She's never been good at keeping secrets....

My mom STINKS at keeping secrets. This will be her second offense telling everyone she knows before we go to the Dr. to make sure everything is fine. Well my friends, Im having another munchkin!Isnt he cute!? I say He because I just KNOW its a boy! :) There is a 50% chance its a girl but Im pretty convinced its a boy. We are beyond excited. We've been trying for quite sometime and now its finally happened. I have been surprisingly okay. I was worried I would go to the Dr. and he would say there was no baby because I wasnt worshipping the "porcelain god" like I had with Presley. Im on Zofran because I did start but I didnt hesitate to call Beck and get some drugs in me as fast as possible. Everything is totally normal. Baby's heartbeat is perfect and its developing right on track. Im due in July, which could be the death of me. Im pretty sure I will be beached at a pool almost all summer. I can hear it now, " Mommy I didnt know Walruses were allowed at the pool. " Sweet mercy!

Well Hello there!

Hello! (echo, echo echo)

Good news! We're still alive! After I pulled up our blog today to go read everyone elses, Zach asked," we still have a blog?" Yes, indeed we do. Although it has been months(2 to be exact) since my last blog post we have been staying busy.

Presley is obsessed with the Phoenix zoo right now. She asks almost everyday if we can go. Thanks to my parents being zoo members and getting free tickets we have gone a lot. Sometimes by ourselves, sometimes with friends. Her favorite thing about the zoo... wait for it.... is the carousel. :) That girl could ride the carousel all day if I was willing to fork over the money, cash, dow, but I'm not, so we settle for 1 ride and the little girl is content.

Thankfully after countless hours of me pushing and Presley swinging, the swing has broke.

It was a bit chilly this morning so she insisted on having her polka dot blanket. This photo was taken approximately 5 minutes before said swing came tumbling down. Luckily no one was hurt and Presley asks almost everyday if her "daddy will fix it." Does this make me a bad mom? Im not kidding, she will literally swing all day!

We were the Flinstones for Halloween. My costume stunk. Zach and Presleys were awesome.

Yes that is a REAL dog bone in Presley's hair. Zoey was kind enough to let P borrow it for the night.

Hopefully I can get my act together and we can all be blog friends again!!! I promise to blog more if you promise to read it. Deal?

Bearizona

A few weeks ago as I was sitting at the Car washer I came across a poster advertising a place called Bearizona. It looked really interesting so I made a mental note and went on my way. A few days ago my sister in law mentioned this place again. I don't know if it was due to extreme exhaustion or crazy pills but I decided to take Presley up to Bearizona in Williams AZ to see the Bears. Yesterday Jami and I braved the 3 hour drive up with a 5 month old, a 2 1/2 yr. old and a Birthday girl who turned 4 yesterday. On the way up Penny didn't sleep, the DVD players broke, slushies were being spilled and the Mamas were exhausted. But we did it. We went, we saw, we conquered. Or so we keep telling ourselves. Overall Bearizona was pretty cool. The animals were literally right outside your car. Its amazing seeing them up close. We saw Bison, wolves, Black Bears, Burros, Sheep, Goats, Hawks, and Racoons up close. I was kind of disappointed that it wasnt bigger. We drove up for 3 hours to drive through the Wildlife Park in about 15 minutes and experienced the at Walk Around area for another hour and a half or so, to turn around and drive home 3 hours. I'm pretty sure the girls liked it. Their faces when they could see the animals so close was priceless. So worth it.

Shake Your Groove Thang

Westwood High Schools Homecoming 2011 and 50th Anniversary.

Yes, that's my Dad. He was the star of the parade and Halftime show. You all know now where I get my sweet dance moves from! He and I worked very hard on his John Travolta 'Saturday Night Fever' dance moves. Hours and Hours... Okay 10-15 minutes. Presley could hardly stand it that her Pompa was on a float without her. She kept saying, "Hey that's my Pompa!" He was so nice to throw lots of Tootsie rolls her way. She loved it. Can you believe I didn't even get a picture of Presley, Grace and Penny in their special Homecoming attire? They looked SOOOO cute!

Labor Day Weekend

Zach, Presley and I were able to go up to Cedar Haven, Mom and Dad V's home away from home in Showlow. I have been dieing to go up so when this long weekend came up I was eager to head up to Showlow. It was just what we needed. We headed up on Saturday after my dance classes and spent Sunday and Monday morning with Mom and Dad V. They have been working really hard on getting Cedar Haven and it looks so good. On Saturday we had a BBQ with Dad V's new grill and watched a movie. Sunday after church and some much needed nourishment they took us up to Greens peak which was spectacular! It was so beautiful and green. Presley loved that there were cows and horses everywhere she looked. Dad V would stop and name the ones close enough to the car and Presley thought it was awesome. Every cow was a mommy or a baby cow and she would say how cute it was. We loved being in the cooler weather and loved being able to spend time with Mom and Dad V.

