Baby Jake's Birth Story

Part I: Getting Bad News

Before Baby Jake was born Chris and I had been preparing ourselves for a 'natural' birth.  I had read a lot of books, we had taken a hypnobirthing class and we were practicing all the techniques we learned nearly everyday. I was trying to do everything right so we could get this little guy here with as little modern medicine as possible, however we still wanted the birth in a hospital just in case.

On the day of my 39 week doctor appointment, I did the usual sign in things. I peed in a cup and had my weight and blood pressure taken. I was really upset because the first thing I saw was that in one week I had gained FIVE POUNDS. How was that possible?! Then the doctor came in and said that he wanted to measure my blood pressure the old fashioned way because it was reading "kind of high." After he took it he tells me that my blood pressure is for sure on the high side and I had protein in my urine and I needed to go home and be "a couch potato." All fine except I had so many things I wanted to get done before the baby arrived. I made an appointment for a few days out and left the office and called Chris crying and he of course came home and decided that he would try to work from home as much as possible.

On my next appointment (April 11th) I made Chris come with me because I had a feeling as I was getting ready that morning that we were going to be having this baby that day. (they only had very early appointments left that short of notice so Chris and I had to wake up earlier than usual and of course I had gotten no sleep that night worrying about my doctors appointment the next day.) We went to the doctor and I peed in the cup measured my weight (which didn't change) and had my blood pressure measured. The doctor came in again and said that he wanted to check my blood pressure the old fashioned way because it was measuring high again. This time it was really high (151/95) and the protein in my urine was 5x worse than it was 3 days earlier. The doctor sat down and said:

"We need to have this baby today. You will need to leave here and get your things and go to the hospital. I will call ahead and let them know you are coming. When you get there we are going to have them run some more blood work to make sure that your liver is ok, if it comes back normal than we will induce you, however if it comes back abnormal, then we will have to do a c-section right away so there is no harm to you and the baby. You're not dilated and your not effaced and the baby hasn't dropped so if we do induce you it will probably be about a 20 hour labor."

Chris and I got to the car and I started bawling! I asked Chris if on our way home from the doctor we could stop by my parents and ask my dad to help Chris give me a blessing before we went to the hospital. We ran there then ran home and I grabbed the baby bag and my bag (which I fortunately had packed a few days before), we grabbed the dog and all her things and Chris threw together a bag while I tried to stuff my face before we were admitted into the hospital and couldn't eat. We dropped the dog off at daycare and told them that we would pick her up in a few days because it was "baby having time."

Part II: The Hospital

We got to the hospital and all checked in at 10am and then the nurses showed us our room and came in and got my blood for the tests. We heard back in a few minutes and they said that my liver results were normal and our doctor ordered that I be started. They gave Magnesium Sulfate, so that I wouldn't have seizures during my labor and Pitocin to start my labor, plus my regular IV bag. So that was all in one arm, and on the other arm, I had to be hooked up to a blood pressure monitor constantly so they could make sure my blood pressure didn't get worse. Then with the Pitocin I had to be hooked up to belly monitors to make sure that Jakey's heart rate was normal and my body was responding to the drugs. PLUS they kept having to give me anti-nausea medication through my IV's because the Mag was making me crazy sick. So I wasn't going ANYWHERE. I was pretty much strapped down. I was still trying for as much of a natural birth as I could and opted out of getting an epidural.

Chris and I were working on all of our techniques that we had learned but it was really hard for me to get relaxed because every 30 minutes the nurses would have to come in and check my blood pressure reading, Jake's heart monitor, my oxygen and reflexes because of all the drugs I was on. So every 30 minutes I would be disturbed for about 5-10 minutes and then Chris and I would have to start over again. At about 1am I couldn't take it anymore, I couldn't move and I couldn't get relaxed and all I wanted was for Chris to hold me because I was so tired and hungry and just couldn't keep it up anymore. I told Chris that I wanted the epidural after all and hopefully I would be able to get some sleep. The nurse came in and we told her that we wanted the drugs and she had a doctor come in right away and do it for me. It helped a little but then Jake's heart rate was doing weird things and I had to lay down in awkward positions to keep him active and be on oxygen so I wasn't able to get any sleep.

