Surprise! It's a Girl!

I have a new niece!! Alisha gave birth to their 4th child, Kenadie Ann Mayfield, on Monday, January 28th, at 1:50pm. She was 7lbs, 1oz., and 20 inches long.

Alisha had several ultrasounds done, but little Kenadie would never cooperate. They weren't sure if it was going to be a boy or a girl but were told at one time that they thought it might be a boy. Surprise!!

What a great big sister!

Nathan was very intent on taking Kenadie's little cap off of her head.

Kenadie slept the whole time I was at the hospital, but to see some great pictures of Alisha and wide-eyed Kenadie, go to Alisha's blog at http://mayfield-6.blogspot.com/

Congrats, Nate & Alisha!

We are the Champions!!

This weekend, we went to Birmingham for an indoor soccer tournament. Jared has been getting a team together to go play there probably for at least 5-6 years, and there are about 3 tournaments a year. Jared was really excited about this tournament because they have added new players to their team recently, and this time, they had a really "stacked" team.

Well, all of their hard work FINALLY paid off because they WON!!!

They won their first game 11-4. The second game was the one that I was really nervous about. It was against a team called the Fighting Okra. They are really good, and the guys have played them several times in the past and lost to them, but I was really worried because they play really dirty. At the last tournament in July, Benj, one of the guys that was playing with Jared's team for the first time, was doing awesome. He was scoring and making great plays, so the Fighting Okra went after him. They were checking him into the boards (even though they were probably twice his size) and tripping him up and standing over him to try to intimdate him. I was seriously afraid someone was going to get hurt. Luckily, this time, we had a great ref. They still tried to play dirty, but he made some good calls and really tried to keep it under control. We beat them 5-3. I paced during the whole game.

The third game was more relaxed and fun. There were some older guys who had daughters playing in the tournament so they decided to throw a team together and play. They had never played before, and some of them had never even played soccer before. Their wives said they didn't know what they had gotten themselves into. They didn't score a single goal in their first two games and got beat by 14 points both times. Their daughters were coming up to our players and saying, "Please go easy on our daddies." haha During the game, I was sitting right in front of the wives, and after the first minute and a half, they were like, "Wow- they haven't scored a goal yet," and after about five minutes, they were like, "I think they are going easy on us." haha... yeah, just a little... Our guys were good sports and just played around and had fun. They even let them score a few goals, and when they scored that first goal of the whole tournament, their fans cheered so loud you would have thought they had won the tournament! (and Taylor started crying from all the loud screaming... haha) Their wives and kids were happy that we were the first team who actually laid off on them a little bit. We won 13-5, and after it was over, the wives said our guys were good sports and hoped that we won the tournament.

The guys had lots of time to rest before the final game. The last team they played was very good, and it was a nail-biter of a game. We scored, then they scored, and then they scored, and then we scored. It was back and forth the whole time. Those guys were pretty rough, too, but we hung in there with them. I tried to get some pictures, but I was shaking too badly. With one minute left in the game, it was tied up 5-5. I was thinking, "Oh please do not let them (the other team) score with like 30 seconds left!" With 10 seconds left, Jared gets the ball, completes a perfect pass in between two defenders to Lwazi (another new player on our team who is from Africa, played soccer at Alabama A&M, and is competely amazing!), and Lwazi scored the winning goal!!! Talk about an amazing ending! (completely devastating for the other team and exactly what I didn't want to happen to us, but it was good news for us!) I started jumping up and down and cheering, but Taylor didn't cry that time; she just laughed and thought it was funny. She also clapped for Daddy many times throughout the games.

The other tournaments throughout the year are really just for fun and experience, but the tournament in January is a regional tournament to qualify for Nationals. So our guys are Regional Champs and could go on to the National tournament if they choose to do so. (We don't know when or where it will be yet; if it's too far way, they probably wouldn't be able to go).

CONGRATULATIONS to Jared and David and the rest of the team (Bobby, Trent, Benj, Lwazi, Brandon, Chase, Ian, Andrew, Robbie, Jae, and Eric). We are so proud!

(Aside from watching soccer games, Jared and I also got to spend time with my old roommates, Ashley and Kristin, and their husbands, Collin and Chase, and we had a great time! Thanks, Ashley & Collin for letting us stay at your place Friday night! When we went to church Sunday morning in Birmingham, we also got to see several people that we knew in Tuscaloosa, so it was fun getting to catch up with them a little bit, too!)

