Celia Starts School

Celia started school, ok pre-school, on July 31st of this year. She was so excited. Georgia has a lottery funded preschool program. So it is free, but it goes the normal length of school. In fact Celia goes to the elementary school for preschool. I have yet to let her ride the bus, though she really really wants to, I am just not ready for that. I really like her teacher Mrs. Purvis. She is a great teacher that is challenging, fun and loves my little spirited daughter.

Pregnant

I really am ever so glad to be pregnant. I am about 9 weeks along now and hoping that at the end of this first trimester I will start feeling better. Just a month or so to go to find that out. This pregnancy has definately been completely different from Celia's. I am grateful my husband is so supportive and does so much around the house to help out. Even if he does call me a slug. I have medicine for the naseau and vomiting so as long as I can keep it down I do much better. Every time I pay homage to the porcelin throne I have to remind myself that my baby is doing good and that this really will be just a short time. I really am looking forward to October to find out what I am having. My young women keep telling me that I am having a boy. My mother insists that it is a girl. I don't have a really strong feeling, but am leaning toward boy. So I am sorry if I am cranky and out of it, please don't take it personal I still love you, I just don't feel good at all.

Disney Fun Part 2

We took Sunday off parks and went to church and then the Orlando temple. It is an absolutely beautiful temple, just wish we had known how to get there before leaving the church building. Lost and hungry do not make a good combination.

Our family photo reflects the cranky and hungry.

Isn't it such a gorgeous temple. We were privileged to go there previously for a friends wedding and it really is so beautiful.

Monday was spent at Magic Kingdom, which is packed with lots of fun stuff to do and see....packed being the word for the day. We started it out with Breakfast with the Princesses. We all loved it because the food was good and we got to eat in the castle and we got to meet the princesses, they all came to our table.

Snow White came first and Celia wanted to know where all the princes were. Snow White said hers was waiting for her and they would dance in front of the castle soon, which I heard they did.

Sleeping beauty came up with this pose and I am with celia, is this really necessary...whatever.

Celia loved having all the princesses come and meet her. It was so fun to see her face and enjoy it with her. I would definately do it again.

Celia and Belle, one of my favorite characters....They give you a wand, a wishing star, and a photo package with Cinderella. We really enjoyed ourselves.

I guess this is a pretty rare picture to get, but we were waiting to ride the tea party ride and John went with Celia to wait in line and get her picture with Alice and the white rabbit. By the way 4 grown adults and a child do not fit in one tea cup, we learned that the hard way.

This makes me laugh so much. During a break time for the adults we went to a play area for Celia. She promptly made friends with these two boys and became the leader...ok their master cuz they were her dogs. I laughed and felt bad, but they seemed to be enjoying it as much as her....my little leader.

Can you tell how hot it was, look at those cheeks. Celia really enjoyed minnie's kitchen. So much fun to be had.

Who doesn't love a merry go round ride...we all enjoyed it.

I love this picture of mom and her new t-shirt, Cotton is your best friend when outside too long in Florida.

I love this picture of my dad cuz it shows his cowboy attitude. Too fun.

One of the benefits of going during the summer is the Disney waterparks are open. We went to Typhoon Lagoon. It was really so much much. The wave pool had the biggest waves that I have ever seen at a wave pool and literally knocked people over and into each other. This was a fun, but exhausting day. Playing in the water is so tiring.

Celia loved the kids area complete with slides and their own little tube ride. She rode a couple bigger ones, but loved the independence of being able to carry her own tube and do it all by herself at this one.

John and Dad loved the snorkeling with the fish attraction. It was really fun to be able to just enjoy the animals in that way. John took some pretty good pictures with our waterproof camera.

This is the entrance of the waterpark, but this is the end of the day. So much fun...I really enjoyed Disney and wish I could have gone to the other waterpark as well.

