No Go!

just gotta say, don't get this in waterproof 

unless your eye make up remover has super powers! 

i tried it. and i'm not liking it. NEXT!

what is your favorite mascara? 

for me, being my father's daughter, i need waterproof, like always!

i cry at just about anything. example?

derek, the girls and i went on a walk yesterday. we walked on a bridge 

that goes over the freeway. 

i was holding jojo's hand and thought we'd see

 if we could get a wave or a honk. 

so we both waved for maybe a total of 30 seconds.

at first a couple waves. but then all the sudden a cluster of cars 

were honking and smiling and waving both hands!

 (i'm totally tearing up again)

 i just felt like jojo made them smile and made their drive exciting! 

she just lit up seeing everyone so happy. 

it just warmed my heart. 

i was laughing that i crying! 

and derek just rolled his eyes. haha yet again. :0)

"Hey Sugar!"

acceptance.

my uncle kurt use to call me sugar when i was little. i remember at first being perplexed as to why he'd call me sugar, but it quickly grew on me and i was flattered. it's a lovely lil pet name. i was his lil sweetie and no one else has ever called me that. so it's our thing. but now i'm beginning to read into it more. i am sugar. there is more sugar in me than most of you! haha because it's saturating my blood! what do i mean?

i. am. diabetic.

i have had gestational diabetes with both pregnancies and with kristiana it was pretty serious. after birth i had to be tested and they said that it could go away slowly but i should consider myself a prediabetic. anyone that has the gestational diabetes should expect to become a diabetic at one point in their lives. i just didn't expect it to be so soon.

so i was feeling pretty crumby. VERY crumby actually. so after a friend and my mom telling me to go check myself out. i went to instacare on a saturday. i'd called friday and made my appointment to see the doctor about my diabetes for the next tuesday. but when i went in they tested my glucose/ blood sugar and it was 658. yours probably never goes over 180! i could have gone into a diabetic coma at any point.

so they sent me to the ER. the doctor walked in and said, "so you thought if you ignored the problem that it would go away?" and i said, "yes. exactly!" but it didn't work out that way. so the ER sent me to stay overnight. the long and short of it is that the medication i needed, victoza, wasn't covered by my insurance. it's $500 for a one month supply with out insurance! they had me take the other similar drug, byetta, but it made me sick and i couldn't function with it. so while i was in the hospital they had me try an oral drug. it wasn't enough. the goal is to use insulin as a last resort. so the doctor was able to petition that my insurance cover the victoza. they wouldn't let me leave until it was approved. so they approved it. HOORAY, right?

i'm still in the middle of that drug approval process but i am happy to report that this morning my numbers where back to the 100's! and i feel much better. now to lose enough weight that hopefully the diabetes will go away. so i joined weight watchers to assist me in this effort. it is practically guaranteed that i'll need to be on insulin throughout my entire next pregnancy, whenever that happens.

so today i accept it. i erase my stereotype of what a diabetic is. and what that means. i've been educated. i can eat sugar. AND this doesn't mean that all i eat is sweets and treats. carbs and fruit have lots of sugar. and at this point my diet alone can't control it. my pancreas just isn't creating enough insulin to match up all the sugars in my blood.

if any of you have it, or get it i'd be happy to talk about it with you. i remember the fear i was overcome with when i was told i had gestational diabetes. knowledge is power. and i know i'm not alone. and it's not fun. but i am grateful today for medicine. and insurance. and that i can be healthy.

9 months out

tiana is nine months old now. crazy. time flies when you're havin fun! 

check it out... she likes to growl :)

time. of. my life

concert #2 kelly clarkson  (finally)

this was only about 8 years overdue. i am cheap and haven't wanted to spend money on too many people in concert. i knew i'd love to see kelly clarkson and so laura and i, back in the day, got tickets but kelly got sick the DAY before the concert and it was canceled and refunded. and i just never tried again. don't let my low number of concerts be any indication of my love for music. because i LOVE music. lots of it! anywho, for my birthday {yes march 12th i turned 27 woot woot} my bff, codi, got us tickets to see kelly. i peed my pants! mm hmm! i did. it worked out that brooke and aubrey could go too and so the four of us had great tickets! and i belted every song except one i didn't know. nothing went wrong! it was just fabulous! everything i'd waited for and then some!

 matt nathanson opened for kelly. loved him.

about 6 months ago was 

concert #1 tim mcgraw

loved that too! he makes it easy to love cowboys and country music! codi also got me to that concert and brooke was there too! small world. so if you're going to a concert let me know. i'm ready to rock! i'm ready to see a LOT more people in concert. i just needed to start on the right foot. :0) thanks codi!

