Saturday, January 24, 2015

Life As We Know It

I knew it had been awhile since I last posted (6 months! Really?!) and because of that I've been putting off posting again, cause well, the task seemed too overwhelming.  It still does, but I have a sick child who's been napping in 3 hour increments, so I figured, what the hell.

One word that could describe our last 6 months would be CRAZY.  I'm just going to touch on a few of the highlights, cause I know I don't want to be here all day, and I'm sure you, the reader, have far better things to do as well.

On October 25th, 2014, our not-so-baby Ava turned 2!  TWO people.  I have a freaking two year old. And my goodness is she wonderful!  They just get better with age :)  She is sassy and sweet, sensitive and hilarious.  She has turned into such an amazing little toddler, with a heart full of gold!  She is my best friend for life.  I don't know what I would do without her.  
 Like most girly 2 year olds these days (or any aged girl for that matter) she is obsessed with Frozen, so I found it only fitting to give her a Frozen themed birthday party.  It was just a small affair, but a good time nonetheless.
And it was unusually warm on her actual birthday, so we decided to take her out for a day of fun at Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point.  It was an absolute blast, and I'm thinking we may have to make it a tradition... weather permitting.

The holidays came and went in a blur, they always go by way too fast, but we had an enjoyable holiday season spent with family and friends! 

Daddy's 30th!


Halloween

Thanksgiving

Momma's 30th!

Christmas

And our very unfortunate Christmas Day car accident...
It was LITERALLY the first major snow storm of the season, so of course, all the idiots that don't know how to drive in snow were out on the roads that night.  As we were driving home from my parent's house in Springville, a lady in front of us lost control of her vehicle and we collided with her.  There was no getting around it.  As you can see, the damage was pretty extensive, the car was totaled, but we all walked away unscathed.  There truly were angels with us that night.  It was a very scary, stressful situation, and as a mother, seeing the fear in my child's face, was agonizing.  I pray we will never have to go through something like that again.  

Merry Freaking Christmas right??!

And a Happy New Year!

Which brings me to pretty much the present day, and the two main things I wanted to write about.

First and foremost, my sweet husband has taken on a new job with Netflix!  It sort of all came about really quickly, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.  Netflix just opened up a brand new customer service call center here in Salt Lake City, the first center directly owned and operated BY Netflix, and hired him on as one of their supervisors.  Significantly higher salary, with great opportunities for growth.  He started the first part of January and we are both super excited about it.  It's been a long time coming for our little family, so we are thrilled.

I hesitate to write about my next few thoughts, just simply because they are so tender to my heart.  But I know I will look back and be grateful I wrote them down.  Over the last, oh, 5 months or so, Jace and I have been trying to grow our family.  We always had in mind that our children would be in that 2.5 to 3 year gap (which we are still on target for!), but to be honest, I was thinking it would be closer to the 2.5 year mark.  Getting pregnant this second time around is proving to be just as difficult as it was with Ava, which in some ways, is actually harder to deal with.  My body has done this before!  It should know what to do right?  Well, apparently not in my case.  We did have a little glimmer of hope enter our lives back in November, when a pregnancy test read positive.  That glimmer was shattered just a short 2 weeks later, resulting in a miscarriage.  Granted, I wasn't that far along, but a loss is a loss.  It was still hard, and it was still heartbreaking.  

So here we are, two months later, still unsuccessful.  I understand that that's not that long of a time, but when you feel like your biological clock is ticking, it feels like an eternity!  I have been going in to my doctor for monthly blood draws to check hormone levels and such.  This last appointment showed that my body is in fact, not ovulating.  No ovulation means no getting pregnant.  I was joking with Jace the other day and said, "All that practice for nothing!"  And his response, "Well, I wouldn't say for nothing!"  Men.  (Sorry mom and dad for that tad bit of info, Ha!)  My doctor said it's time to start Clomid again, which most of you know is how we got Ava, so here we go!  Praise the Heavens for modern medicine!  If that's how I have to get my babies here, then so be it, I'll get them here! Nasty, unpleasant side effects and all.   

After thinking back on these last few trying months of our lives, I'm reminded that there is a reason for everything and that our Heavenly Father is in control.  He's been aware of my little family's financial stress, and has blessed us with a new job.  He knows my desires to bring more children into this world, and I have the faith and hope that he will bless us with another baby when the time is right.  Until then, I have an incredible little two year old who brings me such joy and happiness, and lifts my spirits when I'm down.  I know there is a reason why she came first, she is my angel :)

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Summer Slipping Away

Summer.  That sweet, sweet word.  It's been a busy, yet fun one for us, and I'm about to attempt the impossible. Documentation of the last 3 months!  This will probably be the Mother of all blog posts... you've been warned :) 

MAY
Mother's Day.  St. George.  Memorial Day.  And a few other odds and ends...

Before church on Mother's Day.
I simply asked her to take her fingers out of her mouth for the picture, and this is the face I got for putting in such a request.  She kills me :)
So blessed to have this incredible woman as my own Mother, and the sweetest Grandma to my Ava :) Love you Momma!

My sweet sister and her family invited us to go down to St. George with them the week after Mother's Day, to stay a few days in the condo.  We spent a day at Zion National Park, went swimming, shopping, ate out, the works.  It was a lovely little getaway! 





Memorial Day consisted of the traditional trip to the cemetery and BBQ with my family. Ava was big enough to have her own watering can this year for the flowers at the graves :)

The Odds and Ends...


JUNE
The Zoo. Art City Days. And a few other odds and ends...
I'd say her first trip to the zoo was a success :) 

Art City Days Children's Parade
Art City Days Carnival

The Odds and Ends... 



JULY
The Fourth. And a few other odds and ends...

The Odds and Ends...

Granted, there is still technically one more month of 'real' summer left, which we intend to pack totally full of fun things, but, I'd say by the looks of this post, we've had a pretty good summer so far!   Until next time...