Introducing....Jaycee Lynn

Well lets see how much of this post I can actually get done in one setting.  Jaycee is currently sleeping but we will see how long that lasts.  I better use my fast typing skills to get everything in.  Well as most/all of you know our little Jaycee Lynn is here.  Her arrival came early Tuesday morning January 24th.  So that means tomorrow she will be one month old.  It is crazy how fast it has gone by but at the same time it seems like we have had her here forever!!!!
 It was a long and hard delivery but we are sooo happy to finally have her here.  I won't go into all the details of the delivery we did have a few little bumps but everything went well.

Jaycee has definitely changed our lives.  Motherhood is the hardest and BEST thing I have ever had to do.  It is so much what I expected and yet sooo different than I expected.  My life is totally different.  I quit my job and now get to stay at home with Jaycee all day.  I would say the hardest thing I was surprised by was I thought it would be easier to get a schedule down.  I know she is only 4 weeks old but I did think this.  She totally runs my day and schedule.  I am hoping with TIME we can get some kind of schedule down.
She is so sweet though.  She is a good baby and only gets mad when she is hungry which happens to be every two hours.  But when she isn't hungry or sleeping she is so fun.  She loves to sit in the boppy and just look around at things.  Her new favorite thing is to lay on her tummy over my knee and just hang out.  She has the cutest bright blue eyes, and YES she has beautiful red hair.  I think she has Josh's nose and my mom says she has the exact same lips as I did when I was a baby.  She is very petite and small but is getting bigger every day.
 I have gotten a little bored and all I do is sit on the couch and feed Jaycee but I am super excited for her to get a little bigger and for it to get a little warmer outside so we can get out of the house a little more.  Luckily we have had a lot of people come visit, so that has been fun.  My mom came and visited right after Jaycee was born.  Josh's sisters and parents came a week later.  Plus lots of friends and ward members have come by to visit and bring food.  Emily (Luke's girlfriend) came up and took pictures of Jaycee, it was a lot of fun and she did a great job.
Josh is sooo cute with Jaycee.  He has been so good to help with everything and has been a great support.  He does get up with her once in the night and feeds her which saves me.  To settle Jaycee down when she is mad Josh has found that if he turns on the water and disposal in the kitchen she seems to settle down.  Whatever works, works, right?  He does this at least once a night with her.  It is funny to me, but hey it does work.

Anyhow, that is pretty much our life right now.  Jaycee is waking up so I better run, til next time!!!

2011 in Review

Dear Blogosphere,

This is Josh, Calley's husband.  She said that I could post once in a while so I thought I might have a whack at it.

2011 was a rather eventful year for us.  There was plenty of good and bad to be had.  There was a lot learned and much to be celebrated.

The year started out with Calley recovering from having a pulmonary embolism - what is know in lay-man's terms as a blood clot in her lung.  It had formed after having her gall bladder taken out in October of 2010.  By the time January rolled around Calley was feeling pretty good, but still had to be on a medication that is called warfarin.  Warfarin is something that is supposed to thin out your blood and prevent new clots from forming.

Early in the year Calley and I had also come to feel that it was time to expand our little family.  Warfarin, however, had other ideas.  The active ingredient in warfarin is also the main ingredient in rat poison.  That doesn't bode particularly well for little developing fetuses.  We were advised by doctors that now would not be an ideal time to start thinking about a baby.  We took that advice and waited.

I don't remember exactly when it was, but we finally were able to say goodbye to the warfarin and entertain the thought of growing our family.  Having a kid is kind of a funny thing.  It was funny how much we looked online to find which pregnancy tests were the best, which ones were most cost effective, other ways you could tell if you were pregnant or not etc.  It was also funny being in Wal-Mart and having to keep a sharp eye out for anyone that we might know.  Heaven forbid that anybody see us with a pregnancy test in hand.

One day, before we got pregnant, I was at home and found an e-mail about plane tickets to Florida for an unbelievable deal.  When Calley got home there really wasn't too much to discuss; the price was right and we weren't sure when we'd get the opportunity again so we booked a trip to Florida for August of 2011.

