The Best Things In Life Aren't Things...

Texas Summers

2012-01-06T23:54:00.004-06:00

This summer was one of the hottest summers Dallas has seen in many years. The only way to keep cool was to stay in the water. When we first moved here 2 1/2 years ago a friend told us that it gets so hot that there are actual companies who come and put large blocks of ice in the pools to keep them cool. We didn't believe him....well it's TRUE! That aside, Nix LOVES the water and especially enjoyed the splash pad. These pics caught much of his excitement.

Goodbye Shumways

2012-01-06T23:46:00.002-06:00

In May 2011 our good friends Brian, Allie and Crew Shumway moved from us and went back to Utah. Brian got a really exciting new job and they had to leave. We were so sad to see them go. Nix and their baby Crew are only 4 months apart and were meant to be the best of friends. Well I guess that will now have to happen in later times of our lives. We sure love The Shumways and miss them very much.

Wow!.... It feels good to be back

2012-01-06T22:06:00.015-06:00

So back in January of last year, my blog stopped working. I was trying to create new posts and it just wouldn't let me post them... with that being said I stopped blogging and started just posting pics on facebook. I was way bummed about this, because I like the blog for a journal. Well I am back. Don't have a clue why it started working, but I'll take it. I am now trying to post events that have happend since last January. This will just be many pics up until more recent times. Yay! Im glad it's working.

Nixon 9 months

Our only Easterish pic

Nixon's Blessing

2011-06-11T10:46:00.015-05:00

Nixon was blessed in Utah on January 2,2011. He was five months old and did great as he was surrounded by so many priesthood holders. We were able to have most of the men in our family be apart of it minus Matt and Ty who are on missions, Chris Ericson, and Brad who live out of state. We were sad they weren't able to be there, but were happy we were able to have so many. We blessed Nixon in the Philipp's home and it was a sweet spirit that was there. We also got to see a lot of our friends. It was fun to see everyone and finally give Nixon a name. :) Thanks to all who participated and thanks so much Becky for the pictures!

The Philipp side minus Jana, Brad and fam, and Ty

The Ostler side plus some extended family but minus Deb, Chris, Holden and Matt

Some of the sweet nieces and nephews

Friends

Nixon's changing

2011-04-06T12:14:00.005-05:00

Christmas in Utah

2011-04-05T21:31:00.007-05:00

This year Nixon and I got to go out to Utah about 10 days before Andy. It was a bummer to be without Andy, but we were grateful for the time we had with our family. We had a few layover's on the plane ride over so I was a bit worried about Nixon getting restless, but he was awesome. People were complimenting how good he was on the plane. Not to mention offering to take care of him if I needed to use the restroom :). He slept for the whole two hours on our long layover and then was great again on our last flight. It was perfect! I was so proud of him. Unfortunately like always, we forgot to get pictures of our whole trip, so the pictures I do have are from the Ostler side. That is why they are all mostly them. Philipp side please send me any pics you have from Christmas so I can get them up. We had a great time in Utah! I got to see the mormon tabernacle choir perform with David Archuletta, got to spend plenty of time well needed with family, went snowmobiling, shopping, went to St. George with the Philipp side,blessed Nixon (will post pics later), Nix saw Papa Ostler, Deb, Holden, Jason, extended family and all our friends for the first time and we got to have our first night without Nixon on our anniversary all nicely planned by Andy(will post pics later). It was great to see everyone! We miss and love you all.

Thanksgiving

2011-04-05T13:37:00.007-05:00

I feel so bad because I am always so horrible at remembering to take pictures of the people we are with when we do fun things or I just forget to take pics altogether. This past Thanksgiving we got to spend with our friends Bryan and Allie Shumway and their new baby Crew. We were so excited to have someone to spend Thanksgiving with. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I spent all day cooking a luxurious meal, but Boston Market sure did. I think we are going to make it our new tradition since we aren't near family to eat Boston Market for Thanksgiving each year. We did it last Thanksgiving too. Anyway, the food was great and so was the company. That night we got back together with the Shumway's, this time at their house and ate delicious homemade pies. We also got to meet Allie's mom who flew in from Utah to meet her new grandbaby. It was a good time. These were the only pics we took of that day. Sorry to all that were actually with us that day.

Halloween

2011-01-31T22:53:00.018-06:00

I absolutely LOVE Halloween! I would have to say it is proabably my second favorite holiday next to Christmas. I love everything about it. I love carving pumpkins, haunted houses and mazes, and most of all dressing up. Andy has never been too into it, but he is a good sport and always puts on what I give him and he always has fun with it. These are some pics from the past few years.

This year was extra fun because I not only got to dress up me and Andy, but got to dress up Nixon too. The costumes were actually a HUGE pain to coordinate, especially without having Andy with me to try them on, but after buying and returning many costumes, this is what we ended up with. Our costumes actually matched perfectly which was a miracle. Andy had black and red pants like Nixon's and my skirt was black and white to match Andy's top. It was really fun to dress up except for the fact that I had to put eyeliner on Andy. :) This was hilarious! Can I just say men were obviously not made for makeup. He made it through it though and looked like a hot pirate! We went to a ward party and got best costumes! It was a lot of fun.

Ward Costume Party

Thanks to my friend Allie, I now have pics of another fun activity that we did this year. Allie and Bryan had us and our friends Maddie and Matt over to carve pumpkins. It was a ton of fun and we learned some new creative ways to carve pumpkins. Leave it to Allie to be creative and always think out of the box. She and Bryan every year carve fake pumpkins. That way they can keep them forever. I think that is an amazing idea and may just steal it. Hope you guys don't care. Anyway here some pics of our adventures.

