CrazyLaceyLou

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2012-01-31T13:27:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday we FINALLY got the keys to our new home! First things first, we went in and took out that sick-nast carpet. Two of Jason's friends came to help and those boys made quick work of it. Lindsey also stopped in and helped me with Jake while we ran for pizza for the boys and then while I tore up some carpet myself. I am so grateful for awesome friends that are so willing to help. Having that carpet gone has made a world of difference through out the entire house!
In the days since, Jason and his dad have really been working hard. They have fixed the leak in the roof, removed the swamp cooler, removed all of the staples and tack strip from the carpet, put Kilz on all of the floors, and removed the wall between the bathroom and closet in the master so we can change that layout a bit because it's just plain weird. I single handidly took apart all of my cabinets to be ready for a refinish. Jake mostly just loves to stand in his bouncer yelling and making all kinds of noise because it echoes due to the lack of carpet. It's hilarious. Murray has spent a lot of time there too. He LOVES to run and roll around the backyard like crazy. He's even "marked" the entire fence line. There should be no confusion that this yard is his now. Ha!
On Saturday, Julie and I tag teamed Jake and cleaned the two bedrooms downstairs to the nines. That little guy is so hard to contain. Much to his dismay, I don't dare let him down on the floor to move around, there's just too many staples, nails, etc that might have been missed. Once the carpet is in he can crawl anywhere he wants.
Last night, Dee's friend Enos (a painter) came and primed our entire basement with Kilz so that we can move all of our furniture and non-necessary items from the apt over to the house. It was unbelievable how much faster at it he was than what we are. (Just Jake's little room at the apt took 3 of us 2 days to finish. He did the whole basement in like 2 hours.) Enos is a great guy, and a riot to be around, (think John Candy, looks and personality) especially once he and Dee get started harassing eachother.
I cannot believe how quickly everything is going. Much credit to Jason and his dad for working so hard to make our new home just perfect.

The Start of our Month Long Slumber Party!

2012-01-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

Great news! We are finally closing on our house tomorrow at 3! I cannot wait. We will finally, officially be homeowners! Then the work begins. I'll have before and after pictures for sure. You just have to wait for the afters to be available. Now, our lease at our apartment is up on February 1st. Problem? Not really. It's actually working out quite well. During the interim, we have moved in to Dee and Julie's basement, and we are ever so grateful to them for allowing us to. Have you ever tried cleaning, packing, and living in a small apartment with a 6 month old who's mobile and now lifting himself to get into things? Not ideal! However, cleaning/packing while living at the in-law's, now that makes things much easier.

The first couple of nights, the three of us slept in the same room downstairs. Between the confusion of what was going on, and now being able to hear Jason and my every toss and turn, it was a long couple of nights. Needless to say, Jason and I moved up to the other bedroom. It worked, and Jake slept as he usually does. Thank heavens.

As for the rest of life at Grandma and Grandpa's, I think he's loving it. He loves to chase Murray around, and Murray tolerates him well. The best is when grandma comes back from errands or what have you, and Jake goes nuts until she holds him for a minute. He LOVES his grandma! We having to be very mindful to not let her take over too much with him, only because she already watches him while we're at work, she needs her time off too.

We are very comfortable and spoiled where we're at now. It'll be hard, yet very easy to leave when we finish up the house. Until then, I foresee many great naps in the beanbag. Good thing it's a big one, because it gets a little full....

Hidden Blessings

2012-01-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

Last night after putting Jake to bed, Jason and I started talking about the last year and how crazy it has been. It was one of those moments I started to really remember some of the hidden blessings that have come from the loss of my mom over 11 years ago.
I told Jason that it was through that experience, and watching my parents, that I learned how to budget right down to the very last penny if I have to. I don't remember the exact numbers, probably because I've never been given the real specifics, but the last set of chemo my mom was on costed more than my dad was bringing home in a month, and she was having it every week. To this day I always think of 2 things:
1) How in the world did they do it? I know for them it was probably the most stressful thing ever, but somehow they made it seem so seemless and I NEVER felt as if I was going without.
2) My dad is my hero. Somehow he managed to hold it all together. Even after watching his wife battle cancer 3 times in the span of 4 years. Even with all the money stress he had to be thinking of constantly. Even when she died, leaving him with two teenage girls and a teenage boy, he kept going. He has been the best example of hard work, strength, and independence I know. For this I am eternally grateful.
All this has brought some skills to my life that have come in very handy in this last year. With Jason and I only having one of us at work for a total of 4 1/2 months, it became necessary to really cut back. I learned to coupon which was HUGE! (40 cent dinners anyone?) It also really opened our eyes to the very big difference between wants and needs. I think in the whole past year, we went to the movie 3 times. All 3 were at the dollar theater on 2 for 1 date night. On the extremely rare occasion that we ate out, it was off the dollar menu. And can I tell you what? I love that we had this experience. I really do. I know it was a real booster for Jason and my relationship to have all of that at home time together. It also proved to me that I can do it. I have all the confidence in the world when it comes to being able to provide for my family on the bare minimum if I have to. That's a comforting feeling now that we have Jake.
Another thing we discussed is something near and dear to my heart. That is, that through watching my mom, even when she was sick, I learned how to be a mother. Now that I'm older, I can look back, as many can, and realize that all those things I hated that she did, I now love her for them. It was through her strict ways that I learned how to be self sufficient and responsible. I learned priorities. I learned how to cook for my family (never had an actual lesson mind you, I learned this just by watching her). I learned to plan ahead. It is because of her that I learned that I have to put my family first now. I've been noticing these life lessons paying off recently too. Jake had his first cold about a week ago and we thought it had turned into an ear infection. I didn't even have to hesitate to call in to work so that I could stay home and take him to the doctor because I had saved my PTO for something just like this.
I love those moments that things get tough with my new life as a mom, because those are the moments I feel her so very closely. I have learned that if I can just sit and be still and clear my head for just a moment I can hear her telling me just what to do. What a blessing it is to not even have to pick up the phone and try to explain things. She's already there and already knows. And, though I wish everyday she were here to love him, hod him, and play with him, I know she's got a front row seat to the show. All these things I wouldn't have if she were here help ease the sting of those moments I wish she was. Today, and always, I am grateful for the insight to be able to realize that and see it in such a positive light. I am blessed.

Our Men in Blue

2012-01-11T19:53:00.000-08:00

Today was a sobering day here in Ogden. Last week, an officer here was shot while serving a search warrant with the Weber-Morgan Narcotcis Strike Force and died early the next morning. He was the first officer to die here since 1963. Five other officers were shot as well, but survived. Today, they held the funeral for Officer Jared Francom. The turn out of support was so massive, they had to hold it at the Dee Events Center, the same place the college host it's basketball games, and also the venue for several large concerts. It was packed with 4,000+ people, including officers from all over the country (as far away as New York even). The most impressive sight however was the funeral procession. The casket was carried atop a fire engine for the 3 1/2 mile journey to the cemetary. That entire route was lined by flags and blue ribbons and led by 400-500 police vehicles, including motorcyle officers.
As I drove home, having my usual drive home phone call with Lindsey, she told me about a woman that was picking up her kids from the daycare that her sister Jennifer works at. The woman was going on and on about how ridiculous it was that the whold town had been shut down for this guy. How he was just another man and wasn't deserving of all the recognition. Nearby was abother parent waiting to pay his bill. He is a firefighter. He did his best to just ignore, but at one point, just couldn't. With a calm voice he simply told the woman she obviously didn't know what she was talking about, and maybe in this instance it might be best for her to keep her opinion to herself. Then he turned, waited his turn, paid his bill and left. She was in the parking lot waiting for him and let completely loose on him.
Now, I didn't know Officer Francom, but what I do know is this: even though these are the men and women that can easily ruin your day with a ticket, and might make you a little late to where you're going, they deserve every ounce of respect we can muster up. They are out in our streets dealing with all those things we like to pretend don't exist or just flat out avoid. And I don't know about you, but if someone called me and told me their home was being robbed by men with guns, I'd be headed the other direction while these men and women are running towards it. Long story short, they put themselves into situations every day that could end as this one did for our safety, and for that I will always be grateful.

The Cox/Harris/Maxfield Family Christmas Part-ay!

2011-12-30T10:32:00.000-08:00

Every year, Grandma and Grandpa Maxfield have a big ol' Christmas bash at Classic Skating for the whole clan. People drive from far and wide to attend the festivities. There's food, door prizes and tons of activities. Along with all the awesome inflatable jungle gyms, play sets, laser tag, arcade, and roller hockey, they bring in bingo, a fish pond and a pinata. Best of all is the chance to get everyone together in the same place and catch upand have a few good laughs. It was also a lot of fun for so many people to meet Jake for the first time. At last year's party I was just in the early stages of my pregnancy with him. He was a big shmooze as always and everyone just loved him. (It's pretty hard not to I think, but I may be biased.) It turned into quite the late night, but we are already very much looking forward to next year.Here are a few pictures of this blessed occasion:

Christmas Part 3

2011-12-29T10:53:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas afternoon and evening back over at Dee and Julie's. Cody, Kelsea, and Maddison were there as well. Julie made a tasty dinner of ham, funeral potatoes, corn and pie! As we waited for dinner to finish, we called and talked to Grandma Shaun and Aunt Alyson. We also called Brian and Kati and the kiddos there. From the sounds of it, everyone had a super great Christmas just like us.

After wishing everyone a Merry Christmas by phone, we openend up all the gifts that came to us from drawing names.
Kati sent me the coolest cupcake carrier ever! This thing holds 3 tiers that stack inside that keep the cupcakes from touching anything, and holds a whopping 24 cupcakes! LOVE it!

Julie got a gift card to Deseret Book so that she can go pick herself out a new Hymn book that she desperately needs. Her other one is well used.

I made Cody a patchwork, fleece Steelers blanket. I'm pretty sure Kelsea has claimed it as her own by now though.

Cody and Maddie having a little snuggle time.

Jake having his dinner.

Maddie hanging out just lovin' life on Christmas!

After name drawing gifts, we ate dinner, then made our way to the big Christmas Tree in the front room to open all the wonderful gifts Grandma and Grandpa has bought Jake and Maddie.

I would have to say the best part of the evening was the gift that Cody got. Jason wrapped it nice and tight with pretty paper and lots of packing tape. There was lots of anticipation as he opened it. It seems he didn't take the hint from the tag that read:
To: Cody From: Aunt Flo

Jason dying of laughter after he finally got it open and found the carefree panty liners wrapped inside.

Here's a video of the unwrapping of the mystery gift. Mostly you just HAVE to listen to the conversation going on, and Julie's reaction at the end. It's priceless!

Christmas Part 2

2011-12-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

When we got to Megan's house, Ava had not yet waken up. She is truly the one and only 3 year old I have ever met that doesn't go crazy over presents. At first she seemed excited, but after opening just one, she was done and refused to open any more. But, with a little prompting and some bribery we got it to happen.

Here's my sister Megan, just kickin' back enjoying the morning.

Look! Playdough! I'm pretty sure she only cared about the scissors in this set. She asked everyone all day, "Do you need scissors?"

Will and Jake are buds!

This may look like present excitement, but really she was kind of mad we were making her open it.

The baby doll she did like though.

Oh, cute Will-um!

Smile Ava!

Will being completely uninterested in the cute alien blanket I made him.

Megan and Will.

Will-um and Jake checking out Will's new mailbox.

After presents, we had cinnamon rolls that Megan had "made" at the store. (she warmed them in the oven, it counts as home cooked.) Then we hung out amongst the huge plethora of food that she had prepared. It was nuts how much food there was. Jason, Jake and I stuck around for a good portion of the day so that we were able to see some of my family that came and went. Luckily, my dad and aunt and uncle I hadn't seen in a while got there with just enough time for us to visit a bit before we had to head out to Jason's parents house.

Christmas Part 1

2011-12-29T08:37:00.000-08:00

SANTA CAME!

Christmas morning came quick. Apparently Jake has already caught on to the wake up far too early thing. He had us up promptly at 6:30 am!

Before the gifts though, I thought I'd post some pictures of our cute Christmas house! It was very fun to pull up to it everynight. Even our downstairs neighbor, Jayne, appreciated it. Nothing like a few lights to bring in that Christmas spirit.

And here is our Christmas tree! With all the presents underneath.

Jake opened his presents first. Well... he opened one and then chewed on the paper and ribbons the rest of the time. He mostly just got a bunch of clothes that he was in dire need of. We did get him one toy though. It's a little elephant that plays music and shakes. He LOVES it!
Jason got a Lions hoodie and a couple of Lions t-shirts that have to be exchanged because apparently the NFL store sizes run way big. He also got some jeans he needed and his favorite...Call of Duty MW3!

I got thoroughly spoiled. Jason claims to have stayed within our budget, so I'll just have to believe him. He got me The Hunger Games series, a new recipe binder, a griddle, a stick blender with whisk and chopper attachment (freakin' awesome!), pink work gloves for the new house, the most rockin flat iron ever, and a cute little silver bow necklace.

So, as you can see, we had a pretty good Christmas morning together. After cleaning up a bit, we got ourselves ready and headed out to Megan's for breakfast....

Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was pretty low key but still great. Jason, Jacob, and I went over to Dee and Julies. I had made some pig in a blanket, and Dee busted out the cheesy salsa and some chips. Julie had gotten everyone a pair of pajama pants to open Christmas Eve.

Jake loved the wrapping paper most of all of course.

Eating the paper. Who needs pajama's anyway, right?

Jason loved his Call of Duty Pajama's.

Jacob did not.

Yay for Eeyore pajamas. They are way too comfy.

Funny side note: Eeyore is my Friday afternoon work nickname. HA!

Grandpa Dee was sooooo excited about his Call of Duty pajamas. Can you tell?

After opening our pajama's, we settled in and watched A Christmas Story. It never gets old. Then, it was home to bed in our new pajamas so that Santa could come visit us.

Nerves

2011-12-21T12:13:00.000-08:00

These days I have two sets of nerves firing at full force.
First, and definitely more exciting, the homebuying nerves. We are officially under contract for the home we plan to purchase. I am thrilled to be in the homestretch on the homebuying front. However, the homestretch is the most fast paced, crazy, and stressful!
Because the home we are buying is a foreclosure, there is work to be done. Luckily, there is a loan program out there that is just for those buying foreclosed homes to refurbish these homes. On the downside, this requires a little more prep and paperwork. That's where we're at now. Currently, we're putting together a detailed itemized price list of those things that we have to do with the house. Luckily, there were no surprises post inspection, so most of these things will be no big deal. Carpet and paint are a must. They had cats. Ew! There are no appliances and we'll of course be replacing all toilets. With those being our biggest expenses, the rest is all just a little lipstick and mascara and a whole lot of elbow grease. The daunting part is listing all the little things. A mopboard here, a faucet there, etc.. Then, we put it onto our invoice we've started and Lowe's and, TADA!, get it all at 20% off or better! But before the tada is the brainscrambling compilation of the list which is much more difficult right now due to other nerves.
The other nerves I speak of are those super annoying ones that somehow cause me to constantly jerk and twitch when my body is supposed to be at rest. Stupid restless legs/arms/body! But wait, I had this fixed, right? Why yes I did. But, at some point, someone failed to tell me that I can only get the first month worth of the medicine through the pharmacy here, after that it has to be done through the mail order program. So, I am without medicine and without sleep. Night one without was absolutely miserable. I kicked and squirmed and jumped and punched right up until about 1:30 am at which point I moved to the couch so I wouldn't keep Jason up. By 3:30, I woke Jason who tried massaging the twitches away and gave me Tylenol PM. Somewhere around 5:30 am I finally fell asleep. I woke close to 2 that afternoon feeling sore as if I had just finished a triathalon. Every muscle in my body ached from the tension and jerking. Thankfully, my sweet husband called my boss while I was asleep to let her know I wasn't going to be in that day. Night #2 was a little better, but not by much. I slept here and there, but never very solid. I am happy to say though that I got the prescription peeps to override that rule for this month and let me pick it up from the pharmacy. So tonight.... I sleep. In the meantime, good luck trying to think of all the little here's and there's in the house that I need to put on my list. Oi! I need a nap.

