Happy I'm A Hansen

Our first boy

2012-01-23T08:53:00.001-08:00

I have realized, what with this pregnancy and all, I haven't done an update of my first born in way too long. The light of my life. The little man. The goofball.

I wanted to take some time to write about this little man that I love so very much.

He is getting so big. He loves to run, jump, be a plane, be a helicopter, be a car and last but not least, he LOVES to play that he is a robot.

His imagination astounds me. He is learning to play by himself and I just love to watch as his little imagination comes alive. He can make any object into whatever he desires it to be. His dialogue with his toys is so funny and clever. I love to watch him as he explores the imagination only his mind can grasp and see. I just get to behold this wondrous boy grow and I love it so much.

His smile pretty much melts my heart. He loves his mommy and I love him. He adores and loves his Daddy and his Daddy adores and loves him. Joe and I keep saying, "is it really possible to love more children the way we love Dallin?" I sure hope so. My heart seems like it will already burst it is filled with so much love for him already.

He says the funniest things and sweetest things. Like:

Mom, I'm a robot and I'm charging( as he stands still) I can't move until I'm done.

Mom, I'm not a big boy, I'm Dallin.

Mom, chocolate milk is sooooo good. It's yummy, I love it.

Mom, I love you, you are so pretty.

Mom, I have a surprise for you...(stands with something behind his back), Surprise (as he whips out any object he happens to find on the ground from behind his back)

Mom, guess what...Me: What? Dallin: I love you!

Mom, I don't need to sleep, I'm a robot...robot, robot, robot (in a robot voice)

And the list could go on. He is so hilarious, so fun and so full of energy. We are working on his temper tantrums, as a two year old he is bound to have them, but he is learning quickly and I just love to see him process the information.

You can literally see his little mind at work as he grows and learns. His face contorts in concentrations and he will ask me follow up questions. He is such a smart boy and I love to see him grow.

He loves his doggy still and carries it everywhere with him. I don't know how long this attachment will last, but my guess is right before kindergarten.

He is so big. He really is. He is measuring the size of a four year old. He is close to 41 inches tall and not even 3 years old yet. He wears 4T's and even some of them are getting small. For this reason he is judged a little harshly by others. I think they expect him to act more mature, to be more well behaved and to be more obedient than he is. I have to keep reminding them and myself that he is only 2. He is so smart and so well behaved for a two year old and I need to stop others and myself from holding him to too high a standard. It's hard to remember he is two at times, when he dwarfs the other 2 year old's all the time.

He is such a sweetheart. He is always picking things off the ground for me, he is always kissing my owies (right now its my ginormous belly). He says he loves me constantly and like he picked up from the movie "Tangled," he often tells me he "Loves me most." I love him so much and I am so glad he came to our family. I can't imagine my life without him.

34 weeks

2012-01-23T08:40:00.000-08:00

34 weeks with Twins

It is now just a few weeks until I would for sure deliver and I am getting so excited to meet these little guys. I could deliver any day, but I am hoping I will make it to at least 36 weeks. They would induce me at 38 weeks, but I definitely don't want to go that long, but I would if it meant these little ones are that much more healthy.

My body aches everywhere. I wear to belly support, one belly band and one back brace that also has belly support. I just can't get over h0w large my belly keeps getting. The pictures really don't do it justice. I literally stick out an entire foot from my side. It is pretty crazy.

They move so much, I think they are itching to get out. They have the craziest time in there it seems. It is such a cool experience to pull up my shirt and see my bare belly and watch them just move and squirm. The ways that it looks is sic-fi at times. I do look like I have an alien ready to pop out at times.

They are super healthy so far, and I hope it remains that way.

33 weeks!

2012-01-17T12:49:00.000-08:00

33 weeks with twins!

It is getting so close now. This last week we finally got both cribs all put together, with mattress, bumpers and blankets. I bought like 30 onesies, and I am sure that won't be enough. I stocked up on diapers and got my hospital bag ready to go. It is hitting me just how soon these little guys are going to come.

Striking a pose, I actually thought this one was funny, so I put it up, and now that I see it on here, I think my belly looks smaller than any other picture this week, LOL:)

Really, it seems so surreal this week. I could deliver next week at 34 weeks and they most likely wouldn't have to go into the NICU. I just can hardly wait to meet them. I am at the point now where I am in so much pain, I just want it to be over and have them in my arms. I know the nights will be sleepless and I will be recovering from a whole other injury, but I can not wait to finally be able to walk up stairs without being completely out of breath, or to have my quads and legs burn like I just ran for 3 miles. I can't wait to be able to bend over again, to sleep on my back again. But, most of all I can't wait to hold these little boys at last. To finally see what they look like, to kiss their little hands and feet and meet the ones that have made me realize how hard of things I can really accomplish. Being pregnant with twins has been the hardest thing I have ever done. Harder than my facial reconstruction, harder than my college career, harder than adjusting to married life. This pregnancy has been emotionally trying and physically taxing beyond anything I have ever been through. But, I know, that these little boys are going to bring such joy to Joe and I. I can picture Dallin playing with them a few years from now when they are the age of the 3, and Dallin is almost 6. I think they will be best friends and that thought makes all that I am going through sooo worth it:)

They thought they were coming Today...but no.

2012-01-10T16:27:00.000-08:00

Close call today.

Went in for a non-stress test. My contractions were so strong, the Perionatologist thought I was in labor or some form of it. They admitted me into Labor and Delivery. After 4 tests, and being hooked up to a monitor for 4 hours, and one very strong shot, they determined, that right now I am just having some very strong contractions, but I am not in active labor (thank goodness).

I admit, I got scared there for awhile. I watched the monitor as my contractions came and went and I was reminded all to closely about my labor with Dallin. The contractions were about the same, and they were piggy-backing each other like they did with Dallin. I was so relieved when the cultures and samples came back negative. Apparently, there is some protein, or enzyme that is only present in your cervix during active labor and there wasn't any today. I am so glad. Plus I am only dilated to a 1 and some women, in fact, most women, can stay at a one for weeks.

After 6 hours in the hospital I was finally able to go home. I have never been so thankful to be leaving a hospital before. It was hard being there by myself for most of it. Joe had to work and had appointments he just couldn't miss, so for the most part I was alone and it was not something I want to do again anytime soon.

I have to go back tomorrow for more observation. They gave me a nice shot of steroids to help the babies lungs develop quicker, just in case. I will get another one tomorrow. They stick it right into your backside and let me tell you, it hurts worse than getting an epidural into your spine. My bum burned for like an hour. More info than some might want to know, but hey.

Let's hope tomorrow goes more smoothly than today and I get to come home after a couple hours and not several. I just want these boys to be healthy and strong. Stay in there little ones, you don't need to make your debut any time soon....at least not for four more weeks please!

32 weeks and Growing!!!

2012-01-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

32 weeks pregnant with Twins

This week was one of a lot of stretching and pain. I could feel my ligaments stretching to their maximum and yet, they will keep right on stretching. I hit a milestone this week, 32 weeks is a great week for these babies. They are statistically clear of things like scoliosis and spine-abifida. All the medical research shows that if they came today, they would be much healthier than just one week ago. Exciting right?

Things are stretching like I said and my body just keeps on taking it on each week. The babies are moving like crazy. We get to see them on Tuesday again and I am excited to see just how large they are now. I am guessing almost 5 pounds, because my Maternal fetal Medicine doctor is predicting 7 lb. babies, so I would think they need to be quite large at this point.

It is amazing to me that I have two human bodies inside me, growing and developing. When I was pregnant with Dallin I was in awe of the whole miracle of child bearing, but this is even beyond what I felt with Dallin. I can just not believe it sometimes, that there are two. We feel so blessed and I feel so blessed to be their mama. I am so thankful this week, even with the pains and the stretching, I just keep thinking back to those hard years of trying to conceive and can't be anything but grateful that I have these two little ones inside me. I feel so blessed this week and I can't wait to meet them....

But hopefully still in 5 weeks and no less:)

I officially hit my 30 lb. weight gain this week. Good bye goal of staying under or reaching 30 lbs. I figure if I can just keep the weight gain around a pound a week, I will be good with a 35 pound weight gain, since that is actually the overall recommended weight gain for someone of my height and starting weight, I will be proud of myself.

31 weeks with Twins!

2011-12-30T09:53:00.000-08:00

31 weeks with twins!

I missed week 30. With the holidays and all, I just plain forgot. The two week span from my last picture may not seem different to most, but to me, I feel much bigger. My body is screaming at me this week. Everything is getting harder to do, but I must do it. I am still working out each day, the small amount of days I do happen to miss, my body is not happy with me at night. Whenever I miss working out, that very evening my contractions are so painful, my back hurts so bad and my overall energy level is like a zero. Believe it or not, working out makes my days better and easier to bear, though the working out part is super hard to do.

My belly is measuring at least a month and a half over due and my body feels it too. Every day I don't think my belly can stretch any farther and then it does. Everything seems to be going fine though. I have another ultra sound in about a week. We will see the babies again and make sure that they are still head down. I can hardly wait for them to get here, and to finally see what these little boys look like.

Blake, or Baby B is sitting higher and to my right side. He moves so much now it is getting uncomfortable. His little arms and legs, feet and hands are constantly pushing to get out. I see much more movement from Blake on my right, then Matthew on my left.

Matthew is much more mellow than Blake. I hardly feel Matthew move and when I do it is subtle and very soft. He is not a kicker like his brother Blake. There are days I get super worried when I feel hardly anything on my left. It will be interesting to see what there personalities are like and if they fit with how they were in-utero.

Just 7 weeks at the most to go. If I don't deliver by the 38 week mark they will induce me. I am hoping at my doctor's appointment on the 4th that we will set a date for this so I have something concrete to look forward to.

29 weeks with Twins

2011-12-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am only a couple days shy of being 30 weeks, but I had to post this 29 week pic for posterity sake. Here I am at 29.5 weeks pregnant with twins. We went to a family Christmas party Sunday and I got all the expected looks and comments from my unexpected extended family. Most of them didn't know I was having twins, so when they found out I was due in February, their eyes would go all wide and they would go silent. Pretty funny for me to witness.

I measured full term almost two weeks ago, and so since then I have just gotten larger and larger, and passing up the full term status quo has been well, humbling. I am feeling the discomfort big time and really rely on Joe's help. He got a cortisone shot in his back a few days ago and has been able to help a lot more. And I let him. It is hard though to not pick Dallin up as much as I used to. To not play with him as much as I used to, but I had to realize and finally except that I can't do as much as I used to.

These babies are healthy and strong and soon, they will be 4 pounds. I can hardly believe it. I hope they come around 37 weeks, that would be ideal. We will see though, I know they will come on their own timeline, nothing much I can do about it.

Christmas cookies

2011-12-20T11:07:00.001-08:00

The other night when Dallin had gone to bed, Joe and I decided it was a good idea to make some cookies, just the two of us. I got a recipe from my mom for Candy Cane Cookies and so we set out to make some.

Joe was a good Christmas helper. He frosted them well, despite his fear of ruining them:)

We devoured cookies and listened to some Christmas music. It was a fun night with my sweetie. We were just our normal silly selves and it felt good.

They were pretty tasty, and cool looking, for us at least....we are both not the best bakers, so these were awesome for our skill level:)

I got in on the action of frosting as well....okay, I frosted most of them:)

Joe had fun in the kitchen, which doesn't happen often. My Mr. Clause has some pretty good skills, yes??

I love you Joe. Thanks for the fun night, and for just being crazy with me. You are the best.

O Christmas Tree, 2011

2011-12-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago for FHE we went and got our Christmas tree. We knew we didn't want a huge one, but not a small one either. We found one that was just right. It was about as tall as Joe, so I said "we'll take it." The price wasn't too bad either. I am totally willing to pay $40 for a fresh Christmas tree. I just love the smell of fresh pine. The guys there even loaded and tied it up for us. It was the easiest tree pick up ever!

Dallin and his Dad just after bringing in the tree.

We didn't get any picture of the decorating part itself, but, we did get this shot of Dallin standing in awe before it, just after seeing it all done.

Love my new holiday apron. Thanks for bringing me home one babe. You are the best.

This was taken last night. What a ham. He wanted a picture in front of the "kwismas twee". It was a fun night of cold hunts for a tree, hot cocoa, sparkles, Mannheim Steamroller, and last but not least chocolaty kisses from our little boy.

I love Christmas time!!!

Dallin, The Goofball

2011-12-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

Last night was a hoot.

Lately Dallin hasn't been too happy (thank you terrible two's) but last night, he was his normal goofy self and decided to model for me.

I mean look at that face, so adorable, I could just kiss him all day!! And well, sometimes I do...

I love you Dallin. You made a very tired mom, laugh hard for awhile and forget her pain. You are such a ham and I just think you are the best. You are a goofball just like me. Let's promise to always be goofball's together. Okay??? Good.

Love you.

28 weeks with Twins

2011-12-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

(28 weeks with Twins)

I am currently 28 weeks along with these two little boys and I feel just so huge! I went to the doctor for my 28 week checkup and he said I am measuring full term, that's 40 weeks according to him. Yikes! I can not believe how fast this tummy of mine is growing. I look like I am ready to deliver, but I have so many more weeks to go. 10 more to be exact. I just can't wait to meet them.

Joe hurt his back again over Thanksgiving,( darn back just won't heal, poor Joe) and so for the last two weeks I have had to do most everything on my own. It has been a very hard two weeks. I can't bend down easily and so just simple things like picking up after Dallin, or sweeping the floor, emptying out the dishwasher, etc are becoming sooo much work. I find I am constantly stopping to catch my breath and I am just plain tuckered out. I have cried that last two weeks more than I think I have in the last year. I am one emotional mama, so watch out! I am hoping to get the nesting instinct soon as well as the energy that accompanies it, because I could sure use some of it.

The boys are doing great and so am I, regardless of my previous complaints. Just tired, sore and tired. Contractions are coming almost every night now. Painful ones that leave me just wondering how in the world I am not in labor. But, the next morning finds me fit as a fiddle and with no contractions in sight. Let's hope it stays that way for at least for another 8 weeks. I don't want these boys coming before they can get all healthy and strong on their own in there. This week does mark a huge milestone for them. If they were born, they would most likely survive, so here is to baby viability. Hooray!!!

27 weeks with Twins and Exploding

2011-11-30T19:04:00.000-08:00

(Pregnant with twins 27 weeks)

Close up of the belly, I am poking straight out now. I am carrying pretty high still, I don't know how much more of this I can take, but 11 weeks is the most I will be pregnant from here on out. Let's hope I don't just explode:) The doctor said he expects me to go to 37 or 38 weeks, but will induce me by 38 if I haven't delivered by then.

