First trip to the hospital

So yesterday I was feeling a little weird all day. I had a sudden burst of energy and just wanted to deep clean our apartment. So, I turned on the Ipod and started dancing and cleaning (the dancing was my idea of trying to be active to induce labor) :). Anyhow, so Justin came home that night and I was feeling some slight contractions but I wasn't sure if they were Braxton Hicks or if they were the real deal so I didn't think much of them. At about 9:20 at night I decided to start timing them. They were pretty subtle so I wasn't sure if they were just pains or real contractions...eventually they started getting harder and harder so I was sure they were contractions. I told Justin to get some sleep (I knew I wouldnt be able to) so he went to bed around 10:30. I stayed up and kept timing them finally at about 1:00 in the morning I woke him up and told him that it was time to go. When we left for the hospital my contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart. To make this story a little more interesting I will let you know that we hadnt filled up our tank in the Jeep and were running on fumes and of course there were no gas stations opened at 1:00 in the morning. I guess we are not in Missouri anymore! So we said a prayer before we left that we would be able to find a gas station and sure enough we found one on the way to the hospital. I know that the Lord helped us in finding one because if we hadnt found one we probably wouldnt have made it (yes it was that empty)! Anyhow, we made it to the hospital and checked in the Triage. My contractions were getting worse and I was really nervous so my blood pressure was a little high. They check me to see if I was dilated and of course I wasn't. The most pain that I had felt was when the doctor checked me. I have been checked by my doctor before and it never really hurt that bad, but when this doctor checked me I thought she stuck it up there so far that I was going to be able to choke on it. It was miserable. Anyhow since I wasn't dilated she told me to go walk around for a bit and they would check me again. As I walked around my contractions were getting stronger and stronger and coming about every two minutes. However, at about 3:30 she came in to check me again and nothing. I am probably only dilated to a one. So they told me to go home. I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to go home and relax with the contractions that I was having so they gave me some pills to take the edge off and put me to sleep. They worked, but I think they that slowed down my contractions. Because I woke up this morning and am back to were I can barely feel them now. I am pretty bummed about it but I guess that she will come when she is ready. I just hope that she decides she is ready pretty soon...I know we are ready for her to be here!

Words of Gratitude

I am not sure what happened to me but I was laying in bed and I just started thinking of all of the many blessings that I have in my life. I am so grateful for so many things but particularly for the really important ones. The first blessing I have is an amazing husband whom I love dearly. He is always making me smile and he is constantly brightening my day. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful Eternal companion. Secondly I am grateful for this little life that I have growing inside of me. I know that she is truly of gift from our loving Heavenly Father. He has trusted her in our care and I just hope that we can do a good job of raising her! Its crazy the love that you can feel for someone you have never even seen before, but I already love her so much! Next, I am grateful for my wonderful family. My family is my some of my best friends. I know I don't tell them near enough how much they mean to me but I don't know where I would be without them! I am also grateful for my friends. I have many great friends who may as well be family. Lastly I am thankful to have the Gospel in my life. Where would I be without it? I know I would be so lost if I didn't know that I had a Heavenly Father who loved me so much that He would send His Son down to pay the ultimate price for my sins.
I am just so grateful for so many things. My life has truly been blessed. Not saying that I don't have hard times like everyone else, but in the end, I have the things that truly do matter to me and for that I am blessed.

Trip to Palmyra!

So Justin and I had the opportunity to go to Palmyra last Sunday. It was an amazing and perfect Sunday activity for us. We had the opportunity to tour the Smith Farm, the Sacred Grove, and Hill Cumorah. It was such and awesome experience to be able to stand on the exact same ground where Joseph Smith stood and where he held the plates. It was so neat to be walk through the Sacred Grove where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ came in a vision to Joseph Smith together, side by side. Also, to know and think that this is the land that is talked about in the Book of Mormon where Moroni hid the plates that stayed there for years upon years never being disturbed until Joseph Smith was commanded to translate them. Such and amazing experience for the both of us! However next time I think we will pick a warmer day to go. It was soooooo cold there. They told us that the temperature was about 7 degrees...before the sun went down. We went to Hill Cumorah after the sun was down and the temperature was so cold and the wind made it even colder, so we didnt get to enjoy that for very long! Hope you enjoy the pictures!



