Weddings!!

Dillon Hansen and my beautiful sister, Chelsea got married last May! They are so cute and are the male/female versions of themselves! Haha! I know I already posted about them, but wanted to link all of this together! 

 This is a pic of my parents at my brother, Travis and his new wife Valerie's wedding, which was 6 months later in November! My parents had a crazy fun year, with the birth of their first grandson, and the rest of their kids getting married!

 Travis and Valerie! We love Valerie! She is so sweet.

 My side of the family...

 Cute Dillon and Chelsea at the wedding!

 Turns out Tim and I are still in love! :)

 Look how cute little Grant is! I love his face!

 Our Family picture!

I have had a hard time blogging, obviously, but I do want to try every now and then, because this truly is my journal. I have loved this last year.  It has been so hard, and yet so rewarding! I am so thankful for my wonderful family, and to know that I get them forever is the best gift a young mama could receive!

Who who who doesn't love Owls?

These magnificent birds were spotted in my neighbors' fruit tree, and later, in our aspens.  We have no idea what kind they are, and assume these are the "kids"

 We guessed this was the dad

 The "mom" is hiding to the left, the "kids" in the middle, and the dad in the lower right.

It's kind of a funny story, Mrs. Olsen, my neighbor told me to come look at these cute little owls she had been looking at all morning.  "Oh, how amazing" I said, and then was like "Oh, there's another one, and another one!" She had only noticed the two kids, and hadn't even seen the mom and dad all morning. Haha. I immediately got my camera and took a million pictures.  Isla thought this was the greatest thing she had ever seen.  When Tim got home he couldn't believe we had been so lucky to see these fuzzy creatures. He explained how rare this was.  Rare or not, we relished in the moment...one I will never forget.  The owls have moved on to bigger and better trees, but we are thankful they stopped by for a visit!

She's going to the temple and she's....

going to get married!!!

 The happy couple, Dillon and Chelsea Hansen

 I think they like each other.

 Isla fell asleep on her way to the temple and was not in the mood for pictures.  We did have family pics done from the photographer that I will post when I get them!

 Below is my dad, his brother Joseph and President Gibbons and his wife, who are in our ward in Lewiston and who married Dillon and Chelsea! It was really special!

 Here is Mike and Jessica Pless, my only cousin (Jessica) that I was ever close to and they live in California now! They have the CUTEST little guy named Jack, who smiles at everyone! The only pic I took of him was blurry so you'll just have to take my word for it!

 Here is my other mother, Debbie, who came up from Price to watch my kids so I could go to the wedding!! What a woman! We sure do love her. Oh, and ya that's my dad, I don't know where my mom was! Haha, he's pretty great too!

So there you have it! A beautiful May wedding, with a handsome couple that moved too far away from me! I miss my Che-Che, but we plan on visiting her in Vegas soon!

What my body can do

I have to write this post, if just for me.  I have been beyond struggling with my weight and being okay with the way I look! I know, I know I just had a baby so why am I being so hard on myself? It's funny I never thought I was ever in very good shape, but now that I'm 15lbs heavier I would give anything to be my old self again. 
I've been kind of aggresive about loosing the weight.  I started off on meal replacement shakes almost right away and exercised as much as having a newborn and 3yr old would let me.  Then my birthday came. And I ate cake, lots of cake. Then Isla's birthday came and I ate more cake. Then it turned into wanting treats after every meal and eating chocolate chips all night long.  I felt totally out of control, and worst of all I was gaining weight. Dang. So I got angry and decided no sugar for me.  I've done relatively good. I had a cookie at a wedding, some chocolate on my anniversary, and had some chocolate chips here and there.  If I can keep it to this minimum, I'm good, but if I go out of control again, I fear I might have to cut sugar out completely again.
Today I stood in front of the mirror and wondered why I couldn't just love myself for who I was? Was it media? Was it that I felt unattractive for Tim? Was I uncomfortable in my own skin? Yes, yes, yes.
I got mad again. I don't want to feel this way. I want to be healthy and happy whatever that translates to as far as my body shape goes.
I thought about my body. It was time to focus on what it can do, not on what it looks like. 
I've always had big legs, but these tree trunk legs have let me run for miles and miles.
I have soft arms, but these arms let little heads lay on them when they don't feel good, and wrap around people I love so they can feel my love for them.
My stomach is stretched and saging, but this stomach brought two sweet spirits into this world, that will change the world for the better, and me forever.
My sweaty, nail-bitten hands will change diapers, wash dishes, make meals, wipe tears, and hold the hands of those I love.
My body is mis-shapen and lumpy, but oh what this body can do. Our Father in Heaven has given us these bodies to use, and to serve. Having a perfect body in not required to enter the celestial kingdom!
So the next time I see a mommy with a less than perfect figure, I'll not judge.
Let's all just be healthy and focus on what we can do not what we look like! Today I feel thankful and empowered, but I know this feeling won't last so I wrote it down so I can read it often.

