AUSTIN IS HERE!!!

Thats right I am a....

Austin MarrinerJones was born at 12:12 pm this afternoon (12/30/2007) after mommy went through several days of labor and a couple tough hours of pushing without any pain medication. She was such a brave trooper through all of it. He was 7 lbs 4 ounces, and 19 inches long.

Austin and mom are both as healthy as can be. Austin is the cutest, sweetest, and best behaved baby I have ever seen (ok I admitt have havent known a ton of them). He is already doing his breastfeeding just like he should, sleeping well, and only crying when he is trying to figure out what is going on. I love him so much. Fortnunately with cortney being so tired from la hbor I have been able to hold him almost non-stop for the last 8 hours, and it has been probably the 8 best hours of my life. Unfortunately Dad is pretty tired and had to come home to try to get some of his first sleep in days, so that is why he is putting this quick post out there for all to see.
I am just going to throw some of his pictures out there for all those waiting to see, with many more to follow.
Man I miss him already.
Here is Austin.....

Someday He Will Come

I have had contractions since Thursday. For about five or six hours on Friday the contractions were about 6-8 minutes a part, then they died away, and were about 15 minutes apart when I went to bed. It was like that all night, waking me up, pretty intense at times. Now they are about 10 minutes apart. We will be so relieved when we are able to actually have the baby. We are a little tired now but feeling a little more prepared since Ben is feeling better, and I am feeling better from our respiratory infections.

Staying alive....kind of

The contractions have stopped for the most part, but we go in on the 27th (due date) to be checked. Ben and I are so sick right now! Ben has bronchitis , sinusitis, among other things. I have the starting of a nasty head cold, sore throat, and ear infection. We are both useless right now, with no family around. I just want to cry! But it will be okay, hopefully we will be better before the baby comes, and with my brother visiting right now, he helps us out. I told Ben that before we have another baby we will be living closer to home. He smiled and said "whatever you want sweetie". Good man! :) We will not be having any family come down until Jan 4th, so pray that Ben and I will be better before the big day. Thank you all so much for your support, it is so nice to know that we have such good friends!

Is it Baby time yet?

It is 9 days away from my due date. Yesterday at work I started to have contractions that I though were just Braxton Hicks, but they would not go away when I would get up, sit down, and then get up again, and were close together. They were timing about 5 minutes apart for a little over half an hour and then became more spread apart, with some becoming really painful. That lasted all night. Needless to say that I did not get any sleep. I stayed home from work today to rest up and am now having a few contractions. I hope that he will come sooner than later, we are really excited for his arrival!

Baby Shower!!!!

Now this post is mostly for our families to show them the cute things that we were given for the baby since they all live so far away. Enjoy!


Here are some of our favorite things that we have received for the baby. Above is a matching bouncer and swing that was given by Ben's boss. He is super generous, thanks Bob!

For thoes of you who don't know I love the Nightmare Before Christmas! My friend Mindee loves it too and so she gave this to us. I love it!

Crocheted blanket, cardigan, hat and booties set, Star and moon hand made blanket, Ducky hand made blanket with crocheted edges.

Left to right; Planes and helicopter blanket (super soft, but I will share with Austin, promise!), Cat in the Hat onesie (thanks grandma!), Some of Ben's favorites: Tow truck outfit, Mariniers jumper. I love this diaper bag that was given to us from my Aunt and Uncle, the Peterson's. Super cute!

This is one of my favorite shirts, yeah mom rocks!

Left to right; Pooh bear outfit, red stripe/train, boat, car hand made crocheted edged blanket and burp clothe (thanks Stephanie!), "Thank Heaven for Little Boys" bib (one of Ben's favorites!), Black and white cover for breast feeding.

This is the beautiful crib set that my Mother-in-law, Diane, made. Thanks Mom, it is perfect! Thanks for all the time an effort that you put into it, Ben and I are grateful for the love you have for our family!

My friend Colleen who threw me the baby shower. She is so wonderful! Thank you so much!

Here are some treats from the baby shower. I wonder what the 'A' stands for? Hmmmmm....

Thanksgiving and Halloween

Ben and I went to the beach with some friends and here are some of the pictures that we took.


Hey there handsome man!

Here are our friends that are visiting. (left to right) Stephanie, Adrianne, and Nick. It was really fun to hang out with some friends from Rexburg, to talk, visit, and be apart of their travel log. :) Log #78 The ocean tried to eat us while we were getting our picture taken. Yeah!

Thanksgiving!

Here I am on turkey day, getting bigger and bigger! Eating dinner did not help much!

Here are some of my friends from work on Halloween. Don't we look festive!

Interesting things about C....

So I have been tagged. So six interesting things bout me....hmmmm.

#1 I used to sing in a mariachi band but do not speak Spanish. I volunteered with one of my music professors to work with disadvantaged youth (who were mainly from Mexico) in an after school program. It was really fun and the kids would sometimes laugh at my gringo accent but we enjoyed each other's company.