Accepted!

2011-12-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

The Bank Accepted Our Offer!! AAAH! I can't believe it. I'm still not getting all hopes to high though. This is only the beginning. We now have to go have the home inspection which will essentially make or break. Wish us luck!

Forget Crawling...

2011-12-14T11:39:00.001-08:00

...Jake has decided to try and fly instead. I honestly don't know what he was trying to do here, but it was cracking me up so I just grabbed the camera and started snapping.

There's No Place Like Home

2011-12-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

BIG NEWS!
Jason and I have officially started the search for our first home! It's been quite the experience so far and we've learned a lot. Lucky for us, Jason's sweet Grandma Jackie is a realtor. Not just any realtor mind you, Realtor of the Year. She couldn't have been more excited when we called her up and told her we were ready to start the search. She had already sent us several home options the very next morning. We went out one evening to look at some homes she had picked for us. The first one was a top contender when I saw it online, and still kept that spot when we went and checked it out. It was a nice home, but a short sale. Short sales can take months to go through, and I'm not feeling like waiting for months on a maybe, but we kept it as an option anyway. The next house was nice, clean, needed a couple updates, but nothing major. Two downfalls: It was only 3 bedrooms with no room to grow and was the second house in from a very busy street. No thanks! House #3 needed some cleaning and some work, but nothing major. It simply lost out because the yard was WAY too tiny. House #4 was one that hadn't had many pictures online so I barely glanced over it without giving it much thought. We walked in and no lie, the first thing to hit you was the smell. The previous owners had a cat that had free range of the house as it's litter box it seemed. As you walked through, it was obviously a foreclosure. It was missing appliances and had a few dents and dings. All purely cosmetic though. All blemishes aside, I LOVED the house. The floor plan was perfect. The yard was large. The sq footage was great. My vision for this house was amazing. It could be the most perfect home once you replace the carpet, paint, polish a couple things, and add some appliances. And, most importantly, the price was right in our range we were looking in. While talking about its potential, we learned that the house across the street had just sold for $30,000 more than the list price on the one we were looking at. That's what we call instant equity my friends. That is, after we do the work to bring it up to par. With Jason's discount at Lowe's though, and lots of elbow grease, we can totally do it, and I am not afraid of some work when it means having a home for my family, how I want it, and not being upside down on it... well... ever most likely.
After a second look in the daylight, and some careful consideration, we decided to put an offer on the house. We went as low as Grandma Jackie thought would be safe, and then the wait began. After 5 days, and just 2 hours before our offer was set to expire, the bank came back at full price. RUDE!
So, today we counter back. I just signed the paper and faxed it over. Wish us luck.

Santa!

2011-12-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

Jake's first picture with Santa! Enjoy!

4 Months!

2011-11-17T16:19:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Jake's been here 4 months!! At his Dr appointment he weighed in at 14 lbs 12 oz and is now 26 inches long. He is in perfect health and developing great as far as milestones go. Dr. Lau gave us the go ahead on rice cereal 3 times a day. We'd already been doing it at night in hopes of keeping him full longer. The most memorable part of the appointment was when she asked how he was sleeping. Jason looked at Dr. Lau and said, "Well, I find if I just shake him real good then put him down he sleeps great." I was shocked but not at all surprised. If you remember correctly, this is the same man that told my very serious, no sense of humor bishop that he couldn't get me to keep my shirt on while we were interviewing with him to get our sealing recommend. I later told Jason that when child protective services comes to the door he gets to explain himself. Luckily, Dr Lau does have a sense of humor. As for the non medicinal parts of Jake, he is really getting to be so much fun. I'm pretty sure he's going to have one happy and easygoing personality. He is always happy to just hang out and talk to himself or squeal at random. He's full-blown rolling his way to wherever he wants to be, and trying hard to figure out the whole scooting or crawling thing. He loves to play on the floor with William, and watches intently as Will scoots. Lately, he'll get his knees up underneath him, and the quickly kick them out with a big ol' grunt trying to move. Unfortunately, he hasn't figured out his hands are a part of this process, so he just holds them together in front of him the whole time.

Dream a little dream...

2011-11-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

Now before telling you all about the dream I had last night, even though it is short, I have to preemptively defend it by saying it's not my fault I have weird dreams. For years I have had problems with restless legs, but never did anything for it. Pregnancy made it worse, and it never died back down. It was to the point that it was almost like I was having seizures at night because the twitchy jumpiness had gotten so bad. For the sake of both me and Jason, I finally went to the doctor. He put me on Mirapex (used to treat parkinsons disease) and it has worked like a charm. Of course, one of the side effects is unusual dreams. And so, with that as my defense I will tell you about the dream.

Actually, there's not much to the dream, it's more the 'cast' of the dream that is so bizzare. So here they are, in no particular order:

This is my coworker, Jarrod. He has no real significance in my life other than being a fun coworker who likes to discuss the news with me.

This is Logan Brown. He is the oldest son in the show Sister Wives. I enjoy this show, Jason does not. I'm not obsessed with it though, just watch it if I happen to catch it on.

This is Lloyd. Also a coworker. He's just a sweet man that works in the printshop. I see him maybe once or twice a week as he walks past my office, occasionally we'll say hi.

This is the real kicker right here. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Snooki. Yup, Snooki from the show Jersey Shore. This show I can proudly say I have never watched, so why she made an appearance in my dream, I may never know.

The dream itself was pretty uneventful. Apparently those mentioned above and I were having a party at Lloyd's house. There was pasta all over the floor and I had a poof bigger than Snooki's. Jarrod and Cody were making mashed potatoes. That's pretty much it. See, I told you, no substance besides the cast, but oh so "unusual", just like the little insert warned me. HA!

Relief to Come?

2011-11-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

As I perused the interwebs, specifically the What to Expect When You're Expecting forums, I found what is hopefully the answer to Jake's little sleep changes. It seems we may be dealing with a little something they've crypticly named 4-month sleep regression. It's fairly common and generally lasts 2-3 weeks. It feels so good to have a light at the end of the sleepless tunnel. According to what I've read today, around 4 months babies start to sleep more like adults than newborns. They'll fall asleep as usual, and get their deep sleep in the first parts of the night. After that, they'll wake and start with light sleep patterns. For adults, this would be those times when you barely wake up to toss and turn a little or adjust your pillow and drift right back to sleep. For babies, they do the same waking patterns, but can't ever really get back into that deep sleep, or even self soothe themselves back to sleep when they do wake.
It makes perfect sense, and describes exactly what we've been dealing with at night with Jacob. So, it seems we have at least a couple more weeks of this ahead of us. After doing the early weeks with zero sleep it will be totally do-able. That makes it even easier is having the super awesome hubster that I have, and the comraderie we share. Last night, Jake went down at 9 and was up at 2. Jason took the first shift starting at 2 am. When he was reaching his very tired wits end around 4, I was up for my turn. This lasted until 6 when he finally really fell asleep, or so I thought. I layed him in his crib, got half-way back to our bed and he was already awake. So, I did what any desperate parent that swore they never would would do. I grabbed him and brought him to our bed. He sleeps great, we slept good enough. The biggest issue with him in our bed is the fact that it literally looks like this:
And so goes another night at the Cox house. Pray for us that this passes soon. I've moved into stupid tired mode. I think we all know how well that works out on a daily basis.

Too Happy!

2011-11-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm beginning to think that maybe our little guy is just a bit too happy. This is great during the day. He only fusses if he's hungry or fighting sleep, the rest of the time he'll talk and talk and talk, even laugh some. The trouble is at 3 am, when he wakes up, we feed him, and then instead of going back to sleep like he used to, he starts to grin and then wants to play. Eventually, usually around 6 or so, he'll go back to sleep. The darn kid is exhausting the both of us. In all reality, I think it just feels horrible because we'd gotten used to that one quick feeding at night. We could do it while still practically asleep. So now this no sleep business feels as if we're taking a trip back to his early days of life. Ugh. I'm just hoping and praying it's just a phase. We tried the modified cry it out technique all week last week with zero progress, so that's being abandoned. (We can't do the full cry it out because we have a downstairs neighbor who's room is almost directly below Jake's.) If anyone has any handy tips for us they are all welcome. I'll try just about anything.

11/11/11 @ 11:11

2011-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity post something for the occasion. So here it is:

Life is great!

NOTE

2011-11-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Some posts are without pictures, this will change. I'll let you know when it does. I just had to get this all posted before I forgot it all.

Maddison Kimberlie Cox

2011-11-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well, she's finally here. Cody and Kelsea had their baby girl, Maddison Kimberlie Cox, this morning, 11-1-11, at 12:45 am. She is 6 lbs 10 oz, 18 inches long and so incredibly precious.Had to steal a picture from Kelsea's facebook until I can take my own.

Halloween

2011-10-31T22:20:00.000-07:00

Halloween was pretty darn great! The Saturday before, my family had a party. We had pizza and snacks and sweets and better than sex cake. Then, we attempted to watch Practical Magic, but that didn't last with all the little ones in the room. so instead we busted out Taboo. For those of you that don't know, or need a reminder, you take turns trying to get your team to guess a particular word without saying some key words listed on the card. A few key moments for you:
The word: Seasick. Megan was blurting out everything she could think of, the best being "boatsick". She never guessed it.
The word: Uranus. The clue given was bumhole in the sky. I still don't know how they didn't guess it.
And best of all, Allison, sitting next to Richard starts describing her word. She says "air" and points to Richard. I immediately blurt out "AIRHEAD!" It was air force, Richard is in the Air force. Oops. Sorry Richard!
At work on Monday, the office I'm in, along with my old office and a neighboring office dressed up as the minions from the movie Despicable Me. We even had Gru and Vector in the mix. There was TONS of food at work and I pretty well stuffed myself beyond capacity. It was great! Shortly after lunch is when I got a call from Kelsea, she thought her water had broke, but wasn't sure. That first time is so tricky! Did I pee or was it my water? She went to the hospital, found out it wasn't, but they wanted to monitor her for a bit because she was having contractions. A couple hours later, they decided to keep her. When we got up there to see her, we found her in the same room I started out in. They had her all settled in and hooked up to the pitocin already. She was a champ taking on the contractions, but you could definitely tell when she was having one. We stayed for quite a while, and then headed out to go pick up Jake. We had left him with my sister because they won't let any kids besides siblings into the rooms in maternity. She had dressed him up and taken him trick or treating with Ava and Will. She said he slept the whole time though. That made me feel a little less guilty about missing his first Halloween.

A wonderful presence

2011-10-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

Early this morning I woke up and got ready for Stake Conference. It didn't start until 10 am, but I was up at 6:30. Why? Well, so I could get Jake and me ready and get up to the Dee Events Center in time for an awesome seat. Mission accomplished, with a little help from Brandon, my cousin's husband. He was working the event with the fire department and got us in through the business office door. This prevented us from standing in the lines that wound from every door out into the parking lots. So why all this hype over a stake conference? Because really, let's be honest, many people see this as an opportunity to sleep in a bit. The hype came from this man here:

That is our beloved Prophet. President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Thomas S. Monson. He was presiding over the conference. What a remarkable opportunity we had to sit just 50 feet from such a presence, though I know the spirit that emmanated from him was felt just as strong all the way at the very top rows. I must be honest though, I barely remember any of what was said that day. I couldn't focus. I tried, I just couldn't. I was just far too excited and humbled to be in the close presence of a man that is closer to our Heavenly Father than any other person on this entire planet. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will never forget, and can't wait to tell Jake that he got to be there too one day.

"Hoppy" Birthday to my Dad

2011-10-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we all went over to Megan's and celebrated my Dad's birthday. He's 66! Megan had made chili and had bread bowls for it, and I made him a carrot cake.
As I was leaving, I noticed a huge grasshopper in my driveway. I ran in the house to grab a jar, filled it with grass, and caught the grasshopper that had cornered itself in the garage door. When I got to Megan's I told Ava I had a surprise for her. At first she was a bit nervous, until she figured out the grasshopper couldn't get out of the jar. Then she couldn't get enough of it. When we started to talk to her about how we'd have to take him outside and let him go, she kept telling us, "No, he is mine. He likes the jar." After a few minutes, we convinced her he wanted to go live in the backyard where the dogs play. Mitchell, Stephanie and I took her outside and Mitchell opened up the jar to let the grasshopper go free. We all thought for sure Ava would take off running and screaming at the first jump, but she was just too excited about it and followed him through the yard. That is, until it jumped and landed on her arm. She shook it once and the started screaming as she flailed it around. Mitchell got it off her arm, and she immediately jumped onto his foot and tried climbing up his leg. She then decided she wanted to watch the grasshopper from the porch swing, a safe distance away.

Witchapalooza!

2011-10-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Julie, Megan, Terri, Michelle, Emily, Allison, and I dressed up as witches and went down to Gardner Village for the Witchapalooza Dinner Theater and Witchfest.
I had never been to Gardner Village before, and let me tell you, it is too cute. It just looks like a small little, well, village. There are paths that are lined with little shops of all kinds. There's even a restaurant and bakery, yum!
The dinner was delicious and the show they did was called Taming of the Brew. A witchy take on, you guessed it, Taming of the Shrew. It was absolutely hilarious. At one point, they were trying to set the mean sister up with all kinds of men. In comes the boys and soon begins a boy band session. Too funny! There were tears of laughter all around our table.
Afterward, we went out and wandered through all the little shops in the village. There were sooo many cute things. I could easily spend a fortune there if I had a fortune to spend. We made our way around and back to where we'd started, which just so happened to be right by the bakery. So, we stopped in and got everyone back home a little treat and started our journey home. (thank heavens because my feet were dying! Darn heels, but a with needs heels I say.)
What a fun day! It was awesome to be able to dress up and go have a girls day. I was excited to see Jake and Jason by the time we got home though.

3 Months Old

2011-10-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow! Jake is now 3 months old! I can't believe it! He is just getting to be so much fun. He will now laugh, but only grandpa Dee can make it happen. He's also rolled over, both ways now. He's only done the back to front once, and never again yet though. I pretty sure people think I'm lying about it, but it really did happen. He's getting bigger by the minute too! I probably should weigh him, but I don't have a scale in my house, and I'll forget until it's too late, so we'll just go with big. He's also talking like CRAZY. One night, he woke up to eat around 2, then went back to sleep. Right around 4 am I hear him just having himself a little party in his crib. It starts as talking and usually turns into excited squeals! He's still a very happy baby. He only cries when he's messy, tired, or hungry. We are very lucky! Every day I fall more and more in love with him. It's sometimes hard to believe this little miracle that is our Jacob!

Blessed!

