New Addition

Well, I haven't posted anything in a while so I thought I better catch up on a few things.  We have good news and bad.  I'll start with the bad and end with the good.

  

Bad news:  We're moving, and not a happy move.  Unfortunately Steve has still not been able to find a job yet.  It's been very stressful, more stressful then finding out what law school to go to, more stressful then moving across the country.  This tops them all.  So... with no job we decided the best thing for us to do is to move back to Utah and move in with my parents for a while until he can find a job to tie us over while we wait for a good law job to come around.  Who knew it would be so hard to find a job after you went to law school, graduated and passed the bar.  It's just a horrible market out their right now, but I'm very confident that Steve will find something, he is very smart and a good worker, it's just a waiting game.

Now enough with the bad news... The good news is we're expecting!  We have a baby on the way and I'm due around Thanksgiving.  It was a HUGE surprise, I really didn't think I could have any more children and yet I am.

I have a long story with this and my fertility story so if you don't want to hear it then you don't need to read on.  

First of all, Steve and I have been trying to get pregnant for almost 4 years now.  It is a horrible up and down journey.  I was diagnosed with a disease called PCOS (polycistic ovarian syndrome)  it is where I don't ovulate regularly and the eggs that I do release sometimes turn into cysts on my ovaries.  It is a very common fertility disease and I was very lucky and very blessed to have the two kids that I have.  For the past 3 or so years I have been on multiple fertility drugs, I did a fertility treatment called a IUI (inuterine insemination) and neither had worked.  Finally I did get pregnant by surprise in October 2010 but that ended in a miscarriage and we were devastated.  Not long after that we decided that maybe adoption might be the way to go so we did research and we just tentatively planned that we would go for it after Steve found a job and things settled down a bit.  Then when the job hadn't come we just put off the whole baby thing for a while and just set it aside.  After we had decided to move to Utah is when we found out that I was pregnant.

Because I don't ovulate regularly I have to induce my cycle to help prevent cysts growing on my ovaries,  to do this I take a drug that is not safe for pregnant women so the doctors say that you HAVE to do a pregnancy test before you start taking this drug.  So after a long while of not having my cycle I decided that I better take the drug.  I went to the store, bought the cheapest pregnancy test that they had (knowing that I wasn't pregnant) and I took it in the morning.  And to my surprise it was positive.  I had to wake Steve up so he could read it because I wasn't sure if I was reading it wrong, and sure enough it was +.  With it being the cheapest test I could find I didn't believe it so I went to the store and bought 2 name brand tests and they both were positive.  We are still shocked and in a little denial but we've seen the little one and have heard the heart beat and everything is going great. 

The timing of this pregnancy couldn't be at a worse time with not having a job or a house to live in of our own, but for some reason it happened now, I know God has a plan for us, maybe it was a way of saying it is the right thing to do to move back to Utah, we both kind of feel like it is but who really knows only God knows.

I didn't really want a 8 year gap between kids but I look at it as with my kids being older they will be big help and they are both so excited, they have been praying every night for a baby brother or sister so it was really fun to tell them.

 The timing may be bad but my parents are helping us so much that I don't even know if I will ever be able to thank them enough.  They have helped us so much lately I can't talk about them without crying, they are the most generous people I have ever met and I'm so grateful to have them as my parents.

I wish I had pictures to post on here but when I had my ultrasound the printer on it was broken so we weren't able to get pictures this time but I will be having one in June and hopefully I can post one then. 

October

Here is a few things that have happened this Fall.

1.  We found out that Steve PASSED the bar!! It is all final and he has been sworn in so that ship has sailed "ahhh" what a brick off our shoulders.  Now it's the job hunt which is another brick but I'm sure it won't take him long, he's charming.  So we'll see what comes our way.  As for right now he is working temp jobs he is sub teaching and he is also a manager for Amazon through the Holidays to get us through until he gets the law job, he is also working for a Judge in Nobelsville IN as a clerk part time.

2. Bridger turned 9!  For his birthday he wanted to go camping and as luck had have it, it was the perfect weekend to do it.  The weather was warm and the leaves were at their peek of fall colors it was awesome.

 This is the cake I made him.  It's supposed to be a trout and it looked really good but when I look at the picture it doesn't look as good as I remembered it.  But the important part is it was really yummy!

Here is a few pictures of Briders birthday and our camping trip.

 I brought up some craft stuff because if you know my kids you know how much they love to create things.  So these are some rock people they made.  The one on the right is supposed to be roasting marshmallows.