On top of Hill Cumorah and it was FREEZING! That is why we have such goofy looks on our faces.

Angel Moroni on Top of Hill Cumorah

This is how high the snow was on top of Hill Cumorah

In the Sacred Grove, such an awesome experience

Walking through the Sacred Grove...very cold and very spiritual however I am not acting very spiritual, but we were freezing so I had to lighten the mood a little!

The Smith Home

The bricks where Joseph Smith hid the plates from the mob

The kitchen in the Smith Home

The Palmyra Temple from the Smith farm

The Smith Cabin

The VERY narrow stairs in the cabin

Justin and I in the room where Angel Moroni came to Joseph Smith

Getting Impatient!

So I am currently almost to the 36 week mark. I must say, I am getting extremely impatient. I want this little girl here so badly. I dream about her all the time and sometimes I wonder if she will look anything like what she looks like in my dreams! Although my last dream about her she had a really cute face but SUPER long and skinny arms and legs so I highly doubt that's what she will look like. We had an ultrasound at 35 weeks. I would post pictures of it but the only good pics that that could get of her were her girl parts and I didn't feel right "exposing" her like that. They even gave me a picture of her "girl parts" in 3D. When she handed it to me I was like "great thats exactly the part of her that I wanted to see" lol. But her head was too low for them to get a good profile picture or a even just a picture of her face in general so I guess the girl parts will have to do! Anyhow, I love not working anymore but the main purpose of me not working is so that I can be a stay at home mom, so until that happens, I am kind of bored during the days. Luckily I have Terriann, Jamie and Amy close by so if I get to bored I can just go play with their kids and of course have someone to talk to! I will also say that I cant wait for the baby come because once she does my mom and my sisters will come out here to see her. I was doing really good with not being homesick until my little sisters wedding. It was really hard for me to be here knowing that I was missing her big day and that I was the only sibling not there. However, with me being so close to my due date we figured it would be best if I stayed close by. Not to mention with Kevin being in the military they werent positive the day that they had planned would work out so it would have been hard for me to schedule a time to come out. So anyhow, I am really excited for the women in my family to come see the baby. So please...HURRY UP LITTLE GIRL, MAKE YOUR BIG ARRIVAL!!!

Christmas 2010

Ok so this my third post of the night and then I am done! Justin and I had such a wonderful Christmas. This is our first Christmas away from immediate family and even though we were sad to not have them for the holidays, we were super excited to spend the day with each other and start our own traditions as our own family. So for our first tradition we decided to have our Christmas Eve dinner be foil dinners. And let me just tell you...They were delicious! So Christmas night we opened one gift and that was it...even though my impatient husband tried to convince me that we should open all of them! Oh yeah, I should probably also tell you about our UGLY Christmas tree this year. We decided to go out and buy a real Christmas tree instead of packing our fake tree all the way to NY. So of course Justin gave me the job of picking one out...bad idea. In my defense though the guy at the tree place told me I was the last sale of the year. I only had 3 trees to choose from because thats all that he had left. The other ones were just as ugly. I asked the tree guy his opinion and he told me that the one I picked was the best even though the back side of it was flat (literally all of the fullness is on the front the back side is pretty flat). I decided that since the tree was going up in the corner it didnt matter how flat the backside was. Well I didnt think about the fact it would be top heavy and not stand up on its own, so we had to shove our side table up to hold it up. Its pretty ghetto! Also the tree is very fat...at least on the front side. So its a pretty ugly tree but we love it and it served its purpose!

