North Carolina

I feel the need to mention how excited I am to go to NC in LESS THAN A WEEK! I wish that Dan was able to go with Nate and I, but we learned from last year that he just cannot miss any time during the first few weeks of school! Nate and I will have an action packed two weeks while in NC, with Mrs. Autumn's wedding reception on Thursday and leaving for Myrtle Beach on Saturday for a week! I am a little nervous about flying with Nate and also about driving for four hours with him, but I am sure it will go smoothly (well, at least the driving part)! I have started packing tonight because I feel like if I do what I normally do (pack the night before) that I will forgot something important for Nate! May I also mention that I am slightly nervous about how the "taking a baby to the beach" will work out, but at least at the beach there will always be someone who is willing to hold the little guy while I play or lay out! This year it looks like my mom, sister Autumn, her husband Ian, my grandma Mimi, my great aunt Judy, my great Grandmother McCall, my mom's cousin Terra, and myself will be at the beach! Poor Ian... all those women... unless of course Daddypa decides to come! Then again, last year Dan was the only man there and he did just fine! I would love to stay in NC longer than the two weeks that I am going to be there, but I would miss Dan far too much to stay longer without him. Not to mention how much Nate grows and changes in two weeks, I would hate for Dan to have to go any longer than that without seeing his little boy! Dan and I have not been apart for more than a week since we got married (and that was for last year's beach trip)! I know I already said it, but I really wish Dan was coming along, especially since he talked about going to the beach for MONTHS after we went last year and he said how much he looked forward to going this year again :( One day this whole school thing will be over and he will be able to go with us a little bit easier! Plus, I hope to be in NC after he finishes school! Perhaps that is wishful thinking, but here's to wishing!!!

Who in heaven's name lives in Aiken, SC???

Ok, so apparently you can see who has visited your blog, and where they came from. Meaning if they came via a link on someone else's webpage, it will tell you. It also lists the city in which their IP address resides. (We looked at our blog and it lists us as in Draper, which is like 30+ min away, because that is where Qwest's office is.) Anyway, getting to the point of this post, Stephanie has noticed that someone from Aiken, SC frequents our blog, and they don't link from anywhere, meaning they type in our blog address exactly.(Aiken is outside of Augusta, so our mystery visitor may be from there.) Now I have family (this is Dan) in SC and I am assuming this visitor is my aunt, Heather, but I don't know for sure, because I think I gave her our bog address, but can't remember for sure. I hate my brain sometimes. If it is please leave a comment, cause it's just starting to bug me not knowing for sure. Thanks.

Poor Baby... Again

I am glad to say that for the most part Nate is doing better! He is still a little bit stuffy, but his ear infections are "nearly gone"! Yesterday afternoon my Grandmother noticed that Nate had a bruise on the back of his head. I thought that this was especially strange and very concerning considering the fact that he had been in our care and I knew that he had not fallen or anything of that nature. So after considering the possibilities of what it may have been, we decided that it was best to take Nate up to Primary Children's Hospital ER. The doctors decided to draw some blood to run test to find out if he has my hereditary blood clotting disorder, Von Willebrands and to check his platelet count. They also decided to run a CT scan of his brain in order to rule out any major trauma. His platelet count came back normal and we are VERY glad to report that his CT scan came back normal! We will get the results of the Von Willebrands test on Wednesday when I call his pediatrician. Both Dan and I suspect that he does have the blood clotting disorder because of the amount that he bleed during his circumcision, but we will know soon enough! Nate was not at all bothered by the CT scan, which I was actually surprised at because they had to swaddle him and then strap him to the table and then restrict his head from moving and Nate is not a fan on having his body restricted in any form! However, he just laid there looking around (as much as he could considering). On the other hand, he was not at all a fan of having his blood drawn. He did not mind the nurse trying to draw blood from his hand (which was not effective), he fussed a little bit, but overall was OK. Nate HATED having his blood drawn from his scalp though, I did too!!! Nate screamed and screamed and screamed and I cried and cried! Nate was not in any real pain, he was mainly just T-O ed that he was restrained in the manner that he was. The swaddled him, laid him on his tummy, and essentially pinned him down to the mattress in order to hold his head down and then they had to use the tourniquet on his head. I do not really know how to describe how they do this other than that they stretch it across the head... obviously they do not tie it like they would on any other body part. It was all hard to watch just because he was so upset. Like I said, I knew that he was not in any real pain (except when they poked him), but that he was ticked off and upset. I was so sad I could not comfort my baby! We were both very thankful once it was over and I could comfort him (which in turn comforted me)! Dan took pictures of Nate with the warming pack on his hands (they use them to draw blood to the hands on babies) and I will have to post those later... Nate is so cute! They suspect that the bruise came from him rubbing the back of his head on his carseat or bassinet or something, who knows. Oddly enough, the bruise is gone now! Oh well, better safe than sorry. Not to mention, we had to get him tested one way or another for the Von Williebrands and I would rather have someone who was used to drawing blood from infants do it than someone who is used to working with adults. We will keep you posted on the results!

