Punkin' Patch 2008!

So every year we take a trip to Bauman Farm in Gervais with my fam in search for the perfect pumpkins. This year was no exception. Our trip involves a walk through the "petting zoo" consisting of your usual farm animal variety: goats, pigs, chickens, & a pony every year.



Then we'll walk around tasting kettle corn, apples & wine (after washing our hands of course) then watch the apple cider get pressed. This year the cider pressed was not in action, but it didn't ruin our trip. Before heading over to pick out our pumpkins we got some tasty apple cider and donuts (Tony's favortie part of the trip) then we purchased our yearly bottle of Honeywood Holiday Cheer white table wine with cranberry juice, orange exract and cloves (my favorite part of the trip)! Sidenote: tastes very good warmed up!

We then headed over to the pumpkin patch. Last year it was super muddy so we were prepared with boots! But alas, no mud. One of the wheelburrows was so clean all the kids piled in so Uncle Nathan could push.

The kids loved picking out pumpkins and Spencer even found his own.


He's not a fan of dirt, so Daddy had to help him load it into the wheelburrow. Tate was perfectly content hanging out with mommy and Ryllie picking out ghords. Braeden just wanted to see if he could pick any of the monstrous size pumpkins up. Lots of photo ops. ;)


I think there's actually a family photo of the McIntyre's floating around somewhere where everyone is smiling AND looking at the camera!


By the end of the trip Ryllie was so over the picture taking!

Recent pics of the kids:

This was my dress as a baby... I searched all over to find red tights like I had.

Spencer insists on helping everytime it's Tate's turn to eat.

My 5 month old little girl.

My little man is 3!

This is the only photo I have of Spence & I the day he was born. It's hard to remember back to when he was running around and talking up a storm. Just the other day he came up to me and put his coat down next to me and said, "Mommy, can you watch my coat for me, I have to go check on Daddy real quick. It'll only take a minute. Thanks." Such a little man.


It's funny how birthdays change as your kids get older. I remember Spencer's first birthday and how I felt. At the time, to me it was like the anniversary of the most awful pain I've ever experienced. I felt more like we should celebrate me and my triumph of giving birth to a ten pound 4 ounce child. Not to mention that Spencer wasn't too interested in the party. He was diagnosed with pneumonia 2 days earlier. Looking back, I feel terrible for still having the party anyway. He did not want anything to do with his chocolate cake - That should have been a sign to send everyone home. But he was a trooper. He loved opening all his presents.

At his second birthday, I was in the early stages of pregnancy with Tatum and had planned this little party with his friends in the morning. Too bad I got a appendage numbing, vomit induced, mentally confused migraine. Fortunately an awesome friend of mine took Spencer and the rest of the mommy's kids to her house. I was heartbroken that I wasn't there to sing to him and help him open presents. But he was a big talker even only at 2 and when he got home he told me all about blowing out the candle on his cupcake and the cool presents he had gotten from all of his friends. Not to mention, Tony got over there to help before picking up my prescription. But we did get to celebrate a couple days later with a pancake cake I had made him seeing as his favorite meal in the world is breakfast! Even when he wakes up from his naps, the first thing he asks for is breakfast in the middle of the day. :)

This year was by far the most fun birthday yet. Spencer had been asking about his birthday and if it had come up yet for weeks. We finally made a sticker chart so he could see exactly how many days until his birthday. When he saw his dinosaur cake for the first time that morning he was so excited he screeched, "I love it!" and then tried to give it a hug.

Spencer has had his ups and downs over the past 3 years, but despite the recent onset of tantrums, the daily battle over eating dinner, 3 cases of pneumonia, 4 cases of bronchiolitis, many sleepless nights, being pooped & puked on, he is the the sweetest, well mannered, loving boy I could have ever wished for.

Taking Beaverton by storm!

Surprise, surprise, Tony took the job. HP has been cutting more and more people, to the point where the site Tony works at started with 10,000 people and by May they want to be under 1000! HP offered him a big raise to stay, but who knows how long it would last? So, Tony took the job at Intel and will start in about 3 weeks. Meanwhile, we will be undergoing the massive stress it takes to clean, stage & sell our home. Not quite sure where we want to move yet. We've looked at Salem, Tigard, & Beaverton. Just don't know if we want to live farther away (longer commute, but less expensive and close to family and friends) or within 10 minutes driving distance (closer, but spendy & away from loved ones). I'm trying not to freak out too much. Who knows how long it will take for our house to sell, so I suppose when that happens we will figure out where we go from there. Any suggestions would be quite helpful... ;)

Any Suggestions?

