Team Francks

Firelight & The Fran(c)ks

Funny on two levels....

1.  Because I'm in to the Twilight thing...

2.  Me and the romantic hero share the same last name... that's a first! (no offense Joey)

Thanks for sharing Emma!

Happy Digital Scrapbook Day!

I posted this on my Scrapbooking blog as well but since I think there are only two people that read that blog I'm going to post it here as well!

Today is Digital Scrapbooking Day (yes, there is such a thing!) :)  Hooray!

I created a freebie for the celebrations... a two page Thanksgiving layout that is already designed for you!  All you need to do is add pictures and journaling and you're done!

So, now you can concentrate on making the meal, and enjoying time with friends and family. Just remember to take lots of photos, and you'll have the perfect instant layouts to use them in!

Be sure to check pack throughout the day for other freebies!

 

You can download it free here.   Happy Scrappin'!

A funny Halloween story...

Ok... this may totally be one of those "you had to be there" stories... but every time I see the pictures it hits my funny bone!

When I was in Utah two weeks ago I wanted all the cousins to dress up for Halloween and go "trick-or-treating" at Grandma's house since I never get to be there for the actual event... so everyone dressed up and then fun began!

First they all ran around like wild animals... I think this picture is so funny... to me it looks like fairy tale escapee's jumping on the trampoline.

And then we tried to take pictures...

It was absolute mayhem. I could not stop laughing.

David (Dinosaur) and Tyler (Dragon): Kept growling at everyone.

Little Buddy (Kangaroo): Cried every time David and Tyler growled.

Aysha (Snow White): Kept jumping up and down and looking everywhere but the camera.

Madilyn (Chicken): Hated the chicken suit. She cried anytime her mom would try to fasten it up.

Calvin (Pooh): Kept running off. It was impossible to take a picture before he was off again.

Maria (Cinderella): Was holding Miriam (Dalmatian). About 5 minutes into trying to take the picture, Miriam slipped off of her lap and fell face first onto the porch. She was screaming, and Maria was bawling because she felt horrible about having dropped the baby (she was fine, no worries).

We never did get a great picture. Finally we had Grandma and Grandpa sit down with them to hold all of the babies. Uncle Fias sat behind the bench and held Calvin in place. Aysha still never did look at the camera.

After this shot, the kids rang the doorbell, got some candy, and everyone had a happy, fake Halloween.

** Thanks to my sister Emma for letting me blantanly steal this off her blog... she recapped the event perfectly!

Midweek Musings

1.  I know... I'm a stinky blogger these days.... sorry!

2.  Two weeks ago I got a horrible phone call from my friend Renee in Spokane.  One of our dearest friends in the whole world had a heart attack and wasn't expected to live through the night.  Karen is way too young to be in this situation.  She is vibrant and beautiful, a mom and one of the kindest, most wonderful people I know... I adore her more than words can express.  I lived the first few days in fear that I was going to get the dreaded phone call.  Her sister died in hear early 20's of a heart condition... and Doctors said it didn't looked good for Karen with such a bad heart attack.  At the moment she has beat the odds and seems to plugging ahead...she's out of her coma and seems to taking small baby steps towards recovery... my heart hurts for her 10 year old son.   I've tried every way I could think of to go to Spokane and be with her but finances, work and a baby just don't allow me to leave for that long....  I so wish I was there.  Sending happy vibes and lots of prayers to my sweet friend. Love you bunches and bunches!

 
(The Spokane fab four... Renee, me, Beth and Karen... taken at 2am... usually we look a tiny bit better)

p.s. I opened my recipe binder the other day and came across a handwritten recipe from Karen... a yummy cake that she would make all the time...  seeing her handwriting made my heart happy.

3.  So I had this long post written up to let you know that we were moving... my husband is starting a Master's Degree Program and we were going to be moving this month to East Texas (about three hours from here) for school.  And then at the very very last minute things changed and we decided to go a different route.  So in three weeks he'll be starting an online degree with a university in Colorado... it just works out better... its a little bit more expensive but we don't have to move, we don't have to find new jobs, we don't have to find a new place to live... so in the end I'm sure the cost evens out.  So we're staying put...and I'm happy about that.