Matt and Maddie

Cute, prego Allie

Andy and Bryan

Our little fam. Including our adorably challenged Matt in the background.

The finished creations. The smiley one is Matt and Maddie's. The scary grinned one is Andy's (quite the talent)

Bryan and Allie's creative fake pumpkins. Not bad at all.

Our little pirate

CAMPING

2011-01-31T22:40:00.005-06:00

Another fun event we got to do in October was go camping! Well I guess we'd have to call it wussy camping cuz we didn't stay over night. But it was a lot of fun. Our good friends Allie and Bryan Shumway planned a camping trip. Keep in mind at this point Allie was like 7 1/2 months pregnant. She's a brave one isn't she. They invited all of our good friends and it was a great turn out. We ate yummy chocolate, carmel banana's and just had fun around the fire. The camp grounds were actually a lot better than I thought they would be considering there are no mountains in Texas. I liked them so much I want to go back. Nixon did awesome. He was in a ton of layers and just enjoyed being passed around. Thanks Bryan and Allie for inviting us! We had so much fun!

The two who made it all happen. Bryan and Allie.

Grant and Kelsie Tanner and Emily Mallory

Yummy caramel, banana, thingys

Matt and Maddie

Logan and Emily

Caitlin and Hugh

Us three

The whole crew

The Philipp Fam

2011-01-27T10:43:00.015-06:00

BYU vs. TCU:
October was quite the eventful month. On the 16th Mark, Colleen, Craig, Amanda and Jana and Joslyn came out to see the TCU vs. BYU game. Mark was kind enough to get everyone tickets to the game and we all enjoyed it. The sun was facing us most of the game as you will be able to tell from the pictures, but we had fun anyway. Unfortunately BYU lost, but at least TCU wasn't too harsh on us. Thanks Mark and Colleen for the tickets. We loved it. We also loved having everyone here and hope they come back soon.

Sorry for not taking very good pictures, but this is all I had

Colleen takin care of Nix. Nix showing off his famous spit up. What a proud mother I am.

Craig feeling the intensity of the game

Staring into the sun or not Mark did not take his eyes off the game

cute pregnant Jana holding Joslyn getting into the game

Texas State Fair:

While they were here, we got the chance to go to the state fair for our second time since we've lived here. It was a lot of fun. Of course we managed to get no pics of the family except for one. The rest are of the fair, so enjoy. :)

While we were waiting in line for tickets (which are not cheap), there were these cute old man that were walking by me and Amanda. They already had tickets, so they were able to walk right in. Before they walked in, one of them turns to me and says here you go sweetie and hands me a ticket. I thought that was just the sweetest thing! What a nice old man. I won't ever forget him.

repeat pic of Nana and Nixon on the train to the state fair

We got to ride the ferris wheel this year. It was really pretty cool. We had a neat view of the fair, the Cotton Bowl and Dallas. When we stepped in the cart, there were three ladies sitting across from us and I think they thought Andy and I were boyfriend and girlfriend, because we had both forgotten to wear our rings. The ladies were gawking over us the entire time saying "oh you are so cute!" "So in love" " Do you want us to take a picture of the two of you with our phones, we'll email it to you?" ha ha! Andy actually ended up having his phone, and this pic was the result. Gotta love sweet Texas people! Little did they know we'd been married for three years and had a baby.

Two Love Birds

View of Dallas

Cotton Bowl

View of the fair

Thanks again Philipp's for coming to see us! We sure loved having you here.

First Rangers Game

2011-01-27T10:09:00.014-06:00

Take Me Out To The Ball Game:
Adding on to the last post. Back in October we had the opportunity to go to our first Rangers game. My brother in law gave Andy tickets for Christmas last year. This year had been so crazy busy that we weren't sure if we were gonna be able to get the chance to go, but we most certainly did. We went on the last game of the season. We had front row seats that were awesome. Thanks Chris!! We had an awesome view of course and we had a blast. We were a bit worried about taking a 3 month old to a loud baseball game, but he did great! We had him dressed in baseball p.j's and he was a hit! Since it was the last game of the season, people were extra crazy! The Rangers did awesome as you all know and won. They then went onto the playoffs where they were so close but didn't quite take it! Oh well GO RANGERS!

Play Ball

Rangers Stadium

Nix representin

Andy's Nixon hat

Nixon was doing great until the crowd started cheering. That was a bit loud for him. He cried the first few times but then eventually got used to it and even fell asleep. This is Nix showing his true feelings about the noise.

This was our special way of keeping him asleep. It worked pretty well.

Fast asleep

Thanks to Chris Ericson for giving Andy/us the tickets! We really had a blast and are so happy we had the opportunity to go.

Long and awaited....

2011-01-20T13:58:00.021-06:00

Well I am super embarrassed to say that it has seriously been 5 + months since I blogged last. Nixon is now old and we've done so many fun things since the last time I posted. I don't have many pics to account for everything. But I will try and make sure to mention everything. So here goes....

The day after we left the hospital to take Nixon home, we had to go see a Neurologist to do some tests on Nixon. While we were in the hospital, Nixon started doing some weird shakes that seemed liked he had the hiccups but with no hiccups. His body would jump consistently for a few minutes and then it would stop. It happened a few times and we thought maybe it is just a weird newborn thing, but then it happened when a nurse was holding him and she got really worried and went and put him on some machines to monitor his heart. They kept him on the monitor for quite some time and kind of left us in the dark. It really started to worry me. They brought him in after a while and said that he didn't do the jumping the whole time he was being monitored. I then held him and he went into a deep sleep and started the jumping again. We came to the conclusion that he did it only when he was in a deep sleep. The hospital was worried about it, so they made us an appointment to get some tests done. When we brought him into the office, everyone was so sad to see such a young baby having to get these tests. You can't tell very well in the pictures, but they had to attach 100 + sticky wires to his tiny head and then had to monitor him while he was in a deep sleep. It was so sad to see. The hardest part really was pulling off the sticky wires. He didn't like that. Guess I wouldn't like my hair getting pulled 100 + times either. Poor baby. The good thing was, things came out negative. He wasn't having seizures, which they were worried about and he was just fine. Just a young baby. He grew out of it by about a month and a half.