2011-10-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

On the 9th of October, Jason blessed our sweet Jakey. He blessed him with a strong body and the ability to discern the secret meaning within the scriptures, among other things. Somewhere near the end of the blessing, there was a long pause. I soon learned that Jacob had thrown up pretty big. As far as I know, it only got on Jason and my father-in-law, Dee. Dee said it ran down his hand and dripped on his shoes. Ha, oh well, at least he didn't scream through the whole thing, right? In the circle with Jason was: Jason's dad, Dee, my brother, Mitchell, Jason's brother, Cody, Jason's grandpa, Rich, Jason's Grandpa, LeR, and Jason's two uncles, Vaughn and Merlin. The chapel was filled with tons of family and friends. We were so excited to have everyone there for such a great moment in our lives.
After sacrament meeting was over, we had invited everyone over to my Dee and Julie's for a little luncheon. It was a full house! The front room, living room, and the kitchen were just full of people. We got Jake changed to avoid any other damage to his super cute tux that Jason had picked out, and then he got stolen and passed around all over the place. He eventually ended up on Jason's uncle Mike's lap. He's had multiple strokes which have left him only mostly functioning well on one side of his body and unable to speak much at all, but the second a baby enters the room he lets you know that he wants it. He held him for quite some time until Jake started to fuss. We got him fed and then let him play with his Great Grandpa, LeR, Julies dad. He is 91 years old! Jake just loved him. He was smiling and chatting up a storm.
It was a fantastic day! I don't think Jake napped at all due to all of the excitement, but he sure slept like a rock that night.

A Mother's Worst Nightmare

2011-10-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I arrived at worked and learned the worst thing I've heard all year. A sweet coworker of mine had lost her 2 year old son. He had wiggled himself free of his carseat, opened the door and fell out. He landed underneath the car, and before she could stop the car went over him. She held him as he died. I cried quietly at my desk several times yesterday. Some for the thought of her, and how she must feel. Some thinking of what I would do if I lost Jacob. It's unimaginable and I pray that I never have to find out. I also pray for her, I ask that you might also.

I went home and held Jake as he slept. I will never take those moments for granted as long as I live.

The End of an Era

2011-09-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we took Jake for his two month appointment and.... dun dun dun... shots. Eek! The majority of the appointment went great. Jacob is growing like a weed. He is now 11 lbs 8 oz and 24 inches long. The doctor said he is the size of a 4 month old, which would explain why his 3 month pajama's no longer fit. The shots were absolutely terrible, I almost cried right along with him. The worst was when he looked and me and Jason as if he were saying "How could you let this happen to me?" Luckily, we had planned ahead and held off on feeding him hoping the bottle would distract him from what had just happened. It worked! I didn't have the hear to get him dressed again, so we carried him out just wrapped up in his blanket and he fell asleep in his carseat as soon as he finished his bottle. Poor little guy.

He is one happy little kid! He spends almost every waking moment "talking" more and more. He thinks it especially funny if you flip your finger up and down over his lips or flip his chin up and down. He still hasn't quite managed to get the sound of a laugh out, but his face sure shows that's what he's trying to do.

As for Jason and I, life continues as always. Fall is upon us and we're loving the cooler weather, especially at night with the windows open. We call it good sleeping weather.

I, myself have spent some time at my grandpa's house lately. This requires a rewind....

On August 16th, my Grandpa passed away. He'd found out he had cancer about 2 1/2 years ago. He'd been doing chemo, but it came to the point where the doctor said that enough was enough and it just wasn't worth it anymore because it wasn't helping, only making him sick. In about a 6 week time span his health declined quite rapidly. He was absolutely miserable. The worst was that you could tell he knew what was going on, he just couldn't speak or move the last little while. It came to a point that he was in so much pain he had to have a constant feed morphine just to keep him somewhat comfortable.

I am happy to say, though I hated to see him in the condition he was in, I was able to spend quite a bit of time at his home, near him those last few weeks. The greatest thing was getting to see him meet and hold little Jake. My grandpa adored his grandkids and through his haze, you could see how much he loved Jake already.

Having my grandpa gone is going to change a lot in our family and our lives. I feel like he was kind of the glue holding it all together.

We'll miss him like crazy. He was one of the most wise men I knew and I'll miss having him to go to for advice when it came to the tough things in life. I'll miss his goofy ways, and him grabbing at my knees to make me jump. Most of all, I'll miss the Sunday afternoons spent at his home, as a family, just simply enjoying one anothers company.

Month two with our little man

2011-09-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

Wow. Those little old ladies in line at the grocery store aren't lying when they tell you how fast your baby will grow. Our sweet little guy is growing like a weed. He's already wearing 3 month clothes and we've estimated him to be about 10 lbs and 22 inches now. Yowza! I'll have an actual size update soon. We have his 2 month appointment coming up, which I am so not looking forward to. He'll be getting his first shots.
He's also more awake, more alert and has started to show his own little personality. He's smiling and "talking" all the time. He's especially happy first thing in the morning. This morning I went to get him up to change him before taking him to Grandma's, and to my surprise he was just hanging out looking at the window. (He loves windows.) As I changed him he was smiling great big the whole time. A couple times, I'm sure he would've laughed if he could have figured out how to get the noise out. I love love love this while it's happening, then I realize that I have to leave him and go to work. The other wonderful thing about him being awake more is that he's sleeping tons better. Aside from the occasional off night, he typically only wakes up once around 3 am, then is back to sleep until 6 or 7. After that, we usually bring him into our bed and snuggle with him until we have to get up.
I have to give huge kudos to Jason! He is such an awesome dad and husband. He absolutely LOVES Jake, and Jake loves him. He has not once avoided changing a diaper, washing a bottle, or waking up in the night with us. One rough night in particular, Jason had to be up at 5 to be to work and I was off. Usually when that's the case, I just let him pop in the earplugs and sleep. That night though, Jake just wouldn't sleep more than a half hour or so and acted hungry or just plain restless. We traded him back and forth between us as the other's patience grew thin. (This happens a lot between the hours of 11 pm and 5am when you can't get the baby to sleep and know you have to be up the next day.) We finally got him to sleep around 4:30, and a half hour later Jason got up for work. He took on the entire work day with absolutely no sleep without one complaint. When Jake and I woke up, I wandered out of the bedroom to find the house had been tidied up. I later found out that Jake had fallen asleep on the couch, and instead of moving him, but not wanting to leave him there alone, Jason picked up the house somewhere around 3 am. This was the best surprise to wake up to. It was so refreshing! Just one of a thousand reasons I love that man!

He's here! (6 weeks ago)

2011-08-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how quickly six weeks can fly by!

Our little Jacob arrived on July 17th at 7:33 am. He weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz and was 20 in long. After a less than optimistic doctor visit on Friday the 15th, we were pretty much counting on inducing 1 week post due date, and possibly a c-section. Saturday, Jason got home from work, and we were getting ready to head out to dinner with his family for his mom's birthday. As I stood up to go use the bathroom, as I did every half hour or so, I suddenly felt wet downstairs. So, I continue into the bathroom curiously and then call to Jason.

"I think my water just broke. It's like I'm peeing, but I can't stop it."

So he calls his mom to tell them to head out without us and we'll either have a baby or catch up with them later. Then he calls the hospital.

"This is Jason, my wife is Lacey. Um, um, um, you don't care. Well Um, I'm a bit excited, sorry. I think my wife's water just broke."

They calmly tell him to just head to the hospital and they can check on the situation there. The drive to the hospital was a lot calmer than I ever expected it to be. We got there, and checked in as I stood at the desk continuously wetting my self. Talk about uncomfortable.

I finally get settled into a room while Jason finishes the paperwork, and there they confirm that yes indeed, my water had broken. (Not that I needed any confirmation at that point.) From then until about 1 am things were pretty uneventful. I was having contractions every 3 minutes, but not feeling them at all. Around 1 am they came in and started the pitocin. That certainly kicked things up a notch in the pain department. Ouch! I toughed it out as I had planned until I think about 6 or so. The nurses checked and guessed me to be dilated to about a 3, then suggested that we do the epidural then. Right after that, the doctor came and checked, said I was really just a 2, and that Jacob hadn't dropped. Then, looking at the monitor, we noticed his heart rate had started dropping with every contraction. This is when we decided to just go ahead with a c-section. So, the epidural went in. It was not at all as terrible as the horror stories you hear. I went numb. They wheeled me to the OR, I all but passed out (I'm highly sensitive to drugs), and at 7:33 our sweet little baby boy was finally out.

After all that, it took me some time to really wake up. I could hear a lot of what was going on, but couldn't open my eyes or respond. I slowly came out of my stupor, and so began the first day of the rest of our new lives.

Selfish much?

2011-07-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

Upon talking to Erin while she was here, I think I figured out why our little man is taking his sweet time coming into our lives. And here it is:Yup! That's my mom. I have decided that since she can't be here with us as we bring her grandbabies into the world, she likes to hold on to them as long as she can. My niece Ava was late and I'm sure my little nephew would've been too if it weren't for a scheduled c section. Personally I find this to be quite selfish of her, but at the same time, if there were any reason to have to wait to see Jake, I couldn't think of a better one. He's in good hands and I look forward to that moment when he's been passed from her arms to mine.

Operation Get This Baby Out Of Me

2011-07-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday the doctor had semi-good news. I'm officially dilated to a one. Just a one. People can be a one for a month or more. Others take off from there. I'm hoping to be one of those others, though it's not looking good. In the past week we've started testing some of the more natural old wives tales. Mostly lots of walking, some running, and squatting, and arching of the back. We will not however be trying any castor oil or anything of that sort. I've been told it doesn't work and I am not willing to deal with the other effects of such things to find out.
Also in the last week, we had a little visit from Jason's wonderful cousin Erin. You may remember her from previous posts involving wedding cakes going up in flames. :) We have nothing but love for her! She and her four boys stayed with Dee and Julie for a couple days while her husband had flown out for some business like deeds. Dee was quite busy during the days with work and helping Cody with the sprinkling system, so Julie gladly took on the task of entertaining the boys with Erin. And did she ever. By the time we'd gotten over there each night to visit, the three oldest were settled into the beanbag chair watching a movie completely wiped out. We'd had a BBQ at the park where they ran and ran and ran. Then the next day Julie took them to the zoo. I was a bit jealous. I would have much rather gone to the zoo than work, but such is life. I think it was like a small trip down memory lane for Julie, remembering the days when she had 3 young boys of her own. For me, it was like a possible glimpse into the future. I will take whatever my Heavenly Father sees fit, but it takes a special, and strong person to take on all boys and come out with a smile because, let's face it, boys are rough and rowdy and at that age very high energy. Take all that times 4. For this I envy Erin. She is a rockstar of a mom. I admire how well she takes on every day, even with the challenges life's handing her right now, she's still patient and smiling. I hope this is a trait I can develop as my children grow, especially if no girls come my way. (If my boy/s are anything like how I heard their dad and uncles were, I'm in for a test. Again... boys will be boys.)
Last night, in another attempt to get Jake here sooner than later, we drove up to Avon with Eric and Jenny. Oh yeah. I was going to take on that super bumpy road in hopes of shaking him out. Nothing. Okay, maybe we'll scare him out. Cue shot guns. Nothing. He wasn't even moving at that point, just nice a cozy hanging out. Oh well. We tried. On the more successful side was the delicious tin foil dinners we had. Jason made ours while I was at work and he did a superb job. After dinner the three of them had a little shooting contest. I watched as I wasn't up for too much action, I was just enjoying the spectacle and the surroundings. We roasted a couple mallows and visited while we let the fire die down. Then, back down the bumpy road. Still nothing. Even with the lack of success in the forced labor department, it was still a great night. Tonight.... the trampoline maybe? I don't know, but I'm open to suggestions.
PS Dont forget to go put in your guesses on Jakes arrival. The link is right over <-- there.

Independence Day!

2011-07-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ah the Fourth of July! Probably one of the best things about summer, besides my birthday of course. Luckily, Jason had a schedule that made it so we actually could have a ton of fun this weekend.
Friday night we joined couple of his friends at the drive-in to see Transformers. It was good. I was thrilled to see that the hadn't kept Megan Fox's character, just changed the actress. I hate that. This was easily the best movie experience I have had since becoming pregnant! We loaded an air mattress, 2 sleeping bags for extra padding, and pretty much every pillow in our home into the back of Jason's truck. It was SO comfy. I actually briefly considered sleeping in the driveway once we got home so I wouldn't have to move. Sadly, we only stayed for the first movie because Jason did have to work at 6 the next morning. The second movie was Super 8 which I have tons of good about, so it would've been nice to see. Oh well. We'll catch it at the dollar theater eventually I'm sure.
Saturday, once Jason got home around 3, we headed down to Ikea in Draper. I had seen some baskets online that were more than perfect, and exactly what I'd been searching the world over for for weeks. I needed baskets for the shelves in the nursery closet, it needed to be organized, but I was not willing to pay $12 or more for just one basket that was just okay. Score Ikea! These baskets came in the set of 3 for just $6.99! I got two sets, along with some bibs and a little doo-dad to hold all of our grocery sacks. Jason loved the Ikea experience. There is a kitchen there that I am in love with and that he likes too. We enjoy sitting in the little rooms they have all done up there and daydreaming about just exactly how we'll one day do our home we want to build. On the way home we of course had to stop for a milkshake at In and Out. It's a crime not to.
Sunday, Jason worked yet again. I started to get up and get ready for church, but had to take it slow and easy. Something just wasn't feeling right, and I wasn't about to aggravate it. I knew at the pace I was going I'd miss Relief Society and Sunday School, but could still easily make Sacrament meeting, so it was all good. Then, as I was fixing my hair there was a knock at the door. It was my sweet friend Iris. She had been one of my most beloved Young Women's leaders years ago, and we'd recently reconnected via facebook. It was then that I learned she lives right in our new neighborhood! Lovely! She'd tried to stop a couple times with a gift for us, so I was thrilled we finally caught each other. After showing her the nursery and chatting for a little bit, I knew Sacrament meeting wasn't happening for me. Ho hum. I decided to keep the day mellow by just working on the couple little crafts I had started. Shortly after I finished that, Jason got home and we headed over to his parents to celebrate Kelsea's birthday!! We had potatoes with hamburger gravy, yum! We started funny farm, but only made it about halfway before I just got too uncomfortable and twitchy, so Jason took me home. I love how understanding he is with me at this point. It's not the first movie we haven't finished with his fam because of these restless legs of mine.
AND THEN.... Monday, the fourth!! Jason had to work until 4, but that was okay, because originally he was supposed to work until 6. He went to work, and Mat and Megan came over with Ava and William. The Riverdale Parade starts almost right in front of our house, so they parked there, and we walked up the road just a couple blocks and found a nice little spot to watch the parade. I could not believe the candy at this parade. The floats and general content of the parade were nothing to extravagant, but the candy was raining down! Ava took a second to figure it out, then had a ball collecting candy. After about halfway though, she was done. She just wanted to sit on the curb and wave at all the passing floats and things. Even when a piece of candy would fall right at her feet, she just said, "no thank you". Too cute! Afterward, little Will fell asleep, so he and I stayed at my place while Matt and Megan took Ava over to the park for the festivities there. Later, we had lunch and they all went home for nap time, and I had a nap of my own until Jason came home. We went to his parents for dinner, then over to play hearts until the sun fell for fireworks. It was a good time, and I won!
All in all, it was a fairly perfect little weekend if I do say so myself. Hope yours was just as grand!