Move it!

JoJo likes to MOVE IT! {song from Madagascar} This was her first dance class! Our big Christmas present to her was starting dance. She has been THRILLED and anxious to go. It was kind of a bitter sweet feeling dropping her off. I wanted to stay and watch but we aren't allowed to. I totally understand why. Most kiddos would pay too much attention to their mom's. There are, however, certain classes the parents can stay and watch. So I'll just be looking forward to that! Once I can to pick her up, JoJo's teacher asked, "This is really her first time dancing? She did GREAT!" And she gave me these eyes that said She's a natural! And my heart swelled. Oh, hello proud mama-bear within! Nice to meet you. :) It was such a cool feeling. I'm just happy to watch Jocelyn do something she loves.

 A few of the other girls in the class...

Kristiana is 6 months old. She is an angel baby. My friend, Carly, can't believe how good and easy going she is. :0) I really do apologize to any mama with tough babies! I just got lucky! She's practically slept through the night since the hospital and she eats great, doesn't cry much, is content and warms my heart! She's getting more smiley and full of laughter. And that lil personality is coming out. She's eating baby food now. She is 75% height 35% weight. One of my favorite lil Tiana-isms is that at church on Christmas Sunday while all the Christmas songs were being sung for the Christmas program Tiana would ... baby hum? along with them! She'd stop when the song was over. And join in at the next song. So I wonder if she'll be a singer. I'd sure love that. Something I'm not! Here's to hopin'!

Jocelyn is a SUPER big sister! I love seeing them interact. My heart just swells with love. 

I am so blessed!

Companions. Neighbors. Friends.

I love seeing old friends. I laugh. "Old" being 6 months ago we were neighbors... now we don't live in the same state anymore. haha Erika, Jason & Ethan Allred were our neighbors in the duplex we were living in just before this. I don't think I've ever shared that story... 

I went and knocked on the door to talk to our soon-to-be neighbors about moving in and such. Derek was in the parked car with Jocelyn in front of the house. I ran to the door. Jason answered and we talked for 10 seconds before Derek burst out of the car, yelling from the street, 

"ELDER ALLRED?!?"

 Yup. Low and behold Derek & Jason were MTC companions and served in the same mission. How CRAZY is that?

So while we were neighbors we spent a lot of Sunday nights playing games! It was great! 

The baby monitors could reach since it was a duplex. GAME ON.

 So the Allred's have one more semester at University of Idaho! And they were in town and we had a nice lunch followed, of course, by a game. So good to see you guys! LOVE YA!

 {thanks auto timer}

 

 ___________________________________________________________

MY SUNSHINE

Meet Gabriella. [ aka Gabri.] She is in Sunbeams with Jocelyn and she lives around the corner. In our home she is known for having horses and llamas in her back yard. Makes her quite popular you know. Jocelyn needed a lil friend time so Gabri came over. SO FUN! Gabri is about to be a big sister and she loved playing with Tiana! Tiana was a fan. JoJo not so much :) jk

_____________________________________________

We have all had an illness this last week. 

JoJo - stomach flu

Derek - strep throat

Hillary - inevitable strep throat & stomach flu

Tiana - ear infection :(

But we are no longer contagious and Tiana is on antibiotics now. 

Here's to a happier, HEALTHIER week!

_______________________________________________

MOVIE REVIEWS:

must see

still in theatres

loved jonah hill in this! 

derek and i love true stories, so check this out at redbox.

I finally saw it! LOVED IT. 

If you haven't seen it yet, get it at Redbox.

which leads me to...

...

God Bless Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr for the man of courage he was. 

And  all that he did to progress the US! What a dream! Freedom. 

