Groneman Family

Thanks to all ya'll who came out for the germ swap.. er... Christmas fest. We had a great time and appreciate those who made the long drive to share such a fun time with us. My boys miss all of their playmates. (Looking on the bright side however, they are back to sleeping until 7 am, which I am very thankful for!) I apologize to Emmy for displacing her cute pictures. We can't wait to see her in person!

I can't let a thing like Brett's Birthday take the top spot on the blog for more than 3 minutes. I've added some way cute pictures of Emmy to the collection that's in the slideshow a few entries down, or if you want, you can just click on the picture...

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After reviewing my schedule for the next 4 months I notice that there is no possible human way to achieve everything that I have planned and still continue my blogging and running hobbies as I have been. Something has got to give. I'm going to be taking a BEAST of a critical care nursing class and so I've officially told myself that I am no longer going to be a frequent blogger. New goal for self: Cambrie can spend 1 hour writing blogs on sunday evenings only and can check out the groneman blog and write comments once a day. I love blogging, and you can bet I'll be back in all of my glory after this semester is done (end of april), but until then, don't expect much from me as far as blogging goes. Blogdor is done burninating the countryside.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRETTSKER!! It was a great Christmas! All those little kids in one place was fantastic. To be with Christa/Brigham, Cambrie/Steve, and Buff was great too. Too bad for the sickness, and too bad the other two Groneman families were absent. :( Things were such a blur Christmas morning with all the excitement of the little ones, here's what I *think* I got: Moveies and WII games from mom, Calendar from Dastrups, Kid Pictures from Nelsons, Peanut Butter cups from Benjamin, Blokus from C&E Groneman, ATV Bag from Buff, Candy from B&K Groneman. Thanks all! (correct me if I got something wrong!) The drive home was scary in places. Before we got to Gallup, the freeway was down to one lane with ice patches (the other lane was pure ice for the most part). It was fairly slow going. We stopped for gas just before we got to Gallup and it was 7 degrees outside and lo and behold we ran into Buff at the gas station! Hard to say goodbye again :( As we were going through Gallup

As dad requested, here's just a couple of pictures from my new digital camera to (1) show off it's macro photo skills, and (2) to show how much snow we had at the Boren's house as of Dec. 26th morning. Click on it to see how cool the camera is.

So, sounds like (Brett's email) that you people in Utah are getting,or have gotten a lot of snow. Anyone worried about being snowed in? How much snow is there on the ground? It would be fun to see some pictures.. Brett...with your new Camera....:) You know, see if it works kinda stuff. Our trip here was fairly tame...only scarey in Spanish Fork Canyon. We plan on coming home on Saturday, and according to the forcast, that should be a good day to do it. So Brett will you be able to join us this Sunday for your Birthday dinner, and if so, can Chad and Erica come and join us? Let us know...Of course anyone else is WELCOME to join us...but somehow, I don't think we will be having many takers. Cambrie and Steve are planning on leaving tomorrow for a 2 day trip back to California...although I am hoping that they will change their plans on account of a snowstorm in Arizona tomorrow, and it will be sunny on Saturday. Pretty precious cargo they will be carrying!!! It has been so

Jacob is watching Barney, Kiera is asleep after being sick this morning (on the way to the Aquarium...we had to turn back). Grandma is in her room reading because she's sick, the rest of the crew, including Buff who arrived last night, are out to lunch to celebrate Steve's birthday. Sickness & all, I love being around all these people from smallest to largest! Wish the rest of you could be here and hope you're enjoying your Christmas eve! Steve & Brigham & Buff are battling it out on the Word Challenge on facebook. The candy Brett & Katie made for the crew is disappearing fast. We're looking forward to singing Christmas carols, killing a piniata, and having a nativity play tonight. I uploaded some pictures to the party event in Facebook.

News from the "Q" as Brigham calls it, or "AlbuTurkey" as Kiera calls it) (I like Kiera's version of this place better :) ) We just got back from our walk of 2 miles. It is 26 degrees out there and CK says that there is a chance of rain or snow for today. We are hoping for SNOW after the Nelsons arrive...but not enough to mess up BJ's trip tomorrow! Benjamin is excited for Kiera's arrival. This is the first time that the cousins on either side will have visited them here in New Mexico, and Benjamin is anxious for it to be now. Christa told him they would arrive after lunchtime, so about 45 minutes after breakfast Benjamin wanted to know if it was lunchtime yet. As Christa says, "You have WAY TOO MUCH TO BE EXCITED FOR!" I second the motion! I just talked to the Nelsons, they have been on the road for about 1 1/2 hours (from Phoenix). She said that they had taken their stuff outside and I guess had it on the curb to load into the car, an

For those of you who plan to be taken up by the Rapture, do you realize what a tramatic experience this will be for your pets? Who will feed and take care of them when you are taken up? No problem. For a small fee of $500.00 per pet I will take care of them for the rest of their lives after you leave. Just send the money in advance, (No sneaky believers running off and leaving me with the bill!) along with your address and when I find out the Rapture has come, I'll go pick up your pet and take care of them. No worries about me being taken up too as I'm a Mormon (and not a good one at that).