Attaching all the wires

You can't tell, but that is all the wires hanging down

A few days later, Colleen (Nana) came out to help me with Nixon and to see all of us. We unfortunately didn't get any pics while she was here, but we were so glad she came. She was a huge help with driving me around since I couldn't drive and feeding us and cleaning up around the house. We were so grateful to have her around. Like I said we didn't get any pics of her while she was here, but here is a pic with her and Nix when she and the fam came out in Oct. They were on a train.

Two days after Colleen left, Liz and the kids came out to meet our little man. I wasn't able to be with them as much as I wanted because much of the time I was in the car nursing, or putting the baby to sleep, or nursing in the house while they were at the pool, or nursing, nursing and nursing some more, but I was happy to be able to see them at least for a bit. When they got here, Preston (8 years old) said, " So this is Texas huh? " "I thought there was supposed to be dirt roads, tumble weeds and people riding horses?"(read that in a cowboy accent, cuz that's how he talks) "I didn't even think people were allowed to have cars here." Sorry Prest, hate to disappoint ya. We got a laugh out of that one. We then asked Preston what he wanted to do while he was here, and he said "Eat all the delicious Texas food." Little did he know Texas is known for barbecue, which means meat and Preston hates meat, so he ate rice most of the time he was here since that's all he likes. Ha ha! Gotta love him. We did go to the stock yards of course and to a few fun food places, but mostly they had fun at the pool. We were so happy to have them here and are excited for them to come back one day.

Liz, Lauren and Preston in a small town called Roanoke. Cutest town you'll ever see. You can tell how often they were at the pool just by looking at their black skin in this pic. :) They got so dark by the time they left.

Andy and Lauren just being their cute selves

Yee Haw, now this is a little taste of Texas

Eating a bomb Oreo shake at a Bomb hamburger place called Twisted Root

5 weeks after Nixon was born, we went to the west coast.... good o'l Cali. Curtis, Andy's brother got married to a beautiful bride named Heidi.

First plane ride. He did awesome. People were complimenting him on the plane.

The Bride and Groom

The wedding was beautiful and they are just a gorgeous couple. It was fun to get to know Heidi a little bit better and to introduce Nixon to the family.

I have to admit I was a stress case the whole time I was there (sorry Philipp's) because becoming a new mom wasn't easy for me. Some women fit into the role of a mother perfectly and never get frustrated or discouraged and are able to nurse perfectly, work around schedules perfectly, go without sleep perfectly, and then there is me. Nixon is an amazing baby and has been from the start, but it took me some time to figure things out and learn how to accommodate to him and others. While I was in California, I was still very much learning and trying to be a part of the wedding as well as meet the needs of my newborn. I don't think I did the best job of it, but I tried. Either way I really enjoyed the wedding and enjoyed being with family and being apart of the beautiful scenery in California. I am so happy for Curtis and Heidi and happy to have Heidi join our family.

Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Three boy cousins, one on the way in Feb.
Nix, Mase, and Stock

The Fam minus all the chillens

The girls minus Heidi and Colleen

Nix man 5 weeks old

After the wedding, we got to go to San Fran thanks to Mark and Colleen. It was my first time ever going there and I really enjoyed it. I couldn't believe just how beautiful it was there, but then again coming from Texas any scenery is beautiful. :) The weather was quite gloomy, but it was still quite majestic. We got to go on a tour and were able to sit on the top of the bus. It was freezing cold, but really fun. It was so interesting to learn about San Fran and also realize how darn expensive it is to live there. We went through China town, which was just like China, and past the Full House home. It was awesome! Thanks Mark and Colleen! We didn't get many pics while we were there, so I had to steal some from Becky. She's the best at remembering to take pics. Thanks Bec. :)

All the clan

Full House

On top of the bus. In front of Full House

Andy found himself a Nixon hat

Thanks to Becky and Chris for stopping by the Golden Gate Bridge. It was pretty darn awesome to see. Just loved it.

Congrats to Curtis and Heidi for their beautiful wedding and Thanks to Mark and Colleen for the trip to San Fran. We had a lot of fun.