He is remembered with honor & respect in my heart.

loves&hugs

xoxox

2012 Silver & Gold

{ thanks codi for this cute onsies }                                           .

treasure the old and welcome the new.  

we've had an eventful 2011 and can't wait for what is to come. 

12 is my lucky number so it's just GOTTA be good!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Merry Christmas!

Jocelyn Kaila

Jocelyn, known as JoJo-licious in nursery, is the sun in my system.

She is the person I follow. She makes me laugh. Lights up my days. She pushes my buttons, sure. But she is amazing. I feel like sometimes I talk too much or focus on the things she does that are "trying three's."  I want people to know they're not alone. But really, I am the luckiest mom in the universe!

She's MY GIRL! And I love her just the way she is. Poop drama and all.

For THE LONGEST TIME Jocelyn's hair HAD to be down... like Rapunzel's lOOOOng hair. Hence the reason it's always in her face :/ She loves brushing it ... when it's not Tangled (hahaha) Just recently she lets me braid her hair like Pocahontas and putting it up in a ponytail/ bun like dancer/ ballerina. She states throughout the day, "Your hair's up?" " You put your hair down?" Very observant of it.

 

pictures from June 2011

Jocelyn loves... no you don't understand. LOVES to dance! ANYTIME wherever we are! If she hears music... tv, movie, radio, store, she starts movin and groovin! Derek and I just catch her at random times in the kitchen bustin her moves! I love it! Santa's giving her dance classes for Christmas and she doesn't know but we can't WAIT for her to go. I'm pretty sure  it'll be a dream come true for her.  She'll be in her element.

She lives for her friends and cousins! She prays for each one of them and is starting to want to call and talk to them! It's the cutest thing! I am trying to take pictures of her with all her friends! I will be building the collection! She loves making new friends. Strangers at the park/ play place are her "friends" before she even meets them. But there's nothing as great as old friends! xox

JoJo & Molly! We miss Molly and so many other friends! Let's schedule some play dates for next year! YES PLEASE.

Andrew, Carly, Beckham and soon to arrive Olive Reeves from our new ward- love them- great company

Jocelyn is an artist! I will have to scan the picture she drew at the Treehouse Museum. It's a gingerbread man. She did ALL the coloring to it. Eyes. Eyebrows. Smile. HEART :0) She's doing a pretty good job, for her age, at staying in the lines. She lives to "write" in my planner like I do.

Paisley & Jocelyn our Hawaiian girls

She's going to be 3.5 on Christmas Day! She will be a Sunbeam this January... yes, in my class. I'm beginning to think it might not be so bad. She has been coming to Sharing time with the "moonbeams" from nursery. She raises her hand to help at every opportunity possible! Whenever they start singing a song, if she doesn't know it (which is most of them) she starts to dance or leads the music from her chair. She sings 'I Am A Child of God' to herself on any given day. I love hearing her say those words. She is so smart and is picking up on all that we teach her. Especially about Jesus.

My Mom sent Jocelyn a BIG Christmas package. Christmas movies individually wrapped so every other day, for all of December she gets to open a new Christmas movie. I HAD NO IDEA there are so many Christmas movies... or shall I say, I forgot. It's been fun to see some classics and some new ones. It's helped Jocelyn get really excited for this Christmas. She knows we are celebrating Jesus' birth. That Santa is coming. That she needs to be nice, not naughty. Anytime we are at the store and she sees a toy she'd like, where they're everywhere this time of year, she tells me she wants it and I avoid a conflict by saying, Ok. Ask Santa for it. You just might get it. She is wishing for Barbies. Not like she needs more but that's what she wants :D Part of me wants to get her a puppy for Christmas! *missing my parent's dog, Pochacco, who passed away this week. :,( * But we should prob wait a few more months... maybe.

 Jocelyn even included Pochacco in all her prayers... "Bless GiGi, Papa & Pochacco"....

Understatement: We are crazy about this girl! She's our pride and joy! With all that sweet there has to be a lil sour... but even then she's cute when she's sassy! : ) I love you, Jocelyn! Thanks for filling everyday with smiles!

o x o x O X x X X o x

 BRAVERY!