new specs

We took Zoee to the eye doctor today and we ordered her glasses. We took her a year ago and he said that she would more than likely need glasses but that we could wait till she started school and we would test her again. We got a letter from the school nurse telling us she failed her eye exam that they do at the school and that we needed to take her to the eye doctor. She did really good and did everything the doctor asked her to do. She was so brave. Nate also had an appointment and the doctor told us that Zoee's eyes are already half as bad as Nate's. Poor girl. We picked out some glasses and they will come in 1 week. She looked really cute in them. It will take some getting used to but it will be good for her to finally be able to see clear.

Forever.

Zoee is really into hearing stories about when she was a baby. Luckily, I was very good at keeping the blog up to date when she was litte so I have a lot to tell her. I don't have as much for Gus and I have nothing written down for Zeke. I feel bad because I know there will be a day when they want to hear stories and I won't remember any of them.

Zoee is in Kindergarten and she loves it. As soon as we drop her off at the gate, she runs right in and runs to the play ground. It is fun to see her so happy and loving school. She has really started to have a little attitude though and thinks she is in charge. She is always bossing Gus around and like to be in control. She does not like to be caught bossing him around and usually cries. She is such a good helper with Zeke. On Sunday, I laid down for a nap and Zeke woke up before I wanted to be awake so she made him a bottle and climbed into his bed with him and fed him. She played with him for awhile and was making him laugh. She was the first one to get him to laugh. She is adorable when she talks to him and he loves her so much.

Gus. Wow. What do I say about Gus? We should have named him grumpy because that is all he is. He is the grumpiest boy I have ever met. Not kidding. He wakes up grumpy and goes to bed grumpy. He does not take naps anymore but if I am lucky and he takes one, the day is much better. Even though he is grumpy, he is adorable. I love that boy so much. He says some of the funniest things. He makes us laugh (when he is in a good mood). He does not listen very well at all and will not clean up his toys when he is asked. He is not potty trained yet and does not show that much interest in learning. He LOVES Nate and he always wants to be with him. He will not have anything to do with me when Nate is around. Even when he is not around, he is always crying for his dad. He loves him so much and wants to be with him all the time. He hates wearing clothes and always wants to wear just his diaper. He hates leaving the house and always wants to stay at "las vegas" which is what he calls our house. He is quite the character.

Zeke is my most sweet baby. I am in love with him. He is such a joy to our family and I can not imagine life without him. I am not sure if I have just forgotten what it is like to have a baby but I have enjoyed watching him learn and grow so much! I struggled with him at about 6 or 8 weeks but it is so much better now. I love to cuddle him and rock him to sleep. He is a good baby and sleeps through the night. He is getting so good at entertaining himself and will lay on the floor and play with his toes and look around for awhile. He usually only cries when he is hungry or tired. He does not sleep well during the day. He takes short little naps and then gets up for an hour or so and is ready to go back down. He will be 5 months old this week and I can't believe how the time has flown!

Christmas is coming and our weeks are super busy! I need to make more of an effort to write things down so I can remember them. I know some day my kids will be thankful for it.

Meet the Zekester...

Our baby boy is here and we could not be any happier!!

Zeke Rodney Garrard

7-10-10

1:28pm

9 pounds 2 ounces

20.5 inches long

update

I am kinda mad at myself for not keeping up on our blog like I should have. I first started the blog over 3 years ago, just after we got married, to keep my family in Utah updated and informed on our life in Las Vegas. It turned in to a good spot to for record keeping and we updated it a lot with milestones of Zoee's life. We have not done so good with Gussy's life and I feel bad. I don't have the important dates written down or any of the cute things he does and that makes me sad. I really need to try to do better...for my own self and for our family. I used to be an excellent journal writer and have over 20 journals from the time I was in jr. high but things just get so much more hectic and life just passes you by. So here is an update on our life and family.