Nixon James

2010-08-07T15:41:00.008-05:00

Sorry to everyone for such a late post! We have had company at our house since July 4th and so I haven't had much time to update. This is going to be a long post because I want it for my journal, so if you don't want to read it, I don't blame you. Otherwise, I hope this gives you the details you have been wanting. So here's the story along with some pics of our little sweety. From the beginning, the docs office told me I was due with Nixon on July 11th. When I went in for my twenty week appointment, I was measuring earlier and so they told me I would be due on the 9th. From that day on, I planned on him being due on the 9th so that date was set in my head. I have to say, I had VERY HIGH hopes (not a good idea in pregnancy) that I would have him two weeks early. Both my sisters had their babies early and my mom did too. So in my head of course, I thought for some ODD reason I would be just like them. Boy was I wrong. My mom, thinking the same thing, decided to come out on the 4th of July just in case he was early. By the time she came out, I hadn't dilated at all and was showing no signs of progression. I was starting to get really worried that she wasn't going to be able to be here for his birth because she would be leaving on the 14th. I kept thinking "what if this baby comes late?" While she was here, the pregnancy turned for the worst in my eyes. I was getting bigger and bigger by the moment. I litterally looked like my normal self from behind, and then when I turned to the side, I looked like someone shoved a large beach ball up my shirt. Obviously I was quite uncomfortable like all pregnant women and on top of that I developed a major rash on my stomach called PUPP. Only 1% of women get this and it happens in your first and only first pregnancy and usually if you are pregnant with a boy. This rash was HORENDOUS!!!!! (however you spell that) I seriously wanted to cut off my stomach just so the itching would stop. I was told by the doc that the only way the rash would go away, was to give birth...OF COURSE!! That was the last thing on earth I wanted to hear considering I was not progressing AT ALL. Well, we decided to make the best of the situation, and enjoy the time we were able to spend with my mom here. She and I did a lot of swimming and she taught me a lot about different kind of meals I could freeze. It was nice spending time with her and I was grateful for her knowledge and grateful to have here there to help stop me from going insane. As the week went on, we decided that he was going to come on the due date that I had been told, JULY 9th. July 9th came and went. So then I thought, ok July 10th. That's the day I thought before the docs office ever told me a date. I woke up the morning of July 10th and was as emotional and discouraged as could be. I couldn't bare the thought of another day of being pregnant and rashy. I told Andy and my mom that I was going to get in the shower to get ready for the day. While I was in the shower, I kept praying that he would come soon, but thought Heavenly Father's wishes and my wishes were a little different. Right as I turned off the shower, I felt a weird sensation. I thought "did my water just break?" Obviously that was a little hard to tell considering the fact that I was in the shower. So I stood there quietly thinking maybe I'll feel it again, I did. I then got out of the shower and opened the door to ask my mom what your water breaking feels like. As she was telling me, it happened again. So we decided to take off to the hospital. I didn't want to get my hopes up or anyone elses, so I kept telling them not to get too excited, it may be a false alarm. Once we checked into the hospital, they checked me and the fluid was coming out negative (not amniotic fluid). Everyone was quite confused, because it kept coming out of me. They were about to send me home, when the nurse said she wanted the doc to come and do a different test. The doc came in and they concluded that part of my water had broken. Just the top part. Really weird. Because that had happened, I was going to be admitted to the hospital and would have to have the baby within 24 hours because of risk of infection. I wasn't contracting much and was only dilated to a 1 so they started me on pitocin. The doc told me I was quite narrow down there, so the possibilty of a c-section, was higher. She then asked me what I wanted to do now that labor was going to be starting. I then called a labor and delivery nurse in my ward and asked her what she thought I should do. She told me that since the possibility of a c-section was so high, I shouldn't go through all the pain of labor and get the ephideral as soon as possible. I told the doc that was what I wanted to do and she said ok. Once the contractions started getting pretty painful, I asked for the ephideral. Once that was given to me, I felt like a million bucks. I was able to sleep through the night and woke up in the morning feeling pretty good. I dilated only to a 6 by the time morning came and the progression was going very slowly. The nurses then came in to tell me that every time I would have a contraction, the baby's heartrate would go down. They said it was possible the cord was around his neck and it was pulling on him everytime I would have a contraction. They said many babies are born like this, but if I don't start dilating faster, then it will become a risk to the baby. They monitored me for a few more hours and still no progression. The doctor then came in and said, " it is looking more and more like you will have to have a c-section, you are not progressing fast enough and the baby is getting stressed. What do you want to do?" I said " how much time will you give me before you decide to do that?" She said " 40 minutes. If you have not progressed to a 9 or 10 by then, then we will need to do a c-section" I really didn't want to have a c-section! I was so sad, because all of my expectations and hopes of this pregnancy were not working out the way I was hoping. I wanted to scream! I then asked Andy to come say a prayer with me. I said the prayer and while saying it, felt very overwhelmed with the spirit of the Holy Ghost. I felt comfort and peace. Once I had stopped praying, I knew that everything was going to be ok and that whatever happened would be for the best. The doc came back in and there was no progression, so we decided to go into c-section. The few exciting things about that moment was knowing that we would get to meet our little guy at any moment, He was going to be born on July 11th afterall 7/11 what a cool birthday, free slurpees for life, and he was also going to be here in time to meet my mom. How grateful I was for that. The c-section went smoothly and Andy even watched and recorded the whole thing. It was a weird feeling. I could feel them tugging on me, but that was it. Once they pulled Nixon out, they found that the cord was around his neck and that he was facing the wrong direction (face up) so I would of had to have a c-section anyway. They stuck him over the curtain that was covering my view from the surgeryand it was so surreal. I couldn't believe that he was here. Hearing his little cry was so sad and yet exciting. They then handed him to Andy, I was so happy to have him out of me and in that moment in Andy's arms. We didn't have a name yet, but both Andy and I liked Nixon, so after being in the hospital for two days with no name, we decided to name him Nixon James Philipp. We have found that people either love that name or hate it, but either way we love and think it fits him. Ever since the moment of him entering this world, we have been crazy busy and full of love, concern, stress, emotions, nursing, nursing and more nursing. This really is a roller coaster ride, but I am so happy to have him here. We've had so much help from everyone!!! Andy's mom came and stayed with us for a bit. She was so helpful and SO generous to us. It was fun to see her with Nixon and we are so glad he was able to meet her. The ward has also been extremely helpful, with all the meals and visits. We have really appreciated it. My sis and her kids were the last to come and just left on Wednesday. She was also very helpful and it was a lot of fun to get out of the house and enjoy some time with them. We miss everyone already. Thank you to everyone for all your prayers, love and support. We couldn't be more blessed to have such amazing family and friends. We love you all!!!!

Beach Ball

Andy in the hospital waiting for me to get through labor

A moment of pain

First family photo

Momma and Nixon

Nixon James

Grammy & Nixon

Who is more tired?