So Tony received an offer for a job at Intel in Beaverton today... Which leaves me asking an important question... Where is a good school district in that area, but not necessarily IN Beaverton? I don't want to make him commute an hour and a half both ways, but 30-45 wouldn't be too bad. This way, I can look at houses around those areas and see if we can A.) afford them & B.) want to live there... Which will ultimately determine if he accepts the offer. Too much to think about and not enough time!

Any suggestions would be lovely!

Tatum's first big mess...

Grandma

Soon after Tatum was born, my Grandma, my mom's mom, was diagnosed with Brain Cancer. She was 85. I didn't realize at the time how serious it was because a few years ago she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and she had gotten through it. Needless to say, I decided she needed to meet her newest great-granddaughter. That first visit wasn't so bad. She met Tatum and thought she was just adorable. She sat in her recliner in her corner of the living room like she had for so many years. I didn't realize how bad it was until she started cringing from pain. While she ate her dinner, she lectured Grandpa on how ridiculous it was that he had bought frozen green beans instead of canned ones. She always lectured Grandpa, and he always smiled. She was the same Grandma I had known and loved for so many years, just much more fragile.

She talked, I listened. That's how it went most of the time. She talked, people listened. She told me how glad she was to meet Tatum and how much she had prayed last summer for God to grant me another baby. After two miscarriages, she just knew that the next pregnancy would result in a baby and that God was just teaching me patience. She prayed for me that summer & God did bless us with a beautiful baby girl. She prayed for everyone all the time.

The next few visits were hit and miss. Sometimes she'd be there, sometimes she wouldn't. I brought her pictures of the kids and her face would light up. I went and saw her the night before her 86th birthday. She told me she was ready to go meet Jesus. I told her Jesus was waiting for her and that I loved her. She smiled and held my hand as she drifted off to sleep. As I got up to leave, she called my name, "Carrie Anne... Thank you for coming. Thank you for sharing your children with me. I love you. Good bye."

My mom said that night Grandma told her how grateful she was that I had come to see her. The next day and days after she was somewhere else.

Last night I got a call from my mom. She was sad, it was hard for her to talk, she asked for me to pray that Jesus take Grandma home so she would no longer be in pain. I got off the phone and told Tony I needed to go be with my mom. So Tatum & I packed up and headed to my Grandparents' house in Stayton. I passed the baby off to my cousin Rachel, who had spent days and nights there with her mom for who knows how long. I went back to the bedroom where my Grandpa, my mom, her 3 sisters and one of her brothers were huddled around Grandma. She asked what I was doing there and I told her I was there for her.

My mom has always been the rock. She rarely cries and is strong for everyone always. I felt like she needed me so she didn't have to be so strong. I just had a feeling last night that I needed to be there. After about 20 minutes, I left the room because my mom's last brother had arrived. Their family was complete. I went out to the kitchen and talked with my cousins. A few moments later one of my aunts screamed for her mommy. It was 7:42. Grandma was with Jesus.

When I was 6, my older brother & I went to stay with our grandparents while my parents looked for a house in Klamath Falls. She always had crafts for us to do when we came to visit. That time we made a birdhouse out of a 2 liter soda bottle for my dad and some Christmas ornaments for my mom, made out of styrofoam balls, needles & beads. I lost one of my red star earrings and we spent half the night looking for it. In the morning she had apparently found it and laid it on my nightstand.

When I got my ears pierced she helped Grandpa & I make earrings out of buttons.

She loved to shop. My mom was not a fan, so I would go with Grandma. Even as she got older, she would still take me to Ross to find a coat on a Tuesday so we could get the extra 10% off for seniors citizens. She always knew where to find a sale.

She and Grandpa loved to take everyone out to dinner. We would go to Hometown Buffet, but we had to make it by 4:30 so we would get the lunch discount. She would take cookies and put them in her pockets to save for later.

When I would fight with my mom when we were at Grandma & Grandpa's and I ended up crying in my room, Grandma would come in. She would tell me how much my mother loved me and just wanted what's best for me.

We played "hand & foot" and she would always win. If she didn't, she'd spend the rest of the night explaining why she didn't. We played "tension rummy" and the whole table would laugh because she had sat next to Andrew and got so upset because he never let her get the card she wanted.

When we were good, she would buy us Duncan Donuts.

I have never seen a more decorated home than my Grandma's at Christmastime. Everytime the entire family was anywhere, we ALWAYS had to get a picture.
An entire wall of her dining room is dedicated to her grandbabies.

She told me Tony was the one for me the day she met him. She was right.