I missed a few weeks of pictures, and the difference from 24 weeks to today, 27 weeks is really obvious to me. I am growing so quickly now. The babies are ahead of schedule with Baby B around 2 pounds and Baby A right behind him at 1 lb. 14 oz. They are about 2 weeks ahead of schedule in growth. Way to go boys! They are both healthy and seem pretty happy to be in there. They kick me like crazy and keep me up most nights as I try to ignore their acrobatics.

Sleeping is very hard to do now, I can't seem to get comfortable no matter how I lay down. Something is always aching whether it be my hips, my shoulders, the belly or my back. I guess I should be thankful I am sleeping at all:) I am measuring around a 34 week pregnancy right now, but feel so much bigger.

My weight gain has been good, still sitting around 20 pounds. I keep hoping I can pull off my goal of only gaining 30. That would be a miracle, but I can still hope:)

Twins 24 weeks

2011-11-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

(Pregnant with Twins 24 weeks)

Look at the difference just 9 weeks has made. I am so much bigger than I was at 15 weeks, so crazy. Things were really great this week. I feel a lot better, maybe because I am eating a lot better. I have pretty much cut out sweets and it has made a big difference. I started doing stretches every night too, which I think is really helping my mobility. The belly is growing so fast, I can't image what I will look like in just 8 short weeks, but I am sure I will be huge:)

Today at the gym a woman told me I was a trooper for still coming to the gym so close to my due date. I informed her I still had 3 months to go and she gave me this look of shock. I then told her I had two in there, and she quickly said I looked great. I am really starting to get a lot of comments about how soon it must be to the end, or how great I look for being so far along. The next 3 months are going to get interesting:)

I have gained 20 lbs, but have stayed at this for about a week now. We'll see if I can still stay under the 30 lbs. Not likely...but I am trying:)

Dallin got Stiches!

2011-11-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend we went to my sister in law Stephanie's family home in St. George. It was fun, though the drive seemed long as it was snowing in Cedar City. We got there and went swimming the next day. Dallin had a blast, up until he had to get stiches.

After swimming in the indoor pool we had to make a run to the car. It was freezing outside and so his Uncle Caleb, grabbed him and ran for the car really fast to get him in the car safe and sound. He opened the door a little too quickly and didn't notice that it was swinging back on them, before it was too late. Then BAM!! Dallin got a good, firm bonk on the door and that was all it took for his little face to split open. Right above his left eye was a half inch gash. We took him to the urgent care and the little guy got two stitches. What a tramatic day for him it was. He did so good though! As he was getting his stitches, he just squinted his eyes real tight and closed his eyes. He was so brave and I was so proud of him. Afterward he got some BuzzLight Year stickers and that perked him right up. He was so great and did so well the rest of the trip considering he was in pain and was constantly saying he had an "owie" and that it hurt. He didn't cry much and he still slept really well. What a trooper.

Needless to say, Uncle Caleb felt awful, but Dallin didn't blame him. He kept saying, the car hurt me, Car owie!!! He didn't associate Caleb with his stitches which was good. Caleb I think almost cried he felt so bad, but all is well, and Dallin is doing great. I wanted to get a picture of the stitches, but Dallin refuses to let me take that band-aid off. Maybe the next time I change the bandages I will get a quick shot.

Dallin and his Uncle Caleb sleeping on the way home from St. George. You can see that bandaid above his left eye. So sad to see, but he loves his little "Woody and Bulls-eye" band-aid. He also loves his Uncle Caleb still:)

23 weeks with Twins

2011-11-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

(23. 5 weeks with twins, and tired)

23 weeks pregnant with twins and feeling more tired by the day. I can still function and do all the things I need to, but I am usually in bed by 10pm:) I am getting slower at climbing the stairs, slower at getting ready and slower at pretty much everything. I can't move as well as I used too. My belly is just getting bigger and bigger. Sometimes it seems that over night it grows, and it is an inch larger in the morning.

The babies are very active now. I have felt them since week 15, but they are so active now that it is getting a little uncomfortable. Last night Joe and I watched my belly move and ripple as the babies kicked and punched. I don't remember my belly moving this much so that you could see this much from the outside until at least 29 weeks with Dallin. They are all squashed and balled up in there, and fighting for room that I think I see movement a lot more prominently than I did with Dallin. It is exciting though and very surreal. I love these little guys so much already.

Dallin is doing so great. He is learning and starting to understand the concept of two babies coming. He is potty training a little at a time right now. I am so proud of the big boy he is becoming. I am sure he will be a great big brother.

Halloween and Cornbelly's 2011

2011-11-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Severe photo overload.....I couldn't help myself. There were just so many cute pictures to choose from. This Halloween weekend was a blast. Look at your own risk:)

So Monday was Halloween and it was so fun!!! Dallin was a pirate and what a cute pirate he was. We loaded him up in the car and headed to the first street in our ward. We figured one street would be enough. At first he didn't want to hold his bucket of candy, but once he got the hand of it and realized there was candy being put in there, he wouldn't let go of the bucket. It was so much fun watching him run from house to house. He loved it and was so polite, saying thank you each time. It was also great seeing people in our new ward. Dallin was so great and I think he had a great time trick or treating.

Dallin Halloween 2011

Dallin saying ARRRRRRR!!!!

We had potato soup dyed orange and orange juice and rolls for dinner. Then we headed to my parents in Provo so they could see his costume. He got even more candy there. Stephanie and Caleb, my brother and sister in law came and brought candy for all the little chick-lens too, so he now has enough candy to last him a loooooong time. I am trying to limit it to three candies a day. One after each meal, if he finishes his meal. Halloween was a blast.

The Saturday before Halloween, we went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. Our friends Brian and Ashley and their sons were going, so we thought it would be fun. Dallin had a blast and he loved chasing Tyson around. He got a lot of cool things in like......

Riding in a cow train, super cool. Look at his face, he is so satisfied with his situation.

He shot corn from a gun with Daddy.

He got stuck in a spider web with Daddy.

He sailed on "Captain Hook's" ship.

He bounced on a huge bouncy platform with Daddy.

Then we went racing. It was a blast for Dallin, Joe and maybe even, uh-hmmm....me.

Look at Joe's face, it's classic.

Getting pushed by Daddy. Dallin loved this part.

Me getting a little racing in myself. I admit it was hard with a big pregnant belly getting in the way, but it was oh so fun. Love my face. We all make funny faces without realizing it I think. Check out Dallin's below.

Oh yeah! Great face Dallin!

Dallin and Daddy racing together. Some more funny faces, courtesy of Joe.

Dallin did some duck racing with water pumps.

Joe climbed a wall with Brian. I'll let you guess who won:)

Dallin slid down a slide with Daddy!

Dallin climbed in a firetruck...oh he loved this part so much!

Daddy with his boy in a big, huge, ginormous rocking chair.

Mommy and her other two boys(still in the belly) in the big, huge, ginormous rocking chair.

Dallin and Mommy being barn animals....

Dallin and his Daddy being barn animals....

Dallin played with ginormous corn balls that bounced.

Dallin loved bouncing on this bouncy horse. He actually did really well. You can see just how much lift he got. I would say there is a good two inches of clearance under that horse. Way to go Dallin!

Dallin bouncing with his Daddy. Joe looks confused, but really he was saying look at Dallin go! Dallin did a great job. Much better than Joe, hahaha.

I decided to get in on the action and I couldn't stop laughing. It felt so weird bouncing up and down with my big belly. I think Joe struggled a little getting us off the ground. What do you think? I don't think his face gives him away at all.....not.

Over all we had a fun time and ended with the corn maze, which was a quick short trip into the maze. The two little boys didn't do so hot staying right by us and we quickly decided to get out. I didn't want to lose them in there, since I very well could lose myself in there.

It was a fun day. I look forward to going back next year:)

22 weeks

2011-11-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

(22.5 weeks pregnant with twins)

22 weeks pregnant! Things are going great, I am just getting really uncomfortable really quick. It literally has happened so fast. I can't sleep very well, can't pick things up, and I can't play on the ground with Dallin anymore. Sad day for him. He is in dire need of a playmate. I take heart in knowing that the next time I am pregnant Dallin will have two playmates and they will have him.

My weight went up by 5 pounds this week. I have no idea how that happened! Maybe the sweets for Halloween, but I limited myself so much! I think my genetics are going to win out with this pregnancy, even with my working out and eating right. I still do cardio for an hour everyday and I burn close to 700 calories. I don't think I will stay under the 30 lb. goal. Oh well, tis pregnancy for me. But I think I am doing great! Regardless of what the scale says:)

Ultra sound pics of 20 weeks and Names

2011-10-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

Sucking on fist twin B

Sucking on fist Twin A

Twin B's little feet.

Twin A still a BOY!!

Twin B still a BOY!!!

Cool shot of baby B, you can see the legs, arms and fist, and top of head. So sweet.

Twin B and those strong legs, he is the one that is always kicking me. He is currently on my upper right side, into my ribs and kicking away constantly.

We got a DVD to watch of the ultrasound too. It is so amazing to see life inside of me. I just can't believe how blessed I am sometimes. I can't wait to meet them.

We chose some names, most likely they will be:

Matthew Robert Hansen
and
Blake Steven Hansen

Their middle names will come from Joe's Father's and mine's first names. The twins first names are just ones we love and feel are strong beautiful names:)

21 weeks and Big Bear

2011-10-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

(21 weeks with Twins)

(30 weeks with Dallin)

21 weeks pregnant and growing, growing, growing. I think my belly grew exponentially overnight. I seriously feel 7 and 1/2 months pregnant now. I am uncomfortable when I sleep now and most of my maternity clothes are getting tight across the belly. I have no idea what I will be wearing in two months. None whatsoever. I have asked several people how far along they think I look and I have gotten answers ranging from 5 months to 8 months. I think it depends on how they carried, how their wives carried, etc and what their answer was. I think personally I look about 7 or 8 months. As you can see in my second photo, when I was pregnant with Dallin at 7 1/2 months, I look about the same size. I carried much higher with Dallin, but over all I think my belly is the size of a 30 week pregnancy.

Things are great though, I am still able to workout everyday and I am trying to stay healthy and active. I notice the more active I am, the better I feel during the rest of the day and the better I sleep at night. The days I can't make it to the gym are the days I feel sluggish and don't sleep well. The babies are super healthy though and kick all the time.

Dallin is growing and learning so much. He loves to wrestle and play. I caught him wrestling with his big big bear yesterday. He was talking with and playing pretend with the bear. It was so cute and so hilarious.

Here he was saying "no camera mommy, no camera!" He doesn't like to get his picture taken about as much as his daddy doesn't. Oh well, maybe the twins won't mind:) I can only hope.

20 weeks and babies faces

2011-10-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

(20 weeks pregnant with twins)

20 weeks pregnant and getting uncomfortable. I can still sleep okay, but I can not, I repeat, cannot bend down to pick things up very easily. I had my 20 week ultrasound today, I am just two days shy of being 21 weeks, so I though I better post this picture today. The ultrasound went great. Both boys were doing so great and baby B was very active. He did two flips while we were watching him. It was so wonderful to see them again.

My pregnancy is going great, I am just having lots and lots of Braxton Hick's contractions already. My doctors said this is super normal with twins, since I am measuring 27 weeks now, which is close to 7 months, I would be getting the symptoms most women start to experience around the 7 month mark. My baby boys are already up in my rib cage now and head down so their little feet like to jab at my ribs, it's awesome.

We moved this last week, hence why I missed a picture of my 19 week belly. Things were hectic. We had lived in our Provo home for almost 4 years, so we had accrued a lot of stuff. But we got moved in and that was when I experienced some pretty intense Braxton Hick's contractions. I got pretty scared, and called my sister (the doctor.:)) and she said if they got more intense to go to the ER. They settled down pretty quickly, but I was wary of something being wrong. The next day was my doctor's appointment and he told me everything was fine. Until he told me, I had no idea that Braxton Hick's contractions were perfectly normal and that it meant little to nothing when you have them. I didn't even know you have them when you are not pregnant!!! Go figure! Needless to say I was much relieved and much more ready to take on this pregnancy. Now when I get them I know I just need to take it easy, or I will start to worry myself too much.

So things are great, the boys are healthy and strong and I am sitting pretty at a 15 pound weight gain. I hope that I can stay healthy and fit, as my Maternal Perinatal doc told me to be extra careful with my weight also. I guess gestational diabetes is really common in multiples pregnancy's hence the strong warnings and urges from my OB to stay at a healthy weight. I think I am doing pretty good so far:)

Here are a couple pics of the babies, just profile shots. I will post more from the ultrasound tomorrow:)

Baby B

Baby A

18 Weeks with twins and Daddy Love

2011-10-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

18 weeks pregnant and poking out more and more everyday. I am starting to get a lot of comments like, "Are you around 6 months pregnant?" or even, " You look like your almost done, huh?". Oh dear dear dear. I can only imagine the comments I will get when I actually am almost done, or when I actually am 6 months pregnant. I will probably look 8 months I am sure of it. This pregnancy is definitely going by slower for me than Dallin's did, maybe because I am so uncomfortable already. Things are great though and the babies are constantly moving. I get to see them again this week on ultrasound and I can hardly wait.

On a side note, Dallin woke up the other morning to his daddy cuddling up next to him. They just giggled and giggled together. I hurried and snapped a shot of the two of them. The are such good buddies. It warms my heart to see how much Joe loves Dallin and how much Dallin loves his Dad. Such a sweet thing to behold. I love these guys so much and I can't wait to get two more boys to love and squeeze. Life is good.

New York Part 3....the end.

2011-09-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, last post about New York. After our conference was done on Thursday, we spent one extra day, Friday, to do some site-seeing and just relax. We went to Central park and walked around New York in upper Manhattan. It was a lot cleaner up there and the park was nice. Joe and I thought it so funny that there is such a rave about Central Park, because it is pretty, but still just a park. I guess when all you have is city, cement and metal buildings surrounding you all day, this park seems like quite the oasis.

Showing off my belly. It was just starting to show....
I was sorta trying to jump for joy, didn't really work though.

And of course we had to try some New York hot dogs. The were so tiny!

