An Update.....

I was doing really well at blogging until I got so SLAMMED with work and moving and all the really great stuff that happened in between so here is an update on the Hambricks:......

We FINALLY moved out of Aaron's parents house and into our own place. We can NEVER thank Clif and Teresa enough for all they did to help us during our time of need! We had TONS-O-FUN painting and setting up house although it never stays clean or organized the way I would like it too!

I'm working at the main office for Kroger in Training and Development and am working on tons of projects! I do training for store admins and some of the training for new management. It keeps me super busy and I'm doing everything I can to move forward with my career at Kroger!

Aaron is studying his little heart out so he can pass his Pharmamcy Certification test in a week and continues to ROCK the Rx world with his mad skills! He has the highest customer service rating in the district!

Aaron and I are BOTH going back to school in the fall which should be interesting.......we will see each other but not REALLY see each other!

Other than school and work and church nothing new is happening with us. No baby on the horizon either which is a little disheartening but I guess when Heavenly Father sees fit to give us another little one, we will get pregnant. We are not actively trying but keeping an open mind at least!

So we plug along but you can find me on Facebook anytime.....up dating my status with funny and sarcastic things to say and I PROMISE TO GET BETTER at posting on the blog!

To all our loved ones who continue to support us during these hard days we say thank you and hope that you feel the love we have for your in return!

And another moment in history.....

My DARLING HUBS is so amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday he passed yet another pharmacy test.........1 left to go but in my book he is already KING OF THE CASTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CONGRADS DARLING!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE MY HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Promotions

Well, out big news of the week is that I finally got to move to the corporate office due to a promotion!!! I'm so excited! I'm now in the HR department at corporate doing recruitment and training for new store management!

To top that off....Aaron passed his first pharmacy quiz and received his first raise! We are so excited that things are starting to move forward that we are just besides ourselves.

We are moving too!!!!!!!!! I"m sure Clif and Teresa can't wait to get their house back and we will always be eternally grateful for letting us ruin their lives for the past 8 months but now they will get their house back and we will have a place of our own! We can't wait!

So promotions, raises and and a new house! What else new can we come up with!

I just can't think

Well it's Wednesday which my designated time to update the blog. The tricky thing is that there is really nothing that interesting to write about this week!

Clif and Teresa made it back safe and sound from their trip and in looking at the pictures it seems they had a MARVELOUS time!

We had Paul and Leslie and Ellie over for dinner and then watched the Miss America pageant on tv-also a marvelous time!

Aaron and I are working our little hearts out-not so wonderful of a time but hey we have jobs and we are so very thankful to have a steady income!

So I guess that is all right now! Just a quite week full of little marvelous times! :-)

What to do when the parents are away?

I'm not really sure what would qualify as being naughty when the parents are visiting Amy in Idaho Falls but I had a few ideas and since it's my day off and I'm updating here are a list of ideas we gave Clif and Teresa before they left:

1. Get drunk and smoke refers! (They said that was fine as long as we aired out the house before they got back)

2. Simply trash it! (I can't live with trash so I told Aaron no!)

3. Run naked around the house! (Charlotte told us at Christmas that's what Clif and Teresa did before we moved in-we feel guilt that now you can't do that-SORRY!)

4. Let Murphy sit on the counter tops so he can eat all the food instead of beg for it on the floor! (He doesn't fit on the counter tops. The question is how did we find that out :-) Just kidding)

or

5. We could just take care of the lovely home and invite a couple over to share dinner with us! (Leslie and Paul are coming over Saturday-we are VERY excited!)

No worry Clif and Teresa!! The house is in one piece, it's clean (I made Aaron do the dishes) and Murphy is a happy little clam!

Today I got caught up on my DVR recordsings of Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, and Desperate Housewifes! YES!!

It's just one of those moments......

Aaron and I very RARELY have days off together anymore now that we both work for a retail company but today we both had the day off so we decided to make it a date day! HA! I know the thought of Aaron being romantic right?

