26 Weeks

Something happened after I passed week 24, and I was assured that most babies born from here on out generally survive (with significant medical attention). My fears of pre-term labor eased up tremendously. When baby girl starts kicking me, I start day-dreaming about holding her in my arms instead of having her beat against my organs. Im getting cabin fever being cooped up at work and seeing these rare sunny March days going on outside, which then stirs up day-dreams about how Im going to spend my July/August days relaxing on a blanket outside with my daughter. (I love saying that) Or splashing my toes in the water at 7peaks because we have a pass of all passes.. although I dont know anyone who doesnt have one of those.

 

How Far Along? 26 Weeks
Weight Gained? 12lbs
Maternity Clothes? Oh yeah. Im loving all things spandex.
Stretch marks? I've aquired teeny tiny ones on my boobs... but being as I've gone from a small A to a C in a matter of 6 months, I'd say thats a good reason to have them!!! (key Shania: man, I feel like a woman)
Sleep? Only with a pillow inbetween my knees, behind my back, under my stomach, and under my head.... basically Im surrounded by pillows always. Poor Spence..
Best Moment This Week? When my Dr. told me that after our next appointment he'll start seeing me every two weeks!!! Yahoo!!
Movement? All. The. Time! Especially when its loud (ie. concerts, family gatherings, .. when Im jammin in my car) Sometimes we just sit in bed and stare at my belly because we can see it moving now when she kicks/punches.
Anything Making You Queasy or Sick? My prenatal vitamin. So weird. I've been fine taking it in the morning for the last 3 years, but all of the sudden I started getting super nauseous every morning, started taking the pill at night, and boom. My days are naseous-free yet again.
Gender? She's her daddy's girl alright!
Belly Button In or Out? In, but just barely. Not to be gross, but I've always had an abnormally deep belly button. Who knows why. And by deep I mean to your second knuckle deep. Freaky right? Even when I was at my skinniest self, I still sported a crater in my stomach. Now? You know when you rub your hand on your stomach and you can feel that hole where your belly button is?? I dont have that anymore, its almost like my belly button is flush with the rest of my belly.. so thats fun.
Wedding Rings On or Off?  Still on!!
Looking Forward To? Baby showers, my sister and her family coming to town this weekend, and Spencer's Bday. And Summer.. and actually having this baby!!!
Missing Anything? My tan skin that I had.. two summers ago? Yeah. Self tanner doesnt last as long as a real tan.
Food Cravings? Not so much. However, I did find this recipe for Brown Butter Snickerdoodles, and oh my, they are good. Like, sinfully good. And I rarely say that. Then again, Im so excited that baby girl is finally letting me eat something sugary... maybe they're not that good, and I've just been sugar deprived. I've been eating too many carrots and cucumbers as of late (she is her father's daughter). Anyway, these cookies are fabulous.
Labor Signs?  Not yet, thank heaven! We'll keep this little gem cooking until she's ready!
Happy or Moody Most of the Time? Mostly happy. I do have my bouts of moodiness, but they usually disipate as soon as I feel her start kicking me. I love that.
Symptoms?  On Sunday I started having lower back/hip pain that still hasnt gone away, but its not that bad. Im welcoming the "uncomfortable stage" of pregnancy because it means that Im almost done and I get to meet this baby girl soon!!! I cant wait!

Week 23

How far along? 23 Weeks

Weight gained? 7lbs so far.. However, baby is now at the 1lb mark, and within the next 3 weeks she'll be 3lbs!! 