 This is the tallest mountain in Indiana (at least I think) but it was very pretty pictures don't do it justice.

 Bridger opening his presents.  We did it at night with the campfire.
One thing here in Indiana that we find very strange is all the camp sites have power outlets so everyone puts lights hanging all around (like Christmas lights) but everyone had Halloween lights, they also decorate their campsites with Halloween decorations some of them were decorated more then our house  "so strange".  I can't imagine doing that for a weekend.  So anyway, we thought it would be awesome (before knowing that everyone puts up lights) that we string up lights to make our campsite look like a party for Bridger but to our surprise everyone had it, so we fit in I guess.
One of Bridgers main gifts was a small fish tank so here he's holding up the fish net.

3.  Shaylie had a Johnny Appleseed day at school and they all were encouraged to dress the part.  It was fun and I think she was the cutest Johnny Appleseed there.

 4.  And last it was Halloween!  Bridger dressed up like a Zombie.

 Shaylie wanted to be a rubiks cube.  Homemade costumes are always best, they both got tons of complements.

And that was our October!

Our Summer 2011

Ok... I say this every posting that I do but it has been way to long to catch up on, so this is going to be a long post of all the things that has gone on this summer.

I'll start from the beginning of the summer.  First of all Steve graduated law school (YAY!!) It was very exciting and I am sooo proud of him.

 I have a ton more pictures but I can't post all of them and get through the rest of the summer.

Next, we did some fun activities.

 While Steves mom was here for his graduation we went to Shipshewana Amish country in northern Indiana we were able to go to the flea market and do some shopping and eat dinner at a yummy restaurant and of course see all the buggies and stuff. We had been there before but Steves mom had never been so it was fun to take her there.

We also took her to Connor Prairie when it was civil war days.

There was a few new baby goats in the farm area and we had the cutest little goat who loved us, he was like a little puppy. He kept climbing on Shaylie to eat her bow.

Then in June Steve turned 34 on the 23rd we just had a small little family party.

We went to the Lebanon parade on the 4th of July (which is full of tractors and not much else) then we went to Zionsville to the little carnival and saw fireworks.

 Most of the summer while we were in Indiana the kids and I spent most of the time at the pool.
(Bridger is a fish)

On the 9th of July me and the kids flew to Utah. Because Steve had to take the bar at the end of July we went out earlier and he drove out after he took the test.  It was so fun to see family again and to be able to spend so much time there.  It's funny how fast time fly's but we were able to do a lot of stuff.

This is Bridger and Shaylie with their cousins Damon, Calub and Levi at the Bountiful park on the 24th of July.

Steves mom and their aunt Em took us to the dinosaur park in Ogden.

We went to Cherry Hill and the kids climbed the rock wall all by themselves I was so proud of them.  When Shaylie got up and was ready to come down she was to light for the rope to let her down and the worker had to climb up to rescue her, it was funny.

We went camping with the Jensens to Bear Lake.

Then all good things have to come to an end and we drove back just in time for the kids to start their first day of school.
Shaylie is now in the 2nd grade (HOLY COW)

And Bridger is in the 3rd.  Why do they grow up so fast?

Then on the 24th of August Shaylie turned 7!  We had a Ladybug party with some of her neighbor friends and we had a blast.

Steve gives her roses every year for her birthday it is so sweet he has done it since she was a baby.

Her big present from us this year was a ipod shuffel.  She is always singing so we thought it would be something she would love to listen to (and she does).  It's funny too because she sings and doesn't realize that we can all here her, it cracks us up.

This was the cake I made her this year.  It was really fun to make and I think it turned out pretty cute.  I'm sure it would have been cuter if I had used fondant frosting but I haven't quite mastered that yet so I opted out of it.

Steve also got Shay her very own fishing pole, and not one of those pre packaged barbie poles that you can get at every department/grocery store, he had to get the best and it's cute too.  We will be using it on labor day I'm sure.

This is some of  the kids playing at her party.  All I can say is Steve is crazy and little girls love it! He was the highlight of the party I just planned it.

That is the jest of our summer, we had so much fun it's so sad it's over.

For a update of where we are as far as what we are doing now that Steve is done with school. Well... he won't find out if he passed the bar until October sometime so until then it is tricky to find a job, but he is still searching and wherever he gets a job is where we are going.  Our lease is up on our house but our landlord is letting us lease month to month (thankfully) so we are still here and happy.  The kids love the school here and they both have a ton of friends.  I will keep an update when things change.