When you gotta go, you gotta go

Ive been quite the slacker when it comes to blogging lately. Hopefully I can get it together and then I can get my blog friends back.

We have been battling Pee here in the Vance house. Last week we unsuccessfully attempted to Potty train Presley. In 1 hour she peed in 5 different pairs of underwear. She didnt even care. If I wouldn't have been there hovering over her she wouldn't have even told me. We would sit on the potty, read books, drink juice, talk about everyone who went potty in the toilet, sing songs, etc. She could careless if Nana and Baca, Mom and Dad, Grace and Jami, Mimi and Grandpa all went to the potty in the toilet. She would sit on the potty and then as soon as she got up would run into the corner and pee. It even got to the point where she wouldn't even sit on the toilet at all. Not even her Princess potty. So I threw in the towel. Were going to just wait it out for a while. And if she is 5 years old and cant start kindergarten because she isn't potty trained then we have seriously issues.

In other news its seems like I am not potty trained either. Last night after teaching dance all day I got home to a locked house and Zach and Presley were no where to be found. Since Zach is in Young Mens I naturally thought he must be at the church for his Mutual activity. I drove to the church to get keys because I had taken his car to work that didn't have house keys on them. This whole time I have to go to the bathroom EXTREMELY bad, like I had been holding it for atleast 2 hours. I hurried into the church, grabbed Presley, grabbed Keys and headed out to the car. All of a sudden I could feel the tingling of a sneeze coming on. It came, it went, and I peed my pants. Completely peed my pants. My dignity now resides in the church parking lot. It gets better. I had forgotten to give Zach his keys to his car and now my pants were soaking wet. So I sat on a grocery bag home, ran inside to clean myself up and drove back to the church to give him his keys. Ridiculous.

Zach uses the toilet like a champ. He has had no accidents. Presley and I are so proud of him. :)

5 years and counting

5 years ago I married this handsome man. I couldn't be happier.

Summer Fun

WE ARE ALIVE!!!! We have just been playing summer away. Since its so dadgum hot outside we mostly have been basking in the sun at the public pools. This last week we ventured out to the Phoenix Children's Museum. Presley loved it. There was so much for her to do. At first I think she had sensory overload but quickly took action. She darted from place to place, smiling and laughing.





We also went to Jumpstreet with some friends. Seriously this place is amazing. It cost me $4.35 for Presley to jump on huge trampolines and bounce slides all day. Plus the added bonus of being inside with air conditioning. She loved it. I loved it. We will be going back for sure!

San Diego

Zach came home a few weeks ago from work and proclaimed he needed a vacation. I agreed a 100% with him. We decided San Diego would be our destination. OH. MY. GOSH. It was so nice. The weather was amazing. We took Presley to Sea world and she loved it. Our only problem was Presley wasnt taking a nap like normal and was exhausted and at about 6 pm everyday had a completely breakdown. We were also getting rid of the Pacifier this weekend too so it became a little challenging to say the least. Other than that we had a great time! Ive already asked Zach when we could go back. 115 degrees? No thank you.

LGO

Last weekend Jami, Spencer, Zach and I went on a little date night to LGO in Phoenix. I had never heard of it until Jami had mentioned it and mentioned all the "blog celebrities" that loved it. I was sold. As we waited for our table(happening place) we strolled around the market next door. I was already on a high just being on a date with Zach with some fantastic company but when Jami called out my name and began showing me these...

Yes please! I was giddy. I mean giggling giddy. I began every tactic I knew bribing Zach into buying me these. It hit me... " Ill bake more cookies for YOU with these awesome measuring cups and spoons." He was sold.

Im pretty much in love with LGO. The wings, the Pizza, The atmosphere,THE DESSERTS(giant ding dong? yes please). Zach loved the salted Chocolate Chip cookie. Much to my dismay ;) My babushkups were cracked on the bottom so I need to go back. Darn.

Matryoshka Nesting Dolls

Ive always loved Russian Nesting Dolls but lately Ive been looking online for some art work to put in our house and found this.

I LOVE IT!! Hazel Nicholls, be still my soul.

I also love the above picture. I think Im going to put it up in Presleys room.

If you come over and see my house covered in nesting dolls. Take me to therapy.

