Beloved Prophet

I just heard the news of President Gordon B. Hinckley's passing this evening.  I am so grateful that we had such a wonderful prophet to lead our church and love its members.  I feel very fortunate to have been in his presence in both the conference center and at a few BYU events to feel of his spirit and joy for life.  What he left behind is remarkable.  You can check out the article released by church news here. 

New Year, New Car!

Josh and I spent the last few months researching cars and looking for a great deal on an excellent car. Well folks, I'm happy to announce that we made our purchase. Take a good look at the 2008 Lexus GX. Here it is in our driveway:

Now here it is with the man who bought it behind the wheel: my Dad. While in town for New Years he headed down to the dealership and bought himself a new car. Way to go Dad! We loved cruising around in it until he drove it back to Genoa.

And yes, Josh and I really did buy a car. We call it our new, used car. It's an 03 Infiniti I35. We weren't looking for something quite this nice, but we found a deal that we couldn't pass it up!

Speaking of the New Year holiday, we did spend some fun time with my family in town. Here is a shot of everyone (except Miranda) in front of the Bellagio. With such a big family and so much traveling now can you see why it takes me so long to update my blog? We're always so busy!

Finally, a Christmas Update!

I guess it's time I get around to updating my blog. I added a few new posts since I haven't done it in a while. This slideshow is from our trip to Genoa to be with my family for Christmas. It was so fun and crazy getting everyone together. Enjoy!

Pimp My Ride

My family came to Vegas for my brother-in-law's graduation the weekend before Christmas. Since we were all heading back to Genoa for the holiday there were a few gifts we had to open that were just too big to travel with. One in particular was Macie's new bike, the Kettler air-happy kettrike. It features air tires, handbrake, steering lock options, and freewheel pedaling. Not to mention a removable handle in the back for parents. Apparently it also doubles as a passenger seat. I must admit that Macie's new bike is nicer than my own! She has already been spotted cruising the neighborhood in style.

Party Time!

I think this past December can officially be called the party month. Here are a few highlights:

Josh's office had a really impressive Christmas party. I had my first taste of king crab legs, Macie met Santa's helper, and they took a family portrait for everyone. I think ours turned out cute! The sad news is the pictures I took were lost when we cleaned up our computer.

We had the funnest party ever at our house (if you were there you know it's true!) but unfortunately all my pictures were lost. GRRRR! This is one I got from my sister's camera taken right before we started the unwrapping game. It pretty much resulted in a wrestling match. We had great food, good company, and some hilarious white elephant gifts!

My in-laws also had a nice party at their house, and some other friends as well, but yet again there are no pictures. How sad!

Pobre Trisha

I have so much to say yet so little time. That's how life seems to get this time of year I guess. I'll be updating my blog later about all of our Christmas season fun. For now, I have to take a moment to talk about sad little me.

Yesterday I had to go to the lab to have some blood drawn for a couple tests. This is never a pleasant experience for me. Not only do I have tiny veins, but they roll as well. This results in the phlebotomist digging around in my arm with a needle trying to catch my veins. Of course yesterday was no exception. After 3 tries my arms were hurting and I was feeling very sick. I am very familiar with the phases of passing out and knew I was getting close. First I get sweaty, start to go pale, get sick to my stomach (at which point my color turns from pale to greenish), have trouble breathing, tingle, see spots, and then the lights go out. When they finally did catch a vein the blood was drawing so slowly that at times it would stop, then start up again. I was DYING! I would much rather pass out sooner than go through the agonizing phases that lead up to passing out. However, I didn't quite make it to seeing spots when it was all over. After my recovery I was free to go with a few bruises on my arms.

Lucky for me, I had a similar experience around noon today. I was in the kitchen wearing slippers when I decided to run over to prevent Macie from spilling her yogurt. When I rounded the corner my feet shot out from under me and down I went on the tile, hard. Oddly enough I landed mostly on the knuckle of my right hand. I had a surge of pain and then nothing. I totally panicked and refused to look at my hand because it felt like my knuckles had smashed into my hand. I instantly had flashbacks to freshman year of college when I had a nasty thumb dislocation. The pain felt the same and I knew what an unpleasant experience that was. I picked myself up called for my brother-in-law who was upstairs, telling him the my hand was broken. He and my sister both came down at which point I started to enter the stages of passing out. This time it was prolonged by a bout of hyperventilation. It was miserable and I wished I had been knocked out because for me it is far worse going through the pain and misery. The whole not being able to breathe thing didn't help either.

