When You Give a Husband Technology...

When you give a husband technology, then he'll want more and more, better and better...

Right before the fire (literally, less than an hour before) we purchased a new TV (peace out Smithsonian. Hope you enjoy the museum life!). Now that we're in the new apartment, and the new smart TV is set up, Adam decided we needed a Blue-Ray player ("Amber, you know what would go great with this new TV...). We are now the proud owners of a Blue-Ray player and have experienced the sheer beauty of crisp, high definition movie. Our lives are forever changed. Please, come and stop by to enjoy with us!

We also emptied our TV savings jar. We had been putting all our spare change in a jar and ended up not using a penny from it! Instead, we treated ourselves to a game of The Price is Right, guessing how much was in the jar, bringing it to the local grocery store with a Coin Star in it, and using our savings for dinner that night. I guessed $8, Adam guessed $10. In the end, Adam was the closest without going over. We had saved $10.91! And that was after the $.10 for every dollar Coin Star took AND taking all the quarters for laundry! We rocked that one! We went around the grocery store, picked what we wanted for dinner under $5 and checked out. Adam grabbed a couple candy bars for after dinner and we were $.3 under cash ticket! We truly rocked it last night. The cashier and bagger thought Adam was crazy... With how excited he was, you would have thought he won the lottery! All in all, it was a fantastic win for us.

Great day, budget Starbursts, Lion King on Blue Ray and a good night.

An Unusual Christmas Miracle

If you're wondering why you haven't seen your Christmas card from us yet, we have a good explanation why.

This past Saturday the apartment below us was caught on fire by the 17 year old living there. The Fire Investigator released the cause of the fire as 'a juvenile playing with fire.' All we know is Amber felt and heard thuds in the bathroom while giving Addi a bath, Adam answered the door to the teen a few minutes later who said 'if you hear anything, don't worry' and ten minutes later we smell fire. Amber grabbed Addi, ran outside and called 911, Adam tried to help the kid put the fire out, but it was no use.

The fire fighters put the fire out before it got in our apartment. Our neighbors, on the other hand, lost everything. We have smoke damage to everything, but nothing some Febreeze, dryer sheets and elbow grease couldn't get out. We did lose pillows, but that's really about it. We have been extremely blessed!

We moved into the new apartment Christmas Eve with the help of many friends. Amber's family came out Christmas Eve and Christmas day to help clean, move and enjoy the holiday as well.

We have many people to thank for helping take care of us and offering their help through the Holiday weekend, and especially for helping on Christmas Eve. The Vorwaller's were kind enough to let us stay in their home while we waited for a new apartment to move in to. David & Rose Forsyth picked us up and helped us right after it all happened, and also helped with moving everything to the new place. Kimberley & Jeff Campbell helped us move and clean everything before it came in the new place and also watched Addi all day Wednesday and Thursday so we could get some uninterrupted work done (Addi had a blast playing with Avery!)

This will probably go down as the most unusual Christmas of all times for the Stocksdale family, but we'll never forget the help of friends and family, and all the help that was offered. This has definitely been an unusual Christmas miracle.

Pictures to come.

Adelaide Rae Stocksdale -- nearly 15 weeks old!

Sorry it's been so long! We'll post pictures soon. Adelaide (Addi) Rae Stocksdale was born June 29th, 2011. She was born via c-section because she flipped within the last week (she was head down for a long time! 4 different doctors all said she was!) and was born breech. Her stats were 7lbs 2oz and 18 inches long. She was beautiful and tiny. The whole labor & delivery story will come soon :)

