Baby

It's a boy! :)

 I like that he figured out the "peace" sign :)

He kept yawning the whole ultrasound.

And he might be mad at me later on in life for posting this...but here's proof of a boy! :)

(Elden might make me take this off after he finds out)

It's Official....

I NEED to move to Hawaii! At least at some point in my life-even if it's just for a year! It would be like a permanent vacation.

Our vacation was wonderful (well...except for the whole part when Elden got sick).  It was just the vacation I needed.  We didn't do a ton-just layed out, swam and snorkeled, ate hula pie twice and at Puka Dog. :)  Had Elden felt better-we probably would have done more outings-but I'm really ok with just doing nothing and laying in the sun!

We did go to the Polynesian Cultral Center one night-and the HA: Breath of Life show was AMAZING!!! It's seriously the coolest show I've ever seen! The fire dancers were my most favorite part! I highly recommend it if you ever go to Oahu! We got discounted tickets on Hickam AFB (another benefit of being in the Air Force), but even if you have to pay full price-it's worth every penny! 

We didn't take any pictures really-other than the 3 I took on my cell phone which really aren't anything good.  I did take some when we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay-but they're on the disposable underwater camera we bought in 2008 for our trip to Mexico, and we're still not done with it.  We're not very good picture takers! So it will probably be another 3 or 4 years before we finally develop the thing.

Here it is!

I know no one necessarily wants to see a picture of my uterus. However....now there is a baby growing inside of it!

We're pretty excited to say the least!! 

Monday morning we went to my appointment thinking I was almost 12 weeks along-but apparently i'm only around 10. Sadly I hope that doesn't mean a few more weeks of being sick all the time! I was really hoping as I got into the 2nd trimester I would start to feel better! It's been pretty miserable! 

My due date is March 27th. My niece Kiley's birthday :)    

Recent Events

First-I'll update on the car.  They found it that night-a few miles from our house in a Motel 6 parking lot.  It appeared the person was planning to leave town because he had luggage for he and a girl in the trunk.  He had smoked inside of it (YUCK!!) so now it's a little smelly, but everything else is ok-other than the fact he has the key still.  We've kept the car at Elden's parents for the past few weeks.  We THOUGHT Volvo was ordering a new lock kit, but we just found out the other day, they hadn't.  So anyway-we now have to go down there to figure out what to do.  Regardless-it's going to cost $, and insurance won't cover it :( Oh well...better than having to buy a whole new car I guess.

A few days after the car incident, Elden flew to Oregon where I was, to see my sister Penny's family.  We went to Portland that weekend where Blake was having a chess tournament, and that Saturday, Elden, Caylyn, Carson and I went on a little adventure to Tillamook for cheese and ice cream, and an aviation museum in McMinnville (that had planes, and more impressivly to Carson, TANKS!). It was also Carson's birthday that day too. 

Tillamook was cool...I guess.  They were making pepper jack cheese, so we watched that for a few minutes, and then we sampled cheese, and then got ice cream. Elden and I also have a tradition of buying christmas tree ornaments when we go places, and the one from Tillamook probably has to be the best yet! It's a small block of cheese :)

McMinnville was a few hours away, and the GPS took us on quite the adventure to get there-and took a few EXTRA hours...it was a very senic drive though.

Carson wasn't feeling well, so he said if he could stick his head out of the window, he'd feel better...I guess it worked :)

We were on a road like this for an hour...luckily no cars were coming the OTHER way

But Carson was more excited than I've ever seen him! In fact-when we pulled in the parking lot, he saw the tanks and started totally going crazy and screaming and jumping up and down.  (I regret that i wasn't able to get to my phone in time to record it before Caylyn slapped him to get him under control).  

After the tanks, we went in the museum and they had the Spruce Goose and a TON of other old planes. Then across from that building, they had other airplanes and space stuff.

Right before we left Oregon we both got extremly sick-flying was TORTURE!!! To make matters worse, a few days after we got home,  I got my tonsils and adenoids taken out.   The dr. had told me it would take me 2 weeks to recover and that i wouldn't be able to work.  I totally didn't believe him.  I thought, maybe a week at best, and I'd at least be able to do stuff on the computer for work.  But holy cow, was I wrong! It's been the worst 2 weeks of my entire life! The first week I was pretty much drugged and slept the entire time.  The second week, I wished I was drugged, and slept the entire time.  Finally, at exactly 2 weeks, I'm feeling a little bit more human.  Probably mostly due to the fact that I can actually eat something other than jello or soup.  It still hurts to swallow, and talk...but not as much as before.

Anyway-I didn't mean to complain.  It's been a rather exciting several weeks...not ALL bad.