Maternity clothes?  Absolutely! Oh how I wish all clothes were this comfortable! Will someone please design a line for women that has spandex stretchy pants that look like real pants? Because seriously, these things rock!  Also loving Maxi's and yoga pants right now.
Stretch Marks? Thankfully, no. 
Sleep? I love sleep. I've now been told not to sleep on my back or stomach ever... which Im still working on. Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night on my back, and I'll have to roll to the side again. Spencer thinks Im the worlds worst cuddler now, because he is  not a fan of the constant switching of sides, but he moves around more than I do! I usually only have to get up once for a bathroom break, sometimes not at all if I dont drink a lot before bed.
Best Moment This Week: Going to the Dr. and hearing her heart beat. I will never get tired of that sound. Its almost a magical thing, hearing your baby's heart beat and knowing that there is a person inside you. I love it more than almost anything. Also, one of my very close friends just told me that she is expecting.. and Im not allowed to tell anyone, but it definitely made my week. Also, I received a Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag from my amazing coworkers, and Spencer never remembers the name of them, so if he sees a bag that kind of resembles it he'll ask me, "Is that a Wendy Peffercorn bag?!" Maybe he watches too much Sandlot? I dont know. But that definitely makes me laugh.
Movement: All the time. Her kicks are getting stronger and stronger every single day, and it is so fun to feel her moving around. Sometimes she just twists and turns, and no one else can feel her, but sometimes she goes on a kicking rampage and  I can watch my belly bouncing from her kicks!! 
Anything make you Queasy or Sick? Nothing specific to being pregnant. I've been super lucky and havent been sick hardly at all. I only had 4-5 days that I really didnt feel good. So Im considering myself a very lucky woman.. especially since you're usually more sick when you're having a girl than when you're having a boy. Lucky me!
Gender: She's a GIRL!! And we couldnt be more excited!
Belly Button In or Out? Its an innie still. though a little less deep, hopefully it wont be an outie for a while.
Wedding Rings On or Off? On. 
Looking Forward To: Going to Jess's baby shower in St. Geezy on Saturday. Going home and hanging out with the hubbs tonight. Having my cup of juice tonight, laying on my side, and feeling her kick like crazy.
Miss Anything? Being able to fit into all of my clothes. Mostly my skirts. Sleeping on my belly. Eating hot cereal for breakfast... but thats only because we've run out and I have mommy brain so I keep forgetting to go buy more.
Food Cravings: No cravings. I craved a pickle one time.. until I realized what it was I was craving. Mostly its just if I see something yummy then I want that NOW. Or if I smell something delicious. The cinnamon sugar things get me every time. 
Labor Signs: Not yet. Im not complaining about that though. I would love her to be born at a healthy 36-40 weeks.
Happy or Moody most of the Time: I'd say happy. Sometimes I just laugh when she kicks me, because its that awesome of a feeling. I love being pregnant. I love that I can see my belly growing and feel her moving inside me! 
Symptoms: I have a serious case of pregnancy brain. I tend to forget almost everything. Spencer is about to send me to get checked for Alzheimers. I like my sleep. Anything less than 10 hours a night is not enough for me. Im starting to get lower back aches if I stand for too long, but other than that I feel great! Also, my boobs are growing like crazy!! Which for a girl who's always been an A.. this is an amazing thing!

Had to keep her a secret for a while....

So there is a pretty good reason why I havent posted anything in about 5 months... You see, I couldnt come up with anything as exciting as what was really going on.. However, I am now "allowed" to shout it from the rooftops! We're having a baby!!!!!!!!

We were pretty nervous for the first few months just because of what happened last time with the ectopic. However, after a few months I was finally out of the high-risk phase, and on to the its-okay-to-be-excited-about-this phase.  And oh man am I excited! We both are. I havent had much "morning sickness" which has been awesome. Actually I was only sick 4-5 times. My mom and sister cant believe my luck because they were both deathly ill, my mom for the first 4 months, and my sister for the whole 10  months!!! So I was thanking my lucky stars when I had the easiest trimester ever.

This is the very first day that I actually saw proof of a bump. I was 13 weeks, still dead tired (as you can see, I'd just rolled out of bed) but I was so stinking excited that I HAD to snap a pic. So here you go world, in all my morning glory, thats the "first bump" picture.

 

We announced during Christmas that we were expecting a little one... :)

 

I went out to dinner with the sisters, Nikki had her little boy a few weeks after this, and Britni is actually expecting a little boy in May!! She's 7 weeks ahead of me!! How exciting.

