Christmas collage

A few pics of Christmas day..(click to enlarge it).

This year we all did handmade Christmas to make the gifts to each other mean more. My amazing mother made awesome quilts for all of us to suit our personalities, and everything everyone made/received was awesome. I kinda hope we do this every year. I

had to include a pic of my gift from Kalli, she made me a 20's inspired hat, and I LOVE it!!

Hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as we did!

Santa, Christmas dresses, and a family Christmas party

SANTA

Trin's face when she was next in line for SANTA!!!

She's been so excited for this. She didn't really make a list this year, besides one that said "no toys" after I had brainwashed her that she only needed books and the like, so all she asked him for was a doll.
Elli was excited to see Santa up to the point when we actually got in line, the she was terrified, as you can see by her death grip on me.

CHRISTMAS DRESSES

{I included a picture of the Sunday before last, so there would be a picture of Alex dressed up nice with his princesses, because he was out of town last Sunday}

she loves the camera, and the camera loves her!

Elli was just giving sweet little smiles like this, so I told her to give me a big smile and show me all her teeth...

this is the result. I LOVE it :)

The Nunez girls

my girls..

{some that Trin took}

Elli hasn't quite mastered a kissy face.. I think she may be sneezing?

CHRISTMAS PARTY

The only pictures I took at the Hamilton family Christmas party were of the kids doing the Nativity scene. They took it so seriously and it was adorable! Trin was Mother Mary, as she called herself. We obviously have a devout Catholic friend :) Merrik was Joseph even though he's only 2, because Breck, the oldest boy, didn't want to be Joseph but a shepherd, and he was a cute one! Hailey and Colter were our other shepherd, and Elyse and Lala we our wise women, with Elli being the sweet little angel.
It was a smaller get together than usual but still a fun party and it just wouldn't be Christmas without it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

one exciting thing after another-- that's just how we roll.

Alex just got home this past Thursday after working in the valley for 2 days short of 2 weeks. It was a long 2 weeks.
The Saturday before last (Dec.5) Alex went to the Arizona Mills Mall to do do some Christmas shopping. When he came out his suburban was nowhere to be found. Yes, it was stolen. Why would someone take it??, is what I asked myself. It's not exactly easy on the eyes. It does has nice tires and did have his dewalt tools in the back, so that's what we figured the thieves we after. So Alex called to let me know and made the police report. It was a huge blow to us. After having minimal work all year we were so happy that he finally had a big paint job to do so that we could get ahead, and now we felt anything extra would be going to a new vehicle and not Christmas and bills. It was a long night filled with worry and prayer. One lucky thing though was that one of the guys Alex had working for him had stayed later that day and had most of his paint tools, so that meant that Alex would still be able to finish the job. Yay! Alex was disappointed that he had just bought a bag 'chocolate cranberry crunch' trail mix that he had left in there.

We had no news about the truck that night or the next day, and tried to stay positive about the whole thing. Alex figured God had let them see his truck to take, and there-by saving him from a bad car accident or something. Last Monday, less than 48 hours later, the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office called to let them know they had found his truck abandoned out past Apache Junction and they would get back to him about the condition of the truck. Alex called to let me know that and we figured it would be stripped of anything that had value. We were a bit surprised and relieved to learn that it appeared to be in good condition with only a broken column. So far as we can tell they only took Alex's drill, his radar detector and a cell phone that his friend had left in there. They even left a new pack of 60 batteries and the chocolate cranberry crunch!
The towing bill and fixing the column was definitely cheaper than replacing the whole vehicle, so we feel blessed that's all we had to pay for. We also feel like this was our Christmas miracle.

Another exciting thing.

This past Saturday, since Alex had just been home for a couple days and I been working since he got home, we decided that we needed a fun filled family day. So we went up to Show Low and hit up the big stores in town, aka Wal-mart and K-mart. Then we took the girls to go see the "The Princess and the Frog". Way cute movie. We decided to start a new tradition so after the movie we headed out past Vernon to cut our Christmas tree! The road was covered in man-made speed bumps and snow. We had been looking for maybe an hour and Alex had yet to have a Clark Griswald moment (see National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation if you don't get that reference) when we hit one of the man-made speed bumps just a little to hard. The truck died and wouldn't re-start. It was just after 4 and we were about 6 miles from the highway and it cold and windy. We immediately said a prayed and hoped for a miracle, preferably one that included the truck roaring to life. But that was not to be our miracle. We had no cell phone signal so I thought we should try walking to the highway so someone could pick us up. Alex thought we needed to stay put so the girls wouldn't be cold, so that's what we did. Alex started gathering wood to build a fire and the girls could both tell that something was wrong and they wouldn't stop crying. So I gave up trying to comfort so I could help Alex. I felt that I should try my phone again, it didn't work. So I climbed on top of the truck, even though it hadn't worked for Alex, to try 911. It worked! I gave them directions to where we were stranded. I also called my dad to see if could drive out there and tow us home and before I got off the phone with him a random truck pulled up. 2 of the men were from Mesa and 1 from Prescott, and I was so glad that they had picked that day to be hunting. They tried to jump start the truck with no luck so we hooked up a tow strap and started the slow and scary drive to the highway. A couple miles into it a deputy drove up and followed us out and then after a couple more miles another deputy joined up with us too. The nice rescuers went on there way after we reached the highway and one of the deputy's was nice enough to stick around and let us stay in his nice warm car until my dad got out there.
After my dad got there he seemed to be waiting for something. So we went over to where he was to realize that he had driven into a hidden snow-filled ditch! So now our rescuer was stuck too. It is all pretty funny now. Luckily the deputy was able to pull him right out and we hooked up to my dad's truck and made the looong drive home. The girls and I were warm in his truck with hot chocolate and oranges that my mom had brought. Thanks Mom!! And poor Alex was freezing his butt of in the truck all alone. :(
When we got home we were so happy to climb into our warm beds and happy for the fact that we didn't have to huddle together and freeze in the suburban.

