a REALLY long night

I always have a really hard time falling asleep. I am good once I am asleep but getting to that point is hard for me. My mind runs a mile a minute as soon as I lay down at night. It is the only time I really have to think without a kid hanging on my leg, a whiny three year old wanting something or a husband needing attention. I usually don't think of anything important. It makes me mad most nights because I am thinking about what I am going to make for next weeks dinners or a plan of how we can get our credit card paid off or ideas for the Christmas party we will be hosting in 11 freaking months. It's stupid and I hate it. Some of the time I have a hard time falling asleep because it's too light in the room (thanks to growing up sleeping in a basement) or my dear sweet husband is snoring...bless his heart.

Well, last night was no exception and I laid in bed trying to fall asleep. It was already midnight and I was tired and Nate was snoring and I just couldn't relax enough. I decided to go sleep in the guest room. I usually sleep better in there so I took my pillow and headed in. I was all tucked in and comfy. Just as I was drifting off to sleep I heard someone knocking on our door really loud. It scared me and I couldn't really move. I couldn't figure out who would be knocking at 1 am. They rang the doorbell. I got up and went and got Nate who was totally out of it. I told him someone was knocking on our door. He seemed a little confused and then they knocked again. It wasn't a little knock either, it was like they were pounding on our door. We both went out there and heard them say "Police" and we saw two NLV PO's standing at our door. We opened the door and they explained that there had been some break ins to some cars on our street and ours had been one of them.

My first thought was my debit card. I knew I had left my debit card and ID in the car. I was so worried that they had taken that and I began to think of all the trouble it could cause us. We got out to the car and luckily my debit card and ID were still there. The contents of my glove box were spilled all over my front seat and the middle console was open. We didn't notice anything that was gone. The officer asked me if I had a black CD case. I said yes and they told me they had found it thrown on someones lawn a few houses down. It was really funny because the only thing in my CD case is church CD's, a few burned country CD's and children's nursery rhymes. The obviously were not interested in my music. We gave the officer our info and he told us he would contact us if they needed anything else. We went back to bed.

I was wide awake at this point and just laid in my bed kind of creeped out. It made me feel a little violated. I know they didn't take anything but the fact that someone was outside in my car while I was inside kinda bugged me. I finally started to drift off to sleep around 2. Once again, just as I was getting into that totally out of it stage, the doorbell rings again. It was another officer giving us some paperwork with a case number. Nice of him but I was so tired!!

The rest of my night went pretty much the same with Gus waking up screaming at 3 and again at 4. It seemed like something happened every hour on the hour to keep my awake. Not sure when I feel back asleep after the 4:00 awakening. I just know that when 7:00 rolled around and the kids decided to wake up...I was SO not ready!!

*Update* I talked to Nate on his lunch and they had the guys in jail. They had broken into 5 other cars and they were charged with two different things for each car so they are sitting in jail with 10 counts each and won't be getting out anytime soon. All for nothing except a little change from a change cup and a few nursery rhymes CD's. Unbelievable.

Some days are just better than others.

K. So like it says, some days just end up being better than others. Today was definately one of those days. Here's how:

About 2 1/2 years ago, this is where we were. Totally excited, happy, in love, glad to be together, right?

Because this is a scanned copy of a copy of the original rollercoaster picture, you may not notice, but this is the picture of just seconds after I officially proposed to Stac. Yeah, ON the roller coaster at Magic Mountain. The ring was on my finger and I sure didn't wanna drop that sucker. It was super intense!

And this was how it looked not too long after we got married.

