Thanksgiving

My family had a very nice and quiet Thanksgiving (except for my Roll disaster, see previous post). We have so much to be thankful for.

New Additions:

The Martin Family got a new addition to the family, Kirra Ann was born to Jeff and Laurie. SHe was born a week before Thanksgiving. She is such a cutie. We can't wait to get our hands on her. My brother Jeff (Kirra's daddy) was able to call us from Iraq on Thanksgiving. He sounds great and is a proud daddy. So my parents are officially Grandparents, and they couldn't be happier.

The Norman Family got a new addition to the family, Benjamin Vaughn was born to Tory and Maria in July. We were able to visit Josh's family in August for Ben's blessing. They live in Provo, UT. I'm glad we were able to be there. Ben was my little buddy while we were visiting. I had to get in all the time I could because he may not recognize me the next time we see him (hopefully in March). He too is a little cutie. Josh's parents became Grandparents for the first time too, and are very happy!

Guitar Hero:

My sister Julie bought Guitar Hero as her Graduation gift to herself. So we played alittle. It is fun to play, even if your not good (like me). My sister is awesome. Josh is pretty good too. He played for an hour straight. I can barely make it through 1 song.

Poker Fun:

The Martin Family has adapted a Thanksgiving tradition that the Norman Family does. They play poker, much to Dad Norman's dismay. So a few weeks before Thanksgiving, we would play Texas Hold'em. The guys were nice enough to teach us girls. It took me a few weeks to FINALLY get the game (but I am still learning). I'm such a slow learner with stuff like that. We don't play for money or anything, we use the cheap set of Walmart poker chips. Even Betsy the dog played. I don't have any pics of Jared, he was still in Idaho. But he was with us in spirit.

We are thankful for our families and friends. We love you all!!

And the Thanksgiving Dummy award goes to.....

JENN!!! I had only 2 things to prepare for Thanksgiving today and I ruined 1 of them. I was put in charge of rolls and my famous chocolate pie. I had some rolls, but couldn't find more so I got Rhodes bread loafs. I got up early this morning to start the rising of the rolls and bread. I was going to put the loafs in the oven with boiling hot water to make the rising go quicker. So I get the loafs ready, oven is warming, I turn on the stove to heat my water and turn to do the dishes. After a few minutes I started smelling burning and figured I just spilt something in the oven and it was burning off. The smell got worse, so I turned on our cool little febreeze air thing to make the house smell Fallish. I was done with dishes and was going to put the bread and water in oven. When I turned I saw that I turned on the wrong burner and was not heating the water, I was heating the bread in my glass dish (which is my favorite because it was our brownie dish). Seeing that the dish is REALLY HOT, I get oven mitts but the glass is sticking to the stove. I get Josh in there and he finally gets it to move. I was afraid the glass would break because of the extreme hotness (is that a word?) anyways, Josh no sooner got it to the other side of the stove when KABOOM!! Glass was everywhere! It sounded like a bomb went off! Luckily Josh had on his glasses and I throw a dish towel over my eyes, because if we hadn't I'm sure we would have gotten glass in the eyes! I took pictures of the aftermath, but you can't really see the glass on the stove or counter. So, we had to throw the rolls and bread loafs out because when the dish broke, pieces went into the other dishes and I don't want to eat rolls or bread with a glass piece in it. So, Josh being my hero, ran to HEB and found some other type of roll that we can have today. No rising required, just a quick warm up in the oven!

The bread loafs after we threw them outside to "cool" off. A huge piece of glass had stuck to the bread.

Atleast my pie turned out this year! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Kirra Ann

Here are some pictures of my little neice, Kirra. I think she looks like her daddy, Jeff. But she also resembles her Uncle Jared. Enjoy!

Kirra Ann Martin

Kirra Ann joined the world November 20. She was 7lbs. 5 oz. My brother Jeff called me from Iraq to give me the wonderful news. From what Laurie told Jeff, Kirra has dark hair, blue eyes and big feet (those come from her mother, apparently). I don't have a picture yet, but as soon as I get one, it will be posted. Welcome to the family Kirra Ann!!

My cute little nephew Benjamin

In his Blessing outfit. This is the same outfit his daddy wore when he was blessed.






Right after a bath. He looks just like his Uncle Matthew!







Just hang'n out in the bouncer his favorite Aunt bought him as an early Christmas gift.

Benjamin Vaughn Norman

My new little nephew!! Benjamin Vaughn Norman was born this morning, July 17 at around 8. He weighed exactly 7 lbs. and was exactly 18 inches long. Maria started having contractions last night (Wed.) around 11 and they got worse during the night. Around 4 am Thursday the contractions were about 6-8 mins. apart. Tory and Maria decide to go to the hospital around 6 am when the contractions were about 3-5 mins. By the time Maria made it to the hospital she was already 5 cm. a half hour later she was already a 7 cm. The docter did an exam and realized Ben had moved position since her last appointment last week. He was now breach. The docter felt it necessary to do a C-section since he was breach and the contractions were so close. The whole family is doing wonderful. She is expected to be home Sunday night or Monday morning. Josh and I are so glad Ben decided to make his apperance before we come in 2 weeks so we can fully enjoy him. Welcome to the family Benjamin!!!

HELP!!