Que que na-to-ra

My cousin Jami and I took our girls to the zoo on Monday. We couldnt have picked a better day. We had rain and cooler weather this past weekend so we thought before we hit 90's again we would zoo it up. I was surprised that there wasnt more people there. Althought Im really glad they werent there. The night before at family dinner Jami and I discussed the next days adventure. All Presley could talk about that night on the way home was she wanted to go to the zoo and she wanted to Pet a Giraffe. It was definitely a successful trip. Because the weather was so wonderful we just took our time. We would stop and play at all the play areas and then we would go see another animal. Jami and I both said that if we didnt have other things scheduled for the day we would totally have stayed all day.

Presley and Grace have good and bad days. Im so happy this was a good day. The Peacock below seriously came so close to us. Grace was freaking out because she thought it was going to attack. Presley was too busy immitating the sounds it was making to even care how close it was. She loved the Peacock and kept asking to see it. Sher Khan!!! Presley is slightly obsessed with Jungle Book right now. I keep trying to explain to her that Sher Khan is not nice but she kept asking to hold Sher Khan and pet him. She loved it!

For only an arm and leg, you can feed the Giraffes! The girls loved this the most. I was not really happy with the photographers skills in capturing Presleys face. Imagine the biggest grin on this little girls face. She kept laughing hysterically. It was so cute.

Presley had her first run in with the movie Pocahontas on Tuesday. Shes obsessed. Luckily for me we dont have it on DVD or a VHS player. So we only watch it at Mimi's house. Tuesday night I was chanting Pocahontas throughout my dreams. Thanks to Grandmother Willow Que Que Na-to ra, you will understand is still in my head. Zach and I like to make up our own Lyrics for the song "Steady as the beating drum." We arent even close to the original words.

Baby Mine

Two years ago today I went in for my weekly check up with my OBGYN. I was 37 weeks along with Zach and my first baby, a girl, which I could not wait to meet. Through the last couple weeks leading up to this weekly checkup I had been placed on bed rest with outrageously high blood pressure. I had tested negative each time for Toxemia and Preeclampsia so Dr. Beck placed me on bedrest to keep my blood pressure down. While I laid in bed, which was so difficult for me to do, I wondered if I should pack a bag before I went to this checkup, you know just in case the heavens opened and Dr. Beck said I could be induced. I decided I not packing a bag because I had just hit the 37 week mark. I drove myself to my check up but had my mom meet me down there for moral support because Zach had just started a new job and had to work. My doctors appointment start off like the "Norm". I got my weight taken( horrible) and headed to my exam room for the Nurse to take my blood pressure. Immediately after she took my blood pressure, she looked up and stated that I needed to lay on my left side for a few minutes and she would be back to take my blood pressure again. She informed me that my blood pressure had increased dramatically from my previous visit and that it was now at 160/114. A normal blood pressure was 120/80. Anything over a 90 was pretty bad and anything over 100 was Really bad.
Dr. Beck came in and I just burst into tears. I was tired of worrying whether or not I was going to stroke at any moment and I was really concerned for my health and safety and for my Baby's heath and safety. Dr. Beck understood my concerns and left the room and came back within a few minutes to ask if I was ready to have a baby. A little puzzled I reassured him I was definitely ready to have this baby and he sent me on my way to Banner Gateway to check in and start a dose of Pitocin. It was a 2 minute drive and the whole time I giggled. I was giddy to be having this baby. I called Zach and informed him of our "news". He frantically called EVERYONE he knew to tell them and rushed home to pack me a bag, which ended up being completely useless because of all of his Emotions he forgot almost everything I asked him to get. I was started on the Pitocin at 4pm, Asked for the epideral at 7pm not because I was in complete discomfort but just for kicks, Dr. Beck came to break my water around 8pm and by 11pm I was pushing. After 1 1/2 hours of pushing at 12:29 am march 24, 2009, Presley Denise was born weighing 7 lbs 5 ounces, 20.5 inches long.
I was completely exhausted,I Could hardly keep my head up and my eyes open to see her but she was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And she was mine. I helped create this wonderful being who was so fresh and new. I have never felt so close to my Heavenly Father and I had never loved Zach more than that very moment.

Fast forward 2 years and my little baby isnt really a baby anymore. She talks, walks, and giggles like a little girl. She certainly has Zach and I completely wrapped around her little finger. I love this little angel and I am so grateful for the blessings she has brought into my life. Zach and I were so fortunate to have had a fairly easy time getting her.

Happy birthday Miss P! Mommy and Daddy love you so much and thank Heavenly Father everyday for sending you to us.

