DJ, Melissa, Christian & Vienne

A new day

2012-02-01T13:45:00.000-08:00

We're moving....into the Pit Stop! (Now Havoline Express Lube). Its empty right now that Justin is working in Alaska. It'll be tight but we're going to use the money we'll be saving on rent and utilities to finally pay off my student loans and the medical bills that have crept up this past year from my foot and Vienne. The insurance company ca
n still take up to another year before they pay for them and I'm sick of the monthly payments. It'll be close quarters, but at least less space to clean right? We're just really lucky that my parents have the apartment. My kids are still small enough that they really don't care where we live.

So here's a recent photo of my little monsters.

The stats are in

2011-10-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Vienne weighs 17 lbs 6 oz and is 26.5" long. Both are just about at the 95th percentile. Christian weighed that at 9 months. She is growing up way too fast but really is the cutest thing ever. I was given permission to start her on fruits and veggies once she starts getting interested in eating. Apparently new research is showing that exposure to solids should begin a little earlier, lessening the likelihood of type 2 diabetes and food allergies. I already give her a little oatmeal in a bottle once a day to help keep her more regular and satisfied. Here she is standing in her excersaucer.

She loves to blow her spit around.

Here's a cute one from bath time to show off her lovely curves.

Christian loves to lay by her when she's on the floor. Here he's laughing because she's "tickling" him. He laid on her hand and she was just trying to get it back.

And now my handsome boy. He pulled a little girl's hair today at the gym. She screamed at him so he pulled her hair, making her scream some more. We'll be working on gentle touches a bit more this week. I love seeing his language progress. His ability to understand and take direction has improved so much this week. He did not want to leave a car he'd been playing with at the gym today. I explained to him he can play with it every time we come, but that it has to stay. I let him know we were leaving to go home and eat some food. He put the car in the box and left without another fuss.

And one of him and me. He wanted to take one together.

Update on goals. They're going well. I've been to the gym twice now. I'm going to try to get there every day this week. Having two babies so close is tough on the body. Add a broken foot to the mess and what do you get? A body in desperate need of muscle tone, lifting, and shrinking. All you moms know exactly what I'm talking about. Well I better to get to bed so I have energy to bring it tomorrow.

Conference!

2011-10-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

I love conference Sundays. DJ worked last night so I set the DVR to record the sessions. My kids slept in till 9 which was a great way to start the day. Us three watched the first session together. Christian surprisingly played very quietly. He thought it was very interesting when I sang along to "We Thank Thee Oh God For the Prophet." I loved the general YW's presidents talk about raising daughters. After the first session was over the kids and I went for a good walk and then both the kids went down for naps. I waited to watch the second session till DJ got up. We both really liked the talk about missionary work and of course President Monson was so uplifting both sessions.

Something exciting for me was I cooked up some purple potatoes I got at the Farmer's market. They are so beautiful and taste almost like any other potato. I liked that they seemed to stay together rather then mush up like a russet or yukon will. I see them used all the time on Iron Chef and Chopped. I was so curious about them and happy I was able to find some here in Moses Lake!

Some kid updates. Christian has become a very obedient little boy. I'll admit that I was really worried about his ability to obey before and after Vienne was born. It seemed that he really did not want to listen when I told him no, so I stopped. I made a conscious effort to not use the word no with him for about a week. I saw on the Doctors that children will listen more quickly if you instruct them what to do, rather then what not to do. Duh, of course they would. It took a few weeks before I saw any progress. Like all lessons, it took a lot of practice and follow through to break the bad habits we both had and learn the better habits. Now to keep up with it!

Vienne amazes me at how observant she is and how much control she is gaining over her movements. Yesterday we were in Spokane for a wedding. I took my niece Isabelle with me so she could watch mine and my sister Stacey's kids. After the wedding we went to the mall where we also picked up some food. I had Vienne forward facing in the baby bjorn. She almost knocked a bowl off of the tray I was carrying because she was trying to grab it. She'll see Christian or I touch something and try to get it herself. She just wants to be able to move. Tomorrow we find out how big she has gotten over the past 2 months. Until then...

Oops

2011-09-27T00:22:00.000-07:00

I locked Vienne in the car last night, not on purpose.

She did not wake up well from her afternoon nap. Nothing was making her happy so I figured she needed a car ride. I always latch her in the car first because Christian is behind the driver's seat so its just easier to do him second. I decided to drop the keys and my phone on the passenger seat after putting her in the back. While I dropped the keys I hit the lock button. The car beeped twice so I thought I hit the unlock button and didn't worry about it. Apparently I hit the lock button twice. I shut her door and the car beeped again, meaning it was locked. Well I wasn't too concerned because we keep a spare key in the kitchen, or do we? As I'm searching for the key I remember I grabbed the spare key a week ago to drive with it because I was too lazy to find my keys. I then put the spare key in the glove box after using it that one time a week ago, don't ask me why. I start to panic when I realize my baby is crying and locked in the car. I grabbed Christian and ran over to our neighbors the Johnston's. I asked to use their phone to call DJ and see if he had an idea. He got permission to come home and Owen Johnston came over to help right away. Emily Johnston kept Christian. It took about 1/2 hour and several failed attempts before we heard the blessed car alarm go off because Owen finally got the cafe curtain rod DJ flattened and shoved in the car between the door and the frame to hit the door unlock button of the passenger door. She was so happy to be out of her carseat that we had all smiles until it was time to nurse to sleep. I held her for a while after, we both needed it.

Ironically today, she's been a relatively easy baby and didn't freak out when it was time to get in the car to go to the park. Thankfully babies have short memories and forgive quickly. For your enjoyment I've put up two cute pictures of both. Christian has claimed Vienne's swing as his own. Which is fine because she never really liked it. Vienne is sitting her her bumpo chair playing with a toy. She is quite fascinating with that one.

The last 3 and 1/2 months.

2011-09-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to summarize the last few months. They've kind of been a blur, but things are starting to settle and I realize I haven't documented anything. Christian is the cutest big brother. He constantly wants to give his sister kisses, hugs, and he likes to suck on her feet. He tries to hold her and its so cute. Luckily he is good at playing on his own, because Vienne had to deal with colic. The poor girl just could not settle from about 2 weeks to 10 weeks. We spent our days on the exercise ball, bouncing away. Here she is posed in her blessing dress. She's a strong little girl. She is in the 100th percentile for height and weight, her head is close behind. She can roll over from front to back and back to front and has done so for a week now. She desperately wants to sit up on her own, thankfully her bumpo chair helps. She loves to coo, giggle, make eye contact, and play with her toys.

Christian is growing up so fast. He is picking up new words quickly now. The ones we can understand are car, all done, please, hi, moo, vroom, Jesus, momma, and dad. He sings along to his nursery rhyme book and folds his arms for prayer. He loves to go to nursery. Sister Tolley and Sister Rouche are his leaders. His favorite toys are anything with wheels and anything kitchen related.

We blessed Vienne on July 3rd and all our family and friends came over for it. I crocheted the top. I chose an orange color because the Charma de Vienne rose is an orange hue, so I've decided its her color. The lace is leftover from my wedding dress.

We spent most of the summer at home where Vienne was most comfortable, but we were able to spend 4th of July in Spokane to watch the fireworks, make a few trips to the aquatic center, and frequent the farmer's market. We even moved into the end unit of the 4 plex we live in. My goal for fall is to start going to the gym again, get to know the new people in our ward, and be more social.

Vienne Rose ~ May 23, 2011

2011-05-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Vienne has come! Here's her story:

Sunday, May 15, I made DJ come home from work early (he was working nights) because I was certain I was in labor. Right before my ob appointment that morning my contractions stopped.

Tuesday, May 17, I had an acupuncture appointment. The goal was to help the body prime for labor, shortening the length and intensity of labor.

Sunday, May 22, went on an hour and a half walk with DJ and Christian.

Monday, May 23, woke up to mild contractions. Didn't think anything of it because they were at least 10 minutes apart. Went for another long walk before my ob appointment that morning. Contractions began to hurt a bit, but were still pretty far apart.

11 am ob appointment. Found out I was dilated to 4cm. Water broke while my midwife, Sherri Russell was checking baby's position. I was definitely in labor!

We went in to the hospital around 2pm. Mom needed to take care of a few things before she could watch Christian and I wanted to wait till I started to get the good, strong labor contractions. I was at a 6 when we arrived and very excited at how quickly I was progressing. Two hours later I was still at a 6. I didn't want to get up and walk because my foot was swollen and hurt (the stupid "screwed" up one, haha). It also hurt too bad to be in bed. With my first labor I stalled for 8 hours after getting to the hospital, needing pitocin to kick start labor again. This time I decided to use a light epidural because I had to stay in bed. Well it worked. I got the epi around 5 and was ready to push by 6:30. Apparently Vienne was very ready to be born because it only took a small push to bring her head forward. My midwife made me stop pushing because she was not ready to deliver her yet. So we waited till the next contractions and she just slid out right at 6:40 according to the monitor. She was completely covered in vernix, but was still very cute. I was very surprised to find out she was 8 lbs, 3 oz and 20 inches long for being 1 to 2 weeks early. Christian was only 6 lbs 14 oz born the day before his due date.

My Mom and Kim went home to get Christian and bring him up to see Vienne that evening. He loved her. His whole face light up when DJ brought her over to him.

La Vie En Rose

2011-02-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

Did any of you see the movie La Vie En Rose? It was a small independent film in French with English subtitles. It was about a French singer named Edith Piaf who was really popular in the 50's I believe. It starred Marion Cotillard. The title means Life in Rose. I had the chance to watch it when I worked at the theatre in Pullman. Because the population there is concentrated with Professors, we actually had an audience for small, artsy films. The movie was kind of depressing, but the music was fantastic.

Here are two versions of the song by the same title.

Edith Piaf singing the song in full French.

Louis Armstrong's cover, which is really good.

The poster is pretty cool as well. I kept a poster. The title of the movie is why we're naming our little girl Vienne Rose. Coincidentally, she'll also be named after her Great Grandma, DJ's mom's mom (Rose), who we both think is pretty cool. She'll be joining us sometime in late May or early June. I'm excited to have a girl in Spring. I was born in the Spring and I just think its a good time for girls. This little girl has gone through a lot with me, so I feel a bond with her already. I honestly didn't start feeling that with Christian until I was close to being ready to pop.

Now back to Christian. DJ's work had a Christmas party for everyone's kids at the bowling alley about a week before Christmas. It was on a Sunday, but we decided to go so Christian could see Santa and get his present. We weren't going to be able to bowl anyways so there was no temptation there. (My foot was still in the boot and Christian is just too little still). They had a photographer there taking pictures of the kids. Christian's expression is so him. He was in complete awe of the situation. No tears, he didn't even come close. He just had to study everything that was going on.