A few weeks later, May 6 actually, I was at work and my neighbor, Steve, who happened to be a coworker chatted me and let me know that his apartment was flooding.  I called Calley and asked her to go home and check on our apartment as well.  Turns out our apartment was just as flooded as was our neighbors.

I won't go into too many details about the flood, but here's a recap: Construction and faulty sewer lines near our home caused our apartment to be filled with 6-8 inches of SEWER water.  Over the next several weeks promises were given to us by those responsible and by our landlord.  The responsible Logan City officials and their insurance people turned out to be more full of crap than our apartment was on May 6.  Our landlord also turned his back on us.  We lived in a hotel for nearly two months.  Afterwards we fought another couple of months to try and receive what we felt we deserved.  In the end we just accepted that we weren't going to get it and that stressing out about it wasn't worth it.  I previously had distrusted government before, but after being treated as terrible as we were it's much more than distrust.  I have a disdain for some specific Logan City officials as well as a greater mistrust of governments in general.  We also learned that money will cause others who you previously thought were your friends and allies to change and turn on you. Please don't misunderstand though - as bad as things were, I recognize that they weren't that bad.  Nobody lost their life or was disabled by any of this.  Nothing irreplaceable was lost.  It just hurt to know that through no fault of our own we lost what was to us a substantial amount of time, money and comfort.  It hurt to know that people would take further advantage of people who were already the victims because it was easiest to take advantage of them than to stand up for what is good and right.

That was the bad part of the year :)  Enough of that.  About a week and a half later Calley and I celebrated our first anniversary.  Calley took me down to Layton where we had a lot of good food and a lot of fun.  It was ironic that we had been staying in a hotel - Calley had booked a hotel for us previous to the flood.

Later that month Calley and I found out that we were finally pregnant!  It was right before we were going to go to Tridell and spend the weekend with Calley's family.  It was kind of fun teasing like I was going to tell people - looking at baby name apps on my iPod etc.  It nearly killed me actually not being able to tell everyone.

We felt very blessed with regards to the baby when we were displaced.  As I understand it, that first trimester can be rather hellish for some women.  While Calley was a bit nauseated from time to time she didn't throw up even a single time.  This was great since we had limited control over what food we ate (remember, we were living in a hotel :) ).

In June Calley and I made a trip up to Boise.  We had found a deal for a nice looking hotel in February and thought that it might be a fun quick vacation.  What Calley didn't know was that I had looked around to see when Tim McGraw might be passing through Boise that year.  I got her those tickets for her birthday.  I did my research and found out how to get good tickets without paying a fortune.  I don't like to brag too much, but if you want to see how good the seats were take a look at this video on youtube.  During one of the songs Tim actually came over and put his mic down for Calley to sing a couple words.  Even though I'm not a huge country fan I have to say that he put on a pretty good show.  It was also 100% worth it to see how excited Calley was to have such good seats.

After about three weeks of living in a hotel and not knowing when or if we'd ever make it back into our apartment we thought that we might start house-hunting.  I think we looked at every single home for sale in our price range from Wellsville to Smithfield.  We had a very patient realtor, to say the least.  We made a total of six different offers on three different homes.  None of them were accepted.  It was pretty crushing at the time.  We wanted to get out of the hotel and into a living space.  In the end we decided that the best thing would be to return to the apartment.  It KILLED us to do so.  Were we really going to go back to the place where this aggravating thing had happened?  Were we really going to go back to the landlord that made us pay rent even though we weren't living there and the insurance guy had promised him the money for lost rent?  REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?!??!  Yeah. . .we did.  Here's a big reason why:

Even though there were multiple people and parties who we felt treated us unfairly throughout the whole flood ordeal there were even more people who were very kind to us.  There were families who brought us home-cooked meals in the hotel, invited us over to their homes for dinner and just to hang out and get away from the hotel.  At the end of everything there was actually someone who was leaving for a couple of weeks who let us stay in her house so we could leave the hotel.  We discovered that there are people who are selfless, kind and charitable.  We had seen and heard of these kinds of acts before, but there had never been  occasion for others to be so generous towards us.  We live in a wonderful area with LOTS of wonderful neighbors.  We were happy to be able to return to them.