 Finally seeing something!! This was 18 weeks..

 Two of my very great friends had their baby girls a few weeks apart from each other, so I was in baby heaven for a while!

 

Rachel threw me a "gender reveal" party at work, it was adorable!!! She made that cute little cake that you see, the top was the gender color on the inside (didnt get a picture of that.. oops), AND they all chipped in and bought me a Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag! It. Is. BEAUTIFUL! Oh my heavens, Im obsessed, and so so grateful. I have the best coworkers ever. Also, speaking of Rachel, she's quite the amazing cake maker/decorator.. you can find her blog here.

 

WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!
And I am soooo excited for all things pink to be heading our way!
We're still working on a name, its a bit harder when its real, and not just hypothetical anymore.

 

And finally, at 21 weeks, Im actually looking like a pregnant lady now! She's moving around like a mad woman, and Im loving every second of having her in my belly!!!

Spencer loves feeling her crazy acrobatics going on. He hasnt been able to come to many appointments with me because we both work, but he came to the gender ultrasound, and he was completely blown away. Having just taken Anatomy, he knew everything that they were looking at when they checked out her brain, her spine, her heart, her kidneys, etc. Its amazing to look at that monitor and think, thats my daughter in there. Talk about a miracle. There are no words to describe the feeling of watching your child swim and kick around. I cant wait to be a mom. I cant wait to hold this little girl for the first time and know that she is ours. All ours.

Eternity

Spencer and I were sealed in the Manti Temple on June 2, 2012.

It was the best day of my life! We were very lucky to have almost all of our family and friends there to help us celebrate the wonderful day. Its amazing to me the love that I feel for my man. It is also amazing to me how much that love has grown in the last few weeks as we've prepared to go through the temple, gone to a few sessions together, and then finally to be sealed as a family for time and all eternity. Our relationship has improved in areas that I didn't even know we needed, that is the power of the gospel. That is the blessing of having the spirit in your life every day. I love being sealed to my best friend, and knowing that we have eternity to be a family! I love knowing that our little babe will be with us one day, and that the little dear ones who will one day join our family are also ours forever. Eternity is such an amazing concept to me. I feel like I've won the biggest jackpot in the history of ever. To be Spencer's wife, the mother of our children, a family forever, is the greatest blessing I've ever received. I love the temple. I love the feeling I get when I walk through those doors, when I listen to the blessings promised me, when I sit in the Celestial room with my best friend, and one true love. I love that our family and very close friends could be there to share this day with us. Being surounded by everyone you love, the people who mean the world to you, its almost like you're getting a glimpse of what Heaven will be like.

I love to see the temple.

I want to go every day.

To feel the Holy Spirit,

To listen, and to pray.

One Year Supply of Freezer Jam..... Check.

I dont know if you've ever had homemade strawberry jam before, but my mom makes it, and for years I thought she had some complex, super secret, passed down for generations recipe... little did I know she just got it off the box of pectin that you buy at Walmart. HA! It is also the easiest recipe in the world. All of the 3 ingredients can be found at any local grocery store. Strawberries, Sugar, Pectin. So simple. (Recipe found here)

Well, now that I am a responsible, married, adult, and I have another mouth to feed (Spencer's) I have to worry about how many jars of peanut butter(chunky) we have on the shelf, and how many jars of jam we have left in the freezer, you know, the important things. Well, unfortunately our month of June was not one of our better months, not only did we have an unexpected hospital stay, but we also ran out of jam! Spencer had to break out the smuckers for a few weeks... poor guy. So I decided to finally get my butt in gear and turn on the Suzy-Homemaker switch for the weekend.

Obviously a Costco trip was manditory (they have the BEST produce). So after 3 cartons of strawberries, 60 mason jars (random sizes... and yes we go through 2 jars a month), 9 boxes of pectin, and about 36 cups of sugar!!!!! (I didnt say this was a healthy recipe... its just mouthwateringly delicious!)