Christa and Cambrie have requested an updated picture of Emmy be posted. Emmy has decided to humor her fan club, by releasing the shown photo. In other news, Emmy has been selected to play Baby Jesus in the Krueger's upcoming Christmas pageant. She wasn't too sure about accepting that position, until we assured her that it's okay for her to play a boy, and that type of thing was done all the time. She's very excited for the role now. Excited, but nervous. We've been practicing the whole "no crying [s]he makes". It's been rough. Our practices have only sometimes been successful. She's nervous that she's going to forget her part. She even gets so nervous that she can't sleep through the night. Poor girl. Erica and I have been working with her to help her try to get enough sleep. But can you imagine the pressure that's on her for such a big role? As her parents, we totally understand. We know she'll do awesome, and we keep h

With so much family around, it's bound to be a good birthday.

Just wanted to wish everyone an awesome time in Albuquerque this week. We'd love to be there, but it'll be some time before we venture out on long outings (especially with this weather). We're excited to see pictures and hear all about it! :)

So, as multiple people have somewhat mentioned on the blog so far, on Tuesday, I had the second worst day of my life thusfar. It started off at work. I had a group of babies that I haven't had in a while and I forgot that one of them you have to be especially careful turning him and such because he has a large stoma in his tracheostomy and if your not careful, his trach will pop out and make it so he can't breath (he's on a respirator) so I was turning him on his side and of course it popped out. He was fine cause we got it back in really quick but it was part of my no good, very bad day. Over my lunch break, I decided to go to Cambrie's for lunch because I work about a mile and a half away and on my way there, I got in an accident that was my fault. What happened was I was turning right and I saw the car in front of me start to go but didn't watch them make the actual turn so I pulled up to the line and watched for an opening to go. I saw one and started to go

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow???? Hummm. We weren't supposed to get snow today, but so far we have received about 6 inches and it is still coming down (total of about 10") ! Normally, this time of year, we love this! It is just fun to make a fire and watch it pile up. HOWEVER, we are planning on driving over 2 mountain passes in about 38 hours to go to Albuquerque, and the "Big storm" doesn't hit till tomorrow, and snowing through the night into Saturday. Not so good. Kim is thinking we may have to wait until Sunday to come. I am thinking that we will likely have to wait to make that decision until Saturday morning and see how bad the roads are. They said on Natl. news this morning that Vegas has 4 inches of snow and has closed their airport (some places in Vegas have 7"). School has been cancelled in the St George area for the day, and they talked about how much snow Moab/monticello area has also. Moab? Snow??? Good greif!!! They also talked

February 25-27 in Aliso Viejo which is about an hour away from the Nelson's. Think I could get a dinner invite?

Anyone want my autograph? http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22381/53/

I love having a little girls.

Since we've been on the subject of baby's bowels I'll tell my story from this evening. I went tonight to Ross to look for a coat for Kiera (for NM). I took Lydia with me and left just at her bedtime since she always falls asleep in the car and is very portable. Since I thought she was going to be sleeping for the remainder of the night I didn't bring the diaper bag. She slept as expected but just as I was starting to look at coats I heard the rumble from the carseat. No kiddin', sure enough-- a blowout. I saw the yellowness seaping through her PJ's (it had to get through the oneie first) and onto the carseat. I sat there trying to decide what I was going to do with no diaper when I realized that I had stashed a emergency diaper within the foam of the carseat. I sortof cleaned her up in the disgusting restrooms of ross, put her soiled clothes back on as she had nothing else to wear, forgot the coat hunt, and we went home. Of course she was dead asleep

To chronicle the lives of the Gronemans, we've decided to break off and form our own blog. We'll post interesting things from time to time on all blogs we contribute to, but the juicy details will be at http://gronemanbunch.blogspot.com/ . That's how we'll prevent ourselves from becoming blog hogs. ;)

Hi my name is Joe Shmoe and I am a random internet stalker dude who frequents your blog. I'd like to say thanks for letting me know when everyone is planning on being away from home in the upper left corner of the blog. However, Cambrie I wish you wouldn't have deleted the pictures of your garage sale that included your address on your house because I didn't quite get around to writing it down before you deleted it.

By the way, happy anniversary to Chad and Erica yesterday! Looking at your post, it looks like it was a really romantic one. I hope you guys were able to do something to celebrate-- the first anniversary is a big deal! I really hope that you weren't so tired that you didn't even remember!