Tuesdays stink more than Mondays!!!

Mondays are typically a stressful day for me for work-but it seems lately, everything falls apart on Tuesdays.  A few weeks ago on a Tuesday, I was running some errands for work, and rear-ended someone in the Volvo. It had to get an entire new bumper and hood and we JUST got it back on Friday. Ruined my entire day!

So, this morning I get a call from Elden.  Someone stole the Volvo! 

Yep! Tuesdays OFFICIALLY suck! I'm in Oregon watching my sister Penny's kids and so he was driving the volvo to work.  He had gotten in the car to leave, and had to come back in the house to get something he left inside, and then he heard the car door shut.  He said he ran out as fast as he could and jumped on the hood-he held on until they got past our neighbors house and ended up with some road rash on his hands, arms and leg, and tore up his uniform. He said he didn't know what he was thinking because he really could have been hurt! (The police officer also lectured him a little about doing that) Luckily he's just a little sore.  Anyway-I sure hope they find it!! I love the Volvo! It's a REALLY good car, still in good shape (especially because it just got a new hood and bumper last week as well as a new radiator in October), and most importantly-it's paid for! So, we'd love to go a few more years without a car payment!  I'm hoping and PRAYING it will be found!!

Elden and I were just talking that now we totally feel violated! We used to think our neighborhood was fairly safe.  It's typically very quite with not much going on. Now I want to move more than ever (we were already tossing around the idea so we could live closer to Schriever AFB so Elden didn't have such a long commute), and if we don't, I feel like we need to get a security system put in or something.  We already have to put new locks on the door since the house keys were on the keys to the car.   I'm already really jumpy when I'm home alone-which is all day since I work from home, (or even with Elden home, I sometimes get freaked out) but now I feel like it's going to be worse.  Basically-i'm ready to sell it and move to a house in a gated community! 

I always wonder what type of person does stuff like this? Obviously it's hard to imagine being that evil to take things that don't belong to you and hurt people....but it's even scarier knowing that someone like that, is lurking in my neighborhood! Yep! I'm ready to move!

More Pictures of Elden's BMT Graduation (but not THAT many since I suck at taking pictures!)

I'm terrible at taking pictures!!!! The whole time at Elden's graduation I was trying to take a picture and see him at the same time since they were so far away and hardly ever standing still-so not many of my pictures turned out and NONE of my videos turned out. Luckily I took so many pictures that a few were ok. 

He's behind the tall guy in the front

This one-if you zoom in-you can see him towards the left side.

Mom & Dad Warner at the Alamo

Elden & I at the Alamo (I may regret posting this picture since i look like a cow-but it's a good one of Elden-I not only can't take pictures, I'm not very photogenic either!! UGH!)

Elden's BMT Graduation

I'm not going to lie....my husband is such a stud!(when I get home I'll post more pictures) Elden graduated from Air Force Basic Training this week. AND he graduated with honors! I'm so proud of him!

Elden's parents and I flew to San Antonio on Wednesday morning and the graduation events started Thursday.  They did the Airmans 1 1/2 mile run, then the Honor Graduate ceremony (that's what this picture is of-i didn't take very good pictures), after that, the coin ceremony, and then he was given base liberty so we could hang out on base until 8.  It was REALLY hot and all of the graduation events were outside.  I always felt bad for him knowing how hot it was because he was in his uniform all the time, but holy cow! It was terrible!! He has lost quite a bit of weight! Our first stop on base was for an extremly large pizza (Elden loves his pizza!), and then we went and shopped a bit and walked around the BX, and then went and saw Harry Potter (I slept through most of it however).

Today we went to the Graduation Parade, and then we went to the squadrons to see where he's been living the past 8 1/2 weeks, and then we were able to leave base.  He gets off base tomorrow also, and then because his flight got warrior flight AND because he got honor grad he's able to get off base Sunday instead of base liberty whch is awesome since we ran out of things to do on Thursday after about an hour.

I've met a lot of the guys in his flight, they all call him Papa Warner or something like that because he was the oldest in the flight.  When we were in the squadron someone passed by us and pointed at Elden, and said to his family "this is Papa Warner-this is who we come to for all our financial advice." It was funny.  He said one night several of them came to him with pens and their notebooks, some with the top labeled "Papa Warner's financial advice". Apparently after their financial planning class they took and the comments he made, they all realized he may be older, but he's smart... :)  They also said that he "won" BMT because he got 4 ribbons, and that's the most you can get here (the two extra he got were for Honor Grad and Expert Marksman).  I think there were only 4 guys in his flight that did.  Once again-I'm so proud of him!!