Disney Fun part 1

Okay slightly out of order, but that is otay. Our Second day at Disney was our favorite. We went to epcot and loved the gliding ride so much we rode it twice. We got to see a lot of really cool stuff and Celia loved the masks and coloring stations they had in each country. Celia also loved all the characters she met. Though you can't tell from this picture. Problem was she only wanted to see minnie mouse and had waited in a long line to do that. Then she found out she had to say hello to all the characters. Since poor mickey was first Celia had nothing to do with him.

Then it was pluto's turn, at least he got a look and a smile. She still wouldn't go near him though and Dad had to help.

Finally she got to minnie and she was golden after that.

She liked Donald so much that his was the only one stuffed animal she wanted.

Goofy was last and she was so happy she got to see everyone, especially minnie...

Celia also talked grandpa into waiting in a line for her to get to see snow white. Yeah for grandpas.

The Disney tradition is to get a mickey mouse shaped ice cream treat when you go, but Celia liked our ice cream much better. We all shared and it was still fun to try to beat the heat a little. Just so you know June is very hot in Florida.
Celia with her grandma and grandpa in front of Epcot.

The thing we love about Disney is they really try to make your experience great. You will randomly get taken to the front of the line just because one of the workers is being nice or anything like that. You may spend a good deal of money, though it wasn't too bad for us with the military rates. Anyways, the customer service and the way most of the rides and parks are run are great. There are a few rides that have horrible lines or are not the greatest, but it was still fun.

Our First Day was spent at Animal Kingdom. Which was a good day, but not our favorite. The Lion King show and Nemo show were really cool, and they had some nice rides, but the one we really wanted to ride we were unable to ride. Celia loved the ride above because she was in control of the movement of the ride.

The Dinosaur Display outside the dinosaur ride. Yeah we should not have taken Celia on this ride. We all felt like it was made for the hearing impared and wondered if we would need hearing aids after riding it because it was so loud. Celia does not handle loud noises at all. Then the Scary dinosaur right when they flash a light (take a picture) in your eyes...Yeah the end you look and the picture and everyone is going huh.

Really good advice we were given was to go to the Safari first thing in the morning. We did and the animals were definately out. It pays to go early.

Yeah I know the mass post again part 1...

John graduated from all of his training with the army in the beginning of June ....Yeah that means he gets to come home and be a reservist right? This is John and Celia with his good friend Jose. We miss Jose :(

Celia and her ice cream nose.

I really wanted to take pictures of them both that day. Celia was so cranky and John helped loosen her up, I am really glad he did cuz I love these pictures now.

Isn't this so cute....their little smoochies....
Celia, John, and another good friend Chelsea Jenson at graduation. It is always good to graduate, but hard to say good bye to friends.

Strawberry picking with friends at the end of May. Joanie and her little Serenity. Joanie is my best friend who until next week lives about a mile away. I will be so sad to see her go, maybe it is better that I am sick right now and can't think about it.

Joanie's little girl Destiny and my Celia. They are really good friends as well. Strawberry picking is always fun when you get to eat the spoils.

I am not really a person who usually likes pictures of myself, but I actually really like this picture. I just had my hair cut and colored and it looks pretty good.

Close up of the strawberries and the flowers. The coolest thing about strawberry picking is you get to see the different stages of growth a strawberrry goes through.

May 2009

My three helpers - Daniel Embry, Celia Autry, and Destiny Campbell. Daniel's apron I made for him, he's a huge Blues Clues fan, I think it turned out pretty good. Celia, well I tried to help her, but in the end she made her own apron and Destiny's is just one someone gave me. It is a fun project if you are looking for one to do. They are pretty cheap at Hobby Lobby. We've been crafting lately.

Celia holding little Serenity Campbell. She loves babies and is always excited at the thought of holding them. She doesn't have a very long attention span, but she does pretty good. She wants a baby brother lately.

Destiny (the big sister) and Serenity. Just before Serenity was born, Destiny kept telling me she could do things by herself because she is the big sister. She really is a great big sister.