4.  My life is about to get ugly again.  Starting at the end of November I'm covering for a co-worker who is going on maternity leave... so I'll be doing my job plus a big chunk of her job... I was sooo hoping to have all my Christmas shopping done by then so I wouldn't have to worry about it when I'm a crazy insane working person... but alas here it is the end of October and not a gift purchased.  PLUS I was going to make all my gifts this year.  HA!  ugh.

5.  My dishwasher is broken.  I know I shouldn't whine.  A million women around the world do dishes by hand. With that being said... I am whining... I hate doing dishes by hand.

6. My friend Liberty (who lives in Chicago) and I did a Halloween Swap this year... we put fun Halloween boxes together and then mailed them to each other.  It was soooo fun and Lib made me such a great box!!  I LOVED IT!!  I can't wait to do it again next year!!!  This is the box I made for her:

This is the box she made for me... I wear the Halloween apron everyday!  Loooooove it!  She made everything in her box.. I'm jealous of her talents!

7.  Just in case you were wondering... Oprah and I are back together again... sigh... we broke up for a while... a long while... I'm very conservative... her not so much... its hard to make the relationship work when our beliefs are so very different... but alas she has catchy shows and sucks me back in. Every time.

8.   My mind is always always going with projects and ideas that I want to make... I could spend 24 hours a day for a month and still not get all the fun projects I want to done.  So why is it the fun creative stuff always gets pushed aside... I hate that part of being a grown up.  If I keep squashing the ideas eventually my creative being is going to give up on me and go find somewhere else to live.

9.  Still want to post about little Buddy's 1st birthday palooza and our trip to Utah... so much fun stuff!

10. Here's me and the boys at our Church Halloween Party... Joey went as "the Great Pumpkin" (he was all decked out in orange... pretty funny)... isn't that the cutest Kangaroo you've ever seen!  Hip Hip Hooray.. I love Halloween!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I wish I knew where I got this recipe...  I would totally give them credit... it's good...  really good and super easy!

I sent it with my husband for lunch today and he liked it even better the second day.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

2 pkg. crescent rolls

6 TBS. BBQ Sauce

Shredded Cheese (your choice)

1/2 cup mayo

2 cooked chicken breasts diced

1/2 green pepper diced (I didn't use)

3 green onions (I think the green onions totally made the pizza that much better!)

2 TBS. Ranch Dressing (I used a wee bit more)

 

Lay rolls out into baking sheet. Bake as directed or until just golden. Mix mayo and ranch dressing together; spread over "pizza crust" Mix chicken, BBQ sauce, and green peppers together and sprinkle on top. Sprinkle shredded cheese and chopped green onion on top.

One Year Pictures

Just got back from a fun week in Utah... lots and lots to post... but you know how it is when you get home from a long trip... life, laundry, bills, unpacking... yada yada yada...

anyway so I'll post fun pictures this week but until then here are Little Buddy's one year pictures... so in love with this little one.  Can't believe how big he's getting!

 

 

You’ve had a birthday; shout “Hooray!”

• Ravioli for dinner (only because we didn't know what his favorite meal was... so we just guessed because we refused to eat meat sticks and goldfish crackers)
  

• Chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting...I was good with him getting it all over the place... you know because it was his birthday... but he wanted NOTHING to do with the cake all over the face bit...
  

• A sock monkey, ball and a pushing/riding toy

• Nice, simple, easy going birthday...

Welcome to the numbers little one!

You’ve had a birthday; shout “Hooray!”
We want to sing to you today.
One year older and wiser, too,

Happy birthday to you.

And a Happy Birthday shout out to Cousin Madilyn, Uncle Hyrum, Sophie and Grace and Xander... our birthday buddies!

On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true...

Haha... I think a cheesy Carpenter's song is only appropriate for the title (I love the Carpenter's btw...)

This weekend we celebrated little one's first birthday... I know its so cliche but I can't believe its been a year!  The time went by sooo fast! 

I've never posted about his birth... at first it was too traumatic and then I got too busy...and here it is a year now.. .... so I'm going to share his birth story so that I have it for his record... I'll try to keep it brief-ish.