DJ and I at the REC Christmas party just for adults. We just got these which is why I'm finally posting them. We are very excited for Valentine's day. DJ's birthday is February 15th, so its a two day party for us. DJ just so happens to have the next two days off as well. He's my perfect match, I honestly could not ask for better. I have never met a more patient, considerate, thoughtful, or fun person. And then he became a Dad a blew me away again. I'm about to brag, but he is one of those Dad's who could be a great single parent if he had to. He just knows what to do, often times more then me. I had a really high bar set for the guy I was going to marry and he cleared it easily. Happy Valentines Day and happy Birthday to my love.

Quirks

2011-01-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

Christian has the funniest quirks. He has to watch every single car insurance commercial on TV. His favorites are Progressive and State Farm. He loves to watch Tosh.O, he knows when to laugh. He loves to kick the ball his cousin Ashton gave him for his birthday. He walks most of the day now, when he does crawl its to get somewhere really fast. He puts his heads down and takes off. He leaps after the bread during sacrament meeting. He is a show off. The family sitting behind us during church this last Sunday did not pay attention at all to the meeting because Christian was showing them all his tricks. He will sit down and spend time with a toy. He's starting to figure out what the buttons do, and shows purpose with his play instead of just randomly pushing buttons. He loves to hide in little places, like Mom's lazy susan. Right now he's had a runny nose, so he's been a bit more cuddly. He likes to sit on my lap facing me and nestle his face in. Because he wasn't interested in me right after my surgery, I'm enjoying our re bonding time, and I think he is too. His Dad is still his favorite person. Last night Christian got cold and woke up around 3:30 so I brought him into bed. He was fine cuddling with me until he noticed his Dad. He then had to cuddle with him. DJ left for work at 6 and was able to sneak out. Around 6:30 Christian woke up, realized his Dad was gone, and burst into tears. He was inconsolable for about 5 minutes. I know DJ really enjoys the bond he has with his little boy. A couple days ago we were downstairs with him, and my parents were upstairs. Christian heard them so he went to the bottom of the stairs to wait for them to come down. DJ looked over and said, "He is ridiculously cute." I know everyone feels the same way about their 1 years olds but I really do think I have the best little boy.

Christmas pictures -Thanks Stace!

2011-01-08T10:31:00.001-08:00

Christian took his first multi-child bath on Christmas. Evalie and Jayda were very nice to let Christian join them. They were good about letting him splash them and he got his fair share of splashes. It was a huge success.

Christian LOVES to be near other kids. He would get so excited when Charlie would come play with his new toys. Here they are checking out the laptop DJ and I got him. Its a little old for him, but he needed a toy with buttons that made noise. Plus he loves to open and shut things, so he loves it.

Christian's Grandma and Grandpa Berezay also got him a little laptop, but its a little different. It has a lot of shapes, and sings a lot of songs. His favorite is the drum button.

Grandma and Grandpa Redford got Christian a little book that reads to him. He loves opening it up and hearing the songs and sounds. That's me helping him, our only picture together.

Kim and Trent had our family for Christmas. They got Christian a cute little Tonka truck. He's still figuring out how to push it around without tripping. I think this summer he'll got nuts when I let him play in the dirt with it.

Welcome 2011

2011-01-01T12:20:00.001-08:00

First a quick catch up of December. Christian had his first Birthday on Dec. 19th. All 3 chargers to all 3 of our cameras somehow got buried underneath all of our stuff in storage so my friend Natalie brought over her camera so we could get pictures. She's been gone for the holidays so hopefully I'll get those soon. Also waiting for Christmas pictures from my sister Stacey. Christian got everything he could have wished for had he known he was getting presents. He opened them like a pro and has been having a lot of fun exploring his new blocks, babies, trucks, boxes, and shapes.

DJ's promotion and pay raise started in December, which has been awesome. It is so relieving to pay all your bills and have money left over to save. We call 2010 our poor year, because it was the first year we lived off one paycheck. But we learned a lot of very good lessons about budgeting, sacrificing, and patience. DJ was so sick of working so much and not being able to do what we want with it that he decided we deserved a great Christmas. He worked a lot of overtime to buy himself a new Xbox, to buy me new maternity clothes (I had the same budget, but find it almost impossible to spend that much on clothes), and give the gifts we really wanted to. I needed new clothes, but when you're used to not spending money, that was a hard one. Thankfully, Motherhood Maternity was having a restaurant gift card reward so we earned almost as much in gift cards as I spent so I didn't feel guilty when we left.

We had an ultrasound on the 21st. We we're able to find out what we're having because the little baby was not cooperating. We also decided to move the due date back a week. Since I know when conception occurred (I know everything about September due to the accident) the new date makes more sense. We have another ultrasound on the 25th to get a better look and hopefully to find out this time.

I had my final appointment with the Podiatrist on the 28th. I didn't know this would be my last appointment with him when I went in. I had another round of Xrays. Well my foot looked solid. The bones were completely healed, the screws were tight, and my joint was stable. He manipulated my foot, let me know I didn't need physical therapy because it was doing so well, which was more good news. He said once I got a new pair of shoes, I could stop using the walking boot. I have to wear Podiatrist approved shoes from now on, and all the time. He said maybe up to an hour barefoot a day would be ok, but to really limit it. But at least I'm walking normally now and I even drove to the store, the first time in 3 1/2 months. The shoes I got are cute, extremely comfortable, and not a bad price, just about $80 bucks more then I ever would have spent before. So we'll slowly build back up my shoe collection. BTW, anyone who wears a size 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 and needs some shoes call me up. I have to get rid of all of my old shoes.

DJ and my parents are very happy to have me back at full speed and doing everything I used to. Now we just have to find a place and move again. Ug.

First word?

2010-11-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

Christian loves to play in drawers. He was rummaging through Grandma's Tupperware drawer. He licks everything then puts it back. FYI we don't rewash so if you're grossed out by Christian spit don't eat leftovers at Grandma's right now.

DJ walks in and says, "Christian, are you playing in the drawer?"

"Yes!"

To make sure we heard him right DJ asks again, "Christian, are you playing in the drawer?"

"Yeayea."

It was probably a coincidence but we both swear he said it clear as a bell. He also waves now, its pretty cute.

What a kid

2010-11-08T21:33:00.000-08:00

So I wanted to document Christian's personality. He is very vocal. He does not hide his mood. All day the house is full of happy gabbering, giggling, grunts of frustrations, yells of frustration, and when he's really had enough or got hurt (physically or emotionally) he cries. He is never silent. His favorite person right now is his Dad. He cries when Dad leaves for work at night and when Dad works days, he rushes to the door to meet him. His next favorite people are those working in the kitchen. If you are by the oven or the fridge, he wants to see what your getting, and if you're sharing it with him. Because I'm sitting a lot, he just comes to me for his bottle when he's ready to go to sleep.

He really is a dream. He loves to be the center of attention and he LOVES other kids. During sacrament meeting he makes all the little kids around him giggle. He wants everyone to be his friend. His little cousin Charlie gets a lot of hugs and kisses. Christian can hardly sit still when Charlie is around. He wants to be right by him.

His emotional development has been very noticeable lately. He recognizes when he is being ignored and when another little child doesn't want to play with him. It breaks his heart. He breaks down in tears. He has learned to play some games. His favorites are, "Let's shake our heads together", "I'm going to get you", and just recently he'll try to hide when he gets caught playing with something he's not supposed to.

He's on the verge of walking. He spends all day exploring, mostly through the kitchen drawers. I just hope I can help him keep this personality because he really is a pleasant little person to be around.

Just pictures

2010-11-06T18:49:00.001-07:00

Christian and Charlie spent a lot of time together in their high chairs last week.

The three kids staring intently at the camera. Christian and Charlie liked to race for the bottle. Christian, more experienced with bottles, won a lot. We were impressed at how quick Charlie's scoot became by the end of their time together.

My only picture from my high school reunion. I am expecting you guys to share.

As Cherie would say, "I just want to eat those luscious cheeks!"

Crawling along

2010-11-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

Did you know that you get callouses on your knees from crawling? My knees are looking pretty rough. Yes I have crutches, but getting up and down the stairs is much easier if you just crawl. Today is hopefully the halfway point of not being able to walk. If my foot is healing as well as I think it is, I will get out of the cast and into a walking boot in 4 weeks. Thank goodness! The surgery brought on the nausea, but I am not nearly as sick as I was last time. I feel very confident that once the first trimester is over I won't have anymore nausea. I'm 11 weeks today so that may be very soon.

For those of you who thought you had the best Mom, I'm sorry to tell you its not true. Mine has blown all away. Most 60 year old women are preparing for retirement, have a lot of independence, are done as caregivers, and are looking forward to trips with their spouse and short visits from children and grandchildren. My mom will never have that. She has a child at home who more often then not acts like a little child, even though she's 34. Now for four weeks she's also been the main caregiver to Christian and my food gopher. Michele and Christian are demanding enough. But to add a pregnant Melissa to the mix and I swear she has spent the last 4 weeks in the kitchen.

She did get a short break this past weekend. My Grandma has been in and out of the hospital in Canada over the past month and my parents decided they needed to go up and help her get settled in a nursing home before the weather made it impossible to travel. So Stacey came over and spent a week taking care of her two kids, Christian, and I. It actually went really well. Christian was so excited to have friends to play with that he ended up being the dream child. He took long naps and slept at least 12 hours at night. I have some very cute pictures of the kids but the camera is not within reach, so I'll post them in a bit. Until then, enjoy.

Yea, I know its been awhile

2010-10-07T23:37:00.000-07:00

Ok so I know its been months since I posted last. I am completely behind, but promise to catch up over the next few weeks. Tonight's post will be a quick summary of some things I need to say.

First of all, I've caught up on all your blogs. Your lives sound exciting, some of you have some very interesting events coming up, all of your kids are adorable and look a lot bigger since last time I peeked, and I'm very glad I know what's up.

My excuse for being a blogging bum is not very good, but reasonable. For the past few months we've been living at the "Reisner House." Its a house my parents flipped, but just decided to rent out. It has been great living there, but since it was temporary we decided to not have the internet hooked up. So blogging meant going to my parents. Being at my parents is fine, but I like to blog at night when Christian is sleeping, not when he's begging me for attention and getting into all of Mom's files. So basically my laziness won out.

Ahh, but why'd we move in with my parents when everyone knows we could move into the apartment above the Pit Stop?

On September 14th, my friend Natalie, her little boy, and her boyfriend were in Moses Lake. He had applied at REC Silicon and was interviewing with them that day. They were following me around town. The plan was to show them some potential apartment complexes, where Subway was, and then I was going to go clean the Pit Stop. As we were driving my Incas, a car failed to yeild the left turn and turned right into me! I had enough time to react, slam on my brakes (I mean slam on my brakes, my ABS was going nuts) and I got a few honks out before the collision. I was totally bummed but this was not my first accident. My car was not smoking so I backed up, parked on the side of the road, and got out to check on Christian and asses the damage. As I was standing by Christian checking to make sure he didn't have any injuries my right foot really began to ache. My friend Natalie came over. I asked her to get Christian out because I needed to get all my paperwork and sit down. My foot was hurting pretty badly and swelling up by the time the police got there. They took our statements, called an ambulance (I told them not to, that we could drive up to the hospital afterwards to get xrays). I guess by law they have to, but they agreed that I was fine otherwise and that getting a ride to the hospital was fine. So after about an hour of calling family, getting help, and giving statements I was headed to the hospital. Thank you Trent for taking care of my car and giving me a quick blessing to ease my worry.