In the space of one week we had a second Christmas miracle. We are definitely counting our blessings!!

I'm glad we still have Alex's suburban, but I sure am sick of it and it's bad luck... :)

an evening for things Christmas

Trin wrote Santa his annual letter and put it, among other presents for him, in a box that she wants mailed off ASAP!

She even let Elli help her decorate the box. Elli also decorated her hands and feet.

While the girls were busy with their project, I was busy with mine. Hooray for cute and cheap ornaments from the dollar store and a glue gun!

Then we finished off the evening by decorating our gingerbread house! I'm pretty sure the girls both got as much frosting and candy as the house did.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

we have a mouse at our house.

and it's name is Eliana.

say cheese!

re-fashions.. from thrift store finds :)

for $3 I took a boxy jacket and put a couple seams and took the sides in a bit and now I have a super cute jacket! Next time maybe I should take the picture after I put a bra on... ;)









I got more than a yard of flannel for $1. The other night I saw the cutest bunched up scarf at wally-world for 10 bucks. All it had was one line of elastic thread sewn down the middle, so instead of wasting my money on a cute scarf I spent 1.38 on some elastic thread (one of my new favorite things), cut a strip of flannel and made my own!



And they look super sexy together!

BEFORE










I found this vintage dress at Savers for 5.99. All it needed was a more modern sleeves and a belt. I love it!


AFTER. I found an even better thick red belt for $1 that I think I'll pair with dress instead though.

20 minute sweater dresses (children interruption included in that time) I the idea for this here. I got both of these nice quality sweaters from shepherds kitchen for $1.25 each! So 2 new dress for that price, plus a few minutes of time, is fabulous!

Trin was, of course, making love to the camera, so I had to share a couple of my faves.

We're all a bunch of happy campers, or thrifters i guess you could say!

my new(ish) obsession

This is something I've done a little of over the years so it's only new(ish) in the sense that it's becoming an new obsession!  I finally have a huge desire to sew!  No just things from patterns, but to re-fashion thrift store finds and even clothes I already have, make purses and accessories. 

I can pinpoint (Alex can blame)  this new obsession to a few things;

1. my mother (it was her idea to have a homemade Christmas and sewing the few Christmas projects I've done makes me very excited),

2. crafting with some of my friends and on my own (bows for my girls, headbands for me, crocheting),

3. the fact that I am going to get my own sewing machine on Friday!!! YAY!

4. the INTERNET!  The possibilites online are endless, I almost feel like I'm on idea/project overload when I'm checking out different sites.  One of my new favorite sites is burdastyle!  Check it out, it has free patterns and techniques and I think it's amazing!!

Really learning how to use a sewing machine might be a challenging, but I will definately be putting up pictures of things I make, but only if they end up looking good :)

a little bit of heartache...

I guess I am hoping that this will be a sort of therapy for me. Talking of the hurt is supposed to make it hurt less, or maybe talking about it shares the hurt. I don't really like letting people know when something is wrong because it makes me feel vulnerable and I hate that feeling. Although this hasn't been the worst thing that could happen to me, it still makes me sad. And don't feel bad if you didn't know about it, very few people did.

Heartache #1: I'll start at the beginning.

April 24: I had to pay a visit to my ob/gyn because my IUD that I had in had inflamed my cervix and given me an infection so they had to take it out and out and put me on a 10 day antibiotic. (That day I also started my period.)

May 23: This was the day we had Trinity's birthday party. I was talking with one of my good friends while cleaning up, and while talking I realized that I should have "started" by this point in the month. I am like clock work-- every 28 days. I wasn't too worried because it had taken MONTHS of trying to get pregnant with my girls. The thought of being late just WEEKS after getting my IUD taken out was a little nerve racking though, but I hoped thought maybe my body was just acting different since getting it taken out. I was not that lucky. The next morning, after finding the extra pregnancy test that came with the one I bought when I was pregnant with Elli, I found out I was indeed pregnant. I was not very excited. My baby was not yet 2 and I wasn't planning on even trying for at least 6 months! I do not love being pregnant I was still at the point where I would feel sorry for pregnant women because they looked so uncomfortable. I finally decided, after 3 weeks, this is what God had planned and this was the reason for all my IUD trouble, and I started getting excited.