Emmy hit a major milestone today. Grandma Krueger was over, resting between MTC duties, so she had been holding Emmy for a while. We suspected that Emmy needed a diaper change, so Chad got her (Erica was on the phone with her YW people, discussing the new YW value, virtue. Chad took Emmy up to check her diaper. That's when the milestone was discovered. "Erica... ERICA!" "What is it, hon?" "We have a blowout! HELP!" Erica told her callee that she'd call her back in 5 minutes, and came up to help. "Oh, wow. Mo-oom... We might need your help!" You see, when Chad had undone Emmy's Diaper and started to pull it down, he did not realize it was completely full, from the back of the back to the top of the front. Emmy felt her freedom and decided to give a good kick, and got her foot in the goo - right between her toes. Her onesie had come down a little bit, and gotten in the goo too. It took three of us to control the situation -

Click here for a Merry Christmas. (Click on the characters once there)

What is the difference between a yard sale and a garage sale? A garage sale is what happens when in rains and you have to move everything into the garage (but it is still wet so you have to put all the clothes through the dryer and wipe all the wood dry and hardly anyone comes anyway. Our profits: Nelsons made about $30 and Buff made $13. But would have been better off to stay at work (instead of taking for hours off for the sale). I should never have decided to do it in december anyway! I'm way to busy for gar-bage sales. Oh well-- DI is going to be getting a big donation.

I like it when Novell spoils us! It seems like they spoil Kim all of the time these days...lotsa days when he's not hungry for dinner because they fed him a big fancy lunch...but in addition to that, yesterday he won a digital camera AND they took us up to Sundance where we ate sumptuously...fillet mignon, 4 appetizers, salad, dessert. I came home entirely too full to sleep properly... but it was sure fun getting miserable! Those dinners had to cost $80.00 each and there was a bout 40 of Kim's group there. Glad I wasn't assigned to pick up the tab! And then Kim's boss, Kim (a girl), told him how much his bonus is this year...more than it has ever been. Then this morning, from 10-1pm they did the family part of this Christmas social at FAT CATS in Provo, where we humiliated ourselves in bowling in front of Brett and Katie, who of course got to come too. We knew that Chad and Erica couldn't do it with a new baby, so we didn't even call them. They also fe

Ok Christa, we now have Emmy up on our grandkid wall but there's still one empty frame there so any time now...........

In accordance to mom's request for pictures of me and my "hat", here are some pictures from my capping ceremony. One is of me and my whole class and the other one is of one of my teachers pinning on my funny lookin hat. Wow.... exciting....

Long story short: Bought used bosch on ebay: $95 (from Lady in provo who bought it at DI) Discovered bosch didn't work due to 1 small part malfunction. Found a random company who sells bosch to verify which part I needed to buy to fix it. They told me that they would get it for me for free. 4 days later not only did the part come in the mail (100% free including shipping), but they sent an entire new bosch bowl for free too. I called them to make sure that it wasn't an accident and told them I hadn't even bought my bosch from them. They said bosch is garanteed for life and then they sent me a new lid for my bosch too (since mine didn't fit). All free. Crazy bosch people-- they just lost about $150 on me. So now I'm the owner of a full-size bosch and a half size bosch. Anybody have a desire for a half-size bosch? I must say though that I love my bosch. Nothing can make bread products like a bosch. And there is nothing to compare to fresh rolls, bread, etc..

Wahoo! Just look at that Santa counter on the left! I'm getting SO excited!

You guys have been so generous to our little family, helping with a wide variety of things from Pregnant clothes to baby help books (and Mom and dad have helped with some large items as well). We've been meaning to call you all and thank you personally. We haven't expressed our gratitude like we should - we know we need to improve in that area, and be more timely in our gratitude. In the meantime, know that we are truly thankful.

I had another OB appointment today, and although I've been having a lot of contractions the last few days, the good news is that my cervix isn't changing. The not-as-good news is that this baby is still breech! If he hasn't flipped around in 3 weeks, we'll try to have him flipped manually (which is supposedly pretty painful), and if that doesn't work we'll be scheduling a c-section since they won't deliver breech babies vaginally anymore. I can't believe I'm at the end of my pregnancy already! I guess it's time to get ready!

Okay so update on my life, I'm living at Cambrie's and Steve's house again. I moved in shortly before Thanksgiving. Our lease ended at the apts I was living at and my best roommate was moving back in with her sister to save for her mission so in looking at my experience this last year with crummy roommates and my name being connected with theirs on the lease, I decided it wasn't worth it. This was I can help out Cambrie and Steve babysit more along with other things around the house and with rent. plus I get to play with two cute fussbuckets when I get home from work or school. It's a good situation. So today at work, I got my very first massage (sorry mom, the ones you give don't count). At work, a couple of times a year I guess, they have "employee appreciation days" where they allow a local massage therapy school to come do their clinicals at our facility for a couple of hours and we get massages. They already did it once this year while I

Vote: Should Cambrie Nelson get a facebook account? She is the only one of that generation in the Groneman clan that does not have a facebook account. I love facebook and the ability it gives to see what is happening in the lives of people I care about (and care enough to give their updates to facebook) I vote YES.

I have to acknowledge the tremendously traumatic event that Erica just went through. She literally passed through the valley of the shadow of death to bring little Emmy into the world. You people that are out of state wouldn't know that, beings that you haven't been able to see or talk to Erica. Without medical intervention, Erica would have died in childbirth. She was in labor for over 21 hours, pushing to no avail 2 1/2 hours of that. On her own power, she could not have brought little Emmy into the world...she had no energy left, and so they used forceps and pulled little Emmy out. She endured the process of getting 4 epidurals, which really did not do the job they were intended to do, and so she was in excruciating pain through most of that time. She only got about 3-4 hours of sleep in the 2 1/2 days and nights (up until last night when I went to visit them again), so she is exhausted beyond the normal loss of a lot of blood and exertion from giving birth to a baby.