Testing Testing 1, 2, 3

Is there anyone out there? I am finding it odd that suddenly no one is "commenting" to any of my post! Are they really that boring or are you all out doing something fun and interesting that I was not invited to? :(

After my last post yesterday, poor Nate got sicker :( His fever spiked at 101.2 and he was an unhappy boy! Dan and I went out and bought a cool mist humidifier. We actually have two humidifiers at home, but not a cool mist one, which is what we need for Nate's room, plus they are in storage and we are not at home, we are at Char's. So anyway, we bought a cool mist humidifier last night and kept it on all night long! WHAT A LIFE SAVER! Nate woke up this morning feeling much better... he did not wake up at all last night and he was not coughing or sneezing during the night! Might I add... DAN DID NOT SNORE! Anytime there is moisture in the air, Dan doesn't snore... which means that I can actually sleep in the same room as my husband. Most of you probably do not understand exactly how exciting this is for me because you can normally sleep in the same room as your spouse, but Dan and I have rarely ever woken up in the same room as each other in the year and 5 months we have been married (lol... the year and 3 months we have been living together)! Needless to say, I think that a humidifier is going to be a permanent fixture in our bedroom (especially since I prefer humidity to dryness anyone... good ole Southern gal)! Back to the subject... Nate is feeling much better today. He has not been as stuffed up today as he was and his temperature is back to normal. I am really glad that I listened to my gut on this one yesterday and got him to the doctor before it got bad. I am sure that I would have figured it out (and so would my family) that he was indeed sick once his temperature spiked, but I knew in my gut that something was wrong well before that happened! Yeah for a mother's intuition!

My Poor Baby Boy!

The past few days Nate has been randomly crying/shrieking as though he was in pain, it had us rather baffled. Last night Nate woke up about every hour or so crying! As of this morning Nate woke up all congested, coughing and sneezing. I figured that he probably just had a cold or something and that there was nothing that I could really do for him other than to suction is little nose out from time to time to help him breathe a little easier. Around noon Nate ate and then PROJECTILE puked ALL over me! My aunt said that it was probably nothing and Nate seemed rather happy. A few hours later Nate started to get real fussy and would not take a nap (very unlike him)! Every time I would lay Nate down he would scream and scream and scream like he was in pain, so I decided to call the doctor. The nurse said that if he is not sleeping and he is screaming like "that" (she could hear him) then we should bring him in to be seen. So, we hopped into the car and off to the Dr. we went. Once we got to the doctor, Dr. Lam checked him out and sure enough, my poor little sweet baby has an ear infection in each ear :( Dr. Lam said that we caught it early on, but that he definitely as an infection and we will start him on some antibiotics as of tonight! I am glad that I listened to my gut and called the Dr. so that we caught it early on! I feel so bad for my little man, I hate seeing him in pain!

Sleepy baby boy

Don't ask why it is that when I blog, I make like 5 entries in a night... it is just how I roll OK! I meant to write this earlier (typical of me, I know)...

Nate has been sleeping for about 6 hours a row at night on average lately!!! YEAH NATE! I wish that I could say that I was doing this as well, but I am not! Hopefully I will get my sleeping schedule to sync with Nate's soon! Nate does not sleep through the night every night, but he is getting there! It is nice :D

PS~ The Olympics are addicting!

A Warning To All Of My Girlfriends

You've heard about people who have been abducted and had their kidneys removed by black-market organ thieves.