Anyhow, we were lazy this morning lounging around watching TV, grooming Murphy (that was fun) and then we decided to visit the new museum of art. WOW! What an amazing little (yea right it's huge) place that is! We walked all around the museum being nosy and looking in like every room whether we were suppose to or not (I am now familiar with the intricate details of the men's bathroom just because Aaron was like"look in here it's awesome" No really it's just a bathroom) and then we discovered there was a little cafe in the museum so we decided to eat lunch there. GREAT FOOD! and even better prices!

We then went to the bookstore for like 2 1/2 hours not really realizing that we were there that long and by the time we did it was past dinner time. I received a gift card to Olive Garden from a client that I had done some freelance work for so we went to dinner and had the best time.

It's days like this that really make you stop and think about the love in your life! Our marriage is by no means Orchids and Roses every second of every day but as we were driving home and Aaron was singing to the radio at the top (and I do mean the VERY TOP) of his lungs I looked over and just smiled because it was just one of those moments were I knew that everything was right with my world and I wouldn't have it any other way. It doesn't matter what life throws at us because we have proven that we can beat anything that comes our way!

Love that hunny of mine! :-)

Below is a picture of the museum....

And my FAVORITE painting....

Fancy stuff!

Christmas Shut Down...

Well it's that time of year-Christmas is over, the New Year has rung in and decorations are coming down. I was rummaging through my pictures from Christmas and the general holiday season and below are some of my favorite.....

Travis in underwear because he blew out all his diapers! :-)

The way Clif & Teresa's Christmas Tree looked on Christmas Eve

All of Aaron's presents for our first Christmas together!

Aaron's first Christmas present from Maysie (ok so she had a little help from Mommy!) It's a moose-get it? He's called Moose Jr.

Teresa SOOOOO excited about her digital picture frame from all the kids and their spouses...she's learning how to use it.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST OF ALL................

Murphy caught asleep in Teresa's Christmas wreath! I shouldn't laugh because he knew better but...:-)
Waking up from being caught.....

Barking at me for catching him and telling Teresa on him....

Still barking at me!

Thank you to everyone for making our first Christmas so fun, full of surprises and memories! :-)

Christmas Cards & SICKNESS

Aaron and I have played merry-go-round this year with sending out Christmas Cards! I'm a huge traditional fan of sending them out plus it is a family tradition and Aaron is his typical self with a resounding NO! I'm not doing them. I did figure out the way of getting him to do them though.......get sick!!!

Saturday night I came down with what could have possibly been the WORST flu / stomach virus accompanied by pain only mirrored by being in labor that i have ever had in my life. I joked with Aaron that if we didn't get the Christmas cards done he would probably get my sickness. We didn't get them done and sure enough Aaron got sick!

Needless to say.....we got Christmas cards done today! YES!!! the wife wins another battle!

Being an HR Manager has it's advantages...

I had another thought this morning that made me rather tickled........I am convinced that I could right a book with nothing but tidbits of stuff that people tell me at work! When you are the HR manager of over 200 people, nothing is off limits and reading Shanen's blog this morning at the little insults that my nephews say to each other gave me the idea to share what I hear at work (I promise I'm not stealing Shanen's great creative blogging but thanks for the idea) As a sign of mutual respect I call everyone of my employees (older than me or younger) by their last name with the applicable Mr. Miss, Mrs., etc in front unless I'm talking seriously to them and then it is my first name so when I hear this stuff I look at the person, shake my head and just say......Mr. _____ you know the answer to that or Miss ______ the answer would be no but it doesn't mean that I did not appreciate you asking. So here are is what I hear:

"Ms. Hambrick can I leave early today?" "Why" "Well the lights in the store are too bright and I think I need to go home and recover from that...." "Mr. Harris, you may leave and recover from that if I get to leave and recover from you asking me that"
Mr. Harris finished his shift