WE HAVE A CUTE LITTLE GRAND BABY! We anxiously awaited until about 7:30 when little baby Emmy got into the room with Erica. She is a cute little thing...she looks a lot like Chad did when he was a newborn. I will be anxious to see pictures of Erica as a newborn too, so we compare. Course, they change a lot quickly at that stage...so it probably won't last very long before she is just sweet and precious little Emmy Ann! So fun !!! I just want to hold her and love on her, but both Chad and Erica got NO Sleep last night, after their very little sleep the night before, so they really need to get some sleep today, ASAP. Poor Erica had a very rough time of things with 21 hours of labor...and 4 epiderals that didn't work correctly...so she was still in great pain though most of that. And first babies are hard to get here when they only weigh 6 lbs 10 ounces, like Christa. Emmy was an extra 2 pounds! Erica is going to have a rough recovery and is going to need a lot of help.

Baby Groneman has made her debut, but we want to talk to you all individually. We haven't done that yet because she was born at 1:28 AM. We didn't have time to start making calls until 3:30 or so, and we figured we'd only call to wake up the grandparents. We're waiting to call people until people will likely be awake. Also, we've turned off the phones until we're ready, because we're still hoping that we can get in some shut-eye before the day gets going. (Edit by DAD: Adding pictures!)

Things have been busy here - But no baby yet. We had to get the epidural redone again. Please pray that this one stays in and works! The doctors have increased the inducing drug (starts with a p, but I forgot), to make the contractions stronger. Erica is dilated to a 7, and needs more sleep. We all need this baby to come!

Ok... It's now 3:45... Things are progressing, but not as fast as we had hoped. Erica is dilated to a 5 now. She's been in some pain the past two hours or so, so they just redid the epidural. We think it may have come out of place. In the few contractions she's had since it was put back in, things seem to be better. The baby's head is at station zero, which is (as they explained to us) the narrowest part it has to fit through. We're really just waiting for Erica to dilate more. Once she gets to a 10, the plan is to let her rest for an hour and give the baby a chance to descend a little more on its own. Then the pushing begins, which they say usually takes about 2 hours. Erica is exhausted. She was able to get in a little sleep earlier on, while the first epidural was working. Hopefully now she'll get some more sleep. The nurse is guessing that Erica will reach a 10 sometime around 5 PM tonight. (Erica just started snoring! She's asleep! SHHHHhhh

Another update: The doctor came in and broke Erica's water about three hours ago. The anesthesiologist came and put in the Epidural about 30 minutes ago. That was fun. But it had some comic relief. The doctor got her in position and began his work. He'd been working for only a couple of minutes when all of the sudden this huge gush of Erica's water came out, soaking the towel completely, and then spilling onto the floor. It was a lot more water than came out when the water originally broke. We started laughing, and the anesthesiologist had to start over. We just got an update from the nurse - Erica is now dilated to a 3, almost a 4. That's good. Previously, they told us that it took the longest to get to a 4, and then typically things progress pretty quickly from there. Erica's starting to fall asleep now that she has the Epidural, and she needs it. The little one could be here by noon, or it could be another 8 hours. We just need to be patient. When th

Yesterday we were finally called into the hospital around 2 PM - It was very busy at the hospital yesterday, so they didn't have room for us to go in at 11 like the original plan was. Once we got here, two nurses and two student nurses came in to get Erica all ready. They surrounded her and all of them were doing something. One of the student nurse was learning how to put IV's in, and was still working on her stuff when the other nurses were done (except for one asking Erica various questions). I looked over and saw Erica's hand covered in blood, and the pad below was all bloody as well. The real nurse took over and patched up the student's work, and put in a good one. (Brett - They were BYU nurses, and probably had never worked as a phalbotomist). The Doctor came in at 4:45, 9, and again at 11 last night. The 4:45 and 11:00 visits were to put the stuff on to help Erica's cervix get ready. The 9:00 visit was to tell us that they found the results of the tes

I can't wait to see my new baby GRANDAUGHTER! Pretty sweet to finally have a grand-child living in the valley! And, not that it really matters tons, I am hoping for a little red head to kiss on again! Fun stuff! My mom was in the hospital last night again . From Keith: In case you were not aware, dad had to take her to the ER late last night because of pain and very high blood pressure. They finally released her about 5:00 AM this morning. I don't know why her blood pressure was high (203/99). But she had chest pain going on again, so once again they had to run the tests on her heart, which she has had run many times, and it always shows that her heart is fine. And once she gets feeling better, then she wants to come home, and she is ripping of the EKG stuff, and IV line, trying to find her clothes so she can get out of there! The nurses kept telling her that if she left the hospital before the Dr released her, that she would have to pay the bills cause the insurance co

I guess I should let everyone know that at our Tuesday appt, the Dr. told us he'd like me to go in to the hospital today to start with the gel, with the hopes that I'll be ready by tomorrow (Friday) to be induced (the real meds). So, Chad and I will be enjoying our time in the hospital starting around 11 or 12 today until the baby is born (they don't release you anymore until the baby is born--new policy at the hospital). If my body responds quickly, I suppose we could deliver this baby today. We'll see what happens. So there's the latest. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. :) We'll keep you all posted.

