Hunter's first Christmas

Hunter loved this little bug rattle. Hunter got lots of hats and mittens for Christmas!

This was the cutest little reindeer hat with the cutest little reindeer antlers!

Some one did not like what Santa brought! Such a sad guy!

Hunter was the BEST present we could have asked for. Last year at this time we would have never guessed that we would have a beautiful baby boy in our family for Christmas. He has been such a blessing and such a peaceful addition to our family. We love you little Hunter. Thank you for bringing so much JOY to our family. You are loved so very much!!!

Christmas 2008!

The Hamblin family had a great Christmas! We were able to spend Christmas Eve and Nana and Papa Nield's house. With Uncle Garrett being gone this year on his mission to Mexico we decided to have a Mexican feast in honor of him. We had quesadilla's, chips and dip, taco soup, horchata, and lots of other yummy food. Nana and Papa handed out the traditional treat bags for the kids which the kids look forward to every year. Papa read a special letter from Elder Garrett Nield which was Elder Nield's gift to us. It was great to hear of his testimony and some of the things that he wanted us to make sure and do on Christmas while he was away. So special!! We visited with each other then watched a special reading of the Christmas Story and music by the MoTab. It was beautiful. After that everyone else left except for our family. Dave fell asleep on the couch and we waited patiently for him to wake up. Poor guy had been working 14 hour days and was wiped out! When we got home the Elve's left pj's on our beds! Those sneaky Elve's. To this day I still don't know how they find our house! On Christmas morning the kids woke up at 8:30 and after family prayer and discussing the importance of the "reason for the season" we didn't start opening presents until 9:00. It seems that Santa did find our house and the kids had a great time. Later on Christmas day we went back to Nana and Papa's and were able to talk to Elder Nield. He is doing awesome and it was a treat to hear is voice and know that he is safe and that he is serving the Lord and having success as a missionary. As a family we couldn't be prouder and we miss Uncle Garrett but know he is where he is supposed to be right now. We had many special experiences over the Christmas holiday and will never forget the kindness and generosity of many friends, family and ward members. We also enjoyed the 12 days of Christmas from a Secret Santa. What fun things we would get every night for 12 days in a row. It was so fun for the kids to anticipate the door bell ring and they loved opening the door to such fun little treasures! Lots of great memories and fun time were had by all!

Silly stuff!

I found this funny name game from my friend Penny's blog. I got a kick out of it and needed a good laugh today!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Cookie Van
2. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR'S NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)The Cooking Snow Tour
3. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Rocky Road Oreo
4. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) A-Ham
5. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME:(fave color, fave pet) Green Dog
6. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Crystal Idaho Falls
7. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) HamAn
8. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Red Soda
9. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers or grandmothers) Jessie Nona
10. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Beautiful Snickers
11. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Mary Bingham
12. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Marler Mapleton (?)
13. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Autumn Rose
14. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Apple T-shirty
15. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Oatmeal Pine

Grateful

So grateful for so many wonderful blessings! I just got back from the hospital last night. My Slater was in for almost three days with asthma problems. He is now finally diagnosed with it and we have the breathing machine which will be wonderful to have when he needs it. This has truly been a crazy week for all of us but I have so much to be grateful for. So grateful that Slater is doing better. Grateful to have been able to just sit in the hospital with him and Hunter and relax so that my body could continue to heal. Grateful for a wonderful mom who always steps up to the plate and takes care of her grown kids when needed. She came and cleaned my kitchen, did laundry, swept, and took the girls out to dinner. Thanks mom for your amazing help with everything I have been through this last year. You have been an angel. So grateful for sisters and a sister-in-law who have helped in so many ways with watching my kids, cleaning, and meals. What wonderful help you have been to me. Very grateful for new and old friends who have also helped with my kids, brought meals and visited. I have the greatest friends in the world! I am grateful for a new and special ward that has really shown what service is. Truly grateful for their service, meals, well wishes, and kindness. Grateful for all the tender mercies given to me by a very loving and aware Heavenly Father. He is completely aware of my needs and I KNOW that he loves me! I am so blessed and grateful to have cool kids. I love my kids and love being their mom. To my husband, he is the best. I love him more than words can express. He has been such an amazing husband and father. Dave is the most dedicated husband and father and also works harder than anyone I know. He works two jobs so that I can be at home with the kids, he blesses me with his love and kindness, and even after all these years with having kids and weight gain he loves me despite all of my imperfections. He is always there with hugs and loves. I love him! Wow, I am feeling so much gratitude and just needed to express it. This year has been full of many challenges and they have been for my good and for the good of my family. Trials make us better and I say, "bring it on!" I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I know that this for me has been one of the most memorable years for me. This season is special and I am enjoying it so much. Love to all who may stumble on this "grateful" post.