I was sure my foot was broken. It really hurt and did not look good. We got xrays and the doctor told me I had a foot sprain, that I'd probably be walking on it in a week, but to follow up with a Podiatrist just in case he missed something on the xray. I was a little shocked but hopeful that I'd only be on crutches for a couple days. He was right, I put my foot in a walking boot my parents had from when Michele broke her ankle. With that boot I could walk on my heel without any pain and I was starting to feel better.

DJ was concerned that Christian hadn't been checked out so a few days after the accident we went in to see our family doctor for a quick check up. Christian was fine, he did have two Chiropractic appointments for some minor issues but that was it. My doctor said to try putting weight on my bare foot everyday. He said if I couldn't do that within a week, he wanted to retake xrays. He said that sometimes breaks do not show up right away because swelling can hide them.

The next week we had Christian 6 month shots 3 months late so my doctor decided to redo xrays while we were there. He looked at them, said he still didn't see a break, and that my sprain must have been a good one. He said to keep trying to weight bear. Well, a few hours later, I got a call from the doctor's office. The radiologist saw something that didn't look right, but wasn't completely sure what it was. They scheduled a cat scan for the next week and told me to not take my foot out of the walking boot and to not try to weight bear.

I was like, really, its just a foot people, what is wrong. The day of the accident I had set an app with the Podiatrist but he was booked for 15 days. The cat scan was schedule for 2 days before my app with him.

To complicate matters I'm about to tell you all something that normally I would wait to disclose for several more weeks. The week of the second xray I missed my period. That weekend I found out I was pregnant the whole time! What the! I had had 6 feet xrays, one full back xray, one neck xray, and one pelvic xray and this poor baby has been exposed to them all and now they're telling me I need a cat scan. We're calling this our Fallout baby, for those of you who know the video game. So I go into the cat scan and let the guy know I just found out I'm pregnant and I'm not sure I want to do this. He agreed and called my doctor. My doctor agreed and ran over to talk to the Podiatrist himself. Apparently what is wrong with foot was obvious to him.

I have what is called a LisFranc dislocation and fracture. He saw it in the xray from the hospital. What happened is at impact, my foot absorbed the entire pressure of the accident. The pressure was so great, that the LisFranc ligament that holds the big toe and second toe together at the midfoot tore off one of the bones, dislocating the joint. This also forms the arch of your foot.

I did a lot of reseach on this injury. It is 98% misdiagnosed by ER doctors as a foot sprain. 96% of family doctors miss it. Most injuries I read about went months misdiagnosed. These people have chronic foot problems, have had multiple surgeries, and are in a lot of chronic pain. I am extremely blessed to have had it properly diagnosed so quickly.

Tomorrow at 10am I go in for surgery to repair the torn ligament and reset the dislocated joint. Best case senario is that for 8 weeks post op, I won't be able to do much but sit in a chair or in my wheelchair with my foot elevated. So now you know why we've moved in with my parents. When DJ is at work, I need someone else to help with Christian. There is no way I could do this on my own. The past few weeks have been difficult enough, but at least i could crawl around.

I am so grateful to have family that is so willing to help when needed, without complaining. And I am so grateful that the accident was not my fault and that all of these medical bills will be paid for in full.

Settling in

2010-05-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

Christian and I are getting adjusted to life in Moses Lake. DJ is still in Spokane finishing up work. He will not be over till Saturday night. This past week has made me very grateful that I am not a single mother. I so look forward to DJ coming home each night. Each day while we're apart I have to find something else to look forward to. (Tonight it's Glee and Parenthood at my parent's.) The house is slowly coming together. Another reason I'm glad I'm not a single mother. I'd rather play with Christian then work on the house, so I'm working on balancing that as well. One of my favorite things about the Reisner house is that is has a lawn. I love taking care of a lawn. I'm pretty proud, the grass is already thicker. This brings us to some of the cutest pictures of Christian yet. I wanted to do some watering last night. It was also a very nice evening so I thought Christian might like some outside time. I was right. He has the cutest dimples.

I can't get over how quickly he is growing up. I'm including this next picture as a comparison to the Bath Time post.

And a picture of eating. Because he was cutting a tooth, we decided he could start cereal. He had his first cereal in a bowl on May 16th, 3 days shy of 5 months. He loves it. His second bottom tooth has broken through just a little. For the past couple of days he has biten me when I didn't let down fast enough for his liking. Wow that hurts. I'm giving him a few more days to figure out that that's not OK, or he's getting weaned. I don't want to experience that with larger teeth.

I also wanted to document that he's started to sleep in his crib all night. He's been getting up about 3 times a night to nurse. I'm sure his sleep with extend as he learns better how to soothe himself. I was taught the 5 minute rule from a bunch of people from my Spokane ward. You put baby down when they're drowsy to go to sleep. After 5 minutes you go in to soothe them, and then you leave. Then you wait 10 minutes before you go in the next time. Each time you add 5 minutes. The first night Christian got to 15 minutes and then he fell asleep when I went in to soothe him. He was also crying like Christian in Moulin Rouge when Satine dies. It is the most heart wrenching cry. Last night, however, he simply wimpered and fell asleep on his own during the 10 minute wait. He then slept for 4 hours! I am so grateful to be in a bigger home where he has his own room and is able to start learning to sleep on his own. This will be so much better for him and for me. Like my mom always says, growing is painful.

Drool

2010-05-20T23:42:00.000-07:00

Christian drools a lot. He also spits up a lot. On Sunday he gained a desire to chew on things and spread his drool and spit up everywhere. His hard work paid off. He cut his first tooth today. His bottom right tooth. The left one feels like it'll come any day. Oh man, he better be a good boy and not practice any of that biting on me ;)

Unbelievable

2010-05-12T23:36:00.000-07:00

So when DJ and I got married, we pretty much decided to always live in Spokane. We really like it here. We have 4 full seasons, are close to the mountains, lakes, good camping, and because we live in North Spokane, we're about equal distances between both families. We love our ward, and have become really close with just about everyone. And since I was YW's president and DJ teaches primary, we've also had some pretty cool experiences helping reach out to some families. We also have this house of a project that seems to be never ending. We have a lot of reasons to stay in Spokane.

Its amazing how much control money takes. It decides what kind of clothes you wear, the car you drive, the places you eat, what trips you take. It is never a bad thing to have more money. Well DJ changed jobs last August to find something that brought him home every night. This was a good job, but not a great job, and definitely not a long term job. It pays the bills, but there is no room for advancement, no pay increases, and his schedule is very unpredictable. Well in February, Brittany just had to tell me how much Dee loves his job at REC. I was pretty blown away by what she told me, but she showed me proof. I then thought, HA! This is a ploy to get us to Moses Lake. Aint gonna happen.

I told DJ what she told me, he too was blown away. We thought about it, so the day Christian was blessed Brittany brought an application to REC that DJ filled out and she took it back with her. It was submitted the next Monday. Last week DJ interviewed with them and today he was offered a position there.

So guess what...we are moving to Moses Lake on Saturday! Crazy, I know. Who would have thought? Who wants to help!?

Rolling along

2010-05-11T17:36:00.001-07:00

Today Christian rolled over for the first time by himself. I put him down to play with his floor mat. I then started to go through his clothes weeding out those he's grown out of. I look over to see him on his side, almost over, just his arm keeping him from going over. He's trying to grab one of the toys. I go over, totally excited, to cheer him on. He started to lose interest in the toy. I was bummed because he does that, and then just gives up. So I tried enticing him with a new toy. It worked for a little bit then he lost interest in that as well. But lo and behold, he caught a glimpse of his binky and that sealed the deal. He plopped over to grab it. Of course it didn't last long, he hates tummy time. So after a minute on his tummy he was pretty upset. I positioned his arm and leg and he rolled to his back. It won't be long before he's all over the floor. I'm just grateful we're probably moving soon so he can have some more space.

He had his 4 month check up last week. He is now 16 lbs (60%) and 27 inches (90%!) He is still a tall, lean boy.

Here is a picture of him and his two cousins that were born within months of him on the Berezay side. Lucky kid will have lots of cousins to grow up with! Isabella was born last October and Ashton was born about a month ago. Christian and Ashton are the first grandsons with the Berezay last name, so that's pretty cool.

We were also lucky to go to Jordan's baby shower. Here is Tiffany's boy Bridger with Christian. They had some fun checking each other out.

There was some arm sucking...

Until both realized they were not sucking on their own arms.

Now I know...

2010-04-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

Just an FYI...that single egg is a very IMPORTANT ingredient in brownies. Do not try making brownies without that egg.

Other then that, life is going pretty darn well.

Cousins

2010-04-04T22:25:00.000-07:00

Charlie Noah entered the world on 4/2/2010 at 12:39 am. He weighed 8lbs 13oz and is 21 inches long. Christian was quite excited to meet his little cousin. Here they are, 3 1/2 months and 3 1/2 days.

Starting the habit early

2010-03-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

I should have known that even a 2 month old would love to stare at a 52" screen....Here is a close up so you can see how he arched his back so he could watch.

Silly baby. Now here are some giggles just for fun.

FYI: Christian's best friend Charlie is expected any day now!

Oh and I took a shower the other day and found this secret message. He forgot the "you" but I figured he meant me.
I desperately need to clean my mirror but am not quite ready to erase this just yet. :)
I made a Moby wrap to carry Christian. Its great for shopping and doing housework when he wants to be held. Here's a picture of me wearing it in the with him forward facing. See what I mean by messy mirror?

Christian's Blessing

2010-03-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

We blessed Christian this past Sunday. He was such a good baby for it. DJ gave him a great blessing and he slept right through it. It was awesome to get the Berezays and Redfords together afterwards. We counted that between the two families, Christian had over 50 people at his blessing and 12 men in the circle. He will have plenty of support as he grows up.

I have to give a shout out to my sister in law Charice for hosting the brunch after his blessing. Her house was the perfect place. And another shout out to my sister in law Kim for taking Christian's blessing photos. She's still making them pretty but put some up on her blog. Check them out here.

My sister Kim showed me some very cute, but very expensive blessing outfits on some website. I was so tempted to buy them, but reluctant to pay over $100 for an outfit. So I searched the internet for some crochet patterns to see if I could maybe make something similar. I've only crocheted scarfs and maybe one little blanket before, so I really had no idea what I was doing. I found a pattern for free on alicefowler.com and my mom found me a how to crochet book. So I went at it, but it took a lot longer then I expected. I finally finished at 6am on the day he was blessed. But I'm going to admit it, the outfit turned out perfect.