My thighs were stolen from me during the night a few months ago. I went to sleep and woke up with someone else's thighs. It was just that quick. The replacements had the texture of cooked oatmeal. Whose thighs were these and what happened to mine? I spent the entire summer looking for my thighs. Finally, hurt and angry, I resigned myself to living out my life in jeans. And then the thieves struck again.

My butt was next. I knew it was the same gang, because they took pains to match my new rear-end to the thighs they had stuck me with earlier. But my new butt was attached at least three inches lower than my original! I realized I'd have to give up my jeans in favor of long skirts.

Two years ago I realized my arms had been switched. One morning I was fixing my hair and was horrified to see the flesh of my upper arm swing to and fro with the motion of the hairbrush. This was really getting scary - my body was being replaced one section at a time. What could they do to me next?

When my poor neck suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a turkey neck, I decided to tell my story. Women of the world, wake up and smell the coffee! Those 'plastic' surgeons are using REAL replacement body parts - stolen from you and me! The next time someone you know has something 'lifted', look again - was it lifted from you?

THIS IS NOT A HOAX. This is happening to women everywhere every night.

WARN YOUR FRIENDS!

P.S. Last year I thought someone had stolen my Boobs. I was lying in bed and they were gone! But when I jumped out of bed, I was relieved to see that they had just been hiding in my armpits as I slept. Now I keep them hidden in my waistband.

"There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more." - Woody Allen

Pain, craftiness, and monitors

Well, after a day full of pain and suffering (apparently for Autumn as well) here I am finally awake, alert, and out of pain! I have been pretty much laid up all day from a SEVERE migraine! May I go ahead and add at this time that despite that I have had migraines for as long as I can remember, they bother me a lot more now (emotionally) because I feel like a bad mommy when I have to spend the day in bed trying to recover from a migraine. This migraine is more than likely my own fault (sort of) because I am about 99% certain that it was caused from caffeine withdrawal. Let me just tell you, caffeine addition is a bee. Hum, well, perhaps it is not the addition that is a bee, but the withdrawal that occurs from being addicted. I told Dan earlier, and now I tell you, that caffeine addiction and withdrawal is FAR WORSE than nicotine addiction and withdrawal. I would know, having been highly addicted to both and therefore gone through withdrawal for both. I will tell you that there is no doubt which withdrawal is worse! I get so physically sick when withdrawing from caffeine! Migraines, shaking, hot flashes, nausea, vomiting... the whole kit and caboodle! Enough about me and my withdraw! Poor Autumn found out today that she has a kidney stone. She was having what she described to me as pain "inside" (I thought she said "pain in my thigh") that Ian made her go to the ER for last night. Well, after being in the ER lobby for three hours (have to HATE ERs) she decided to leave, go home, and go back in the am if the pain was still there. Well, not suprising, the pain was still there in the morning. When Ian described what type of pain she was having last night I said that it sounded like kidney stones (I am so smart). Ian was worried that it may have been pancreatitis, which it sounded like it might have been because of the pain was on her left side, but they described the pain to be in the area of her kidneys. Autumn asked me what can cause kidney stones... the one answer that I know is that some kidney stones are calcium deposits. So of course, me being me, had to go and look up online what can cause kidney stones... on my search, I find this fun little picture. Below the picture the website it states, "Shapes of various stones. Stones are usually smaller than shown here." This made me laugh and I turned to Dan and said, "one can only hope"! So good news Autumn, your stone SHOULD be smaller than those shown here! Like I said earlier to you though, "good luck with that".

I added another link to the "frequented sites" to the right. This site is Homemade by Jill. I have to say that I envy Jill because I enjoy being crafty, but I am really not good at it... however SHE IS AMAZING!!! There are several things on her website that I really REALLY want to try, but honestly fear to attempt... because I know that they will be scary to look at once I "complete" them. I must add that I have a wonderful husband who supports my "craftiness" and allows me to buy stuff to pretend to be crafty with despite the fact that I rarely complete my crafts (such as the baby sleep sacks that I started a few weeks before Nate's arrival)!