Fast forward to today:

So Stac woke up this morning and her finger felt strange, kinda sore. She got to looking and discovered that she'd somehow gotten a little scratch on her finger under her rings. And it was feeling a little irritated. So she decided that she'd try to take the rings off to get to the itch and let her finger have a little break cause it was beginning to swell a little. She tried. And tried some more. And tried some more. Wasn't happening. She looked online and found a couple different things to help with getting stuck rings off but nothing was helping and all that trying was only making her finger more swollen and super super sore from being fought with all afternoon! She texted me and said that she couldn't get it off and she'd tried everything. By the time I got home I was convinced we'd be going to urgent care and have them take a set of cutters to it. Stac called Kay (where I bought the ring) and they said they had a special little tool that they'd be able to get the ring off with. They were able to get the ring off! The thing totally worked. I was really pretty impressed and Stac was just glad to have the pain and pressure in her finger relieved. And they even let Stac keep her finger. Here's her finger after the day long struggle.

And just to clarify, in case anyone was wondering (since I intentionally made it sound like this story was about her finger) here's what we are now left with:

Looks like we're gonna have to start saving to have a couple rings repaired. About $200 the lady told us.

Some days are just better than others.

our wall decoration

We finally got some pictures up on our wall in our living room. It is a really big wall and has been empty since we moved in. We plan on putting something on the other half of the wall but this is what we did on one half. The pictures are 11X14. It turned out nice and we did it all for around 40 bucks...including the printing of the pictures and purchase of all 5 frames! I love when I find a good bargain.



We included a picture that Zoee drew of our family. I think it is so cute.

Gussy Goo Goo turns one!

Nate posted a really sweet post on the night of Gus's birthday. I was touched by what he wrote and thought it was so sweet. We did have a really nice night. It was small and simple but it was fun. Here are a few pictures from the night.

We sure do love this boy. Nate was right about him bringing so much joy to our family. I can not imagine my life without him. I never thought I could love a little boy as much as I love this one. He is the happiest, sweetest, cutest little boy.

Here are some of his stats:

He weighs 22 1/2 pounds. (can't remember his height)

He has already had his hair cut 5 times.

He has 8 teeth.

He crawls every where but doesn't really have any interest in walking yet.

He climbs everything!

He says Mom, Dad and Wow.

He sleeps through the night and has 2 naps during the day.

He is happiest in the morning. (not sure where he get this from)

He drinks regular milk now.

He still loves his Binky.

He eats everything we eat.

His favorite foods are tomatoes, string cheese, Butterscotch pudding, peanut butter sandwiches, chocolate milk, green beans and Junior mints. (He gets so excited when he sees me get the box out!)

k. It's kinda late in the night to post this, but I feel like I just need to.

Today was little Gus' birthday. It was his first birthday. We didn't do a whole heck of a lot cause like I told Stac last night, it's more for us than it is for him; he'll never remember it. So my parents came out and Stac's parents brought Zoee back home to us and will be here for next few days. We hung out, watched Gus open presents, had some super good desert after Gus had his way with a cake of his own. It was really really nice. Again, not a lot, but still nice. I felt really good just having such close family be here in my home and I just couldn't help but just soak it all in. It was good for me at the very least. Once Gus was done with his cake, we threw him in the tub (which he ALWAYS loves no matter how tired he is) and it was time to put him to bed. Stac let me put him down. I just held him and watched him drink his bottle as we rocked together. I just couldn't help but think back to 1 year back and all the excitment that little boy brought with him when he joined our little family. He is the cutest little thing and I can't get enough of him. Having him as part of our family is one of our greatest blessings. I love that Little Man more than words will describe.

I love you so so so much Little Man.

Question:

What's one of the worst things you can imagine when all you want to do is climb in bed and go to sleep cause you know you've already stayed up way too late watching stupid tv shows and you know you've gotta get up early in the morning?

Answer:

Guess instead of watching tv, we should've been working on the laundry, huh?

The names GARRARD

OK. so I know this shouldn't bug me but it does. It mostly makes me feel awkward, like should I correct them or not awkward. When I married Nate I knew I was taking on a name that was a little harder to pronounce than Layton. Layton is pretty simple. Say it like it is written. LAY-TON . No big deal. My name is now GARRARD. I little harder to pronounce correctly. I am pretty sure everyone at church today called me by the wrong name. So here is a little lesson.