After two months and six days we were able to return back to our apartment.  In August we were able to go on our trip to Florida that we had booked earlier in the year.  We thoroughly enjoyed being there.  It was a great opportunity and I'm glad that we were able to take advantage of it.

Two days after we returned from Florida I interviewed for a new position at work.  The job would be pretty different from what I was then doing and I would definitely face some challenges.  The long and the short of it is this; I feel very lucky and I ended up being selected for the job.  I've been there since September and am enjoying it a lot.  It has provided me the opportunity to learn a lot more and to expand my skills and abilities.

More importantly though, in September we had the pleasure of finding out the gender of our baby.  We were super excited when we found out it was going to be a girl.  Since then we've gathered more pink things than I have ever seen in my life.  We still haven't settle on a name yet, even though she'll be here in less than three weeks, so please feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments :)

Since then things have been pretty smooth sailing.  Every time we go to the doctor they always remark that our girl is "right on track" and "very active" and a whole bunch of other positive things.  We are anticipating the time when we will finally get to hold her in our arms.

We're grateful for last year.  We learned a lot of things.  I think the biggest thing that I learned and had reinforced was that there is a God and He loves us.  There were a lot of things that didn't go according to OUR plan, but looking back I can see that things definitely went according to HIS plan.  We are anxious to see what this year brings and we'll do our best to keep everyone posted.

Have a happy and joyous new year everyone!

Have your self a Merry Little Christmas!

It is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!  With Christmas just around the corner I like to reflect on what Christmas has and does mean to me.  As a kid I was like any normal kid and looked forward to the presents, Santa Clause, the school and family parties, all the treats, etc etc etc.  You get the point.
As I got older I started to realize it is a lot more than that.  I enjoyed buying presents for other people.  Seeing their faces light up as they opened the present I thought long and hard about getting them.  I enjoyed being around family and friends and started to appreciate them.
It wasn't really until my mission that I TRULY felt the real meaning of Christmas. I saw and felt the Christ in Christmas.  I had no family, I didn't have any big presents, sometimes I even felt very alone and very homesick.  But serving in the south was one of the greatest things I have ever done.  People were kinder, warmer, and more generous to us missionaries, even though they didn't agree with our religion.  Everyone talked of Christ, rejoiced of Christ, and shared the testimonies of Christ.
My first Christmas I had only been out two months and was still very green and didn't know a lot of people, and had to really rely on the Lord for comfort.  My second Christmas I was serving in an area I loved, I had a wonderful companion, and had wonderful members and investigators at the time.  My mission President asked us missionaries to instead of going tracking at night to go caroling to people.  At first I was like uh.....that is weird, I don't sing, and you want just me and my companion to start singing to people.  But it was one of the best experiences ever.  Luckily my companion had an amazing voice and we talked the elders into going with us so it wasn't as intimidating.  It was so amazing to see people's faces as they opened the door and we started singing to them.  Our mission President told us to just sing, not to proselyte, or teach, or anything unless they asked but to just sing of Christ, and that is what we did.  People were so open to us and so warm to us.  I felt the spirit so strong while singing of Christ.  This turned out to be a very humbling Christmas as well.  Three days before Christmas I was transferred to a hard area with a hard companion.  To make a long story short some members invited us and the elders to their home  for Christmas dinner.  To try to explain how they lived would be very hard.  They were very POOR, and yet they invited us for the best food they had.  Let's just say I was very nervous that I wasn't going to get sick from this food, but they gave us what they had.  I know it meant a lot to them to have the missionaries in their home for Christmas!  I have never been so humbled in my life.
I wish I could say that I still feel the spirit of Christmas like I did as a missionary but I don't.  I wish I could always remember those feelings of Christ!

This Christmas has been a little different for me as well.  Being eight months pregnant I can't help but think of how Mary felt being pregnant with Christ.  I think of Mary and how she was chosen to have the Savior of the World, what a woman she must have been.  I think of how Mary was probably scared to have a baby but knew she would be taken care of.  I think of how Mary must have known just a little bit of the importance she was doing for the world!
I hope I can be the kind of mother that Mary and Christ would want me to be.  Josh and I are sooo excited to be parents and can't wait to have this little girl here.  It seems like I have been pregnant forever, but soon enough she will be here and our lives will change forever!!!  I hope that we can teach our little girl the true meaning of Christmas!