You have to enjoy the sequence of events in these pictures from Rebecka Duggan and Isabelle Riddling's joint birthday party at my parents (they are only a day and 4 years apart).

Looking at the cake.Lighting the cake.

Hey wait, don't blow the candles out yet.
Too late, Let's try this again.

Adam Duggan at the park enjoying a favorite past time of mine as a kid. Who doesn't secretly dream of being a monkey when they are younger...before you remember the part of monkeys throwing their own poo at people.

Mass Update - April 2009

I just knew I needed to do this mass update. This week John graduates from his nursing program in the army and then we go to Disneyworld for 10 days or so and I know the pictures will pile up this week. At any rate, I love this picture of Celia (miss independent) making a pb and j sandwich and Daniel (little man) helping out in his funny clothes. He always makes me laugh, such a funny kid. The only just 3 year old I have ever heard tell a knock knock joke.

I love this picture. Celia had her face painted like a butterfly. I wish we had more pictures from this day. We went and did a 10k in my parents neighborhood. It was to support the Fallen Heroes of Georgia. Only appropriate that it rained on us the whole time and it was a very hard and trying run. There is nothing but hills in my parents neighborhood and none of those nice soft rolling kind, more like straight up and kill yourself kind. Yet we made it through and it was somehow a sobering experience to pass by all those names most of them really boys. You couldn't complain too much because they gave their life to support us and our country...what's a little pain, sweat and rain.

Our beautiful niece Emily turned 8 this year and had the privelege of being baptised. We always love it when we get a chance to get together with our family and especially love these momentous occasions. Yeah Emily.

At the very beginning of April we had the privelege of going to Hilton Head, South Carolina. It was fun. It was Celia's first time going to the beach and she loved it. The water was still cold and unfortunately it was not hot enough to make that ok. We still had a good time though....Here Celia is with her new friend. The girl seems to make them wherever she goes :)

Celia attempting a sandcastle. I have to admit I was less than impressed with the sand at Hilton Head, it was impossible to make a sandcastle. Oh well, maybe next time we'll go to Destin and enjoy that good sand.

At a park in Hilton head, they had this really cool thing...it kept moving and there was only water underneath. It was fun.

Even John took a turn in the fun. I love this picture of my husband, it truly displays his fun playful side. One of the reasons I love him so much.

Don't you love our tree lizard. I did.

Easter kisses. Ben and Amy on Easter. I used to have a tradition that I tried for a few years of taking pictures of family on Easter. I don't really press my family to do this anymore..But if they show up dressed up, I can't help but take a few shots....maybe someday I will get better.

Tabitha - Isn't she beautiful. I wish I could show her cute dress, but I am too lazy to load the picture onto the computer and flip it the right way, so you'll have love her face.

Celia (4), Izzy (almost 2), Kyla (2 1/2), and Becka (almost 6). They are all making such interesting faces. They were loving the picture taking though.

Kyla and Rebecka Duggan are just too cute. I love their easter dresses and them.

The newest Duggan edition - Lena. She is also so stinking cute... I can hardly believe she is crawling already. I saw it yesterday though.

Our Easter eggs that we dyed and stickered. I think they turned out decent this year. We did have some help though.

Celia hunted easter eggs with the Carter family and then with my family at my parents. She had so much fun hunting easter eggs. The Carter's did something I think is kind of fun, she didn't put stuff in all the eggs. It certainly makes for a more interesting hunt.

Isabelle Riddling loved the chocolate on Easter. She really was so cute.

Celia and Izzy both beautiful blondes. I love how unique we all are from birth. No one comes out a carbon copy of anything and I really believe they come out with their own personalities. The goal is to guide the personality to the best possible choices.

Isaac waited so long for his sister Isabelle. I think he would agree that she was worth the wait.

Hello Pain!