"Ms. Hambrick I need help, I cut my finger!" (Kate grabs the first aid kit and begins to perform first aid) "Mr. Ramsey (who is 46 years old) how on earth did you cut your finger" "One of the teenagers asked me how bad it hurts if you cut your finger on the meat slicer and I told them I didn't know how bad it hurt so I tried it to find out" (after bandaging his finger that did not need stitches thank heavens! and in a calm voice) "Michael, don't ever let me hear that you say or do something that proves a 17 year old is smarter than you again" "Well then Ms. Hambrick you won't want to hear what I told him it felt like" (internal thought-OMG!) "What did you tell him" "I told him it felt like getting drunk and zipping your who-how up in your pants because my buddies and I do that for laughs when we get drunk on the weekends" "Mr. Ramsey-forget my previous statement about being smarter than a 17 year old."

(phone rings in Kate's office) "Ms. Hambrick, there is a person here who would like to get a job." "okay, bring them to my office" "OK-where is your office?" (internal thought-did you come to work stoned or stupid today because I can't really tell the difference) "Never mind I will come get the applicant" "OK" (approaches applicant) "Can I help you" "yes ma'am I need a job" "Why are you looking for one" "Well my brother is the guy that just called you on the phone and I lost my job this morning because I did not pass a surprise drug test." "Why is that" "Because my brother and I smoked pot with our friends last night at a party" "Well then I am afraid you will not pass my pre-employment drug screen and your brother will need to visit me in my office-the one he can't find because he is working while under the influence of drugs" "Oh that sucks!"
(No kidding!!! that employee was let go after I drug tested him. He went home with his big mouth brother)

(called an employee in my office for discipline) "Miss Lee I asked you to visit me today because we need to talk about the piercings you have. As we discussed in your interview and twice after being hired, if you want to work here you may not have the eyebrow ring, the nose ring, the tongue ring or more than 2 piercings in your ears of which you have 5. Do you understand why we don't allow pierces at work?" "Yes Ms. Hambrick" "Why is that" "Because you don't want the customers to get jealous that we look better than they do" (such a bold statement for a little girl about 21 years old who has more holes in her head than a block of swiss cheese) "No Miss Lee that is not why.....there are several reason, food safety, consistent appearance of all employees but most of all your safety. " "Oh (she thinks for a minute) well if I promise to have some other people in my department get piercings can I keep mine" (i kid you not I just put my head down and thought to myself....seriously! is it that had to understand and who the "blank" hired you because it wasn't me.....you would never have been able to pass the count to 10 and tie your shoelaces portion of my interview process! that is me blowing off steam mentally) "Reece, lose the piercings or I will ask a member of management to let you go.....you have had several warnings and I don't appreciate you trying to get out of this by giving me smart mouthed answers." "Oh Ms. Hambrick I wasn't trying to be smart!--I was trying to get out of following the rules" (internal thought-no kidding! Reece did not make it too much longer after that. She was let go when her nose ring got caught on the handle trigger of the deli slicer she was cleaning and ripped it out of her nose.)

"Ms. Hambrick.....can I go home?" "Why" "Because I had a violent explosion of diarrhea before I could make it to the bathroom and it's all over me and I tried to clean it up but it just smeared all over my pants and....." "STOP! that's enough! you may go home" (why couldn't you just say you were sick? do i have a sticker on my forehead that says give me the graphic details!) "Well I thought if I didn't tell you exactly what happened then you would make me stay and then I might crap on the floor in front of a customer." (again-DIDN"T NEED TO HEAR THE LOGIC OF WHY YOU SHARED SO MANY DETAILS) "Nope-I going to let you go home"


There are several more that I could dish out but these remain a few of my favorites! AWWW! The joy of working with people! Young or old-doesn't matter! I have some really charming people!

Christmas Gifts

Well since it is a Wednesday and my designated day off I thought I would update the blog! YES! I am getting better at this whole blogging thing! I envy people who update like everyday or have kids who make blogging so fun (thank heavens for Shanen and Amy and their little rug rats) but none the less I'm trying to have confidence in my attempts to blog-riffic!

