Temple Square and Daddy has a job!

We have an advent calendar for the month of December where we put an activity in the door for each day to do together. One day was "go see the lights at Temple Square and see where Daddy works!" Macey was SO excited all day long, she could hardly contain her excitement! I drove the kids up and Randy was at work waiting for us. We (Macey) decided to check the lights out first, then we'd go back and see where Daddy works. I felt pretty official pulling into the expensive parking lots at the CC (that's what you call it if you're legit), knowing I wasn't going to have to pay a dime. ;)

I was pretty disappointed with the pictures my camera took that night, they're not great. It was so freezing that it had a hard time focusing. And I hadn't the patience to sit and wait for it so I just snapped and kept going. Boo!

After getting the BUS out and getting the kids (and me) all bundled up in the parking garage. Sadly, there are no pictures of me. But Randy was making fun of me that I looked like an Eskimo. Can't have enough layers, Randall!

 I'm pretty sure this one isn't in focus, but this tree won "best tree" this year. By us. It was orange and was AMAZING. And no, you will never see a normal picture of Randy. It just doesn't happen.

This has always been my favorite scene at Temple Square. From humble beginnings...

The water fountains are always fun to go look at. I've always been in awe at this long one.

I know this picture is nothing special, but the flag was pretty breathtaking waving in front of the Church Office Building. 

Of course, the big tree.

Walking back to the CC, the colors are so beautiful!

The CC was actually closed, except for tours. But Randy has his badge so we could go anywhere. ;) When we first walked in the security guard looked at us funny. I felt like Buddy from The Elf after he's gotten kicked out of his Dad's building, and he goes back in to give him a present and sees the guards and puts his head down and starts walking? Yeah, I totally pulled one of those. HAHA. But Randy showed him his badge and it was all good. I even got to take a picture of this BREATHTAKING tree! Look how HUGE this thing is! It was seriously amazing, and so beautiful. Randy works just down the hall from this and watched them put it up.

A blurry picture of Randy's "office". My camera was having a hard time getting used to the heat again! Yay! For Randy having a job that he loves!

This is what happens when I tell Randy, "show me your badge". (If you can't tell, he's swinging it, all seductive like). What a dork. 

Temple Square is one of my very favorite places to go in December, it's so beautiful and the Spirit is there so strongly. What a special place!

Dino Dan.

This happened last week but I just need to document this goodness so I don't forget.

There is a new show on Nickelodeon called Dino Dan, they've been showing previews for it for a while. Well one day it came on and Macey asked me, "is it called Dino Dan or Dino Dam.... cause sometimes I think it's called Dino Dammit."

Luckily I was able to hold it all in while I told her it was called Dino Dan, and maybe don't mention that show to any of her friends, but especially teachers. :)

Again, I'm blaming the Slade potty mouth on that one. It's definitely not Judy. ;)


Since I don't really know who is reading my blog, I thought I'd explain a little so you don't think we are awful parents. Macey is a type of kid that you only have to slip or say something once and it's in her memory forever. Just ask her about Daddy's friend, John. ;)

For your enjoyment.

For everyone's enjoyment. Buy a snuggie. Or two.

They really are that fun.

Ok. So I can't just post that and leave it alone. It's killing me, smalls! Randy bought those two snuggies off of woot.com as a joke, they were $7.99 for the pair and came with reading lights. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I came downstairs one night and saw my manly-man husband watching/cursing the Jazz in that seafoam green SNUGGIE! I. was. dying. I told him he looked like (a feminine) Yoda. He told me he was impressed that I even knew who that was.
Of course I had to tell my sisters about Randy and his snuggie. It became kind of a joke at Thanksgiving.... so when my sister-in-law asked for pictures of us together (for a calendar... take a good look, family! You're looking at the month of October right here!) Randy came up with this idea. Obviously I couldn't say no.

P.S. Randy would like to point out that the pouch can hold a variety of items. A book, phone, remote .... the possibilities are endless.

What we've been up to.

No,  I'm not pregnant. I swear, whenever I tell someone I've been so busy lately or tired or overwhelmed they always jump to the "why, you pregnant?" Just because I live in Utah and am a Mormon doesn't mean I have to be pregnant every year, for your information. =P

To make a LONG LONG LONG story short, Randy is now working for the Church at the Conference Center in Salt Lake and is loving it. It's part time for now, but has potential to become full time. We are counting our many blessings. We will NEVER take for granted having a job. Ever. It's taken 10 long hard stressed-beyond-belief months to find a job that has potential without it being commission or sales and that is somewhat related to his degree. We're hoping that it does become full time but right now are just so grateful for the opportunity!! The church has had a hiring freeze for over a year now, so we really are lucky to have been offered the position.