For those interested, this last week I underwent laproscopic surgery. On Thursday in the early morning. It was an exploratory surgery to see if I have endemetriosis and to see if everything looks good. I thought I would hurt a little and be a little out of it that day, but good soon after. I think I am slightly delusional. It is crazy the lengths that we will go to in order to have children. To be honest I would not have gone after this at all had it not been for my sister Rachel and Heavenly Father. My sister thought she might have had it and brought over a pamphlet on it. Yeah surprise surprise I had a few symptoms. At any rate I was praying about whether or not to start college next year when my dear sweet daughter goes to pre-k all day. I always told myself when my kids went to school I would go to school. My answer was wait and see, probably not, and I was praying about the wrong thing. The next day, I got the distinct impression I needed to have surgery. Since it was not at all something I wanted I had a slight disagreement for a week or so, until I read scriptures having to do with slothful people and heard a talk on revelation that said similar...Thanks Bishop. At any rate I went through the process of getting it all taken care of, the first doctors appointment was frustrating and I cried the whole way home. The doctor was nice and called later to talk to me and it made me feel better, although it is still rather embarrassing to cry at a doctors office and not be able to stop. At any rate a few months later due to surgery rules and doctors schedules I have now had the surgery. As always, Heavenly Father was right (there was a chance I would have surgery and they would find nothing). The doctor not only found stuff, she found quite a bit and even took care of some of the scar tissue I had from my c-section with Celia. There is a chance that one of my tubes is blocked, they did a dye test. However, I could have just reacted to the dye. Now it is just a matter of dealing with the pain, it reminds me of the c-section pain....why oh why do I want to do this....No pain no kids. So hopefully in a few months you will see a nice post saying that I am expecting a beautiful baby.

Friends

In Case you are wondering why the massive posting. Well I have a feeling that is the way I will do this blogging thing. Not to mention I finally I have my computer functioning enough to stand trying to update and I have had a chance to upload the digital prints. At any rate I am picking up more film later this week and hope that it won't take quite so long to add them.


This is Celia's BFF Destiny Campbell. Isn't she so stinking cute. They are a really good match for each other. Destiny can hold her own, but she is pretty calm and obliging.

Garrett Taylor, 3, at the park for playgroup.

All the kids getting their exercise on the outdoor treadmill at the park.....why they must all get on there at the same time ...their kids.

Peyton Jordan at the Valentines Day play group.

Celia and Daniel writing in their blues clues notebooks....Isn't the shower a great place to do that?

Celia loves to read and it is not uncommon for me to wake up to her on the couch reading books. This morning she chose to read to her dolls, Sophie and Nancy.

Celia with her good friends Destiny and Charity Campbell playing dress up. I love that I made that costume for her a few years ago and though it is far from perfect she still likes to wear it and dress up.

Hopefully a better picture of Rachel's quilt she made for our friend Joanie Campbell's baby Serendity. She is so awesome at quilting and so giving of her talent. She really blesses so many people with such beautiful quilts.

The Campbell (Landon, Destiny, Joanie, and Charity) family and their relatives at Charity's baptism. I am so lucky to live so close to such an awesome person and have such a good friend in my life. Joanie is the best.

Fort Gordon

Army Strong

Celia is ready to ride.......

It is crazy to think that my daughter is that small and that this tank is that big.

Celia absolutely loves planes and helicopters. She knows that planes have wings and helicopters have rotors. She can spot them when they are a speck in the sky and is just fascinated by them.

Memorial to the POWS and MIA soldiers. Always good to remember those who have sacrificed so much to help keep freedom alive.

I loved visiting John and getting the awesome opportunity to play the best sport ever invented. Volleyball...oh, I didn't realize I was in the picture, but anyways loved it and had fun.

This is a pretty old picture as you can tell from the Halloween candy in the room. I just thought some people might be interested in where John stays. That is his half and there is a bathroom and a sink, microwave, small cabinet space, and a fridge all in one little room.