So my thought this morning as I roled around in bed was about Christmas presents and how extremely HARD it is to find something or make something that is going to be well received and not end up in a garage sale of Goodwill within the next season's cleaning out. Laugh but it is true! I have had it happen! I made something for a person and when shopping in DI in Utah about 3 months later saw the gift that I made......tragically funny when I purchased it back and re-gifted it with the price tag on it from DI to the same individual for their birthday. I KNOW!!!! It was not very Christ-like but I thought it was a more productive way to put my hurt and anger to use!

ANYWHO!!! Where I am so new to the Hambrick family I just don't know everyone well enough yet to see exactly what I can get away with in terms of homemade gifts vs. store bought! HA! Not to mention that I'm so jealous of how beautiful Shanen's Stampin' Up stuff is gorgeously made and how Teresa can find like the perfect bargin for everyone so I am at a loss........then the thought hit me this morning that maybe I could do a combo of everything so below is Kate's imaginative recipe for the PERFECT family gift: (watch out family members! your stocking are going to be filled to the top)

1 part stupid, breaks in 2 seconds, made in china, oriental trading company catalog, paid too much for it gift from the dollars store!

1/2 part amazingly wonderful, sparkly, bought it in a set and broke up the set and gave each person just one piece because that was all I could afford, high-end, name brand, suppose to be so amazing label, department store gift!

2 parts Michael's craft store competing with AC Moore coupons and on clearance and the clearance was on sale, hot glue, lots of acrylic paint to hide the chips in it, fuzzy bows & clear tape gift that you will be obligated to keep until I die homemade gift!

and the last important ingredient:

Endless parts of deep down, grown in the trenches, harvested with the snow that we don't have for Christmas but cooked in the fire of love burning in my heart gift--the gift of love that I have for a wonderful family who probably won't care what we give for Christmas as long as we have moments of fun that we will string together to make the best Christmas ever!


So there you have it! My Christmas combo gift recipe that everyone will love and I'm hoping I can get a way with not just this year but every year to come!

Merry Christmas! :-)

OK, OK! I'm updating already!

Soooooooooooooo! I haven't updated the blog in so long that it just doesn't seem fair to everyone and since Aaron and I are FINALLY getting back to normal I just don't have an excuse anymore!

Here is our update:

-I FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY found a job that I started in June! YaY!!!!!!! I am the HR Manager for a new Kroger Store in the Roanoke valley! I have about 200 employees that I help look after as well as a management team. Can I say that babysitting for over 40 hours a week should come with a better pay scale BUT in these VERY uncertain times I'm just so happy to have a job! I go back to school in January.

-Aaron has quit Foot Levelers and is now working for Kroger in their pharmacy technician program. He is on his way to being certified by the summer! Once he is certified he will go back to school in the fall.

-Life is absolutely not the same without our little Maysie but we are finally adjusting better than we have before to the massive life changing first part of the year. We miss our little girl very much but we are trying to be great parents here on earth to our tiny baby while she is waiting for us in heaven.

-We have both had a brithday since our last update. Aaron is now 20 and as I have been informed by my darling hubby I am now old at 29!


So that is about it for the Hambricks right now! We are breathing, finding joy with each other, remembering why we got married to each other (since we got married, had a baby, lost a baby and jobs all within 35 days of getting married) and loving the fact that life is getting back to some kind of path!!

I WILL GET better at the updating thing! I need to put new pics on the blog too! I'm such a slacker!

Life goes on....AGAIN!

Well let's see. It feels like forever since I've been on the blog and posted anything about our little family. Everyone knows by now that our daughter, Maysie, has died and is now watching over her parents with her father in heaven. Maysie died at 5:35pm on Sunday, April 6th, 2008. What a beautiful day to pass away-our Savior's day. She was buried on Wednesday, April 9th which believe it or not was the day I took out my endowments in the Bountiful, UT temple exactly 10 years ago in 1998. Who would have thought that I would have a moment like this one....to FINALLY marry the man of my dreams, to give birth to a beautiful daughter and to have her taken from me but thanks to the knowledge I have of the gospel and the faith I have in the love of eternal families, I know that Maysie will be with Aaron and I again someday!

