October 2008

In October we enjoyed the last of the good weather with playgroups at the park and at the zoo. We also were able to enjoy visits from Aunt Marci for conference weekend, Jake did more hunting, and of course we enjoyed our Halloween. Abby was able to go to my parents ward carnival, a playgroup Halloween party, my sister Katie's trunk or treat, and our own ward's trunk or treat and carnival. She finally got the concept that if you say, "trick or treat" people give you candy, and continued to try it on us a few days after Halloween. She was a lady bug again this year....the costume still fit and it was warm, and on the actual day of Halloween we had her wear a monkey costume because it was a little colder outside. Here are some pics of us enjoying the fall weather at the zoo, and our numerous Halloween parties. Thanks to to Kresta for having a really fun party at her house for the kids, and to Anne and Erma for putting together a hilarious party for the adults. Because I was pregnant Jake and I came up with the idea of me being a "Bun in the Oven" with him as "The Bunmaker". Some people didn't quite get it at our trunk or treat, but thanks to Jake's fantastic artistic ability my "oven" turned out quite well and detailed. Thanks honey!



This is what we saw when Abby started undressing herself and trying to climb out of her crib, so we decided it was time to move Abby to a "big girl" bed.

Trying on Daddy's hunting stuff



With Mommy at the zoo



This is what Abby started doing when we would say, "Say Cheese."


How our big girl measures up

p.s. I dropped my camera at my sister Katie's trunk or treat and broke my camera so pics of Halloween will come very shortly, as well as posts about our November and December 2008, then we will hopefully get caught up and ready for the new year of blogging!

It's a BOY!!--September '08

When I arrived back into town from St. George and after the whole scare with my pregnancy, I went to my OB for a followup appointment. Luckily things still looked good, and she told us that most likely the subchorionic hemorrhage would resolve itself by the end of my pregnancy. Well when she was doing the ultrasound the baby was moving a ton and I said to our doctor, "is there anyway you can tell us what we are having?" She said she could try and then pointed to something on the screen and said, "do you see that, normally little girls don't have those." I couldn’t believe it! She told us she wasn't 100% sure, but that we could pretty much plan on having a BOY! Unbelievable! So in a matter of a couple of weeks we thought we were miscarrying and then we found out we weren't and that we were going to have a boy! Of course Jake was/is ecstatic, and I was surprised but kind of not surprised because this pregnancy has been SO different than my pregnancy with Abby, our little boy has given me a run for my money!

The rest of our September was pretty mellow, people thought we dropped off the face of the earth because we got back from St. George and got settled and then Abby and I got sick, and Jake was gone a ton for hunting/work trainings (20 out of the 30 days!) ,but we survived and were excited for Fall to come!

St. George-Labor Day '08

So because I am still lacking in skills in the blogging department, I have decided maybe 1 post a month about what we did will do??? I am just kidding, but because we are nearly to the end of November I decided for family history purposes to still post about our September 2008 and October 2008.

Our September started out with a real bang! We went to visit my sister Emily and her husband Brandon in St. George for Labor day weekend. I went down with my Dad, Abby, and my other sister Katie and her family on Thursday, and we had a really fun time swimming and hanging out. Jake was doing the Deer Archery hunt, so he decided to meet up with us on Tuesday, September 2, because he has some business down in that area and then we would drive home together on Thursday, Sept. 4.

Jake got to St. George at about 9:00 p.m. on and we were hanging out at my sisters, and I was singing with Abby and bouncing her on my lap. Well I started to cramp, so I thought I should lie down because I had overdone it, well no sooner has I layed down on the couch when I started bleeding pretty badly. That is never a good sign for a pregnant woman because it immediately means something is wrong. I was just so glad that Jake and my family were there because we were trying to figure out the best thing to do, we called the ER and they said to put my feet up and rest and pray that it stops. Well after that my Dad, Jake and brother in law Brandon were able to give me a priesthood blessing, and immediately after that I felt comforted. I physically started feeling a little better and emotionally I was able to calm down and I knew that regardless of what happened, it would be OK.