A daddy-daughter moment. John is a loving father and just loves his little girl.

The weekends John is not able to come home, he is usually on Flag detail. Which means he wakes up and helps put this flag up and then takes it down every night. Since we live 2 hours away it doesn't make sense to try to come home in between.

It is not easy to live seperate like this and we are not sure what the future holds. All I know is that I love my husband and I am willing to do what it takes to make it last for eternity. I am a lucky woman.

Family

I love close ups on baby hands and stuff...so cute. This is Lena Duggan. She's a cutie and really pretty sweet. I love to get to see her.

Look at that face...so cute.

Aunt Amy is loving on her.

Don't you just love that hair....ok, so it is a weird picture, but sometimes those are fun.

Becka and Celia eating next to each other at the table and on the table. One of those silly things. My parents have since taken one of the tables down.

Celia and Becka had the digital camera for a little bit in the back seat while I was driving. These are the lovely pictures they took of each other. They also did a lovely video, but seeing as that camera no longer works I can't get it off.

My camera snow pictures.

I just love the close ups my camera can do of flowers and people. These are my flowers before the snow...so pretty and this year was the first year Celia didn't pick every last one of them in a day.

This is the way they looked when it snowed and they didn't really live after the snow left.

Celia and John smiling super big in the snow.

John leaving....so what do you think....John's digital or my camera...I like mine. Especially, since Celia got to John's camera and now it doesn't work.

Callaway Gardens - Valentines and another quilt

Isn't this so cool. I loved seeing the stages of bananas growing. We went to Callaway Gardens with my parents on Valentines Day. It was free to get in for the Month of February. There is not a lot growing, but it is still pretty and fun.

Isn't John so cute. Here he is by the vegetable garden.

Celia and I by the vegetable garden. We really did have a great day. My parents are so fun. Funny story, we saw this cool rock formation by a stream. It looked pretty slick as it was a rainy day, but fun. Mom decided to climb on it and check it out. She slipped and dad helped her and I screamed. John laughed at me and said, she was fine. Still funny that the love for adventure is ever present.

Mom and dad in the butterfly garden. It was so pretty in there and even though there were not a ton of butterflies, there were enough to interest us. Especially the names. A few were called common mormon butterflies. The prettiest were of course the blue morpho butterflies.

Some of the indoor gardens. We just loved the way this looked.

Celia and her Daddy. They have so much fun together and I love these opportunities of having fun and doing stuff as a family. We really should go back with bikes during the spring or summer it would be a blast to ride around and enjoy all the beautiful nature.


My sister Rachel is awesome....she made this quilt for our friend Joanie Campbell. She is having her 3rd little one and said this is her first baby quilt. I helped only a small bit, but it is still awesome.

Snow Day

About a week ago, I took these pictures on the digital camera or our flowers. I also took some with my camera, we will see how those turn out. They were just so beautiful and I wanted them to last a little longer.
Imagine our surprise when just a few days later we leave church to kids talking about snow and have a little snow storm. Our area was hit pretty good, my parents didn't get as much snow. We certainly enjoyed it while it lasted. When I was I kid I lived in California and where we lived it never snowed, it might have left a light layer, but never even an inch, nothing you could play in. So Georgia was the first place I experienced the snow. I love the way it snows here. Just every once in a while so you can play in it and love it, but not enough to ever get sick of.

Celia kept eating the carrot nose. She really loved carrots that day.

Dad and Celia. I believe this is the first time they've been able to really play in the snow together. Last year he was in Texas when snowed and before that she was too long to play in it when it snowed (less than 1).

Celia took this picture of John when he was getting ready to go back to base.

I took this because the trees looked so beautiful and I love how big the snowflakes were as they fell.