So as I set here in bed blogging I am reminded of something that I keep meaning to blog about... our SWEET baby monitors! (As I start my third topic for this post, Dan reminds me that under proper blogger ethic two different subjects should be separate post... to which I replied, "well I don't give a beep"). We registered and received the Fisher-Price Sound and Lights Dual Baby
Monitor. We hooked them up about a week ago, before we set up our pretty new crib, to test them out and make sure that they work. Let me tell you what, they SUCK! They SUCK BIG TIME actually. We could not go outside of the room that the base was in and hear anything but static on the handset. So, we decided to exchange them for some slightly more expensive monitors, because we found some great monitors that were well worth the extra $25. I learned a lesson which I should have learned a long time ago, let Dan handle all things that deal with technology. Dan knew exactly which monitors would be best and why, for which I am very thankful. We got our new, very nice Graco iMonitor Vibe Baby Monitors home and set them up and they work wonders. I can hear a pin drop in Nate's room on my handset. I can literally hear if Nate moves and the base is not even beside is bed. They are very nice... I love them! I would HIGHLY recommend this monitor to ANYONE who is looking into buying a baby monitor. It is worth every cent of the $59.99 that they cost. If you want to know more about the technology that makes them work so well... Dan can tell you! He says that because of the type of monitor that they are, that things like the wireless internet, cell phones, cordless phones and what not do not interfer with the monitors. Very nice!

The World Spins Too Fast

As I may have mentioned before, my sister got married... here are some pictures from the blessed event (which I was not at... may have mentioned that before too)! :D




<--- My grandfather (Daddypa) walked Autumn down the aisle (driveway)!

















<--- First kiss as husband and wife!








<--- So happy!








<--- Time to exchange rings!








<--- I know that I may be slightly partial, but I do believe that is the most beautiful bride I have ever seen!








<--- NEWLYWEDS!!!







<--- The wedding party... Autumn's two best friends, Becca and Olivia and Ian's two best friends, Mike and Matt or Mark or Mike or something like that!















<--- Their turn to pick someone up!

A World of Difference

Emotional Day

Oh what an emotional day for Mommy! Nate has not been really satisfied by eating breast milk today, so I decided that we would see how he liked some solid food (figuring that he would not like it and therefore not eat it)! Boy was I wrong! Nate ate about 1/3 of a jar of Sweet Potatoes! I cried... literally! I had been feeding Nate and thinking how sad it was that my sweet little boy is growing up so fast (don't get me wrong, I am so proud of him and love watching him grow from day to day)! Then I let Daddy feed him some and I started to cry watching my baby sitting in a high chair eating solid feeds like some big boy! Before Nate ate his Sweet Potatoes tonight, Dan and I put Nate's crib together (all but the decorative piece that was broken so they have to ship us a new part)! I have been wanting to get Nate into his own room, but now my sweet little boy is sleeping in his own room without me and that made me cry too :'( Poor poor mommy!!! I will probably end up sleeping in Nate's room for at least part of the night (Dan's snoring...)!

Earlier today we went to my Andrew Jackson Family Reunion in Taylorsville. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing my extended cousins! Dan and I did not go to the family reunion last year, so most of the extended family had not met Dan and of course they had not met our little man Nate. I did not take too many pictures, but I did take a picture of the family tree (which I happen to think is too cool)! I got to add Dan, Nate and Ian to the tree today! Dan and Ian are red leafs (spouses are red) and Nate is a pink leaf (6th generation). I am not sure why I find the tree so cool, but I suppose that it is because it is a neat visual reprensentation of how are family is growing!

Hum... I went to post the picture of the tree, but my diaper bag is upstairs and my camera is in the diaper bag and seeing as it is 2:45 am and I have to be up at 8... I will post the picture tomorrow!

Here's to hoping!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Nathaniel slept for 7 hours in a row last night!!! He went to sleep at 1:00 am and got up at 8 am and then went back to sleep for awhile! I can only hope this will last, but we will have to wait and see about that!

Vinegar vinegar everywhere!

So... if you look to the right under our frequented sites you will see that I have added a new site as of today... 1001 uses for vinegar. After seeing, on another site, that you can use vinegar as a fabric softener I decided to see what else you could use vinegar for around the house (I already knew that it was commonly used as a cleaning solution). Apparently it is highly useful in many ways. I suspect that many of the people who regular my blog are also looking for ways to cut their spending and perhaps live a little "greener". These ideas are simple ways to do both. I for one like the idea of no longer buying fabric softener (especially after looking at some of the ingredients in it) and no longer having to buy the wide assortment of cleaning products and disinfectants that we use! I have listed some of my favorite ideas from the website below, but don't take my word for it, go and check it out for yourself!