We cut our own tree this year! It was fun, but a lot of work. Jacob made it a little challenging-- making himself throw up about an hour into our drive and getting his clothes all wet and covered in vomit. Unfortunately I hadn't updated the emergency set of clothes in the car from short sleeves and shorts. So we cleaned him up the best we could with wipes, and on we went. Finding a good tree was a lot harder than I thought it would be. But Benjamin loved running through the forest in the tiny bit of snow that was there, searching for just the right one. We finally settled on one once the sun was setting. It's FAR from perfect, but the best we could find. And our new van actually has a roof rack, so we were able to tie the tree on and bring it home! It was a good experience, but I don't think we'll be repeating it next year with Jacob and a little baby. For all of you coming to the Q for the holidays, we are planning a little Christmas Eve/ birthday party (unle

Flood Tide by Clive Cussler My review rating: 4 of 5 stars If you want a book with depth that makes you think...this isn't it. What it is is typical Dirk Pit mindless entertainment. A story that although obvious, is interesting in the details. A great book for relaxation reading, especially if you like action and adventure. View all my reviews.

They've changed our induction date to this Friday, December 5th . We wondered if they'd do that, since the 6th was as Saturday and the on-call doctor would have to do it. So one day earlier! We're still hoping she comes on her own before then, or at least that my body starts the labor process on its own so the risk of a c-section is lower. I have a dr appt tomorrow, so we'll see if any progress has been made. Your little granddaughter/niece/cousin is almost here!! :)

November Results: 103 Erica Groneman 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 26.3246% 397 Kim Groneman 1 2 1 1 3 5 1 2 1 1 6.1889% 417 Brigham Dastrup 1 1 1 1 5 2 1 1 1 1 5.5743% 616 Brett Groneman 1 3 1 1 4 1 2 2 1 1 1122 Cambrie Nelson 1 3 2 1 1 2 1 4 1 1 1532 Chad Groneman 3 1 1 1 17 1 1 2 1 1 2043 Christa Dastrup 1 7 1 1 10 5 1 4 1 1 One of these days...just one of these days we'll get the whole family to participate. Join in on some Christmas Brainbashing fun for December: http://www.brainbashers.com/common

I think I posted this before, but whenever it comes up in conversation, people seem to not have heard of it before. Watch full length movies (Like Saints & Soldiers) and TV shows online at http://www.hulu.com Oh...and I must say that anyone that posts their wish list on the wish list Blog AFTER THANKSGIVING is just wishful thinking since the Groneman parents have long since finished Christmas shopping. :)

Buff just left to start her trek back to Cafilornia. [waving] By Buffie! [sniff][sniff]. I'm mad at Chad and Buff. Invite them to play settlers with us and Chad wins twice and Buff wins once. They don't give us old folk a chance. How rude. We went out to dinner last night at the Macaroni Grill with Buff, Brett, Katie, Marilyn, & me. Good food, good family. Chad & Erica were going to come but they had this tiny little doctor standing on their shoulder telling them they shouldn't leave the house.....so they didn't. After dinner I took Marilyn & Buff over to see the Groneman apartment at BYZoo. We scored some great home made candy so it was worth it. Brett suggested we go see the new batman movie (Dark Knight) at the dollar theater so we did: MOVIE REVIEW: The Dark Knight Let me preface this review with the fact that I go to movies to be entertained. To laugh, to be scared, to feel emotion...to be entertained. Remember I don't like Bambie.

Yeah, Dora Dowee afankgiving yeah mama baytee duwrap toyee... I asked Kiera to tell me about her Thanksgiving trip so I could blog it and that's what you get. Good thing she stopped right there though. She was already giving you guys too much information! The end of the slideshow is here in Loma Linda. Kiera and her daddy went on a walk and only made it a few houses up before Kiera found the puddle. Afterwards we put up Christmas light around our house (1st time ever in our marriage). Lydia was there to give her stamp of approval--one throw up meant it looked good, two or more throw-ups meant she wanted less milk. Man I practically got a sunburn putting up those lights. I bet those of you in Utah know what I'm going through when you put your lights up too.

Now that the Cougs got thoroughly trounced by the Utes, the stories are starting to come in. I've heard some stories from people at work who attended the game, and now I read this. (Amanda Dixon is a KSL radio personality.) If you take a few minutes to read through the comments, how many people ignore what she is saying in her post and carry on with the name calling and rude behaviour in their comments I'm just amazed. Hello?!? Didn't they understand what she was saying? Welcome to the new Utah. Happy Valley is no more. It's too bad that my kids didn't get to experience the area as it was when I was growing up. [shaking head] From all the stories I am hearing, they should do away with BYU vs. UTAH football games.