#2 I have an obsession with looking at house plans. It will be a really long time until we ever build, but when we do I know what I want: an entrance with a foyer that has french pocket doors directly across from each other, one leading to the formal dinning room, and the other to the formal living room. I also want a kitchen that opens into larger room so that we can hang out and eat in the same place. The first floor needs to have a small bedroom (this is a must to obtain a good resale value). There needs to be a bonus room that is large enough for a ping-pong table (for Ben). The entrance between the garage and the house will have a hallway of some sorts that can be used as a mud room for organizing. And last of all the laundry room needs to be large enough to have counter space to fold laundry, and maybe enough space to have an island so that crafts can be done in there. This needs to be squeezed into 2700 to 3000 sq. ft. in a colonial style, symmetrical looking with wings on both sides. The bonus room would be nice to have over the garage. I don't sound picky do I? :)

#3 I have moved over 20 different times. My dad was in the military and my mom was a traveling nurse and they are divorced. Moving has been a big part of my life, but I don't mind, I have learned a lot about people, places, and myself. I think that I might have been a shy child if I had not have had to move and meet so many new people. (Could you imagine me shy?!?!?)

#4 A dream of mine is to go on to earn my Masters in Library Science. I love to work with books: repairing them, cataloging them, preparing them for circulation. I really enjoy shelving, giving guidance and direction on finding answers to questions about anything. Hopefully when our children are older I can work part time for a local library.

#5 I performed a song in front of 5000 people. It was for a youth organization that I belonged to at our annual state convention. I was very nervous but it went well and I enjoyed myself after it was over.

#6 I can tie a stem of a maraschino cherry in my mouth without using my hands. This is something that my dad always used to do and I always wanted be just like him! So I practiced and practiced.

Here is Ben and I standing in front of the Courtyard at our old apartment. That seems like such a long time ago!







So that this does not turn into another fantasy blog for my husband I thought that I should put something down. We only have seven more weeks to go and are excited to have our baby boy Austin finally come out and say hi! I am feeling good, I work over time every week (4-5 hours) but go to bed at 8:30. Ben thinks that I am crazy to go to be so early but I sometimes have to fight to stay up that long so that I can sleep through the night! Right now it is 4:45 am, and I can't sleep....I think that I might have gone too bed to early.
Our ward is fun. I am getting to serve in YW's right now. We have a small group of great girls, but they have a hard time bonding with one another. It is challenging to remember what it was like to be their age sometimes and I am not much older than them. I remember when I was a teenager and said, "I will never forget what it is like and how to be cool no matter how old I am ESPECIALLY when I am a mom!" If I only knew then what it would be like now! Ha!
But that is really all that is new. I am so excited to hold that baby in my arms, and to get to know him. My due date of Dec 27th is right around the corner, and it is strange to think that from that point on I will be a mom! I had better try and go back to bed.

SEATTLE Sonic Season underway

The Sonics 41st and hopefully not last season got underway last night in Denver. The big attraction that got them on national T.V. was of course Kevin Durant, who showed us some things in his debut, but also made clear that it will take some time before we see his infinite potential turned into a nightly display of perfection. His 18 point on 7 of 22 shooting show us that he isn't scared to take a shot, but could stand to hit a few more.

The big story of course this season is not the arrival of Kevin Durant, but rather the future of NBA basketball in Seattle. There are signs that the legal battle is going to drag out long enough to give Seattle law makers a chance to come up with an arena solution, but the situation definitely appears bleak....we can only hope for the best.

Other than that I found myself suprisingly excited for the coming NBA season, mostly because as I throw my support to my childhood team, I am also holding auditions for a new favorite team. I have already come up with a short list of candidates, and will be following them and preparing myself for the likely Sonics divorce that will be required. Those teams include: Portland Trailblazers (it is awkward considering them having spent so many years hating them), Phoenix Suns, LA Clippers, and the N.O. Hornets.

The Pregnant Lady

Here is Cortney at about 30 weeks. The first four months were miserable for her, but the last few months have been pretty good. She is working 8-9 hours everyday with me at Amgen in Accounts Payable. She really enjoys her job, and they love having her around. She does a lot of the special projects for them, as well as works on the helpline answering questions for vendors and Amgen employees.

Test Post

We just survived a miserable week of unbearably hot tempertures, fierce winds and just enough smoke to make your life completely miserable. Fortunately none of the fires here in Southern California threatened Camarillo, but they hit just about everywhere around us.....not fun.

I noticed that many of the people we knew in Rexburg have set up blogs, and thought it was a great way to keep in contact.

As most of you know, we are going to have a Baby in a couple of weeks and are extremely excited. I imagine that Cortney will be filling the blog with picture of him as we go along, but for now I better get back to work.