Here I go AGAIN!!

So, guess what I get to do today? I get to have another surgery! Blahhhh! For an update I had a bad staph infection from my c-section that ruptured on October 30th. Ever since then I have been in and out of the wound care office in the hospital. It has been a nightmare. They have tried everything to get it to close and it just won't close. It's a healthy wound but won't seal shut. I went in yesterday and they said that there was pretty much nothing else they could do for the wound and called my OB. He said he had an opening today and wants to "fix" the wound by re-cutting and starting over. Crazy huh? So, I haven't had anything to eat or drink since midnight and they will put me under. This will be my fourth surgery in 6 months! Enough is enough already. Anyway, I am not looking forward to today but do hope it will help the problem. Wish me luck! By the way, my medical bills are unbelievable! It's good to have good insurance but I will be paying medical bills for a VERY long time. So frustrating!

Just for fun!

Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your Friends. Copy, then change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to your friends including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Twighlight
4. What is your favorite TV show? I don’t watch TV
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal or toast
6. What is your middle name? Crystal
7. What food do you dislike? Cheese Cake
8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Celine Dion
9. What kind of car do you drive? Chevy Venture
10. Favorite sandwich? Turkey with avocado spread
11. What characteristic do you despise? Fair-weather friends
12. Favorite item of clothing? Pajama pants
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Probably all the church historical sites
14. Favorite brand of clothing? Old Navy
15. Where would you retire to? Ririe, Idaho
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Don’t really have one
17. Favorite sport to watch? I just enjoy watching my husband watch sports, that’s more entertaining to me. He's a BYU fanatic
18. Furthest place you are sending this? South Carolina?
19. Person you expect to send it back first? No idea.
20. When is your birthday? April
21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night!
22. What is your shoe size? 8
23. Pets? Squirrels in the back yard
24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? I just swept my floor?
25. What did you want to be when you were little? A mommy
26. How are you today? Good!
27. What is your favorite candy? Snickers with almonds
28. What is your favorite flower? Rose
29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? December 25
30. What is your full name? Annie!
31. What are you listening to right now? KLCE Christmas music
32. What was the last thing you ate? A pretzel
33. Do you wish on stars? Of course!
34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? green
35. How is the weather right now? Cold
36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? My sister Megan
37. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi
38. Favorite restaurant? Bajio’s and Jalisco’s
39. Real hair color? Dishwater blond
40. What was your favorite toy as a child? Cabbage Patch doll
41. Summer or winter? both
42. Hugs or kisses? Hugs
43. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
44. Coffee or tea? Neither, but I love the smell of coffee
45. Do you want your friends to post this on their blogs? Well...sure!
46. The last time you cried? Couple weeks ago at the hospital
47. What is under your bed? Dust bunnies
48. What did you do last night? Went to Mutual and then did some shopping
49. Fears? Losing a family member
50. Salty or sweet? both
51. How many keys on your key ring? 3
52. How many years at your current job? Almost 11 (mom)
53. Favorite day of the week? Sunday
54. How many towns have you lived in? Ririe, ID; Rexburg, ID; Centerville, UT; West Bountiful, UT; Ririe, ID; Glendale, AZ; Ririe, ID; 3 different apartments in Idaho Falls, ID; Rexburg,ID; another apartment in Idaho Falls, ID and now a house in Idaho Falls, ID. I do NOT plan to move for a very long time!
55. Do you make friends easily? Very!
56. How many people will you send this to? Lots, I guess
57. How many will respond? Whoever wants to!

For your viewing pleasure, or not!

So, I have been thinking a lot about my brothers lately. They are some of my favorite people. These guys are awsome! When the three of them are together it's like Larry, Curly, and Moe. Garrett has been in the mission field almost a year now, Adam lives close to me, and my brother Spencer is in AZ. These guys don't get to see much of each other but you can bet they are the best of friends. I think Spencer and Adam talk at least once a day and I am sure they wish they could talk to Garrett too. There's a big age gap between Adam and Garrett, I think 11 years or so but they are such close buds. Spencer and Adam are only 1 year apart. I just want these guys to know how much I love them. They are great brothers and I am thankful to be their sister. I was blessed to have a great family. I will need to post pictures of my amazing sisters soon. As you can see with the pictures below my brothers are hilarious. It's so hard to get a serious picture from them but it is totally their personalities. I hope I don't get shot for posting these pictures, especially from my mom. I know I have a few funny face pictures of my dad somewhere but couldn't find them for this post. Hmmm, I wonder where they get their sense of humors from? To all my brothers, I love you guys! Can't wait for you all to be together again.