My all time favorite thing we did in New York was see the musical "Wicked". We hoped on the subway and headed to 52nd street to catch the show. In the 20 minutes we were underground traveling, a huge New York storm hit. As we got off the tram and headed for the stairs, we realized it was pouring rain!! Rain was pouring down the stairwell and something like 50 New Yorkers were all huddled at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for the rain to stop. Joe ran over to a newspaper stand that was in the subway and tried to buy the last umbrella, but a mean old new yorker man, said he got dibs on it, and the teller sold it to him. Joe was so mad! So instead of standing around like everyone else, we made a run for it! We got soaked just in the few seconds it took to run up the stairs and into a nearby store. Lucky for us, this store sold huge umbrellas for the same price as the little rinky-dinky umbrellas that the subway had. Luck was on our side, as we only had a few minutes to reach Wicked before it started. We braved the rain, Joe made sure to cover me and sacrificed his entire right side. It was soaked through and through. What a gentleman right? But we made it safe and sound into the Broadway Theatre. It was by far the best thing for me. I had very high expectations going into this show and I was blown out of the water. It was better than I expected and I enjoyed it oh so much! The banter was so witty, the acting superb, and the singing was well, just absolutely amazing. It was such a treat to go.

Me with the stage in the background, it was pretty cool, of course the picture doesn't do it justice at all.

I was so happy afterward as you can see in my picture with the poster. Best show EVER.

We ate at a really nice restaurant that night called Tripoli. It was amazing. They had the best stuffed meatballs I have ever had. We ended the night with a nice clean air (because it had just rained the city smelled so clean!!) walk to our hotel. It was an amazing night.

We caught a plane home the next day and got to see our little guy! New York was a blast, but nothing beats seeing the eyes of your little boy lighten up when he sees you after being gone for 8 days. It was a heart melting experience. It is so good to be home.

17 weeks

2011-09-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

17 weeks and feeling bigger. I have been feeling the babies move so much more. I felt them kick pretty hard last night, so hard that it startled me. I actually gasped and let out a loud yelp. Good thing I was home and not somewhere else, that would have been embarrassing:) I can only imagine how much stronger they will feel. I think I am in for a wild ride. I feel them so much more that when I don't feel them for for an extended period of time, I begin to worry. It is crazy how much earlier I have felt them move as compared to my pregnancy with Dallin. Maybe because there are two in there they are fighting for room and I am feeling them so much sooner.

Doing Zumba on Friday I started getting contractions and had to leave after only 30 minutes. My stomach turned rock hard and it didn't let up for about an hour. Needless to say, I was worried. No more high intensity workouts for me. I think the elliptical and I will be great friends in the coming months.

I feel great, besides the fact that I look and feel 6 months pregnant already. I am feeling the back aches already and the super tightness across my lower abdomen that prevents me from bending over too far. This pregnancy is getting harder a lot quicker than I anticipated, even with all that I was told by mothers of twins. I pray I will be able to stay active and do all the things I need to for Dallin in the coming months.

TWIN BOYS!!!!

2011-09-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

This morning we saw our sweet little babies and they are TWIN BOYS!!!!!!

I am so excited for Dallin to have some little buddies. They boys will be best friends, I just know it. I am severely out numbered now, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love these little guys and I am so grateful to have them coming to us.

Our Boys!!

They were moving around a lot, but we finally got some good pictures of them. This one is of them together. Baby A is clearly right on top of Baby B. Let's hope they don't learn to fight too much before they even make it here:)

BOY!!!

Another BOY!!!

Sweet Baby boy B

Sweet Baby boy A

We can not wait to meet these little guys, see what their little faces look like and get to know them. I am so excited to be their mama!

16 weeks and still growing...

2011-09-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

16 weeks pregnant and growing quickly. I think my belly grew overnight on Wednesday. I seriously woke up feeling so much more pregnant. I felt the babies move this week, which was very exciting for me. On Thursday I felt some little kicks and movement and I felt them again last night as I laid down to go to bed. The kicks are so faint that if I hadn't been pregnant before, I don't think I would have known that, that is what they were. I just love feeling them move. It isn't often yet, but it is a confirmation to me that they are still in there and alive.

I gained about another pound and a half this week. I don't know if I will keep within my doctor's goal of 30 pounds. I am already almost at a third of my weight gain and only about a third of the way done. We'll see how this continues.

I get to find out what we are having tomorrow. I am so excited and so anxious I am just counting down the hours and minutes. I hope they will cooperate so we can see them. I am just so excited to see them on ultrasound again and see that they are alright. I can hardly wait for tomorrow morning. I am out of my mind with anticipation!!!

NEW YORK part 2

2011-09-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

So back to New York...

After a few days of work and me trying to deal with utter exhaustion, Joe let me sleep in each morning until 10am and then meet him at the conference around noon. I would pick up lunch on the way and get a taxi to the Javits Center. The first time I took a cab by myself I was scared and shaky, but quickly realized, that nothing was going to happen to me in broad daylight and I needed to not stand out so much...lol. Sleeping in made a huge difference to this pregnant lady. I felt like a new person each morning. The first day that I was able to sleep in I had enough energy that night to go out to eat at Grimaldi's and then go to the Empire State Building.

Grimaldi's was awesome, but not as great as I expected....could just be that everything wasn't that great when I would throw it up and feel nauseous while I am eating....sorry, maybe too much info. I'll move on.

We went to the Empire State Building next. We walked and took the subway to get there. It was a long wait, with lots of lines, lots more waiting, but we finally made it to the top and it was well worth the wait. The views were A.MAZ. ING. I loved it. The best part was I got to spend it with Joe and that made it so much better than I could have imagined.

Joe when we first got to the top... all smiles...isn't he handsome???

Kissy kiss

Some pictures of the skyline, so much better in person, but these picture will help me remember what the view was like....sorta.

My sweetie looking out over the city

Me at the front of the building, in the foyer

Joe in the foyer

It was so much fun to spend such a great evening and night with Joe. We had a blast and even had fun going back to our hotel. The weather this night was fantastic and we walked a lot of the way back. It was so nice to just be with my sweetheart and share such a great night with him.

15 weeks and feeling great!!

2011-09-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

(15 weeks pregnant with the twins)

Okay, I am taking a break today from talking about our summer to post a picture of me pregnant as of right....now! I have been getting a lot of requests about my size, and what I look like being pregnant with twins. Well, here you go. This lovely was taken of me this afternoon, I am 15 weeks pregnant and feeling so great now. The doctor says I am measuring 19 weeks people.... that's a month larger and he said the difference will only get bigger....um, YIKES!!! That literally means I am the size of an almost 5 month pregnancy right now, not an almost 4 month, which is what I am, uterus and all. I don't just look bigger on the outside, but I am actually bigger inside too. Maybe it isn't that big of a deal to some, but it was to me, just knowing that helps me to realize, I am not just holding this pregnancy larger, but I will be larger, uterus and everything to compensate for two babies. I will probably post a picture every week during this pregnancy starting now, as I know this pregnancy will be quite different and quite entertaining to watch as my belly grows, and grows, and grows.....and so on.

If I look sleepy eyed in all my pictures, it's probably because I am. I am so tired, all. the. time.
But so far the nausea is letting up and I feel great. I am working out everyday, drinking lots of water and eating 5 small meals, instead of 3 very large and very fatty meals, which I used to do....shame on me. I am trying very hard to not gain 65+ pounds with this pregnancy, we'll see how it goes. So far I am sitting pretty at this point in the pregnancy at 5+ pounds which is way better than my 10+ with Dallin. I even have twice the baby in there, hooray for me! My doc said my goal should be no more than 30 pound weight gain, oh my goodness....I don't think that will happen, but I will definitely try!

NEW YORK Part 1

2011-09-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

(us at Times Square)

So a lot happened this summer, a lot of which I have yet to write about...please forgive me. I have been sick (pregnant with TWINS!!! hooray) and so much has been going on. I plan to write all of it, so I can have it to remember. I will start from recent events and then go from there, working my way back to the beginning of the summer.... a little backward I know, but at least I am doing it:)

NEW YORK PART 1

Just a couple weeks ago Joe and I got to go to New York. One of our businesses, "Flirty Aprons", had a gourmet housewares show that we needed to attend. And since our partners were having a baby at this time, Joe and I got to go. Needless to say I was pretty psyched and couldn't wait to go. I have always wanted to go to New York and was glad I would get my chance. Dallin stayed behind here in Utah with Grandma Hansen, who so kindly flew all the way from New Mexico to take care of him. We headed out to New York August 12th. A shuttle picked us up in the wee morning hours. I didn't get to say good morning and good bye to Dallin which was very difficult for me, but he seemed to be fine when we Skyped later that day. Our plan ride was long and super smelly (thank you pregnant nose), but we finally arrived in New York that evening. As there was a lot that happened in New York, I am going to write it in segments.

TIMES SQUARE:

The first day we got there, it was pretty late, so we just went and ate at a pizzeria close to our hotel, the Hilton (fancy, I know). The pizzeria was called Bella Napoli and it was DIVINE. I think they have the best minestrone soup ever! We also ordered a small pizza and they accidentally made a large. It was huge!!! We didn't have room to eat it all, not even close, so we took the rest back to the hotel. We tried eating it the rest of the night, off and on, but to no avail. Most of that yummy pizza had a nice date with the trash can. I had a hard time letting it go, it was so goooood!

The next day, we set up our booth at the show and then headed to Times Square. To get there we took the subway. Wow and Hot! is all I got to say about that. Times Square was awesome. There are so many things to look at, stores to go to and people there, that I don't think you could get bored, but you can get overwhelmed:)

Joe bought a hat from a Yankee store, I bought candy from the Nestle store and of course we had to go to the M & M store, umm can you say YUMMMM!?

M&M STORE:

The M & M store was full of anything and everything M&M, and since I love this candy, you can imagine my pleasure. I got a bag full of pink, purple and blue peanut M&M's. You can make your own color combination, which I think would be fantastic for wedding favors. To bad there isn't one of these stores closer. It was fun and so tasty.

Joe with Lady Liberty...sorta

Forgive my crazy face, I was laughing pretty hard. I tried to hug him, but he wouldn't let me. He only would hold my hand....awkward for me...he.

We got a Jamba juice on our way back and it was so nice, and so cold....it is HOTT in New York. The Jamba Juice cooled me right down. We took the subway back and got to our hotel that night safe and sound. It was so great to just walk around and see the sights with my hubby.

More to come.....

2 babies make 5!!

2011-08-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

So the last 2 months have been quite eventful. 2 months ago today I found out I was pregnant again and I couldn't be happier. Just 3 weeks later we found out we were having twins! It was quite a shock, but I was so happy. Excitement and giddiness were the primary emotions for me, though shock and nervousness were close seconds. I wrote down my feelings, just after I found out I was pregnant, but before I found out we were having twins and want to put them here to always remember.

June 26th:
Tonight I found out I am pregnant. I am having a hard time trying to pin down into words what I am feeling. I still can not grasp it. It is a very surreal feeling for me. After months of fertility drugs and close to 2 years of trying and one horribly emotional miscarriage, we are expecting again. I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father and the wonderful blessings he bestows upon me. It still feels so unbelievable, but I am going to put my trust in my Savior and have faith that this pregnancy will go full term. I will have faith that this pregnancy will be healthy for me and that this baby will be born healthy and whole.
My joy is full and my gratitude is over flowing. I can not wait to see more of this baby, to feel it move and to get to know him/her. I feel so grateful for this opportunity and pray that my Father will see it fit to allow this little one to come to us for good.

Just 3 weeks after writing this, we found out there wasn't just one baby, but two. Joe called it. The entire 3 weeks before we found out, he was sure I was having twins. He said he just had a feeling and plus I was showing quite early. When we went in for the first ultra sound we saw two little sacks and two little babies and two little hearts beating. Their heart beats were music to my ears. I didn't cry, but I was smiling ear to ear. I couldn't believe how blessed I was, that the Lord would give me two little angels to watch over at once. I am still a little in shock and still a little nervous, but my joy is so full. We prayed for years for more children, and have had many hard trials along the way. I feel the Lord is rewarding me for my patience and is telling me I will provide. I feel so lucky to be pregnant right now and can't wait to find out what we are having.

This pregnancy so far has been hard. I have been very sick and haven't had much of an appetite. I was sick from day one pretty much and have remained so throughout. I keep hoping that this one will be different than Dallin, as I was sick the full 9 months with him. I think it will be different, at least I hope so.

Dallin still doesn't understand quite yet that there are little babies soon to come to our house. I think as he gets older and this pregnancy progresses that he will be able to grasp the concept eventually. He does know that the ultra sound pictures below are "the babies" and he refers to them as such whenever he gets the chance. I think he will be an awesome older brother, he is so kind and so gentle and such a sweetheart. He loves his mommy and daddy and I know he will love these two little peanuts also.

This ultrasound was taken at 10 weeks and 2 days. I was so worried going into this appointment, but their heartbeats were strong and they eased my heart so much to hear them.

I am now 12.5 weeks pregnant and counting down the days til I get to find out with genders they are:)

First baby

Second Baby

Both babies together:)

And here comes another one

2011-06-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

Hooray! We finally got some photos of our new product! Joe and I are starting another company called "Lullabibs". We will be manufacturing cute toddler bibs for that messy toddler that is learning to feed themselves, play with all sorts of crazy things and help around the house. Our good friends Brian and Ashley are doing the business with us (the bibs were their idea, great idea don't you think?). We are so excited to finally get this thing going. Wish us luck!!

We had a photo shoot this last weekend and little Grace was there. She was such a ham. Thank you Suz for coming and helping me out, it was great to have you guys there and Grace gave us some pretty cute shots. Hooray!

Grace and her lovely mama Suz:)

You can check them out at our site, www.lullabibs.com. We are coming out with some new ones soon. The website isn't all the way done yet, but you will get the idea. Spread the word about these awesome bibs. :)

Thomas and Memorial Day

2011-06-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

Memorial day was a blast.
Granted I was sick and it was cold, and yet, we managed to have a splendid time. We started our day with Thomas! Dallin isn't the most expressive when it comes to emotions like excitement and joy, but I guarantee he had a great time. We went up to Heber to ride a train the convert into Thomas each year. Dallin and his Daddy in front of the "Thomas train"

On our way to see the train.

Boarding the train and giving the conductor his ticket.

The Conductor.

It was so fun to see his little face light up when he got on that train. I waited outside to get some pictures of him on the train. I just love how excited he was and how excited Joe was. It makes doing things as a family so much more fun!

You can see his little face through the window. Love it!

As the train started, Dallin was so excited. He kept saying "choo choo train, choo choo train", over and over again. I think he got the concept, though I don't think he understood we were on Thomas the train. He kept asking for Thomas...lol.

The train started to move....

He saw many other engines and even a crane....

He took pictures with his mommy......

This was the view I saw most of the ride, he was just so enamored with looking out that window. His face was plastered to it if he was sitting by it...

We were pretty excited...though Dallin isn't showing it, I know he is too!

Here we were clapping and singing the song from Thomas....