Someone help me please! I am trying to get my blog cute like some others I have seen but I don't know how to do it. Will someone please tell me how to downloand the cute stuff. Thank you to anyone that can help!!

Possibly our new home

I know this isn't the same house as the previous post, but when we went back for a second look we noticed a lot of things that would need work. This new house is more in our price range and has real wood floors rather than laminate. The pictures make the walls and room look very yellow but the walls are actually white. Enjoy looking at the possbile new home of The Norman's!!!

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=9404298&backButton=Y

House Shopping

So Josh and I are house shopping. We are tired of our apartment and all the gross things that come with apartments. Last night we viewed this home and absolutly love it. We are setting up a second viewing so my parents can look at it and see if they can find anything that we don't. They won't have the emotional tie that we might have. I've put the link to the home so you can see all the views of it. http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?MLNUM=6980023

Cash Only...

Or should it say "One Small Step for Mankind, One Huge Step for Jenn" ?

Since we are trying to save money for a down payment on a home, I have cut up my debit card. I will be a cash only person. After I looked at our finances and saw where all our money was going, we have decided to cut back on everything. This is a major feat for me. I live by my debit card (which is probably why we don't have money). So wish me luck that I can survive without the card and wish us luck that we can save enough money for a down payment.

Does this mean I'm growing up??

My Sister, The Graduate

My sister Julie graduated from BYU-Idaho 2 weeks ago. Her major is Recreation Management with a minor in Sociology and Marriage & Family Studies. We are all so proud of her. She is the first Martin to graduate. Aparently, my dad was pretty emotional during the ceremony. This picture shows my sister pointing to a tear on my dad. So cute and funny. As part of her graduation gift to herself she bought a car. She is the proud owner of a Nissan Xterra. It's very nice. CONGRATULATIONS JULIE!!!

I'm going to be an Aunt!!!

Well I just found out today that my brother Jeff and his wife Laurie are expecting their first baby in November!! I am so excited for them. I was the first one they told so I feel really special. I even found out before the soon to be Grandma Martin. I just had to share the fantastic news.

Our Fun in Utah!

Well, we are back from vacation. We really enjoyed visiting family and friends. We are already looking forward to our visit in August!! It's kind of a long post, but here are a few highlights:

* On Saturday we had a family baby shower for my sister in law Maria. She is having a little boy. They will name him Benjamin Vaughn. She got some really nice clothes for him. And at the shower I named myself Ben's Favorite Aunt!! :)

* On Sunday we went as a family to Temple Square to listen to the "Music and The Spoken Word". About half way through my sister in law (who is 5 months pregnant) had a minor seizure. So we got her outside and the EMS on Temple Square took wonderful care of her. They took her to LDS Hospital and did a few tests. All is fine, they couldn't find anything wrong. It could have been dehydration.

While we were waiting for her at the Hospital, we decided to drive around the Avenues and show my in-laws where my mom lived as a little girl. Then we drove around the cemetery and found President Hinckley’s grave as well as President McKay's.

* We ate at my favorite resturant, The Old Spaghetti Factory.

(When I lived in UT, my friend and I went there and thought it would be fun to pretend that it was years in the future. We couldn't talk about anything in the "now", it all had to be in the "future". I'm not naming who it was with for the sake of a possible embarrasing moment - but she knows who she is) :)

* We went putt-putt golfing as a family. That was alot of fun.

* I went scrapbook shopping with my mother in law (Julie).

I spent too much money in such a small time frame. My excuse was, "I'm on vacation"

* I got to visit my friend Aubrie and her smiley baby, Holden (who I have adopted as my nephrew as well). We didn't get any pictures, but I still have to post a picture that I do have of him - compliments of his mommy. Isn't he the cutest?!?

* We visited Grandpa Madsen (Josh's grandpa) in Fairview, UT

(aka by Josh as Poducked USA).

When we pulled up to the house there were 7 deer in his backyard. I was about 50 feet away from them.

I have never been that close to deer.

* My father in law (Kim), Josh and I drove up the canyon by Grandpa's house so we can see the beautiful snow! I have really missed the snow so it was nice to see it again.

I took a few pictures that I think really show the beauty of snow.

Utah here we come... YAHOO

Just for you Aub!

Here's the picture you demanded :) It's the most recent that's actually nice looking. Some Christmas pictures did not turn out too well. This was actually taken in October at my sister's birthday dinner.

Can't wait to see you and the little guy!

My New Truck!!

Not really! This is just a rental while my car is being fixed. I was the cause of a fender bender 2 weeks ago. This truck is HUGE! I feel like I have to take a running start just to get in the thing.

I'm Creative...well kind of

My sister-in-law Maria is having a baby and is due in July. When we come out in March we are having a family baby shower for her and I volunteered to make the baby shower invitations. In my mind I thought I could do this real lavish invitation -- did not quite happen. After a trip to Hobby Lobby, Michaels and many practice prints, the finished product has arrived!! With ALOT of help from my Mom! Below is the finished product!

Utah or Bust!

We are coming to Utah! YAHOO!!! We will be there March 7-14. We are so excited to come and visit with Family and Friends!

Martin Family Band

This is a video of my silly siblings making the most (enter sarcasim) beautiful music. OK, so it's not the most beautiful music ever, but it is funny to watch.

I love my family!

Wedding Day Picture