Nate.
He is doing good. I came home from Utah yesterday to a shaved head husband. I really like when he has hair but he does bring up a good point about it being much cheaper to just shave it. I still love him even if he doesn't have much hair. He just started his new shift a few weeks ago and it seems to be working out ok. He works from 9pm to 7am which I kinda hate that I am home alone the entire night but it is ok. He has friday nights and saturday mornings off and that is really nice. We are able to have a little more of a social life. He is currently working in the female dorm at work and as he will tell you, he hates it. He says the women are drama, catty and needy. I remind him to just be patient with them and his time in that station will be done soon. He is currently serving as the sunbeam teacher in our ward but just barely started to be able to go to church (once his new schedule started since we have 9am church now). I think he likes it ok. I keep telling him it is one of the best callings in the church, in my opinion. I think that pretty much sums it up for him.

Me.
I am good. I am not really sure how pregnant I am. The doc says that according to my last period, I would be almost 22 weeks but according to the ultrasound, I am 2 weeks behind that so he has changed my due date. I am now due on July 15th instead of july 5th. I am ok with that because I DID NOT want a baby close to the 4th of july. Don't know why, I just don't. I have another ultrasound on March 2nd to check everything and hopefully we will be able to see if it is a boy or girl. I want both for different reasons so I guess either way, I will be part happy and part disappointed. Just as long as it has everything it needs and is growing properly, I am good with whatever sex it is. This has been the hardest pregnancy for me physically for some reason. I have been more sick with this one and still continue to get sick even this far along. I guess every pregnancy is different. I was not tired at first with this one like I was with my last but the tiredness has really set in the couple weeks. It has been killing me. Luckily Nate is home more often and can help with the kids. I went to enrichment today and it was really good. It was just what I needed to hear. It was on relationships. My friend Amy gave a really great lesson and she said so many things that I felt were just for me. It made me want to be a better mom, wife and person. I am glad that I was able to go. I am still serving as the RS Secretary and I love it. I love the ladies I get to serve with. I feel like they are my friends and not just people I work with at church. I really enjoy spending time with them.

Zoee.
She is becoming quite the little lady. I love her so much and she is such a blessing in our family. She is always willing to help and do things for me. It is really nice to have her around to help with the little things. She even knows how to change a diaper and will do it if I am busy. It is very helpful. She is not the best at cleaning her room but she tries. I have to remind myself that she is only 4 and it doesn't matter if the toys are there in the morning. It is not worth stressing over. She is going to preschool 2 times a week and she loves it. She loves doing her homework and the crafts at school. I really think she is ready for school and it will be nice when she can go more often. I am always having to try to find things to entertain her with and it's exhausting!! She is a sweet, sweet girl.

Gus.
Oh goodness! What can I say about my little man?! He is such a light in my life! I love going into his room every morning to see him flopping around in his bed. He always just looks up at me and laughs or covers his face with his "lankey" and waits for me to say, "where's Gus?" and then pops his cute little face out of the blanket. He is always running around and is such a little boy. He loves to go outside and always comes in muddy and wet. I am amazed at the difference in little boys and girls. He loves his cars, trucks and trains. He loves to watch Woody and Buzz. He is still addicted to his binky and loves his blanket. He rubs the corners of his blanket in his ears, nose and between his toes. He has worn out most of the corners. Sometimes if you are laying on the couch, he will bring his blanket and stick a corner into your ear. I guess he just wants to share some of what he thinks is so good. He is adorable and I can't get enough of him.

So that is a little run down of our life. Not a lot going on. We are just living life and having a good time. It's pretty boring most of the days but according to my doc, boring is good and I guess he is right about that. We have been trying to get out and do something fun every day. Mostly to get out of the house. It has been fun to find new places and we have discovered a few places that are actually really cool. We took the kids on a hike the other day and they really loved that except they kept saying they wanted to see animals. The only animals we saw were a duck, lizard, fish and one dead mouse. It was exciting.

Life is good.

911...what's your emergency?

Ok. So here is the story of what happened this afternoon and how our bathroom looked as though it was a crime scene.


Let me give you a little history first. When I was pregnant with Zoee I got a varicose vein in my leg. It is on my left leg about 5 or 6 inches up from my ankle. It was bad all through my pregnancy with Zoee. It calmed down a lot after I had her and even though you could tell it was there it was not nasty and bulging out like it was when I was pregnant.