Tonsils and adenoids!

Mister Slater had his tonsils and adenoids taken out today. He was such a trooper and is now sleeping. I hate to see my kids in pain and it was so sad when he was coming out of anesthesia. He was so confused and all he wanted was to have the monitor taken off of his toe. After he slept for a while he was much better. I am so thankful for able Doctors who can fix my babies when they are sick.

What kind of husband do you have?

Hunter David Hamblin

On Sunday we had Hunter's blessing and it was an awesome day! It was such a special day and one that I will remember for a long time. And of course I can't just post one picture of my cute baby. He is such a sweetheart and I love his little face. We had lots of family come for the blessing and here are "some" of the people who were able to share our special day with us: Curtis, Meta, Merlin, Jean, Daren, Allyson, Quentin, Karson, JaQuoy, McKenzie, Bill, Shannon, Mason, Amelia, Mike, Julie, Maggie, Jackson, Marci, Jared, Ashley, Adam, Rachelle, Bryttyn, Aiden, Creiden, Ruffin, Megan, Sterling, Riley, Carl, Lacey, Caden and Carter. Our friends: Greg, Pari, Winston, Cora, Natalia, Sasha, Joseph, and Matthew. Family who were there in spirit: Spencer, Menolly, Connor, Hailey, Brady, Kyle, Lindsay, Brinlee, Raigen, Hallie, Mike, Brenda, Grandma Smith, Grandma Hamblin, and Elder Garrett Nield. We have such a wonderful family and want them to know how much we love them. Little Hunter has lots of family who love him and it is so great to have so many examples in his life. We love you Hunter Boy!

Halloween fun!

For Halloween we had a "Bumblebee Transformer", a baby with funky front teeth, a "50's Girl", and a little "punkin". Dave was such a good daddy and took the kids trick-or-treating while mommy and baby slept from 6:00-9:00 on Halloween night. Dave and the kids had such a fun time and they came home with LOADS of candy. I have had my share of sneaking in to their bags to find the good stuff. With as much candy as the kids got I don't think they will miss a candy or two, or four, or nine,or ten.

The weekend before last we went to Utah to see Dave's family and Dave's mom and sisters put on a fun Halloween party for all the grandkids. My kids had a blast decorating cookies, painting, dressing up, and playing with their cousins. We always enjoy going to Utah to visit family. Dave was able to go hunting with his dad, brother, and cousin. They didn't get anything but had a great time being together. We love visiting with family and wish we lived closer to do funs things with them.

Right now we are trying to get the house ready for company. Little Hunter will have his blessing this Sunday and lots of family are coming to visit for the special occasion. Now that I am finally feeling a little better I have lots of catching up to do. I just realized it is getting late and need to have scripture study with the kids. Dave is at Sam's Club working tonight and won't be home til late. Hope you have enjoyed the pics and I will post again soon! Love to all.

So in love with this baby!

Not a hematoma after all.

Nope, I guess I misunderstood when I went in for my CT scan that what I actually had was a "small" pocket of infection that they removed. I was then put on some heavy antibiotics to take care of any other infection that may still be there. I had the CT scan on Wednesday the 22nd and we went to Utah for the weekend and I was feeling fine. By late Sunday night I was NOT feeling well in the abdomen area again and by Wedensday was back at my Dr.'s office to see why I was feeling so yucky. When I went in that time it looked like I had a bad case of cellulitis and that I may have a serious type of staph infection too. I was sent home with an appt. to see an infectious disease Dr. this coming Monday. Well, the next day (Thurs) after I changed one of Hunter's diapers I stood up and felt something wet by my belly and thought that Hunter had wet through his clothes on to my clothes but when I felt his clothes he was dry. I won't go in to detail as to what I discovered but to my shock I was (brace yourselves) pouring out nasty stuff from abdomen. I called my mom who works not far from where I live and told her to come over right away. I called the Dr. office and neither the Dr. or the PA were in so I had to rush to the ER where is was discovered that I had a massive infection where I had my stitches. The infection had to be cleaned out and it was extremely painful. I was put on morphine for the pain, IV antibiotics, and other things that I can't even remember. My Dr. showed up and took care of the problem himself. So now I have the joy of going to a wound specialist every day to have my abdomen packed and new bandages put on. This experience has been one of the most painful things I have experienced yet. I think this year will go down in history as one HECK of a year for me and my health. I have had basically 3 surgerys within 5 months. Lovely!!!! I am hoping to heal quickly from this so that I can take care of my family. I have been so blessed with such good people: family, friends, and ward members. My little family has been taken care of and we are so grateful for the meals and well wishes. I hope my next post will be about something other than hospitals and abdomens!! Until next time....