Shaylie is missing some teeth

I haven't posted for such a long time.  There is so much that has happened and so many pictures that I have taken, and there is just no way to backtrack.
So I'm just going to give a brief message about what has gone on.
In the summer we took a trip across the country and saw a lot of sites like Mt. Rushmore, Corn Palace, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and the best... was back home to good old West Bountiful Utah.

The kids started school. Bridger is in 2nd grade and Shaylie 1st. They both love it and are doing awesome.
Steve is almost done with school, he will graduate in April. Yay! He also has a job working for a judge at the Noblesville court house. I help out at the kids school each week and I also have a part-time job at Kohls.
We are not going to go home for Christmas this year since we went back home in the summer. This will be our first Christmas without family around; it will be really difficult for everyone but especially the kids, so we are going to try really hard to make it a good fun Christmas (we'll see how it goes).

Shaylie has been growing up so much and this past week it really has shown.  A few months ago she lost her first tooth and she was very proud.  And just in the last week she has lost her 2 front teeth.  She lost them right before Christmas so she has and probably will have the "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" song, sang to her a lot. She is also about to loose another bottom tooth it is dangling and might come out tomorrow.
But since this just barley happened I'll post some pictures.  She looks really big and it makes me a little sad, but she does look pretty cute. And if you thought it was hard to understand her before, you should hear her talk now, it's funny.

Time with my parents!

The last week of May my parents were able to take a vacation to visit us here in Indiana.  We were so happy to finally have them come out here so we could show them where we live.  It was a really fun week and we did a lot of things.

Bare with me this is a long blog with a lot of pictures!

The first couple of days the kids were still in school so one of the first things we did (without the kids) was go visit down town Indy.  And it was HOT and HUMID!  We did a lot of walking and saw some of the cool sites, one of them was the down town circle.  It is the middle point of Indiana and there is a look out tower where you can see the city.  Well... we decided to go in and take some pictures from the top.  We got in and there and there wasn't any air conditioning and  it was sooo hot. You could either take the stairs that was I think 30 something flights or pay and take the teeny elevator. Me and my mom and dad decided to pay and Steve decided to race us up the stairs.  We got to the top and you could barely walk or breathe for that matter.  Steve did beat us up or was up just after us and by the time he got up he was so sick I don't even know how he stayed standing, I quickly took some pictures and we got down and out of there.  It was miserable, at least I can say I've been up there but I don't ever need to go again. I think Steve regretted his decision to take the stairs.

  We also went up north to the Amish communities (which none of us have seen before) and it was really neat.  The first place we went to was a small little area but it had a awesome gift shop, so we played in there for a while and decided to move on to some different communities, we then later regretted our decision because none of the other places had such great souvenirs, but at least we got some good pictures.

It was really interesting to see there way of life.

This picture above was a game that they had made and it was really neat, you had to swing a rope with a ring around it and hook it on a hook.  Very tricky!  Steve actually managed to hook it once, but we were standing there waiting for him a long time.

We saw a lot of funny signs while we were there so we had to take a picture of a couple of them.

This picture above was in a different community in Shipshewana that was a little bit more of the Amish lifestyle, this sign was at a parking lot for horse and buggies.  They ride them around everywhere they go, there are all kinds of stores and shopping centers in this area and they just ride bikes with baskets or in a buggy and just park their horse, it was so weird but really fascinating.

I think that was one of the funnest things we did through the week, a lot of driving but very neat!

After that we took my parents to the Indianapolis Zoo.

Here is my mom and Shaylie petting the sharks.

We saw a bunch of stuff.  However it was also a very hot and humid day.

We saw the dolphin show.

We were their early so we could get good seats and it was nice and cool in there so it gave us time out of the heat.

Steve was taking all the pictures and wasn't able to be in any of them so he took one of himself and I think it turned out pretty hot so I put it in. ;)

The zoo just got a new animal exhibit the cheetah and for members only you could take a sneak peek at it a few days before the exhibit was actually open so that was cool.

Then we saw the butterfly's this is one of Shaylie's favorite things to do at the zoo.  And this time with my parents there it was awesome! The best we have seen it, the butterfly's were so friendly we were able to hold a lot of them or they would just land on you.  The first one we saw landed on my dad's hat.

Shaylie was finally able to have a butterfly land on her finger, she was so proud.  She first had one land on her shoe and she wasn't expecting it so it scared her for a minuet but after that she was in heaven.

  We had a really good time with them here.  I hope they had fun too.  After they left it made me really homesick.  I miss them so much!