I have to give another thank you for everyone for coming. The Redfords drove over the night before, including Brad and Anne from Seattle. It was their first time seeing Christian. I'm really glad they were able to make it. Also a special thanks to Justin for sleeping on our couch. I know we're a little cramped still but having him was actually very helpful. And thanks again to the Berezays for hosting the lunch and welcoming us all out to the "compound". Love you all!

2 months

2010-03-01T00:20:00.000-08:00

I took Christian in on Friday for his 2 month checkup.

Weight 11lbs 11oz - 50th percentile
Height 24 inches - 85th percentile

He is meeting all of his developmental milestones and doing really well. This past week he started jumping on my lap...time to get the jolly jumper going. He also discovered he can suck on his hands.

So DJ started Christian sleeping with us his second night on earth. DJ held him because he said he didn't sleep well in the bassinet. I swore I would never be one of those mom's who sleeps with their kids because I'm scared of it, but it ended up happening. Ever since that night I've been worried that I'd never get him out of our bed. This fear became even more evident when I tried to get him to sleep in his pack n play a month ago. It didn't work out because after a little crying DJ let me know he was too little to sleep on his own (noticing a pattern?) Two weeks ago I went to Babys R Us with Stacey. I found a sleep positioner. I got it to help him from sliding right next to me at night. Best purchase for sleep so far! He likes it so much he'll sleep in his own bed now. I am so thankful that transition went to smoothly.

Swim Time

2010-02-19T01:11:00.000-08:00

My dad travels around the state and does work for the state inspecting Credit Unions' commercial loans. Every few months we're lucky to have dad here in Spokane. He stays at the Oxford Suites so we like to take advantage of the pool and hot tub. This was the first time he has been here since Christian was born. I have to admit. I have the cutest little boy.

Here he is with his Auntie Stacey. She has the cutest little belly. Only a month and a half till Christian gets to meet his cousin Charlie!

He loved just laying back and floating. His diaper kept his butt up so I just had to support his head. I'm working on teaching him how to splash.

Christian is starting to stay awake for longer periods of time, which I love. He'll stay awake for about 2 hours then nap for 2 or 3. And at night he's giving me a 4 or 5 hour sleep before going back to 2 hours. He is nice to me and doesn't want to get up for an awake time till 10 am. He has great eye contact, and likes to talk and smile. He has also gotten very good at protesting. But he really is a good baby. He only fusses when it times to eat or sleep, and that only lasts till his need is being met. He started to make strange. A couple weeks ago my mom and dad were over. My mom picked him up off the couch and he stuck his little bottom lip out. He held back the tears once I talked to him. He did it again to DJ's mom on Monday. He gets over it quickly, which is good, but I am a little surprised he has started already.

Look at this cute little smile.
He really loves his daddy.

Bath time

2010-01-13T23:02:00.001-08:00

DJ took these pictures of Christian while I was giving him a bath last night. I have to post them because they are so funny. He looks like a little muscle man. He's gained a pound but he's still so skinny.

Stake Conference

2010-01-10T19:27:00.001-08:00

Xnay on blessing him this next weekend, its stake conference. We've really been out of the loop.

New number?

2010-01-09T19:32:00.001-08:00

This post is for Anne. Apparently when you moved, you did not give me your new home number. So we're thinking of blessing Christian next weekend because it is MLK Jr. Day and I thought Brad and the kids probably have a three day weekend. We are tentatively planning it for then, but it depends on how the pass is. Does this work for you guys? We'll definitely post pone it if the pass ends up being impassable next weekend. DJ has the following Monday and Tuesday off, so if we do bless him that day, we'll probably head back with everyone to ML Sunday afternoon.

We took Christian to Sacrament today. He was so cute just staring at the ceiling and smiling. We sat by the Kassings, some of my YW and I let them hold him during the meeting. They are infatuated with him, it is really cute. Then the YW surprised me with a present for him. They made him a monkey blanket and burp rags.

Here's another cute picture of him.

The tip is gone

2010-01-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

Today Christian went from being a little boy to being a little man....he was circumcised. I really did not want to do this, but DJ was pretty adamant about it. Since he is also male I was convinced by others that he should have a bit more of a say about what happens with the boys. We both felt like huge softies when we both teared up when they took him away. But my little man is a champ. He handled it just fine and is now napping peacefully. It looks pretty good, so I'm hoping recovery is quick and easy.

Christian also had his two week check up today. He has gained a pound since leaving the hospital, putting him at 7lbs 5 oz. That made me feel good. Its nice to know all those hours spent nursing were not wasted. His head is in the 25th percentile and he is still 20 1/4 inches long. He is spending more time awake during the day. We've also introduced him to the bottle, which is has taken very well. One bottle was pumped milk, which he had at Grandma and Grandpa Berezays. This morning DJ fed him a bottle of formula, which he also took very well. He really is a great little man.

And its a......

2009-12-28T21:51:00.000-08:00

BOY!!! DJ and I are proud to announce that after 9 months of waiting, we finally got to meet our little Christian Dennis John (DJ) at 8:39 pm on December 19th. It was quite a journey getting him here.

For various reasons, DJ and I decided we wanted as natural of a birth as possible. Family history and finances being the major influences. Throughout this pregnancy, I have taken a prenatal yoga class and DJ and I took a Hynobirthing class to help us learn various ways to relax our way through a natural experience. The following story would not be possible without the knowledge we gained in those classes.

My official due date was December 2oth. DJ scheduled the whole week of Christmas off so that he could be home for the baby's first week. Of course we knew I could go late, but we kept telling the "Little Montster" that he/she could come on the 18th or any day after. So the 18th came and DJ and I decided we would help the little guy so we did everything everyone has ever told us to get labor going. We went to the mall to walk around and to watch Avatar in 3D (one of the best movies ever made BTW.) After Avatar we walked around for a few hours and I started to have regular Braxton Hicks. So we were timing them. DJ found a cool app for his I phone that will time them for you. You only have to push start and stop, very convenient. Around 8 I decided we needed to go home because my hand started shaking a little. So we went home to watch something funny. A lady from my ward said to watch a funny movie and that would help keep the contractions coming. So we watched a Brian Regan comedy central special. It was funny, but the contractions started spreading out. I called mom and let her know I thought it was false labor and to go to bed, which she did. Then DJ and I rented a movie off the PS3 the Ugly Truth. Very funny. Around midnight I was having a contraction during a funny scene and started laughing (you know that very enthusiastic laugh) and I felt a gush of water. At first I though I peed my pants, but when I sat down on the toilet I knew the water had broke. I yelled at DJ and we both just got really excited. He called his replacement for work the next day and I called home to let them know it was really happening, my mom had just fallen asleep. DJ called his mom to give her the heads up and to let her know we could call when we went in to the hospital.

We went in at 4:30am once the contractions were 1 minute long, 4 minutes apart. I was at a 5 when they checked me. We were thinking, sweet, half way there, it will only be a few more hours. We were wrong. Probably because I had no sleep, and therefore wanting to sleep, the dilation stalled. Luckily I have a very patient doctor, but it took 4 hours to get to a 6. I really wanted to avoid drugs, but I also didn't want to be in labor all day. We finally decided to go on a very low dose of pitocin to see if that would give the contractions more power. It did. DJ was the best birth partner. He breathed through every contraction with me. He walked me up and down the halls. He fed me ice chips between every contraction and made sure the room was controlled so I could be comfortable. He also knew the right thing to say at the right time and really made me feel like he was going through it with me. Around 4 I was feeling exhausted, helpless, uncomfortable, and I felt unable to relax between contractions like I needed to. My mom told me its ok to have a good cry so I did. I asked DJ to get the nurse because I needed something to take the edge off. She gave me a dose of phentanol. I honestly don't think it really did much but it made me feel like I had some help, which allowed me to relax some between contractions. It only lasts for an hour so I got one more dose. Sometime after 7 I went into transition. Transition was so exciting to me. I don't remember how intense the pain was, I just remember shaking uncontroably and thinking, "I'm in transition!" I knew that I was close to the end and everything I was feeling was good. Moments after transition I felt the need to push. I said, I feel something really low, I feel like I need to push. My sister ran to the nurses station and everything just flew by after that. I had a thick part of the cervix that still needed to thin before I could push, so the nurse said she could push it behind the babies head during a contraction. I almost jumped off the table and beat her up. That was the worst. I made her stop and said I'm just going to have to wait till it softens on its own. I think it took about 4 or 5 more contractions. Once she said I was complete, we went all out on pushing. We tried a few positions till we found one that worked. I had two people on each leg and DJ was learning how to deliver the baby from the doctor. After 3 contractions, I had pushed the baby's head about a 3rd of the way out. I remember Dr. Hardy looking at me and saying, Melissa, you're going to tear. You're going to tear up, so I have to cut you down." Don't worry, he numbed me up so when the next contraction started, he made a little cut which apparently turned into a large tear, but the baby's head just popped out. I had to stop pushing because he came out so fast. DJ "caught him" just like a pro. The little guy had the cord around his neck twice, but it never once affected him during the labor and delivery. I suddenly had a crying baby plopped on my chest and I heard, its a boy! I don't know who said it, we think it was my mom. He spent a little while with me while the nurses checked his vitals. DJ received a great lesson from the doctor about the umbilical cord, then DJ cut it. DJ and I just stared at him. One very cool thing was the placenta. When I saw it, I knew it was what had caused me to be so sick. So while I was grateful it took good care of the baby, I was glad to see it go. When he stopped crying we tried breastfeeding. He didn't latch on but we were able to get some colostrum into his mouth before the nurses took him to weigh him and clean him up a little better.

He weighed 6lbs 14oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. He really is the cutest and sweetest baby boy. He loves to cuddle, sleep with dad, nurse, and stare at everyone around him.

Labor was by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Experiencing it without an epidural was a life changing experience. Not having a C-section was my goal. Now that I know I can have a vaginal delivery I may get an epidural next time, we'll see how it goes. But nothing beats the endorphins that rushed over me the moment his head came out. I honestly cannot remember how intense the pain was, because the high was so amazing.

This post took two weeks to write, because a cute little guy kept interrupting me. So to finish, enjoy these pictures from Christmas and the past two weeks.

For your info

2009-12-12T01:12:00.001-08:00

Here I am at 36 weeks. My good friend Kelly, she also took most of our temple pictures, was up and took some great ones. Stacey has them on her computer, but emailed me this one so I could get a post up. I think it looks like I'm hiding a beach ball under my shirt. Hey Syd, remember when we tried to sneak in beach balls at graduation? I guess I just needed to make it look like I was pregnant.

Anyways, this is also an informative post. A few weeks ago, my hospital had a close call with a pregnant woman and swine flu. She almost died and so they upped the security precautions. Only 4 people total will be allowed to visit me at the hospital, and that includes DJ. So far both of our mom's have claimed spots, and Kim is the 4th as long as labor isn't tomorrow. (I don't think it will be) Hopefully everything will go as smoothly as we have planned and prepared for so I will only be there for 24 hours after the birth. But for those family members (all of us right?) who love to hang out in the waiting room, it may not be worth the trip. DJ will be allowed to take the baby to the waiting room sometime while we're there, but again that depends on how the little Monster is doing. We will let you know of course. I also want to warn you that no one under the age of 18 is allowed in the maternity waiting room. I'm pretty bummed, but I understand the need to be so cautious.