Once I got pregnant with Gus, it returned and was nasty and big and painful all during my pregnancy. My doctor never seemed too concerned about it because it did getter better when I was not pregnant so I guess he didn't really think it was that bad.


Well, this nasty vein comes and goes. If I am on my feet for a long time then it sticks out more. Like when we walked around Sea World all day...it stuck out more and kinda hurt. The last few days it has started to stick out a little bit and bug me.


Ok. so now for today. I had just said goodbye to Sarah and needed to go to the bathroom so I went to go. As soon as I sat down I felt my that my leg was wet. I looked down to see that my pant leg as totally soaked in blood. I lifted up my pant leg and it was then that the thing started to spray! Never in my life had I seen so much blood come out of one person! It was seriously shooting almost 3 feet out. It was unbelievable! I grabbed some TP and tried to hold it on there but the TP was soaked within seconds. I knew I needed help. Keep in mind I am still on the toilet with my pants down! I started to yell for Zoee or Nate but they were outside. I thought for sure I was going to bleed out and die right there on my bathroom floor!


Nate heard me yelling (because I was yelling really loud) and came running into the house. He came in and saw all the blood and wasn't even sure what to do. We talked for a sec about who to call or what to do and we decided to call 911. I probably wouldn't have called them but we could not get it to stop. The operator told Nate to get some dry towels and apply pressure to my leg. He ran and got me 3 dish towels and I began to hold it on my leg. oh, I finally finished my business on the toilet and let go of my leg long enough to pull up my pants. The 911 operator said she had some people on the way. I sat down on the floor and tried to hold the towels on my leg and try to stop the bleeding but it was not stopping. I would take the towel off and it would squirt straight up like a water fountain. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen.


The paramedics finally got there and I think they thought it was a little worse than what it was when they walked in because here I am sitting on the floor, blood all around me, the floor, the rug and the wall. They told me it really did look like a crime scene in there. I was totally embarrassed! The nice man sat with me and held a towel on my leg for a good 10 minutes or so until the bleeding stopped. They made sure I was feeling ok and was not about to pass out. They offered to take me to the hospital but I didn't feel that was necessary and neither did they since they were able to get it stopped.


So this is where I am at. I have a bad vein that obviously needs to be fixed. I am so afraid that it will happen again and I might be some place alone of some where I can't get help. The paramedics told me that I need to see the doctor and they will send me to a vein specialist and they can go inside and fix the vein. I am not sure how but I know I want to do it.


It was awful. It was messy and gross. Poor Zoee was so worried because she saw her momma on the floor with A LOT of blood and was not sure what was going on. She keeps asking my why my leg was squirting blood so far. I am SO glad Nate was home and that he was able to help. I don't know what I would have done had he not been here.


I talked to my mom and she told me that my grandma had the same problem and she remembered a time when one of my grandmas broke open. Maybe it's just in my genes. Not sure but I am sure I don't want it to happen again!!

Here is part of the floor where I was sitting. This was even after I had taken a rag and tried to clean it up.

3

the number of piles of puppy poo i found in our bedroom after coming home from work today.
damn dog.

I think

time goes faster and faster as you get older. Really. I can't believe its been a whole months since I posted that last long-overdue update, and here we are a month later; time for another update again.

Really, I can't think of a lot except for things in this past week so I'm gonna rely on the picture we've got of the happenings. And it feels like we've had one hell of a week.

Actually, here are the recent things that I can think of right now; and they're in no order.

new puppy

We got a new puppy a week ago. We have yet to actually name him. He's an all black Pomeranian. We didn't really know we wanted a dog until Stac took Zoee to a dog store and totally fell in love with the Pomeranian... that just happened to be, get this, $800!! I couldn't believe a couple things about it: 1) that Stac actually wanted a puppy, let alone a little puppy. She's never been a fan of the small dogs; they're usually yappy. 2) that for a day or two, we actually considered how much we'd be willing to pay for something so tiny and cute. If we could get them to take $600, would we do $600?? So 3 or 4 days later when she took me back to see this wonderful black fur ball (that for $800 I was hoping it would poop pure gold), it'd been sold. which brings me to 3) Hindsight being what it is, who in their right mind would pay so much for something so tiny?!