Wrong: Grrrrrrrarrard. (like a tiger's growl)

Right: Jaaarrard. Like the sound a J would make but it is a G.

Got it? Good.

Geez Louise! It's been forever!

So I know it's been forever since we have blogged a real blog but we just haven' t really had anything exciting to report. We had the holidays and that was fun but we have both just been really lazy about blogging lately. Here is an update on our family.


Nate is doing good. He has been working as much as he can and picking up a few overtime shifts. It always sucks when he has to stay late or go in early but the paycheck is sure nice. He still loves his job and says business is still good. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. He came home last night late because he had to stay and write a report on a crazy inmate. He brought the report home and I read it. He had to fill out an actual police report (since they were charging the guy with some new stuff) and I was pretty proud of him and all that he has learned. He got his new schedule for 2009. He will be working Saturday - Tuesday 2 am to noon. It's a good shift and the money is more. He will be able to go to church with us and that is what we wanted so we are happy. He put in for our birthday week off and Christmas week off and there is a good chance he will get both which would be great. He joined Sarah's weight loss challenge and hopes to drop a few pounds and win the money. He is such a good dad and let Zoee paint his toenails and do makeup. He has had pink polish on his toes for awhile now. It is funny. I keep telling him to show the guys at work and see what they think. He is still as handsome as ever and I love him more and more every day.

Me. Not much to report on me. Same old stuff. I think I am going to try to grow my hair out this year. I like that it is getting longer. We will see how long I can handle it. I decided not to join the weight loss challenge but am doing it on my own. My goal is to lose 30 pounds by my birthday. Think it is possible? I hope I can do it. Nate and I watched a home video he made on the mission and I threw up in my mouth a little when I realized how much weight I have really gained since coming home from the mission. I was much skinnier and cuter then.

I found a really great website. It is http://www.bookcloseout.com/ it is a really great site. It has lots of books at really cheap prices. I bought a book at Borders a few weeks ago and paid 27 and change for one single book. I had buyers remorse and took the book back a few days later because I couldn't justify spending almost 30 bucks on a book when I knew I could check it out at the library or something. Well, I found this same book on the site and bought it for 10 dollars! They are also doing a promotion till the end of the month where whatever you spend you get that much in free books. So I ended up spending 27 dollars (six of that was shipping) and got 8 books!! What a great deal! you should check it out.

Not sure if I ever posted about my new calling of not but I got called to be the enrichment leader and newsletter girl. I make the Relief Society newsletter every month and I help plan enrichment's. We are working on a big preparedness activity for February and I am really excited. One of my goals for 2009 is to have a 72 hour kit for everyone in my family and a 3 months supply of food by the end of the year. I think it is really important.

Zoee. She is doing good. She got a new bike for Christmas form Popits and Greema and she absolutely loves it!! She wants to ride outside every day and spend most of her day riding it all over the house. Good thing we have a big open room with tile for her to ride. She is getting so big and says some of the funniest things. She is old enough to go to primary this year and I am excited for that. I think she will really like it. She is visiting my parents for a week and I miss her.

She had a scratch on her upper lip and insisted that I put a bandaid on it. I tried to tell her that it would be too big and be uncomfortable. She didn't care. She wanted a bandaid so I let her have one.

Her Christmas Dress

Christmas morning on her new bike.

Gus. Oh, how I love this little man!! He is adorable and I just can't get enough of him! He enjoyed Christmas mostly because of the ornaments on the tree and all the wrapping paper. He looked so handsome in his church suit. He has been sick lately. We have taken him to the doctor twice in the last few weeks. He has had ear infections and sinus problems. He is doing much better now and is back to emptying all my drawers and making messes. I can't believe he is going to be turning one so soon. This year went way too fast. He is not walking yet. He says a few words and eats everything we eat. We are about to switch to regular milk which I am really excited. He is the cutest thing I have ever seen and he makes me want a million baby boys!!