30th B-day at the Tulip Festival

I was worried turning 30 would be heck-a-hard, but it wasn't so bad, especially when you are surrounded by tulips!! This was literally the only thing on the planet I wanted to do for my birthday, and it was well worth it. My dad took these amazing pics, so enjoy the beauty of this magnificent earth that our loving Heavenly Father gave us!

 Photo-bombed! Check out the lady in the background.  This secretly made my day! I laughed so hard!

 These tulips almost hurt your eyes to look at...color overload!

Grant Wayne Cardon

Introducing Grant Wayne Cardon!!! He came at about 11:47 on March 28th, I totally thought he would be born on the 29th, but came about 10mins too early! Enjoy the cute pictures taken by my awesome friend Catie Pilkington, but keep one eye closed when you look at pics of me. I do not have any make-up or hair done, not sure if I had even showered yet! Haha. I didn't expect to be in any pictures, but I love how cute Grant is in some of them, so I posted them. 

So my birth story is kinda funny. I went in to get monitored, because I was a bit over-due according to the last ultrasound.  Every time I had a contraction he had a little stress so they asked if I just wanted to have the baby....um ok! Normally I like to have everything go naturally but I was so sick of being pregnant, and the baby was uncomfortable, so I thought, what the heck!
The last time I had an epidural it took like 20mins for them to get it in, because I had "scoliosis" really? Anyhoo it was a bit traumatic, but it ended up working just fine, until they turned it off so I could push, but that's a different story for a different day. So I was nervous about getting the epidural again. The Dr calmed my fears told me everything would be great. So he put it in and I felt a shock all the way down my leg, and it freaked me out, and I almost passed out and vomitted. Then my heart-rate dropped, and they couldn't get it up so they put me on O2 and gave me shots and told me to never rule out a C-Section, because the baby wasn't liking this either.
After a couple hours I was feeling better, but my whole left side was so numb I couldn't even feel my leg, but my right side wasn't numb at all. They kept having me roll from side to side, but nothing was working and the thought of him messing with my epidural was too much. I'll just deal with it!
Then the real pain started! I could feel every contraction from the middle of my stomach down, and it was getting worse and worse. What was happening? Turns out when Grant dropped he was face up so the back of his giant head was pinching my nerve endings making the epidural ineffective.  Really? That can happen? With all the advancements in medicine that can happen? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! How you women give birth voluntarily without an epidural is beyond me.  I shook like crazy, holding onto the bed rails, and cried every time a contraction came.  I kept saying "not another one, I can't handle another one!" And then it came anyway, and Tim held my hand while I shook and cried. Finally, I could feel him coming out, but my Dr was no where to be seen. They told me not to push, but he was coming out anyway, and pushing felt so so so good! My body wanted him OUT! Dr. Cannon came in I pushed three times and he was out! Whew! I can't tell you how good I felt afterwards.  I was all pumped up on adrenaline. It was crazy! I loved life for about 2 hours, then the medicine that had pooled in my back went through my veins and I threw up and threw up and then fell asleep for like 3 hours and COULD NOT wake up! Haha
So in the end I told Tim no more kids. The pregnancies are too hard and the labors are too traumatic.  The next day I knew there was one more.  Dang it! Hopefully the next one will be a little easier on me, and I'm waiting a year before I even try unless the Lord has other plans for me.  I need a breather!
On a positive note, Grant is a good baby.  He had acid reflux, but is almost 2 months and is already growing out of it and doing better. I can't get enough of him. He is so sweet. I love babies! Isla is doing much better too. I told Tim after I had Grant I felt like my life got a huge drink of water.  I just needed him.  Life is better with him here.