First Baby Scare

2011-07-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

This morning was another one of our weekly doctor visits to check on Jacob and his progression into this world if any. Everytime you go in, you get weighed. You get to see that horrific number jump up and up and up in a way you wouldn't ever unless you were eating 40 Big Macs a day, with fries and a shake. It's not my favorite. Well, today I stepped on and had dropped 10 lbs since last week. Initial woman brain thought was "WOOHOO!!!" which soon turned into, "uh oh, something's wrong." Nothing was wrong besides the fact that the scale was just plain wrong. I got on the other scale and was the exact same as last week. I'll take it. Once you get to the exam room you get to lose your pants and sit on the little, awkwardly angled table with a tiny little see through paper sheet to cover all of your large pregnant self from the waist down. Oh yeah, feelin' good! Then, just to make that wait a little bit longer, and a little more awkward, the doctor realized there were no latex free gloves in the room. This is not an option. No way, no how. The idea of a rash in my downstairs is not even close to appealing. Latex free glove now there he procedes with the usual, and then says we need to move over to the other room because he couldn't find the baby's head. This could mean that Jake has turned breech on us. No bueno! I told Jason and the nurses I would have to beat the child if he turned now. He's been head down facing back since about 12 weeks, so we have not been able to get one good picture of this kid with any of the ultrasounds. If he's moved now, I'll just be bitter. We finally got in to have the ultrasound and found him head down, just like he's supposed to be. He was just hiding a little bit I guess. Phew! The doctor looked relieved too. Said he's glad we don't have to start discussing options now. Discussing 'options' in childbirth is not good. There is one option, have the baby naturally, or, if he doesn't fit, by c section... when he is ready. Of course if he's late, we induce but that's a different story. Being still 2 weeks 3 days away (I'm not counting) from the due date, and as much as I'd love to be done, I would hate for us to have to start discussing options because of such a complication. I'd much rather just stay big fat and hot for just a few more days.

Big Baby?

2011-06-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Today we went for our 37 week appointment. Jason dared ask, if the doctor were to guess, how big he thinks the baby is. He felt my belly a few different ways, said, "hmm he's a big baby" kept feeling, then came up with his educated guess of 7- 7 1/2 pounds right now. WHAT? And I still have 3 weeks left for this kid to cook! Heaven save me if the doctor is right. I can't decide if I'm happy or not that there are no signs of him coming soon. Technically, 37 weeks is considered full term, so I could have him, safe and healthy tomorrow. After getting check (ugh), I still haven't even dilated to a 1. Lame. Some people can be dilated anywhere between a 1 and 4 for weeks. I've got a giant giant in me and I'm not even a 1? Oi vey! Here's hoping I'm one of those lucky ladies that goes from nothing to done in, oh say, 10 minutes. Yeah, 10 minutes sounds good. Ha! Wishful thinking... I'm allowed. On a more fun note, he also attempted one last 3-d ultrasound. with everything being so squished in there, we didn't get a great shot of him, but it was still fun to see. Jason and the doctor were seeing things that I somehow still can't. I just saw squished up blob of babiness, they were seeing ears and eyes and lips. I did however see his little foot right up by his face. Cute! Only 3 more weeks, hopefully less, until we get to see what he really looks like. I cannot wait!

Baby Showers and Birthdays

2011-06-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

The weekend was a pretty fun filled one. On Friday, Jason and I went to the baby doc for the first of our weekly appointments. That means we are getting close folks! Exciting? Yes and no. Those appointments also mean getting "checked". Ugh, not anywhere close to my list of top ten favorite things to do. We did learn that things are getting started though. My body is preparing for that "beautiful miracle" (whatever) of childbirth. I am 50% effaced and starting to dilate. Haven't even dilated a full centimeter yet, but starting to is better than not. After that little gem of happiness, discussion of drugs to get me to sleep at night without being completely restless, and the promise of one last ultrasound our next appointment, we went on our merry little way. We met up with Jason's family and then headed on down to good ol' Red Robin for my brithday dinner! Hello Very Berry Limeade (which is the same as the Very Berry Raspberry Limeade for the record, no need to correct the waiter.) Typically for birthdays they give you two tasty, yet small cupcakes. This waiter was a winner, a very smart man. He took the cue from the two pregnant ladies at the table and brought out a huge hunk of their mud pie. Oh. My. Heck! It was so good.

That night we tested the new drug. It's purpose is to keep me from kicking all night. The kicking and twitching not only keeps me up and leaves me crampy, but keeps Jason up as well. We had tried everything else imaginable from elevation, to calcium, to hot soaks and heating pads. Jason even rubbed them every night at the very first sign of a twitch. All to no avail. Needless to say, after a couple or more months of that, we were ready to try anything. Unfortunately, there are no drugs for the restlessness out there that are safe during pregnancy. So the Doctor opted to try one they use for anxiety and nausea. He said, if nothing else, it would help me sleep. He was right. Still got restless, and even a little goofy. I laughed hysterically while reading scriptures, still don't know why. But shortly after, I crashed. I remember nothing else until morning, and I am so happy. (Aside from the part where I got insanely sick and lost my entire dinner, but that was short lived.)

Saturday, Jason had to work and I had my baby shower. Only 12 or so of the 40 people invited were able to come, but it was still fun. It was a gorgeous day out and we received a lot of really nice gifts. Megan went to great lengths to organize a wonderful shower with help form Julie and Kelsea. Tonight, Jason and I are going to go pick up those last few things we need with the gift cards and cash people gave to us.

Sunday was Father's Day. I went over and spent a while at my dad's house with him. It was about the same old thing, sitting in the rockers, occasionally talking, but just right, as it always has been. Afterward, I went home and washed the baby clothes to be put away. Once Jason was off, we went over to his parents and had the traditional KFC dinner. Then back home to play with baby clothes again. I hope Jason enjoyed his first Father's Day, aside from having to work. I got him a fun t-shirt and True Grit on Blu Ray. He's pretty excited to watch it.

Happy Birthday to ME!

2011-06-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

I love birthdays! It's true. Today just happens to be my birthday (and cute cousin Aimee's too). Due to some lovely pregnant restless legs, Jason and I were both awake at midnight, so I got my first "Happy Birthday" right at 12 midnight. This morning, I started the celebration with a big ol' bowl of Froot Loops. I've had to majorly, aka completely, cut back on them according to the doctor and something about sugary carbs and weight gain and because of my lack of control with them. They were delish! Jason's back at work now, but we only have my car while his truck is getting fixed, so he brought me to work. There I encountered this:thanks to some fun coworkers of mine. It put a big smile on my face. There's a cake too that you can't see in the pictures. Yum!! Jake just might get a little sugar high today.

After work tonight, the girls and I are all going out to dinner, then we'll be doing dinner with Jason's family tomorrow night. It has been next to impossible to decipher my cravings to choose not just one but two places to eat. Luckily there is a second set of pregnant cravings coming from my sis-in-law Kelsea, so that helped to narrow it down.

27 is looking pretty great already!

Getting back to normal...for now

2011-06-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! Jason went to the doctor this morning for what we're hoping will be the last appointment for his foot. Dr. Nickisch is very pleased with how it's healing and has now officially released Jason back to normal life. No more sleeping with the boot, he can start range of motion work at physical therapy, and he can go back to work (with just a few restrictions for now). He's even been released to wear just a regular shoe as he can depending on how it feels. This is all pretty great news, much better than I anticpated for this visit and I am thrilled! Up until now, I've been a bit nervous about where he'd be in his healing process when baby Jake gets here. Now, I'm totally at ease. Jason's currently out driving his truck, just because he can. Feels good to have life going back to normal a bit, though I will miss seeing that goofy grin everyday when I get home from work.

Jealousy Issues

2011-06-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

My favorite friend's cousin is at the hospital today being induced to deliver her new baby boy. Jealousy surrounds me over this. Given I'd much rather have Jake wait the 5 weeks and 5 days (I'm not counting) to get here, since it is much safer and better for him. Onward we go I guess.
We also have the baby shower with the family coming up next weekend. Megan has been bursting with ideas for it for weeks, and with the help of Julie and Kelsea and I'm sure a couple others, is starting the preparations this week. I am really excited for it. I always love a good party, but baby showers are just plain fun. I love to oo and ahh over all of the insanely cute things. Lucky for us, this time it'll all be mine to take home where I can ooo and ahh over it some more as I sit and stare at it as I daydream about our baby boy getting here. And, let's face it, babies require a lot of stuff, and any help we get aquiring that stuff is ALWAYS greatly appreciated. On the other hand, just getting both of the families together to celebrate is always a good time. Plus I'm sure there'll be good food! I like food!
Jason's still cruising along in physical therapy inching closer and closer to his goal of getting rid of the crutches pre-baby. Me, I'm just...well... pregnant. I had a nice week of him staying out of my ribs, but he's now decided to squeeze back up in there. I don't see the comfort factor there, but, hey to each their own I guess.
Last but not least,
WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!

I have been just once in my life, and that was right after I graduated highschool. My dad took me, and my siblings and it was fun, but not all that I hoped Disneyland would be. Now, I can see that that would be due to two factors. The first, we only spent 1 day there, in the summer. Secondly, we were just flying by the seat of our pants as to our adventures around the park. Having married into the Disney fanatic family, I now understand the error of our ways. You need more than one day, not during peak season and you need a plan, or a pro. My father-in-law is that pro. He lives for Disneyland. I kind of feel like a small child in my excitement. It'll also be great because Jake will be just over 1 year old at that point, and should be to where he will get excited about all the things to see there.
So Disneyland here we come..... in September 2012.

Irritable? Tired? Who me?

2011-05-31T14:34:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure it was for everyone else in Northern Utah, Memorial Day for us was a bust. Okay, it wasn't too terrible since we had no big plans to get ruined by the horrid weather, but we still had to deal with the horrid weather. Snow on Memorial Day? Really?? The good part of the day was meating Jason's cousin Jared for lunch, along with the rest of Jason's family. Jared was in town just for the day to pick up his son so that they could spend the summer together in Oklahoma where Jared and the rest of his family currently reside. Dee, Julie, Jason and I met Cody, Kelsea, Jared and Griffin at Five Guys for lunch and some manly chit chat. (Kelsea and I were at the other end of the table discussing her Babies 'r' Us trip earlier that day.) It was great to finally meet Jared after enduring a few long phone calls between him and Jason. They like guns. Enough said.

Having woke up the previous day feeling sickly in the "Ugh, I've got a cold!" kind of way, and then waking up feeling even worse Monday, I decided a trip to the Dr was in order. The were two lovely nurses doing my vitals and getting my info. The one asking all the questions about symptoms asked if I was irritable and/or tired. HA! We all just started laughing. 8 months pregnant with a sinus infection? Irritable? Of course not? Tired? No way!! I got a prescription and was out the door pretty darn quick. I guess that's one benefit of holiday sickness... the Dr office was empty, so it went fast. The sweet nurses informed us on our way out that Smith's was the only pharmacy they knew of that was open, and it was only open another half hour. So we scooted our little butts right over there, got drugs and some groceries, then headed home to take the rest of the day off before I experienced an all too common phenomenom. How is that when you are sick you spend the whole day feeling like you could fall over and crash at any given moment, yet, when you finally do get to bed, even with the help of drugs, it's impossible to sleep? If anyone ever figures this out, do let me know. Here's hoping tonight goes a bit better.

Anticipation

2011-05-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night, after I got off work I ran home and grabbed Jason and we went and did a tour of the labor and delivery unit at the hospital. I am so glad we did. I myself learned a couple of new things, and discovered two great things: a) they have a jetted tub in the room. I'd like to check in now please. And b) I won't have to pack nearly as much as I thought. Mostly just have to bring clothes for me and Jacob and any comfort items I might want. Jason was just excited that the sleeper sofa was ultra comfy. The tour also made me more nervous/excited for that day. Nervous cuz, well, heck... I've never done this before. That and they're a lot easier to take care of on the inside than out. More than anything though I'm excited for our little man to get here. I can't wait to see what he looks like. Who's eyes he'll have, who's nose, etc.. I can't wait to have him in my arms, and even more to see Jason hold his son for the first time. To see his face in that moment will be priceless. As for pregnancy, the only thing I'm going to miss there is the time Jason and I spend in bed together at night watching and feeling Jake move. He gets really active when I start to really relax and it's fun to share that with Jason. The rest of the whole pregnant thing I won't miss so much. I haven't had a horrible pregnancy really. The worst of it really has been just these last few weeks. The heartburn is killer, my back is never okay, and for some reason, our little guy really loves to sit/kick in my ribs and holy cow does it hurt. I'm just not one of those people that "loves being pregnant". I'll be happy to be able to get comfortable and get my body back....eventually.

Good Times

2011-05-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

What a week it's been so far. Jason's brother Bryan and his family arrived on Monday from Washington. They've been staying at Jason's parent's house and I don't think anyone is enjoying it more than his mom. She is just beside herself with excitement over having her grandkids there. Tuesday, we had a little birthday BBQ at the park for the Karlie and Nicole. The food was tasty (minus the killer heartburn afterward) and the cake and ice cream was even better. Karlie could not wait for the cake, literally. She had seen it and managed to get a finger full of frosting, after that all that you heard from her was "caaaake, caaaaaake, caaaake". We got the cake out and she just couldn't wait. She took finger full after finger full of frosting right off of one corner of the cake. Finally, she got her own piece and managed to get every last bit of frosting off of it. Turns out, all that time it wasn't the cake she wanted. She didn't touch the actual cake part, it was just the frosting. Too funny. We were also supposed to have a baby doctor appointment on Tuesday, but that got bumped to Friday due to the doctor having to go do an emergency c-section. The Nerve! (sarcasm) Bryan and Kati and their crew leave tonight. I think grandma is going to crash and not wake up for 3 days in order to recover from all the fun she's having.

Baby Pool!

2011-05-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

I found this fun little thing online. It's a pool to guess all the details of baby Jake's arrival. Just click on it, then enter your guesses. I've put a smaller box right over there <------ so it's easy to find. My guess was totally based on high hopes and expectations.

Backstreet's Back.. ALRIGHT!

2011-05-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

Oh my heck! I'm sorry I just had to!

That was easy...

2011-05-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

...easier than expected anyway. Lindsey came over last night and we tackled the vinyl tree project. Oddly enough, the trunk and branches were the hard part. We probably adjusted them eight different times to get them straight, but not too straight, and the right height. Once we had permanently placed the trunks and branches, the leaves went fairly quick and easy. Ou best decision of the night was to not cut them out individually and try to place them. We mostly just winged it, peel and stick. We figured, they are leaves, they're not perfect in nature so they won't be perfect on our trees. By the time it was all said and done, we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the trees turned out very cute. Now I just need to get the wood letters for Jake's name and get them on the wall inbetween the trees. And so, I present to you my friends (all 3 of you).... the trees:And also the cute valance and curtains we got. The valance came with the bedding set, the curtains were purchased later in order to darken the room for easier future nap times.

