My Grandmother's Funeral/The Day Dallin took a Swing at one of the Twelve Apostles

My grandma's funeral was yesterday and it was so good. My whole family, except for my brother Steven, who is on a mission, was able to be there. I think all of the grandchildren except for two were there, so you can imagine how many great-grandkids there were. The service was really nice, but I'm surprised at how hard it is to say good-bye to someone who is 90 years old and has lived a full and happy life. It seems like it would be easy, but I don't know if it ever is. It was a good day though, and there was only one event that made me wish I had never been born. L. Tom Perry was at the funeral because he is related to my family by marriage (he is married to my uncle's sister) and it was really neat to have a general authority there. He gave some really nice closing remarks and after the meeting he happened to be standing in the chapel talking to some people as we walked through to go to the car. Okay, fine, van. We were on our way to the van. Anyway, he finished up talking just as we passed and he turned to greet us. Dallin, who had just left the nursery and was not happy about it, was the first in line. Elder Perry greeted him and held out his hand, "Hello, young man, how are you?" to which Dallin replied by giving a loud whine and acting like he was going to hit him. LT: "Well, it looks like someone could use a nap!" Dallin: "NOOOOOO!!!" Which just, you know, is one of those proud moments as a parent when you wish there was some way you could pass your child off as belonging to someone else. But there was no one else around and the floor didn't swallow me up like I was praying it would, so Jason and I just gave fake little laughs and tried to pretend our 4-year-old had not just tried to attack one of the Twelve Apostles. Luckily, L.Tom is a jolly old soul and laughed it off and turned his attention to Luke's big bushy head of hair, which comes in handy in a lot of situations. It's like the ultimate ice breaker to have a 2-year-old who looks like he's 40. 40 in a cute way.

Sorry, Elder Perry.

My Grandma Crane

Well, Jason is off hunting in Kansas, so the kids and I are up in Burley at my parents' house for the week. It's always fun to be home. I just love being here and spending time with my family. On Friday, Abby and I had the opportunity to go with my mom to visit my Grandma Crane (my mom's mom) in Bennington, Idaho. It is about a 3-hour drive from Burley. It was such a good day. My grandmother just turned 90 last month and I hadn't seen her since my sister's wedding in April. It was such an incredible experience to be able to see her again and to introduce her to one of her newest great-grandchildren. At 3 weeks old, Abby is not even the newest addition - one of my cousins had a baby a week ago! My grandmother has led an amazing life and is such a great example to her 10 children, 50+ grandchildren and 100+ great-grandchildren. This was such a bittersweet experience for me because I knew it was very likely the last time I would be able to see her and talk to her in this life. She actually passed away just this morning. I am so grateful I was able to make the trip with my mom and be there with her one last time.

Abby's Room

Well, I put Abby in this really cute outfit today because she is finally starting to fit in some of her 0-3 mo. clothes and I wanted to put some pictures on my blog, but either I am a bad photographer or she is just not photogenic or else not cute period... because all the pictures were hideous. Hence, the pictures of her room. I'll keep trying to get her with both eyes equally open and her face not too contorted. I swear she only pulls these faces when I have a camera in my hands. Come on girl, how are you supposed to be America's Next Top Model if you can't even survive a photo shoot. Tyra is going to eat you alive. It's not like I am making you balance on the edge of a tall building or something (for those who watched last night's episode). We'll keep practicing. In the meantime, here is her room. If you click on the pictures you can see that all the weird little red spots are really little ladybugs. Awwww....

A few items

Our first item of ward business today is you need to click on The Office clip to your right. It will be well worth your time. My favorite part is when Andy does the little bird thing with his hands. I used to hate him but he is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters. You already know I am partial to Abba so this just made him all the more appealing to me. Well, maybe appealing is not the right word... but just watch it and see.

Our second item is Pumpkin Cupcakes. Everyone has been posting their favorite fall treats so I thought I would share one of my very favorite fall recipes, Pumpkin Cupcakes. I am making these to take to my in-laws' house later today and a few of them may have already been consumed. I know they look tantalizing, especially the picture where I am lifting the cupcake up to your mouth, but alas, you cannot partake. Sorry about that. If you love me enough and ask nicely, maybe I will appear on your doorstep with a plateful one of these days...

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 spice cake mix
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree
3 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup Nestle mini chocolate chips
1 container cream cheese frosting (I like Betty Crocker Whipped)

Preheat oven to 350. Paper-line or grease 24 muffin cups. Blend cake mix, pumpkin, eggs, oil and water in large mixer bowl until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 18-22 minutes. Let cool. Spread cupcakes with frosting and decorate!

I have also made these in mini-loaf pans and they are great. So easy. Feel free to share your favorite recipe with me, or just show up on my doorstep with a sample. I promise I won't turn you away.

Our last item of business is that my clever husband has hunted down a picture and added it to one of my previous posts. I'm only bring it to your attention because I love this picture. It is at the very bottom of this post: http://yatesrgreat.blogspot.com/2007/09/to-all-fictional-character-ive-loved.html

And that about wraps it up for today.