This is getting old

"Even cowards can endure hardship; only the brave can endure suspense." -Mignon McLaughlin

I'm not brave. I'm still pregnant, and it's getting to the point where it's embarrassing! I seriously thought I would have had this baby weeks ago! I blew past my due date with no end in sight.  Why did they move it up anyway!?! They are so mean! Haha. The baby was measuring a week early because he knew he was going to be GIANT-sized! Do you want to know the worst part too? I've stopped exercising, because come on, I'm huge and uncomfortable, but to add to that I have eaten like junk for two weeks now. I honestly have craved healthy things up until now, which was a blessing...BUT I ate at Taco Stinkin Bell two nights in a row, and I usually HATE Taco Bell!! It's so processed and disgusting, but I loved every bite of my grilled stuffed burrito, and writing about it makes me want another one! Kill me now! Who AM I!?! My sis-in-law has me doing an herbalife diet as soon as baby comes out, so hopefully I regain composure exercise again and not feel like a walking cube of butter. As for now, I'm still prego, Isla is super sick and ornery, I keep spit-shining my house and putting on make-up just in case, and in the end the days go by and baby just keeps on getting bigger and bigger and consequently, so do I!

Tim's Birthday!!

Look at this ham! Anytime Isla wants me to make something, she runs and puts on this apron my aunt Denise gave her, and we bake! 

Cake drama!! So this year for Tim's birthday, he wanted a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, and chocolate ganache on top! OK! I can do that! I had so much fun making it, but got impatient and piped more PB frosting on top before the ganache cooled, and low and behold it all fell off! Haha! Well at least it still tasted good! 

 Timmy-poo on his Birthday!! I hope it was a good day for him.  I almost passed out blowing up those balloons! Don't blow up balloons two weeks before you due to give birth!

 

Lastly, I woke up this morning and wanted to document the fact that MY FEET ARE NOT SWOLLEN!!!! It's a miracle! I was so swollen with Isla. I have no idea what the difference is this time, I'm just greatful!! I gave myself a pedicure and need it to last until baby comes, which hopefully will be the next thing I post about!! 

The fringes of my life...more depth to come

This was me...face down on the ground! I had a loonnngg stressful crazy winter.  Not that we are out of the winter, but the craziness has definitely calmed down, and the fact that "The Bachelor" is on has helped out a ton too! Haha! We moved down the block into a better situation financially, floor plan-wise, and now we have heat and less dead animals! You can fill in the blanks, in short we are BLESSED!!

Now you get to view photos from my phone, because I lost the expensive camera Tim got for me in the move! Yikes! Nobody tell him! I WILL find it! We got family pictures done in Price last summer, and here is a sample.  I plan on getting another good family picture after baby brother is born.  P.S. I'm due in a month and (I know I say this way too often) but I seriously am huge right now.  Every time I bend over I feel like my stomach is going to split open! The ultra-sound tech told us he was going to either come early or be gigantic!

So how do you lose weight when you are 8 months pregnant? I think you try and count calories, but give up after 2 days, and you try and exercise, but it physically wipes you out, so you find funny things on-line and read them and laugh while eating oreos. Yep! I know that sounds crazy, but my beautiful, talented, hilarious sister just announced that she is getting married!!! YEA!! Oh, wait... it's one month after the baby is born and I will look like a puffer-fish. EHHH. I gave up on looking good for pics already.  How selfish am I to care what I look like? I am seriously beyond happy for Chelsea and cannot WAIT for her big day!! We all love Dillon (her future hubby) especially Isla! She is in love with Dillon.  It's no secret he's easy on the eyes, and Isla knows a handsome prince when she sees one!