Look at my Mohawk

Out at the pool

Dear Andy

2010-08-07T15:27:00.003-05:00

I just recently saw that post done by you and have to say, THANK YOU!!! Sometimes it's hard as you are going through all the adventures of pregnancy and being a new mom to know that someone is out there looking out for you. You have been so helpful to me. Thank you so much for your support in the hospital! I was so scared when they told me I was going to have to have a c-section. I've never been through surgery and didn't know what it was going to be like, I of course tried to act tough, but I'm so lucky you were there by my side through the entire thing. I keep thinking how hard it would be to be someone who has a baby all alone. I can't even fatham going through that all alone. Thank you so much for understanding my needs as I was in the hospital barely able to move. You were always on your toes and seemed to just know what I needed. Thank you for taking care of our little guy when we first got home. It was so difficult for me to try and move myself with only my arms. There was no way I could get out of bed to help feed and take care of Nixon. You were so sweet how you popped up at every peep he made. I know at times you were so tired and out of it, but you still managed to take care of both of us. Thank you for picking up after me ( time and time again when I would drop something), thank you for getting me food to take with my medication, bringing me a drink of water, helping me get up, always checking on me, making sacrifices for me, and for just loving me. You are such a sweet, big hearted person and I am so lucky to have you as my husband! I love you so much!

Love your Wifey

My Birthday

2010-07-24T06:21:00.006-05:00

Dear Beka,
Yesterday was my birthday. Honestly it was pretty boring day, woke up at 6:30 and went to work. Had a great lunch in a gas station and tried to get my mom to eat Sushi...at least she liked the Boba. But yesterday was best birthday I have ever had.
Right now it is a little before 6 am. Nixon has slept pretty well but has decided (or not decided, maybe he does not have a lot of choice in this) to have irrational timing when he poos. Seems like as soon as you remove the diaper he decides it’s a little too cold and is time to pull the trigger and unload.
You have just spent the last 5 mins trying to salvage the blanket somewhat so you don’t have to wash it again. He is only 13 days old and his blankets and clothes are starting to lose their color.
This has become the established routine in our tiny 600 square foot apartment. Sacrificing a lot of "our" time, energy, sleep, and bodies for this little guy. However it is not "ours" it is "yours". I may do my best and help out where I can, but a dad can only do so much. To watch you give and give and give to this little guy truly amazes me.
From the day we moved to Texas you have been sacrificing for him. As soon as we moved here you were in a new place without family or friends (we have a lot of friends now...we are pretty cool), you found yourself in transition phase. Finding it difficult to start a new job, because it would only be temporary, you were left alone, in a new place, looking like the lazy wife (at least in your eyes) who didn't want to work.
Fortunately you were blessed to find an awesome family to nanny for. M, T, & Z couldn't have been better for you. They were good friends and the timing was perfect.
Pregnancy wasn't bad. You were not sick, no complications, things were pretty good. But nonetheless it is still hard for you or any woman to go through the changes of pregnancy. Up going pee 7 times a night, start getting weird aches and pains, stomach slowly continues to grow until it looks like you are carrying a basketball up your shirt (I am not over representing that), the skin on your stomach getting stretched so thin that only way your body knows how to react is to break out in this unusual rash that itches so bad that no medical ointment or homemade remedy could relieve.
To go through labor, delivery, and now recovery.
You were poked and prodded, checked and re-checked, dilated to only have a c-section anyways.
Now you are recovering. Doing everything you can to get your body to work the way it used to. I swear you almost broke the headboard the other night. You needed to sit up to feed Nixon and they only way you could, was to grab the headboard above you and pull yourself up. I am sure that made you cramp up in some weird place right underneath your armpit. You have been up and down around the clock feeding him, changing his diaper, and talking to him.
You have done all this with tears in your eyes, some from crying and some from laughing.
You have done all this for us.
Thank you for all you have done and all you will do. Thank you for the best birthday ever.
Much Much Love,
Andrew James

Yes yes. Pictures are coming soon

P.S. - Happy Birthday Karl Malone

Trip to Utah

2010-06-01T14:08:00.023-05:00

Andy and I went to Utah a couple weeks ago. We went separately because Andy couldn't take off much work. He's trying to save up for when the baby comes. I went for a week and he went for about 4 complete days. We decided after splitting up, that if we ever travel separately again, we will still come back together. It's hard to leave family when you are alone. I felt bad that Andy didn't get to spend a whole lot of time there, but he still enjoyed the trip either way. While we were there, we had a couple of showers. One with girlfriends that Deborah planned (thanks Deb) and one with family that my mom planned (thanks mom). So many people contributed to the showers with food and decorations. Thank you so much to all of you! It was so nice to be able to see everyone, and we really appreciated all the support we got from friends and family. Although, I will never fly so late in pregnancy again,:) I really enjoyed my trip. Thank You so much everyone for all your gifts and support! We really appreciate it. Here are a few pics from the trip.

Mall with Nephew Holden and Niece Lauren:

Friend Shower:

All three of us due within about 2 months of each other. Kinda crazy!

All the girlies. Left to right. Kim (little Kapri), Molly, Heather ( little Livvy), Ailee, Sara, Karli (Baby Ailee named after other Ailee :)), Mckensie, Me and Janae.

Jo had to come late with two little ones at home, so we got our own pic together. :)

Momma and daughters

Just wanted to say a special thanks to Deborah for planning this and sending out the invitations. I really appreciate it. Thanks to Mom, Deb and Liz for the help with the yummy brunch. I loved it! Thanks to everyone else for coming and supporting me! I really appreciate it! It was so good to see everyone! You guys are great!