My doctor came in at about 5am and broke my water and that's when everyone realized that although I was progressing, Jake wasn't and was still really high in my pelvis and wasn't dropping. After a few hours of watching his heart rate (which was not indicating that he was labor, and looked more like he was sleeping) they checked me again and found that since Jake's head wasn't engaged with my cervix  it was starting to swell and close back up. It was then that they decided that I was going to have to have a c-section after all (only 21 hours later).

Part III: The Birth

After the decision was made, they prepped me and wheeled me into the operating room at 8:00am. Chris was able to come in with me and hold me hand. I was fully awake, they just numbed the pain and all I could feel was "pressure." From what Chris said (since I couldn't see) the doctors were having a really hard time getting Jake out even with the c-section and one of the doctors ended up grabbing him by the leg and pulling him out that way. From my point of view it felt like a wrestler was body slamming me in the stomach, which wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world.

He was born at 8:11am April 12th, 6lbs 13oz, 20 inches long.

Once they got Jake out I told Chris to stay with him because I didn't want Jake to be born and not know where he was and be scared, so I wanted Chris to stay with him and talk to him. After Chris left they stitched me up and wheeled me into a recovery room. Once in there my pain meds wore off and it felt like someone lit my stomach on fire. I was trying to tell the nurse but she just told me that my epidural was on its way from the pharmacy and should be there soon. The nurse left and I was by myself for a few minutes and I started to get really upset because I hadn't been able to meet my little baby yet, I hadn't even seen him and barely even got to hear him cry. So of course I started bawling, this is when Chris was in my room with me and was on the phone and a nurse in training was in the room. Chris got after the nurses and told them to get my pain meds now and once those were there he was off again to go check on the babe. After a few minutes they wheeled me into my postpartum room and I was really worried because they took me without Chris and I didn't know if he would be able to find me, but he did because he is amazing.

When I got to my room my new nurse was there waiting for me and she and the CNA were able to help me into my new bed and the nurse started to talk to me to make sure I knew what was going on. All she said was "I was told that you haven't been able to meet your baby yet." I immediately started to bawl again. It's not fair to go through all that not even be able to hold or see your little guy. Meanwhile Chris was running back and forth between the two of us to make sure that we were both ok and would take pictures of Jake and come back and show me.

This is when we realized the problems with Jake. Because I was on Magnesium for so long it was passed to him and when he came out he was extremely lethargic in the pictures he is just flopped and has no control of his limbs. When he was born he scored a 1 on the APGAR test because he didn't have any vitals. He then started to breathe and 5 minutes later scored a 6. He was in the transition care for a long time while they were trying to decide if he needed to go to the NICU because his blood glucose was so low, and they wanted to give him an IV, but to get an IV he had to be in the NICU. Chris and I then decided that for his best health that we should have him go to the NICU and get the help that he needed, however this meant that it would be even longer before I got to meet him, because he wouldn't be able to come to me, I would have to go to him, and I wasn't allowed to go see him until I had feeling back in my legs and was able to get into a wheelchair. Once they got him in the NICU they got him an IV (in the top of his head) and put him on oxygen. I finally got to meet Jake at 4:00pm that afternoon.

The first time I met Jake

After that we dealt with trying to get his blood glucose high enough to get the IV out of his head and his oxygen high enough to get the tubes out of his nose for the next 4 days while we were at the hospital. By the end of our stay he was able to get off the IV but was back on oxygen and they decided to let us take him home on oxygen, so Chris and I had to take an infant CPR class and take a training on the devices we were given. We finally got to have him to ourselves after 4 whole days of drama! It was the best day ever!!