So from there, the search was on to find and affordable Pomeranian, preferably an all black one (which I read online are kinda tough to come by.) Stac found a lady who breeds poms and after a couple emails, it was decided that we'd meet up with her and see what she had to offer. We met her and after a little running around we ended up coming home that afternoon with a brand new, super cute, tiny ball of black fur. I think somewhere under it all there's a puppy.

baby-sat Sarah's kids

Sarah and Tyler went to TN for a concert. So we watched Brock and Briggs for a couple days while they partied. It's tough to suddenly have double the kids than what you're normally used to. And add into that that they have their own schedules, eating habits (preferences), style of play, and personalities, it was harder than we bargained for, I think.

No pictures of that.

off probation

As of the 3rd, which is today, (even though I began and promised this post yesterday), I am through with my probation period. NLV has an 18 month probation period which I thought was really long when I began. But I can't believe I've been employed for a year and a half already! I still love what i do and the people I get to work with. It has been such a huge blessing that I got on with the city. And an added blessing that I have such a secure job in today's eco that pays as well as they do. Truly a blessing to our little family.

Marine graduation and sea world

Stac's brother graduated for Marine boot camp. So the Layton clan drove down, picked us up, and we all headed down to San Diego for a little Vegas escape. The graduation (in my opinion) was nice but really, kinda anticlimactic. It was really warm and much much more humid than I'm used to, so there was tons of sweat and impatience happening during the trip. Rod and Teresa bought us all tickets to Sea World and I have to admit that I wasn't super excited about going at first. But as soon as we got in and I saw how exciting it was for Gus and Zoee to see dolphins swim right past them, it really put everything into a new light for me. It was almost magical (sorry, this is really corny...) to see them so excited. It ended up being a pretty long day and both of the kids did GREAT considering how hot it was, how tired they were, and how much sitting and waiting some of the shows involved. They loved the whole day.

Great job Ky. Your whole family couldn't be more proud of you!!

mt. charleston/picnic

Last week Stac asked if there was anything going on after I got off work the next day. We didn't. So I said maybe we could go up to Mt. Charleston and have some lunch up there and let the kids play and climb and do kid stuff. My thinking was that it would be a nice escape from the triple digits and figured it'd be about 20 degrees cooler than in town. That night it got overcast in town with a chance of rain. By the time I got off and we left town, it was only 95. On the mountain, the car said it was 60! It was perfect! It wasn't cold and definitely wasn't even close to hot.

We went up to the top and started walking up the hiking trail but since we weren't planning on going for a hike, no one had good hiking shoes. So we just the Zoee and Gus take it all in. I think they both loved being up there and seeing how pretty it was. It was really exciting to me to think about taking them both back up there as they get older and more physically able to go and do. I have come to really enjoy camping and hiking as I've gotten older and I see it as such a treat to get out of Vegas and go somewhere so nice and quiet and pretty and exciting. And I want to be able to share that with the kids. I want them to have fun being in the middle of nowhere with nothing around but trees, rocks and dirt. I want them to be able to appreciate being in nature. I want them to see the benefits of getting away and being alone and learning, to an extent, how to take care of themselves when camping. I really feel like those things are important for kids to know. As much of a city boy as I am, I feel like I've been blessed to have had more nature experiences than a lot of people I grew up around. And I'm grateful for that.

Elder Mike came home

My brother came home from his mission. And that was really exciting. It was good to see him. I really can't help but remember what it was like when I came home from mine. Everything was just so surreal. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to act normal. I had nothing to talk about that didn't begin with"When I was with Elder..." or "When I was in (insert any area name) (insert any awesome family/weird family/memorable bishop you worked with/strange investigator)..." Coming home and back to reality was weird. Mike seems to have handled it pretty good.