It was a good day. Got up early and went to work putting up all the trip (floor boards, door trim, ceiling trim) in the downstairs room. Just as I had a couple more pieces to do, Chad & Erica showed up! (Yea!) We played Settlers and it was the closest game of Settlers I've ever played. There were no villages on the board, only cities. Everyone had 9 points and I was going to turn over my last soldier card to win with largest army when Chad pulled out his victory point and won. Erica and Marilyn were also going to win that turn if they got the chance. I think Chad cheated. Buff walked in the door about 4:00 (yea!) and Grandma/Grandpa H showed up about 4:30. The ham was slow to cook so we were about to sit down to eat at 5:30 when Brett/Katie showed up. (Yea!) Buff is still the champion in some of the Wii balance games, but try as she may, she couldn't beat my records in Slalom skiing and Hula Hoop. Of course, by the end of the day I was miserable from gobbling, g

Happy Thanksgiving DAY Everybody! I wish we were all together! But we will be celebrating this day with Chad and Erica, Breanna, and my mom and dad. I have so very much to be grateful for!! I have a sweet husband who shows me every day that he loves me! I have great kids who have found fabulous people to marry, which I can now claim as my own! I have beautiful and sweet Grandchildren, which bring me joy. I have a powerful testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I am SO VERY GRATEFUL to be a member of this, the Mormon church. It brings me so much peace, and joy, and love and a sense of well being into my life. I am grateful for my knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that knowledge of who I am, why I am on Earth, and where I will be going in the post Earth life if I live according to the gospel I love. I live in America, where in spite of it's problems, is still the best place on the planet to be living. The Lord has blessed us with riches that couldn't ha

The Groneman Baby Guess scoring system is now finalized. That means Brett can make his guess. The only alteration from the original scoring system is that the days difference multiplier is now 5.0 instead of 0.5. This is to accommodate the induction date being set one week early. There is a slight modification on when entries must be submitted by, as well. Entries must be submitted before Nov. 30th . Must be 2 or older to put in an entry. The final scoring system: ((difference in days from date of actual birth) * 5.0 ) + ((difference in minutes from time of actual birth) * 0.03) + ((difference in ounces from actual birth weight) * 0.7) + ((difference in inches from actual height) * 0.2) + (if wrong gender then 5.0, otherwise 0) Note that all previous guesses are currently for after the Dec. 6th induction date. If you don't re-submit, we'll use your original.

Happy Pie Day everyone. Pie day always falls on the day before Thanksgiving. It's the day when pies and other delicious goodies are made in preparation for the Thanskgiving Day Pig Out. To celebrate, watch this short video ( then be sure to watch the bloopers available at the end of the video )

http://www.abovethehate.com/

Taking a test? Need some answers for your exam? Here are some . (It goes along with today's Calvin & Hobbes)

We have an update, and you may want to change your guess on the Groneman Baby. Erica has a little bit of some high blood pressure, and is partially showing symptoms for a problem associated with that. So, to be on the safe side, the doctors have moved up the induction date to December 6th . For those of you who are unfamiliar with OB/GYN terms, that means our little one will be here on December 6th, almost guaranteed. She may come before then, but not after. Erica's doing Non-Stress tests twice a week now until then. Why do they call them non-stress tests? I dunno. Our little one appears to be healthy, but the hospital needs to monitor her closely to make sure she's not in trouble while she's in the womb still. Soo.... Update your baby guesses if desired, and pray for a healthy birth & delivery.

<-- Look over there! It's less than 30 days until the fat man comes!

Neither Christa or I got Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert tickets. Did anyone else get them? You can check by taking the confirmation # you were given when you signed up for tickets online, and go to the same location that you went to register, and enter that # and see if you got them or not. I think that perhaps that they are slow this year mailing them out because of the scalping that was done with tickets people got last year. But I don't know. Just a guess.

Kiera had a fun birthday. We celebrated it at Steve's parents house and it was immediately before the football game so it was a little overlooked but she still had fun. She got spoiled by her auntie buffalo who gave her 2 cinderella dolls, a talking elmo, Sleeping Beauty DVD, and a princess jacket wtih lights on it (that I had her take back since Kiera was afraid of it). Kiera got a tea set and some other girly toys which are fun to play with. More on the Nelson Blog.. check it out.

The parental units are officially connected via Google Talk Video. It was fun watching Kiera open presents on her birthday! It's a lot easier than the old MSN video chats. If you have a webcam, get yours set up HERE

Happy Birthday Little Kiera! Gramps and Grandma Love You!!!

Well, my capping ceremony was last night....and I got a hat. it was a very funny looking hat and a very short ceremony...only a half hour long. But I guess it's significant somehow. Everyone in my class said that I had the cutest niece (lydia came) and that I talk and look just like my sister (Cambrie was our guest speaker[thanks again cambrie]) oh and also..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEIRA!!! A big 2 year old!!!