Today, she will be 15 weeks (3 1/2 months) on Wednesday. She is HUGE at 15lbs 8oz and 23 1/2 inches. She wears size 6/9 months now, size 2 diapers. She still has beautiful blue eyes, and is getting some nice auburn hair. She loves to play with mommy & daddy. She thinks everyone should talk to her if they pass by. She loves attention and is a very high maintenance baby. Shes already throwing temper tantrums, and mommy & daddy are working around those and teaching her that isn't okay. She loves to watch football and Glee. She loves Greg Lee and Jerry on News Channel 3. When shes tired she goes to sleep pretty easy. All she needs is a burp cloth under her face (she sleeps on her tummy) and her binky. She cuddles with the burp cloth. Adelaide loves to sit. Shes almost sitting by herself now. She can sit in her highchair by herself, on the couch (next to some one), and on your lap without falling over. She isn't quite rolling yet, but she can roll on her side when she REALLY wants to. Adelaide talks ALL THE TIME! She can talk very quietly, and very loud! She is getting more and more influction in her voice when she "talks." Adelaide loves it when you make sounds back to her. Last week, Addi and Amber were on their way to the doctors office and Addi started making monkey sounds (oooh oooh ooooooh) and Amber made them right back to her. Adelaide giggled and loved it! The rest of the way to the doctors they sounded like monkeys. Adelaide loves to listen to Adam play the guitar. She sits and listens then makes very loud, excited sounds. She is very energetic and moves all the time. She loves tummy time and is starting to enjoy her back more. She hates her play gym, but loves her bouncer (even though it almost touches the floor now when she sits in it... fatty!) She especially loves to wake up and see mommy and daddy's faces there talking and smiling back at her. She is some times a pain, but we love her anyway. We're happy with our new addition!

Ultrasound results! Easter, Long Week and Date night!

This week, we finally were seen for the ultrasound!!! Amber had to cancel her OB appointment for Monday because she ended up sitting at the other Doctor's office for the ultrasound for over 2 hours! But, she got the the results! No more arrythemia! Yay! Amber has been working hard at getting to the gym a little more for the past few weeks because cardio is the best thing for a healthy heart right? And, we have also been assured that Adelaide is NOT Chase Perry. Good thing, seeing as we have lots of frilly girl stuff now :)

Easter was nice this year. Adam and Amber drove down to Ontario to spend Easter with the Stocksdale side. We left after Adam got off work, around 9am. We had an eventful time at church with lots of baby comments and belly rubs. Then had a wonderful dinner with the fam bam plus G-Sizzle. Amber took a nice nap while Adam and the boys played basketball for hours. Scrabble, Adam's new game of choice (from which he is trying to become a Scrabble master), came after basketball, after which, we traveled home. Good Easter.

After a SUPER long week of Adam working Sat-Sun Midnight to 9, and Mon-Wed 2:30-11:30pm, and Amber working at the Airport Monday-Friday by herself... We rested Saturday.

Since Adam find two of the three golden eggs at his work picnic, he received 2 $50 gift certificates to some nice restaurants around Palm Springs. Tonight, we went to Margarita's, a mexican food/sushi bar restaurant. It was delicious! We had a fun time trying to make an order up to $50. It was hard! We got a virgin margarita, 2 desserts, and 2 large dinners. We STILL didn't make our $50! But, it was fun. We had a good time.

Adam's Throne, Cinnamon Baked Goodness, Ultrasound, and the Packing Begins!

This week, Adam went walking around the neighborhood and found a garage sale. He bought a full length couch and his throne. We are SO excited to have a full couch rather than a love seat! And, it has washable cushion covers (perfect for baby spills and Amber spills!). It's wonderful! Adam, of course, claimed the chair that came with the set "Adam's Throne." It's perfect for him. So, it is his.

Adam worked very hard at work this weekend and did a wonderful job on the Sunday morning news cast! He had great comments that were made on the other news station sites saying stuff like "Thank you Desert Sun, but I went to KESQ.com for the COMPLETE story." Try to top being the Desert's News Leader Channels 2, 6 and the Desert Sun! Booyah! Anyways...Amber started making cinnamon rolls from scrath the night before and brought them to his work the next morning. They were DELICIOUS! And they were appreciated by the news team. Definitely making those again.
Today, after 3 weeks, Amber got the authorization from Kaiser to get the ultrasound to check on Addi's heart. We're not concerned, due to how long it took, and the fact that Addi is super strong and a ninja and kicks all the time! Except when shes napping. We're getting VERY excited. We were both talking about how we wish she was here already. We can't wait to have the little bundle of joy out and playing with us!