And I am back in school. I am getting my degree in Health Information Technology and will graduate next year. I am in week 3 and it is going great... kind of difficult to maintain a schedule and not get overwhelmed with balancing everything, but it's good. I always figured I would finish my degree when Randy was done with his schooling, and I felt like now is as good of time as any. Life will always get in the way, and the older my kids get the busier we'll be.

Needless to say our little family has been going through some major changes and adjustments! All good. And challenging. :) So forgive me if my blog isn't updated on a regular basis... it's probably because my house needs to be cleaned more than I need to post some pictures. =P

Life is good! Sometimes we need to be humbled so we can see how blessed we really are.

Halloween: part 2

Let's get down to the nitty gritty... have you ever seen Nacho Libre? Well, if you haven't, you're missing out.

So, I had big plans and expectations for my Halloween decorations this year. I was off to a good start (meaning EARLY) but I got burnt out really quick. We had a lot of stressful things going on and I felt like I couldn't handle anymore and so what I already had up would do. I actually had 2 big tubs that I didn't get any decorations out of, but believe me, next year we're adding more and it will be more fun! I think I'm going to focus a bit more on the outside next year.

Anywho, mostly this is for me, because I really am a creature of habit and will look back on these posts when it's time to redecorate to see what I did before! :)

This was so much fun to decorate this year, I didn't have this buffet last Halloween! It was the first thing people would notice...

Besides this. Another new addition. A spider web made of yarn! Super easy to make, just have to have a very patient husband to help hang it up and get it to look just right. ;) This is a pretty bad picture, but this is coming in from my front door.

Then you look to the left and on my bookshelf is this:

 My kitchen:

The pumpkin tree, it did light up but the lights are out now.

The BOO pillow that I love!

And I am just now realizing I didn't take a picture of my decked out banister. Oh well, it looks the same as last year. (See? Creature of habit.)

I am so kicking myself I didn't take a picture of our window right when we did it. It was AWESOME, but unfortunately we got hit with some craaazy rain and wind, so it kind of messed it up. Oh well, you can get the jist! Randy did the window while I put up the lights. Another new addition this year was our orange flood lights and purple lamp lights. It looked RAD. In this picture you can barely see them, but believe me, they were pretty cool. 

This is my favorite thing to put up. :D

I know this is a repeat picture from my other post, but you can see my broom that says "The witch is in", the wreath on my door, and can kind of tell how our porched look. We had a fogger going and a strobe light so it was REALLY cool and freaked a lot of kids out.

Oh, I found another picture that's a little better. 

And here is Macey's haven downstairs. She is wayyy into decorations, so I made her a Halloween corner downstairs. She got to decorate that little tree to her heart's content and even had an orange lightbulb to really get into the Halloween spirit!

So, there is my pride and joy. I can't believe I got burnt out on decorating! That never happens. Stress will do that to you (I'll have to post another time about what's been keeping us so busy). Believe me, next year won't disappoint! We are already coming up with things we can do outside. We still have to keep it kid friendly cause we have quite the little spooks for kids, but it will still be awesome! And yes, if you're wondering, I have officially been dubbed "The Halloween Lady" in my neighborhood. :P

Halloween: part 1

Halloween is going to be divided into two parts, the costumes and the decorations. :)

So, this whole year Macey has been planning on being a princess for Halloween. That's why I bought her a really nice princess dress for her birthday! But when I started making Collin's costume she couldn't take it, she wanted to be a superhero, too. ;) Luckily she already had a cape and mask that I made for her last Christmas, so all I had to do was buy some cute jammies! I know, real original, right? I have such a hard time paying for a costume that they will only wear once, hence the jammies. They wear them all the time!

Macey before her preschool party. I only told her to smile, I didn't think she'd go to this extreme. :)

 The actual night. Holy crap I couldn't get a picture of them together! Neither of them would hold still!

 Yes, I am aware that this looks like a cigarette. It is in fact a sucker. What kind of parent do you think I am? (Don't answer that. He is stepping on a Book of Mormon in this picture after all.)

 Check this out! CANDY!

 Classic Macey pose.

 The ONLY picture of them together. Notice the sucker stuck to Collin's treat basket. Awesome. I find them all over my carpet as well.

 Mom? I'm scared.

 Of course Randy had to don his inner white trash.