If you've been watching the news at all you get an idea that the economy isn't doing to good. I didn't live through the depression but I've known and heard stories from a lot of people that did. I'll get to the point: Get out of debt. Any way, any sacrifice you have to do, do it and EVERY little bit helps. If you can save 20 bucks by cutting out one planned activity, do it. If that means no road trip, no road trip. If that means no new clothes, so be it. Don't take this economic crisis lightly...take it very, very seriously. Be on the lookout for good bargains on food storage items and get them. Investing in the essentials right now could save you a lot of money later when the value of money declines sharply. Last, start saving. Instead of going out to dinner, keep that money in the bank. Bottom line: Don't spend money on things other than necessities. The bad part of this is that if everyone did this, the crisis would just worsen. It's

I have bittersweet feelings today as it is my last day in the office working for EFY. It's been such a good job for me. I hope I've been a good employee to it. I believe in the purpose of the program and what it can do for the youth and young adults of the church. My friends Lindsay and Dicksy are having a farewell party for me today from 11:30-1:30. We invited whoever I know from the division to come and join us. It's a good time for me to be done because I have high blood pressure, and that's not good. So it is a blessing. My cute husband brought me some flowers on Monday, which have been brightening my office all week long. On to a new chapter and adventure in my life! Our little girl could come anytime and be full-term! :)

Well, as of this Friday, my new job is official. I've already moved into my new office on the top of Novell's tallest building. Here's a phone picture out the window of my office. Nice view. My old office had a window that overlooked the Provo City sewer treatment plant. :) I've already started doing some work in my new job responsibilities and there will be a bit of transition time but I am real excited about it.

The Nelsons are Gmail video-chat ready and I noticed that the Dastrups are as well. Better get with the program if you want to watch Kiera open her birthday presents live.

TURKEY TRIVIA Apparently I don't know mine very well...I got 10 right....but try to beat that anyway and post your score.

I thought we had a guess chart for the Dastrup baby...I guess not. So...put your guess in a comment to this entry. For the only written information I can find about the due date, check out this post .

The criteria and judging standards can be found HERE -------------------------------- Cambrie said... Kiera is offended that she is the only one in the family who doesn't meet the age criteria. Cambrie's guess: Dec 11th 2:25 AM, 6 lbs 8 oz, female. Red hair --------------------------------- Brett said... My guess is subject to change until the formula is no longer subject to change. -------------------------- Marilyn said... Dec 13, 4 am, 6 lbs 5 ounces! (She will want to come then so she can steal the show on your anniversary! ------------------------- Kim said... Dec 12, 11:00pm, 6lb-4oz, 19.5 inches, GIRL - I'm so excited! 24 August, 2008 13:26 ------------------------- Christa said... Dec. 10th, 3:52 pm, 6 lb. 7 oz., 19 inches, girl. You'd better not wrap her birthday presents in Christmas wrap! 24 August, 2008 21:24 ---------------------------- Erica said... I feel a little pressure filling this out, (as if I should know any

Alright, so the picture of Lydia obviously isn't from my "earthquake" experience... it's just way cute and I couldn't help but put it up. I took it the other day when I went over to cambrie's/steve's house for dinner. I definately have a new respect for motherhood/homemaking. She had made some delicious buffalo wings (I know i know, how very canibalistic of me to eat them) for dinner all while taking care of 2 FUSSY fussbuckets. I don't know how all you mothers do it. But the other 2 pictures are me as a "earthquake victim". It was way fun. We got there and they gave us breakfast while we all took turns getting makeup on etc. I was a "lucky" vitim and just had head trauma. Others in my class had poles stiking out of their shoulders and wood shards sticking out of their neck, another had a compound fracture... it was all very realistic had it not been for the fact that all of us had come with our hair perfectly done and th

For those of you who do not have children, this is a preview of what you have to look forward to: Last night I was going to go to bed at 11:30 but decided to wake up Lyida to feed her since she had not eaten in 6 hours and I didn't want to be woken up in an hour to feed her. I guess she wasn't that hungry because after I fed her and put her in her bed she spit up and woke herself up. After putting her to sleep twice more she spit up twice more and then she was awake as could be, smiling and ready to play. At 1:30 she was still just as happy and awake as could be so I decided to put her in her bed and let her cry herself to sleep so that we could get some sleep. She fell asleep after about 15 minutes of crying, however, she apparently woke up Kiera who came in to our room and wanted to sleep with us. Anybody who has ever tried it knows that it is impossible to sleep with a toddler so after about 30 minutes carried her back to her room. 3 minutes later she was tapping my sho

Although it wasn't the most educational clinical day I've ever had, I got to spend the day with the wound care department of the hospital. Normally, us students are just there to observe in the wound care department. They normally have students just puppy dog someone around as they go change wound vacs, or do dressing changes, or whatever. And normally there's only one student there (if any), but yesterday there was an extra one besides me. So they happened to be doing a hyperbaric "dive" soon and asked if I wanted to join them. Being probably my only opportunity to go on a hyperbaric dive ever, I decided to go. When they found out I had an insulin pump, they said I couldn't go. Then I convinced them to let me go if I just left it off while I was in there. They said, "Sure!" So I did. This is the chamber I went in: I went in with a tech and one patient. They were very careful about what went in to the chamber. Electronics had to stay out,