Today, Amber started packing her bag for the hospital! It's getting closer. At 30 weeks this Saturday, we're standing to our scout mottos and being prepared. We picked out what she'll wear when we take her home, and have everything else gathered and ready to throw in the bag when the time comes. It's coming full speed ahead, and we're nervous, but trying to be as ready as possible. Becoming parents is a scary thing! But we're excited to take on the challange and the blessing of Adelaide Rae.

After Adam and Amber's Henry's excursion, shrimp has been an exciting thing for Adam. This week, Adam made a WONDERFUL dinner of spaghetti alfredo with lemon garlic shrimp, an italian salad, and blueberry pomegranate juice. It was very delicious, and something we will definitely do again!

Date Night with the Forsyths and Family Home Day

Last night, Adam and Amber went to the McCallum theater with David and Rose for this big talent show the City of Palm Desert puts on every year. It's a BIG deal! There were over 700 performers who auditioned and there were 100 finalists. The show/competition was 2 1/2 hours long, and well worth the $15 a ticket! There were SO many different performances! I think all 4 of our favorites was DEFINITELY the Pastor who was a Ventriloquist. He was HILARIOUS! We went to support a young man in our ward. He played drums in a jazz band. They did a great job! Our city has a ton of talent! Addi doesn't like loud noises, so when the bands with guitars were playing, she was kicking and having a hard time... but Adam and Amber held her and comforted her by rubbing Amber's belly. It calmed her down, and we're happy to know that she can definitely hear! We went to Ralphs for ice cream afterwards and ate it in the car. It was a fun date night.

Today Adam and Amber both had the day off. The day started off at the gym. Then we had a nice BIG breakfast at home. Pancakes, sausage, eggs, and...sweet potato fries... We didn't have any hash browns, so we just went with it. They were pretty good with the rest of breakfast. We played Super Mario Bros. for the Wii, then went and got the mail. After that, we went down to Petco to see all the pets. We don't want to get any pets, but we enjoy checking them out. It was a lot of fun. They had all kinds of animals! Chinchillas, lizards, turtles, tiny sharks, baby snakes, bearded dragons (we thought it would be fun to have one of those), frogs, zebra finches... the list goes on forever! The only thing they didn't have was dogs and cats! We were kind of sad. But, we moved on. After Petco, we went down to Target. Adam decided that he would start picking at the guitar again and start playing, but the Target we went to didn't have anymore guitars. Maybe next month. We left Target and headed down to Henry's. Henry's is a chain of specialty and natural food stores. We've never been, but seen lots of good ads for it with all the other grocery store ads we get. So, we thought we'd check it out. Turns out, we LOVED it! We'll be down there again, no doubt about that. Finally, we made it to Bed, Bath & Beyond. We've had a $50 gift card for BB&B since our wedding, but haven't used it yet. Amber wanted to make sure she used it well. We had a fun time in the store looking and playing with all the fun gadgets, and finally used the gift card. We got things we actually needed, and are very happy. For our date dinner, we had homemade fajitas. They were AMAZING! Adam does a great job at making his specialty fajitas. It was a great Family Day, and we were happy to have the day to spend together.

Flat Tire

Wednesday, Amber walked out to her car, already for work, and noticed a completely flat tire on the front passanger side. But not to worry! Thanks to a Laurels class activity taught by Bro. Mattson, I knew how to change that flat tire! Adam had left for Racket Ball about 30 minutes earlier, and can't bring his phone in the court with him, so Amber couldn't get ahold of him. But that was okay! Time to show off her skills!

Over 7 months pregnant, Amber jacked up her car, took off the flat tire, switched it with the doughnut and put the flat in the back in about 20 minutes. How about that! She felt quite accomplished for the day at only 8:30 in the morning.

Thankful for many things that day, Amber was also able to get the tire patched for $10, rather than spending double or a lot more to get used or new tires. She even got it done during her lunch break! They were really fast and helpful.

Today, Amber is waiting for Adam's Easter present to come in the mail. She's very excited to see it! Adam is also anxiously awaiting it's arrival. Pictures to come!