Anual Hammond family halloween dinner.

This year we decided to make it a costume party so everyone could see all the kids  in their costumes.

London the duck.

Brynlee the punk fairy.

and Erilyn the monkey princess.

The girls in the leaves.

Erilyn slowly fell backwards.

Our main dish squids Aka raw spaghetti  cooked in sausage.

GROSSNESS!!

Eye ball ice cubes AKA grapes froze in water.

Witches potion AKA orange soda the white thing in there is dry ice.

witches fingers and finger nails AKA crazy bread and green apple candy corns.

spooky frog eye salad

witches potion with eye balls

squids covered in blood

Cookie monster AKA kamdyn i didn't get any pick of the ninga jaydan or the fairy maddie .

A different kind of mission.

With all of this hype about the new missionary ages it has gotten me thinking.... If this had only happened 4 years ago when i was 18 would have prepared then and gone? Would i be where i am now? Would i have my baby? Would i be married and where i am today?
Me and my sister both got married shortly before or after our 21 birthday so going on a mission was out of the question. A few hours after the announcement we meant at grans for lunch and the subject came up "what if". We decided that it was meant to be and that we had different missions.
I instantly thought.... what could my mission be? My mind was racing! I thought about what i was doing around the time i was 21. I had just found out i was pregnant with Erilyn. Every emotion was running through my mind i was scared to be a mom, i was excited to be mom, I felt sick. Then that sat as i was shopping with my mom and grandma, i got  a call. I didn't recognize the number so i let it ring then listened to the voicemail. It was the secretary for the bishop he wanted to meet with me and Travis the next day. I had a calling, i was a primary teacher so we both thought Travis would be getting a calling.
We went the next day to talk to the bishop. Now keep in mind i JUST turned 21 and that i just found out I'm pregnant! He looked me straight in the eyes and said something like...... "We as a bishop Rick have been praying alot lately and we feel that the lord wants you to be the YW WOMEN'S PRES. in our ward". I looked at him dumb founded. I thought he was kidding. He looked serious. I felt sick. I couldn't breath. He said well.....I began to cry. I was scared. He began.... we have about 18 girls about 16 of witch are active. I felt like was going to faint i began to sob. He said i know you can do it this is where the lord wants you.... do you except? I thru my tears said yes and instantly started to question EVERYTHING. Why me? Why now? How was i supposed to pick counselors? I had only been in the ward about 6 months and on the first sun i was there i got called to primary i knew my 5 primary kids and primary presidency that was about it. I eventually called my counselors and got to work. It was the hardest, most rewarding, most stressful and happiest 18 months of my life. I had served a full time mission it was just a different mission. Never in my wildest dreams did i think that i would have been married and pregnant with my first child when i served my mission but i wouldn't change it for anything. And i know for a fact that i wasn't meant to serve when i was 19 i was dating my now husband and would not be where i am today if i had served a mission then. I'm so thank full i was able to serve a mission though and love and still worry about those girls. But I'm glad i can focus more on my baby and family now. I have been calling less for alittle over a month now and i must say its kinda nice!! This is the longest ive gone calling-less since i was 12!! But ive got a feeling it wont last long. So im enjoying it while it lasts!!!

Pictures with Grandpa Shorts

We decided that since we don't get to see grandpa shorts very often we needed to get some pics done since it was kinda last min we went to wal mart and they surprisingly turned out great!!

Erilyn with her grandpa shorts.

Family pic.

She says my mom is crazy!!

My baby girl.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this one!!

Daddies girl

Grandpa with his boys.

Look how big i am mom!!

She is so photo-genic

Pulling silly faces.

Love this one to!!

Meeting Grandpa shorts

Travis dad lives in Alaska so its only a couple times a year that we get to see him and this was erilyns first time meeting him. She meant him when she was in belly when i was about 6 months pregnant (but that doesnt count). She liked him she would kick when he would walk in the room. I figured now wouldn't be much different and it wasn't she loved to wave at him and make silly faces. He took Travis his brother Matt and sister Nisha bowling and of coarse me and erilyn she liked it!!

She fell asleep on the drive over there so were barricaded her in with our bags.She slept about half an hour like that.

Cheering people on!!

Sitting next to grandpa

With grandpa and daddy.

Taking some time to cuddle with mommy

Cheering daddy on! Go Daddy! I of coarse lost every time but it was fun to spend time with family.

Shopping with mom and dad

Erilyn is a big girl now and gets to sit in the cart when we go shopping. She thinks she is so cool. She is always trying to see where she is going and looking at everything on the shelfs.

Daddy calls this her gangster leen haha ( he swears that at one point she even had her other hand down her pants haha ;-D)

Checking stuff out!!

Posing for a picture i sure do love this little girl!

Prayers really do get answered!