The dr appt went well today. My blood pressure is lower now and he's not too concerned (we had to go back in today because at my Tuesday appt--which I was late for--my blood pressure was high). I had a contraction while he was checking the baby's heartbeat, but I'm still not really able to tell (except when I'm walking around!). He said he's pretty sure her head is down, so that's good. I have a feeling this little one is going to come sooner than later, even though we did set the induction date for December 20th (not going to happen, I just know it). So, all is going well so far! :) Chad and I would like her to stay in the oven for at least another week (that would be nice, especially since my last day of work is next Friday, the 21st), but the doctor said if she came today, she'd probably come home with mommy from the hospital, so that's good to hear. There's no indication she'll be coming in the next week, but she's getting ready to come s

Yesterday wasn't the greatest of days for the Dastrups, but it wasn't the worst either. First of all, just as I was arriving home from an OB appointment, smoke/steam started billowing out from under the hood of our van (aka the Time Bomb, for obvious reasons). I'm no mechanic, but after to talking to one on the phone, it sounds like it's probably a radiator problem. We've got our fingers crossed because we have set a limit as to what we think is wise to put into that old monster to repair it. We'll probably know later on today whether the Time Bomb will continue to tick or not. I'm currently counting down the minutes until I can take Benjamin to preschool so I can get a nap because I was in the hospital until 2:30 am with contractions coming every 2 1/2 minutes. They gave me a shot of terbutaline (sp?), which calmed them for a bit, but then they came back again. They let me go, though, because the fetal fibronectin test came back negative. That means that d

Well, if you are a facebook user, you already have seen the picture of me with the President of Equador. Well, he's the past President. He was President while Cambrie was there. Very smart and charismatic man. Before the conference began I was just sitting chatting with him at a table, not knowing who he was...then he was introduced as the keynote speaker. I had no clue I was talking with an ex head of state . Anyway, he stayed for the 3 day conference and we had a chance to talk more since I was sitting next to him. What a unique and interesting experience.

Cambrie may be the only one to really appreciate this post, but I'm posting it anyway. It's nice to start seeing a light-bulb in the middle of the tunnel-of-school. After going to college for almost 11 semesters, I'm getting fairly close to getting my. . . two year degree. Yep. Two years. Associates. Oh well. I'm glad that I'm well into the program I want to be in now and going where I want to go. I've still got 4-6 years of school to go after I "graduate" this upcoming April. Next semester is my last semester of the RN program at UVSC. I'll get my RN and get to start working as such, and make notably more money than I do now, which will be nice for paying for school and, you know, paying for stuff -- all while getting more work experience along with school experience. Then, depending on who accepts me and other factors, I'll be trying to go to either UVSC or BYUI (online) for their BSN program for 2 more years. I talked to one perso

So I noticed that gmail now has video chat available. So for you computer inclined people, does that mean that we who have the logitec webcams can use them for gmail video chat?

Christa just tried to post this, but for some reason, it got "eaten". So I have their blessing to let you all know that Christa spent the night last night with pre-term labor in the hospital. She was having contractions 2 to 3 minutes apart. They gave her some drugs to get it stopped, and this morning she was able to come home. She is resting now. Brigham's folks are going down this weekend ...for a visit/and if necessary to help out. I am available (they know) if they need someone for longer. Hopefully, that won't be necessary. I am sure all of you will join me in prayer that she will not have anymore abnormally early contractions. We want this baby in January...for many reasons...most of all for the well being of that little guy!

Yesterday wasn't the greatest of days for the Dastrups, but it wasn't the worst either. First of all, just as I was arriving home from an OB appointment, smoke/steam started billowing out from under the hood of our van (aka the Time Bomb, for obvious reasons). I'm no mechanic, but after to talking to one on the phone, it sounds like it's probably a radiator problem. We've got our fingers crossed because we have set a limit as to what we think is wise to put into that old monster to repair it. We'll probably know later on today whether the Time Bomb will continue to tick or not. I'm currently counting down the minutes until I can take Benjamin to preschool so I can get a nap because I was in the hospital until 2:30 am with contractions coming every 2 1/2 minutes. They gave me a shot of terbutaline (sp?), which calmed them for a bit, but then they came back again. They let me go, though, because the fetal fibronectin test came back negative. That means that d

I found this article about an ancient temple interesting. I think they're on to something, even if they're wrong about a thing or two.

So 2 nights ago, I actually did something social... the first time in about 5 months that I have besides going to church and break the fast. It was only for an hour or so but It was very fun. So me and my roommates and a guyfriend that had come over were all out boiling in our apt. hot tub when someone mentioned how fun it would be to have the hot tub filled with bubbles... well we all got that evil gleam in our eyes and went and some liquid soap and put it in. It took awhile but eventually the hot tub was filled with bubbles and we proceeded to have a whole lot of fun. Oh and just to let you all know, for school tomorrow, I get to be a earthquake victim/patient. We were instructed today during class that we were to all show up at one of our clinical sites in grubby street clothes and that we are going to be assigned symptoms etc and have fake blood on us like we were in a earthquake. The hospital staff is then going to proceed in how they would take care of us in a emergency situatio