We will welcome all healthy family and friends to come visit once we come home from the hospital. Just give us a heads up. Also, if we have the baby this next week, and recovery is good, we're planning on spending Christmas in Moses Lake.

I feel completely prepared. DJ and I completed our Hypnobirthing classes last night. I'm training myself to relax and let nature take control. The next time I post we will be parents to a cute little Redford Berezay!

Demo Day!!

2009-11-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

I am so excited. Saturday is going to be a huge day for our little house. Family and friends are coming over, equipped with hammers, to tear out all the lathe and plaster in our house. That means no more uneven, cold, ugly walls! Oh and a little blood splatter from previous residents will also be finally gone. (Yes I did say blood splatter, our house has a history, and we know what it is thanks to our neighbors.)

I will post before and after pictures so you can all feel like you were here to witness this historic event. And if your in the Spokane area and in need of getting rid of some aggression, our house Saturday morning is the place to be. Nothings gets rid of anger like being able to wield a hammer, or better yet a sledgehammer, at an unsuspecting wall. I guarantee you will get dirty, but I also promise you gloves, a mask, hot pizza and a nice cold Henry Weinharts rootbeer.

For those of you concerned, I will be outside working in our yard. I can't be in the house while the dust is flying. We have lead based paint on all the plaster so I will be safe outside breathing fresh air. For those of you not interested in destruction but interested in still getting some free pizza and rootbeer, you are more then welcome to join me outside.

I have been waiting for a year and a half to do this! Note to self, never live in a remodel again.

Hmmmm...

2009-10-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

I found this article today and couldn't help but think, "Hmmm..." Its about "Mormon Entrepreneur" from Las Vegas who uses calendars to poke fun at stereotypes about Mormons.

Hot Mormon Muffins Calendar Debuts

He has been excommunicated for his calendars called "Men on a Mission." Its a series of calendars of returned missionaries, all shirtless. He was excommunicated last year because the calendar "is not in keeping with the values espoused by the Mormon church." The funny thing, a friend of mine bought me one of these "Men on a Mission" calendars two years ago for Christmas. I threw it away because it felt funny to me that these RM's would pose for a calendar like this.

His latest round of calendars are called "Hot Mormon Muffins" and features 12 stay at home Mormon moms. Every picture depicts these women in classic pinup poses and outfits. The article interviews one of the "Models" about why she choose to be in the calendar. She thinks its funny, and that people should have a sense of humor.

Now I'm all about reaching out to the community, being a presence, and trying to influence society for good. But I can't help but think, these calendars do the exact opposite. If he truly wanted to cut down stereotypes about Mormon Moms, wouldn't he want the calendars to be tasteful and to show the women in modest dress? A good majority of Mormons are college educated, very involved with their children's schools, and have the potential to be a major force for good through the Relief Society.

Also, to show these moms in pinup outfits making muffins, and then to claim that this is to cut down stereotypes is quite hypocritical. If anything, hopefully these calendars will remind society that there is something beautiful about Mormon women and raise their curiosity enough to find out why that is.

Fall has hit

2009-10-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

I normally dread the coming of fall. My body is incapable of maintaining heat or I am incapable of dressing appropriately. I'm not completely sure, it may be a combination of both. I hate being cold and will tolerate the hottest of days knowing that at least I will not be cold.

Yesterday, fall came to Spokane. It is so cold outside, but I'm doing OK! I have a little built in heater that is making this transition to winter bearable.

But do not worry, I can't love fall, so I've come up with reasons why I'm still dreading the season change.

1. I cannot wear my Diane Von Furstenberg jackets. The summer of 2006 I spent with my grandparents at their golf course. Its up north of Calgary, so their summer was shorter. I didn't come home until the middle of October, so I felt like I missed summer. To make me feel better, I found three beautiful jackets designed by Diane of Ebay, bought them, and had them shipped home so they would be there when I got back. They are gorgeous and one of the few things that make me look forward to fall. Well, Diane did not design these jackets for the full tummied or breasted, so they're out. Here are some pictures of them. I'm sad you can't see the top one better, but this is the only picture I have of it. Its is called a trench dress. It wraps tight and then poofs out at the bottom and has lace on it. When I opened it my mom exclaimed, "Melissa you have to get engaged in that dress." So I did. I wish you could see the front of the third one. It is called a military jacket. The front double buttons from the neck down. That jacket gets the most wear, because it looks great with jeans and a long sleeve shirt.

2. I only have 2 and 1/2 months left to get ready for Monster's arrival. While I'm feeling ok with the pace I've been collecting items for the baby, my house is not ready. We need to tear out all the lathe and plaster upstairs, insulate, organize again, install our heating and carpets downstairs, paint the family room and bedroom, and get the baby's stuff set up.

DJ is loving his new job. He's now been home every night for a month and making as much as he did last fall when they reroofed the prison in Shelton. Our salaries combined will make it possible for the beforementioned to do list to get done.

Stacey said I needed to post about the baby. So this is what's going on. My tummy grows bigger every day. This is due to the fact that little Monster is pushing and expanding the space. My belly button is under constant attack and I fear may not be able to hold out much longer. I still do not have any stretch marks but am using a vitamin E ointment to make me feel like I'm doing something to contribute to that. While I was out with the missionaries last night doing a couple of less active visits, one of the ladies told me I looked so small!

Happy Conference weekend.

A matter of life

2009-08-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

Many of you know I like to follow politics. I just like to know what is going on, who is doing what, and what decisions are being made. Lately I've been completely engrossed in the Health Insurance Reform Debate. I'm curious to know what others have learned, their personal experiences with the insurance companies and care providers, and what some of your ideas are for reform.

This is what I know. The cost of health care is too expensive. This can be blamed on all of us, but care providers truly do take the brunt of the blame. Some ideas for lowering costs are cap malpractice suit settlements, pay doctors a salary rather then per procedure, make health records electronic so that all your doctors can share test results rather then duplicating procedures, increase access to preventative care so that more costly illnesses can be detected early or avoided all together, allow hospitals to be able to verify citizenship before non-emergency care is administered, and create a panel, much like the ones that exist for defense and the economy, that tracks medical procedures and medicines and eliminates those that just don't work very well.

Personally, I think all of these are good ideas and should be included in any reform. If we want to slow down how quickly costs are going up, then we need to eliminate a lot of waste.

What I also know is that insurance companies have had too much power and not enough competition to keep costs low. Instead of offering us lower premiums by becoming more efficient, they lower costs by offering less coverage (my insurance just went up $500 a year for less coverage, my parents plan they offer the employees at Pioneer Pit Stop has been eliminated and they get to choose from small list of more expensive, less coverage plans), and denying coverage to someone because of a pre-existing condition. Pre-existing conditions can include pregnancy (some states have laws against this), cancer, disability, chronic problems such as heart defects. Also, many plans have lifetime caps on what the insurance company will pay. So if you become gravely ill, you could be cut from your plan because your care is costing them too much.

In the final reform bill, there needs to be clearly defined rules against the above mentioned health insurance practices.

Our federal and state governments are already facing deficits, and those will continue to increase as the baby boomers come closer to retirement. Lowering health care costs is just one piece of the puzzle, but it is an important piece as Medicare is a key part of American's retirement. It is also the job of the government to promote our "General Welfare". I believe that ensuring that all of us can receive medical attention when needed is a part of our General Welfare.

What has been so upsetting about this whole debate, is how amazingly stupid many of our so called journalists and politicians are. Thank goodness Sarah Palin resigned, she has no place in politics. Her comments about her son with Down's syndrome having to face a death panel if reform is passed is not only completely untrue, but does nothing to help reform take place. She may be against parts of the propossed plans, but to lie is completely immoral. I know for a fact that the largest provider of services for people with disabilities, Easter Seals, endorses the presidents reform ideas and have been actively participating in writing legislation specifically for people with disabilities. And then there's Rush, Fox News, Lou Dobbs, and a whole host of talking heads who continue to try to scare us from any reform at all. Oh and our gem of a House Minority Leader John Boehner (R) who is only interested in saving the insurance companies from the big bad government. But, who am I to assume that elected officials are supposed to look out for the people. Ah, and the wonderful Senator from Montana, Mr. Baucus (D). That man has so much money in him from the insurance companies its no wonder the plan out of the Senate Finance Commiittee is little more then a slap on the wrist and does not do enough to slow the rising costs of care.

I don't want the comments to be about the president. We can agree to disagree because I know most of you did not vote for him. However, common sense leads us to believe that reform in the health care field is vital as our country recovers from a major financial meltdown. Let's put politics aside and discuss health care reform.

Note: I did not mention the public option because I do not believe it will be in the final bill that passes the house and the senate. I do not see the point in discussing an option that most likely won't happen. The senate does not have 60 votes for a plan that includes a public option, and this bill will not pass with a simple majority in the senate.

Monster's bump.

2009-07-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm 19 weeks today and I'm starting to get a little belly. I can still hide it with proper clothing, and I'm sure people who don't know me just think I'm bloated, but I wanted a picture to compare it to future pregnancies. I'm going to a prenatal yoga class with my friend Natalie and am visiting the chiropractor more regularly. I think I'm finally starting to get my appetite back, I even had a little ice cream last night! So here's the pictures. DJ wanted to take them by our new Subaru.

Girl's Camp

2009-07-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

This week my young women are at girl's camp. Well they're supposed to be, but most of my girl's are not interested so we actually only sent an investigator to camp. So sad that she didn't have better examples from our ward, but she's having an awesome time. Last night the YW ward Presidents were asked to come up and do a spirit hike with the young women. I was able to convince two of my Laurel's to come up with us just for the night. We were each assigned a value, and we were to share a testimony building experience we had with that value. Then we were to challenge the YW to commit to building their testimony of that value and to put a pine cone in our fire if they agreed.

I got Virtue. For those of you who do not know yet, Virtue is the new and 8th YW's value. It was introduced in December. The project for Virtue is to read the Book of Mormon. Because of the way the hike was set up, I was only able to hear one other leader's experience. She spoke about Divine Nature and gave the YW an awesome challenge to gain a better understanding of their Divine Nature. She used the song, "What Heaven Sees in You" as her experience.

I shared with the YW my experience with gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I prayed and wrote my answer in my journal. My answer was that the people in the Book of Mormon really lived, that I should live by what they taught, and that the church was true. It happened when I was 14 and had finally finished reading it. It took me 6 years! I told them that this experience is one I rely on when I am tempted to live contray to the gospel teachings, or when it just seems easier to live a different life style then an LDS lifestyle. I told them I couldn't tell them what answer they would receive, because it would be personal between them and Heavenly Father, but that if they took the time to read and study the Book of Mormon, and then take Moroni's challenge and pray to know if it is true, that they would have an experience that will help them.