So this is Love...

I had this bright idea that I would send out Valentines Day cards with Presley and her future husband. Presley was WAY more into it then Mack. Hes going to need a little more convincing. I think if I continue to bribe him with chocolate he might warm up to the situation

Bubbles Bubbles on my nose, Bubbles Bubbles on my toes

I fail as a mother. It has taken me almost 2 years to introduce my child to bubbles in the bathtub. What kind of cruel woman am I? You see, my mom practically scared me into it. She has once said that too many bubble experiences can cause Urinary Tract Infections and since I was so proned to having those at her age I just stayed away from bubbles completely. I had seen a friends Blog where she had taken the cutest pictures of her daughter in the tub with bubbles and I just knew Presley needed that happiness in her life. Her reaction was a little surprising.....

She hates them. She doesnt like that her skin isnt cleaned off and there are bubbles still on. She HATES having them on her face. The Princess bubbles bottle has to be hidden or little lady freaks out.

On the other hand, bubbles you can blow out of a huge pink wand are way better. Ive been trying to teach Presley to blow really hard so she can get bubbles by herself and she is pretty much amazing at it. I was actually surprised once when she got more bubbles out of the wand then I did. Weve been playing with this type of bubble for a long time and they never get old to her.

After our bubble extravaganza I followed Presley around. She is so stinking cute. I cant believe she is going to be 2 in a month. Ridiculous!

In 6 years...

This will be my hair...

And probably not even that glamorous. I just pulled 7 gray hairs from my 24 year old head. S.E.V.E.N!!!!!! Those 7 gray hairs arent even my first 7 gray hairs. No they just added my previous 6 gray hairs to now 13 gray hairs I have plucked from my 24 year old head. IM 24,Not 64!! Come on! Thanks a lot Grandpa Ron. My grandpa Ron was completely gray by the time he was 35. My dad knew him as gray and I knew him as almost completely white. Though he may have past on 10 years ago I sure wish he could be here so I could give him a hard time about bestowing such a wonderful family gene into me. I just know I wont even make it to 35. Im sure by next year Ill be coloring my hair to hide my specks. If you see me and Ive gained weight its because Im eating lots of ice cream to get myself through this. Anyone selling Girl scout cookies? I could really use a few boxes of Samoas.

Goals

In 2010 I set one goal. Get fit. I was hoping Zach would follow along and we could do it together. Well, its taken Zach a year to catch on but he is doing it. After only a few weeks of 2011 Zach is ripped. He is eating healthier and working out routinely and is really happy. This year when I was thinking about my goals for the year I came up with a few. In the year 2011 I want to Load the dishwasher every night before I go to bed, Continue with my fitness, and Save enough money to go to Disneyland this summer and Berlin next October. Initially I said save more, spend less which was one of Zachs goal as well but with more thought we came up with having an end goal to our saving. Zach and I are not good savers which is HORRIBLE!!! With a strict budget set and in motion we are learning so much! My grandparents are about to serve their third mission together and this time they are headed to Berlin. When they got called Zach said he would really like to go pick them up when they are released. How could I pass up a trip to Germany? After all thats where I come from.

In other news, The heavens have parted and Presley is now obsessed with "beast". She is so into movies right now and I really dont want her to watch movie after movie. Its the first thing she says to me in the morning, "Mommy beast wake up"," I watch Beast" folllowed but "I eat." At least right now its MY favorite Disney Princess.

P.s ONLY 4 MORE MONTHS TILL THIS HANDSOME BROTHER OF MINE COMES HOME!!

Longest 2 years of my life.

He's A Tramp and I dont know If I love him

Well Hello!!! Miss me? Oh wait, no one reads my blog anymore? Well to those 3 people who do this ones for you! We have been SOOO busy and when I have a Presley free moment Blogging is the last thing on the list. In the last couple of weeks Presley has been OBSESSED with this movie....

She loves Dogs and Animals so this is the perfect movie for her. I Love Lady and the Tramp but like I said she is obsessed and asks to watch it 20 times a day. So In the last couple of weeks I have seen it plenty. Too much. I kind of never want to see it again. Which kills me to even say.

Presley also has been completely obsessed with planes. She is constantly looking up to find one and when she does its like the best day of her life. She shouts "plane" and does a "I found a plane" dance and wiggle. She asks to hold it too.

Presley talks NON STOP. Payback maybe? Apparently I was quite the chatter box as well. As helpful it is to know what she wants, sometimes.... I wish she didnt.

Hopefully I'll be better at this.