Fall Fun!

It's that time of year that I LOVE!!!!  Okay so I don't really love that the weather gets a bit colder but....I do love the spirit of fall. The colors, the smells, the clothes, the FOOD, etc etc etc...you get the point.

Anyhow a few updates to catch you up on.  A few weeks ago I had a little cousin Halloween party.  It was fun, I don't really know how to entertain people but I do know how to feed them.

 Last weekend my sister, Marci and her kids along with my Mom and my other sister, Diana came up to Logan to visit.  It was a lot of fun.  Marci gave me all her baby stuff, which we are SOOOO grateful for.  It was a big baby weekend.  We got tonz of baby stuff from her.  While they were up here we went to the American West Heritage Center and did some fun stuff.  We also went to the awesome Pumpkin Walk they have here in Cache Valley.  It is one of my favorite things to go to each year.  I think her kids really liked it as well.

And our car seat and stroller that we ordered came, which I think Josh is in love with.  He pushes the stroller up and down the hallway.  He is very excited to actually take it somewhere, I informed him we can't take it anywhere until we actually have a child in it.

Well as you can see we are getting ready for this little girl to come.  I don't know if we will ever really be ready but we are trying.  As for names....many of you have asked and the answer is NO we don't have a set name yet.  We probably won't have a set name until we come home from the hospital so you will all have to wait and see.  We are taking suggestions though......
Well til next time!!!!

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice
and everything nice
that's what little girls are made of

Sunshine and rainbows
and ribbons for hair bows
that's what little girls are made of

Tea parties, laces
and baby doll faces
that's what little girls are made of


That's right, if you haven't guessed we are having a little girl.  We had our big ultra-sound this last week.  Secretly, I was a little nervous.  I think I had the mom thing going on and I was scared that the baby might not be healthy or something might be wrong with it.  But the ultra-sound really helped with calming those nervous.  The baby is growing and is really healthy and everything is going really well.


Neither Josh or I really cared if the baby was a boy or girl, we just wanted a healthy baby and that she is.  But I am really really excited for a girl now that we know.  And NO we don't have a name yet and I don't think we will until we leave the hospital.  It has been really fun this week though to look at all the girl stuff.  I have to admit when the tech told us we were having a little girl I got just a little teary eyed, it was a really cool experience...and I haven't even had her yet.

  Here she is!!!!  We can't wait for her to be here, although we will wait.  Her due date is January 30th but pretty sure she will come before that.  Because of the heprin medicine I am on I have to be induced so I think the doctor will start me before that.


Other exciting news is Josh got a raise/promotion/new position at work.  His work is starting a new department and he is heading it up.  He is now the Energize Manager.  It will be a lot of work and stress for a little bit but should be really really good in the long run...at least we hope.  He interviewed and worked really hard for this new position and personally I believe he deserved it more than anyone, but I am a little biased ;)  We are excited for it and it will really help for when I stop working come January.


Work and been good for me.  After School started two weeks ago and we had to train around 100 staff so that was a lot of work but hopefully it will be worth it.  I also had to hire about 15 new people, so that was a lot of work as well but good.  It keeps me busy.  When I have nothing to do at work that is when I get really bored and am really happy I am quitting.  I am excited to be able to stay at home when we have the baby.  


Anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE this time of year.  I LOVE the fall colors, fall smells, fall weather, fall decorations, fall everything!!!!  I love Halloween too....Josh and I have been looking for over a month of what we should dress up as.  


This first picture was Halloween 2009, we were Sonny and Cher.  Yes I still married him after seeing him dressed as a woman....

 This was Halloween 2010, yep you guessed it Bam Bam and Pebbles.  Just so you know this was like a week after I got out of the hospital last year with my blood clot and gallbladder.

So we need a killer costume for this year!!!  If you have any idea's pass them along!!!


The closer Halloween gets the more excited I get.  I am just like a kid....sad.  I think I will even be more excited next year for when we have our little girl.  
Anyhow, thanks for reading!!!!  Til next time!