I wish I could have heard the other challenges, because I want to follow up with my Young Women on them. Hopefully they remember what they are when I see them next week and ask them.

Being with these Young Women and at camp reminded me of how grateful I am so have grown up in Moses Lake where the church members are so strong. We had awesome leaders, all of us did, no matter what ward we were in. But we all had awesome parents who knew the Gospel and also taught it to us. We have a lot of work to do in our ward.

Catch up

2009-06-29T23:17:00.000-07:00

So this is a quick post to let you all know we're alive and well. I'll have to do a DC post, one I've been avoiding. I'll get to it another time. Most everyone has figured out that we're expecting a baby in December. Sorry if I didn't tell you myself, but I have good reasons. We found out right before we left for DC in April, and decided not to tell our parents till Mother's day. On our trip our friends figured it out because I was avoiding eating some things I normally would and would get really tired at night. So they knew, but were sworn to secrecy. Then by the time Mother's day came around I was feeling so sick I wasn't excited about being pregnant anymore. So we told our families and I didn't tell anyone else because I was mad at this monster inside of me that took all of my energy away. DJ told our ward and everyone he has come in contact with (waiters, drive thru cashiers, the lady cutting his hair, you get the idea). Well the good news is I'm on Zophran, it works, and I haven't been nauseous for a week. A couple days ago I started getting adventurous and can now eat a little protein and carbs again. But we're going to stick with the nickname Monster until this kid is born.

Today is the day I realized I'm having a baby. I looked on Craigslist for cribs and found a great one for $60, including the mattress. We tested it out, shook it to see if it moved, and felt confident in the purchase. Since I still do not have a completed room to put it in, it has been disassembled and will be taken to our storage unit tomorrow to hang out with all our nice stuff for a few more months while we get this house ready for Monster.

Its been awhile...

2009-04-28T12:01:00.001-07:00

I know I haven't posted for a long time. But I'm kinda stressed out. Combine a calling, a very demanding remodel job, and the need to raise at least $20,000 (preferably more) by the end of May, and very little time is left for posting.

So here is my plea. If you want me to post more then fundraise for Easter Seals. You don't actually have to attend a walk, just get me the money :). People with disabilities are left out of life due to ignorance and discrimination. I'm finding out more and more how easy it is to help a person live their fullest life. You want proof? Go to this link and check out Taysha's story. If you're in Moses Lake go to Pioneer Pit Stop and but a few dollars in their fundraising jar. Ask your employer to match your donation. Ask friends and family to donate. $5, $10, and $20 donations quickly add up.

You can submit donations online at www.walkwithme.org/spokane.

Thanks.

Jade inspired me

2009-02-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

Ok so Jade Janes Stellmon inspired this post...

Many of you know that Jade has MS. A lot of people in the Northwest have MS and we're still trying to figure that one out (research cost money).

Many of you know that my sister Michele has Down's syndrome. As we all know, people with Down's syndrome are the coolest (Clark Perrins, Tom Shanks, the Sainsbury twins, Juniper (she's one of my Ambassadors), and the rest are all really cool people). I honestly believe that people with Down's syndrome are better then all of us and that the luckiest people get to have one of these angels in their family. But like all disabilities, Down's sydrome causes health problems, mobility issues, and requires extra help to teach independence (that all costs money).

Many of you know a person with a developmental disability who would like a chance to pursue their education and become independent, but lack the resources (specialiazed computer software, needing an aid, and any other form of extra help cost money and the costs add up quick).

Let's all learn from Jade and get involved in something this year. Do you want to lose a couple pounds? feel good? meet new people? get a T-shirt that proves you are active in your community? be one of those people at the gym who are training for something? or simply want something to look forward to? I'm interested in all of the above, so this is what I'm doing about it.

April 4th at 8:15a.m. in Spokane is the Second Annual CommUNITY Fun Run (5K) supporting a scholarship to help people with Development Disabilities meet their goals. This event is hosted by the Arc of Spokane and sponsored by Easter Seals Washington (I work for Easter Seals). The T-shirts for this run are awesome. They have COMMUNITY printed on the front. Its only $14 to register. I just need to know by March 18th so you get a T-shirt.

April 11th in Clarkston, WA is the Multiple Sclerosis Walk. Go here to sign up to join Jade's team or simply make a donation to her. I'm sure their T-shirts are really cool too so you might want to raise the $75 to get one.

On May 30th at 11 am is the Second Annual Spokane Walk With Me. Walk With Me is a fun, family, community event to honor people with disabilities and those who support them. It is a 5K (or you can do the 1 mile route) walk through Riverfront Park. I organize this walk, and I can't tell you how happy it makes me when the people I know are at the walk. Like the MS walk, you don't have to fundraise to come, but if you want a T-shirt you need to raise at least $50. Our T-shirts are awesome and totally worth it. Click here to join or donate to my team.

Ok so I've just given you 3 reasons to look forward to Spring, to feel really good about yourself, to lose a few pounds, to enjoy three beautiful parks, to get new T-shirts, to meet new people, to brag about how involved you are.

If you want some fundraising tips check this out. You can literally raise $250 in a week without asking anyone for more then $25. I'm pretty sure that'd cover all three walks.

Get to it and let the fundraising begin.

p.s. DJ has been doing wonderfully with the basement and we are so close to being down there. The plumbing is getting finished today then its just sheet rock!

We are so grateful for our many blessings.

2009-02-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that DJ has been consistently working out of town since July 14th, 2008. Since then, progress on our house has been slow and inconvenient. Who wants to work 5 12 hr days to come home and work on a house all day Saturday, then turn around and leave Sunday right after church. I know I wouldn't want to, and neither did DJ. So we've been waiting (sometimes not very patiently :)) for an opportunity to spend more time on our house. I think our needs have been pretty great. We bought the house knowing that it needed a total face lift. The house had been a rental for over 30 years, and not maintained. The kitchen was covered in grease stains, the bathroom was covered in mildew and hair (totally gross), the basement featured a toilet in the middle sitting on a 3 x 3 x 1 ft. throne (that's means it was on a wood box about a foot off the ground), and our personal favorite - the death stairs. With a lot of help from both of our families we cleared out the basement, put in a new stairway, put up new walls in the basement, put in a drain system for a basement bathroom, and re-wired the basement. So its been almost a year and this is all we've accomplished. So last month we made a effort to ask for a specific blessing.

For a long time we prayed that DJ's job would place him on a job in town, but since he chose the first out of town job, the company transferred him to another out of town job. With winter coming up, we knew his job would slow down. So we started praying that DJ would get laid off for the winter season. He finished a job last week and on the way home he was asking the foreman where the next job was. The foreman was telling him about a bunch of jobs they have contracted, but that they weren't starting till the weather warms up a bit. So he warned DJ that he was going to be laid off for a month till the jobs started. He immediately texted me letting me know. What a blessing this is for us. My job is sufficient for our needs, what we have been lacking is time. As I type this, he's at home putting up a wall. My dad has the next few weeks off so my parents are going to come over for a couple of days and help. So by March 1st, we should have a finished basement and a part of our home finished! I'll post up pictures as the work progresses for you all to see.

We know we were supposed to move into the ward we moved into, that we were supposed to buy this house, and that we would be blessed.

A good snow day

2008-12-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

Well we've had some good snow coming down the past two days. Wednesday's record of 17 inches in 24 hours was short lived when Thursday loaded us with 19 inches. Wednesday night we were going to go caroling, but I decided to cancel after it took me an hour to drive 2 miles. I decided to leave work at 3:30 to avoid rush hour. I guess everyone had the same idea. I was driving DJ's subara (Bo) and had no problems starting, stopping, or braking. But a lot of people couldn't make it up the hill on Division and were blocking all three lanes of traffic. Once I finally got to them I was able to manever around them and finally got home. I stayed in for the rest of the night.

DJ came home from Ellensburg (where he is roofing a new stake center) Thursday morning. They had to help 3 stuck cars on their way up Division taking him home. We decided we needed to go out and get some snow shovels and try to find the rest of our winter gear in storage. DJ bought me some snow boarding boots and a pair of really nice gloves and he had an extra set of snow pants, so we both geared up and headed out. It took half an hour to dig Bo out. We park in our yard until we get out driveway poured, so when he backed out, he didn't "clear the driveway", he just plowed out. It was so cool. This was a day we wished we had a crew videotaping our life because we had a lot of cool moments. Our friend stopped by on his snowmobile. There were a lot out yesterday.

One of our duties while we were out was to shovel the driveway of a family DJ home teaches. They are a bit older and both have had health problems recently. The snow was up to my mid thighs by the time we started. Here are the before and after pictures. The garbage can gives you a good idea of how much snow we had so far.

This is my car buried under all that snow. It will probably stay like that till all this snow melts.

This is our sweet little home. Our tree looks so cool right now. DJ and I are going to take a walk later today and get some more good shots.

When we got home from shoveling we noticed all our neighbors we outside digging each other out and pushing the crazy drivers who tried to come down our street. It was awesome. We met all of our neighbors as we served each other. The lady who lives right across from us had been out since 6am digging out her neighbors. She was able to tell us some strange stories about our house. She was happy to find out we bought it and that we're planning on fixing it up. It was the "bad" house in the neighborhood.

After dinner we decided to venture out and look and Christmas lights. The Spokesman Review online has a list of "must see" homes. We only made it to two because of all the people stuck. While on the South hill we pulled a mazda out with Bo. Once we got downtown we went to Safeway to get some treats for DJ's work party today, but they were closed. We noticed this woman with a bicycle starting to leave. I knew she had a long ways to go and she wasn't going to get there with how deep the snow is, so we asked if she needed a ride. She lives in Medical Lake but was stranded in town because the buses stopped running. So we drove her to a couple of shelters, (Salvation Army was closed! I couldn't believe they were closed). After we got her to a safe place we saw another car stuck trying to get out of a parking lot. So Bo went to the rescue. The snow plows pile up the snow in the middle of Division, making it a two lane road, but we needed to cross Division to get to this car so DJ sped up and we plowed through the pile. We hit hard on the other side, but I think the point to be made is we made it! So we got them pushed back into the parking lot and saw two more cars stuck. One had stopped to helped a cute old man and now they both were stuck. So with the help of a 4X4 truck we were able to pull the two cars out (I'm pretty sure he cracked one of them though). The guy in the truck was not good in the snow. He's one of those people that thought because he had a 4X4 he was invincible. Well he wasn't and he got stuck. So we pulled him out with Bo. HAHA! It was so great. Had to help one more person as we came up Division but then we were home! We almost felt guilty knowing that there we many more stuck because they didn't realize that their car couldn't make it. But we were tired. It was around 11pm. We had rented Enchanted but both of us feel asleep before Amy Adams met James Marsden. After DJ's work party today, we're looking forward to doing it all over again.

I used to be a sceptic, but now I completely believe in the abilities of Bo.

Score!