Dallin is now a Jr. Engineer...I am so proud!

Dallin and his daddy plastered to the window again....

Cutest face ever!

Half way through the ride, we found out there was a trolley car where they serve drinks and food right behind us, so we got up and headed back there. Joe and Dallin in the through-way...

Dallin and Joe looking out the window in the trolley.

Jumping for joy to be walking around....

After the ride, we headed over to Thomas to get some pictures....Dallin would not look at the camera, only at Thomas...

We had a blast. Though the ride was much, much shorter than I thought it would be, it was still a fun day. I loved seeing Dallin on the train and his little face light up as we boarded, rode and played. It was a great memory.

Later we had a BBQ at my parents and a bike ride to the lake. The lake is about to flood over. Yikes! The trail to the lake that runs adjacent to the river was flooded over in some parts with 5 or 6 inches of water. It was fun to ride through it on our bikes. I felt like we were in the jungle or the amazon, and not in Provo, UT. It was beautiful and so green. I loved it. I wish I could have gotten some pictures, so maybe I will have to go back to get some!

It was a great holiday!

Altered

2011-05-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

This morning I was awakened out of my medicated sleep to the sound of laughter. I heard giggles and "shusshes", I heard "daddy's" and "hurry hides". I knew my little offspring was up and at it already. The sun hadn't risen yet, and to be honest, I don't think the birds were awake yet either.
I wearily pushed back the covers and walked into the living room. I saw a mass of quivering blankets in front of the fireplace. Giggles were being shushed by a daddy as my two ninjas tried to evade me. I soon found their hide out and the morning continued with bouts of hiding under blankets and tickles under chins.
I wasn't feeling to hot this morning, it fact, I was feeling lousy. I wasn't feeling too playful and I wasn't participating too much either. I quickly dismissed myself and went to make breakfast, where I managed to break an egg in the fridge. Hubby cleaned it up for me. I then dropped a plate in the sink. It shattered. Hubby cleaned it up for me. I realized I really wasn't firing on all cylinders this morning and resigned to sitting once again in front of the fireplace. At which time, my little ninja came to me again, and I was once again his hiding place and his refuge. The hubs had to leave for a docotor's appointment and I was not in the mood to say goodbye, so I gave him a sitting down hug and a not-so-enthusiastic parting.
Later, I turned on some cartoons for the ninja and found myself staring at the wall. I got to pondering as I frequently do and I realized, I was being so, well, not myself.

I wasn't being who I could be.

I had just let a fantastic morning go by completely unappreciated by, me, and most of all, I hadn't really been an active participant in my little life I am SO blessed to have.
I have been a little "woe is me" as of late. I am have been sick, alone, depressed, infertile and feeling quite sorry for myself. This morning I sat back and realized how I have been acting, and I feel like I have missed out on so much. How often do I get in these slumps and not come out of them for days? This needs to change. I need to change. I resign to change.

Tomorrow, I will play ninja and hide with my little guy. I will play tickles and speeder spiders until he tells me to stop. Tomorrow, I will be happy to be me, to have my life, my religion, my knowledge that families are forever and that this life isn't all we get. I have so much to be grateful for and so much more than I deserve. I have a wonderful life and a wonderful husband.

I have one amazing son and I need to have faith that I will have more. I need to be patient in my trials and have faith things will turn up. I need to be trusting in my Father and know that His will is what I need to seek for, and not my own. I need to have faith in Him more, and trust in his care.
I want to be an active member in my life and not just an observer. I want to be there for my son and for myself. I will stop sulking and start doing. I will stop finding fault and start finding joy. I will stop focusing on what I don't have, and start focusing on what I can do. I will stop seeing myself as a failure and start seeing myself as a daughter of God. I will stop saying negatives and start focusing on positives.
And it starts today.

Zoo with the Gma and Gpa!

2011-05-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago, Joe's Mom and Dad were in town for Joe's cousin Donny's wedding. We loved having them stay with us and it was so good to see them. While they were here, we went to the Hogle Zoo. We love the Zoo. I don't know why, maybe because we are monkeys ourselves? Either way, it was fun and I got to take a lot of pictures of them with Dallin. Here are a few goodies...

Entering the Park...

Dallin loved this wolf he saw....

Me, riding in the stroller with Dallin, ummm....not really, at this very instance, my backside was throbbing from trying to fit it into that little seat...I didn't stay there for long.....

Dallin looking at the snakes with his Daddy, he loves snakes, go figure.....

This was the most hyper prairie dog I have ever seen! Dallin loved watching it.....

We had this cool little train ride with Dallin on this little train in the park. He loved it...I think...

We can never all be looking at the camera at the same time, so us.....

And this is so ME....lol

Trying to get Dallin to look at the camera was like pulling teeth, he couldn't take his eyes off the choo choo train....

again, Dallin "not" looking at the camera, but sweet pic nonetheless....

Joe and his Dad seeing if they measure up......

My two monkeys.....

Trying to show Dallin a giraffe, he was pretty freaked out by it...

Looking at the monkeys with grandma and grandpa....

Being a monkey himself....like I said, we are all monkeys in this house.....

Checking out the birds.....

I think we were looking at some turtles and birds here.....

This elephant and her baby were so fun to watch, they did a show right when we got there....

Grandpa and Dallin watching the elephants....

Grandma and Grandpa with Dallin....

Dallin on Grandpa's shoulders, so sweet :)........

The grandparentals....

Dallin and his grandpa.

It was a blast having them here. We had a lot of fun hanging out and just chatting with these two. We sure do love them, yes we do!

Dreaming of Sand Castles

2011-05-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Joe and Dallin,

I can not wait to spend a week at the beach with you two this summer. Dallin, can you make another sand castle with me this summer? I would love that. I love you two, and we are going to have a blast. I am so excited, can you tell?

Dear July,

Please hurry up and get here soon. I want to play in the sun at the beach....like come soon please, very soon???

Dear Utah Weather,

Please be sunny! My skin is still so pasty white and it will be June soon. Yikes~

2011-05-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day this year was awesome! I got the coolest gift and it was so me. You can see me in the above picture with my rad bike Joe got me. It is pretty much the essence of me. I love it. You can't see in the picture, but it has this awesome bell that is pink and purple and orange. I love everything about this bike. I got a bike for my birthday a couple years ago, but it didn't have built in gears and so Joe always smoked me when we went for a ride. I got him a beach cruiser a couple years back, but his has gears and so he can sure change his speed much better than I. So for Mother's Day Joe decided to surprise me with this beauty! I was so excited you have no idea.

Joe surprised me Saturday morning before Mother's day, with breakfast from Kneaders. He let me sleep in and when I woke up, Dallin was in my room saying, "mommy, breakfast". I was so hungry, I got up and found my sweetie had bought me my favorite breakfast!

Then Joe let me play tennis for a couple hours with my brother Caleb. It felt so good to get out and just smash that ball. Now that I can play, it is so much fun.

Joe picked me up from the tennis courts and drove me home. When we arrived, he got out of the car with such speed I was like whoa, where is the fire!? He quickly got Dallin out of the car and in the house. I was taking my time, because I just played 2 hours of tennis. As I went up the steps, I saw the door was open, and the two of them were peeking around the corner of the door. As I pushed it open wider, they both yelled surprise. Sitting in the middle of the living room was my new bike! Oh it is such a beauty! I love it!

I had fun riding it around the block and back and trying the new bell. I am so excited for this summer. We are going on lots of bike rides. Later on that night, Joe took me to see Thor! It was awesome. I love going to movies with my sweetheart. I love to cuddle him and pretend we are dating again. So fun!

We got Bajio to go and picked up our little man from the sitters.
I got to put him to bed and sing to him. I love this about the night time. I get to be with my son and have such fun moments together as we giggle and laugh about songs and stories.

Sunday, Joe made me rolli-ups for breakfast and even taught my lesson for me in Gospel Doctrine. I love teaching, but love having a break too.

Then we headed to my mom's. My sisters and I cooked her a nice dinner, and had yummy cheescake afterward. I had a long chat with my sister, played with my son and laughed with my hubby. It was a great way to end a great weekend celebrating my opportunity and blessing to be a mother. I felt so loved and I am so thankful for all of it:)

Cinco de Mayo

2011-05-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo! I thought it would be fun to have some mexican food and a pinata for the kiddos. It turned out to be way fun. I made fajitas with homemade guacamole, torillas and all the trimmings. We had chips and salsa from Los Hermanos, the best in the west I say. It was all delicious. We had my parents, and Caleb and Stephanie over for dinner, it was great to have them all over. I was babysittying Calvin and Camden last night, so I also thought it would be a blast to have a pinata. I found one at a Mexican market here in town. It was a finding Nemo pinata. Dallin screamed with joy when he saw it. Nemo! Nemo! He kept saying. It was pretty cute.

Gwen and Gerritt and their kids, Xander, Axel and Lacy came over for the pinata busting. Each child took a turn taking a swing. The younger ones, didn't quite get it at first, and Dallin ended up just jabbing it. LOL. But in the end Xander gave it a good bashing and the candy went a flyin!

Lacy bug taking a swing

Calvin giving it a go, he didn't like it much....grandpa gave him a good push along.

Axel swinging away.

Dallin giving a a good swing also, but in the end just started stabbing it.

Xander giving it a good bashing, you can see in the picture below, he gets some good air!

Children getting their spoils.

Dallin enjoying his sucker, it was his favorite part.

Our little family.

It was a fun night and we enjoyed having our family over, what a treat! Lucky me I have leftover for lunch today! Hooray!

The Many Faces of Dallin

2011-05-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

Dallin is a pretty expressive little guy. He inherited that from me. I can't count the number of pictures I have of myself in the background at some event or some party making some hideous face, and lucky me the camera caught my contorted face just in the nic of time. I am a woman of many faces, what can I say, I love to be expressive. I know I am extremely expressive with my face when I talk, Joe is always teasing me that I must have a few extra muscles in my face. I won't post any of those pictures, but I do want to post some of my beautiful progeny.

Dallin has been watching this cute cartoon lately called, "Kipper". He just loves it. He can sit and watch it forever if I let him. He has so many emotions while he watches it, and you can see it all on his little face. I love it. It goes from confusion, to excited, to happy, to sad, to confused again. If Dallin was to play poker, he would loose every time. You can tell what he is feeling just from his face and so here are the many faces of Dallin.....

I just love him.

Bedtime

2011-04-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

Dallin, I just put you to bed. You make me smile so much, my face feels like it will crack.
You love to tell me stories at night and tonight was a spectacular one and I just had to write it out so I wouldn't forget.
You told me a story of a race car that drove down a road and crashed. It looked up in the sky and saw stars dancing over its head. They were red stars and they raced each other all over the sky.
Then the spiders came and and the popcorn. I think you said the spiders ate the popcorn and then were happy. Then the red race car sped off fast, zoom zoom.

What an imagination you have. I just love you to pieces.

I love these moments with you, where we sing songs together and laugh. I love watching as you calm down and get sleepy. I love your little personality as you listen to my stories, each face you make and each noise you squeak makes it all worth it. I love you Dallin and I am so grateful to be your mama.

My Little One

2011-04-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Today I have been thinking alot about you. I knew this day was coming, and I honestly didn't know it would be so hard. Today you would have been born and this thought has not left me since I awoke this morning. I have felt alot of comfort since loosing you, but somehow today, that comfort does little to keep me from feeling sad. As I write this I have your little face in my mind, or what I think you would have looked like. I have thought about you alot today. I think about your ultrasound, when I saw your little arms and legs growing, and I saw your little heart not beating.

Sometimes I feel so lonely for you. I long to feel another little spirit growing inside of me and I know that soon that day will come. I have shed many tears for you today my little one. I did love you, and I think you loved me too. I know you were only with me for 12 weeks, but I felt that little spirit of yours and I miss it dearly. I think I grieve for what could have been, the little hands I could have kissed, and the little cheeks I could have stroked. I grieve the lost moments of awe at your learning and your growth. I grieve the lost memories that will never be here on this earth. I grieve the things that can not be here, at least for now.
Your big brother slept in late today, he never sleeps late. I wonder if he knew that I would struggle on this morning and so he gave me time to cope. I walked into his room this morning and snuggled him while he slept. I thought of how you would have brought him such joy also. He would have loved you so much. WE all would have loved you so much.
I just wanted to write you to let you know I didn't forget you. I will never forget you my little one. I will always remember this day as the day you would have come to me. As the day our lives would have doubled in love and joy. I know your spirit is waiting, maybe waiting for the day we can see each other someday, face to face. I would love that. Then I can finally kiss you and tell you how much I love you as I have wanted to do since the day I lost you.
Just so you know, your mommy loves you and has you always in her heart.

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T15:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter. What a great day it was. We started it out on Saturday with an Easter egg hunt and some fun running around. Dallin found all his eggs with some help from his Daddy and his cousin Calvin.

Dallin had fun with his Daddy. I love the above picture of them playing outside.

Easter Morning

Dallin was quite a ham getting his candy and pictures taken. I love this little boy.

He finally understands the candy concept and was pretty excited about it as you can tell from the two pictures.

We had a wonderful time on Easter. We had a great experience the day before. Our neighbor of the last 3 years who isn't a member came over and asked Joe if he could get the missionaries to come visit him. Joe was ecstatic. We have prayed for these neighbors about this very thing. We knew they weren't LDS and so it was awesome to finally see our prayers being answered. He got a discussion later that day and came to church with us on Easter Sunday. He has already committed to baptism. What is a more glorious way to spend Easter? I think Joe really enjoyed going to the discussions on Saturday and Sunday. He said the Spirit was strong and he loved the experience. It was just a reminder to me on this Sunday, what is really important and that is our Savior and his gospel. I am so thankful for the knowledge that I have and I am so grateful that others get to learn of it and have their lives changed because of it.

Happy Easter!

Spring has Sprung....maybe?

2011-04-11T15:16:00.001-07:00

I sure hope Spring is here to stay.
I mowed the lawn today, cleared off our back porch and broke out the hammock.
Oh I sure do hope that it is here to stay. oh yes I doobaly do.

The sun was fantastic this morning. I got to just work outside and take in it's rays. It has been a long time since we did that eh Dallin?

Dallin loves to be outside and it is so much more enjoyable when it is sunny. Today while I mowed the lawn he took turns running from it, stopping when it got far enough away that it didn't scare him, and then running as fast as he could in the opposite direction with a look of terror on his face, when he got close to it, or if I got close to him. We played this little game of cat and mouse the entire time I mowed. I laughed pretty hard.

Dallin ate dirt.

Dallin got muddy.

Dallin put rocks in in pockets.

Dallin smashed grass into his hair.