Last week of June: I started getting some cramping and light bloody discharge. I am not really a stranger of bleeding when pregnant since I had bled with both of my girls. I did not want to go through with the stress of bleeding and worrying about loosing the baby. Being pregnant is stressful enough without all that. The second or so night of cramping we had the missionaries over for dinner, and I didn't cancel because my dad was out of town and I needed a priesthood blessing, and I knew Alex could handle dinner. I got my blessing. It said wonderful things. It just didn't say what I wanted hear, that my pregnacy would be healthy and everything would be fine. After my dad got back in town, I asked him to give me a blessing also. After that I just felt that the baby wouldn't make it and I decided to wait it out and see what would happen. I didn't want to lose this pregnancy when I has finally come to terms with it and gotten excited. Plus, Trinity was even more excited than me and would draw the cutest family pictures with a big circle around my middle and a little baby in that circle.

July 2 (9 weeks 6 days): Alex was in the valley for a job interview. I started cramping pretty bad and felt I needed to go to the emergency room so that they could do an ultrasound give me a shot of rho-gham (I have b- blood) and tell me everything was okay. So, since Kalli was in town for the summer I left my girls in her care, and had my mom take me up to the hospital. After much waiting and worrying they finally took me in to get an ultrasound done. Since I have had many ultrasounds with previous pregnancies, I knew what to look for. I knew by this point in the pregnancy the little bean growing in me should have a heart beat. There was none. It broke my heart. And I think my mom's too, because she was right there crying with me and holding my hand.  After Alex, my mom is the next person that I would choose to be my support and I'm so greatful to have her with me.

Because of the point I was in my pregnancy I had the option to get a d&c. I decided that would probably be best so that my heart and body could heal and so that I could try and get pregnant again. The d&c went fine, but for a week I was really tender and crampy and the anesthesia made me feel really sick to my stomach for over a week.

Heartache #2:

After I had one normal cycle we decided to start trying again. Trying is the best part, right.;) No success that first month, but the second month we were successful! I found out the good news mid September. We all got excited again. I wasn't able to get in to my Dr.'s office for 3+ weeks because he was out of town. A week before my appointment I felt the familiar dread creep upon me as a started to have cramping again, but no spotting so I was more hopeful.

Monday, October 26, my first Dr.'s visit 9 weeks 4 days: My Dr. sees me and decides to have me get an ultrasound before he does his part of the check up. Alex was with me this time. We go to the ultrasound and are hoping to see a heartbeat in our little bean. Again, no heartbeat. I silently cry as my heart breaks again and wait until she finished. Alex didn't notice me crying until after the lights were back on. He asked me why I crying and I said "because there was no heartbeat." He said, "Maybe the baby is just to small to see it." So I had to tell him, "you can see a heartbeat around 5weeks, the baby is dead." He still hung on to a shred of hope until the tech patted my shoulder and told us she was sorry. Then we got to talk to my doctor and decide what to do. It was harder this time to choose a d&c because it was so hard on my body the last time. Plus, I had just done had one a few months before and never wanted another one. In the end I decided I needed to start healing again, so I chose the d&c. The hospital couldn't schedule me in until that Friday. I was a pretty hard week still being pregnant and knowing that I would get no baby, but I still tried to function and make my girls costumes and go to a Halloween party with some of my cousins.

Friday, October 30: Alex and I went to the hospital and my nerves were a wreck. I felt jittery and scared. When we were in the pre-surgery room getting my iv's and blood work done, I had a point where I almost hyperventilated, because every thing loomed down at me and I felt like I couldn't do the surgery and have all the horrible side effects again. Alex said a prayer out loud for me and then I said my own quiet one. And from that point until hours after my surgery I felt like there was a fog around me that kept me calm. I had none of the bad side effects this time, and I even took my girls to our ward truck-or-treat the next day. I did just need naps in the afternoon for a about a week.  I also feel bad for my family for having to deal with me and my rollercoaster of hormones these past months.  Right now we don't know what caused this to happen, and so my Dr. sent off the 2nd one for genetic testing to see if there was a problem that can be fixed with giving me hormones the next time.

As hard as this was I know that my Heavenly Father was looking out for me. Both times it made it so much easier for me to have lost the pregnancies when I knew that I had my 2 babies to go home and hold. I hope this experience will make me a better mother, that I will be more grateful for the 2 children that I do have, and treat them better. Life is so precious.

It might be a few months, or more, before I'm ready to try to add another to my family, but when that time comes I think I will not complain about anything that comes with having to be pregnant for 9 months.

you are my sunshine..

this is Eliana's very favorite song to sing.

don't mind my voice, she just needed a little encouragment in some places :)

while I was in the garage spray painting some frames...

I left the girls inside painting...

luckily is was just with water colors...

someone is pleased with herself. =D

one of my new favorite hobbies..

This does include, but is not limited to, sitting in sunshine (can't get better light than that!), listening to Christmas music on Pandora, and... sweet babies napping.  Now that is a recipe for relaxation!

someday this might be a hat..