2008-11-20T23:29:00.000-08:00

I'm watching Twilight with Stacey in Pullman Tuesday night!

Bummer

2008-11-20T09:44:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to watch Twilight last night with two of my sisters and our friend Brittany. I was so stoked. I was going to drive down to Pullman, see all my favorite Theatre people, and have a good time. Well....the driver bringing the film decided he could make it till this morning, so there was no employee preview for me to go down to. I haven't read the Twilight books because I hate reading the book first, it always ruins the movie. Oh well, I guess I'll wait till Thanksgiving to see it.

So right after Stacey calls to tell me its a no go DJ calls me because he's off work. He lets me know they're staying to work part of Friday and won't be home till Friday night. He was supposed to come home tonight and we were going to buy a new TV tomorrow. The only good thing about him not coming home till Friday is that it may mean that next Wednesday will be there last day on the job and he will be home everyday. I guess I can give up a Friday if it means he is done next week, I just wish I didn't have to.

Other then that life is actually going very well.

Well...

2008-11-04T23:07:00.000-08:00

I don't want to brag, but I guess my endorsement is very powerful. OK so I'm totally joking but HECK YEA!! I've been pretty emotional tonight. I was so proud that at 8 pm when the polls officially closed in Washington, Barack Hussein Obama was announced the 44th President of the United States of America. I cried tears of joy to have been a participator and a supporter in the most important Presidential election our country has ever experienced. I am so excited to see how the world reacts tomorrow. I was deeply moved by Senator McCain's speech tonight, and saddened that such a great man was never rewarded the highest political office. I hope he knows how important he has been to our country. I have said this over and over again, had it been anyone but Mr. Obama, he would have been priviledged to have received my vote. I believe that many feel the same as I do. Here's to a brighter tomorrow.

Out of neccesity....

2008-10-28T11:43:00.001-07:00

This post is for my family. I think they think I'm going to hell for some of my opinions, especially when it comes to this election. I'm not the traditional voter. I despise both parties because I believe they ignore the regular American. I believe I'm pretty close to being a regular American. I'm middle class, married, I think that everyone deserves the right to education, food, shelter, jobs, and to not be judged by physical characteristics (i.e. race, stature, disability, etc.) I believe in an America where anyone can be successful as long as they work for it. I believe that people should be held accountable for their actions, including corporations since the supreme court gave them the same rights as people. I believe in defining marriage, but I also don't think that it is ok to deny insurance and visitation rights to a couple who decides to have a homosexual, committed relationship. I also don't believe that adults who choose a polygamist lifestyle should be treated as criminals, outcasts, and felons.

I voted for Bush in 2000 and in 2004. I could not see how Mr. Gore or Mr. Kerry would be able to lead this country. In 2000 as I watched the primaries I wished that John McCain had won. I would have voted for John McCain in 2000.

I have been watching Barack Obama for over 4 years now. I first heard of him because he was the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democrat Convention. He is a great speaker and at the time I thought, its too bad he's a Democrat.

As I watched him over the past 4 years, I have been impressed with his ability to gain the respect he has from Republicans and Democrats. People like Warren Buffet and recently Colin Powell (who we all wanted to run for President in 1996) have come to the same opinion I have. Mr. Obama doesn't expect us all to agree with him. He believes that in America, we have differing opinions, that we should engage in vigorous debate, that we should have different points of view, and that through our differences we can find the answers that help us all. He wants to unify America, to make us safe, and to reclaim the title as the greatest nation in the world.

Mr. McCain used to be like that. He would go against his party to fight for his causes. He would reach out to us and try to find out what we need. BUT, that is not the John McCain running for President in 2008. John McCain has changed. He has hired a campaign staff that is inadequate, he has chosen a VP because he knew she would energize that same portion of the Republican base that would not consider a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a candidate. John McCain and Sarah Palin have spent the last few weeks dividing America. That is not what I want in the next four years. I don't want red states respected above blue states. I don't want an America divided even more. We can't afford it.

I work with extremely poor people. I see how someone who has gotten an education, who works hard, who tries to feed their family, struggles everyday because their employer refuses to give them health insurance and they do not qualify for state insurance. I see adults who have grown up poor so they just expect that they will always be poor. They can't see how they can escape it. I see children who don't have warm enough clothes, who may be getting most of their meals at school, and whose early childhood education is threaten because the money the state gives their child care center is less then it costs that child care center to care for them. I have seen people with disabilities, in wheel chairs with mental retardation forced to live on their own with less then $900 a month. Out of the $900 has to come rent, food, utilities, clothes. How many of us can live off of $900 a month? I then see these same people forced to move because the company in charge of their affordable apartment was swindling money from HUD vouchers. Many of these people were placed in shelters because there are not enough $300 or less one bedroom apartments with wheel chair access.

I have studied our federal budget. I have seen how 2/3 of the national budget is fixed. Most of that goes to social security pay outs, which are very important. But almost a 1/3 of our federal budget goes to countries like China in the form of interest only payments. How many of you would take an interest only loan out from a bank. How long would it take to pay back an interest only loan? You don't pay back interest only loans. Why are we borrowing money from China in the first place? Why can't our federal government live within its means? Why do we spend less on our own people then we do on interest only payments? Guess what, that $700 billion spent on bailing out wallstreet didn't come from your tax money, it came from loans our government took out from other countries.

Our government is messing our country up. A lot of that is the fault of that past 8 years, but not all of it. Until the Republican party can show me that they are willing to return to the party ideals of fiscal responsibility, caring about those less fortunate, and trying to unite us rather then divide us, I will be voting Democrat for a while. What John McCain has shown me is that he will not be a huge difference between the past 8 years. I find his "spread the wealth around" argument so humorous. "Socialism" he calls it. Hmmm, I believe that his plan to buy up failing mortgages and renegotiate the terms of the loan a redstribution of wealth. Allowing people who can't afford the home they live in to pay less then the value of that home so they can stay in it. Oh well, I digress. Don't we pay our fast offerings so that those struggling to pay for food and shelter have a chance to make it through hard times? Don't we donate to charities to help a cause we believe in. Don't we all agree that a lower middle class family never gets a break because they make too much to qualify for government assistance but too little to really get to make something of themselves? Are we really that stingy that those of us making higher incomes do not want to give these families a break? Don't we want everyone to have affordable health care? Don't we want all of our Grandma's and Grandpa's to be taken care of when they can no longer work? Don't we want birth control to be free? Don't we want to (and this is a quote from Barack Obama), "... try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby."

Of course don't get me wrong, I never vote solely by party, so there will be some Rebulicans, Libertarians, and Independents getting my vote. And if either of Washington State's Senators were up for re-election I would vote against them (not a fan of either). At a state level my vote is leaning towards Dino Rossi, because I see that Washington State is in need of a change in leadership.

But you heard it here family, I endorse Barack Hussein Obama for President of the United States of America. (Let's remember that I'm the only member of the family who regulary reviews the constitution).

Why I love Spokane....

2008-10-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided to start a new series where I talk about why I love Spokane. I realized that this is the town where I fell in love with my husband, where we bought our first house, where I will raise my children, and where I will probably live for the rest of my life. So, I decided that I need to fall in love with Spokane. Every week or so I'm going to write about something I've found about Spokane that I think is so cool.

Riverfront Park is a place I almost always went when I would visit Spokane with friends.Here is a night when I went up to visit Brittany with Jennie Johnson. We decided to dress up goofy and walk around, guess? Ok you're right we went to Riverfront Park.

Here is Shane and I on a trip to Spokane. Good times.

This is where we host Walk With Me for Easter Seals. We use the pavilion in the background and offer free parking in that parking lot. Through Walk With Me I have gotten to meet some wonderful people around town. Riverfront Park is the perfect location for our walk.

This is the famous Clock Tower. Isn't that a beautiful sight? My work is very close to the park so I get to drive by it quite a bit. I love how calm the river looks and the contrast as the trees have begun to change colors. I got to walk through the park today as I have begun to map out the walk path for next year's Walk With Me. I wasn't completely satisfied with the route we took this year.
I wanted to add this picture because of the trickle of water. I'll make sure to compare this picture with a spring picture. The river goes from this peaceful stream to a raging river when the snow melts. Its really cool.

So one thing that is helping me fall in love with Spokane is Riverfront Park. It is beautiful and a place I look forward to making many more memories.

Pink hair and Chicago

2008-10-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

First of all, I took this picture last night of DJ. He is such a handsome guy. Also, check out the colors of the sky and on the taller building. We had a good sunset last night.

DJ asked that I put pink in my hair so I went to Moses Lake and my friend Brittany did it. It turned out really well and I've gotten a ton of compliments. I was a little worried about how people at church would react, but when I told them I did it for my husband they were like, oh that's really cool. It also upped my cool factor with my Young Women so I think it was worth it. Plus it is a lot of fun.

This is the view from my hotel in Chicago. I stayed at the Crowne Metro. It was a quick trip, but totally worth it. I learned so much to help with my job and was finally able to meet my co-workers that I've only had an email relationship with.

This is one of the doormen at the hotel. I was leaving for good. Everyone was so nice. I was shocked at how friendly Chicago is. I would really like to go back for a longer visit with DJ. It would be cool to take the train over.

I took a water taxi to get a quick view of downtown. This is one of the bridges facing Sears Tower.

This is another Taxi, but it looks exactly like the one I was on.

Going to Chicago!!

2008-09-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

I just found out from work that I am going to Chicago for three days in October. I'm stoked. I would really appreciate any advice on places I should visit while I'm there. I will have down time. Thanks!!

We have a winner!

2008-09-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who gave me wonderful comments so I could draw the best floor plan to make our tiny house wonderful. Take a lot! The first picture is the floor plan and the second picture is a 3D version of the plan. Please let me know if you see a spot that I might find troublesome.

I'm so Excited!!

2008-08-28T23:56:00.001-07:00

First of all I wanted to post this picture of our house. You can see DJ and my brother in law Jeff filling in an unwanted basement window with cement. I don't know who thought that a window that filled up with water because it was surrounded by a cement walk way was a good good idea, but we took care of it. For those of you who have been following the house plans, we have picked a winner. I'm actually drawing in where the garage and walk ways will be, so stay posted.

As you can tell, the size of this home is very small. We will be adding another 600 square feet onto the back of the property and a detached oversized one car garage and carport. I can't wait!

Ok on to the next reason for my post. Can I express how excited I am for this election year! No I cannot. While I was disheartened when Mitt Romney dropped out of the race, I have been invigorated by the race between Obama and McCain. Obama just delivered a wonderful speech about unity, education, finding common ground, health care, and taking responsibility to make the American dream a reality in each of our lives. I can't wait to see what McCain has to throw back at him tomorrow. Neither can I wait for the announcement of his VP pick. You know, I love a good election year.

And my third reason for posting. Stacey tagged me so I need to respond. Let's see how this goes.