Get cleaner laundry! Add about 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar to the last rinse. The acid in white distilled vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics, yet strong enough to dissolve the alkalies in soaps and detergents. Besides removing soap, white distilled vinegar prevents yellowing, acts as a fabric softener and static cling reducer, and attacks mold and mildew.

Some stains on clothing and linens can be soaked out using equal parts milk and white distilled vinegar.

Clean and deodorize a drain by pouring in 1 cup baking soda, then one cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let this sit for 5 minutes or so then run hot water down the drain. *I have yet to try this, but one of my old neighbors says that she does this once a month in order to help prevent clogs*

Clean the microwave by mixing 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl. Bring it to a rolling boil inside the microwave. Baked-on food will be loosened, and odors will disappear. Wipe clean.

Discourage ants by spraying undiluted white distilled vinegar outside doorways and windowsills, around appliances and wherever you find the pests coming in.

Get rid of fruit flies by setting out a small dish of undiluted white distilled vinegar.

Clean the wheel of a can opener using white distilled vinegar and an old toothbrush.

Freshen air in the bathroom by spraying into the air a solution of 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar, and 1 cup water.

Clean vinyl baby books or board books by wiping with white distilled vinegar. Wipe clean with a damp sponge or cloth.

***I also saw on another website that if you do not like the smell that using vinegar leaves behind when using it as a cleaner, to add two drops of vanilla! I will be trying this idea of for myself!***

Suggestions please

OK, so apparently I am going to blog about 10 times tonight... you will have to forgive me, my mind runs at about 1,000 mph but it kind of skips around from one thing to another! Anywho... Dan and I have been wanting to do Family Home Evening for some time now (OK, OK, since we got married), but we have not figured out what to do since it is really just the two of us (Nate can only get but so involved you know)! I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions, ideas, or things that have worked for them while being newlywed or with young children! Any and all suggestions/comments would be helpful.

Side note... while I was searching for ideas while on the web I ran across this story and thought that it was cute and wanted to share it with ya'll...


The following story was taken from a post made in the LDS forums:

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window.

"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room .... just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged.. it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it ... "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away ... just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account ... you withdraw from what you've put in .. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories. Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

This is for the sole purpose of telling you that my sister is my BABY sister!!! OK, OK, I give... she isn't a baby anymore :( She is a married women! Can you tell I am still having a difficult time with this concept! Man, it is going to be so weird when I go out to NC in three weeks and my sister is not living at home with Mom, but is living with her husband! Not to mention when we all go to the beach and my sister and her HUSBAND are there (but not my hubby)!

Work, cribs, and other annoying things

As I was titling this blog, the song, "Back to school, back to school, to prove to Dad I'm not a fool" (from Billy Madison) popped into my head... I thought about titling this post "Back to work, back to work, to prove to the wife I'm not a jerk", but since that was not accurate and I could not come up with anything funny that rhymed with work, I passed on it! Onward with the post...

Well, we are pleased to announce that Dan will be going back to work as of tomorrow afternoon. Dan will be going back to his old job working as a courier, the nice thing about this is that he will start off at the wage that he left off at and will also be eligible for benefits immediately. I have to admit that I have highly enjoyed having Dan home for the past few weeks. I know that I have mentioned to several people that this is the first time that Dan and I have had an extensive period of time together. As most of you know, when did not exactly have much of a courtship, we got married and only had two days together for our honeymoon before I returned to NC, when Dan came to NC a week after I left UT, we were with my family the whole time (not to mention VERY sick). After Dan left NC, we spent the next 6 weeks apart until I moved out to UT. Once I moved out to UT, Dan was working full-time for the summer. Of course once school started again, Dan was no longer working full-time, but was working part-time and going to school full-time and I was working part-time. Anyway, needless to say, this is the longest that we have ever had together. Not that we are exactly alone, living in my aunt's basement and all, but it has been enjoyable. Although I must admit that Dan starting back to work will certainly be a stress reliever... there is nothing like the stress of a new baby and being without employment! I know that it could have been much worse, say had we been living in our old apartment and having to pay rent and other bills on top of that! We certainly do look forward to having a steady paycheck again and highly look forward to being able to get back into a place of our own. We were really hoping to move before Nate and I go to NC and Dan starts school, but I do not see how we will be able to make that happen with that being only three weeks away. I know that after Dan goes back to school it is going to be highly difficult to move because of all the packing and unpacking that I will have to do without Dan! Wish me luck with that when it comes!