The Mayan:

We got to go to the Mayan with my family and some extended family. It was a lot of fun and was great to see my Aunts Pat (who travelled from Idaho), Lin and Judy and my cousin Joni. Thanks you guys for coming!

Aunt Judy and Mayan man

Nephew Preston, Joni and HoldenPreston and Lauren

Family Shower:

We unfortunately weren't able to get many pics of the family shower, but all of mine and Andy's family were there with the exception of Brad, Jana and Joslyn. I also had some of my extended family there. My aunts Lin and Bev and my cousins Aria and Clay. A special thanks to my mom for planning it all and making food and thank you to everyone else for the food contributions and the gifts. We really appreciate it and loved it all.

Holden Turns One:

Holden turned one on the 18th of May. I'm glad that I was able to be there. Unfortunately Andy had to leave the day before. It was an adorable Yo Gabba Gabba theme. Chris even made Holden a Yo Gabba Gabba shirt. It was so cute. Holden seemed to love it. Happy Birthday little guy.

Holden eating his cupcake

Opening presents

This toy by far was his favorite. He wouldn't let it go. He loves cell phones. Especially the buttons and when they light up. This toy did both of those things, he couldn't get enough of it.

That's all the update for now. More to come soon. My Texas shower with friends and our trip to San Antonio..... both coming soon.

Mother's Day!

2010-06-01T13:47:00.006-05:00

This year was my first Mother's Day ever. Although I am not quite a mom yet, I sure am carrying this heavy one with me wherever I go, so I guess that counts as being a mom. :) Andy was super sweet and did so much for me. I loved it. I think this is one holiday I am really gonna look forward to every year. :) I woke up to the smell of yummy cooked ham and when I came into the kitchen I saw this waiting for me....

It was delicious! Andy is awesome at making breakfast food. It was a ton of food (obviously shared between the two of us), but I loved every bit of it.

I loved the book as well. It is a Baby Book that has tons of information in it. Anything from geneology to their first words. I love it. I've already started filling it out and want to have the thing full one day.

After breakfast, we got to talk to my little brother on his mission and he sounded like he was doing awesome. He was so upbeat and positive and seemed to be really enjoying himself. It was good to talk to him.

At church I teach the 16 and 17 year olds in Sunday School. I enjoy it, but let's just say teaching the Old Testament to teenagers is a little rough. But they are great, so that helps. For Mother's day, the men took over and taught any classes that mothers teach. It was great! I didn't even need to teach. We also got King size candy bars.. I'll take that anyday.

After church, Andy wouldn't let me do anything. He did it all. He made dinner and did the dishes (he always does these anyway, he's great!) and wouldn't let me move a muscle. It was nice and relaxing. Now can you see why I already love this holiday?

Thanks Andy for being such an amazing husband and for all the small and big things you do for me! You are so sweet, patient and supportive and I couldn't have asked for a better hubby! Thanks for the sweet Mother's Day! Only hope I can repay the favor on Father's Day! I sure love you!

Time for an update! Way overdue!

2010-06-01T12:39:00.020-05:00

Well, lets just say this is a post long overdue. Back in the first of April, over Easter, Mark and Colleen came out to visit us. Like always we forgot our camera on every outing we went on and so all the pics we took were on Mark and Colleen's camera, so I had to wait for our trip to Utah to get the pics. So now that I have them, it's time to share.

The Stockyards:

This horse was sooo awesome! I was trying to take a pic of him and the owner turned to him and said SMILE! Well he did just that. I loved it!

Everyday at 11:00 and 4:00 the cattle come and slowly walk through town. They've got some LONG HORNS

Dallas Cowboys Stadium Tour:

This place is HUGE! It took about 2 hours to tour the whole thing. It is one expensive, amazing place.

The Locker Room... People have banquet dinners in this room, kinda gross, but it is a nice carpeted locker room.

Downtown Dallas:

The window Kennedy was shot from

We loved having Mark and Colleen here. They were here for a short weekend, but we had a blast while the time lasted. It was fun to be able to share Texas with them. When they got here, we went and ate at our favorite seafood restaurant called Papadeaux's. It was amazing. We then showed them our small, tiny apartment and had things planned for the days to come. We went to the Stockyards, Texas BBQ, a yummy burger joint called Twisted Root, Dowtown Dallas, Uptown Dallas, The Cowboys Stadium, Malls (to shop for baby philly), had a yummy Easter dinner and watched conference together. It was a good trip and we missed them already right after they left. Thanks Mark and Colleen for coming and everything you did for us while you were here!! We love You!

Grateful!!!

2010-03-25T17:55:00.006-05:00

My heart has been full of gratitude lately. I feel I have so much to be grateful for and I don't express it as much as I need to. I am so grateful that I have a healthy, growing baby that I get to meet soon. I feel this is something that so many of us take for granted. It's easy to complain about the aches and pains of pregnancy, but those aren't important. The important thing to remember, is to be grateful that your body has provided a way for that tiny baby to exist. I am so grateful for that. I am grateful for a job that gives me experience so I can be prepared for a baby. I am grateful for the sunshine when it comes out (I miss it). I am grateful that I have an amazing family and in laws. Not everyone has that. I am grateful for supportive friends and their fun personalities. The thing I am most grateful for at this time is Andy. He is the BEST husband! Ever since the beginning of pregnancy I have seen him in a different light. The light I saw him in before was already pretty bright, but now it is much brighter. I see him as a Daddy now. I've always thought Andy would be a great Dad. He is amazing with kids and has such a big heart. I love how he talks to my belly like it is the actual baby. I know our little boy will just love him. Now that I see Andy as a Daddy, I know how important he is to not only me, but our baby. It seems I want him to be safer, and more careful because I don't want anything to ever happen to him. I love him more and become more proud of him everyday. I am so grateful for his hard work and his effort in taking me on dates. He tries so hard to make me feel special. I am so grateful that he tries to understand me as I go through so many changes. He is a great comforter! I feel so blessed to be with him and can't wait to be a parent with him. Thank you Andy, for being the best. I love you!