**************************************************************

Tuesday Sept 30 at my appt my doctor asked if I wanted to be induced on Thursday (her induction day) since my mom was coming in to town and we didn't want to waste any of the time I could use her help I told her yes! She said they would call me Wednesday to let me know if the hospital for sure had a spot for me.  We decided not to tell any friends just in case I didn't happen... so nobody knew I was being induced.

Wednesday my mom was here and we did some last minute errands and went to lunch at the Olive Garden and I started to get really scared.

Got a call from the hospital that they were ready for me in the morning.

Wednesday night finished putting my hospital bag together and painted my toe nails... you know all the important things... can't give birth without cute toenails.  

our last night before we officially become parents

Tried to go to bed by 9:00pm since I knew we'd have to be at the hospital early but got sucked in to a Criminal Minds marathon and didn't get to bed until after 11pm. 

Got a call from my sister Emma at 12:30 saying that our sister in law Rebekah had just gone in to labor... (we knew we were due close to each other but I thought for sure I'd deliver before her since I was due first).

On Thursday October 2nd got up at four... showered, make up and ready by five to leave for the hospital.

 

headed to the hospital bright and early...

Checked in at 5:30... got settled in and IV'ed.  Liked my nurses... tried to take a nap... so didn't happen.... way too nervous.

At 7:00am there was a shift change and the new nurses came on shift and that's where it all went downhill...

I didn't like the new nurse at all... she wasn't warm or personable at all... at times we she was a little bit rude... I know she does this all day every day... but it was my first time and I was scared.

Around 10ish my brother David called to say that he and Rebekah had a baby girl... hooray!  We were so excited!

It was mostly boring...  I tried to sleep or watch TV but I was too anxious so I just mostly made small talk with my mom and Joey and waited for something to happened... I was on Pitocin but nothing was really happening.

Later they came in to do blood work and all that fun sort of stuff... its at that time that they tell me that I'm at a training hospital and they'd like their interns to be able to do the work but that the supervisor will there to watch and assist.  Ok?  In hindsight I should have run away as fast as I could.

It went something like this:

• The intern tried to take my blood five times and blew a vain before the supervisor stepped in.  Why I ask you did it take FIVE TIMES before they said that was enough?  I was so bruised.

• Took a different intern six times to do the catheter... I had SO many problems with that later!

• The training guy put the epidural in and had me all taped up when his supervisor told him he had it in a patch of blood vessels and needed to relocate it. So I had to do the epidural all over again. UGH.

The whole experience was bad.  An hour or so after the blood they came in and broke my water to see if they could get things going.

I started moving and grooving... at point I'm at a seven and still didn't have my epidural in... I was trying to see how far I could get without an epidural.  They finally said if I was going to do the epidural I should probably go ahead and get it since I was almost an eight.

Meanwhile the lame rude nurse was nowhere to be seen... any time we need ANYTHING we had to track her down.  It was so annoying.  

Finally I told my husband I was really uncomfortable and could he find the nurse and have her check on me. 

She came and checked me and said it was time to get going... by this time its been ten hours and I was ready.  They finished prepping the room and the last minute stuff.

The stupid lame nurse starts having me push and push and push and push and push and push and nothing...  but I can tell somethings not right... the baby's heart rate on the monitor keeps dropping.  I keep asking my mom and Joey what's going on because his heart rate will stop and then go and then stop and then go and it was freaking me out.

My doctor is out in the hall and keeps sticking her head in and the nurse tells her I'm not ready and that she'll call her when I am (three times!)... finally my doctor comes in and says she's staying until I'm ready.  She can hear the heart beat on the monitor and hears it keep stopping and starting.

She goes over to the monitor and wants to know how long the heart rate has been down.   The nurse mumbles something.  And then all hell breaks loose.  My doctor is mad.  She moves the nurse out of the way and starts checking the baby... and starts yelling orders at people and everybody is running around and then I hear the dread C word.

By this time I've been in labor for forever and pushing for over an hour.  She says that the baby has turned and that his shoulders are caught on the pelvic bone and that he's been in distress for too long so they're going to have to take him emergency C-Section.  I'm crying and DO NOT want a c-section!  They throw scrubs at Joey and tell him to get dressed.  I'm grabbing my mom's hand telling her I don't want a c-section and that I'm scared.