Going home outfit. The picture is dark because it's during "quiet time" in the NICU

Even though Chris and I got the exact opposite of everything that we had originally planned, I am so incredibly grateful we got such a perfect little boy. I can't believe that his little guy is mine! I am so grateful for the plan of salvation and not only do I get to spend all of my earthly life with him but I get to spend eternity with him.

First picture at his new home!

THIRD TRIMESTER!

Chris and I had our 28 week appointment to kick-off our 3rd Trimester! I can't believe I have already been pregnant 6 months and I only have 3 to go! We didn't get a picture or a DVD this time but we did get to see him (yes still 100% boy).  The doctor did all the fancy measuring and informed us that our babies weight is in the 95% (at a whopping 3.3lbs when average at this point is about 2.25lbs).

In other news I put my notice into work and will be a "stay at home mom" (even though I haven't become a mom quite yet) starting February 1st. I'm hoping that it will give me more time to rest and get more baby stuff ready.  Chris and I decided that it was time for me to quite early because my job was really demanding on my body (I was literally running around all day for clients) and not to mention the fact that I am very near not being able to drive because my belly now touches the stirring wheel of my car.  I have had to raise my steering wheel so I can still reach the peddles and have some breathing room, but at this point the stirring wheel won't raise any more and its getting quite tight.

We have also been working on the nursery. Chris painted the walls a light grey and we plan to fill the room eventually. Right now its completely empty without blinds. First step order blinds! Hopefully with my being home we can make the room more homey!

Baby Dox: Week 26

This month our appointment was a little late due to the holidays. We went to the doc and got to hear our little guys heart beat (144).

We have been working on his nursery and got it painted now we just need to fill it with furniture and a baby!

This past month his activity level has gone up, and now you can really feel him moving around, as well as see it from the outside.  For Christmas I tried to not get anything for him since he isn't here yet, but we did get a few movies (most of which were my old favorites that were $5 from Amazon). We also found some really good black Friday deals on Little Einstein toys from Walmart and an Ergo baby carrier.

I have not had any weird cravings so far but the other night I was at a primary meeting until pretty late and I decided that I needed a strawberry milkshake. I texted Chris and he had one waiting for me when I got home.

Another fun change was for our health insurance we had to have physicals to get bonus money in our health savings account.  The physical consisted of being weighed and having our cholesterol levels checked. We got our results back and no big surprise my BMI (height compared to weight) said that I was overweight, and my cholesterol levels were like scary high! It scared because I was curious what my cholesterol was a few months before I was pregnant and everything was in the "good" range. So I had to do some Google-ing to make myself feel better. Apparently its normal for your cholesterol to be high while your pregnant, that was a big surprise. Other than that all test have come up normal and everything seems to be in working order!

Baby {boy} Dox: 21 Weeks

top: profile; center: profile; bottom: little boy 

Chris and I had our long ultrasound appointment and don't worry he is still a boy! Not a huge surprise considering how open he was in our last appointment but he is measuring right on schedule however he is a little heavier than I was expecting, but again they are just rough estimates.

Here are our 3D ultrasound pics, in all of them they are his face but his fist was in his face so you can't really see his whole face.

He is also quite the active fellow! usually in the afternoons and early evenings he starts doing, what feels like, a tap dancing routine around my belly and the fun part is you can kind of start feeling it from the outside! The first time Chris felt a little movement was when we were in Park City for my birthday get-away that he surprised me with and we were trying to find out hotel in the dark and I grabbed Chris's hand and put it on my belly and he said that he was feeling something. It seems like everyday he is getting stronger too!

Chris has also been a really great sport and very patient with me and my changing emotions and body. It is so cute to me how concerned he is about my health and the baby's health. I'm no longer allowed to try to climb on the counters to reach mixing bowls anymore and he is always worried about whether or not I'm comfortable. 

