Spring Break

Since I was FINALLY done with school and both Jay and David were out of school for Spring Break, we decided to take a family vacation. This was literally a spur of the moment trip. We decided to go on Monday night and were gone by Wednesday. I tell ya, packing a family of 5 for a trip in less than one day, is not my idea of fun...but the trip was nice.

I really, really, REALLY love Southern California this time of year. The weather was perfect and I miss how GREEN it is! So beautiful!

We were able to stay with Jay's Aunt Cherie and family, which was nice and FREE! The first day we took a little trip to Oceanside Beach. It was still too chilly to get in the water, but the kids had fun collecting rocks and shells, playing in the sand, and running away from the surf. I soooo miss the sea air and the ocean!


On Friday we went to Disneyland! David had been wanting to go since our trip to Sea World last year. We bought him a Jedi cloak:

And he got to go to Jedi Training Camp. Unfortunately, he didn't get called up on stage to actually "train", but he still loved seeing a real live Jedi, Darth Vader, and Darth Maul. His favorite ride was Star Tours...does that surprise anyone? :D

OoooOOOoooo!! A real X-Wing Fighter!!! (Try to contain yourselves....)

Jay's cousin Danelle and her friends came and got us discounts on merchandise and even took the kids to Toon Town so Jay and I could ride some rides by ourselves and have some time "alone"...like you're ever alone at Disneyland....

Ahhh...No kids!!! (This was right after Splash Mountain...still a little wet...)

The kids especially liked meeting the characters and getting pictures and autographs:

It was an exhausting day!


The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and recouping from Disneyland. We spent it with Jay's family, sitting back and enjoying the time together. It was nice to get out of town and escape for a few days. Can't wait to do it again! Next time can't come soon enough!

At Last!!!!

Well, it took a little longer than anticipated, but I finally finished cosmetology school! It was a rough little while. Juggling school (for me, David, AND Jay), pregnancy, a new baby, church callings, potty training, etc., etc.... I don't know if I would ever want to do it again, but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything! The girls at school put together a nice send off and some of us went out for some delicious sushi afterward.

My friend, Holly, made this funny cake:


They are some of those most fun and caring girls in the world and I'm going to miss them like crazy!



I have one last hurdle: taking the state board practical and written exams to get my license. Compared to the exams at school (which I scored a 95% on :D... ) it should be a piece of taco cake!

I will be looking for a job soon, so if anyone knows of anything (stylist, assisting, make-up artist, nail tech....) or has any ideas, please send them my way! So many possibilities for the future! I'm so excited!

My Sweet Ahnali

Since I took a long hiatus from blogging, I never posted a tribute to my Little Ahnali for her birthday. She turned 3 on January 15th. As an added bonus, she potty trained just a couple weeks before. She was soooo easy! I can't believe it! She's growing up so fast and such an independent little girl. She wants to do everything by herself!

Here is what I remember from the day she came into our lives:

I woke up at 3am, Monday January 15th, 2007 to some hard (but not painful) contractions. I woke Jay up and said we may want to go to the hospital. So, we got up, packed my stuff and took David to my parents house.

At about 5am we arrived at Banner Baywood. After filling out some paperwork and getting to triage, we awaited the nurse to hear the verdict. I was fully expecting for them to turn around and send me home because I wasn't hurting. She checked and informed us I was already at 7cm. Whoohoo! We were in a room by 6am, where they got an IV in me and began my first dose of antibiotics for GBS.

At 7am, my sister-in-law, Amanda, showed up to be my doula. I had decided earlier that I was going to try and do this labor without any "assistance" for the pain. I remember working through the contractions with some coaching from Amanda. I also remember my poor Jay trying to comfort me by telling me "You're doing great honey" and me telling him to "Be quiet" because "I want you here, but I don't want to your his voice..." It's funny. I don't remember being like that with the birth of David, but I had an epidural right away with him. I guess you're allowed to be weird and irrational in labor. :D

The pain and discomfort of having a baby began to accelerate and after laboring for about 2 1/2 hours (around 9:30am) my doctor told me that I was at 9cm. "Finally", I thought... "It's time!" To my chagrin, she told me because I was carrying so much extra fluid, my water wasn't breaking on it's own and they were not going to break it for me until they had the 2nd dose of antibiotics for the GBS. "What?" I thought,"that's not for another hour or so!" At this point I was in a lot of pain. If they thought I was going to sit for another hour or so at 9cm without helping me along they were CRAZY!!! I begged for the epidural and after asking 3 times, Amanda said it was okay. The anesthesiologist came and had the epidural tapped in less than 5 minutes! It was amazing and after watching, Amanda was horrified!

I was finally able to rest and at 10:45am the doctor came back in to break my water. At 11:00, they allowed me to begin pushing and after 3-4 pushes at 11:11am little Ahnali Rose Stay was born into this world. She as 8lbs. 7oz. and 21 inches long. She was the most beautiful baby girl I had ever laid my eyes on. Perfect in every way!

Here are 3 of the many, MANY reasons I love Ahnali:

1) She is such a ham!


2) She is so sweet and a sweeter big sister.


3) She is one of the prettiest little girls I've ever seen! (but I'm a bit biased...)


~♥ I love you Ahnali!!! ♥~

New Family Member

Jay and I have always talked about extending our family beyond the 3 children we already have, and on a whim yesterday, we decided to add another and adopt. So...."Surprise!"

Meet the newest member of our family:

The Cute Things They Say...

Today we were driving past Falcon Field Airport and David says:

"Look! A (inaudible) is landing!"
Me: "A what?"
David "A (inaudible) !!"
Me: "Huh?"
David (louder): "A hop-ta-doctor!"
Me: "Oh! A helicopter?"
David: "That's what I said...A hop-ta-doctor!"

♥ I love my kids!! ♥

Blog of Shame

That's right. I'm feeling the shame that comes with not keeping a promise to yourself. My blog has sat naked for almost 5 months. It's not like I haven't had anything to post, but for some reason I haven't really wanted to. I guess with all the commotion in life right now, the blog has been sent to the back burner and neglected. I'd like to take this time to say..."I'm sorry blog page...I can't promise you won't neglected in the future, but I'll try to visit more often." More posts to follow. I've got some catching up to do.