My Birthday

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

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!

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!

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!!!

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...

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.

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

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!!!

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....

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.