Next topic... crib! So we have been waiting for the directions for our crib to be sent to us so that we can put the dang thing together and also figure out what pieces we are missing so that we can order the replacements. Dan, being the smart man that he is, decided to do some more searching on the trusty web after we had not gotten the directions after more than a week. Well, come to find out... our crib was recalled back in 1991 (old crib), so they will not be sending us the directions, nor can we order parts for it. So begins the crib hunt. We found one at Walmart that we love, it is a crib and changing table combo. So we start looking for the box at Walmart, no box... so I suggest that we go home and get online and see which Walmart does have the crib. So I put our zip code into the "find in stores" link and bam... NO STORES WITHIN 100 MILES CARRY THIS PRODUCT! Can you say ANNOYING!!! So now we are back to square one! I really would like to find a crib for $150 or under that is also a convertible crib, meaning that it will convert from a crib, to a toddler bed, to a daybed, to a full-size bed. This way, if we do not have another baby by the time Nate is ready to be in a toddler bed, we can simply transform it on over!

So, let me just tell you... this someone tried to burn our house down has me freaking out! It is of course the worst at night... every little noise outside the house makes me think, "Is there someone out there that shouldn't be" or "Is someone trying to kill us again". Now for those of you do not know me very well, I have slight paranoid thinking in the first place, but now I am bugging out! Like I said before, it is not that I am fearful of my own death, but I am highly fearful of losing Nate. I do not know of anything else to do but trust that the Lord is watching over us and protecting us!

Announcing Mrs. Autumn Foley

Well, today my baby sister got married! I, of course, have mixed emotions about this! I am so happy for my sister... happy that she found true love, happy that her husband (weird) Ian is such a great man, happy that she will one day be able to be sealed to her husband for time and all eternity (seeing as Ian recently converted), just happy for Autumn in general. On the other hand, I am deeply saddened that Dan, Nate, and I could not be there today to witness their marriage! I do not really know how to describe the other feelings that I have... you know... the feeling that you can grow up, get married, have children, but that does not mean that your baby sister/brother should be able to do the same. Oh well... I suppose we all grow up (well, hopefully)! I am sure that my parents are having the same sort of feelings that I am in regards to Autumn getting married, but probably more intense. I can only imagine how hard it is for my mom, since Autumn and Mom having been more or less living just the two of them since I left for college (on and off) and then got married. My poor mommy is an empty nester :( I know that my parents share in the joy that we all feel for Autumn getting to marry such a wonderful man like Ian! I haven't seen any pictures of the wedding yet, but hopefully I will soon! Congrats to Mrs. Autumn Foley and welcome to the family Ian! We love you both dearly!

Saved!

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie Saved! but I for one love this movie (It's my favorite movie of all time, yes it is better than Star Wars or Lord of the Rings.), and Steph loves it as well. If you haven't seen it rent it. It's great. Please read this so that you will know who is speaking in these quotes.

Cassandra: Is that-
Roland: Mary? What is she doing downtown?
Cassandra: There's only one reason Christian girls go down to the planned Parenthood
Roland: She's planting a pipe bomb!?
Cassandra: Ok, two reasons.

Hilary Faye: Mary, turn away from Satan. Jesus, he loves you.
Mary: You don't know the first thing about love.
Hilary Faye: [throws a Bible at Mary] I am FILLED with Christ's love! You are just jealous of my success in the Lord.
Mary: [Mary holds up the Bible] This is not a weapon! You idiot.

Hilary Faye: I'm saving myself until marriage and will use force if necessary. (fires pistol at target, shooting the pelvic area)
Guy in background: hey, no rapid fire!

Veronica: In countries like china children like Roland probably would have been killed at birth.
Hilary Faye: yeah Roland, then where would you be?
Roland: China.

Mary just watched a show about a lady with cancer, who thought she might have been pregnant, but found out it was cancer, and Mary just realized she might be pregnant and is riding her bike home to take the test
Mary: please let it be cancer. please let it be cancer. please let it be cancer.