There is no "I" in team

2011-05-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

Big props to my cutie pie hubs today. I can't lie, being 7 months preggo with a hubby that can't walk has far more disadvantages than I'd like to think about. You can forget sending him out on cravings runs, or plopping down on the couch and letting him take care of the house. And now, trying to schedule our baby doctor appointments around his physical therapy and doctor appointments without using every ounce of paid time off I have is quite a trick.
But I still consider myself very lucky. Even though it's minimal for now, Jason does anything he possibly can to help me out. Even with both of our 'impairments' we still are managing to work as one heck of a team. He's become pretty great at folding laundry exactly how I would (slightly ocd), and with only one of us all over the house, any messes stay pretty centralized and easy to tidy up.
The best part is how I know he still puts me above all else. He woke up on more than one occasion last night solely to rub my legs, feet or arms to try to calm them so I could make an attempt to at least get some sleep. Apparently the weight from the baby pinches things and makes pretty much every limb get restless at some point in the day. Lucky for me, that time of day is bedtime. Jason's so good to try and rub the restless out, he doesn't even remember pulling my arm down and rubbing it the other night, it was just like he was on auto pilot. At any point in the night he'll grab the lotion from his night stand and work it out until I can relax, and for this I love him. Oddly enough, I think he kind of looks forward to Jake getting here so that he can take on the role of caring for me while I recover and spend my fair share of time in bed or on the couch.
I'm learning more and more that being able to work together at EVERYTHING makes marriage so much easier than trying to go at it with individual roles. What a valuable lesson to learn, and lucky for us, so early on and so naturally.

Life is....

2011-05-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

...good really. Jason is on the mend and doing great. He's now in a walking boot, but still can't put weight on his foot. We'll start working on that, 25 pounds at a time, today in physical therapy. He's tempted fate a couple times and tried just a step on his own. He makes it as far as when he rolls up on his toes at the end of the step before he gives in. I'd say that's progress. He's just really excited about being able to take his foot out of the boot to get some air and especially to bathe.

As for me and the spawn, we're about the same, just bigger, tighter and slightly more uncomfortable. We have officially reached the single digits and have less than 9 weeks to go before Jake's due. Luckily, i'm feeling fairly prepared. Due to the kindness of some awesome family members and a little pre-planning on our behalf, we've got all of the necessities for bringing a new baby home. We've almost got the nursery complete too. Now for that little story.

We're renting, which means white walls. Because we don't want to have to paint before we leave, but still want some character in the nursery we decided on a vinyl sticker to liven up the wall the crib is on. Since we went with a forest animals theme, I thought a cute tree decal would be perfect. So I began my search.

Googled vinyl tree wall decal.

AH HA! So CUTE!

EEK! $75!! Oi... is it worth it?

Keep looking.

Same sticker.... $25, free shipping, from.....China.

Meh, so it'll take a a couple extra days to get here. No big, we've got a couple months.

Score! Ordered.

Here's the picture from the website:

Cute right? Just picture the crib in the middle, minus the 'tree lovers' quote. It'll be absolutely perfect.

Well, our decal got here on Saturday. In Jason's words, there's some assembly required.

As I unrolled the decal, I found that the trunk and limb pieces were large and should be no problem. The leaves on the other hand, well.... they're just in rows on the paper. Hundreds of leaves in straight rows. They have to be applied one at a time.

Uh oh! So my first reaction, as Jason sits on the couch laughing...Text Lindsey (she's working, otherwise I'd call)! She's the bestest friend anyone could ever ask for and a craft wizard!

Me: Aaaahhh! Help!

Linds: Ha, what's wrong silly?

Me: I have a vinyl sticker situation. There's millions of little pieces. I need your talent!

Me: PS the directions are in chinese

Linds: Ha ha I'll call you after work.

After some more audible laughter at my troubles, Lindsey decided to come over Wednesday and help me with the tree. I love her. Really I do! I'm actually looking foward to spending the evening with her since it has been forever since we've really gotten together, darn work and broken husbands. Not to mention it will probably look a thousand times better if her hands are involved because she's got the magic touch.

I'll post pictures once it's all said and done. I can't wait to see the finished product!

First official preggo picture

2011-04-27T07:50:00.000-07:00

(repost from facebook.... lucky for some of you, you can see it in both places)

Here is my first official preggo picture, taken by Andrea at work. She giggled a little everytime I walked past her yesterday. That ended in her taking a picture to show me why. 28 weeks pregnant

Pay no attention to my nail biting, I was a little nervous about her intentions, but all turned out well.

And now a little peek at the result of a minor preggo craving.

It started as a simple slice of chocolate cake. But then I realized I had fresh strawberries. What's better than fresh strawberries and chocolate right? I'll tell you... throw some rice krispies on top with a little drizzle of chocolate syrup because it's pretty. Mmmm Hmmm! Jason couldn't do anything but laugh as I went to town on my little treat. He's learned not to say much when it comes to my hormonal eating moments.

He is his father's son

2011-04-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

We went to the doctor for our 27 week appointment today... and even more exciting the 3D ultrasound. Jason's dad joined us and we were all quite excited to get a glimpse at this little man and his cute squishy little self. All hopes and excitement were completely shattered as the ultrasound got underway. Little Jake is in perfect position to drop (in about 13 more weeks) and come into this world- head down facing back. There's the problem right there. He was facing backwards and would not turn his little head for even the smallest glimpse at his face. Right now he is Jason's child. Not mine. What a stubborn little turd. On the bright side, he's measuring up just right and doing well. Also great is that I survived the glucose screening test. The drink was not at all as bad as people make it out to be. It just tasted like a really strong orange soda and I had no problem getting it down and keeping it down. Now, we just wait for the results of the bloodwork which we'll get in a couple days. So, disappointments aside, it was a good visit and as always everyone LOVED Jason's beautiful bright pink toenails. I even added some glitter to them this morning so he was looking extra fancy. He loves me!

Freedom!

2011-04-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a difference the hard cast has made. Jason is now more mobile, and we're both sleeping much better. Friday, we went for Jason's post-op appointment. They removed the nasty splint and once we saw the inside of it, there was no surprise as to where the smells were coming from. The inside was gross and stained with all the drainage yuck that had left the incisions in the first few days. After letting it air out for a minute, they went to work taking out all of the stitches. I'm regretting not asking how many there were. This was an incredibly painful process, easily the most pain I've seen Jason in since the day of the surgery. It was miserable to watch him, but we made it through. Now he has moved on to a red (not pink like everyone else wanted) hard cast that goes to his knee. Jason is enjoying the new hard cast. It's lighter, cleaner (for now), and he's been cleared to actually be more mobile and not have it elevated all the time. Also, with it being less bulky and lighter he's sleeping better which means I'm sleeping better. It's a winning situation for everyone! With the new found freedom, we decided to venture out for a nice drive through the canyon on Saturday. It wasn't the most beautiful day for a drive, but we were just thrilled to not be in our living room for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks. We stopped at the cute mercantile near my dad's house for an ice cream cone, then headed back home. Later, that night we joined his family at his parents house for a movie and pizza. Murray the mut went nutso when he saw Jason. It was as if he thought he had died. Sunday was great as well. We went to Sacrament meeting, which we rarely got to do together anyway because of Jason's super fabulous work schedule, then to his parents for dinner. Mmmm, elk roast and mashed potatoes. We then watched the first Harry Potter. If you haven't done this recently, do. It'll amaze you how much it has changed! Whoa! This week he's looking forward to going over to his dad's one night to reload some bullets. This will be the night I will be getting a nice maternity massage. I cannot wait. I know it's just a part of the pregnancy ballgame to feel completely bogged down, but I think it'll be a nice refreshing pick me up to work some of the knots out. Aaahhh, bliss. On another baby note, based on the movement I'm feeling and we're both seeing now, I'm pretty sure that Jacob will either be a ninja or a gymnast. Just sayin...

Love!

2011-04-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

A few pictures that my amazingly talented sister-in-law took of my niece and nephew. So in love with these two.

To see more from Stephanie, go to her website here:

Stephanie Maccarthy Photography

Carnage

2011-04-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

Jason had asked the doctor if he would take some pictures of the surgery, to which he obliged. As per the request of some, I will not post them as their own post. We don't want anybody stumbling upon them on accident and getting a case of the queezies. I have however made a link to them on their own little page linked to the left, titled quite obviously Jason's Surgery Pictures. Fair warning: Don't look if you don't want to see the blood and nastiness that is the inside of his foot. If you're weird like me and kind of enjoy those things though, enjoy!

OCD for the win!

2011-03-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

This post is for all of you that have ever given me a hard time about over thinking, or over planning, or being slightly OCD. After the very rough night we had on Thursday, we decided it'd be a good idea to call the doctor and see if we could get something to make Jason's leg stop spasming. As you can imagine, the spasms hurt big time considering what his foot had just been through. We got a prescription called in for a muscle relaxer, then they asked if I needed a refill on the pain killers. At first I said no. After hanging up I got thinking about it and called Jason's mom and asked her how many we had left. I did some quick math, and there were enough to get us through until Sunday night sometime. Eek! That just wouldn't do. So I called back, and talked to the medical assistant again, told her what I'd figured out and she said she could get us another prescription to have filled. Here's where our troubles begin. It was 3:30 on Friday when I got this news. The prescription is for a narcotic. They can't call or fax in prescriptions for a narcotic. The doctors office is an hour away and closes at 5. I'm at work, and not going anywhere until 5. CRAP! So, after quite a few quick phone calls to Jason's mom, dad, and cousin who's husband works in Salt Lake, we think we think we have a solution. Stephanie, his cousin, would call her husband and he'll run over and grab it. No answer. Next thing you know it's 4:10 and Jason's dad is in his truck, very low on gas and phone battery, driving down to the U of U. It was intense. After the pain Jason had been in the night before, there was no way we were going to risk running out of the pain meds. Right up until 4:58 when he called me again, I sat at my desk praying and crossing my fingers he'd make it. I know that it was only by the grace of our sweet Heavenly Father that he made it. And for that I am grateful. Now for the slightly more funny part. Go back to our original solution, Mike was supposed to pick it up. So his name was on the envelope along with Jason's. The receptionist at the front desk almost refused to give it to his dad, until his dad says, "What are the odds that this would get left here at the last minute, and that with 3 minutes until 5 I come in, with the same last name, knowing it's here and ask for it?" Luckily she saw his reasoning and we were able to make it straight through the weekend pain free. Now for all you nay-sayers. Had I not overthought this and just assumed that the doctor gave us enough to get through.... well... imagine how you'd feel with only tylenol to kill that pain. Needless to say, Jason is very grateful for my overthinking these days, as am I.

Update On The Invalid

2011-03-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

I am glad to say that after a rough start, and with a little extra medication, I've finally gotten, and kept Jason comfortable successfully through the entire weekend. He and I have figured out a great method with the pain meds and the new muscle relaxer. With the perfect combination of the two, he slept great all weekend, which means I did too! Thank the heavens above! Over the weekend, he had a couple visits from some of his friends. That was fun, it got his mind off his foot for a bit. Sunday was a nice calm day. I managed to get all of the laundry done and cleaned up the house. Oddly enough, this was relaxing for me, and quiet so he could sleep. We made our first attempts at the bathtub, which went better than I had expected. Then, his family came over with dinner and we watched The Last 3 Days. By the time they were gone around 8:30, he was ready for bed and I didn't mind at all. When he's only somewhat doped is when I most enjoy this time with him because he's his old self. Last night we laid in bed talking like we would pre-surgery and haven't done since. He's even found a way to lay on his side with his foot still elevated so we were able to cuddle. It was a big comfort to me. This whole thing, though I know is much worse for him, has been mentally draining, so it was very comforting to have my honey back to normal for just a little bit.

Jason's Surgery

2011-03-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was Jason's surgery. We woke at around 4:30 or so that morning, got to the University of Utah just before 7 and then started the very long day. They took us back and got him all dressed in the lovely "I see you" gown, started the IV's went over all the paperwork, etc., then the fun began. The anesthesiologist came and took Jason around the corner to put his nerve block in place. The nerve block is about the same concept as an epidural, but placed just behind his knee and it lasts a couple of days. She brought him back and they had also given him a little something to relax him. He was happy. Very happy. Shortly after that, they wheeled him away, and I went to the lobby to wait out the next 6 hours.
The wait really wasn't as horrible as it could have been. I had my laptop and took advantage of the Wifi. I also had a nice stash of Sudoku, word search and crossword puzzles. I also learned that they cater nicely to anxious wives. They called out at 9:30 to tell me they were getting started, then again every couple hours to let me know everything was going great.
Shortly after 1 o'clock, the doctor came out, said everything went great, and told me everything he had done with Jason's foot. he had cut and re-routed a couple of tendons, stretched his achilles tendon, loosened his plantar facia tendon, and cut a chunk of bone out of his heal. A couple screws and a wire were put in place to hold everything and they were done. Even the doctor looked a bit exhausted. He told me they had him in recovery, and I'd be able to go back in an hour and see him.
An hour tuned into an hour and a half. At this point I started to get really anxious, so I went and asked and was informed that they were moving him to in-patient and getting him assessed there, but he was awake and smiling. UGH! Really, he's awake and in his room for the night and I'm still out here waiting. That was frustrating. Finally, about 20 minutes later his CNA came and found me and took me to him. He was looking pretty good, and apparently had been singing and chasing leprechauns.
The rest of the day went pretty smooth as he slowly came out of the anesthesia. Even his pain stayed in control, right up until they made him stand up. On the pain scale of 1-10, he went from a 2 to a 10 just from standing up, with no pressure at all on his foot. It broke my heart to see him in that much pain. Luckily, the amazing nurse Tim didn't even hesitate with the morphine, and it kicked in within 3 minutes. I later bribed Tim to stay for the duration of our stay. Didn't work.
It was a long night, including Jason snagging, and thus ripping out his IV, but that was easily remedied and hardly painful he said. We both had a night of sleeping just a few minutes here and there, followed by a really nice morning.
Jason was terrified to stand up again on Thursday, but it actually went really well and nowhere near as painful. After that, and a successful pee (TMI, but it was a big deal people, worthy of celebration) we were able to get ready to take him home.
His parents brought the blazer down so that he could lay out in the back with his foot elevated still. We made our journey home, with a quick stop for some medicinal In'N'Out. We made it home, got him up the stairs, and settled nicely on the couch. Once he was settled, and I got everything in order, I had a most wonderful shower and we both relaxed for the evening, with just a couple visitors in and out. I've never loved the comfort of home like I did that moment.
Thursday night was rough. Around 1 o'clock, the pain was intense and it was still another hour at minimum before he could have any more painkillers. It was my worst nightmare coming true. I called the surgical center and the nurse there paged the resident on-call for me. I had a call back in less than two minutes, and he okayed more pain meds then. We got him mostly comfortable again to where he could relax, thank heavens. Finally, around 7 am he fell asleep... and I got ready for work.
His mom came over this morning to stay with him while I'm at work. He's texted and so far so good. He's mostly been sleeping, and I'm pretty sure she's just hanging out. I cannot wait to get home to him, and luckily it's Friday, so I'll have the weekend with him too. I'm not enjoying being away right now. Hopefully things will stay on an uphill slope from here. The first few days are the worst, right?

Darn You Toucan Sam

2011-03-22T12:40:00.001-07:00

Today, my dear sweet husband, the man I love, the one who did this to me outed me to the doctor. Apparently, eating a family size box of Froot Loops a week is not on the approved pregnancy diet. Who knew? Even more, who cares? I could have continued on, blissfully unaware enjoying those tasty little rings of goodness, but no. Now it's been brought to my attention that only eating carbs isn't exactly the most healthy way to go about this. I must also blame my weight gain, that was not the recommended 2 lbs, on the three bags of jelly beans I was given by my sweet father-in-law, and his constant supply of cookies or ice cream or whatever other delicious thing he might so kindly place in front of me when we go visit. The hormones have pushed any sense of self control out the window. The rat (aka my husband) and the doctor are pulling it right back in though. Eek!