Don't these pictures say amazing husband and soon to be dad?! I think so!!

Quick Prego Update...

2010-03-25T17:42:00.004-05:00

I have tried to wear the same thing in all my pregnancy pics so that I can really see the pregression (Andy's Idea), so I am sorry for the hideous attire, but here you go for those who have been asking. I am 25 weeks and counting. I have been feeling great during the day and not so great at night, but I can't complain. I feel blessed to have a good pregnancy for the most part.

Baby Business!!!!

2010-02-16T20:40:00.018-06:00

From PLUMP......

To BUMP in just two weeks.

Please, please excuse the NASTY pictures, but I just wanted to show the crazy progression in such a short amount of time....CRAZY!!!!!

I want to first say, that I am not the one that makes the comments on that baby bar on the top of this page. It is a website, and I must admit, the things it says are STRANGE! So please don't judge me by what that thing says. :)

Next, I want to introduce you to baby Philly. Before I explain what these pics are and help you to know baby Philly's gender, I want to tell you a story. Yesterday I went to get my haircut, when I sat down, the lady doing my hair asked what I was having. I told her that I did not know yet and that I would be finding out tomorrow. Just then, the Chinese lady doing the man's hair next to us pipes in and says " I tell all my clients baby's gender!" "I tell one client it a girl, and it a girl. I tell another client it a boy, and it a boy." "I learn how to do this from great ancestors." I then say to her, "Well great! After I get my hair cut, tell me what you think." As soon as I got done, the woman comes over to me and starts vigorously rubbing my belly with her eyes closed. When she finishes doing that, she then tells me to turn around and select a leaf off the plant behind me without letting her see it. So I do as the woman says. She then tells me to show it to her. I show her the leaf, and then she looks at it and says "Girl!" It was quite strange but a intersting and funny experience. She then asked me to call her after I had the results to let her know if she was right.

Well, I'm not sure exactly what her ancestors taught her, but whatever it was, they taught her wrong!

Baby Philly is a BOY!

This is his cute profile up close

This is a pic of his wee wee. Hard to explain how to see it, so try and see it for yourself or just believe me. :)

This is a smaller profile showing a little more of his tiny little body.

Well what can we say, we are quite excited!! We went out and celebrated by eating lunch at The Olive Garden and Andy went back to work while I bought him his first little outfit. No names yet, but we are happy to know we have a healthy baby boy.

Christmas in Fort Worth Update....I know, way past due

2010-02-16T18:13:00.019-06:00

This year before Christmas we went to the parade of lights here in Fort Worth Texas. It was really neat. Not like anything I had seen before. Just wanted to let you all be apart of it... even though it is way passed Christmas. As you can see from the pictures, this parade has Texas written all over it....

The town all lit up and there was a little placefor Santa to sit.

These people were so talented. The were standing on top of the horses while the horses were walking..amazing!

They looked like angels. They were beautiful!

A Carriage all lit up.

Of course there has to be the burley men on their motorcycles..

This old fashioned car looked a lot cooler then the pictures makes it look.

They had a lot of firetrucks in the parade, but I liked this one the most.

Carrollers.

After the parade was over, all the people gathered around in an area called Sundance Square and waited for this tree to be lit. It was really pretty and a lot of fun! The best part was it was December and the weather was perfect! Wish it woulda stayed that way.

SO MUCH NEWS!!!

2010-01-10T21:45:00.004-06:00

Two months past due on an update and tons and tons of news to tell. First bit of news, my little bro got his mission call. He is going to the Atlanta Georgia North mission and will be reporting to the MTC on January 27th. This is big news for him because he has been trying to go for the past year, but because of health problems hasn't been able to get out there. We are very happy for him and feel this is a great adventure for him to start.

Second bit of news, we had a great time in Utah for Christmas ( pictures are coming). We loved seeing our family!!! While we were there our nephew Preston was baptized, niece Joslyn was blessed, brother Matt took out his endowments, and oh, we announced WE ARE HAVING A BABY!! More to tell later.

Last bit of news, I got a job. I am now officially a nanny. I nanny for a two year old little cutie and work 2 full days a week and one half day. It's been a lot of fun, and I really like the family and my schedule.

That's it for our news, pictures and more to tell are coming soon.

A Visit From The Little Bro....

2009-11-23T14:10:00.017-06:00

Well guess my last post worked. I just knew as soon as I posted pictures of our cozy little place, someone would come a knockin...Yes I did it! My little brother Matt came to visit us this past week. He is getting ready to go on his mission (papers are in, waiting for the call) and he decided to come see Texas before he left on his journey. We were so happy to have him come. We had fun while he was here and visited some fun places. Thanks Matt for coming! Here are some pics of our adventures.

Our Yummy Food.

The night he came in, we went to downtown Fort Worth and ate at a place called UNO. It was Italian food and it was really good. We found the place after searching throughout the city for something to eat. We were glad we chose this place.

Downtown Fort Worth was lit up with lights for both Christmas and because they light the buildings at night, it was really pretty so we took a stroll around the town.

After the stroll through town, Andy had a little something up his sleeve and took us to the Stockyards, to a place called Billy Bob's. Billy Bob's is a huge place full of events, One thing going on that night was Josh Gracin had a concert and we had seats close to the stage. It was a lot of fun, Matt hadn't been to a concert in years so it was quite the fun experience for him.