Now, the recipe says that you can throw everything into your blender/food processor and call it good... however, my mom said that you end up with ruuuuuuuunnyy jam when you do that. So instead, I got stuck with the task of HAND MASHING 3 cartons of strawberries.

Talk about tennis elbow.

But the ending result is fabulous...

(notice the random sized jars? makes it more exciting I think.)

We've made dozens of PBJ's (or just J's for me), Pancakes, Crepes, and coming soon, Scones!

I love me some Strawberry Jam!

Have a great day!!!!

Alex, the Champion

Alex Burton was a friend of mine, he lived two streets away from me and we went to school together. Alex has always been such a nice guy, so kind and accepting of everyone. It didnt matter if you were fat, skinny, white, black, short, tall, crazy, senile, or boring. He'd be your friend. Alex was always good for a laugh, he was the kind of guy who'd be up for anything (like toilet papering the neighbor's house at 2am..) You shouldnt be shocked by this because everyone in the Burton/Loveless Family are wonderful people. I love them all dearly. 

Alex had cancer. He fought it like a champ! Never giving up even when life was giving him hell. He was an example to all of us, and I am so grateful to have known him. I hope that he is climbing taller mountains then we could ever possibly imagine!
His sister Sara has blogged about him a little bit, here is her blog: Life Wells Lived

(grab a box of Kleenex before you read either of these.)

Also, another friend of Alex's posted this in her blog: Marie's Moments

I just wanted to tell her thank you for posting your experiences with Alex! I cried the whole way through. Unfortunately, I was not able to visit Alex in his last few weeks. My life was crazy, and that was my excuse. I had no time. I had surgery and was bedridden for days. My family was in town, excuses excuses. Now all of this seems pointless, selfish. My friend had limited time left here and I blew my chance. I hope that he can forgive me. I want to take this time to send a spiritual hug his way!! Al, I love ya man, and Im so grateful for thr friendship that we had! I know you have more important missions to do on the other side, and thats great. I want you to know that you will be greatly missed, we will think of you often, and miss you always. 

Til we meet again my friend.

Not what we were expecting.