Dallin pretended the broom was a sword and jabbed his mommy.

Dallin found a potato bug and tried to eat it.

Dallin played cars and planes and crashed them into the tree stump.

Fun stuff.

I love mornings like this. I definitely think I am a earthy person. I love to mow the lawn, work in the garden, pull weeds, prune trees. I just love working with the earth and the dirt. I love getting dirt under my fingers nails. Weird? Maybe, but it gives me so much joy.

Dallin gives me joy too. So does Joe. Joe was working while I was outside and I missed him dearly. I wish his back was good enough to work the earth with me. Maybe sometime soon he will be fixed and we can be earth movers together.

(dallin last summer walking throught the grass)

Days go by....

2011-03-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

I came across this picture today and was shocked. Dallin was so small, and yet, I remember this day perfectly and this photo being taken. I remember thinking "he is so heavy, my hip is going to be bruised from carrying around all this squishy goodness all day!". Crazy.

When I look at this picture today, now almost 1 1/2 years later I can not believe how small he looks. He was nearly 6 months old here and he used to nestle right into my shoulder easily and yet, his little feet still didn't reach my thigh. Today he is eye to eye with me when I hold him, and he is constantly kicking my thighs when I hold him. Time flies and they grow way too fast! I love this little boy so very much and I am so proud of the little boy he is becoming. I know one day he will be a boy and not a little boy, and then that boy will become a man and I will be a grandmother. It is so crazy to think, but like my mom said, it seems just like yesterday that she was holding me in her arms as an infant and now she is holding my own children in her arms. Days fly by and years keep on coming. I hope that I cherish these days and years I have with my Dallin boy and appreciate them for what they are. I can never go back and spend more time with him. I can never go back and play blocks with him more or cars or trains with him more. I hope I take each day for what it is. A gift. A wonderful gift with my family. I love you Dallin. And I love you Joe....don't forget it:)

He turned 2!!!!

2011-03-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

THE BIRTHDAY BOY

Dallin had his birthday on Saturday! He had fun opening presents over Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen. We had a birthday party for him that night. I made a Lightning McQueen cake for him. We all wore birthday hats. I think we looked like a bunch of crayons...haha.

Dallin and his cake

Opening presents on Skype

Opening presents at party

My mom and sister in their hats

Everyone in their hats...lol seriously...we look like crayons!

Dallin and my sister April

Crazy Party Animals

(look closely at my dad, he is so hilarious)

The CAKE

Celebrating his birthday while Grandma and Grandpa were here in February!!

Blowing out his candles

My boys

I think Dallin had fun on his birthday. I was somewhat stressed, but it all turned out well. Even after a burnt cake, a destroyed redo and a patched up third...(yes, I made it twice!) his cake turned out and I was able to deliver. He got so many wonderful presents, so many wonderful hugs and so many wonderful memories. Happy Birthday Dallin, WE love you bunches!!!

2 year stats:
Height: 38 inches, 99th percentile
(he will be tall)
Weight 28.5 lbs., 50th percentile.

Our boy is growing like a weed. I know someday he will outgrow me and probably even Joe. It just seems so far away, but I am sure that I will look back on this entry and think, umm...no way, it came too quick. He is learning and growing so fast and I am just so proud of him.

Dallin can say many words, but his favorite words to say are doggie, frogs, cars, zoom zoom, mommy, daddy, play, outside, more, milk, Juice, all done, please and thank you. I think Dallin says around 200 words now, give or take a few. He is one smart cookie that is for sure. He loves to run, play outside in the dirt and play cars.

Dallin just started to play pretend. He will take his cars and pretend that they talk. He will drive one up to me and say "Hello", and give me a car too. I will play cars with him, both of us talking to each other. I love his little imagination. He now can take any item and pretend it is something else. Love this about him.

Dallin loves to snuggle and give me kisses. He loves to tickle me and be tickled. He loves his Daddy and runs to the window when he comes home. He loves to play and wrestle with his Daddy and ride him like a horsey. We love our sweet boy and all he is learning and becoming.

Snow and a new bed

2011-03-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

This week Dallin turns 2!!!! Can you believe it!? I can't. It seems like it was just yesterday I was holding my little 7 pounder baby and snuggling him close to my chest. I remember that new baby smell. Well, now he smells mostly like dirt and peanut butter. He loves to play in the dirt, mud, grime, rocks, wood chips...if it is outside and messy, he loves it.

He is getting so big. So for his birthday we decided to get him a cool car bed to move him over to and out of his crib. We went all out, we got him some "Cars" sheets and a new mattress. We set the bed up on Wednesday morning and let him get used to it all day. By nap time, he was super enthralled with his bed. He kept taking my hand and leading me to his bed. He would climb on up and grin ear to ear. He loved to repeat this throughout the day. I was really worried he would have a hard time going to sleep on in it (since he was playing and jumping on it for hours), but at naptime, it only took about 5 times of putting him back in his room and on his bed before he finally fell asleep. Today it only took once and he feel asleep in no time. Last night he didn't even get out of his bed and wake us up at 3 am, which I was scared he would do. He slept like a pro and I am so proud of him. I was worried about the transition, but so far so good.

I was concerned about him getting out at night, wondering around the house and getting hurt, but Joe, being the genius he is, figured out he could just switch the door handle and make the lock be on the outside. The handle is upside down now, because it is a lever handle, but you can't really tell, it looks pretty good actually. So now, I can lock him in at night and sleep soundly knowing he is safe and sound in his room.

Here are some pictures of him enjoying his new room, new bed and sheets. He loves to point to his blanket, his pillow, his sheets, his curtains and name all the different characters from "Cars", he loves that movie.

We were lucky enough to have Mom and Dad Hansen in town for Dad Hansen's brother's baptism. It was great seeing them and great being able to witness Uncle Steve's baptism. There was a great spirit there and it was amazing to be apart of. We had such a great time visiting with Mom and Dad. It was great seeing Dallin interact with them and play with them. We got to go to the arcade with them, go swimming at indoor waterpark and have a snowball fight. I think the snow ball fight was the highlight of their stay, well, at least for me. We woke up Friday morning to a land of snow. It had snowed 8 inches over night and was still snowing when we woke up. I shoveled the walks and thought, hey, we should have a snowball fight. So, I got Dallin all geared up and headed out in the snow. Soon, Mom and Dad joined us and we got some cool pictures. It was alot of fun.

Playtime

2011-02-18T12:41:00.000-08:00

I just love this view.

I get to see this each and every night. Dallin LOVES to play and wrestle with his dad and lately he loves to do the above.
Joe is great with him and loves to give him play time and attention.
I am very grateful for this.
Sometimes I think we take for granted the pure delight our child can give us. Granted, Dallin doesn't always like to play with us, sometimes he wants to do his thing. In fact, I think some days he gets bored with me, but I love that he will play with me now. It is such a fun age, as well as a very trying age. He loves to say NO! I think it is his favorite word and he is pretty good at saying it. But, he also loves to say please and thank you. He can be polite and disobedient all in the same minute, but that is what makes a two year old a two year old.
They are learning, growing, testing out their world, their boundaries.
I just have to keep in mind that he needs us, needs a nuturing atmostphere, one that enables him to show love and be loved in return.
I just love this age right now, even with all the ups and downs.

Goo-goo eyes and Sci -Fi flings

2011-02-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

My little boy lets me take funny pictures of him. Bahahhaha! I love it!
My goo-goo eyed boy.

I have had some fun days lately. The sun has been shining and I have been outside planning with my little man. I just love it. He is back to normal, my super fun, smiley and loving little boy. He was sick and then became a monster, not a literal monster mind you, but he was certainly not the little boy I have known the last 2 years. But, I am happy to report, he is my little boy again, giggles and all. I am so thankful for the power of medicine to help heal our little ones. But, most of all I am thankful for the power of priesthood blessings. They sure do work miracles.

We have had fun playing at the parks with friends and most of all eating sandwhiches in the blessed sun. Yesterday we went to a park in Spanish Fork with my sister Crystal and her sons Calvin and Camden. The wind got so bad it was taking the breath right out of my nose. I was really worried about Dallin, but he seemed to enjoy it thouroughly. Dallin loved it and I think he must have had the constant feeling that he might take flight at any moment. I think I would have loved that feeling too. Who wouldn't want to feel like they are about to fly:)

Also, has anyone watched this before???

Well, I am addicted. haha, I am such a Sci-fi nerd. I love these kind of shows. Joe and I are currently watching this series, "Farscape" that we got from Dad Hansen for Christmas. At first I was like, "what the heck is this?" I had never even heard of it before, but let me tell you. If you have an inner Sci-Fi nerd streak like I do, you will love it!

We watch a few episodes every night after Dallin goes to bed. It takes all my will power to not watch it while Joe is at work, since we are watching it together. Love it. I know I am a nerd, but I love that too.

2011-02-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!!

To my boys: I love you both with all my heart! I am the luckiest woman alive!

My boys are the best:)

Random inspiration

2011-02-11T12:55:00.000-08:00

(view from the hot air balloon Joe took me on for my birthday)

Do you ever have those days where you just feel so incredibly lucky? You realize that you have the best life in the entire world and you know, or you feel, like no one could quite possibly understand just how happy you feel?

It is kinda of like when I was little. I used to ponder for hours if I was truly the only person that was really experiencing this life. I know it was egocentric, but as a child your world revolves around yourself and what you do, so I pondered my life. I remember sitting in the field behind my house one summer afternoon. I think I was 7 or 8. The sun was shining down on my face, warming my closed eyelids as I laid face up in the field of two feet high grass. I remember thinking, " I am the only one in this world that truly knows what it feels like to sit in the sun and enjoy it's warmth." I truly believed it too. I loved those lazy summer days, and for some reason I truly believed that I was the only one truly experiencing all these emotions, feelings and joys. As I got older, I knew differently, but there are still some days that I sit, as an adult, fully aware of others feelings, lives and events and I still, every once in awhile get those....I feel so lucky moments, like, "could anyone else really understand how I feel?" moments.

There really is nothing spectacular that happens on these days when I get a glimpse into true and sure bliss. There is no dramatic event occurring either. No gift is given, no out of the ordinary service rendered toward myself and yet, they do happen. Out of the blue and suddenly they appear and I am grateful for them. It is in these moments that I can take a huge breath and see my life, maybe just maybe as my Father in Heaven sees me always. That this life if for us. It is for our purposes, to learn, to grow...to love. I feel the responsibility and the blessing all at once that this life is for me. I love to take a deeper look and ask myself, "what am I doing with this blessing, What am I doing with this gift of life that He has given me?" . I love to look at my life when these moments of happiness come, because although it seems contradictory, it is in these moments of unique clarity that I think I truly see my life as it really is. And I am so thankful for it. For all of it.

Excited

2010-12-16T12:33:00.000-08:00

(Dallin playing with Grandpa Hansen)

We are so excited for Grandma and Grandpa Hansen to come play. Dallin can hardly wait. He misses you guys!

Hard worker

2010-12-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

I LOVE JOE!!!

Plain and simple statement, but it is the truth. He is such an amazing father, husband and priesthood holder. He does so many things for Dallin and I, and so many others around him. He works hard, long hours on our business and sometimes I know I don't give him enough thanks. I love him so dearly and I am so thankful for him. I think the men in our lives deserve so much more praise and gratitude than we give them at times. I am always quick to thank him when he does something for me...but I know I can say it more often and with more sincerity. I found evidence of just how hard these men in our lives work....enter exhibit A.

EXHIBIT A

Do you see how sleepy eyed these two fathers look? Joe on the left looks like he is about to snooze and so does Brian on the right. After a long days work, both these men took the time to play with their children and let their wives talk with each other and hang out.Then look at our children behind them. Dallin on the right is wide eyed and bushy tailed, full of energy and pizazz and so is Tyson on the right. They are exhausting, even if you didn't just work a long 10 hour day.

Their fathers love them and play with them and make them feel special even after a long days work. Joe doesn't just come home and say, " I am exhausted, so I am just going to lounge for a few hours.." Nope, he plays with Dallin and wrestles with him. He helps him learn new things and keeps him entertained and out of the kitchen so I can do dinner. What a wonderful man he is.

Joe, if you are reading this, Thank you. I love you. Thank you for all you do. You are the best husband and father and we are so lucky to have you.

Christmas in November

2010-11-26T13:14:00.000-08:00

Our tree giving our living room a nice warm glow...I just love it!!!

This year we put up the Christmas tree a little earlier than usual. We put it up on November 18th. If I'd had it my way, it would have been up sooner...like that day after Halloween. I LOVE Christmas, I love everything about it. The lights, the trees, the music, the snow...it is just all fantastic. Dallin was such a delight putting up the tree, he loved it. He wanted to help do everything.

Dallin helping me fix the branches

Dallin copying mommy

Don't worry, that is not the ghost of Christmas present...it is just me, a blur in front of the camera. Joe had the flash off, and it made a cool ghost out of me.

Dallin and I had so much fun putting the tree up, he was such a good helper. Joe had fun taking pictures and playing some Christmas music to set the mood. Putting up a fake tree is soooo much easier than a real one. But don't worry, I have been burning pine oil all week to make sure that house still smells like fresh pine trees. Love that smell.

The Pole

2010-11-19T13:49:00.000-08:00

This little boy makes me laugh. Seriously.... doesn't this picture make you just bust up laughing? Now imagine all the things I get to witness this silly boy do in person. I think I burn 500 calories a day, just laughing.

Strike a Pose... lol

We did the Monster Mash

2010-11-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

The Friday before Halloween, Joe and I and Dallin went to a pumpkin patch with our friends Brian and Ashley and their son Tyson. It was fun to walk through the patch with Dallin. Every pumpkin was a "ball." He had fun...I think. Joe and Dallin found their pumpkins...which Joe later exchanged for some better ones by the cash register...lol.

Dallin was a Dragon for Halloween. I bought the costume without him there, and found out later that the costume was much too small. But there were no exchanges, so I had to make due. Dallin was growling all night. It was adorable.

Dallin loved the candy. His Grandma and Grandpa Johnson gave him a bunch of candy. His favorite was his very own bag of candy corn, which he carried around with him for the first 20 minutes after arriving at their house.

I made sure to brush his teeth really good that night. I think he ate his body weight in sugar.

We took him trick or treating. I loved to hear his little voice say "tant tou" after each person gave him some candy.

I loved to watch Dallin and his daddy walk hand in hand while Dallin's dragon tail swayed side to side with each step.

I love the look on Dallin's face when he poured out all his candy after the night. It was sheer joy.

I most of all loved how he was just so excited to have his candy that he could not sit still for even one picture.