Erin and Sarah put together a well attended dodge ball game the night he came home. I was skeptical but went anyway. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I think everyone had a really good time. I don't have any pictures so anyone reading this is gonna have to find Erin and/or Sarah on facebook to see the pictures they posted on there. It was so much fun to have so much of our family there and then to throw balls at them. The days following was when we all realized the price we would pay for having such a good time. I was sore in muscles I'd forgotten I had. Just sitting and walking was painful.

Zoee has started preschool officially

A lady in our ward runs a preschool out of her house. We were able to get Zoee in at the very last minute and we're so glad we did. Zoee loves going, she loves her teacher, and it's nice to get her out of the house for a couple hours a couple days a week. I think she learns more than she realizes.

So I think that's it. I've got a couple more pictures I'll try to post later. But we're about to go do some DI shopping, lunch, and try to get Stac ready to go to the annual Swiss Days trip my dad and sisters go on.

New post coming.....

before the end of today. Promise.

-Nate

I miss the old days sometimes

this is nate.

K, so yesterday we were at the church waiting for our bishop interviews with the bishop to renew our temple recommends. While waiting in the hall, I heard my teaching companion (I teach the 9-10 year olds) in the clerk's office talking about somebody's records having not been forwarded to their new ward. Since I had some time as the membership clerk in the last ward, I was kinda proud of myself for knowing what needed to be done for it. Long story short, I heard him making a call about Jon and Jamie's new address. This is how this connects to me finally sitting down to blog today. My teaching companion is Bro. Chris Miller, who is married to Marinda Egbert, older sister to Jon Egbert (the Egbert clan which we were in the old Villa Bonita ward with for all of my growing up in Vegas), husband to Jamie Hammons, older sister of my great great friend Molly, married to my other great friend Elliott (I was their connection to meeting and ultimately ending up married thank-you-very-much)(and a thank you to Wet-N-Wild also), neither of which I've talked to in what feels like FOREVER since they moved to Florida :( Sooo, I broke into this conversation I was listening to and told Bro. Miller that I could probably track down said Jon and Jamie's address... I'd just call her sister (after all Molly has always been super organized, super on top of things and would probably have her sister's address within arm's reach of where ever in the world she may happen to be when I called her up. So I called her up.

Of course she happened to be going to bed (oh yeah, I forget that the land of Florida is 3 hours ahead) and get this... admitted that any time she needed an address, she'd just call up her good ol mom! I was amazed. For all the years I've known this amazing Molly, the secret is to just have a mom who's that much more amazing (oh, I miss molly's parents too, they're good people.)

So I could only chat with them for a couple minutes when it was my turn with the bishop and since th were going to bed, I'd call them later.

Afterward, it got me thinking. I really do miss Molly and Elliott. They are 2 of a small handful of friends that I will ALWAYS feel are my closest friends. This group of friends were what got me through a lot of hard times during the crazy part of life we call the teenage years (and some after). Even now, being married, living all over, not getting to talk for months on end, any time together is not enough time because you have to spend so much of it just filling in and asking what other people are up to and it almost feels like and Q and A session instead of quality time together.

So all this reminiscing made me get to thinking about how neither me and Stac have blogged and, really, the blog is a really good way to kinda keep up even though you can't be together for all of life's activities. And since this is already a pretty lengthy post (which I'm sure is really boring for a lot of you to read) I'll just post some pictures of our recent activities.

Here we go.......

We went to the Lied's Discovery museum. I remember going here on field trips all the time as a kid. As an adult, it's still really cool, and almost as fun as it was when I was a kid just to see my own kids enjoy it as much as they did. 2 thumbs up for the discovery museum.

Goofed around at Arby's...

Stac's brother went into the marines.

Zoee turned 4 and ended up getting 2 parties (thus 2 cakes).

Gus has discovered that food can be really good. And if he's in a good mood will make a really funny face and crack us all up.

And he....

Finally got a real haircut! He looks SO much better!!

And while Stac's parents were down for the birthday girl, they worked really REALLY hard and made the back yard much more fun for the kids. They built a sand box for Zoee and Gus since they spend so much of their time in Huntsville in the sand. Garage sales yielded some good finds including the slide which both kids love and the water play table thing. And the birthday girl got a pool for her birthday.