The Heat Is On!

2011-03-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

With only two days until Jason's surgery, this weekend was a busy one. Had to get all I could out of him before I lose use of him for awhile.
Thursday, he started to get the primer up on the walls with some help from Cody. We learned very important lesson #1. Jason is NOT a painter. Although good at many other things in life, painting is not one of them. He got to show off his real skills at Megan's house later when he traded electrical work for haircuts.
Friday, the priming didn't go much better. I attempted to prime the trim in the room. Very important lesson #2. Lacey is NOT a painter either. On the bright sided of things, the baby bedding came. It's even cuter than in the pictures. I threw it right into the wash in anticipation of having the room all ready this weekend.
Saturday, no further attempts were made by us at painting. I did consider putting together the crib in the living room out of excitement, but my logical side (Jason) convinced me otherwise. Jason's dad and brother came that evening and took care of the painting much much better than we had in our attempts. Jason is very good at staying out of the way and holding the light. While the boys painted, Julie, Megan, Ava and I watched Sleeping Beauty. Megan came over in pure desperation to do anything but watch basketball again. Us lady folk had a great time and the boys got the priming done properly. All in all it was a fun, successful, but tiring night. We slept well.
Tonight they're going to paint and tomorrow we'll be able to get the crib and everything in place. I'm excited to see it all put together. Then, it will just wait for our little man's arrival.

Panic mode already?

2011-03-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

First, for the record I will preface by saying yes, I probably am hormonal, and yes, this probably is illogical, but... it's my blog, and this is how I feel so I'm going to get it out before it eats me up and I go even more crazy.
I am worried sick about Jason's surgery next week. Given, I'm a natural worrier. It's what I do, all day everyday. There's more to it than that. I have the hardest time seeing someone I love in pain, and even more, in that post-op still on anesthesia state. There's something about seeing that that just breaks me right down. Maybe it's the vulnerability, maybe it's the realism of how fragile we are, I don't know, but I don't like it, and I'm dreading it. Not just dreading, it actually. There was a sufficient amount of tears shed today on my way to work over the thought of it. I don't know what will be worse, seeing him that way or the 5-hour wait while the surgery takes place. Now really, I know there's nothing horribly dangerous about this surgery. It's on his foot, not open heart or brain surgery for heavens sake. He'll be fine and better for it... eventually. What can I say. I love him.

Yay for Birthdays!

2011-03-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

It's Jason's birthday! My cute hubster is 29 today...wow! We don't have much excitement planned for this wonderful occasion since we did most the celebrating over the weekend. Instead of a cake, I'm going to make him a nice big pan of rice krispy treats, then we're going to go and get our crib and travel system. I can finally give him his presents that I've had hiding for weeks too! I am so stankin' lucky to have him in my life. I can't imagine it without him! Happy Birthday Love!

Dear Non-Pregnant Person

2011-03-15T11:14:00.001-07:00

For the record, I did not write this out of pure hormonal rage, I came across it whilst perusing the interwebs and it made me laugh a little so I just had to post it. It does not apply to anyone I have come across.... yet.

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,

I hope you find these guidelines helpful in your interactions with pregnant women, as failing to follow them may result in serious physical harm. If you are thinking, surely she doesn’t mean me – then you should probably read this twice:

1. The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is ‘Congratulations!’ with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you a jerk.

2. Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father – not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase ‘my baby’.

3. On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in 2, the pregnancy, birth, and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it…

4. The body of a pregnant woman should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone’s stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix, or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.

5. Likewise, no woman wants to hear comments on her weight…ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is ‘You look fabulous!’.

6. By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don’t need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes. Nor do we need to know how badly you will feel for us because we will be pregnant during the summer and how glad you are that YOU will not be pregnant this coming summer.

7. There is a reason that tickets to Labor & Delivery are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL, or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents. You weren’t invited to be there when the baby was created, you probably won’t be invited to be there when it comes out either.

8. Like everything else in life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital, and the parent’s home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to ‘help out’. If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.

9. If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should clean up the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules, and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping.

10. The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents and those they deem so entitled. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask for you to wait three weeks to visit, appreciate that you are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less.

Sincerely,
All the Pregnant Women in the World

Has Spring Finally Sprung?

2011-03-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

I sure hope so! It seems it has if I were to judge by this past weekend alone. It was gorgeous! So, what better way to celebrate than the onset of what some are calling nesting. Yup, tons and tons of anxious energy dedicated to cleaning every square inch of our home. Mind you, Jason helped me give it a good clean/tidy up the other day, and it generally stays clean thank you mild OCD, so this was to the extreme.

First things first, the baby's room. Jason had take down the terrible wallpaper border, so I went in with my clorox water (40 parts clorox, 1 part water), rags and gloves, opened the window and scrubbed it better than it's ever been scrubbed before.

When that came to an end, my energy was turned toward the rest of the house. Before going to bed, still anxious trying to figure out what else I could do, I:

-Washed all lingering laundry.

-Cleaned the bathroom

-Cleaned the kitchen

-Washed our sheets

-Dewrinkled the curtains

-Organized the bedroom and bathroom closets

-Dusted everything

-Sorted/organized our shoes

I'm feeling pretty successful about my Saturday.

Sunday... I made Jason's birthday dinner for him and his family. It was chicken parmesan and it was delicious. His dad made him his favorite dutch oven apple cobbler, also tasty.

Today, Jason taped off the nursery so that we can start to paint, or rather he can start painting. Then for the fun part. We will get the crib and bedding this week! I am excited! It took me forever to narrow the bedding down from the 3 very similar ones I had chosen, but this is what we chose.

I'll be glad to have all this done before Jason has his surgery next Wednesday. He'll be out of comission for a couple months, and unable to do the things that I cannot, like paint and carry/put together the crib. I will say, I'm nervouse about this surgery he's having. It's a five hour surgery with a long recovery. But, four to six months from now, when he's back on it and back to life, I have no doubt that we'll be nothing but happy with it. I know, for me, it'll be great for him to come home from work and not have to be in pain. He's excited for all the fun he'll be able to have with his new partner in crime once he gets here and grows a bit. :)

Space Prison

2011-03-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

Last night, my husband went to space prison. The very worst part was that not only would they not let me see him, but they wouldn't even tell me what he had supposedly done to get there. I was a wreck. For what seemed like hours, I sat on a bench in a hallway waiting and begging to see him. When I finally woke up from this horrid dream, I wasn't at all bothered by his nasally popping snore noise, I was just glad that we were here, on earth, together and not in space prison. I can't decided if I enjoy the odd preggo dreams more, or the fact that the weirder they get, the more that I love my sweet hubby.

For those of you who don't have strange dreams, space prison looks a whole lot like the death star, but with spikey things all over the outside. (yes I had to do a google search to figure out what it was called.)

Well Said

2011-03-07T13:02:00.001-08:00

Steak!

2011-03-02T15:42:00.000-08:00

My lovely sis-in-law/partner in mischief against our father-in-law got her braces off today! I can only imagine how refreshing it is for her. On my end though, it means we have an excuse to go get a big juicy steak because she can have it again! Woohoo! Yay! Steak!

Okay...now I'm hungry!

Welcoming Will

2011-02-25T12:38:00.000-08:00

This is my new nephew William. He was born this morning at 8:04 weighing in at 7 pounds 4 ounces and 20 inches long.
BUT
Where am I you might ask? Not holding my new nephew like I should be, that's for sure. I am at work until 5. Ugh! You better believe that I will be jumping right into my car and going straight to him the second I get off though! I can't wait!

Congrats to Matt and Megan and the new big sister Ava!

Would've been nice to know that sooner...

2011-02-24T12:41:00.000-08:00

So, after hearing some unsettling stories about my original doctor, I decided to switch to one that came highly recommended by my sister's doctor. We saw him for the first time Monday and Wow! What a difference. Jason was less than thrilled purely based on the new office not having big cushy leather couches in the waiting room, but once we had finished the appointment, I was already feeling great about my choice. He was much more thorough and spent way more time with us talking and explaining things. Even his nurses were more personable.

Today they called to let me know when my "big" ultrasound was (something the last dr never even mentioned) and informed me about something I was a little sad to hear, but angry I wasn't told sooner. The hospital we had planned to deliver at isn't a part of our PPO with our insurance, like I thought it was. So, the hospital I had preferred, and planned on for the last 4.5 months is out of the picture. I wonder if the other office would've said anything, or just let me get the huge bill afterward.

On the bright side, I talked to my friend Heather about it today and she loved Ogden after having delivered one of her boys there and one at McKay, so it won't be a huge horrible change.

As promised

2011-02-18T10:03:00.000-08:00

A picture of Jake! This was our ultrasound on 12/31/10, it's the best overall picture we've had of him yet, looks like he's waving to us. (bad scan, I know, but hey, it's better than nothing)

Oh Baby!

2011-02-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

I know I keep saying this, but I really will post a picture soon. You may even get one of my growing midsection. Truth be told, I still just look fat, but hey...there's a baby in there making that illusion happen.
In the last few couple days I've been feeling what I believe could be our little man squirming around in there. I've been told it feels like gas bubbles and butterflies. For the longest time, I wondered what that meant, now I know. It's still a very light sensation, but very very cool. It's taken that little bit of movement for it to convince me this is real. Even seeing him on the ultrasounds has still been very surreal. Luckily Jason was right there when it happened for the first time, so even though he couldn't feel it with me, it was a special moment for both of us.
And now for a small rant:
Since we found out we were pregnant, I've kept my baby talk to a minimum due to complete lack of interest from some and for others because they're just not there with their own lives yet, not for lack of trying or whatever reason. Well, no offense, but guess what... I'm Pregnant with Jason and my first child and I'm excited and I'm going to talk about it so deal! I don't see why I should have to push aside my excitement for one of the best things in my life for the sake of anyone! Oi! Just had to get that off my chest, I feel better now. (PS Kelsea this is very much not including you! You've not shown anything but excitement for us, though I know it must be hard at times. We love you!) So buckle up peeps-this blog may turn into all things baby for a while, unless something else exciting happens.
Much love to all from one very hormonal crazy sleep deprived pregnant gal!

L is for the way you look at me...

2011-02-14T15:52:00.001-08:00

In honor of Valentine's Day, which I've always been a fan of, five quick things (for lack of time, I really could list millions) I love about my husband.

1. He makes me laugh at least 5 times a day, everyday since I've known him.

2. How excited he is about our little one coming. He's just giddy.

3. When I catch him looking at me with 'that' look. Precious!

4. The fact that he's so darn handy, without being asked. (yesterday he put up the blackout curtains in our room while I slept so I could sleep in and not be bothered by the sun.)

5. They way I know he loves me, for me, just as I am, and he's not afraid to tell me so.

What can I say, we were made for eachother, really. Even our weird little quirks match up. I love it and I love him! Yay for Valentine's Day giving me an excuse to gush a little.

Long Overdue

2011-02-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

I really do have a great excuse for my lack of blogging. I switched jobs and thus have suddenly gotten much more busy. It's great though. I like my new job. I still work for the same company, I've just moved to a different department where I won't have to do the lifting that I would at my last position. The new job consists of mostly just one product line of vitamin and mineral supplement powders. About 90% of the consumers are seniors, and I get to talk to them throughout the day. It is enjoyable, some of them are a bit lonely and will talk your ear off, others just plain friendly and sweet, and on rare occasions you get the old man grump. Good times.
In other news, we are officially all moved in to our new place. What a relief it is! I never imagined that moving upstairs where the sun can find me through the windows would have such a postive impact. Along with the sun, there's lot of happines stemming from the huge kitchen that has a dishwasher! I don't mind doing the dishes at all now. I did have a hard time breaking myself of the habit of trying to make everything fit in one or two cabinets. Now I've got it spread out and nicely organized with room to spare. I've almost got all of the boxes either emptied or stored in their final resting place for storage in the third bedroom/laundry room. Our next step will either be covering the awful paint in the nursery or curtains for our bedroom and the living room. I actually feel like I can move into this place and hav already started hanging pictures, something I never did in the old place. Pictures soon!
Okay, and last but not least, the most exciting part:
IT'S A BOY!!!
We (and by we I mean, Jason and I, his parents, and my sister Megan) went to the Dr for an ultrasound and this kid is not shy! He opened right up and showed us his stuffs in all of their glory. Definatly a boy. Before the Dr. could even say anything, Dee points at the screen and says "weiner!". Then as we walked back out through the waiting room he announced it to anyone within a ten mile radius. "It's a boy! Grandpa called it!" Needless to say, we have one Grandpa that is excited to have a new fishin' buddy. On the way home, we called the other grandpa. As suspected, he laughed and said "all right!". Jason soon got over his disappointment when Kelsea texted and told us how muh our girl we'll have one day will love having and older brother.
This past weekend, I went out with Dee and Julie to satisfy Julie's need to buy stuff for the baby. We had a blast, and it was obvious she'd already scoped out her plan of attack. We came home with several cute outfits, a few small necessities, and and even more excited grandma.
That's all for now. I'll try hard not to be a slacker and get some pictures up, but no promises.

Good News!

2011-01-06T14:51:00.001-08:00

Today we finally got some good news from the insurance company about Jason's surgery on his foot! I had much larger numbers in mind for our out of pocket expenses and was shocked and incredibly happy to hear the real number!
Now, we can move forward with getting it planned and done. I'm most happy that
a)Jason won't have to be in the pain he is every single day from just simply walking, something so many of us think nothing of.
AND
b)He can get it all done soon, and not have to worry about putting us in a terrible financial situation, and then consider putting it off for another year or two.
That's only good news part 1 too!
Good news part 2 is that we have found a new place to live. It's bigger, better and only a mere $20 more than what we pay now. Sweet! Another benefit is that it's right around the corner from his parents, so we'll be in their ward along with Cody and Kelsea. Luckily we found it just as our lease is done with the place we're in now, so come February 1st we will no longer be residents of Roy.

Pants

2010-12-20T14:24:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I got a phonecall from Jason. It went a little something like this:
J: "What size pants do you wear?"
Me: "Huge"
J: "Well I can't walk into a store and ask for huge pants for my wife."
Me: "You could, I just can't promise how well it'll go."
Turns out he just wanted to buy me some pants that were a size or two bigger than my usual size because of my belly that is slowly starting to expand, and he wants me to be comfortable without having to use an elastic looped through my button hole to close my pants.
Sweet, really. I love how thoughtful he is.
Upon further discussion we decided on a better alternative.
My husband is now out in the world shopping for maternity pants by himself. I guess it works out though since he has decided he will be inheriting them as his "turkey eatin' pants" after the baby comes. Oi.