Tag, you're it

Well, I'm a little low on blogging topics lately, as you can tell from my lack of posts. Either that, or else the fact that lately I only have the energy to click through everyone else's blogs without ever updating my own. My friend Carrie sent me this little "tag" email and I was going to fill it out and send it back to her but then I thought, why not just stick it on my blog. Maybe you will learn some interesting facts about me, or else just appreciate the fact that I have actually updated my blog for once in my life. By the way, if you are reading this, you are now tagged and you need to fill out this information about yourself and put it on your blog or you will have bad luck for 10 days. haha.

Two Names You Go By
1. Mom
2. Anne Marie (My family sometimes refers to me as my initials, ampy, but they don't usually address me as that. Does that make sense?)

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Sweats
2. Ugly but comfortable Old Navy shirt that I have had for 2 years

Two Things You Would Want (or have) in a Relationship:
1. Laughter
2. Friendship/Trust

Two of Your Favorite Things to do:
1. Read a good book uninterrupted while eating treats
2. Shop

Two Things You Want Very Badly at the Moment:
1. Black knobs/pulls on all my cabinets
2. A new vehicle that is not a van. That is the only requirement.

Two pets you had/have:
1. Not a pet person
2. Now that I think about it, in college we used to recruit guys to be our pets, so I guess I actually have had a few. You'd be surprised how many guys are willing to be your pet if you just ask.

Two people who will fill this out:
1. Aaron
2. Lessley (now you have to!)

Two things you did last night:
1. Went to a 3-D Dino movie at Thanksgiving Point
2. Gave Abby a bath. Big event because she hates them! As a result, she is usually dirty.

Two Things you ate last night:
1. Leftovers from all the yummy meals people brought us this week
2. Rice Crispy Treats shaped like dinos

Two people you last talked to:
1. Jason
2. Kristen

Two things you're doing/did today:
1. Got groceries at Smith's
2. Going to Jason's 10-year class reunion tonight (somebody shoot me. and yes, I will be changing my clothes before I go.)

Two longest car rides:
1. Idaho to Mexico
2. Johannesburg, South Africa to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe/Zambia (24 hours on a bus each way!)

Two favorite holidays:
1. My Birthday
2. Christmas

Two favorite beverages:
1. Coke, but I've been off it for a few years now. I still think about it though.
2. Strawberry Limeade at Sonic

Well, okay, that wasn't too exciting. I think I will add my two favorite characters from The Office: #1 is Toby. He just makes me laugh lately. He is so defeated. He loves Pam but he will never have a chance with her so he is trying to sabatoge her relationship with Jim. And I love how Michael hates him and tells him to shut up, even if he is saying something in support of Michael. My other favorite is of course Creed. Especially when he is trying to be young. I'm still laughing about when Michael asked, "Why does everyone hate old people?" and Creed said, "Because they're LAME!" Now that was funny.

Just a few pictures of Abby

Abby is doing so well. She is a very good-natured baby so far and basically eats and sleeps and is fun to hold. She's just like having a little doll around to play with. Maybe next week will be different when my mom leaves and I have to deal with real life again, but for now life is just about perfect.

Abby is here!

My sweet little baby girl Abby Marie is finally here! She was born Friday, September 28 at 9:14pm. She was 6 lbs. 14 oz. and 17 1/2 inches long. She is a tiny little girl! It is so much different than having a great big boy! My two boys were 8 lbs. 11 & 12 oz. and 21 inches long, so it has been fun to have a little little baby. She is so sweet and good-tempered and is quickly making up for being a little pill when she was born! She was breech but the doctor was able to turn her around, so they started the pitocin and 4 hours later I was ready to deliver. My water even broke on its own for the first time! The doctor came in to check me and he was like, "Wait a minute, I feel a hand. Actually, I feel two hands!" So he tried to move them for a minute but it didn't work, so he said, "Well, we can't deliver a baby like that! Everyone prep for a c-section!" I was like, are you kidding me? After all that I still have to have a c-section??? It was actually kind of funny. I had already prepared myself for the possibility, so I thought, good, I don't need to push! I'm a really bad pusher. My other kids took hours. So I didn't mind when they gave me a big dose of medicine in my epidural, put a little hat thing on my head, wheeled me in the operating room and 10 minutes later I had a baby girl! I was surprised that it wasn't scary at all and I didn't feel a thing. Both doctors said that this is the first time in their careers of 15 and 20 years that they have seen a baby with both arms above its head. They said once in a while they will have one with one arm up and if it won't move they still have to do a c-section, but with both up there is no question. I had my two favorite doctors, Dr. Lamoreaux and Dr. Melendez, and they were so nice to me. It was actually kind of fun. Until the epidural wore off anyway, but we won't go into that. Let's just say that next time I will make sure they are prepared with another painkiller to put into my IV after the delivery because I am allergic to morphine and it was like hours before I got any more meds. Those were bad hours. BUT, I didn't care because I had my little Abby safe and sound and perfect!!! She is really healthy and I think she's just beautiful. I just couldn't imagine myself with a girl before she was born, and now I can't imagine life without her. She is just precious. I'm so grateful to everyone who was there and who has been there for me during this whole process. I'm especially grateful that my sister Kristen was able to be here from Kansas and be with me through it all. She is the best and I miss her so much! My mom is staying with me this week and helping out with the kids and meals and everything and it is so fun to have her here. I should have babies more often!