On Tuesday, he found out he is leaving for Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi on Monday for tech school for 70 days :(   Luckily I can talk to him more and go visit periodically, but the military life will definately take some getting used to! I sure do miss him when he's gone! But i'm excited to see where we'll end up for our first adventure!

Did I Mention?

No, we're not having a baby! (everyone asks me that whenever I say "guess what" or if I don't feel well, or if they haven't asked me in a few weeks)

Elden enlisted in the Air Force!

He met with a recruiter last August and has been waiting for one of the jobs he chose to open up, but it's definately official now.  He's leaving for basic training July 5th-for 8 1/2 weeks.  Then he has his technical school for a few months (we'll find out how long he has to do that once he gets to basic) and then we'll move to who knows where.  So if anyone wants to come keep me company while he's gone, I would love it!   

I've had mixed emotions about him joining-but mostly I'm excited-and he is too... I'm looking at it as an adventure. 

Funny Kid!!!

I'm in Oregon right now visiting my sister Penny.  I came to watch the kids while Penny & Todd went to the Bahamas. Since I was going to have to come back a week after I went home, for my nephew Carson's birthday/baptism-I decided to stay for a few weeks and just work from here.  Plus, I love spending time with my sister!!!  

I may be the only one who thinks this is funny....but today-I was on the phone after the kids came back from School and Penny said to Carson that I was on the phone and that he needed to go upstairs and play...his response was "it's ok mom, i'm just going to be here in my box"  (the pictures are a little bad-it was on my phone and kind of far away)

I love this kid!! He has quite the sense of humor!!!! While I was taking care of them last week, as I drove him to school he was trying to persuade me to take him out of school early because at 1 o'clock he had computers and then reading, and that he knows how to use a computer and he knows how to read.....I couldn't argue with that logic! So I got him out of school....I had to maintain my favorite Aunt status :)

Elden's new "toy"

I think I did really good this year picking a Christmas gift for Elden!!! (of course-Elden's brother-in-law & Sister Julia are the ones that told me which one to buy-Thanks guys!)

He thought he wasn't getting anything else since he had already gotten an Xbox a few weeks before and so I told him THAT was his present-but really I have wanted him to have a gun for a while.  He was pretty excited!!!!! (Though-in this picture-he's trying to act cool) :)

Visiting the Stettlers in Peoria Illinois....

Today we went to Nauvoo to visit the church sites (really-there's not much else to do there)

Crossing over the Mississippi River

We went to all the old shops- And Carson learned how to use a newspaper press

Then we learned how to make our own hemp ropes & got to keep it.  This is Emily chasing after Carson trying to get the end of the rope.....

 The Nauvoo temple is very beautiful! Hopefully I can go back when I have time to be there longer!

Update

I've been a slacker at updating our blog....nothing really exciting to post about I guess.

We went to Pompano Beach, Florida August 6th-13th with Elden's parents, Carrie & Michael.  It was AWESOME-I wish we lived closer to a beach!!!! We went to the beach almost daily and ate a ton of Blue Bell ice cream (Thus-no pictures) :) Seriously-I personally only took 2 pictures while we were there and it was while we were waiting on a bridge to close in Key Largo.

It was a perfect vacation other than when the old guy ran into our rental car... we're still waiting for his insurance to pay us back since the rental company took our deductable from our credit card and then his insurance tried to stick us with a $300 bill. Luckily we have an attorney in the family who coached Elden on what he needed to say (Thanks Dave).

Exciting for us-we're ALMOST done with the big room in the basement.  Over the past year Elden's been putting up new drywall and re-wiring down there (which is a lot of work and he did a great job! I'm lucky I married someone so handy!).  We finished painting it last Friday night and now we're just waiting to put the floor in. I'm SUPER excited because I can move my office back home and try to re-organize everything since i'm running out of space for all the stuff i'm not really sure how i ended up with :) I've been trying to get rid of things every weekend but it doesn't seem to make any difference....how does that work?

I started "selling" Mary Kay....so if anyone wants to buy any from me you can go online to www.marykay.com/gretchwarner or just call me :)

Elden's Brother Dale & his wife Stephanie had their little girl Claire in July...she is SOOOOO cute!

I think that's it...

Busy June!

June has been a busy month for me! Yesterday I realized I've been doing stuff non-stop and much to my relief, I don't have anything else planned for a while! Which I'm sure will make Elden happy so I can cook and clean the house every once in a while!

My mom and I flew to Oregon on the 8th to visit my sister Penny and her family.  The trip to Redmond was HORRIBLE!!! Full of missed connections because of delayed flights, crappy customer service and ghetto hotels!