They whisk me out of the room on the bed and take me to surgery.  The surgery room doctor wants to know if my doctor wants him to call the anesthesiologist and my doctor wants to know how long it will take him to get there and the other doctor says 15 minutes and my doctor says there's no time.

I ask where my husband is and they say there's no time... they don't have time to drape me so they can't let him in.  They put the mask on me and as I drift out of consciousness's I hear the doctors talking to each other and they say they've got to get this baby out now or they're going to lose him... I of course am not supposed to hear this... they thought I was already out... and that's the last thing I remember...

Meanwhile they've made my mom go back to the room.. they won't let her stand at the surgery doors with Joey. She's praying and pleading that the baby will be ok and has called all my siblings to pray for us.

Joey is at the surgery doors and people are rushing in and out and nobody will tell him what's going on.  He says he's never been so scared.

I don't know what happens from there but at 4:34 our sweet little guy was born... they cleaned him up and had Joey meet them in the nursery and he got to spend the next three hours rocking and being with our little guy.

THANK GOODNESS my mom thought to take pictures despite all the chaos... and thanks to her I have pictures from the first few hours of baby boys life even though I didn't get to be a part of it.

 

 

It took them awhile to stitch me up...my c-section runs up and down instead of the bikini line cut... and then they rolled me back to my room.

Three hours later I woke up in the worst pain of my life.  I can't take any NSAID's (Advil, IB Profin.... any anti-inflammatory) so I woke up with NO drugs in me.  It was horrible.  And then when the fogginess went away enough for me to realize where I was I had no idea if my baby had made it or not which is a horrible feeling.  My mom was there and told me that he was perfect and wonderful and healthy and that he was in the nursery with Joey.

They got some drugs in me and I fell back asleep.

I guess my mom went and got Joey because he came in shortly after and gave me a kiss and told me we had a beautiful son.  They kept asking me if I wanted to see the baby and I was so out of it and hurting so bad that I kept telling them no.  Finally my mom nodded to Joey to go get the baby... they brought him in and he was of course perfect.  After all that we had been through... 10 years of infertility and a horrible delivery here was my beautiful, perfect son... and all was good in the world.

 

                        meeting little man for the first time

I ended up having to stay in the hospital for four days... I was having some problems and he wasn't nursing so they kept me until I was doing some better. 

I didn't call anybody and let them know that he had been born until the third day because I was so sick and didn't feel up to visitors.

 

I'll spare you the details of the horrible nurse who came and yelled at me at 6am because my baby wasn't eating and losing weight because he wouldn't nurse and I needed to decide if I was going to bottle feed or try harder on the nursing...(TOTALLY not my fault... the lactation counselor was coming in every hour and the nursery told us NOT to feed him from a bottle.  Ugh.)  She was mean... but the other nurses were awesome and amazing and made up for the mean nursery nurse and the stupid labor and delivery nurse.

Finally they released us and we came home and settled in to life with our new baby.

 

Ok, so the story didn't turn out to be brief... but its recorded... this last year has been awesome and I love this little guy more than anything in the whole world!

Monday Musings

1.  Did you know that life does indeed go on without me being in Young Women's?  I know, weird.

2.  I have this shirt that has a zipper down the front.  I think its time to retire the shirt... or just wear it at home... because little one has a thing for zippers and now far too many people in the walmart check out line have seen my cleavage... several times in the same shopping trip.  sigh.

3.  Speaking of little buddy... he's talking...  his favorite words:

baby

hi

hi dad

byebye

dad

gee (doggy)

somehow mama has not made it on to the list yet.  Humph.

4.  We have this weird fascination with the show Cops.  I know, so weird and somewhat trashy.  But we like it.  We keep waiting for the day when we recognize somebody we know.

5.  It smells like fall tonight... it's glorious... we don't really get a real true fall here... but I like to pretend... and smells like tonight make it easy to pretend.

6.  I've been doing cub scout training all day... I have a headache... between learning about child abuse and merit badges my brain is tired. 

7.  I'm having my first Scentsy party on Thursday night. I'm super nervous.  I'm soooo not a salesperson.  But I like the product... and I like any excuse for a party.  As of right now I've only had two people RSVP so it may just be three of us and lots of food.  

8.  We have a new niece... baby McKenna was born on Friday with lots of red hair just like her mama... can't wait to meet her!!