As for us, we are trying to move on! Slowly but surely! Aaron and I find it hard to fill our days with things to do. I was let go from my job the day after Maysie died because of not being there so I am looking very hard for employment. Aaron and I have decided to work an extra job each this summer to save enough money for Aaron to go back to school in the fall. Now that we don't have Maysie, our whole plan has changed once again and that takes a lot of getting used to.

We can not thank everyone enough for the love, prayers and support that were said on our behalf and that are continue to be said! In the short time that Maysie was on this earth, she touched us so much! She made Aaron and I a family and even though we can not be parents to her now, we will continue to parent her memory; the memory of the most beautiful, active little "adult" (she reminded me of a little adult instead of a baby) that for 8 glorious days defied all the odds and lived! I have pictures of her funeral but chose not to post them as there may be some who it would shock but please know that Maysie felt loved while on this earth by all those surrounding her and extended from her!

Our love and thanks to all!!

Aaron, Kate and Maysie Hambrick!

The AMAZING Maysie!

Well! Maysie is officially 5 1/2 days old and doing amazingly well! She is active and responding to all of the treatments being thrown at her with flying colors! She LOVES her legs and feet! Always kicking them in the air! She definetly has a little personality already and is good and chill growing in her artifical uterus! Here are some pictures that Mommy took! I'm not proud or anything am I?

Look at that sweet little face! The plastic coming down from her mouth is actually a pacifier! It is so micro tiny-fitting because she is called a micro preemie!

Here is her home! I call it her hotel! She has several lights on her to keep her billi count down-it's the stuff in your body that creates joundice (I hope I spelled that right). She has tons of pumps too but you can see the little pink flower on her front and the blanket made for her top. Aaron and I put our picture in her incubator so she can "see" Daddy and Mommy!

It's hard to see but she has dark brown hair just like her Daddy! But her little features and especially her ears look so developed!

Her feet look small but really they measure 1 1/2 inches! She has big feet for a baby her size! AGAIN-she got that from Aaron! I don't think she really got anything from me!

As of yesterday, Maysie is finally big enough enough to wear a diaper which the smallest one they have is 4 1/2 inches tall and 3 1/2 inches wide. She is SWIMMING in it. They have to fold it down to get it to fit right BUT I was really proud to see her in a diaper!

MORE pics to come! Thank you to everyone for all your prayers!! We thank God for our little girl and every moment we have we cherish!

Our "Little Bit"

Well as most everyone knows now, Aaron and I are the proud parents or a beautiful little girl! I never got a chance to update the blog with that announcement that we were having a girl because we found out Tuesday the 25th very late in the evening when I was told by the triage doctor in Labor and Delivery I officially was in pre-term labor! Wouldn't you know that despite my best efforts to stay off my feet and not do ANYTHING....our little rolly polly was born on Saturday, March 29th 2008 at 9:24PM. It went something like this:

As I mentioned above I went into pre-term labor on Tuesday the 25th which earned me a night's stay in the hospital being released on Wednesday....not to be my last visit, I ended up back in the triage center on Thursday evening with labor pains and was sent home because I wasn't changing and we were trying to keep our little bundle of joy in there as long as possible! Friday night by around 6:00PM I was in so much pain I could barely move so Aaron but my to bed with my legs and feet in the air....NOW the GOOD STUFF!

I was laying in bed, hungry around 9:45PM on Friday the 28th...Aaron went to make me a sandwich and I settled into an episode of The Golden Girls. No sooner had I felt my contractions going away, that I felt the HUGEST burst and water GUSHING out of me. I gasped and screamed for Aaron along the lines of "AARON, AARON, AARON, AARON!!!!!!!" He came running into the bedroom-I was crying and breathing and yelled that my water just broke. He helped up out of bed, threw a robe on me and held my hand as we flew down the stairs. AMAZING SKILLS this hubby of mine has because he was running down the stairs, me in one hand, calling the hospital in the other and then calling his parents. We made it to the hospital and we were told that I was 6 centimeters and would deliver within the hour. We were also told that our little girl was too small and would most likely be born either not alive or take a few breaths and pass away. Aaron and I burst into tears but somehow found strength to take about funeral arrangements and sign paperwork for her pending departure. We asked to speak with the neonatal team to see just what our chances were for our baby. The doctor that spoke to us was set on not trying to save our girl but after pleading with him he agreed that if she came out a weighing at least 1 pound his team would attempt to save her!