The first day we were in Oregon was Blake's last baseball game.  Blake even got to pitch for the first time. 

A few days later was Caylyn's dance recital. It was fun to see her dance-I hadn't seen her dance in several years and she's really getting good! (For some reason-I only took videos of her entire dances and didn't get ANY pictures of her)  Her dances were really good, but there's nothing more entertaining than the little 4-6 year olds "dancing".  A couple of them had the whole auditorium almost rolling on the floor with laughter!

The rest of the trip we mostly hung out at the house (I worked some), Penny I did our normal shopping excursions, I got an eye exam from my brother-in-law Todd and I got some new sunglasses :) Mostly though, it was nice spending time with the Sheldon's! I really miss them!

The Sunday I was there, Kiley, Caylyn and I made "Hamburgers" out of cupcakes, brownies and frosting.  We tried to make french fries out of sugar cookies but they didn't turn out very good.

Our trip home was easy and un-eventful. I had one day to recover/catch up on work and then I had to go help at church with Cub Scout Day Camp Friday & Saturday.  Friday was absolutely insane and unorganized because the lady who had planned it, hadn't really asked anyone to help her so she was trying to run the whole thing herself resulting in near chaos.  Saturday was a TON better because I helped her delegate the activities and told her to just oversee everything so she didn't kill herself.  Of course, it's always a near death experience when there are about 30some 8-11 year olds all together! :)

Then Monday at work, my dad, brother and I had a meeting, and Will informed me that I needed to start driving up to Monument again every day to work with him and so I could teach Brandi (his wife) to do my job and I would be his personal assistant basically.  Anyone that knows Will and I, know that we don't work well together because we're too alike (not that he'll admit it-he thinks I'm just un-rational because I'm a girl or something).  We both like to be in control and we both speak our mind (which can result in some nasty fights) and I knew that working in the same space again wouldn't be an ideal situation for us to continue to get along!  The stress from that seemed to cause a near emotional breakdown :) I think I'm getting over it now though-or I guess I'm just half expecting to get a good system working with Will and I, and get Brandi trained, and then I'll get to move my office back home.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Lastly-the past several weeks I've been planning a baby shower for my sister-in-law Stephanie who is due next month.  I've never thrown a baby shower before and I was stressing out about it! I spent probably around 12 hours making 50 of the cutest invitations EVER! (Without my Cricut it might have taken even longer!)

  

Yesterday was the baby shower and it turned out great! There were like 14 people that came and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Now for the rest of the summer I've got nothing (hopefully other than work) to stress out about! Only things to look forward to! Trina and I are going to see Twilight next week (excited 1 because it's the new Twilight and 2 because I've not hung out with my good friend Trina in a few years!) and then in August, Elden and I are going to Florida for a week.  Elden's parents, little sister Carrie and little brother Michael are coming with us also.  My parents gave me a week to their time share-so I'm pretty stoked! A week on the beach...need i say more?

Coupons

I'm not going to lie-I'm an excellent shopper! Yes-sometimes I spend WAY too much money on things I don't necessairly need, but when it comes down to it, I know how to save. Growing up in a big family, my mom used to shop with coupons for groceries (with 9 kids she kind of HAD to).  My job was to cut out the coupons, organize them and ocassionally go through them and get rid of the expired ones.  For some reason I always enjoyed it.  About a year ago I decided to try couponing myself-even though it's just Elden and I.  I had to make a game of it otherwise it can get kind of hard-so my goal was to see if I could save more than I spend- specifically more than 1/2 off (which i've been able to do plenty of times)
The purpose of this post is because I'm pretty impressed with myself today.  Since it was slow at work (and since I work from home) I decided to go grocery shopping to get some pork chops for dinner and see if I could find any chicken on sale.  I came home with 6 boxes of cereal (the good stuff too! Froot Loops, Cookie Crisp and Cheerios) 4 boxes of pop tarts, 2- 12 packs of Charmin TP, an 8pack of Bounty Paper Towels, 2 large bottles of Dawn Hand Renewal Dish Soap, 2 cartons of Bryers ice cream, 2 packs of porkchops, and a thing of sprinkles I found on the discount cart in the back of the store to add to my baking stash.  Total Spent-$34.03 .  Total Savings of $67.77 (between store sales and coupons)
Not bad huh?

My Granny

I wish everyone had a Granny like I did! She passed away yesterday morning after battling cancer for several years.  My whole life she's been close by and it's strange thinking about not having her around anymore-and now when I have children they won't know what "gimme some sugar" means :) 

I know I'll see her again, but I sure will miss her until I do!