( us trying to take a family pic, but Dallin wouldn't stay still and Joe's eyes are almost always closed...hahaha)

Thankful

2010-10-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the wonderful comments. They have lifted a heart that was in dire need of some uplifting. Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. I feel so loved and so blessed. I think I have the greatest friends and family in the whole universe...ever in existence.....ever.

Smiles....sigh

2010-10-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

These two boy are what get me through the day lately. I sure do love them. I mean, those smiles are just to die for.

My little man makes me smile every hour at least. Probably multiple times actually. I love how curious he is. I can't wait to watch him grow and learn more everyday. I am so lucky.

Our Loss

2010-10-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

Right now Joe and I are feeling a huge loss. Wednesday I went it for our 12 week checkup for the baby. They couldn't find the heartbeat with the sonogram, so we went it for the scheduled ultrasound like normal. I wasn't too worried, but had a knot in the pit of my stomach, like I knew something wasn't right.When the ultrasound started I knew at once that the baby was gone. I saw a perfect, little, two inch baby, with little arms and legs, a little spinal cord and it was all so perfect, but...there was no heartbeat. I knew this instantly. The tech left to get a second opinion. She came back in and looked for a good 10 minutes, but I knew what they were going to tell me already. Finally the doctor came in, and told me he was sorry, but the baby was gone. There was no heartbeat. I cried. Dallin got scared and the nurse took him out. The Doctor told me there were two options. I could take some medicine to help me pass the baby, but with how large the baby already was he was worried that I wouldn't pass it all naturally and that they still would find some residue left behind. My other option was to have surgery, a DNC to remove everything cleanly and to be sure I could conceive again was almost a 100% certainty.

I left the office with those two options in mind. I was alone and Dallin was crying. I had to call Joe and tell him the horrible news. It was awful. Neither one of us knew what to do.

I got a blessing from Joe and dear friend. I knew what to do and I felt at peace with it. I went in for surgery yesterday morning. Everything went well. I have been in a lot of pain, cramping and lots of physical discomfort, but it is getting better and better each hour. I grieve this baby, but I know and Joe knows that it will all be fine. I struggled with feeling like it was my fault, but that too is subsiding and I know that things like this just happen. You can't explain it, but then again, you don't have to. I have faith in the gospel and know that everything is going to be fine. I wasn't expecting this to happen, but I take a lot of comfort in knowing what I know. Families are forever and the gospel is true. I felt this baby, I felt it's spirit. I don't know that I will ever raise this baby some day, I don't know how all that will play out, but I do know one thing. That I was privileged enough to carry this sweet spirit for 12 weeks and I am thankful for that.

I think until you experience something like this, you don't realize just how hard it is. But my Savior did experience this, and He does know. I can turn to Him in everything and He is there for me now.

I am so thankful for a wonderful husband and a wonderful family. I love all my friends and the wonderful support they all have been. I am blessed, truly blessed.

If I have learned anything from this experience it is this....Love. I have felt it, pure and undefiled from my Father in Heaven, My Savior and all my family and friends. I am so thankful.

Our stressful journey To California

2010-10-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

Me infront of the hotel I would have loved!!! to stay at, The Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island.( I don't know what I am doing here though...haha)

Joe and I at the beach in front of Hotel.

Wow! Things have been super crazy around here. With the business, a new pregnancy, a crazy 18 month old and house troubles we have had our hands full. I realized just last week that I never wrote about our family vacation in August or about Joe's 28th birthday. Shame on me! I will first write and post pictures about our vacation. I think I will have to put these into a few posts as a lot happened and I don't want to upload a bazillion pictures to one post. So let's start with our arrival and journey to California.

As always, I didn't pack until the night before. Not always a good idea, but that's me. I use almost everything that I would take with me in the suitcase, so I always figure that it is easier to just pack the night before. As always, things were a little hectic in the morning. We planned to leave at 9 am and we made our goal. I was so proud of myself! With a toddler sometimes things can take longer than planned, but I was good and stayed on schedule. However, Dallin decided to throw our plans to the fan. Bless his little heart, but not more than 30 minutes into the drive our little guy threw up all over the place. It got all over the car, all over him, all over his car seat and last but not least, all over his doggie, that he must have for naps and for sleeping.

Joe quickly turned around to head back home. That 30 minute drive seemed like forever as Dallin threw up one more time. I tried in vain to keep it all contained, that wasn't what happened at all. Poor guy was not feeling well and was now covered in vomit. I too was now covered and felt like I might puke from the smell. I prayed we would make it back before anymore vomit could come. I felt just awful for him. We finally got home, got Dallin cleaned up and down for a nap. Joe and I washed the car, his carseat, his doggie and his blanket. We had to wait awhile for it all to dry. Dallin soon woke up from his nap and we got all packed up again. We were now 3 hours behind and knew there was no way we would make it to California today. We decided to stop for sure at aunt Margies. We were glad we did. We got to go to Michelle's baby boy's blessing and see Margie.

We headed out the next morning. So far Dallin hadn't thrown up again, but alas, we were too soon hopeful. He threw up just into the drive, but lucky for us, we were able to clean it up and keep it contained rather easily. I sat in the back with Dallin and made sure he was okay the rest of the way. Then traffic got horrific!!! We came to a complete stop just an hour outside of Las Vegas. I mean a complete stop. No one had told us about the awful traffic going into L.A. on Sunday morning. I mean, NO ONE warned us. We had no idea how awful it would be. After 2 hours of not moving, Joe decided to get off and blow some steam. We were right by the outlets, so we stopped to give Dallin a breather. Poor guys was sick, and cooped up in a hot sticky car. After an hour of a break we thought that maybe the traffic had improved.

We were soooo wrong. After 4 more hours in stop and go traffic, it started to pick up. It was the oddest thing, it just started moving after 6 hours of not moving. Joe and I decided it was all those California drivers who don't know how to just give someone some tail room. They ride each others butts like there is a fire behind them or something. We finally get into the area we are supposed to be in and it is 10 pm. WE were exhausted, Dallin was being super patient and was now sleeping. We got the GPS out to find our hotel. We started heading up a Canyon....What??? I had Joe double check the coordinates and double check. I was so confused. As we headed deeper and deeper into nowhere, I really started to get worried. We wound up a very narrow canyon. I think I almost threw up a couple times it was so scary. Thank goodness Dallin was asleep. After an hour of driving up the canyon it finally evened out and we could see lights ahead. We were litereally in the middle of nowhere, but we did find out hotel.

It was sure out in the boonies, but it was beautful. We checked in and got into our room. It was huge, spacious and very nice. Joe and I were elated. After a long, stressful journey, it was nice to arrive in such a lovely place. Dallin was put down for the night and cleaned up. He was zonked out before I could even say I love you. Needless to say I as hoping that after that awful trip that our vacation would be less stressful and filled with fun. Well, it was filled with fun....but not void of more stess. I will fill you in on the rest tomorrow.....

Joe and Dallin on the grounds of the condo we stayed at. Literally in the middle of nowhere it is it's own little oasis of fun.

What's that Ya say??

2010-09-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

I say...what exciting news do we have???

Guess.....

Yep! We are having another baby! Baby number 2 is on it's way. I am only a couple months pregnant, 8 weeks to be exact (well maybe, I'll explain). It is still super early but we are way excited and hope that we didn't spill the beans to early. We go to the doctor's today to get an exact due date. With all our problems trying to get pregnant I had no idea how far along I was supposed to be, so I guessed when I went to the doctor for my first visit. But we get to see the babe on the ultrasound today to measure him/her and see just how far along I really am, so I guess being unsure has it's perks sometimes. I could be farther along or not as far as I thought, but either way, I am excited to see that baby.

WE are so excited for this baby and hope all goes well. So far I feel great and have only had a few bouts with nausea. Mostly after I workout or in the evening if I wait too long to have dinner. Beisdes that I am peachy:)

So far this pregnancy has been easy peazy....but it is still way too early to be making any assumptions about how the rest will go.

But I'll just end by saying..... WE are sOOOOOO excited!!

Zumba

2010-09-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hooray! I am finally a certified Zumba instructor. I went to a 9 hour certification and test to become one on Saturday and I made it through. I am now officially an instructor! Yahoo!

Now I just need to get me some classes to teach and things will be perfect. LOL

I love Zumba and you will too! Come and join me....okay I know most of you who even read my blog are pretty much mostly out of state, but hey if you are ever in town I can totally show you how awesome it is.

Dallin loves it too. I was choreographing yesterday and the little man was dancing right there beside me. The boy can move. I think he gets it from me.....

(dallin dancing on the patio on vacation....naked!) lol We were airing out his severe diaper rash.

Sorry, It was just too funny not too post. Sorry Joe, I know how much you hate naked pictures....but remember how funny this was???

Family Photos

2010-09-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

We had a family photo shoot a couple of weeks ago. My sister-in-law took them. I think she did a great job. Here are a few of my favorites. There are some funny ones, ones of just Joe and I (since we never have any photos of us together) and some just cute family photos. Dallin was not in the mood to have his picture taken. We had to bribe him with marshmellows, hence the photos of his mouth wide open. He was waiting for another mallow. Funny little guy. I think we still got some great shots though.

All in all it was fun and turned out great. I am going to have to replace my family portraits that are on my walls right now, with some of these. The last ones we had printed were when Dallin was 2 months old. Yikes! I better get crackin' on these. Thanks Rileigh for taking them!

Carnival- schmarnival

2010-08-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

Yikes! So I totally didn't make my goal of posting everyday for two weeks. Who was I kidding anyway? I knew I couldn't do that...alas, I was very wrong. But....I am posting now, so all is forgiven right?
Well anyways, so that past few weeks we did some pretty fun things. I think the most fun we had was going to the carnival. I had a fun time going on rides myself, but even more fun going on some little kid rides with Dallin. He was so FUNNY! I was laughing so hard. Not because he was scared, not because he was excited and not because he was making funny faces....he did none of that. I was laughing so hard because he did AB. SO. LUTE. LY NOTHING. haha.... He sat on every ride, completely straight faced. No emotion whatsoever. He could have been sitting on the couch at home with how much excitement he showed. It was so funny to me, I don't know why...but it was.

Dallin on the carousel with me...as you can see he isn't very excited. Not sad, either, just plain...bored maybe...????

This is us again, I was having fun, even if Dallin wasn't. His little face still makes me smile though.

Joe and I went on a ride that was super nauseating. I think Joe almost threw up...close, but not quite. This pic was taken just as it finished. I am all smiles, but Joe was not too thrilled that he went on that ride with me. He was a good sport though, I sure wanted him to go with me and he did:)

This picture of Dallin makes me just laugh so hard! It is so classic Dallin. I love how his eyes aren't even looking at me. He is so aloof! haha....

Family pics. I love the yellow hue of this one, gives it sort of a old feel...don't ya think? Once again, Dallin is so serious...

Our happy little family. Dallin was a good sport even though he didn't show much emotion, at least he didn't show anger, frustration or tears. I was sure thankful for that. It was fun going to the carnival with Joe and Dallin, they are pretty good company...not that I am biased or anything.

Joe went on a ride with my brother in law Kraig. It was so funny to watch two big strong men, get all nauseated and scared....okay, maybe not scared, but hey, I think I saw a little bit of fear in their eyes. Classic Joe shot though. He had a blast. This ride went all the way up and down, twirled and whirled and spun. I think I might have thrown up if I had gone on it. There were lovely little patches of acidic smelling goop all over the place beneath this ride. YUCK!!! I guess there were many carnival goers who were very nauseated riding this giant.

All in all it was a fun day.

We are headed to California for a much needed vacation tomorrow morning bright and early! I can hardly wait! I will take tons of pictures and promise to post about it when we get back....cross my heart.

My friday night

2010-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

Under the stars, with fresh air, homemade popcorn, fresh squeezed lemonade, an air mattress, blankets, pillows, and a projected movie on a white sheet.....

so awesome.

That is how we spent our Friday night. We watched "Up" out under the stars in our backyard. It was like we were dating again. We snuggled under the blankets. I cried at alot of parts....what can I say, that cartoon movie really gets me to tears.

The wind kept blowing our movie screen (aka. bed sheet) off the brick wall. But we didn't mind. We were just happy to be outside, watching a movie and acting like kids.

It was pretty awesome!

Where you been???

2010-07-16T11:16:00.001-07:00

WOW!

I haven't posted in awhile. There has been a lot going on lately and I guess I just got forgetful about posting on here. I have meant to over and over, but alas, it has escaped my ever changing schedule.

Things are great though. I finished my tennis league up. I didn't do so hot, but then again, I was the biggest greeny out there. Everyone else had been playing at least 2 years and I was a whopping 4 monther. I think I did okay, for my skill level anyways. I mean, I pretty much didn't rock it, but whatever. It was fun!

I am working for the business again. Hard to find the time. I think I get most of what I need to get done finished and squared away while Dallin is napping. I find time throughout the day to work anything else that comes up. It feels good to help out, but it sure is tiring being a full time mom and trying to work for the business a few hours a day too. As long as I get my hour workout in each morning I feel like a steam engine going full steam throughout the day. Zumba just lights my fire, what can I say.

Dallin is getting so BIIIIGGG! He just loves to be independent. No more holding his hand, holding him in my lap, giving him hugs and kisses. He won't have any of it. He just wants to do his thing, but of course he wants me paying attention to him ALL. THE. TIME. I was researching it online, because well, I was a little concerned he had attachment issues. But I found out that his age is the time when they want you to pay attention to them, even when they don't want you touching them or holding them. Dallin is like this to a tee! He is always looking over at me while he is playing. If I am not looking right at him, Man alive, he gets so frustrated.

He is such a good boy though. Even though he doesn't like me to hug him and kiss him, he is sure willing to give them out himself. He loves to kiss and hug now. He will come up to me during the day and give me hug after hug. It just warms the cockles of my little heart it does. It is so great watching him grow and learn. He says quite a few things now, but of course, I am the only one, with expection of Joe every now and then, that truly understands what he is saying. He recently learned how to say, "where did it go?" It sounds more like, "where-it-ssooo", but I get the idea when he says it. He loves to just babble. I know he knows what he is saying, but it sounds mostly like jibberish. He is so funny when he looks at me, puts his hands out face up and to his sides and just starts into a monolouge of jibberish. He definitely thinks, I know what he is saying.

He loves the water and just about drowns himself every time we go to the water park. He has no fear and just loves it! He loves bubble bathes as the picture below shows.

Joe is doing great. Working as hard as ever on the biz. We just love him, Dallin and I. He is a great father and husband, and we just couldn't be luckier. I have the best two men in my life and I couldn't be happier. Joe is so smart and so innovative. He is always finding new ways to make money and make our business grow. I am so proud of him.