9.  We have a new car... well a "new to us" used car... our friends really needed to sell a car... and we really needed a second car... and they offered us a smokin' deal that we couldn't refuse so we bought it.  And I don't say this lightly... having a second car has changed my life.  Seriously.  On Friday nights when Joey doesn't get off work until after midnight... I no longer have to wake up the baby and schlep myself to the TV station... he can just come home on his own. And its glorious.... gloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorius!

10.  Baby boy turns 1 this week.  CRAZY.  I still need to write down his birth story before I forgot it... the brain cells are going fast these days.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: Arizona Edition

1.  We drove to Arizona for the big (300+) Boone Family Reunion.  Road trippin' with the family... ipods and laptops definitely make the trip go faster...  Baby boy did awesome.  Good times!

2.  Snowflake, AZ is a huge part of my heritage... named after the pioneer families Snow and Flake that founded it... The Snowflake of my childhood was magical with fun cousins... doing stuff that we didn't normally get to do.  It's been 15 years since I'd been back.  And while its still magical...  the fun cousins are all grown with families of their owns and I was sad that it wasn't quite the same as the Snowflake of my childhood memories.  Growing up will do that I guess.

3.  We went early to partake in the huge Pioneer Day celebrations that happen there every year.  I loooooooooooooooove Pioneer Day Celebrations.  Parades, Rodeos, Softball Tournaments, BBQ's, etc.  The celebrations (and all you can eat watermelon) did not disappoint and were thankfully just as I had remembered them. 

4.  We went to the Flake Family Rodeo... not to be confused with the town rodeo which is on the same day and also lots of fun.  What can I say... we like rodeo's!

5. One of my favorite activities was the town Parade... complete with church floats, the middle aged rodeo queens and little wagons with lots of kids.  I felt lucky to be there to partake. They ended the parade with the firetruck spraying everyone.... very fun...

6. One day we went and had malts in an old malt shoppe... we sat the counter and everything... very quaint... I loved it.

7.  There was lots of visiting family and old family homes... some of the family I didn't know... one of which is my dad's cousin (or uncle??)... he has a very eclectic style... TP's in his yard, bear rugs every where and a cut out of John Wayne in the guest room.  My dad had a great time visiting with his kin... me and the siblings had a great time taking posed pictures while he visited with his kin.

8. At camp there was lots of visiting and activities, boating and volleyball and games and crafts... mostly I just did the crafts... I know that surprises you... 

9.  I was still working the whole time... one day my internet connection was non-existent so I schlepped myself to the closest laundromat and worked there for a few hours... exactly how I want to be spending quality family reunion time.. at a laundromat with my laptop.

10.  We drove to the new(ish) Snowflake Temple which I think is so beautiful against the desert.

11.  One day to get out of the heat we went to see the new Harry Potter.  I fell off the Harry Potter wagon along time ago but it was fun to sit in a cool theater and watch a movie with my family (even if I had no clue what was going on with the story).

12.  We got to go visit my grandparents grave... its been way too long since my last visit.

13.  We got to visit the "Big House" where my grandmother Ruth was born and raised.

14.  We got to talk to my little brother who was leaving the MTC on the way to his mission in Alabama. 

15.  All was going well and everyone having a dandy time until the whole camp came down with the black plague.  I don't know who brought the flu with them but it was horrible and almost everybody got it.  A million people and three toilets... not good ratio's.

So I got the horrible, nasty flu... throwing up like crazy and sick as a dog in a hot hot tent and then my sister and then my brother and then my dad and then my baby and I was a wuss and I just couldn't handle being sick with a sick baby in that hot hot tent so I caved and went home early... My dad was so sad that we were all leaving...

So me and the sisters (and brother in law) packed up the cars and drove the long way back to Utah.  My dad wanted to stick it out... sick and all... so they stuck it out until the end. They would make much pioneers than me.

When I got home I totally regretted leaving... I should have just stuck it out.  But at the moment it seemed like a good idea.

And that is the end of Family Reunion 2009... so happy that I got to go.  I feel so grateful for the history and tradition... and I'm grateful that the Boone's value it enough to make the effort do the reunion every three years... a lot of people come long distances to be there... I feel blessed to be a part of them.