. The Lion King was great, but I still think we would all agree that Wicked is still the family favorite!





This weekend has been a lot of fun as well. We have had the most beautiful weather the past few days. It has been close to 80 several days this week. PJ went for a bike ride yesterday and the girls and I went to the park to play. Patrick elected to stay home and play Rock Band on the Wii.



Last night it was so beautiful that PJ and I got in the hot tub while the girls played outside. I thought since many of you have not been to see us recently, I would include a picture of our backyard that PJ had put in when he bought this house. We have enjoyed many activities out there and love it.

PJ and I go to the doctor again a week from Monday. We are hoping we may be able to find out the sex of the baby but aren't sure. I'm still feeling good, but without question I am looking pregnant. It is getting more and more difficult to hide, in fact Elli and I were looking at a pregnancy book at the progress of a pregnancy and as only Elli can say, she exclaimed, "Mom, you look WAY MORE pregnant than you are supposed to look at 16 weeks!" Gotta love those children who can bring you right back down to reality!

PJ is not going to be happy with me

First off, this is Amy, not the wonderful, loving, cuddly man I married, PJ, writing this morning. (I'm throwing that in so he's not so mad...and because it's true)

I decided since I have no ability to sleep between the hours of 3 - 6am, I was going to update our family blog. Now I use the term "family blog" loosely since you can see it has really been PJ's blog. I blame this entirely on myself since I have really been a blogging recluse. It is hard to jump into something blind when you have all of my sisters, in their glorious blogging perfection, in which to compete. So without PJ knowing, I have hijacked our site and forced myself to learn something about blogging.

As you can see by the title, our family has a not so unique characteristic of being a "blended" family. This fact has given us many ups and downs, trials and rewards, but most of all the opportunity to grow in many different dimensions. I will not lie and say its easy, because it is not. In fact, since I am pregnant for the first time in over 8 years, I am often reminded that "growing" isn't always fun. Sometimes it downright hurts. But then again, when I am home by myself, with PJ traveling and the kids at their respective other houses, I am reminded how much I miss the chaos (side note:Billy that is KAY-os) and the laughing and the excitement of us all being together.

This year we are really going to "blend" this family with our little "Kathryn Ann" or "Jack Ephraim" (although we are still debating Muhammad Moriancumur). So if any of you out there are doubting whether or not PJ's fish still swim-or frog's still hop-I wanted to provide proof.

I officially entered my 15th week of pregnancy and I have to say so far no complaints...now PJ would say I complain to him constantly, but that's just loving updates I give to him of how I'm doing. It has actually been pretty fun with the kids knowing, Patrick reminds me daily that I am going to gain 50 lbs, Mary is just taking it all in, and Elli is worried sick whether or not the baby is going to be OK or that I am going to be in so much pain. In fact, yesterday Elli and I had to run back to the grocery store to pick up some things we had forgotten and Elli wouldn't let me carry anything...including the gallon of milk we needed. She said, "No Mom, you are going to hurt the baby." Of course, she has no problem with me bending over to pick up their clothes off the floor!

Our family does love to revel in the weekends, we do try to really spend time together as our blended family. Elli and I have renewed my love of the library. What an awesome place. The past few Saturdays we have been going there to work on a school project and have just loved it.
We have been renting our movies from there recently and have had so much fun watching some of the movies I enjoyed so much as a kid. Last week I enlightened them with Neil Simon's "Murder by Death" - Peter Sellers is so great and the "Apple Dumpling Gang".

Last night we watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"...it did not take Patrick but 5 minutes to relate the crazy Greek family to my big lovable Utah family. The kids could not stop laughing.
There is nothing in this world that compares to the loud belly laughs of children.

The weekends are such a great break from the insurmountable stress of PJ and my work week. The mortgage industry has really been a roller coaster for us in Arizona. Unfortunately there was only one HUGE hill that took us a long time to get to the top and makes it an even longer
ride to get to the bottom and boy does it feel like we are there. Every day we wake up wondering which of our friends will have jobs, how will our world change today and what enormous roadblock will we have to get around. I think for me, the hardest part is that it is not fun. Even
with the stresses and deadlines that I have always been under, right now, none of this business is fun. No one is happy, no one is excited and there is no confidence. I know we will get through this, I would hope we just get through this gracefully.

We miss our friends and our families all over the country and would love to hear from them. I think PJ needs to see PIG, Lang and Bobo (I so sound like I've known these guys forever!) soon
to get some of his sanity back...and probably to motivate him to go out on his bike more. I keep telling PJ, "I like fat and happy!" but I don't think he does! I miss my family terribly, in fact I think we all do, since Patrick has made Jessica a member in our family band he created on the Wii. (He said we needed a guitarist, but I think he just misses her!)

Finally, I am so grateful to the head of this wonderful, crazy, obnoxious, blended family. PJ is my best friend. He has been such a support to me with my many idiosyncrasies. I try not to take for granted all the things he does for me, even when they drive me crazy. I make fun of him constantly about his obsession with kitchen gadgets, but am very thankful when he makes us
wonderful meals. I tease him about his free-flowing emotional tears, but love how soft his heart is. Planning doctors visits are like scheduling Israeli peace talks but he just wants to be there every step of the way. I get so distraught when he tries to pin me down about trips we need to take, and yet I totally rely on him to make sure every detail is intact. Every time I think about how to describe our relationship, I think of this picture a girlfriend gave to me when I was in second grade. It was a little picture of 2 skunks and the tag line said, "A friend is someone who really "nose" you and still likes you." PJ knows the good, the bad and the ugly (and there is
a lot of ugly) about me. I know I don't let him know enough how much he means to me, but he is my best friend and I love him.

So I hope he is not too mad at me for stealing his page, but at 6am, you snooze you lose!