The next day I woke up and felt better and the bleeding had pretty much stopped, so we decided to try to get in to a doctor and were able to find one that worked with our insurance that would fit me in that day. As we waited at the doctor's office I couldn't help but prepare for the worst when they told me I was miscarrying. The doctor did an ultrasound first and then they were going to test my hormone levels. Well when they did the ultrasound the doctor said, "well there's your baby, it looks like everything is ok." We were so relieved!! The doctor continued to check things out and discovered that I had what is called a subchorionic hemorrhage which basically means a pocket of blood outside of my uterus. Normally the body absorbs it but because it was larger than normal it bled out and that is why I started bleeding. At first I thought it was something I had done, but the doctor said it's a pre-existing condition and is only diagnosed later in the pregnancy via ultrasound. He then told me to take it easy for the next week or so, so we were fortunate enough to be able to stay in St. George at my sister's longer than we expected and I was able to have help with Abby because I wasn't supposed to lift her or anything. All I can say is after that I know what it would be like to be on bed rest and if it were just me it may not be so bad, but being on bed rest and "taking it easy" with a toddler doesn't exactly go hand in hand. Luckily I had my sister and brother in law, Jake and my Dad to all help me with Abby so with Jake being able to work from home we just decided to stay down in St. George for some extra time for me to recuperate. Here is a pic with Abby with her Aunt "Emmi" and Uncle Brandon, and their dog Keona.


and here is a pic of Abby being silly playing in Bree's water bucket when we arrived back home.

August '08-Cherry Hill, the greatest fun spot you'll ever know--August 2008

This last summer my older sister Char convinced me that I should buy a Cherry Hill pass because she would be visiting for a month in the summer and we could go as many times as we wanted and then I could use the pass the rest of the summer. Well the bad news was that Char had some complications with her pregnancy but the good news is that she was able to stay the whole summer and play with me at Cherry Hill. Boy, are we glad we got passes because we had tons of fun and definitely got our money's worth. Here are some pictures of when Char's husband and Jake came with us and we were able to have a fun day at Cherry Hill. Abby rode the big waterslides for the first time and didn't quite know what to think of it, but all in all she is definately a water baby! Most of our August was spent wrapping up our playtime at the pool, while Jake was scouting and on the Archery Hunt for Elk with his Dad and friends.

Flaming Gorge-July 2008

We were able to go to Flaming Gorge with Jake's family and Max and his son Carter this summer and it was Abby's first time going boating. We bought her a life jacket and I wondered if she would be bugged wearing it because I wanted her to have it on pretty much 24/7 because we were camping by the water and she would be playing all over. Well she did fantastic! She loved the water even though it was pretty chilly, and she loved being on the boat. She even took a slow ride on the tube with Jake which was fun to watch. The weather was perfect, we even took a boat ride over to the Flaming Gorge Dam which was a long and bumpy ride, but it was cool to see. We had a great time and it was so fun for Abby to have Carter and her cousin Austyn there to play with. Here are some pics and a movie of Abby on the tube with Jake, if you listen carefully you can see her clap her hands and say, "yeah!" when she is on the tube, who knew we had a pro on our hands!


Abby & Carter playing with dinosaurs in the water, Abby fishing with Carter's pole (thanks uncle Max for helping out!) and Abby riding in the boat for the first time.


At the Flaming Gorge Dam helping Daddy feed the fish that are at the bottom of the Dam, and Carter helping Max drive the boat.

Abby standing in the boat while it's slowly moving, (notice the look on her face.) In the water with Grandma, she was fearless and wanted to get in the water way before her Mommy did probably because the water was pretty cold! Abby wasn't a huge fan of the campfire and liked to cover her eyes.

Riding the tube with Daddy, and Jake riding the tube by himself, we couldn't get him off the tube! And finally here is Abby having a timeout on the boat, it was getting windy so I put a jacket on her, and she hit me so into time out she went, and as you can see she was really happy about it!

Abby's first time at Lagoon--June 2008

We went to Lagoon for Jake's work in June and had a really fun time! It was Abby's first time and as you can tell from the pic you can see she really didn't like it......and apparently either did cousin Andrew. But once we got her warmed up she really started to enjoy it....(probably more than we enjoyed waiting in line in the scorching sun at all the kiddie rides). It helped that she got to ride most of the rides with her cousin Broc, who was a super good sport considering he didn't always fit so well in the kiddie rides, but it payed off for him when Jake took him on some great roller coaster rides, especially because I didn't want to go (I have turned into a sissy, plus it was probably good because I was pregnant at the time and didn't know it) and Jake needed a partner to enjoy the "big kid" rides together.
McCall and Abby on the boats (the worker took FOREVER to get the kids on and off the ride--I seriously was going to kill him because we waited in line forever!

Jake, Abby, Aunt Char, McCall, Aunt Katie, and Megan riding the carousel, the kids really liked this one. I am sure Jake loved it the most! :)

Taking a ride on the train, although I am sure the animals that live at Lagoon aren't very happy to be there, but the kids sure like to see them! Abby really enjoyed it because she loves animals, and liked it when Jake pointed them out to her.

All in all we had a great day, the kids did fabulous and we stayed pretty much the whole day which is fun, but I can do only about once a year---I love Lagoon, especially love it when it's free!