Mary: What did they send you to strap me on the back of your scooter?
Patrick: Scooter? Mary, this is a Vespa. And I don't know what you are talking about.

Pastor Skip: I'm gonna need you to be a warrior out there on the front lines for Jesus.
Tia: You mean like shoot her?
Pastor Skip: I was thinking of something a little less gangsta.

Mary just went into labor
EMT: Hold it, i've only got room for one of you.
Dean: I'm the father
Patrick: I'm the boyfriend
Mitch: (pointing to dean) I'm his boyfriend.
EMT: That's nice, but I still only have room for one of you.

Mary: So everything that doesn't fit into some stupid idea of what you think God wants you just try to hide or fix or get rid of? It's just all too much to live up to. No one fits in one hundred percent of the time. Not even you.

Mary: Why would God make us so different if he wanted us to be the same?

What I remember about last night

Stephanie has given an overview of last night and stated that I would give a more detailed account. So here is what I remember.

I remember going to bed in the second bedroom (I snore loudly and often keep Stephanie up, when we sleep in the same room), and the next thing I remember is Stephanie telling me to get out of the house. And like any concerned husband I immediately asked "Why?" To which Stephanie answered that they smelled gas. I am never quite with it, when I first wake up, so I wasn't really paying attention to the smell of gas. I got dressed fearing that by turning on a light, I would blow up the house. I turned on our light anyway, just to make sure. To my relief I did not blow up the house. I left the house, and found everyone gathered out by the firetruck. I could no longer smell the gas over the smell of the firetrucks diesel. We waited while the police and firemen investigated what the cause of the problem was. Shortly thereafter the policeman took off (we later found out that there had been 2 calls about a prowler in the neighborhood behind ours). After about an hour and a half we found out that some one had doused our lawn with gasoline. So we went back to bed, with fumes still in the air, thinking someone had just pulled a malicious prank on us.

After we woke up, we found out the extent of the dousing. Apparently someone had poured gas all over the front lawn, all over the bushes right in front of the house, as well as the grass right in front of the side door (the door that Steph and I use to go in and out of the house), and in the drain right in front of the door. Thus it seems as if they were trying to block all the exits from the house.

So looking back at the situation as a whole, it appears that whoever did this used plenty of gas (we estimate at least 10 gal.), and had a plan. (blocking all the entrances, and they would have made several trips to wherever they had the gas for the amount of gas that was poured) They also didn't care who they killed apparently. As far as knowledge of the family, they obviously don't know us very well, because if the didn't they would have known that someone was usually up at 4am on Saturday nights.

At this point we have our suspicions about who it was (there is only one person we can think of who would want to do this. And they already have a criminal record.) The problem at this point, now that the fumes are gone, is whether the person is willing to come back to finish the deed. That's the scariest part. We are pretty sure that they got scared away, because Steph's aunt woke up from the fumes and turned on lights. Our fear is that they will come back, having learned from the experience. So as we pray for safety at night, we really, really mean it.

Scary SCARY night!!!

Dan says that he is going to post about this topic and to be honest, I would rather let him blog about it in detail, but I am going to make a short post as well. Last night was SCARY! Apparently someone in this world wants someone in our house dead and is willing to killing everyone in the house in order to achieve their goal. If such said person does not really want any one dead, then they certainly wanted to scare us, which they did. I was woken up at 4:30 this morning when my aunt opened my door and said, "get the baby and get out of the house". Upon waking up and going to the other room to get Dan (he was sleeping in there in order to get some sleep without having to wake up for Nate and such) Nate and I got out of the house. We could smell as STRONG smell of gasoline and thought that there most be some sort of leak in the house. After about an hour and a half outside our house we found out that someone poured gas in our front yard. As the day progressed we found out that not only was there gas in the lawn, there was gas ALL OVER our bushes in the front yard, and gas by our side door (which is the door beside our bedroom)! The scariest thing for me is the thought of losing Nate. I can BARE the thought of my own death (not that I like the thought), but I cannot imagine losing Nate. Not to mention, last night Sean was also in the house. How horrible would that have been... there were 6 adults, one teenager and two infants in the house! Like I said, scary scary night for us.