Once transfered into a delivery room, I was given pain medication and announced to everyone in between contracts that I was starving. To my surprise, my OB team allowed me to eat-very unusual! I had a little pizza from the cafeteria and fell asleep no longer in pain and with a full tummy. Around midnight, I noticed that my contractions were gone COMPLETELY! I had nothing! I slept intermittently until around 9:30AM Saturday morning when I awoke to a contraction--I was so good at pushing the button for pain meds that I think I pushed it in my sleep! My contractions progressed steadily through out the day all the while SHOVING MY FACE with every fatty, forbidden food known to mankind! The routine was, pain meds, food sleep for most of Saturday..... by the time 8:00PM rolled around, I had the most HORRIFIC contraction to date! It lasted 5 minutes and I thought that my entire body would leap of the bed. I called for the nurse and screamed that the pain wasn't going away! I was checked around 8:45 and was told she was coming and get ready to push! WHAT I'm still trying to deal with pain here! I can't concentrate on pushing out a baby! Needless to say I screamed and pushed not really knowing I was pushing and out came our little Maysie!! The only thing I remember while they were taking her away from me was WOW she is so LONG! I waited patiently for a number........that special little number.......her weight! It seemed forever but all of a sudden we heard 1 pound 1 ounce and she is intubated! I CRIED SO HARD!!!! Our little dream was breathing and made the cut off by 1 miraculous little ounce!!!! No wonder I was starving! She was gaining that little ounce so she could come into this world and have her life saved!

So the moment we are waiting for.........Introducing Maysie Diane Hambrick


Believe it or not.....she looks just like her Daddy! Dark hair and features....she did get Mommy's mouth and chubby little toes and look how long she is!!

Newest Update-SURPRISE!

OK-so now I'm into blog frenzie! We do have one more update for everyone.....

We are expecting our first little one on July 28th, 2008!

22 Weeks and COUNTING! We don't know what it is yet although we have tried! The baby was turned and shy but we have nicknamed it "rolly polly" because it rolls and kicks mommy a LOT! The countdown is on to the newest little one to join the family.....we have names picked out but want to know what we are having first before we dish those......the new idea is that it's not really a baby but a monkey; since we can't get a clear picture of if it's a boy or girl. It has been a very interesting pregnancy so far but I'm hoping that it will get better as we go along!

Our Family!

Our Family...


So I'm getting used to posting on the blog after several attempts but I thought it would be nice to put pictures of Aaron's family on the blog. Once I get pictures of my family I will post them too! So here goes.....




Here is Derek and Amy Peterson....Aaron's older sister and husband! Below is baby Charlotte...their newest addition, home from the hospital after being born premature.
Next is a picture of Aaron's nephews and his dad Clif. The boys start with Brad, the oldest, Wyatt, the middle and Travis, the youngest! Such hot men in our family!

I don't have a picture of Jake and Shanan yet but when I track that down I will post it!

Kate's family to follow soon! My family is not the best about taking pictures but I'm sure I can find something! :-)

Wedding Day

The big news about Aaron and I is our recent wedding!We were married March 1st, 2008! We don't have all the pictures yet but here are a few.....

Here we are enjoying the reception!

and our YUMMY CAKE!!

Aaron and his mom Teresa! Don't they just look awesome!

We will post more photos when we get them! We all had a GREAT time and it just turned out beautiful! Many thanks to everyone who came and sent love and support!

Meet the newest Hambricks! This is our engagement picture...