She told everyone she knew about Jesus. She wanted us all to know his love.

One time when we were little, Dominic and I were driving with Grandma & Grandpa and we hit a patch of black ice. She immediately started to pray. We ended up in a ditch but everyone was okay. Out of no where, a man was there and pulled us out. As instantly as he had appeared, he was gone again. Grandma knew he was an angel.

She bossed my poor grandpa around like no one else could. And he smiled when she told him what to do because he didn't care, he loved her. And so did we.

My only regret is that I always wanted a photo of my grandma, my mother, me & my baby girl together.

Tatum is 4 months today!

So we had a small photo shoot for our 4 month old little girl, but we had a bit of trouble. You see, we've been putting her little puppy next to her to gage size and how much she's grown each month. But she kept wanting to eat it. We got a couple of good ones though, despite the urge for puppy's tasty goodness... :)
This one is my favorite because she's hugging the puppy. Too bad I was trying to get her to smile and didn't get her quite in the frame.
This is a perfect shot of what she was doing almost the entire time.
Check out those dimples!

Finally! A GOOD day!

Spencer woke up this morning just as Daddy was leaving for work at 7:50am. He went potty in the toilet and put on his "lighting mcqueen" underpants and got dressed without any fuss. We then ate some "panda bear" cereal," and watched "tigger & poo." Soon after, I took a shower and Spencer laid on our bed keeping Tatum company while she slept. Tatum woke up, I fed her and Spencer whispered quietly to me so as not to disturb her. We then got in the car, ran to the doctor's office. Spencer was a very brave boy while the doctor checked out his owie and afterwards we went to "the Target" to get his medicine. While we were there Spencer was such a good boy we went into the mall and walked around. He played in the toys at Ross and came with me when it was time to leave without any tantrum. He even told me when he had to go potty without any leakage. We came home & Spencer ate his lunch, watched the rest of his "fishy movie" that we hadn't last week because Spencer threw too many fits. I was so proud of him today! He went potty before bedtime, read a book and went right to sleep. I wish all days were this easy!

Another awful day...

Tony asked me what happened today and this is what I had to say:

What happened?
Hmmm...
Spencer was eating his lunch and I told him if he ate 2 more bites of chicken nuggets then we would watch the rest of the fishy movie. (Tony & Spencer started watching this documentary called Deep Blue Sea the other night and didn't finish it because Spencer kept yelling at Tony.) He finished his nuggets, meanwhile I fed Tatum. As soon as he was done he came over to the couch and he demanded fishy movie. I told him I needed to finish what I was doing first (I was deleting dumb shows off the Tivo that it had recorded). He yelled no at me. I told him he needed to stop telling me no all the time and that it made me sad. He told me no to that. I said if he told me no one more time he would get a timeout. He yelled no.

Time out began. Time: 12:57pm

He wouldn't sit in his chair and called me stupid.

Soap in the mouth.

I told him not to put his hand in his mouth and then in his eyes. He did it anyway.

Got soap in his eyes.

I stripped him down so his clothes wouldn't get all wet. I put him in the tub and started to rinse his eyes to get the soap out. (He's screaming and kicking the entire time mind you.) I put his pullup (now close to nap time) and clothes on and he's screaming about the pullup the entire time and has to be restrained on the floor to put his clothes on kicking and screaming. I put him back in time out.

Won't sit down.

I tell him to either get in time out or I will take a toy away. He won't get in time out. I proceed to take his toys out of the room and into our room one at a time each time telling him to sit in time out or I take another toy away. This proceeds for 20 minutes and still will not sit in time out even though I have taken pretty much all of his toys out of the room. I get the booster seat out of the garage and strap him in. He has a complete melt down and kicks & screams and spits and yells whilst trying to get out. That goes on for what seems like forever.

He is finally quiet and I go in and he has gotten out of the chair somehow and is standing by his bed. I say that's it, time for bed.

He won't go to bed.

Every time I leave the room he gets up, turns the light on and opens the door to come out. (Meanwhile Tatum is screaming her head off because she is so tired and Spencer's too loud for her to sleep). I put him back in bed about 15 times before I say, fine I will put you back in time out. He screams no and says he wants to sleep. He is still screaming when I leave him in his bed at about to try and calm Tatum down & get her back to sleep. Time: 2:30pm

He woke up at 3:30 (If he even slept) and told me everything that had happened in the calmest sweetest voice he has.

But on a positive note, I totally made this really cool sling yesterday and it only cost me $8!

Child for Sale!