I don't think Ive put this on my blog yet but.... My little..... well younger brother Landis has been called to serve a mission in Lubbock Texas he leaves on November 7. So I'm thinking he will go thru the temple for his endowments close the very end of the month but he decided to do it alittle earlier and is going this week!! When he told me i realized that our recommends were going to expire at the end of Sept! Sept. was a crazy month there was regional conference followed by a sun i wasn't there (why? i don't remember ).Then a temple dedication for witch they cancelled church. Then the next was the sun after our hike Travis sister nisha spent the night to watch erilyn when we got home Travis mom had come and taken them out to her house. We drove down to get her and were so tired we decided to spend the night  and help Travis mom with some stuff. THEN the next sun was General  Conference so we missed the whole month of Sept! So now we were stuck with expired temple recommends! I started to pray that i would be able to get one in time . On sat morning the first part of my prayers was answered the bishop sent me a text saying that they needed help cleaning the church i though sweet!! I can talk to him about what to do so i headed over to church it was locked ( i no longer have keys because i was recently released from my calling as yw pres.) I texted him and asked him to open the doors.... he wasn't there. Eventually some one else showed up with keys and let me in. when he got there he asked me if my key was broken i said bishop i don't have keys anymore he said oh yeah maybe we should fix that.( oh great!) I said i have a favor to ask though i told him the situation and after cleaning the church i did my interview. He said that the stake didn't do interviews till the end of the month but gave me a number to call and see if i could get an interview any way. I called atlleast 6 or 7 times and no one answered and their answering machine said not to leave a message! On sun morn i thought about calling him but figured he was in meetings and he was in our ward so i thought i would just talk to him at church. I got there a alittle early thinking maybe he or a member of the stake presidency would be there they weren't! So i again i began to pray that i would be able to get an interview right after sacrament i went and talked to the bishop and told him i couldn't get ahold of him. We checked the stake office no-body was there.... Then  all of the sudden the bishop  ( i don't know what he is called but he does all the scheduling for the stake)  he spotted his son and asked where  his dad was. He explained he was at baby blessing but should be headed home and to try to call in about an half an hour. I waited what seemed like an eternity then called FINALLY some one answered but explained he wasn't quite home and to call back in a half an hour! I went back to class for a few min and he called me back i told him the dilemma and he again explained that they usually only do interviews on the last sun. I told him that it was kind of an emergency and he said he would try to find some one. I again began to plead with heavenly father i really wanted to be there for my brother. After church i noticed a voice mail but no missed call... weird. I listen to voice mail he starts to explain that the stake pres is sick, his first counselor is out of town and...... finally the words i was praying to hear!! But his 2nd counselor is free to do it at his house tonight at 630 and to call back for the address i call and NO ANSWER!!! Then i remember that in the message he gave me  a different number to try i call and AGAIN no answer i feel like bawling! Right then my phone begins to ring its him!! He gives me the address and apologises for being so difficult to get ahold of. By this time Travis has got an interview with the bishop for his recommend so me and Erilyn wait out side then go home and eat. When we get to the house of this kind man we ring the door bell and wait and wait and wait no answer!! I say oh please heavenly father!! Right then he pokes his head out from behind the house and says we just got home we will let you in a min. Finally we got our signature! I told him how embarrassed i was and how thankful i was.He said "that it was nothing I've had people call the night before at 1030 for a recommend". I felt alittle better but vow not to ever let that happen again!! I know that he answered my prayers and helped me get that interview so that i can be there to support my little brother. And that he is always listening to our prayers.

Build-a-bear...... Well monkey :-D

Gran has made it a tradition to to buy the great grand children build-a-bears. My sister in law Ashley always does a recording of the babies heartbeat in the build bear, we wanted to steal that idea from her but kept on forgetting to buy the recorder let alone record her heart beat! So we decided to record her luagh to put in there it turned out so cute!! She LOVES it! Thanks Gran! 

Growing up to fast.

Afew weeks ago when i went to change Erilyn in to some clothes for the day this is what i found!! Needless to say she is now in 12 month Jammie's!!!



The inside of Erilyns car seat....disgusting i know! Its all clean now and ready for baby number 2. (again this is not an announcement of any sort. )

Such a big girl! She has grown up to fast!! I'm just grateful i have been able to stay at home with her and watch her grow.And I'm thankful for an amazing husband who works so hard so i can stay home with her. I cant believe she is almost 1! Where has the time gone?

Good bye old ugly bathroom!!!

When we bought our house we knew it was a fixer upper and that we eventually wanted to re-due pretty much everything. But never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would have so much of it done all ready,  and that we would have pretty much had it all done for free!! Last year about this time Travis dad came down and helped Travis re-due the WHOLE basement. (I thought he was just going to do the two bedrooms.)Then this year Travis mom decided to pay to have our bathroom redone i was super excited to just have it done. And Travis was excited to learn how to lay tile. It took alittle longer then expected and we had to pee in a bucket in the garage but it was soooo worth it in the end it turned out so good!! Here are some before and after pics....

The whole bathroom before..

The ugly floor.

Old 1950s sink and faucet.

All stripped and ready for demo :-D

BYE BYE UGLY FLOOR!

 Our new cabinet+sink and a new toilet, Travis mom surprised us with this..... who would have though a new toilet would be so awesome!!?

Measuring out the tile.

FINISHED PRODUCT!!

New pretty floor.