Inspirations From Reality TV

2010-12-09T13:52:00.000-08:00

What can I say, being preggers is tiring. I don't know if it's because I'm growing a person, or because I'm on the verge of vomitting all day every day, or maybe some combination of the two. Either way, by the time my day at work is done I have zero motivation to do anything but hang out on the couch and watch the Duggar's. What can I say, I love them, all of them! I'm pretty sure through forced viewing Jason's starting to fall in love as well. If not, he fakes it well. And really, there are a lot worse things/shows to be addicted to. Those Duggar's have a lot to share as far as awesome family values go, so I will continue to watch... and learn. Aside from all that, it's a great way to pick a baby name. I won't say which one, but if the baby is a girl, we've picked her name and I got it from the Duggar's. Judge me if you want, but deep down you wish you were as inspired as I am. Jason actually loves the name too, so this isn't just me and more of my wishful thinking. As for baby boy names, I'm not particularly diggin' any of the Duggar names there. Jason's really pushing for Sheldon. It's not gonna happen. Ever.
Speaking of baby, we had our first appointment with the baby doc last Friday. There's only one and the due date is now July 24th. It's a Pioneer Day baby! The ultrasound was all good and well. We even got to see and hear the heartbeat which was easily the coolest thing ever. Also very cool was that they gave us a dvd that we just bring back everytime and they record the ultrasounds onto it. That way we can take it and share it with the family and no one misses out. We go back again at the end of the month. By then the baby will look more like a baby, instead of just a fuzz.

Morning Sickness

2010-11-29T08:37:00.000-08:00

It sucks and I'm pretty sure I'm going to die. That is all.

First Gag Moment

2010-11-22T15:18:00.000-08:00

Apparently my pregnant self cannot handle the smell of a Snicker's bar. Jason popped one in his mouth last night and I literally starting gagging. Ugh! It smelled sooo terrible, nothing at all how I remember them smelling.

Aside from that nauseous moment, and peeing every 10 minutes (or so it feels, which I thought was a later in pregnancy thing, it's not, thanks to overproductive kidney's), and being ready for bed by around 8 or so... all has been well. No morning sickness yet. Knock on wood.

And one more thing for the record: Jason is easily the best dad-to-be ever. I love him and how excited he is. He's always looking for someway to make sure I'm as happy and comfortable as I can possibly be. Gush!

Crash!

2010-11-18T13:41:00.000-08:00

After work on Tuesday, I stopped by Target to grab some detergent so I could get some laundry done before Jason came home from his friend Eric's. I came up to our apartment and looked, then looked again like I always do being as busy a road as it is, then started my left turn into the parking lot. Just as I was about 80% of the way in the driveway... SMASH! Holy crap on a cracker. In order to be out of the way I rolled the extra 10 ft straight into my parking spot, then got out of my car. I hardly felt the jolt, so I wasn't expecting the damage that awaited me. My bumper was hanging on by a thread, a light was dragging behind me, and the entire trunk had shifted about a foot or so to the left. Oi vey. I looked around to find the truck that had hit me, and found it, with a smashed Camry on the other side of the five lane road, on the curb facing away from me. Double oi vey. Luckily the other three cars that were stopped in front of it were just stopping to help. My sweet neighbor Robin had heard the crash and ran out to see what happened, followed by her husband Kelly. They were absolutely wonderful to me, and helped to calm me down a lot.
I first called 911, then Jason. With our most recent news (see previous blog post) he went into full blown panic mode made his way home as quickly as he could. By the time he got there, so had 2 ambulances, a fire truck and about 4 police cars, and they had completely closed down any northbound traffic.
By the end of the whole ordeal, the man in the truck and the lady in the other car had been taken to the hospital. The man just to be checked out, and the lady had broken her ankle. The 3 tow trucks made short work of cleaning up the whole mess, and I recieved a ticket for an improper left turn.
Jason, me, and his parents who had showed up somewhere in the mix, all went inside, and just sat and tried to relax. Dee was sure to remind me that it was just paint and metal, and that they call them accidents for a reason. I'm still feeling quite guilty about the poor girl with the broken ankle.
Things like this really make you sit back and count your blessings. While I was thinking, not sleeping all night, I thought about how much worse it could have been if I was going any little bit slower, or he was going any bit faster and would've hit me right in the middle and could've hurt me a lot more that the little bump I did feel. I'm blessed to have amazing neighbors, family, and even the officer that took charge of the whole thing that were all incredibly kind to me. I'm blessed to have a sweet, kind, understanding husband that did nothing but try to help me feel better about the whole thing, when he could've just been upset with me. And lastly, even though in the past I've grumbled about having to "pay so much towards insurance that I'll probably never use", I've realized what a blessing it really is. Within a day I've gotten a rental car so Jason and I don't have to get creative about how we'd both get to work with our differing schedules and one car, and the whole thing is now on it's way to being resolved. Now I just have to pray that my malibu survived too. I miss it already.

Surprise!

2010-11-16T12:19:00.001-08:00

The birth control wasn't lying when it said 99% effective. Ha!

Yay Wedding Pictures!

2010-11-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

A picture post... Enjoy!

My Poor Hubster

2010-10-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

All of last week and I'm sure the week before, Jason's bad foot/ankle has been hurting him pretty bad. He hobbles through the door at the end of his work day and drops it in a bucket of icy water until it goes numb. It's even been keeping him up at night. Finally, with much pouting and dirty looks, I got him to go to the doctor on Friday. They took a couple x-rays and essentially said, there's not breaks or anything obvious, but nothing they could do. With that, the doctor referred us to a specialist up at McKay Dee Hospital.
Yesterday, after a two hour wait and five more x-rays, the specialist told us it was just too complicated of a case. He couldn't believe from the x-rays and just looking at his foot that Jason ever played football, roofed, or walks all day long. He said he had to be a pretty tough guy and that he knew he had to be in quite a bit of pain. The worst part was when he told him that he needed to change his career path to something that wouldn't have him on his feet so much, i.e. a sit down job. Jason's face dropped when he heard that. He loves being an electrician. After explaining a lot of things about his opinions on the matter, he sent us off with the x-rays and a referral to the University of Utah. Apparently there are some amazing doctors there that deal with these kinds of things every day and would be more able to help in the most effective way possible. So... come November 12th, we will be traveling down to the University with our fingers crossed and a prayer in our hearts that they can fix that poor foot.
Until then, I'm going to pray, give him lots of hugs and encouragement, pray, and try to keep it together myself. I honestly wish I could do something more for him. I know I can't get rid of the pain, but somehow I'd like to lighten his stress load concerning the whole thing. It's hard to see his face when I know he's thinking and worrying about it.

Survey Says (yup, I'm bored)

2010-10-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

1. Last beverage→ Diet Coke
2. Last phone call→ Univeristy of Utah Foot and Ankle Clinic
3. Last text message→ Karen
4. Last song you listened to→ whatever was on the radio
5. Last time you cried→ almost cried this afternoon
SIX HAVE YOU EVER:
6. Dated someone twice → yes
7. Been cheated on? → Yes
8. Kissed someone & regretted it? → yes
9. Lost someone special?→ yes
10. Been depressed?→ yes
11. Been drunk and threw up?→ Nope
LIST FOUR FAVORITE COLORS:
12. yellow
13. red
14. pink
15. blue
HAVE YOU:
16. Made new friends → sure have
17. Fallen out of love → not currently
18. Laughed until you cried → indeed
19. Met someone who changed you → several people
20. Found out who your true friends were → yup
21. Found out someone was talking about you → ha, yes...lame
22. Kissed anyone on your friend's list→ yes, married one too ha
23. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life → all of them
24. How many kids do you want to have→ 3 or 4
25. Do you have any pets → just my cute hubby for now
26. Do you want to change your name→ no way
27. What did you do for your last birthday→ Jason took me shopping then to dinner with his fam
28. What time did you wake up today → 7:01
29. What were you doing at midnight last night→ he he hehe he.... stuff
30. Name something you CANNOT wait for → Babies... but I will
31. Last time you saw your father→ Sunday, it was his birthday... holy 65!
32. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life→ The health of a few people I love a lot.
33. What are you listening to right now → boxes being moved around
34. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom → I have.
35. What's getting on your nerves right now? → waiting
l36. Most visited webpage → facebook
37. What's your name→ Lacey Maccarthy Cox
38. Nicknames→ Lacey Lou, Beans, Ox, etc.
39. Relationship Status → Married to my one and only, Jason
40. Zodiac sign → Gemini
41. Male or female or transgendered → Female
42. Elementary→ Club Heights Elementary
l43. Middle School → South
44. High school → Bonneville
45. Hair color → Brown
46. Long or short → Medium
47. Height → 5' 4"
48. Do you have a crush on someone? → my hubby… and Sheldon
49: What do you like about yourself? My freckles
50. Piercings → Ears
51. Tattoos → no way
52. Righty or lefty → righty
FIRSTS :
53. First surgery → tonsils
54. First piercing → Ears
55. First best friend → Stephanie
56. First sport you joined → HULA
57. First pet → Jamie the cat
58. First vacation→ Cedar City
59. First Passport stamp → None-ya
60. First concert → Backstreet Boys! Oh YEAH!
61. First crush → Billy Wall, my sister liked him too, ha
62. First Kiss → Brandon Parr
RIGHT NOW:
63. Eating → Nothing
64. Drinking → Root Beer
65. I'm about to → fall asleep
66. Listening to →now it’s the printer
67. Waiting for → 5:30 so I can leave work, the 10 ish when my hubby comes home
YOUR FUTURE :
68. Want kids→ of course
69. Want to get married→ I am and it’s amazing
70. Careers in mind?→ wife and mother
71. Where do you want to live → near here
WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
72. Lips or eyes → eyes
73. Hugs or kisses → BOTH!
74. Shorter or taller → Taller
75. Smarter or Dumber → Smarter
76. Older or Younger → older
77. Romantic or spontaneous → Both
78. Nice stomach or nice arms → arms
79. Sensitive or loud → sensitive
80. Hook-up or relationship → relationship
HAVE YOU EVER :
81. Kissed a stranger → no
82. Lost glasses/contacts → no
83. Sex on first date → nope
84. Broken someone's heart → so they say
85. Had your own heart broken → indeed
86. Been arrested → somehow, no, had a warrant out though, ha ha ha
87. Turned someone down → Yes
88. Cried when someone died → Yes
89. Liked a friend that is a girl? → I like all my friends
DO YOU BELIEVE IN:.
90. Yourself → on occasion
91. Miracles → Maybe
92. Love at first sight → not really
93. Heaven → Yes
94. Santa Clause → um… yes
95. Kiss on the first date? → not usually
96. Angels → sure
ANSWER TRUTHFULLY -
97. Is there one person you want to be with right now→ Yes
98. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time→ No way
99. Will you post this→ didn’t I?
100. Did you lie at any of these questions→ no way

Smartest kid ever!

2010-10-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

So, way back in August of 2002 I embarked on a journey to Alexandria, Virginia where I spent a year living with an amazing family as their nanny. The parents, Tania and David were nothing but wonderful to me. They had 1 1/2 month old twins Caroline and Spencer that I got to spend my days with. We, Tania , David and I, all refer to them as 'my children' still. I love this family and still keep in close contact and up until lately flew out to visit them every year. Today David posted a little conversation Caroline and Spencer had on his facebook.
Caroline: "What's the difference between the Yankees and the Mets?"

Spencer: "About 20 wins this year and, like, a million World Series rings."

Love these kids! Go Yankees!

1 Smelly Month of Wedded Bliss

2010-10-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

What can I say? We're happy. I never imagined life to be so good. After just a short month of being married to Jason, I can honestly say I have grown to love him more and more every single day. And that's how it should be, right? Although the growing might want to slow down a bit or I might just explode. I can't believe how fast a month can go by. Really, not a lot has happened in the last month. We've just been living and loving life.

Right now, we're house/dog sitting for his parents while they are in Disneyland. It's like a mini vacation of our own. Last night, Jason decided we should watch the creepy paranormal show... that was before we crawled into the tiny full sized bed together. I didn't sleep well. I'm sure he didn't either being right next to me, and I mean, like right next to me. Luckily, Murray figured out early on that he wasn't going to fit too so he stayed on the floor.

That's all I have to report. Next on our list for life is to get out of our apartment. It's only a six month lease luckily and it's a good thing. Now, I have to say, it's inexpensive and not all around bad. Our neighbors are nice and the landlord is right on top of things, but there's a smell. I cannot figure out wher it comes from or what is causing or worst of all how to get rid of it. I have bleached...well, everything. Yet it still lingers even with the scentsy going anytime I'm home. I beginning to wonder if something died in the walls or something. On top of the smell, the location surely is not my favorite. It's right on a busy street across from a business that leaves their parking lot lights on all the night long. Ho hum. Onward with the search for our next place, hopefully a more permanant one for now. Wish me luck.

The Case of the Missing Husband

2010-10-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

So, thanks to Lowe's I've mostly only seen my husband between the hours of 11pm and 7am lately. It's been not so enjoyable, but I just keep reminding myself that we are just grateful to have jobs and so I can't complain too much. Luckily, his schedule was a bit nicer this last weekend. We got to spend some quality time together and I loved it.
Friday we helped Kelsea and Cody finish up some things and start moving into their new home. We are so excited for them. They got an amazing deal on this house, and with a little elbow grease and a touch of lipstick and mascara it's looking absolutely stunning. I'm sure they're going to love starting and having a family in this home of theirs.
Saturday, Jason had a mid-day schedule and got off at 7. I stopped and got us a romantic dollar menu dinner at Wendy's and picked him up from work so we could jet over to the theater. We saw Life As We Know It. I highly recommend it, it's hilarious. There were some parts that I thought for sure would scare Jason, even me, from ever wanting to have children. After a happy ending though, we're still desiring of that.... one day.
Sunday, was Sunday. Oops. Somehow we both felt like it was Saturday, and I didn't realize it until I was looking at the calendar at 11. Our church starts at 11. Oops. Jason went to work at 2 and I made banana bread. Mmmm. Apparently, Lowe's has switched to their winter hours now, so he got a little surprise and was off at 7, not 9 like he had thought. We took advantage off this happy occasion and cuddled up on the couch to watch a movie and enjoy the tasty banana bread.
He had Monday and Tuesday off, I worked. Lame. After work, both days, I worked on a wedding cake of sorts for a couple in my boss' ward that is being sealed today. The husband is essentially dying from an inoperable brain tumor so it's great that they are able to go and do that together. I made a two-tier red velvet cake with buttercream icing. It's very basic, but delicious. Before attacking the icing last night though, we made a pizza. Let me say, Domino's has got nothing on us. It was delicious, which says a lot coming from me because I am not the biggest fan of pizza to begin with.
Tonight, it's back to his 2-11 schedule, which is probably for the best because it's going to take soem time to clean up the disaster I created in the kitchen last night. There's stuff everywhere, literally. And for the record, I broke mixer #2 in the last year. Luckily it didn't die until the very end of the whipping of the icing. Let me tell you, whipping icing by hand, less than fun and quite painful.

Prego?

2010-10-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

No! I'm not pregnant. Honestly, even if I was it would be too soon to know anyway. That's what I've been having to tell Jason a lot the last few days. He had a dream that we had twins right off the bat. Then, over this last weekend everything I said or did translated into being pregnant. Saturday, I just wanted chocolate. I could've eaten a whole bag, like the halloween size bags, not just like a bag of m&m's or something. This is nothing abnormal for me. I like candy. I always crave candy. No big to me, but to Jason it meant I was pregnant. He wanted to stop on the way home from Mitchell's birthday party and get a test. I convinced him it was worthless because it would be too soon to tell anyway. On Sunday while he was at work, I had me a little fish stick extravaganza party. I love fish sticks, Jason hates them, so I eat them when he works late. Needless to say I started feeling a bit ill later on. He was texting asking how my evening was and I told him I was feeling little blah. Next thing you know I get a phone call. "I'm stopping and getting a pee stick on my way home." Holy heck! Again, with a little convincing I escaped needlessly peeing on a stick. Monday comes around and as I perused facebook, I came across a friends cute pictures of her baby and like any girl, it made me a bit baby hungry. I tell Jason this and bam, "That's it, you're peeing on a stick in front of me. I don't think it's too early." Oh my goodness. I told him I'd pee on a stick in a week where there was at least a chance that it could be accurate if by any chance we concieved on our wedding night.