Okay, so that about sums it up. We have had a great summer so far, lots of playing and lots of loving. I promise I will post more often. In fact, I think I will try to do a post everyday for the two weeks. Hmmmm... let's see if I can do it. Starting today until the end of August. Wish me luck! ;)

And last but not least. Just a couple of pictures to keep you laughing throughout the day. I totally look like a conehead in the second one. Just love it eh? Joe and I are goofballs, or oddballs, whichever one fits better.

Monday (Week 1)

2010-06-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

My bad! Sorry everyone (this is Joe). I posted my workout info here instead of on my blog. Heather and I have two blog accounts that accessed from the same gmail account. Sorry for the confusion!

- Joe

3 months older and wiser too....

2010-06-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

(wearing grandpa J. glasses)hehehe....

Well, Dallin is 15 months and getting so big. He is changing so much everyday and I just love to see him grow. He had his checkup today and here were his stats:

Weight: 23.9 lbs. only 25th percentile
Height: 33 inches, 94th percentile

He is skinny and tall, not a surprise given both his parents were this way for the majority of their lives. I guess he will be tall:)

He is learning so much and so fast. He loves to give kisses and hugs, he is a great cuddler. He loves his stuffed doggie, he must have it whenever he sleeps. He can say, Dad, mom, ball, bottle, doggie, no, uh-oh, owie, what's that (more like "s'at"), more, and every once in awhile he will repeat what we say to him. He loves to learn, he points at an endless amount of objects during that day, saying "s'at" for, what's that. I will tell him what it is, he will pause for just a second, you can see he is processing what it is, and then he will move on to asking about something else.

Dallin is a great walker, he is close to running, but not yet. He walks everywhere, and hates to be led by the hand. If he had it his way, he would never to held or guided anywhere. He is his own person and loves to explore. He has great balance and can get into the most surprising places.

His hair is growing in more now, and it is curly and dark blond. He has hazel eyes like daddy and a smile like mommy. He loves to play outside. He would be content to live outside and never come in. He loves rocks. He will suck on them, play with them, throw them, hold them. I guess he must love the feel of them and the weight of them.

Dallin still adores his daddy. He loves to wrestle and be tickled. He loves to sing, well, as well as any 15 month old can sing:) He loves baths and to swim. We took him to 7 peaks and he absolutely adores the wave pool. If I am not careful, he will just squirm out of my arms and try to swim all by himself.

He loves to eat chicken, potatoes, sometimes corn, eggs and toast. He hates veggies. We are still working on that.

Dallin is such a happy child. Just today the women in the doctor's office said they couldn't believe how well mannered and happy he was. He loves to smile, flirt and wave at any girl he sees. He loves to blow kisses and to clap his hands enthusiastically.

Dallin loves his mom, I might be biased, but his eyes light up when I first get him in the morning. This makes me feel so loved and blessed to have him.

Dallin is sooooo curious. He gets into literally everything. He loves to feel things, but is usually so gentle, even with our books. He is starting to understand what no means, and sometimes gets frustrated when he is told no. He is learning quickly and loves to test me. I love him so very much and I am so glad that he came to our family. He is such a blessing and joy in our lives. I am thankful everyday that I have the privilege to be his mama.

Walk and walk and walked

2010-05-10T16:57:00.000-07:00

Dallin is walking! Hooray!

a glimpse...

2010-05-10T10:02:00.001-07:00

There is something so peculiar about the woman who comes into your life and blesses you. Her majestic subtleties are above comparison. Her endeavoring smile seems to right every wrong and wraps your injured heart in a warm blanket of love. She provides you with every answer to your most perplexing and vexing questions, and yet, when she attempts to explain, her words become overshadowed by the smooth echoing of her voice. Her gift, to you, is yours to enjoy every moment of every day. This gift cannot be purchased, but can only be given. Yet, there is something so comforting, so peaceful, and so beautiful about the women, who is your sweet heart.

Perhaps the most beautiful woman is the one who lives everyday with the intention to be a better person.

I love you.

Just a glimpse into the essays and poems of Love that Joe wrote for me... I sure do love this man, yes, I do.

Also, for Mothers day I got some wonderful gourmet treats. Some Dallin picked out himself (Joe let him point and he followed his finger...hehe) and some Joe did. I got the most delicious gumdrops, they were huge and good and just so yummy. Joe made me breakfast in bed, changed every stinky diaper and cooked my lunch too. I took a nice long 3 hour nap and had a wonderful time having dinner and ice cream cake at my own mother's house. It was a great day.

I love you Joe, thank you for making me feel so special.

I get to be the mother to this wonderful little boy. I am the luckiest woman alive, yes I AM!!!

It's a great day to be alive!

t-t-t-tennis rules

2010-04-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

(my messy little eater, he has gotten so good with eating...still no vegetables though)

wow, I haven't posted in a while. I guess I have been busy. Things just go by too fast now.

I have been feeling really good lately. I have recently (within the last month) taken up weight lifting. I just love it. My muscles all feel so strong and I just feel so full of energy afterwards. I never understood Joe's love for it til now. It can get addicting. For the past month I have been extremely consistent, going to the gym every morning at 7 am. I found the earlier I go, the easier it is to get it done. I just love it!

This has helped immensely with my tennis. I LOVE tennis. Joe bought me tennis lessons for Christmas and I must say, I loved the thought of it then and now that I am almost done, I just couldn't be happier with my gift. I have had 10 lessons and I have enjoyed it so much! I guess I am getting pretty good because the owner of the country club has invited me to play on one of the competive leauges! I am so excited! I am sure it is a beginners league, but nonetheless I am stoked and totally flattered that she asked me to play. Only 8 women were asked out of, well, I dont know how many that have gone through the program since last August, but quite a few I imagine. It starts May 10th and I am really trying to practice hard so that I can get even better. I have never really been into sports, but find that I am loving playing tennis and just itch to play again after each session. It's fantastic!

I am officially down to my pre-pregnancy weight and think that I am as fit as I have been since I was dancing every day in high school. It just feels so great! I highly recommend it:)

Easter and Ducks

2010-04-09T10:06:00.001-07:00

Easter was so fun this year. Dallin was actually cognisant of what was going on. He loved the candy of course! He loved to look in his basket and find all the goodies. I tried on his bunny ears...

I tried to get him to put them on, but no such luck!

(he threw them down hard...hahha)

Dallin going through his basket

He especially loved that snicker eggs, here he is just smiling at them...

Dallin and his daddy on easter morn

We had alot of fun, just lounging and then watching conference. We went to my parents house for the first session and to have sunday dinner (really lunch because it was at 1pm, but for some reason we call it dinner) and had a lovely time. Yummy cooked ham and homemade gravy is just the best. You can not top that goodness.

We went home to watch the second session of conference because Dallin was just not happy about having to sleep in a pack n' play. We watched conference and then all fell asleep. It is not too often that this happens and it was just bliss. WE all napped on the couch together for a good hour. I woke up and snapped this cute pic of Dallin and Joe. So sweet.

Joe is slowing learning the guitar, and Dallin just loves to try to "play" too. His eyes just light up when he sees it.

His classic scrunchy face and another of him and the guitar. He seriously loves this thing.

A few days ago, it started to warm up, so we headed to the duck pond on campus for some bread throwin' and duck chasin'

Dallin didn't really do either, but he seemed content in my arms or Joe's.

We had a blast being in the sun. It looks like it is finally starting to warm up and I couldn't be more excited. I don't have much patience with the cold. I have my valid reasons, like being allergic for one, and two, I just can....hahaha. Here comes the sun, little darlin, here comes that sun, and I say, it's alright.....YES!

He won't eat them Veggies

2010-04-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

I can not get Dallin to eat his vegetables, or even most meats for that matter.

Hence, he isn't getting the vitamins he needs nor the protein he needs.

All he wants to eat is crackers and vanilla wafers.

If anyone has some advice, please let me know it. I am all out of ideas myself and really really want him to eat healthy.

It all started when he got sick with pneumonia. He would eat almost anything, but once he got sick, he just wouldn't eat, so I started him on formula again. I know I had to, so he would at least get some nutrition when he was sick, but man, it has made life so hard now. Now that he is better, he is more pickier than ever and I just don't know how to help him stop.

Here are some questions:

Is it safe to let them go without a meal if they just won't eat anything healthy?
Do I just try again the next time? How long do I wait between trying to get him to eat a vegetable? How about meat?
Any advice on how to prepare the veggies so he will eat them?

Grandma Hansen, I am counting on you to help me with this? How did you get three boys to end up eating all the right foods?

This is the part of parenting that I highly underestimated the difficulty of it all.

He was so great eating before, and now he is like a completely different child when it comes to eating. I guess I am just wondering, if this is just how he will be, or will he grow out of this pickyness?????

Advice please.

The crankster

2010-03-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

Dallin has been such a crankster lately.

He is usually so happy and laid back. He has been so sick, but man...he has been a grumpy baby lately.

I was wiping his nose and like usual he squirmed and threw his head back in defiance. And that is when I saw them...

Two huge molars breaking through his gums on top.

No wonder he has been so cranky.

Molars here we come! Finally, he will be able to chew with efficiency:)

28 or something...

2010-03-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

So I know that you have like 28 teeth or something like that, if you don't have your wisdom teeth, which I don't. They were pulled when I was 16 and I looked like a chipmunk for a good 2 weeks.
I have had the worst luck with my teeth, or genetics, because I think luck really has nothing to do with it. I brush my teeth 3 times a day, I floss each night (should do it in the morning, but always forget) and I use mouth wash each time I brush. You would think that my teeth would be great, healthy and strong.

They are NOT.

Sadly, my teeth have given me the worst nightmares since they came in as a child. And it seems that no matter how hard I try to take care of them, I end up with another cavity, another root canal, another crown to put on, another apico to do, another retreat to spend money on...

About two years ago, I had to have a tooth pulled, do to a failed root canal, a failed apico and a failed retreat of the root canal. Soooo after spending, literally thousands of dollars trying to keep the tooth and putting myself through tons of pain. I lost it anyways.

It was so traumatic for me. I felt that not only one tooth was missing, but two were. The gap seemed larger than one, and I felt so self conscious. I was a hilly billy with missing teeth!!! I have been living with only 27 teeth and it has been so annoying. Everytime I want to chew something on my right side where the tooth is missing, I am abruptly reminded I cannot, when that sharp chip, or that cold icecream hits my exposed, gaping hole of a gum line, it hurts, it freezes like ice and throbs when it gets pushed on.

BUT...over the last year I have been going through the process of getting a tooth implant. I had a bone graft, a shaft placed and I had to wait for it to heal.

I am happy to say that tomorrow, after years of being a toothless hill billy...hahah....I am finally getting "a" tooth back. I won't be my own, but at least there won't be this huge gap where my molar used to be. Hurray!!!

I can hardly wait to chew on my right side again! The bliss!

I though it was

2010-03-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

Spring...I thought it might be here. I even went outside for bike rides wearing capri's and flip flops. I went out to the garden and pulled out dead annuals and weeds, I raked it all up, it looked nice and ready for planting new flowers.

Then I woke up this morning and found it snowing. My heart sank....NOOOOOOOO! "I want Spring," I said.

If I can't have spring outside yet, then I guess I will make my own inside. I made these bright yellow flowers from paper mache and tree braches from my backyard. They brighten my kitchen, my bathroom and my living room. They literally cost 20 cents to make.

Take that snow, ice and wind.

hahahahahah, I am victorious :)

Prayer

2010-03-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

Dallin is himself again.

Just a testament that prayers really do work. They surely do.

It is like he got better over night. No fever, very little coughing, no wheezing.

His little smile is back and those eyes are full of life again.

We went for a bike ride today. He LOVED it. He giggled alot. I looked back often to find him laying against the bike trailer, eyes closed and just smiling as the sun shone down on his face.

(our sweet ride)

Yes, he is doing much better today.

Thank you for all the prayers. I know they worked wonders on him. My little boy is back...

Pneumonia

2010-03-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

Dallin has Pneumonia.

So sad.

He just lays around all day, wimpering and weak.

He can barely open his eyes and isn't lucid at all.

Thanks for all the prayers, he seems to be doing better today.

I hope I get my little boy back soon....

Happy Birthday Dallin

2010-03-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

Dallin is One!!!!! Dallin turned one years old on March 5th! 2010

I can't believe it, but its true! He had a birthday party March 3rd with all my family. We had a big dinner for him at our home and everyone brought lots of presents! Thank you everyone. We had a cake and sang to him and he got to play with all his new toys. Things were great and he was such a trooper. We had a neighbor come and our best friends Brian and Ashley and their son Tyson. All my family and my nieces and nephews came, it was a blast. Sadly, Grandpa and Grandpa Hansen couldn't come, or any of Joe's brothers and their families, but we missed them!!! They all live far far away, so they couldn't make it;(. We had a blast celebrating Dallin's First Birthday. HE got a little tuckered out, he isn't used to so much company and celebrations, but I think he had fun nonetheless.

His day stared with his favorite breakfast, his bottle...heheheh....

We had taco salad for dinner and talked and chatted. It was fun to have so many people in our house, it was crammed and small, but it was great.

After dinner, Dallin opened all his presents!!

A talking book from Aunt Crystal, Uncle Kraig and Cousin Calvin.

Opening a gift from Daddy and waiting paitently.

He loved his cars from Daddy!

Joe and I each gave Dallin a book from the series of "little creatures", we plan to read them to him every night:)

HE got this nifty Car from Grandma and grandpa Johnson!

And this awesome Shirt and many other gifts from Aunt Gwenny, Uncle Gerritt, and cousins Axel, Xander and Lacey.

We had cake.....Doggy Cake at that:) I personally made it all by myself...I am quite proud of how it turned out. I plan on doing a themed cake for each child, for each birthday.

We sang happy birthday and he blew out his candle.

We tried to get him to eat his cake and smash it for fun, but to no avail. I guess he doesn't like to get his hands dirty....

Lacey gave him some bubbles for his birthday, the kids had fun playing in them and trying to pop them. Dallin seemed in awe of the bubbles....

and a little scared at times...

All in all it was a great party and I think that he had fun!

On his actual birthday day, we had another cake for him, which he didn't smash either:(

we played all day and went for a walk, we visited DAddy at work and broke a pinata!

More to come on that soon!!!

We got some cool gifts from Grandma and grandpa Hansen, which he loves! And chatted to them on skype. They sang him happy birthday and he loved it.

We ended the day with dinner at Bajio's, which Dallin loved, not because he ate anything, but because he got to play with styrafoam cups! I loved that.

Happy Birthday Dallin! We love you!!!

oh money...where are you???