It's also been fun because I'm quite a bit bigger and I'm finally out of the "kind of looks bigger, but no one knows its because I'm pregnant, not that I just ate a large dinner" phase. People are now asking questions about the growing bump under my shirts. Like when I was first pregnant, I get a few comments that aren't exactly on the kind side, but I have been trying my hardest to just ignore them (girl at bank "o my heck, aren't you due like really soon?" me "umm, no I have about 5 more months...") and just be excited that I still have a few more months for my baby to grow (and get baby's room ready).

So far we have a few names we like, tell me what you think:

Jacob (after Chris's Grandpa)

Sawyer

there are more but those are our top two..

Baby {BOY} Dox: Week 18

That's right! Chris and I recently found out that we are having a little boy! We were given a DVD of our last appointment and no pictures so I don't have proof, so you'll have to take my word for it.

When we went to the doctors office, he put the goo on my tummy to do the ultrasound as soon as we put the "ultrasound thingy" on my tummy to spread the goo around we immediately knew we had a little boy on the way. The doctor went on to show us that our baby has all four chambers in his heart and is growing as he should (measuring 1 day ahead actually)and boy! does he sure move! He then went to show us for 100% sure that we should start planning on blue. No doubt :)

I have been feeling a lot better. No more morning sickness but I still haven't quite got my energy back, but I'll take it over being sick every day. I even have a little tummy that is actually noticeable, in fact I was running around at work the other day and saw my reflection and noticed that my tummy had a shadow! I felt the little movement this past Saturday while I was settling down for bed. Its been a little sparse but every once in a while I can feel him. It's a little alien but cool all at the same time; I just wish that Chris could feel it.

Chris and I have been searching for a name. When we went to the doctor's we were about 95% sure we were going to be seeing boy parts, however we only had girl names picked out that we liked. It's a little overwhelming, nothing has really jumped out at us; we may have Baby-Boy Doxey for a while.

Baby-Boy Dox is the size of a bell pepper.

Baby Dox: Week 11

This was from our 9 week appointment (in the process of trying to find a new doctor).

Good news is we found a great doctor!

Lately, my morning sickness has been a little hit and miss. Some days I feel "ok" and some days I feel horrible and I have been pretty tired everyday.

I have been pretty dang lucky because Chris has really picked up my weight in chores and has been a great sport! I couldn't ask for more.

What really has surprised me so far is what people say to me that know I'm pregnant. 

1. I know that I'm gaining a little weight because my cloths (especially my work pants) are fitting a little tighter, but I have actually gotten two comments about it. One said "OH, LOOK YOUR GETTING PUDGY!!" and the other said "Wow your tummy is starting to poke out." On each occurrence I was sitting down after just eating a large lunch, I would like to see them do the same and not have a belly. Thanks guys.
2. One day I was sitting at work and someone asked if I had picked out a name yet. I haven't I don't know if I'm having a boy or a girl so I haven't wanted to dive in until I can at least cut down the names by half. So I told this person "No, I haven't yet" and she asked "Well haven't you had names you have liked your whole life?" and I said "No, not really" and she said "you must not be very maternal." WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!

Maybe I'm just over sensitive because I don't think that people have been this blunt in the past when I wasn't pregnant? I dunno..

Anyway, the baby is the size of a fig.

Baby Dox: 8 weeks

Chris and I found out we were pregnant about a month ago. We decided that we wanted it confirmed by a skilled doctor (as opposed to an at home test) before we said anything so we had to learn to be patient for 2 of the longest weeks of our lives. We finally decided that we would tell everyone the Sunday after we went to the doctor which was about 2 weeks ago, but we wanted to make sure that we had told all family before going to social media.

On Sunday, August 26th Chris and I planned to have a bbq with my family to have an excuse to get everyone together, which was key to telling them. I made a little shirt for my niece saying that she was going to be a cousin. Everything was going to be perfect and then I realized that we were going to be a little late so I called my dad and  told him that we were going to be a few minutes late (we had all the food so it was kind of a big deal) and he said "You need to see Ella's shirt." and I said "ummm what does it say?!" He said that i would have to come over and see. I went running out to Chris and I said "O my heck, Danielle is pregnant and got Ella a big sister shirt!!" Well we drive over and my nervous were quite getting the best of me.