Well everyone, its time for a story. On Tuesday, May 8, 2012, I found out that I was pregnant! Yay, I was so excited!! I immediately called my Dr to tell him! I told him I was so surprised because I had been spotting for the last week and a half, which was so weird, and that morning I just woke up thinking.. hmm I wonder what would happen if I took a test today. Well obviously it was positive, however my Dr. was concerned about all of the spotting I had had, and he also wanted to make sure that it wasnt a false positive. So he ordered a blood test for the next day, and then one 48hrs after that. They tested my HCG and my progesterone. On Wednesday my HCG was 189 (definitely pregnant.. but probably only a few weeks along!) and my progesterone was 1.5. In case you dont know, a normal, healthy pregnancy should double or triple the HCG level every other day, and have a progesterone level of 10. WHAT?! Yep. So basically my body doesnt produce progesterone by its self. This is a bad thing. For the first few weeks your body produces progesterone so that they baby will stay in and grow. Once the uterus is fully formed, then it takes over producing the progesterone. So basically... no progesterone.. no baby. This is also another reason why I havent been ovulating! Good to know! So my Dr gave me some progesterone pills to take every night. Anyway, back to baby. Friday my HCG was 332 (not quite doubled) and my progesterone was 2.3. Bad. The following Tuesday my HCG was 775 (barely doubled in 4 days) and my progesterone was 3.7. Still bad. We double my progesterone. Hopefully that will help. I get a call from my Dr. and he said that because my HCG levels arent raising high enough fast enough that means that Im probably going to miscarry. Soon. Im crushed. He says that if I dont miscarry (which he thinks I definitely will) by the weekend, then in one week we'll do another blood test to see whats going on. I went home bawling, and asked Spencer for a blessing. He gave me one before he went to class, and then we called my dad and he and Spencer gave me another blessing that night. I was told that my Heavenly Father was aware of what was going on, and that everything would be in His hands. I would recover to full health, and the baby would also recover to full health. On which side of the veil, we're not sure. But it still comforts me a little. Every day I wait and wait for the signs of a miscarriage, they never come. Tuesday I take another blood test. Wednesday morning my Dr. calls me and my HCG is 1375 (it didnt even double in one whole week!) on the plus side, my progesterone is finally at a 10. Not that it matters, because my Dr doesnt think that there is a baby in there. Its most likely just tissue growing, he tells me. They wanted to do an ultrasound the next day to find out how much tissue there is, and where its at, but we were leaving that night for California! I was told that everything should be fine, we'll do the ultrasound the following Tuesday. However, if I start having pain while we're there, then go immediately to the ER because that means it was probably an ectopic pregnancy. The chances of that are very low, but he just wanted to cover all the bases. We go to California, we have a wonderful time (post below). We got back Monday night and Tuesday at 3:00 I went in for my ultrasound. I had to drink 42oz of water one hour before, and hold it! So at about 2:30, I was uncomfortable. By 2:40, Im in pain. By 3:00 Im telling them to go fast before my bladder explodes! They started out with a normal ultrasound, taking pictures, moving around, squeezing more goop onto my belly, calling other tech's to look at the screen. All the while the pain is getting worse, and worse, as they push and move all over the place. Then we take a break, I go pee.. when I come back I realize Im still in pain. It wasnt the full bladder that was making me uncomfortable like I thought it was. Then they do a vaginal ultrasound, take more pictures, move around, call people. I asked them to move the screen a little so that I could see it too, not that I know anything about ultrasounds, or what I would be looking at.. but I just wanted to look. They did, and as Im chanting in my head its almost over, its almost over I see it. The heartbeat. I hear it too, which just confirms what I know to be true. That baby is alive, and growing. It has a heart beat! I cant believe it! When they're finally done they tell me to get dressed and wait in the waiting room for my Dr to call me. (I knew this would happen because ultrasound tech's never tell you what is going on) Finally, I get the call. My Dr tells me he is so sorry, but that tiny small nearly impossible chance of the ectopic pregnancy.. was exactly what I had going on. I was 10 weeks along and the baby was stuck in my left Fallopian tube, not only that but it was already starting to rip. The pain that I started getting at 2:40, was exactly that. My tube starting to tear. He told me that I would have to have immediate surgery, they would take the baby, and my tube, and it was going to happen in a few hours. I frantically called Spencer (who never answers his phone) while waiting for a nurse to take me upstairs. I finally had to call my mom and ask her to pick him up and bring him to the Hospital! (I had our only car!) Spencer, and my parents met me upstairs in my room. Many tears were shed before we were able to talk to the Dr who would be operating on me. He told me that recovery time is 4-6 weeks, and we have to wait 3 months before we start trying again. However, I am very lucky because if we would have waited and scheduled the ultrasound for Wednesday, it would have been too late. My tube would have burst, and if I didnt get to the hospital in time, then I would have died. They took me into surgery around 8ish, the surgery went just as planned, they took the baby, and my left tube. We stayed the night at the hospital and went home the next morning. I was bed ridden for about 3 days, moving slowly and trying to stay entertained. Each day I feel a little bit better than the last, which is good, and although this is a horrible thing that has happened, I know we'll get past it. I have Spencer by my side, and one day we will get to raise this baby in the Millennium. That one thought keeps me going.

