"Hello, Poison Control. . ."

It happened, our first call to Poison Control. Rhett is officially on record. He was playing around while I was cooking in the kitchen and I heard him gag/choke. I went down the hall to find him and he was in the bathroom. He had gotten into the mouthwash. I know, my fault, it shouldn't have been down. It didn't even cross my mind. Not to mention it does have a child safety cap, which evidently isn't child proof. I know he didn't drink much as the bottle was not full to begin with, there was still a good amount in the bottle as well as quite a bit on the floor. His breath did smelt minty fresh though! I called Poison Control, as the bottle suggests. They told me to watch him for an hour to see if he starts acting drunk. Can you imagine!?! If he did he needed to be rushed to the ER b/c the alcohol puts babies in a hypoglycemic state, which is very dangerous. Well, Rhett never showed any signs of being inhibited and the day went on like normal. Thank goodness!

Family Pictures 2009

The Whole Family

My Parents



Our Family

Rhett 1 yr. old

The Milford Family
(my older sister)

Emery 7 yrs. old

Fallon 4 yrs. old

Kylie & Cody
(my little sister)

Clear Lake 2009

We went to the lake for a week with some of Randy's siblings and their families. The lake was amazing! Although we affectionately called it Green Lake, rather then Clear Lake because of the algae, the water was literally glass until at least 2pm. You can't beat that, who cares about the algae! It was a busy week with 10 little kids. Vacation with a one year old isn't really vacation but rather a "trip" and something I might think twice about as we have more children, but none the less, good times were had.

1st Birthday

All Mine!

Yummy!

All Finished!

Such a Big Boy!


Rhett's 1st Birthday was celebrated just the way a birthday should be with friends, family, food and LOTS of sugar on a summer day at the park. What could be better!
We had a great time celebrating our little boy.
Happy Birthday Rhett!

Happy 1st Birthday Rhett

Rhett,
Just one year ago today you were put in my arms for the first time and I was immediately smitten. I loved you so much then but I love you even more now! I didn't know if I was ready to enter the world of motherhood but I felt like it was right. We are so glad you came to us when you did. I could never have imagined how wonderful being your mom would be. You have brought such joy into our family. We are so amazed watching you learn and grow. You are funny, you even think you are funny and laugh at yourself when you are teasing us. You are mischievous, a dare devil and quite the screamer (love when you scream in church!). You are sweet and have an infectious smile and laugh. You love attention. You are the most ticklish kid ever! You absolutely know what you want and what you don't want and will do anything you can to reach, stretch, push, pull and eventually scream to get it. You love to figure things out and see what they do. Right now at one years old, you can say mamma and dadda. You know where your ear is. You wave, give high fives and clap. You sign "more" and "all finished". You are a great eater! You love love love to crawl outside. You would crawl around the front yard, up and down the steps and back and forth across the front porch all day long if you could! You love to watch Dad mow the lawn and pretty much do anything with Dadda. You are all boy!
Dad and I can not believe this day is already here. (I am sure we will be saying that again and again as you hit mile stones in your life). We are so happy to have you be our son and are excited for all the fun things ahead of you.
We love you to pieces!

Love,
Mom (and Dad)

LFC says Goodbye 1 year ago . . .

This past week was the one year anniversary of Randy and I loosing our jobs. One year ago at about 9:30am on July 30th all the employees in our office were gathered together and told that we had been shut down, to pack our stuff and head home. It was over! It came as quite a surprise. It was a title and escrow company so we were definitely seeing tough times, we had done a few lay offs and things were hard. However, we were fighting a good fight and were actually making money. (And even if we were going to close down, no one could have guessed it would have come down the way it did!)
Lenders First Choice (LFC) was a privately owned company. The owner owned a few businesses and was making some poor financial decisions, so much so that he lost his line of credit. With out a line of credit it was impossible for him to float these companies so he decided to pull all the money out of the accounts of the companies he owned, bankrupting them and pocketing the money. We walked away with out getting a last paycheck for the 2 weeks we had previously worked as well as not being payed out for our acrued vacation. Our health benefits stopped that day as well (a big deal when I was 37 weeks pregnant) Needless to say, It was quite a day!
I remember walking around the office for a while saying good byes and just hanging out. It was hard to leave. It was so surreal! I had worked there for 5 1/2 years, Randy for 5. We had started it from the ground up. I think I was the 12th employee hired and at one point we had about 600 employees in 5 offices. In looking back, I have mixed feelings. I have NEVER worked so hard in my whole life. NEVER been so stressed, so frustrated and yet I still have good memories. There were great people, good times, hilarious moments, ridiculous people that we will NEVER forget and stop laughing about. So, I have come to the conclusion that it is what it is. The good, the bad, the ugly . . it was all an experience and I am grateful for it.
One year later I am glad to say we survived that trial, with Heavenly Father's help, of course! I am glad to say we are still on our feet and have learned a lot. I do know that we will be better for having traveled the road we have, working there and then saying good bye. There is something else for us and will see what that is in time.

Disneyland

We got some free tickets to Disneyland from some good friends so we made a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth! Unfortunately it wasn't so happy for Rhett who cried on every ride we took him on. I thought he was too young to be afraid but evidently not. Despite the crying it was an enjoyable day with friends at the good ol' Magic Kingdom.