Celia took this one, I took one with my camera. This is John leaving in the snowstorm. Others might feel like this is a little silly, but it had rained for two days before the snow hit and their was ice on the ground everywhere. The snow isn't what worried me, it was the ice. Plus tree limbs were falling everywhere. It took him 2 hours to go 20 minutes and shortly after that he didn't have any issues. Course a little after he left (about 3) we lost power and it didn't come on until about 10. It was fun and we didn't have it too bad since our stove is gas and I have enough candles to light a house, plus a few flashlights. I did realize our heat was run by electricity and I will need to prepare with wood for fires for next year. It got a little cold, but we have enough quilts to keep warm.

This is our girl snowman. She has hair and yes those are some of the branches our tree lost, it couldn't support the snow.

The next day we still had plenty of snow to play with so we made 4 more snowmen, including a girl and a dog.....it was fun. We also made a snow fort. I am in awe that anyone makes igloos and such. It is quite a bit of work. I certainly hope they have more than just one adult and a 4 year old. We had fun demolishing the small fort.

Celia and the snowman we built to kill. Yep, we kicked it down the hill. It really did get to be a big snowball and we both couldn't push it anymore.

Dogs are so silly. Maze wanted to help us decorate our snowman. Thanks, but no thanks. Next time we'll do the decorating without him. Maze really loved the snow and played in it, peed in it, and ate it (not the stuff he peed in I hope).

Stuff

So, I am making a public vow to get my knee back into shape so that I can get into shape without having to take a break to get my knee to stop hurting. I know all the physical therapy stetches and stuff I need to do, I just need to do them everyday and ice and all that stuff. No more excuses. The occured when I got my hips fixed through physical therapy. Once they were better and I don't feel the run in my hips anymore, it has affected the rest of my legs and my muscles are not strong enough to help my knees out and so it just causes pain. I have also put on a little weight and even 5 lbs add an extra 25 lbs or more of pressure to your knees. So there are two things I need to work on.

I am going to do some runs and I am getting ready. I know I will have more time now that my daughter is going to pre-k. I will just send her to school and excercise my butt off....Hopefully literally. I am not waiting for that, but I am trying to look forward to that kind of stuff and not think about my baby being big enough to go to school....she even wants to ride the bus. Mom might not be ready for that.

The near future also holds a surgery for me, another on my long road of infertility issues that will hopefully have a successful resolution. I have known spiritually that I have needed surgery for a month or so, but getting doctors and that kind of stuff to agree is another issue altogether. The surgery is the only way to figure out if I have endemitriosis. It is also a way to treat it, just a temporary solution to something I will probably battle the rest of my life. However, I feel like I am doing what Heavenly Father wants me to do and nothing brings me greater joy than knowing that.

Celia's second set of tubes and third surgery

My little sweetheart and me waiting for surgery to begin. Since this is my third time with it all and I knew it would be a very short surgery it wasn't too bad. John was unable to be there because of course he is still in training with the army. Luckily my dad was working close by there and was able to be there.

Celia absolutely loves her grandpa. She misses him sometimes and wants to call him or see him. She was so happy he was there.

After surgery is a lot less happy, but she did pretty good and was just hungry because it was lunch time and she didn't even have breakfast. So after she got some liquids in and got ready to go we went to lunch and I even let her stay in her pajamas and pick out where she wanted to go. She wanted to go to Sweet Tomatoes because she likes the ice cream. She goes with her grandparents sometimes when we meet them at the temple after they work so we can go and they take Celia with them.
Not too long after getting home she is fine and just playing away drawing with some chalk. No long recovery here. Plus I finally don't have to have the volume so high on everything that I feel deaf. Course now my allergies are acting up and I have fluid in my ears and want to turn up the volume. At any rate, I am glad we did it and that she can hear again. I can hardly imagine what her PreK teachers would have said come July 30th. Yep that is one of the other things we did this month. Register her for PreK for next year.

It has been a busy month. Our car died, then we borrowed 2 different cars from a friend (funny story). Then finally our car is alive and well and my husband is the hero of the moment. It has been an adventure and I am just glad that we are getting through it all.