CT scans and pumping and dumping!

Have you ever had a CT scan? They are quite the amazing machine. It sounded like a jet engine and as I was going through it I could just imagine myself taking off! The CT scan went fairly well. It turned out to be a hematoma that they were able to fix right there in the scanning room. It was a minor surgery and I am feeling a little better...still very tender in the tummy area but feeling better than last weekend. I am on some pretty heavy antibiotics; one for a sinus infection and one for the infection in the hematoma. So glad to have that all behind me. I am praying to feel well so that I can take care of my family and move forward with my Heritage Makers business. Have you ever had to pump and dump? Because I had iodine in my system I had to pump and dump for 24 hours! So not a fun thing to do...especially for one who nurses her babies exclusively. It is a good thing that Hunter is such a good baby and took a bottle and formula so well. He didn't even skip a beat but I was hating life! Happy to be back to the regular old nursing routine. Tomorrow is a new week and I am hoping to have an amazing one. Being positive is what I need to be!! Hope you all have an amazing week.

Lullaby

Last night Hunter was pretty fussy and Dave and I were laying in bed with him trying to help him relax. Nothing seemed to be working UNTIL Dave started singing to him. The song that did it was "Ocean Front Property in Arizona" by George Strait. I thought it was hilarious! Of all the songs in the world to sing to a baby it was that one that calmed him down! I do hope it doesn't become a favorite for Hunter.

"Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what your gonna get."

Since I had Hunter I have been feeling great! Especially after having such a difficult pregnancy. At 19 weeks I went in to the hospital with terrible pain in my side; at 25 weeks I had surgery to fix cysts that were by my ovaries; diagnosed with gestational diabetes; and then having my fourth c-section (in which I also had my tubes tied and the Dr. gave me a semi-tummy-tuck)! During all that we shopped for a house, found a house, moved in to the house and have been working on fixing up the house.....so much stress the last nine months that I am surprised to have survived all of it....but I did with flying colors!! Over the weekend I started feeling not very well where my stitches were and discovered a very large mass that concerned me. I went to the Dr. today and it is either a hematoma or a hernia!!! I go in on Wednesday for a CT scan to see exactly what it is and what will be done. If it is a hematoma they will just drain it (sorry for those with weak stomaches) and if it is a hernia...in I go for another surgery. When the Dr. said the word "surgery" I almost lost it. I thought I was done with all that craziness and I got so frustrated! So, Wednesday I will know what will happen and I hope it will be the easier of the two. Just needed to vent a little....I know everything will work out for the best and that I will be well taken care of. The thought of having a 3rd surgery in less than 5 months time is a little overwhelming. Wish me luck and I will post what I find out as soon as I find out. So yes, life is like a box of chocolates, and I have had my share of "interesting" ones.

Too fast!

I don't like the fact that time goes by so fast. Today is my baby's 1 month birthday and it has gone by too fast. Since Hunter is my last baby I just want him to stay that way forever and always be little. I know he will grow up just as fast as my other kids but it doesn't mean I have to like it:) I am so grateful to have him in my life. Hunter is my gentle little baby. He seems to be such a thoughtful and peaceful baby. Love having him! Today is laundry day. I have stacks and stacks down in my laundry room. I don't like having a laundry room so far away but it is really the only thing I don't like about my house. If the room were more close to the bedrooms and bathroom I would probably keep up better. Oh well! Dave is in Utah this weekend hunting with his dad, brother, and cousin. I am happy that he gets to do fun things with them, it's just hard that they all live so far away. They are his favorite people to hang out with other than us! We will all go with him next week when he hunts again. Most of Dave's family has not seen Hunter and it will be fun to introduce him to everyone. Dave's mom and sisters are having a Halloween party the weekend we go and the kids are so excited. I found some fun costumes at the DI for the girls. I found a red poodle skirt for Ellie so she can be a "50's Girl". I found Emma a baby doll costume with ruffled pantaloons and a bonnet. They will look so cute. I love finding fun things at the DI. The costumes only cost $7 total!!! For Slater we found him a "Bumble Bee Transformers" costume at Wal-Mart for pretty cheap and he is in heaven for sure. I can't seem to keep him out of costume and hope he doesn't ruin it before Halloween. So I have been in a baking/cooking mood lately. I love the Fall and the feel of change. I have been making soups/chowders, pumkin bars, corn bread, cookies, carmel popcorn, enchiladas, and other yummy things. Today I can't decide what to make....more pumkin bars? Cookies? Brownies? Cake? In between doind laundry I want to make something yummy....guess I better go figure it out. Here are some pics from the last week or so.....looks like they wanted to upload at the top of this post....oh well! Enjoy