Livin the California Dream

Spencer and I went to California over Memorial Day weekend with some friends, and it was probably the best/worst vacation ever. We started out on Wednesday night driving to Vegas to meet up with Ty, Jess, and Levi. We were staying at the Paris hotel, so we parked in the garage, left our luggage in the car and ran to meet up for dinner. Well two hours later we decided to take our belongings to our room.. Much to our surprise, when we got to the car my purse was sitting underneath the front driver's side tire. Spencer looked at me like, what the crap did you put your purse under the tire for?! And although I often do random crazy things that make absolutely no sense whatsoever... this was not of my doing. Shocked I started rummaging through my purse to see if anything had been taken... fortunately for us they didnt take any credit cards, birth certificates, social security cards, or even gift cards that I had in my wallet.. all they took was the cash.. which happened to be our tithing money that I'd just pulled out of the atm. darn. Well, I guess its only money, so we hauled our junk in and got ready for bed. The next morning Jess was looking for a knife to cut some muffins we brought. I told her she could use mine! Then I went to my PURSE for my handy dandy pocket knife that I always take on vacations... gone. Yup. Gonzo. they took my knife! Freaking lame. I was so ticked! Well I tried to get over it, we left Vegas, hit Einsteins (for the first of 5 times during that trip), and headed to Cali! We got in around 3, so we decided to hit the pool before we went to dinner. I immediately went for my camera, because I wanted to take loads of pictures during this trip. Well, my camera was also in my PURSE, and it was also gone. ARG! I couldnt believe it! I was fine about the cash, I was fine about the knife! But my camera!! I am not fine about that! All of our pictures were on there!! What was I going to do with out a camera on this trip!? Not okay. Not okay. Not okay. Luckily, I have an awesome husband, and he lifted my spirits with the promise of a new camera when we got home. He is awesome. So we paddled around in the pool, went to dinner at BJ's, and hit the hay so we'd be ready for an early morning trip to the beach! 

As many of you know, my dear husband is incredibly athletic.. He is also incredibly in shape. He loves to go running, and work out.... I do not. So, while he was running along the sandy Huntington Beach area at 7am, I was reading my book and burying my toes in the sand here.

Lovely isnt it?

I ate my bagel and read my book with the sound of the ocean just a few feet away. Aaahhhhhhh.. so relaxing. If only I had a bajillion dollars so that I could buy one of those cute condos right across the street from HB, then Spencer and I would stay at the beach all day long with our kiddos and never have to work again ever. Oh, if only. Friday was our day of just us, because Ty, Jess, and Levi went to Disneyland! Well I dont like Disneyland, I know I know, dream crusher. Whatever. Its just that I would rather wait for 45 min in a line for a roller coaster that I actually enjoyed, then for Its A Small World. (That is actually one of my favorite rides at Disney. haha go figure) Im sure it will be more fun when we have kids, but until then, I'll stick with the big kid rides. Anyway, we started our morning off by going to the Newport Beach Temple.

 Oh my word that is a beautiful place! I absolutely love the temple!! There is such a great feeling there, and it definitely makes your day better! I wish I could start every morning by going to the temple! I cant wait for next weekend when we get to be sealed in the Manti Temple!!! Its going to be so great!!! After the temple we went to breakfast, at Einsteins of course. And then Spencer had an online test to take while we were there, so he studied at the Library for a bit and then took it on their computers. After we grabbed a bit to eat and headed to the theaters!! Spencer FINALLY took me to see 

THE AVENGERS!!!

And it was AMAZING. if you havent seen it yet, go. Now. Stop reading this, drop everything you are doing, and just go. Its that good.

After the movie we ran to Target for this sun hat that I am absolutely in love with! It also SAVED my face/neck from being fried! On Saturday Spencer and I decided that we were going to be terrible travel buddies, and not do anything but stay at the beach... all. day. long. It was heavenly! There was beach volleyball, frisbee tossing, laying out, and homemade sandwiches. (we brought a cooler).  We also did the same thing on Sunday! However, Saturday night we went to Ruby's for dinner, and while waiting for our table, we watched a nice gentleman cast out his fishing line off of the back side of the pier.. 5 minutes later, his line goes tight, he's caught something! Well not only did he catch something, but he caught a SHARK! A real, live Shark! It was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen. 

This is him. This is the exact shark that we watched get caught, and reeled up to the pier. It was thrashing like you wouldnt believe, but they got him!!! I've never seen a shark caught before, so this was cool!