2010-02-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

I hate money.

I hate that we have to have it to live. Life would be sooo much better if money wasn't an issue all the time. I mean, when you really think about it, it is fake. It is just a piece of paper and at times, just numbers in a computer. All my money in the bank is just electronic money. It is so funny when I really think about it. But, in our reality, it exists and it must be made and saved.

The business is going great, don't get me wrong, it is just that as it grows, we see less and less of it, so that the business has enough to grow.

So we are living on a very strict budget now, and I mean strict. I am actually learning the concept of saving up for something now. In that past, I just always had more money than I could spend as a single person and then when Joe and I were first married, we had more than enough. I always had two jobs to make enough to pay for school, books, car, car insurance, gas, rent, etc. but I always had enough to spare.

But now, we have a son. And although he is small, he can sure burn our money right up!!!

So I have been brainstorming ways to make a little extra cash. We first started selling stuff around the house that we just don't need anymore. That brings in a little bit extra each month, but I want something that is a little more stable. I was reading a blog and got the idea, that I should just put some of my talents to good use.

I have decided to start making all my graphic designs, sketchs and drawings into scrap book paper. Now I know, this business is super saturated. I can think of at least 4 huge companies that do this, and I don't even scrapbook! Well, I do with my friend Ashley sometimes, but have only done it a few times.

What I want to know is, do any of you think it is worth it? I have some pretty cute designs, and I could come up with so many more, that have a main print, and then coordinating prints of dots, stripes, geometrics, solids and some cute complimentary prints. I was thinking of bundling them in packages of maybe 50 sheets or so. What do you all think???

Here is a taste of one of my designs...I think it is cute...what do you all think???

11 months

2010-02-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

I am so bad. Dallin turned 11 months almost 2 weeks go and I am just now getting around to updating about it....But....I do include some cute pics in this post, so I think that I can now be forgiven...

Dallin is growing super fast. In the last month he finally decided to crawl, pull up to furniture, walk holding onto the furniture, get into everything that is within an arms reach high while standing and last but not least not take two naps any more:( haha, well good for him, but not so good for me! I loved having two nap times to get things done, but now I cram it all into one 2.5 hour nap.

His personality is hilarious now. He loves to laugh, scrunch his face and make you laugh. Here is a pic of him demonstrating his mad skills.

(he will pretty much pose like this at will for any photo)

His little face is getting so mature now. I can't believe how much he looks like Joe on some days. I look at him and I am like....wow...that's Joe. But then some days, I think he looks like me. It differs from day to day. He is now saying mum for mom, and dada for dad, he kinda says puppy, because he has a stuffed puppy that he sleeps with, dreams with and plays with constantly. It is best friend for now, until a real puppy can be bought and handled by me....I just need to come to grips with getting a dog, it will come, but in time...

(doesn't he look like Joe?????)

Because Dallin is so mobile now, he has a harder time going to sleep. He can stand and jump now, so he loves to get up, and jump in his crib when he should be sleeping. I heard some thumps that other day while he was "taking his nap" and this picture below shows what I found as I entered his room.

(trying to look so innocent, but who's he kidding??? I caught him red handed)

The little rascal, loves to try to get out of his nap if he can. But no worries, I am stalwart and I don't give in. They need their sleep much more than we do, so I make it a personal goal to make sure he gets his nap. It is extremely hard to not just go and pick him up whenI see this little face staring right back at me.

Dallin is doing great at 11 months. He eats pretty much anything we give him, though...there isn't a lot you should be giving him yet, he isn't one yet, so of course, he doesn't really have a plethora of yummy food yet, but he is an excellent eater. He LOVES multi grain cheerios. He will just keep eating them if I let him.

He loves his baths. He will splash like crazy until I, the rug and the walls of the bathroom are soaked. I just love to see him go wild in there, he has so much fun.

He LOVES his daddy. Every day when Joe leaves for work, Dallin stands by the front window and waves goodbye. He loves to see his dad when he comes home from work. His eyes light up, he claps his hands, and shrieks for joy. He is definitely a momma's boy though. I mean, he can't really help it when he is around me 24/7. He is having a harder time than normal being away from me. Which is strange for it to start now, but oh well.

We love him so much and are so thankful to have him in our lives. You are my most favorite son Dallin ;).

My Birthday was....AWESOME

2010-02-04T08:46:00.001-08:00

My birthday was on Saturday and what a day. The night before my birthday, Joe made arrangements for an all night babysitter and took me to a bed and breakfast. It was so much fun to get away!!!!
Upon entering the room I found rose petals sprinkled all over the floor bed and bathroom. There was a vase of roses waiting for me and tons of my favorite candy bar (snickers) scattered throughout the room! What an amazing man Joe is!!! The room was beautiful, with a sky painted on the ceiling and light up with lights. I felt like I was under a summer sky, so peaceful. We had a jetted tub right in the room and so we watched movies, soaked, jumped on the bed, ate lots of snickers and talked.
It was a much needed get away and I loved every minute. Joe had purchased some tennis lessons for me for Christmas and my first lesson just happened to be on my birthday. So instead of sleeping in on my birthday, I got up at 7 am and headed to my tennis lesson. IT WAS A BLAST! I think I am really going to love learning tennis. I think it is definitely my sport. After that, Joe picked me up and we went back to the bed and breakfast for some well, breakfast:) I found some notes waiting for me in the room.

The first one read "Dear Love, follow these notes to find your birthday present!".

Yeah, I was so excited, a scavenger hunt!!!

The second note was on the side of the jetted tube and said, "On our first date, we went to a place like this, but this one is in Provo."

Joe had to give me a hint, but I got it fast! On our first date we went to an outdoor Jazz concert that was in an amphitheater. There is an amphitheater on the hill south of BYU campus by the duck pond. So we ate breakfast, got ready, hopped in the car and jetted over there. I quickly found my next note, taped under one of the seats. I opened the card and read, " On our second date we went to a park, broke a pinata, played draw and even played_________". It was tick tack toe. So off we went to Rock Canyon park where our second date was. We went straight to the tic tack toe game on the play ground and found my third note.

"On our third date, we went here and I put my arms around you for the first time."

It was the Y mount hike!

So off we went.

I was worried that Joe was going to make me hike all the way to the top, but he is a sweetie and knew that might not be fun in the cold and snow. So he told me to look for the note by the gate. Taped around one of the poles on the gate was my note. This note said, " this is the place where we first held hands."

Kiwanis Park!!! So off we went. Joe first held my hand while we walked on the sidewalk just west of the parks edge. I quickly walked down the path looking for the note. It was taped right on the the gate door that swung open into the walk. That is where he first held my hand:) This note read...

"This is where we first talked about marriage, (and you called your mom and found out she already made a temple reservation)" . I needed some help with this one. We talked about marriage so many times in so many different places, that I had no clue. Joe remembers things so much better than I. But in a few minutes I figured it out! It was the Olive Garden.

So off we went. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch and time chatting. My next note was there and it read....

"This is where we have had lots of firsts, especially with Dallin."

It was our house!!!!!

So off we went.

We got to the house and Joe had me shut my eyes. He guided me into the house and had me open my eyes. There in the living room was what I have wanted for a few years. A brand new beach cruiser bike! It was bright blue with a floral seat. A cute basket hung on the front and there was a little horn that hung on the other side. It is perfect.

We then loaded up our bikes, (Joe got one a couple years ago for his birthday) on our car and headed to my parents. We went on a little bike ride and picked up Dallin from my parents home.

It was awesome! I love my bike!

We then got to go to a movie (my sister babysat Dallin) and went out to eat.

We topped the night off with a little cake party at my parents house. German Chocolate cake...yummmmm ( I am salivating right now just thinking about it). It was great to end the night with my family around me.

I would say each year Joe makes my birthday even better than the year before. I love how special a day birthday's are in our little family. It makes you feel so special. Thank you for the wonderful birthday Joe! You are the best husband in the world!!!! I couldn't have asked for a more exciting, fun filled day!!!

I love you!!!

Dallin the Jedi Knight

2010-01-31T17:23:00.000-08:00

It is Sunday night and the neighborhood is silent, so what do you think we do?????

Have a lightsaber fight of course. Dallin the Jedi Knight, has met his match. The duel between Master and Padawan. Guess which one is Padawan?

The fight begins....

SO guess who won?????

The Padawan did of course...so who is Padawan?

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

2010-01-27T08:59:00.001-08:00

Interesting, I saw this on Rileighs blog, so I thought I would give it a try. There are only two white girls on this collage. I guess I apparently have very exotic features...hahaha.

Dallin Crawling

2010-01-27T07:48:00.000-08:00

Dallin crawling across the floor

We are so proud of you Dallin!

Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!

2010-01-24T15:47:00.000-08:00

Yes, it happened!!!

Finally after 10 1/2 months, Dallin is crawling!!!

Today he just busted it out like it was what he has been doing all along. I was so excited and so relieved! It is crazy. He is moving all over the living room, getting into things that he couldn't reach before and making me so happy.

I think I was just so anxious for him to crawl that now that he can, and is getting into everything I just don't mind at all, I love it!

I had to rearrange somethings, and move a bunch of things, but it is fine. He is just moving like crazy now.

He showed signs of crawling this weekend, but only took a few scoots and then would just fall to his stomach. Today though, it was like he had a rocket on his back and off he went. Roaming all over the house is going to be his new past time and I love love love it!

I am so excited for him!

tide pool

2010-01-19T11:16:00.000-08:00

That is the color of the paint that I repainted our bedroom with. I decided after two years of living in our home that I would finally make my bedroom, my own. Here are the pictures of what our bedroom looked like before. The paint was there before we moved in, and all the items in the room were things I had before we moved here, and they were just odds and ends. I felt the bedroom was too gloomy and not bright and relaxing like I wanted our room to be.

So I wanted a bright color, but not super bright and I saw these new throw pillows at JCpenny and they were the perfect color, so I redecorated around that color. I painted the walls, and put strips of high gloss and flat paint on the bottom of the chair rail. I bought some new sheets, and little decorations. Total cost $75.46 (not including sheets, we needed some new ones anyways, so I am not adding that into my total.)

I think it turned out wonderful...

This by far my favorite part of this little project. They are paper mache cherry blossoms. I just got some branches off the tree in my back yard, made some paper mache cherry blossoms and put them together with floral tape. They actually turned out much better than I was envisioning. I loved it! And it was so much fun making them.

So fun! We love our bedroom now! Joe loves to stay in bed on Saturday's now and just hang out for a little while. We never did that before because it didn't feel like we could before. I love what a few bucks can do to a room!

Pizza, Pizza!

2010-01-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it is official. I have the cutest little boy in basically forever, and I am completely in love with him. I mean, how could you not be. Just look at him.....

Absolutely love this one...it was like he was posing for me:)

It was fun just lounging with him on the couch while Joe and I chatted about our day. He loves to just hang out with us while we chat. He looks at our faces and giggles. I think he feels loved.

Also, can I just add that I have the most amazing husband in the world? Well, I do. He is the most caring man alive and I feel so lucky to have him. He is so understanding, even when I have my moments of slight craziness. Last night was one of them. It was 9:30 we had already had dinner hours ago and we were chatting on the couch. I started mumbling pizza, pizza...ya know, like the little ceaser's man...I know you know what I am talking about...anyways, so I start getting all hyper and realize I want some pizza. It is late and freakin cold outside, but my sweet husband doesn't even bat an eyelid. He jumps in the car and goes to get me a pizza.

I just love him! We stayed up and ate our pizza, danced around to my own crazy singing (about my pizza, pizza) and then went to bed, bellies full and heart burn plentiful. He must really love me:)

On another note. This is what my little rascal got into that other day and what he did. I couldn't help but laugh. I did let him play in it for a couple seconds. It goes unsaid that he desperately needed a bath after this:)

Just so you know...

2010-01-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

my son is basically swallowing my husbands head.

Slober is everywhere.

Laughter is abundant.

Best thing to witness in the world.

memories made and saved

2010-01-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

So we went to Colorado for Christmas it was a blast! I had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of us at the Museum....

Fond Memoires of Dallin with his Grandam and Grandpa and of course his favorite man in the whole world...His Daddy...

We had a lot of fun there. We spent a whole two weeks and it was so great to get away. Dallin really fell in love with his Grandma and Grandpa Hansen. They played with him...loved him...hugged him....fed him.....sang to him.....gave him little baby massage.....and even read him a book on rockets. We had so much fun! Thank you Mom and Dad Hansen! We love you guys!

Dallin is sure growing. Today he is 10 months old. I can't believe my little boy is so big. He is almost a toddler now. I don't want it to come yet. I wish he could stay small forever, but alas I know he must grow and conquer the world. Well, maybe not conquer, but at least rule:) Rule my world that is:)

I had an overwhelming sense of God's love today. I was busy busy making the house clean and getting everything back in order from our trip, when I had the thought to check on my sleeping angel. I went in and saw him slumbering.

Slowly I crept into his room on my knees.

Silently came to a kneel and peek so quietly over his crib side.

Those radiant little cheeks were fastened in a content smile. His eyes were closed and moved ever so slightly with dreams behind his eye lids. His little chest rose and fell with each gentle breath and I couldn't help but smile. This little miracle was mine and he came to me from our Father in Heaven. He is so perfect and it is up to me to raise him with my hubby. We don't always do things right, but we try. I hope that I can be a great mom and raise him well.

In that instant of pure innocence, I knew that God lived. I knew that HE loved us and that he is always there for us. I feel it every time I look into my child's eyes. He is real and he is there. I am so thankful for that and always will be.

My sweet sweet boy.

9 Month stats

2009-12-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

We just got back from Dallin's 9 month check up and it went well. I was super worried that the doctor was going to rail into me because Dallin is not crawling yet, but he didn't seem to be too worried or surprised. He said Dallin was doing so well with everything else, that he isn't worried about the crawling. Wheww!! I was worried, but now I feel a lot better knowing the doctor isn't that concerned.

Super Baby's Stats:

Weight: A whopping 21 lbs. 2 oz. 77th percentile

Head: 46 cm. 71st percentile

Height: 30 inches. 95th percentile

He was a trooper with his FLU shot and the iron test. He was such a great baby today, I think he deserves a treat:)

Chubby Whubby BABY:) We LOVE You!

Wouldn’t you know it?

2009-12-03T14:25:00.001-08:00

Dallin didn't exactly start crawling overnight, but after I made that post yesterday he did do something else, he went from all fours to sitting up on his knees! Hurray!!!

He is getting so strong. Here are the pictures of his progress.

On all fours….

Pushing up….

Sitting on his knees!!!!! I am so proud of him!!!