The Rules:
•Link the person(s) who tagged you.
•Mention the rules on your blog.
•Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
•Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.
•Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

6 Unspectacular Quirks in no particular order.

Refer to the second reason why I posted.
Like Stacey, I also hold the Redford gene that makes me prone to tears. For example. DJ and I are new to our ward here in Spokane. One of the first people to talk to me was a cute lady in a wheel chair. She complimented the sarong I was wearing for a skirt and welcomed me to the ward. I knew this lady lived in an assisted living center and because she told me a little about it. Lo and behold, two weeks later it was announced in church that she had passes. I literally bawled for the rest of Sacrament meeting. Luckily I had DJ to hide me, but seriously, I knew her for two weeks and had talked to her for 15 minutes. The following Sunday they talked about her memorial service and I cried again.
I had no desire to change my name after I got married. I let DJ know that, he didn't like that, so we came to a compromise. My name is now Melissa Renae Redford Berezay. I technically have two last names according to the Social Security office. While at church and in my personal life I will use Berezay, I will continue to use Redford at work. Why? do you ask. I don't want to change my work email. I have spent 9 months building relationships will people all over Spokane to donate to Easter Seals and I do not want my emails getting blocked by junk mail servers because these servers do not recognize mberezay. DJ will get his way of myself becoming a fully converted Berezay when I quit my job I guess.
Washingtonpost.com is my homepage. I have to know what the news is every time I get on the internet. You may be wondering why I chose Washington Post out of all the news websites out there. There are two reasons for this. 1. They have the best Sudoku and word puzzles. 2. Because it is based in Washington DC political news is their top priority. Also, world news receives a lot of coverage for the same reason.
I have to beat Sudoku and Mega Sudoku every day. On Mondays I have to make up for the ones I missed on Saturday and Sunday. Man I feel good when I beat a 5 star mega Sudoku.
I am a Canadian. Honestly I don't know how I feel about this. A part of me is so excited to be connected to my family that way, the other part of me feels like a hypocrite for all the times I've made fun of Canada and Canadians. Because my parents are natural born Canadians I am recognized as a citizen by their government. I've decided to get proof. It will make crossing the border a little easier I think.

I'm tired so I'll take care of the tagging tomorrow.

Ok one more time.

2008-07-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

I've made some changes to the last plan. I've added a small bay to the dining room. It can't be a true bay because there is a window in the basement right about there. I've changed up the master bedroom . What do you think?

One more plan

2008-07-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

I took the comments that had been made, merged them with what I liked about both house plans, and came up with this one. Be honest, do you like it better then the first two. Thanks for your help because once the cement is poured there's no going back.

House Plans

2008-07-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

I've come up with two options for the remodel of our upstairs. Both are very different and I'm having trouble deciding which I would like better. I need help. Please vote on which one you like best.

House Plan 1
House Plan 2Thank You!!

New Adventure!

2008-07-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

I was called to be my ward's YW President yesterday. I've known for a couple of weeks but it really hit home when I was sustained and set apart. I have a couple of girls who come to church, but our ward has a lot of inactive members, meaning I have a lot of girls not coming. I just found out we have a about 8 girls who are investigators or from part member families that are interested in coming to church so I am stoked about that. If you have any experiences helping reactivate families or a great YW activity that you've done, please let me know!!! I have two great counselors who I know are excited to work so don't be afraid to offer a suggestion that may be time consuming. Thanks!

I'm all alone...

2008-07-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

For four days a week I am all alone. DJ has started working for a commercial roofing company and they have a contract to redo the roof of a prison in Shelton, WA (that's by Seattle). He leaves on Sunday with his brother and my brother in law Jeff. They come back Thursday night. I have a lot to do, so I won't be bored, but I'm already missing him and its just been one day. They'll be doing this job for five months, so if you're going to be in Spokane I'm up for any Monday and Tuesday nights.

2008-07-10T21:35:00.001-07:00

Ok so before you get to see the wedding pictures I have to thank my brother Sean and my brother in law Jeff for coming and help us figure out the basement. You see, DJ and I are living in a shack. Right now we're finishing the basement. Then we're going to move downstairs. Then we're going to gut our upstairs, add 600+ square feet, and finish the upstairs. This is what we finished tonight.This is the bedroom we framed in.

OK now you can see wedding pics. Enjoy!!I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I also highly recommend my photographer so if you need one let me know and I'll pass on her number.

Coming Soon....

2008-07-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

I just got a phone call from our photographer and our pictures are done!! She said there are four discs of pictures so prepare, soon I am going to post a ton.

Great Tip!

2008-06-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

I don't have kids yet, and I'm not planning to for a couple years still, but because of my job and my future goals I'm always interested in learning parenting tips. I found this on MSN.com. I encourage everyone to read it. It just has some great advice to raise happy children. Enjoy!

http://lifestyle.msn.com/familyandparenting/raisingkids/articleab.aspx?cp-documentid=8150607&GT1=32001

Walk With Me

2008-06-25T12:49:00.001-07:00

I wanted to post about the event I have been planning for the past few months called Walk With Me. For those of you who don't know, I've been working for Easter Seals Washington since November 2007. That is the reason why I chose Eastern for my graduate program. My title is Philanthropy Assistant. That means I work with Paul and Tim (they are in our Seattle office) and we raise money for our programs. I write grants and I also plan events with them. The Walk was my first major event. It was pouring outside, but 75 participants showed up to walk for people with disabilities. We raised about $10,000, which is awesome. Here are some photos from the day.

This is my friend Molly from graduate school. Molly and Brittany came to help make sure no one got hit by the cars. They did a great job! No accidents!

Here is my sister Michele. She stayed under the umbrella. My dad is pushing her. She used a wheelchair because walking a mile is too much for her.

Here is Logan and Paul. Logan has started a magazine for youth with disabilities. Check it out at www.loganmagazine.com. If you know someone who could use it get them signed up, its great. Paul was an Ambassador for the walk. He has also spoken to the United States Senate advocating for people with disabilities.

You can see my mom in this picture walking through downtown.

I have to give a special thanks to DJ. He helped me plan this event and he was the perfect volunteer. He woke up with me at 6am to start hanging up signs. He forgave me when I got mad at him for losing my scissors. He gave me a big hug when it was over and let me sleep for 14 hours. He forgave me when I woke up at 4am and woke him up to look at things I found online. He is a great guy.

The Receptions are finished!!

2008-06-24T20:59:00.001-07:00

After a month of wedding we are finally finished!! I have to admit I had a ton of fun planning my dream wedding and receptions with DJ and my mom, but with school and work, I'm ready for a break from planning. I can't complain though, both receptions were awesome! We called our receptions "Garden Dinner Parties" because we just wanted to plan a party and have fun.

In Moses Lake we had Shish-ka-bobs, rice salads, homemade rolls, watermelon, grapes, and the delicious Strawberry Cream Puffs made by Brother Anderson. Drex Palmer and Scott Carver were our amazing BBQers. Theresa ordered her husband a chef's hat and apron for the occasion.

The party lasted from 6 to 8:30 in Perrins backyard. It was a gorgeous Saturday, warm and sunny. I also got to see a lot of my favorite people I don't get to see enough. Tiffany and Cassidy were able to stop by, even if it was just for a moment. I love going home to Moses Lake.

Spokane's Reception was truly a miracle. The weather forecast was high of 92, thunderstorms in the evening. What does that mean, an extremely hot and humid day that ends with an extreme rainstorm, and that's exactly what happened. We held our reception at Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane Valley. We started setting up at 8am. It was extremely hot, but cloudy all day. As the time for the reception neared, we had a couple of raindrops, but nothing major. At 5:45, 15 minutes before our guests were to arrive the wind picked up and the rain drops became more frequent. Well, I always had faith that my Heavenly Father cared enough about my garden dinner party that he wouldn't let nature ruin it. So DJ and I said a quick prayer to stay the weather till we were done at the park. He did. And of course, it was more perfect then I could have expected. The clouds were perfect. The kept out the sun so our family pictures turned out perfectly. The few drops of rain cooled the temperature so DJ could wear his tux without being too hot. The weather was perfect and the food was amazing. We had hamburgers, sausages, hot dogs, pasta salads, watermelon, and strawberry sauce on bunt cake.

This is one of our shots, DJ is so handsome.

I'll post more shots when I get them, the photographer is making them all pretty. You can check out some of her stuff at http://www.flickr.com/photos/chelseakrieger/.

2008-06-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry I'm such a slacker when it comes to posting. But I'll explain the past month so you can understand why.

Most importantly DJ and I got married!! May 9th was the big day. It went perfectly thanks to my parents, DJ parents, Brittany, Kelly, Stacey, Kim, and our family members showing up on time. Our close family friends Mervyn and Brenda came down with their daughter Stephanie. And even though none of my high school friends were able to come, two of their moms came to support. Brenda Goodrich and Susan Byington came over just for the wedding. We got married at 3pm. Afterwards we went across the parking lot to a family dinner prepared by DJ's mom Linda and his Aunts.

This is a picture of everyone who was at the Temple.

This is my hot husband DJ.

This photo is DJ and I coming out of the Temple.

We went to Sandpoint for four days after the wedding. It was so beautiful and our room was perfect. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast called The Waterford. We highly recommend it. Here are a couple of photos from the honeymoon.
I've also been kept very busy by graduate school. I'm finishing up my last paper for the spring quarter. I'm going to take the summer of to focus on the next thing keeping us so busy, our very ghetto house.

I'm not kidding, here's some more pics!

How We Met

2008-04-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that DJ is going to add his own version of this story because he thinks I always leave out the good stuff. The funny thing is when you put both of our versions together, the story turns into a novel.

Ok so this is my version.

DJ and I met a little over a year ago at a dance in Spokane. I would come up from Pullman to scope out the guys up here. I started "dating" a guy from CDA right around the same time I met DJ. It was awesome because he would always ask me to dance and if would make the guy I was with pretty jealous.

When I moved up to Spokane in November of 2007 I was dating a guy down in Moscow and working in Pullman every weekend so I didn't really get into the Spokane scene until News Years. There was an ice skating party so I went with a good friend Matt. I noticed DJ was there and had also noticed that he had not paid any attention to me since I moved to Spokane. It took him the whole activity to finally come up and talk to me. I said to him, "Don't we know each other." It was all history from there. We saw each other the next night at a CES fireside, (it was Elder Tingey speaking about preparing to get married. This was a huge night for me because I was still avoiding serious relationships after the failed engagement. It was that talked that convinced me that I was ready to try it again.) He convinced me to play Ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of people I didn't know the next night. At Ultimate Frisbee he asked me out in front of everyone and we went on our first date that Saturday. On Friday we went to a dance together (which was lame) so we ditched it to watch Arrested Development. We laughed all night Friday night and our date on Saturday was awesome. We went tubing down Silver Mountain then ended up kissing in the snow. It was one of those first kisses that you see in the movies, perfect opportunity, setting, and atmosphere. We knew we were right for each other two days later and haven't had a doubt since. An institute director once told me that getting married is the biggest decision of your eternity, so you're going to get a strong witness from the spirit when its right. I always hoped that was true, and it is.