Introducing.....The RING! Don't you love it?

So to end the randomness, I really will try and be a more faithful blogger.  I love to blog, but time has not been my friend. Please be patient with me, and excuse my bad grammar and we will get through this together!!

Updates galore!!

I seriously have been the WORST about blogging, and I promised I would be better, so bear with me, and enjoy the updates:

First, we all found out on Thanksgiving that I have a boy turkey in my oven! So fun! I can't look at this pic very long though, or I want to just eat cake...lots and lots of cake! 

Next, I bought baby boy clothes! Haha! I had to! I got scared because I have nothing for a boy! He's going to have to be cool in a pink bouncy chair though, just sayin'. 

So I seriously thought I had short hair in this pic, but I knew I wanted something shorter soooo..

 I cut it all off and then took a picture of me that looks like I haven't slept in days! I should probably put some make-up on the next time I take pictures too! Yikes. Seriously though, I am so so so tired all the time. I was never tired with Isla, but I also wasn't trying to take care of an "Isla", so maybe that has something to do with it. Plus my hips hurt so bad I feel like my legs are going to snap right off!  That and constantly having to potty makes it hard to sleep at night.

This is Isla and her grandpa...whom she adores.  They always have fun together, and I just happen to have some very lovely pictures of their adventures together. 

Isla went and saw the lights at Temple Square, and has asked to see the light every night since, so we went to Centerville to a little park with tons of lights and ran and ran.  Then we came to a cute little bakery with red noses and had cookies, doughnuts and hot cocoa.  What a fun night! 

Last: My bump! I feel just huge! This is a nice little pic of me with all black and being back-lit by the Christmas tree.  I felt like it shaved at least twenty pounds off of me! Haha. I'm definitely bigger this time around. Oh well! I can't believe I have 3 more months to go.  It seems so long, yet so so short! I bet I double in size by then too.  Don't worry, I'll post more pics if I do.  I think it's kinda fun to see how big I can get, I'll cry about it later! :)

Isla Buck-a-roo

I'm excited to blog about our latest experience with Isla, because boy has she been rough! We think she might be having nightmares at night, and having it be Halloween and all sure doesn't help! She was constantly waking up at night and never napping, and in turn was tired and ornery and threw tantrums every second. After many prayers, and changes to her bedtime and routine, we are making progress!! She only wakes up in the night once or twice a week, and she only skips a nap about the same! WHEW! I wasn't sure how I was going to get up with a toddler and a newborn! SO...here is the reward of being a parent: watching your child rock at riding a horse and being so brave at the wee age of 2!! I was shocked she got on, (she's afraid of everything) and then she grabbed hold of the horn and rode like she owned the place! Haha! It seriously made my insides sing.  It was so cute, and she was in HEAVEN!! 

 Tim cropped these pictures because he was in them and didn't want to be! What a stinker! I was so mad!

Tender mercy #2:  I had a super rough day a couple of weeks ago, with Isla not sleeping, and throwing tantrums, and I had to organize the Primary program and was in charge of sharing time all month, and Tim was working all weekend.  I had completely fallen apart that day.  Then my sister Chelsea called to check up  on me and gave me words of encouragement, and after fighting Isla to take a nap and just wanting to cry, Travis (my brother who lives in Roosevelt) showed up at my door! He took us out (I was seriously in sweatpants, with hair undone and no make-up) for ice cream and then we went up to the Bountiful Temple to enjoy the beautiful fall colors and amazing view. He saved me that day. What great siblings I have!!

 I just think this is funny: we have ANTS like crazy. We cannot get rid of them! It's an epidemic here in Bountiful.  Well there are always a few in the bathroom, and Morgan kitty will NOT come in the bathroom if she sees them crawling around on the floor! Haha! What a stinky kitty I have.