Later in the week we went to the Fort Worth Zoo. There we saw this bright thing chomping on a little something. I'm not sure if you can see, but he is holding something in his hand. When we looked at him closer we saw that he was chomping on none other then his (or someone elses) poop. We watched, laughing and being disgusted. Just as he finished and we were about to leave, we see him doing something with his mouth, he then spits out a nicely rounded blob of poop into his hand and began to eat it again.....GAG ME!!!!! That did the trick, we, and the rest of the crowd left dry heaving because of what we had just seen. GROSS! And people like to say we were once these bright creatures....I beg to differ.

Here are just a few of the many animals we saw. The White Tigers were my favorite. I think they are just beautiful. We had a lot of fun at the zoo and the weather was really nice.

We went to a lot of other places that aren't pictured like malls, movie theaters and places to eat, but best of all was the COWBOYS STADIUM.....

We wanted to go on a tour of the stadium, but when we looked up prices and times we found out they would be closed before Andy got off work. So we decided to just go over there and look around at the stadium from the outside. Well when we got there, the place looked opened and there were a lot of people going inside with name tags on. We decided to go in and check it out. We were able to shop around their shop that was inside and then we went to go around on the otherside of the stadium. I stayed in the car while Andy and Matt went to get closer to see if they could look in the doors. When they approached the doorway, the security guards opened the doors for them, thinking they were apart of the rest of the people. So they walked right in and got to look around. Matt was too scared the whole time, so they didn't stay in there long, but he got to see the field at least. They could have seen more, but Matt, just couldn't stay calm. Ha Ha. He loved it though.

And that does it for our adventures. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed having him out here. Sorry this is such a long post.

Our Little Place We Like To Call Home....

2009-11-02T12:55:00.019-06:00

Well I guess it was about time we showed it to everyone. It's small, but fits us perfectly. Our apartments are called Amli and they are located in Fort Worth Texas. They are hidden back away from the road and are located on a golf course. They have a clubhouse with a workout facility, internet cafe and conference room and then a nice pool. But those things aren't pictured. Haven't stepped foot in the pool yet. The weather has been nice, but not warm enough to swim. We've used the workout facility a lot already and it's been nice. So there you have it.

The View From the Entryway. Huge isn't it. ;)

The
View From the Left of the Entryway

The Kitchen

The Living Room and Couch

The Bedroom

The Bathroom

And Last But Not Least, The Beautiful Sunset View From Our Deck

That sums up the complete tour of our little place we like to call home. Hope you all want to come and visit us now. :) See you soon at my front door. :)

The Stockyards...Yee Haw

2009-10-20T11:28:00.015-05:00

The Stockyards are located in Fort Worth Texas just right near us. We had some friends tell us about them and decided to go this weekend. They were a lot of fun! They were very western and we heard a lot of strong cowboy accents. Definitely worth visiting.

Here are some fun things we saw....

Andy dressed as a jail bird....

Beka riding horses...giddy up horsey....

Cows dressed as women...

Boots used as vases...

Cowboys made of iron....

Long horns named Big Jake....

Trains driving through the village....

Love Shack's and Saloon's...

And last but not least, we even saw John Wayne!

That sums up our adventures at the stockyards, but stay tuned for pictures of our apartment are coming soon.....

Texas State Fair

2009-10-11T22:27:00.020-05:00

Here are some photos from a good ole day at the Texas State Fair.

It was a cloudy cold day in Texas, but we found some food to warm us up.

1. That's a lot of bacon!!!

2. Eating Belgian Waffles with our friends from left Emily and Peter Andrew, Steven and McKenna Dutcher, and Beka!!!

3. How bout one of these?

Found some games and trains

And the pig races

All and all, it was a good day at the Texas State Fair

Well it's hard to say goodbye and let go......

2009-10-07T10:19:00.002-05:00

Since I've been here in Texas, I have had some time to think. I don't have a job yet and Andy is gone a lot. One thing I have been thinking is how hard it is to say goodbye and let go of the past. I am excited about our new adventures here in Texas and I know it will be a great experience. But that doesn't make it easy to say goodbye to those you love and just hope that things will be great for them. This is a time to have faith and trust in the Lord that we are where we are supposed to be. I just want to say thank you to all of those who have been there to support us throughout our lives and our marriage. We love you!!

Here are some of those special ones we miss.....

.

Not pictured are baby Joslyn and Brad (sorry no pics of them) and also all of our wonderful friends. Thank You so much!!

We Made it!!!

2009-10-04T14:14:00.000-05:00

Well what can I say, I guess it took us moving all the way to Texas for us to start a blog. I don't have a clue what I am doing and am the most computer illiterate person out there, but I am learning.

We had a few nice greetings on the way here...
#1.

Nothing like driving in the dark mountains while the snow is falling and ice is on the streets. That was a pleasant surprise.

#2.

A family of these friendly critters walked across the street just as we approached Amarillo Texas. It was a warm welcome. :) I called Andy just after seeing them and said " Did you just see those HUGE spiders crossing the road!?" He said " Those were spiders!? I thought they were crabs!!!" Yep they were that big.

#3.

I'm sure most people have never heard of this place, but it is famous for it's challenge. It is called The Big Texan challenge. They challenge you to eat 72 oz steak (4 1/2 lbs), baked potato, salad and a roll.

If you can eat all of that in one hour then you will get it for free! It's nuts. A few people have accomplished this and one man ate two. YIKES!! This restaurant was a lot of fun. We didn't eat there, but there was lots to do there. Maybe by looking at the pics you'll have a desire to come visit us just to see this place. :)

Well as you can see from all of these pictures, everything really is bigger in Texas. Who woulda known?