Justin and I got all kinds of things for Christmas so I wont mention all of it but Justin got me a camera (which I REALLY wanted) and he got a watch. We got a lot of other things too but those were our bigger presents. After having our little Christmas we went to the Hotel where Justin is working and they provided us with a Christmas dinner. The dinner was awesome and we had lots of fun! So here are some pics of the day. They are not in order of how they happened and I am not going to rearrange them to make them...sorry

After lunch...I think I ate too much...do I look a little fat?? LOL

The boys going for a ride on the lifts

high in the air

Everyone getting ready for Lunch

The most important table of the day...the desert table

All of the food that was set up for us...mmmm it was good

My new MU hat

What can I say...I married a Levi Jeans model, those are his new ones

My gifts from My very own Santa

Justin's gifts

Ignore the ugliness of myself...its early thats all I can say

My handsome husband

Our UGLY Christmas tree that we loved!!!

My first baby shower

On Dec. 4th my wonderful sisters and my awesome friends threw me a baby shower. It was so much fun and they did an awesome job with it. It was a lot of fun and I got a lot a great stuff. My sister in-law Lindsey was able to go with me and she took a lot of the pictures during the shower...it made her feel very important to take the pics. A bunch of my family got together to give me a pack and play. Since we are going to be living in New York when the baby is born a Pack N Play is much needed so my baby can have something to sleep in!

My high school friends

One of the gifts given to me

The cake

Playing a game where everyone had to guess my size...lets just say I must look bigger then I really am! However my friend Amanda guessed it perfectly!

The present table

Linsey and Sara did a great job on the decorations

and on the sweets!

Update and leaving Ariyan

So it has been a long time since I have posted anything to my blog...I guess you could say I am way behind on it. So here is a little history of the past few months. First off the Pregnancy is going good, I am pretty ready to get this little girl out of my stomach and into my arms. I am pretty sure that holding her in my arms will be a little more comfortable then in my belly. I felt really good with the pregnancy until about week 30, Now I am 33 weeks and feeling huge. It getting harder to sleep comfortably at night especially when you have to get up every two hours to go to the bathroom! Anyhow, I guess the closer I get to the due date the more ready I am to get her out!
Next big thing in our life is that Justin and I made the HUGE decision to go to New York. There is a construction job in Rochester New York that will provide us with good pay and allow me to have the opportunity to be a stay at home wife. Now, the reason I say this is a HUGE decision is because it also required a lot of HUGE sacrifices. The first big sacrifice is that we have to pack up and move which means that I have to quit my job. Now quitting my job is not the sacrifice, I couldnt have been more happy about that, however it means that I have to take out cobra insurance and lose my cheap insurance with my job. It also means that I have to find a new doctor at 7 1/2 months pregnant in a place that I am completely unfamiliar with. The biggest sacrifice is the fact that we had to give up our foster parenting which means that they had to find a new placement for Ariyan. Now you may ask why we made this decision to go to New York the only answer I can give is that its what the Lord wanted us to do. Giving up Ariyan is the hardest thing I have had to do. But obviously the Lord has different plans for her and for us. So don't worry, the story gets better.

Luckily the family that they chose for Ariyan is AWESOME! They have been so wonderful with us and with her. They are from Marshfield as well and live close. They have been more then happy to let us come over and visit Ariyan and spend time with her. Right before we left they let us keep her for the night. Her life will be so blessed to be living with them and we have made some new great friends! Now that we are in New York they are sending us pictures and emails with updates of her. I am so happy that they are willing to let us be part of her life because she will always be a part of ours! I think that we have gotten the best happy ending to a worse case scenario. Like I said it hasn't been easy but I am happy with the results. So here are some pictures of our last visit with her before we came out to New York
She is getting so big...she can sit up all by herself!

So cute!

This is the Christmas gift we gave her...she loved it!

Justin holding her, I couldnt figure out how to get the pic to turn...sorry

Me and Ariyan