 Love Randy's pose. It was raining cats and dogs when they started! It was crazy!

 After he was done taking the kids around the neighborhood, Randy put on his ape costume and terrorized the neighborhood. :)

 I dressed up as a witch and tried to replicate my mom's AMAZING witch cackle. I'm not nearly as good, but it made for some awesome awkward moments. :) This is me with my cauldron full of treats!

Sweet baby Abby!

Most people that know me, know who my friend Sara is. Her husband Ben was Randy's roommate at the Riv and they quickly became best friends. Inseparable. Ben is English but was raised in Boston and now his parents live back in London. His accent is amusing. :) After he got home from his mission and was waiting to go back to BYU he met Sara (in London). We got engaged the same weekend Ben and Sara did. I had only met her once because she was living in London but I immediately liked her. We got married 5 months before they did because y'know... we weren't dealing with the whole "one of us lives on another continent" issue. I only saw Sara the once when they got engaged and then I actually didn't see her again until they had been married for 4 months. They got married in England and the plan was to honeymoon and then come back to Provo so Ben could go to school. Well, things got messed up with Sara's green card and she had to wait in London for 4 MONTHS before she could make the permanent move to the US. Can you imagine? During that time Sara was living with Ben's parents and Ben was living in their apartment in Provo... by himself. It was hard for Ben and we had him over a LOT during that time. He actually even came to our ward for a while since he didn't want to start going to his new married ward and explain why his new wife wasn't there. Haha!

Anyway. A couple of months after Ben and Sara got married we found out we were pregnant. I remember Ben was still in England because Randy texted him and said "Dear Ben. DaNae is pregnant, please come home." HAHAHA. He's lucky I have a sense of humor (even when pregnant). I actually thought it was pretty hilarious, myself. Well after Ben had been in the States for a month he found out that Sara was expecting as well. In London. And she was very sick. Poor Ben had a hard time thinking about his newly pregnant wife and not being able to be there for her. Well you can imagine these feelings were magnified when he got the news that Sara was miscarrying. She was 12 weeks. They were devastated. I was devastated. I was still pregnant with Macey and wasn't sure how it would be for her to see me when she was finally able to move here. I really think Sara is a Saint. She was SO excited for me and Randy, even though I knew she must have been hurting terribly. She was so involved with my pregnancy and when Macey was born. She was genuinely happy for us and still has such a special relationship with Macey.

A year or so after Macey was born Sara had another miscarriage. It was heartbreaking, especially because the specialists were telling her that she would need to have 3 miscarriages before she could be seen. They made it sound like well, all you have to do is get pregnant again. Easy peasy. Sadly, easier said than done for a LOT of people. When I was about 12 weeks pregnant with Collin, Sara told me she was pregnant again. I was the one that actually forced her to take the test. :) We were all hoping and praying that it would stick, but sadly, it didn't. She miscarried at 13 weeks. Again, I was so scared of how she would handle watching me be pregnant and deliver a healthy child. Again, she was so enthusiastic and involved. I really don't know how she does it.

When Collin was 9 months old Sara confided in me that she was pregnant again. But this time the doctors were involved and had her on lots of pills, hoping that they would do the trick. We were all extremely nervous as the time went on, especially once she hit that 12 week mark because that is when she usually miscarried. But she kept going strong. The baby's heartbeat was always really strong and everything seemed to be going great. Her whole pregnancy I think we were all holding our breath. It was so surreal, Sara was finally pregnant and it was sticking! At 20 weeks she found out it was a girl... secretly I knew that she was hoping for a girl. :) The time flew by and before we knew it, Sara had her sweet baby girl Abby Sophia! She was a week overdue and absolutely miserable. Her Mom had flown in from London a week prior. She went in to be induced and ended up in a scary situation where an emergency c-section was needed because the baby's heart rate kept plummeting (cord was wrapped around her neck). Abby had a hard time breathing at first so spent a couple of hours in the NICU but is now just fine and SO PERFECT!! I cried when I saw her at the hospital. I have spent 5 years with Sara talking and planning and decorating for their first baby.

Here is sweet Abby Sophia, 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long and proud "mum" Sara!

  

Baby feet are one of my favorite things! Poor Miss Abby was getting mad at me because I kept holding her feet!

 Macey has been looking forward to this day for a long time as well. She asked Sara if she could be Abby's babysitter. :)

Wow, that was a really long post! Sara is not a whiner or complainer. Most people didn't even know she was struggling with infertility and had so many miscarriages, so, since I am a whiner... I thought I would tell her story for her. :P Love you Sara!