Sure enough when we walk in Ella is wearing a shirt that says "big sister" so I go storming in (I had wrapped up Ella's present and she was quite excited to open it) as Ella is unwrapping her present I was grilling Danielle on how far along she was and when she was due. And Danielle said, "How do you know all this? You did that math really fast." By then Ella had unwrapped her shirt and I showed my family her shirt and we found out that Danielle and I were both due the same week of April (she is due the 5th and I am due the 10th).

After dinner we finished dinner and visiting we were heading over to Chris's moms house and decided due to the time change we need to call his dad and tell them the news. I don't know much of the details because Chris told them everything but from what I understand they are pretty excited.

We arrived at Chris's moms house with our ultrasound and told Chris's mom that my "sister was pregnant and due on the 5th of April... which is funny because we are due on the 10th." They did the appropriate amount of freaking and being excited so it was fun.

We also told Chris's grandparents and aunts and uncles. We decided to let my parents tell all of my extended family.

We are now to the fun point where everyone knows and we don't have to keep this huge news a secret! We have had fun going on line looking at pictures of our baby developing and how big it is. As of right now our baby is the size of a kidney bean and just looks... (I hate to say it as Baby Dox's mom) kind of weird with is little squished face.

I have been  a little sick on and off, I have never actually thrown up yet but I just feel nauseated all the time and very tired, but that has been letting up a little bit. I just hope I start feeling better because it has not been all that fun being sick all the time.

We ran {another} race

August 3rd Chris and I ran in the Legacy Midnight Run 10k which, despite the name, started at 10pm. We got there about a half hour early and started adorning ourselves in glowsticks that were provided.

Our Glow Sticks, and some of the people with theres.



So at exactly 10pm we started running and we started off slower than our normal pace, which I think is always a good idea (because I'm an expert at this point after now running two races) because there were a lot weirdo's in this race. So after about a mile we took off. I was in the lead for a while and then Chris passed me. He ended up finishing the race about 4 minutes ahead of me.

At the end of the race both Chris and I were very impressed with how the race was set up. The were very organized and had planned of everything. (although the only other race we have ran was the Kaysville Rotary 5k so we aren't experts). But it was a blast! Everyone was there to have fun and enjoy themselves! There were a few times when we started running on the same route as the 5k racers and the were walking so it got a little frustrating but all in all it was a great experence!!

Us after the race

Final Times:

Chris 1:01:45-78th place of 250

Me: 1:05:18-111 place of 250-3rd place of 12 in my age group

We ran a race

Chris and I have been training for a half marathon in Disneyland and working really hard towards that so when I saw that there were opening for the Kaysville Fourth of July 5k I thought "3.1 miles? We can do that!" So we registered Tuesday 3rd at 6:30PM and the race was bright and early 7:30AM. This was both of our first time racing.

It was a lot of fun, I was getting bugged though because they had the 5krun/walk together so there would be traffic jams where people were walking and everyone was trying to pass them. But all in all it was pretty fun. I tried to time us and I forgot to stop my watch when we crossed the finish line but we think we finished at about 30-31 minutes. Not bad, it was a little faster than I'm used to running so at about mile 2 I got the worst side ache, but we were making such great time I didn't want to stop, SO I didn't, I just ran through it and now I couldn't be prouder of myself.

Here is a picture my dad took of us rounding the corner to the finish line.

Thumbs up for almost being done, so I can go back to bed!!

Us after the finish line, with our complimentary waters and oranges!

Chris is wearing the shirt they gave us.

April 6th 2012 and our experiences.