So, hours later I am ok (obviously if I'm typing!) with a bruised right hand, knee and hip. Am I getting old or what? I wonder what will happen tomorrow...

Jaw-Dropping News!

Now that I have your attention I'll just come right out and say it...my 20-month old toddler pees in the toilet! It is completely Macie's own doing. Let me bring you up to speed on how this eventful day has come about.

Macie's cousin Bella is potty training right now. The other day she was at our house and had to go to the bathroom. Macie watched in awe as her mom helped her sit on a "big people toilet" and go. The next day this video came about.



She is such a funny girl! The last couple of nights Macie started running to my bathroom toilet so she can "go" before she gets in the bathtub. I just hold her there for a few seconds and that's pretty much it. However, I told Josh that maybe we should consider getting her a potty for Christmas since she's showing a little interest. Well, tonight we were out shopping and we went to Babies R Us to get Macie's own potty. She was with us so we let her pick one out. As soon as we got home and brought things inside she was over to the box saying "rip it Mommy," so she could get it out. We took it out, set it up in the bathroom, and she just went. I was shocked! We made a huge deal about it and gave her a special sticker and her very first dum-dum sucker (I know).

A couple hours later we took her upstairs to get in the bathtub and she insisted on sitting on her toilet and...drumroll...she did it again! She's now in bed and I am sitting here wondering what to do next. Should I buy her some panties? Is this just a fluke incident? Will the potty excitement wear off? I really haven't looked into potty training at all yet because I had no plans on even attempting anything until after she turns 2. What a girl!

Speaking of Special Occasions...

This may come as a shock to those of you who know my family well, so please brace yourselves. My little sister Lisa is officially engaged!!! The lucky guy is Paris Bayardo, a friend that goes way back to her highschool days (which is hardly back at all), and they got together after his mission. Lisa is only 19 folks, but we won't go there. Paris just turned 22 so there must be some common sense in all of this, right? Juuuust kidding. We do like you Paris, eventhough you are totally robbing the cradle here. The date right now is for June 28th, one week after Lisa turns 20. Phew!

Happy Anniversary (and Thanksgiving too)

So this year our anniversary fell on Thanksgiving, Nov. 22nd. Yesssssss. Four years already; I can hardly believe it. It definitely seems substantially longer after watching our wedding video. Yes, I like to pull out the video on our anniversary eventhough it's cheesy. Halfway through I looked at Josh and asked him how much of that day he actually remembers. He said not much. It really is such a blur when it happens that it's funny to go back and watch it.

We decided to celebrate the day before Thanksgiving and went out to the rebel basketball game and then the Melting Pot. The game was great until the end when Louisville took a substantial lead and our rebels lost. We always go to the Melting Pot for dinner on our anniversary and, as usual, it was really good. Cheese fondue definitely holds a special place in my heart. I recommend it for anyone that hasn't been there already.

All in all, it has been a great 4 years filled with so much more than I would've imagined. I am really happy with where we are in our lives now, and most especially for our daughter Macie. There isn't a day that goes by where my little girl doesn't make us laugh. And Josh is the best husband and father I ever imagined. He really puts his 2 girls ahead of everything else and doesn't hesitate to do what it takes to take care of us. His willing attitude and desire to serve others is a great example to me. I truly am so lucky!

Poor Baby

We already have our Christmas decorations out (I know, I KNOW!) so I thought Macie could use a little introduction and instruction about them. To cut to the chase, the item of interest for this post is our nativity set. Notice anything missing from the picture??? If you look closely you may notice an empty manger. That's right, there's no baby Jesus. I told Macie about the nativity and gave her specific instructions that we are not to touch any parts of the display, including baby Jesus. She complied at first, until her cousin Bella came over. After an evening of playing, I put away Macie's toys and found some pots and baby Jesus in one of her purses. The next morning after another talk about not touching the nativity, I saw her standing next to it with the baby laying on the floor, minus one arm. She dropped the baby and broke his arm off! I couldn't believe it! I sat Macie on the stairs and this is how our conversation went:

Me: Macie, you broke baby Jesus' arm. I don't like it.
Macie: I like it.
Me: No Macie, I don't like it.
Macie: I like it.
Me: Macie, I DON'T like it.
Macie: I like it!

At this point I knew she didn't understand and I was trying to be serious, but having a very hard time. She is such a crack up!