A Change Can Do You Good

Well, it's only a couple of weeks into the new year, and changes are definitely coming our way. Of course, Jared and I made some New Year's resolutions to improve ourselves both physically and spiritually. Neither of us have been great about exercising. Jared does better than I do. He at least has been playing soccer every week. I pretty much just sit at home and have basically had no real exercise since I graduated from college, except for the couple of months in the summer when we went to a walking trail three times a week until Jared hurt his ankle, and then there was that month that I worked out at the gym right before I got pregnant, and then I never felt like going. Unfortunately, we live on a busy road, so we can't really get outside and walk down the street, but since the beginning of the new year, Jared and I have been doing push-ups, sit ups, squats, and cardio stuff for 30 minutes about 5-6 times a week, and I've been stretching a lot because I want to get some of my flexibility back (and hopefully when Taylor gets old enough, she and I can take a mommy and me gymnastics class!). The first night that we started was rough. I think the push-ups were the hardest for me. I've always been really good at push-ups, but ever since I got pregnant, I have really felt like my upper body strength has decreased, and it definitely showed that first night. It has quickly come back though, and even Jared has to work hard to keep up with me during push-ups ;-)

Jared and I also made a resolution to be better at reading our scriptures together every day. We've been doing good with our personal study but not with our family study, so now, we're really making an effort and doing very well so far. We're reading the Pearl of Great Price and even using the study manual to help us understand it better. Another resolution was going to the temple more often. It has been hard to go because we haven't been able to leave Taylor wtih a babysitter for that long in the past and because she was breastfeeding and wouldn't take a bottle, but now, she is officially weaned and doing much better with staying with a babysitter. We haven't had a chance to go yet, but we're in the process of getting our new temple recommends since they expired in December, so at least we're working towards it!

Another change that is coming our way is that we are getting ready to put our house on the market to sell it. At first, we were really excited because our neighbor told us that she wanted to buy it, so we thought, "Okay, we can just take our time looking around for a house that we want, and when we find one, we can sell our house to her, and everything will work out perfectly." Plus, we could have sold it for sale by owner and avoided realtor commission fees. We love our realtor, but who doesn't want to save a little money, right? Well, our perfect little scenario hasn't played out the way we wanted it to. Our neighbor wanted the house so her mother could move in next to her, but now her mother says no, so she's not going to buy the house anymore. So, now we have to actually put the house on the market and do a lot of work so that people can come in and look around at it. Our realtor came by one day to let us know things that we need to do around the house. She told us that we basically needed to pack up everything that we don't absolutely need and store it somewhere, and we have to rearrange our furniture so that it is more appealing to buyers, etc, etc. She also made the comment, "When you sell a house, it's no longer your own. It belongs to the public." I have been very stressed just thinking about all this. I've had a hard enough time trying to take care of Taylor (especially when she is whiney), work on the medical transcription stuff, and keep the house clean well enough for ourselves much less having to worry about constantly keeping it clean well enough for other people to look at because you never know when a realtor might call and say, "Hey, I'm bringing someone to look at the house in an hour," and it could take us several months to sell our house. Plus, we're going to have to sell our house first (because we can't afford two mortgages) and then move in with my mom until we find a house of our own to buy which means packing and moving twice. I HATE packing, and I HATE moving, so none of this is appealing to me whatsoever, but I know that I just have to suck it up and get over it. It's just something that we have to do. Now is the best time for us to sell our house because we would rather get into a new home, fix it up, and get settled in before we have another baby, preferably before I even get pregnant because then I could be more helpful with painting and stuff. So, needless to say, I have been very stressed and grouchy and hard to live with lately (just ask Jared). HOWEVER, when it is all over, I know that this will be a good change for our family. We hope to get into a bigger house to accomodate our growing family whether it's for a short period of time or a long period of time if needs be and to be able to be in a neighborhood (and not on a busy street) where our kids can go outside to play, and I won't have to worry so much.

So, basically, this is why it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted anything new, and it is why I may not be posting very often in the future. I'm just forewarning you. I will definitely try to keep everyone updated on what is going on though, and if you know anyone who is looking for a house to buy, let us know! ;-)

Happy New Year!

I know this is a little overdue, but I just wanted to let everyone know how we spent the last couple of days of 2007. Of course, we watched football. We watched the Alabama game, and Jared even dressed Taylor up in the Alabama onesie that my mom bought her for Christmas (without me asking him to!). On New Year's Eve, we invited our family over to watch the Auburn football game. We had hoagie sandwiches and snacks, and my mom brought a meat and cheese tray and some Rotel cheese dip. The guys enjoyed the game, the girls enjoyed visiting with each other, Gavin and Bryson enjoyed wrestling with each other, and Grandma enjoyed visiting with the grandbabies. Of course, Taylor wore her Auburn onesie that night. I find it funny that she can still fit into it even though it is 3-6 months size, and her Alabama onesie is 12 months. I guess that's one of the benefits of being a small baby-- you can wear your clothes longer! James and Sarah and Nate Hughes were the only ones to stick around to bring in the New Year with us (well, the New Year for the East coast when the ball dropped at 11:00pm; that was good enough for us). We drank some sparkling grape juice out of our fancy glasses that people bought for us when Jared and I got married. We had a fun night with the family and missed those who couldn't be there!