For Sale: Spencer Zane Jones

• Nearly 3 year old boy.
• Blonde
• Brown Eyes
• Potty trained during the day
• Says "no" to every question
• Throws temper tantrums (including, but not limited to: screaming, biting, spitting, roaring, & snot coming from every orifice on his face) if he goes without a nap, you make him eat dinner, or in the middle of Target for no apparent reason
• Spits
• Hits
• Calls you stupid when given a timeout
• Knows his ABC's
• Likes to watch "a little bit of toons."

Any interested parties should contact me directly and not my husband. He is apparently partial to this child and would like to keep him.

Cowboy up...

So I totally forgot that Tony's mom & step-dad got Tatum a cowboy hat and seeing as my babies have big heads, I thought it was a good idea to get pictures before it was too small. Not to mention Spencer has a cowboy had that Grandma & Grandpa Young got him as well.Take note of the little John Deere boots that Tatum's chubby legs barely fit into. Spencer had a wee pair of Justin boots himself when he wasn't much older than Tatum, not to mention his first pair of Wranglers. Tatum also has a pink pair of Wranglers she looks forward to growing into...Here are Spencer's 2nd pair of boots...And Spencer actually got an electric tractor for Christmas last year to match Grandpa's. But I couldn't find a photo of it, so here he is on Granpa's.Have you noticed a trend? ;) Good thing Mark & Bev don't know about the cowgirl section of onesies & jammies at Target right now. ;) ;)

Happy Anniversary...


So Thursday Tony & I celebrated 4 years of marital bliss. It's funny to think back to when we got married. At the time, we had only dated for 10 months, and it was my longest running relationship. It's odd how when you find the person you're meant to be with, 4 years flies by compared to the 3 month relationships I had with all the wrong guys. One of only a handful of pictures we took during our pre-engagement 5 month dating period.This was the weekend we got engaged when we went down for my friends' wedding in GP. I knew at some point he wanted to ask my parents for my hand in marriage. He did so while I was out doing some prewedding video for my friends. When I got back I had asked him how it went while we were loading our laptops into the car to head to Dutch Bros to check our email. He simply responded, "you don't want to know." I was so upset. I was sure my mom had ruined it for me by saying no or something. But before I could say anything he was down on one knee proposing in my parents' driveway. It was so dark out I couldn't even see the ring. I responded with a giddy, "yeah!" and we headed back inside so we could share the news with my parents. This was during our post dating, now into engagement photos, which strangely enough, are few in count as well.This was right after our first kiss as husband & wife. I let out a big giggle.I don't have any photos from our 1st anniversary because I was about 7 months pregnant. We spent our anniversary over at the coast just as we did our honeymoon. At 2 years we had ourselves a one year old little boy, Spencer.
By three years we had been trying to add another baby to our family. And now at 4 years, we've added Baby Tatum. We are so very happy and I am so very grateful for all that God has blessed me with.
There have been happy times & sad times, braces & babies... But I would not change a thing. Everything we have experienced together has helped us grow as a family & and has brought Tony & I closer together. I love my Tony with everything I have and I can't wait to see what God has in store for our future.

We go through phones like we go through cars...

So back in May Tatum projectile vomited all over my awesome LG V phone. It was a very sad day because I absolutely loved that phone. Soon after Tony and I both got the new Samsung Glyde from Verizon. We thought it was pretty cool, and it was for a few days. Within a couple weeks it started to go bad. VERY bad. It would call numbers you didn't dial or it would freeze and not let you do anything... SO, they replaced them free of charge with another Glyde. Within 2 weeks it was acting up yet again. I didn't touch any buttons and it went ahead and called my sister-in-law but didn't say it was calling. The voicemail picked up and I was so confused. I left a 4 minute message because I couldn't figure out how to hang up a phone that didn't say it was calling. So I called today to get yet another Glyde shipped to us to replace the miserable one that they gave me yet again. To my surprise, my persistence was rewarded with the ability to get a different phone! W00t! Tony & I are expecting our LG Dares in the mail by Wednesday. I guess I should have known not to stray from LG... Samsung is less than par.

3 Months Already?


I seriously need to post a little more often than every month. Pathetic really... Tatum is now 3 months old and I took some pics of her & Spence... Where did those eyelashes come from? No clue... But the massive injury on Spencer's face was a result of playing one of his favorite games, "chase Daddy." Sad really, fell right into a basket I have beside the couch. And as opposed to taking him to get stitched or glued back together, Tony though a bandaid would do the trick. The next day I took him to a precautionary doctors visit to check the boo boo and the doc told Tony he should have taken him in and it was now too late to fix it. Sadness. Tony thinks chicks dig scars though, so we'll see. :)