Enter evil thoughts. My sister is pregnant. Some borrowed pee could possibly put a stop to this craziness..... just sayin.

Back to... Life

2010-09-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, I'm not such a consistent blogger unless I have a countdown to maintain. Either that, or I'm a newlywed that's not been doing a whole lot. Some things I've been enjoying doing though are not bloggable as they might be classified as TMI, so I'm told. Ha! Either way, here I am with a little update on post wedding life.
The honeymoon was just perfect. The first night, for lack of desire to make a 2 hour drive up to the cabin, we stayed at the Hampton Inn in downtown Ogden. Kelsea got us an awesome hookup on an amazing room. It was a corner suite on the top floor. From the bedroom and bath you could see the Junction and then then temple. The bed was huge and comfy and the big jetted tub hit the spot after the long day we'd had. We chose to miss what I hear is quite a tasty continental breakfast in order to sleep in as long as possible.
After checking out we went back to Jason's parents to pick up his truck and the 4-wheelers. Cody and Kelsea made a lovely pancake and egg breakfast for us all. Seems everyone was still recovering. Jason and Cody went and loaded up the trailer and away we went to the apartment to grab a couple of forgotten items then onward to the cabin.
On the drive up, I opened our cards and read them to Jason. We got something like 20 gift cards to Target which will come in very handy. I also devoured some wedding cake that Kelsea was thoughtful enough to pack up for us so we could actually enjoy some of it. It was sooo good. Erin kept telling me to stop blogging about the cake because she didn't want to raise false hopes, but I didn't even scratch the surface. That woman is the cake queen. I'm still craving it. Even her fondant is delicious, which is hard to do.
There's a great story about the cake catching on fire on Erin's blog, but you have to be her friend to see it. If you are one of those chosen few, go here: http://simplysimmons.blogspot.com/2010/09/flaming-good-start-to-my-weekend.html
and then a followup here:http://simplysimmons.blogspot.com/2010/09/two-words-for-you-word-vomit.html
We got all checked into the cabin and put everything away then plopped ourselves right down on the couch. Eventually, we got up and made hobo dinners which are always a favorite. To end the day, we took a bottle of sparkling apple-grape juice and sat out on the porch swing to watch the sunset. It was simply gorgeous. The remainder of the honeymoon was full of relaxing, another big jetted tub, a couple of trips on the 4-wheelers, more relaxing, great food, and well... you know. I wouldn't mind going back up during this time of year again and again. With the leaves changing it's beautiful, but still the perfect temperature to enjoy yourself in without sweating or shivering. Oh, and I can't forget the part where Jason somehow forgot underwear. I think he had three pairs that we had to wash in sink and hang by the fireplace to dry so he didn't have to go commando. We did both remember our toothbrushes though.
Since we've been home, it's just been life as usual, but a little bit better. We've been getting everything situated at the apartment and enjoying eachother, especially the part where we don't have to say good-bye at the end of the day, just goodnight. Life is good. (pictures soon, I'm not that on top of things yet)

Married!

2010-09-18T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it's all been said and done. He showed up, I showed up, we were sealed and the day went off without a hitch. It was an absolutely fantastic day.

Eternity? Yes Please!

2010-09-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, so simply put the temple was absolutely amazing. I think Jason was more excited than me. I couldn't even look over at him without wanting to just giggle a little. He had this big silly grin on his face all night, from beginning to end. And nothing in this world will ever replace the moment we walked into the celestial room hand in hand, with our families there waiting. Life has never felt so perfect to me. The best part is that it can only get better from here. Saturday, the sealing will be it's own special moment, and after last night... I'm more excited than ever for it to come.

Temple Day

2010-09-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am going to the Ogden Temple to recieve my endowments. Surprisingly, it's been a generally peaceful day, no different than any other. I thought for sure I'd be a ball of nerves and everything would go wrong on this day, but it really hasn't been bad. For that I am grateful. Aside from the overall greatness of temple and all the blessings there, I am most excited to be going there with Jason. I can't imagine this experience with anyone but him there. Maybe that's what's keeping me so calm, just knowing he'll be there waiting for me when I get there and throughout this all new experience. After that, just three more days and he will be there for every new experience. Somehow, even the biggest struggles I could face seem bearable now.

Losing It

2010-09-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Will I still have my mind post wedding? Who knows. I feel as though I still have a gajillion things to do, but I really don't. Just have to pick up a couple things and we're all set. No big, right? Tell that to the thoughts of chaos swarming my brain. I hardly slept last night. I tossed and turned so much that my bed was thrashed when I got up this morning. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I'd really like the day of my first visit to the temple to be generally peaceful. I'll let you know how it goes. I am looking forward to it with much anticipation.

Whoa!!

2010-09-13T15:35:00.001-07:00

Only 5 days! 5 Days and we will be married, sealed for time and all eternity. I can't believe we've finally reached the week of the wedding. What an awesome feeling. It came up fast, and to think back in June it felt like it would never come. The week is not too busy luckily, that is, if everything goes as planned, which it never does but I have high hopes anyway. Tonight, I just have to go buy a bag for my temple clothes. Wednesday night I get to go receive my endowments. Thursday the flowers should arrive. And friday will be the crazy day. I'll be running all over to pick up everything for Saturday. I also have to put together the centerpieces, those should be easy though. Also, Friday is when Erin, Jason's cousin, and her cousin and four boys will be arriving from Idaho. She's making our cake and it is going to be awesome. I can't wait to see and eat it. We offered our apartment to them while they are here, so I'll be staying at my dad's house one last time before the big day. Saturday will be a long day, starting at about 6 for me and going until we leave the reception at 8 o'clock sharp. I'm still glad we're kind of dragging it out all day though, it's giving me piece of mind so I don't feel like I need to plan every minute of the day. I decided I should be able to relax as much as I can on our wedding day... weird eh? I know by the end of it all I am going to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained. It's all so worth it though.

Cleaning House

2010-09-12T23:22:00.000-07:00

This morning I slept in. It felt sooo good. 11 o'clock too late to start the day? No way! I needed it. When I finally rolled out of bed and wandered toward the kitchen, I noticed a glow. As I rounded the corner I saw a huge lit up tire sign on out kitchen table. First thought, 'um.. yeah... NO'. So I call Jason. I knew he had been there to get his recommend so he could have it signed by his stake president. Apparently there is some sort of attachment to this sign and he thinks it'd be great if we just put it right on top of my great great grandmother's antique vanity. The short version of this conversation was that he hates my vanity, I hate his sign, neither are staying, it'll be discussed post wedding.

I got all dressed and went down to Lindsey's cousin Travis' mission farewell. It was easily the shortest sacrament meeting I've ever been to. He was on several sports teams and the first to leave so the place was packed. They finished passing the sacrament at about 1:35, Travis and one other speaker spoke, and it was done by 2. Afterward there was a luncheon at his house and all of the kids were there too. Felt like millions of them! It was awesome to see such a huge support system for him though. He's going to serve in the Washington DC South mission. Alexandria, Virginia, where I lived as a nanny is a part of this mission. He's going to love it!

When I got home, I sat for not long before I realized I needed a distraction. I'm not good at being alone, and Jason was at work, so I cleaned our entire apartment. It was very refreshing! Typically I wouldn't clean on a Sunday, it being 'work' and all, but it was more of a just keeping busy thing and just what I needed. It can be relaxing sometimes. I can't wait to finally have all the boxes gone and have the apartment just right and livable... with both of us there!

The "Naughty Shower"

2010-09-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

After a crazy morning of running all over the place and accomplishing a lot, I met my family at Union Grill for a little lunch time naughty shower. I love my family! They are a riot! Most of all it was Jody that was killing me. I got a lot of especially for the bedroom gifts, and as I'd pull them out she'd say, "Oh yeah that ones good", "Oh you'll like that", etc. all so matter of fact and nonchalant. It was killing me. I still see her as little Jody, my cousin's daughter. But she's all grown up and married now, I'm just not ready to hear about that particular part of her life. With all my special gifts in tow, I headed over to my dad's house (bigger, better oven) to make Jason the boob cake he wanted for his bachelor party that night. These cakes are super easy, and I think they're hilarious. From what I hear, it was a big hit. While he ate pizza and boob cake and played halo with all his old friends, I shopped around for a few last minute things, then headed home. Early night for me! YES! I've missed this elusive thing called sleep lately.

Friends and Good Food

2010-09-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

I went down to Buca di Beppo tonight for dinner with a bunch of friends, old and new, and a couple gals from hula. We had a blast. Buca is such a yummy place to eat with huge servings. I'm sure everyone left perfectly stuffed. I know I did. I rode down with Jess and Annie because Linds and Sariah had to go pick up some super secret wedding surprise. Still don't know what. Shortly after we got there, I saw Kathy and her hubby Kelly outside waiting for Claire. Kelly was going to take the kids while us gals had dinner. What a great grandpa! It was great to see Sherri and Heather as well. Funny how we were all so inseperable in highschool, then real life hits and you slowly stop seeing eachother. We sat and remembered our highschool antics for quite sometime. Oh my heck. I can't believe some of the things we used to do. After our tasty dinner, we ordered a brownie sundae to share with the table. No joke, this thing fed all ten of us and was so good. I easily could eat it on my own. The chocolate gelato in it was to die for. Of course we all said we need to get together more often, as per usual, this time I hope we really can though. It would be fun and well worth it!

Flower Frenzy

2010-09-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

We all knew it would happen. I was just waiting. Something big had to go wrong, right? Well, it did! I emailed my flower guy yesterday to confirm my 75 stems of magenta pink hydrangeas. I got back a reply that said they've all started to antique and none of them are bright pink anymore. These are the options I was given:Although gorgeous, these are not what I need. The whole wedding theme was based around that bright pink hydrangea. I did a quick google search, found another supplier, at a similar price, and made the call. I spoke with their wedding specialist (I Love you Danielle) and she called their farmers. After about 4 hours of waiting to hear, I got the call and I got the hydrangeas! And even with their next shipment arrival date being the 21st according to the website, she kindly bumped me up to the 16th and I even got free shipping!! Crisis averted!

Wedding Dress

2010-09-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today I got my wedding dress. Let me elaborate. I'm not crazy and waiting until the week before the wedding to get a dress. I've had the big showy dress for months. Today I got the dress I will actually be married in, my temple dress. We also got several other things necessary for the temple. It was an intense experience full of far too many options that you just have to "wait and see" how they work out. Eek! One week from today I will be going through the temple. I cannot wait! It's one of those moments you wait for your whole life and easily one of the greatest gifts and blessings a person can be given. I've already started to get the perma-grin just thinking about it.

Tonight we're going to start putting the final touches on the flower girl dresses. They are sooo stinking cute. Karen did an amazing job on them. I can't wait to see my sweet little Ava Lou in the dress. Also tonight, I will be mailing and delivering the last of the invitations that I have addresses for. Very excited to be done with that process.

What am I most excited for though? FROGURT! Oh yeah! Frozen Yogurt in multiple flavors with millions of toppings as options! It's as close to heaven you can get on earth outside the temple. Really.

Family Visits

2010-09-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

Due to the cold shower situation, I stayed at my dad's last night. Something about a warm shower vs. a cold one in the morning that can dramatically change my desire to do... well anything really. It's fixed now though. Thank heavens!

After work, I drove up to Willard and delivered some invitations to my family there. I learned from my uncle Jim that my cousin Jamie's baby is trying to come 8 weeks early. She's at the hospital now, and because she lives so far away, they won't let her leave. We'll be keeping her and the baby in our thoughts and prayers. Partially for health purposes, and partially for the fact that she's stuck at the hospital, not fun.

On my way back home, I stopped and did some treasure hunting at the DI. I found no treasures, but did get followed through the entire store by a super creepy guy that was not subtle about his stalking at all. Luckily, he stopped at the door and I was home free.

When Jason got home, he sent me a picture of a giant box that was a wedding gift from his uncle Dennis. I begged and pleaded to no avail, but the box is still sealed. I did convince him to at least open the packing list though. Okay, I bribed him. Trust me, it wasn't hard to convince me to take him to Frogurt tomorrow. HA! Lacey-2, Jason-1!

Moving Day

2010-09-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

It was moving day. For real this time. I moved over some furniture and a bunch of clothes and other things from my room. It was not fun. That's all I want to say about it.

The more fun part of the night was getting Jason to go through his giant box of papers. It took him quite some time, but he finally made it throught them all. Cody and Kelsea were there as our chastity companions and we watched Big Bang during the sorting process. I love that show, and now so do all of them. Later that night, Eric and Jenny came over and we watched Bounty Hunter. I mostly slept through it because I've already seen it at least a dozen times. The best part of the night was the brownies. I made the brownies that a family friend Michelle had brought to the recipe shower. Oh my deliciousness! They are sooo good.

Blessings

2010-09-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

Today, we joined my family at Emily and Brandon's ward for Baby Sawyer's blessing. I love baby blessings. There's something about a new spirit that somehow brings you closer to heaven. After the service, we went to Emily and Brandon's for a little luncheon. While there, ammends were made and it felt great.

Last night, I stayed at our apartment officially for the first time. It was nearly impossible to get out of bed. That mattress is just way to darn comfortable. I love it! Only problem we've run into with the apartment is the water heater. You get about 2 minutes of warm water and after that, get ready to freeze. We'll call Dennis, the landlord and he'll have it fixed in a jiff. He's good like that I feel.

Licensed to Wed

2010-09-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

We are officially licensed to wed! Jason and I went and got our marriage license yesterday. It was quick and painless thanks to the application being printable online. I had it all filled out and ready to go when we got there. We just had to show our ID, write a check and sign our lives away. Easy peasy. After that, we went and looked for a second set of sheets for our bed. There is still a small debate over the need for two sets. Everyone, except Jason, thinks you need two sets. As of right now we have one that fits, and one that doesn't. Due to our el huge-o mattress, we have to get the 18 inch deep fitted sheet. The one that came with our set is 14 inches. It's just not going to work. I will just have to continue to look for inexpensive sheets that will fit on my own.

Later on, we went over and joined Cody, Kelsea, and the home inspector at their possible future home. It's a foreclosure, and based on the missing light fixtures and smoke detectors, clogged disposal, and the broken off screws in the locks, you can tell the previous owners weren't thrilled that they had to be responsible and face the consequences of not paying your house payment. Who knew? With a little, okay, a lot of bleach, plenty of elbow grease and a touch of lipstick and mascara, we'll have just perfect for them in no time!

After the inspection, the four of us headed down to the mall and found the perfect jewelry for my wedding dress. Thank you Kelsea. And thank you for pointing out to me that Aero's Chelsea jean, that is my favorite and is finally sans holes and bleach, are buy one get one free right now! I now have more than 4 pairs of jeans! Hallelujah! Feeling lucky after the trip to the mall, we went to
Lowe's to look at appliances for Cody and Kels. Because of the labor day sale and other discounts they will be saving somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 on the appliances for their new home. Rockin! It was a very good night for all involved.

This morning I went to the Ogden Botanical Gardens and had my bridal photos done. It was gorgeous, a bit windy, but fun. I can't wait to see how they turned out.