Definitely a memorable way to end the vacation!!! 

(at least it was for me! Spencer still had 10 more hours of driving... I slept for probably 9 of those hours.. poor guy.)

6 Months Later...

Well its official, Im a slacker. I know I know. Anyway, I thought I'd get up to speed with the blog that no one reads. A lot has happened since I last posted, but I'll give the very quick rundown because I have a few more posts to create after this one. The Holidays were fabulous! We had the infamous Dew White Elephant party, where Barry Manilow made his reoccurring appearance, and the Beibs was fought over by children, teens, adults... and even a grandpa! We had the 2nd Christmas Eve Ihop dinner with the Eaquintos (its now a tradition.) where we discovered that Cole is probably one of the funniest nephews that we have.. he even made Sam laugh in public! A feat which is not easily conquered. We then spent the rest of the vacation time with friends and family! It was fabulous!

sorry for the fuzzy picture below..

The picture below was taken right after Cole yelled at our waitress because his Hot Chocolate (which he thought was chocolate milk) didnt have any milk in it!!! His exact words, 

"This is the worst chocolate milk in the world!!!!"
Awesome.

The New Year was rung in with laughter, friends, music, and TONS of martinelli's.

Trevor and Stephanie got engaged! YAY!! (wedding in August)

Dani and I waited in line with a billion other crazy people for the midnight showing of the 

HUNGER GAMES!

I might have been a little bit obsessed with these books.. Maybe.

I made Spencer the coolest birthday present ever! Milk cans with tractor seats on them. They are currently sitting on our front porch, next to my giant barrel of Mothers Day flowers. Spencer loves them. (just so you know, I did not randomly come up with this gift.. its sentimental from his childhood.. whatever makes the man happy.) ;)

Then the B-Day party at... where else? Goodwood, of course!

(the servers know us by name now... pathetic.. or totally awesome? I'll let you be the judge.)

Grandpa Dew got really sick and had to be life-flighted to Utah so that we could help him with his Myasthenia gravis. We are so glad that he his here where he can get some much needed help. And also, we got to celebrate his 80th Birthday with him!!!! I sure do love that crazy old man!

Spencer and I got to go to the Sunday Morning session of General Conference, and it was such a blessing to be there! I absolutely love conference!!! (It probably helps that I get to sit next to, and hold hands with, this hottie the whole time! I just love him to death!)

We celebrated at a Hair School Bestie's Bridal Shower....

And then we celebrated at her wedding reception!

And last but not least, my dear sweet Breezy Graduated from UVU! Cap's off to you my love!

Phew! And thats it, in a nutshell. December - April.
Time for a new post.

Trees are cool.

We had a moment a few weeks ago... it was the, "Holy crap, we're adults" moment. This happened when we drove to a lot, bought our very own tree, hurled it on top of the car, lugged it inside, wrapped tiny lights around it, and hung glittery balls from its branches. This shouldnt be anything new, being as this is our second Christmas together as a married couple... However, last year, living on the top floor of our apartment complex, and being ridiculously busy with multiple jobs, and school..... we didnt get a tree. We did have a nice tree scented candle though. So that helped. But THIS YEAR! We did not wimp out. No, no, no. In fact, Spencer was so thrilled with his "Im a man" moment, that he insisted I document it. This is rarely done. So I am very excited to share with out our Adult Evening.

This is our Tree, its a miracle it fit on top of our car! But we were prepared with blankets, and tie downs.

Once we brought it inside and filled the tree stand with sugar water, which the hubs is convinced that makes the tree stay alive for a really really long time, it looked like this:

YAY!! how exciting! Now from here on out was my favorite part. I was brainwashed by my mother in thinking that having 5-8 light strands on one tree is perfectly fine.. in fact, its normal. Ha. Well I was wrong. Spencer only let us have 3.... and he still thinks thats a lot. (he'll come around eventually) So this is our finished tree. All lit up and decorated!! With the stockings made by my dear mama-in-law!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!