As many know (except me, I guess) April 6 is the anniversary of when the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints became a church. For me it was just the first Friday in April and Chris and I thought it would be a perfect day to schedule a very small room at the Salt Lake Temple to be sealed.  We knew we couldn't invite everyone who would want to come (Aunts/Uncles, Cousins, Friends) because both of our families combine are so large, so we wanted to make it fair and we only invited parents, siblings, and grandparents. We also invited Chris's Aunt Linnea and Uncle Clint, because Clint is the bishop who married us, and we invited Brother and Sister Hirshci ("Hershey") because they taught our temple class. That was it. Capacity.

Chris and I awoke that Friday morning, thinking it was going to be great weather and as we looked out the window it had snowed over night, so we decided to get ready and leave early because we weren't sure what the roads and traffic were like, because the temple asked us to be there no later than 10:15am for the 12:00noon sealing. We ended up arriving to the temple in 20 minutes. So we decided that we would just wait in the seating area they have for early guests until our two witnesses and my escort (My mom and dad, and Chris's step-dad, Tom) arrived. We ended up waiting for about an hour for everyone to get there and checked in right at 10:15am (most of the temple workers were pretty impressed). I went with my mom and changed in the brides room and met a young woman (not like a Young Woman) who was getting married that day and was in her wedding dress waiting to be called on. (more on her later)

They soon called me, and Chris and I (with out going into too much detail) had a chance to just sit together in a peaceful room for about an hour (apparently the temple isn't used to people being on time and they weren't ready for us). We then went and got seal. It was pretty special. I don't know how to write it and make it have all the feelings but you'll just have to take my word.

Now about the funny story about this girl. So as I'm getting she started to talk to me because I think she had a lot of nerves. She asked me if I was excited and I said yes and I asked the same and she was, too, excited. I then asked her if she was nervous and she said that she wasn't, but she was the day before, in fact she was so nervous the day before she hadn't eaten at all. She then left and I was pretty close after her. Her and her fiancee sat next to Chris and I they soon left to be married, or we assumed, and then they were back and they sat on a bench by themselves and were very scared looking. They started to pray and the girl started to cry. a lot. and she started to get pale and getting shaky. Her fiancee got and went to a temple worker and Chris and I soon realized, something was going on here. (so of course we started to stare) They brought her juices boxes wrapped in tissues so they were white. Soon they asked us to leave the special waiting room so we could be sealed and they too were coming out. They ended up have the room next to ours and were sitting on a bench. They had crackers and juice for her and she was looking in pretty bad shape. They also had a cold compress on her head. They soon stood her up to go into the room and she about passed out, so her fiancee and two little old temple worker sisters were pretty much carrying her into the room. Chris and I teased after that the sealer probably didn't give too much advise at the beginning and just got right into the ceremony.

Anyway, after we were sealed we went to Olive Garden with my parents, sister/bro-in-law, and grandma and grandpa Cook. It was fun to just sit and talk about life and everything. We soon had to go get our puppy. I got home thinking that I wanted to write in my journal about all our experiences and by the time I got home I realized that Chris and passed his cold on to me and I was starting to feel pretty bad. I took a nap and woke up and forgot almost everything I wanted to write down, luckily my parents remembered most things.

What a day though! I have a great feeling now, knowing that if anything were to happen, Chris and I will be together forever, whether he likes it or not. I sure do love that kid!

1/24/12

As many of you who know me have realized in the past I have tried to be vegetarian and dappled with staying away from dairy and eggs. I started to eat meat again, right around the time Chris and I got married, mainly because I got tired of the idea of making dinner, and walking to Dylan's with Chris sounded a lot better than cooking, bleh!!  It doesn't hurt that my husband is probably the best bar-be-que-er ever! I recently, however, started my venture and wanted to share with my friends and family!

I started watching a lot of documentaries on hulu.com at work on my own free time, because they are free. That when I decided that I just needed to do it again. (I watched Forks Over Knives and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. I also read a book called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant Based Nutrition) As I was watching Forks Over Knives, Chris caught the tale end and was telling me that he didn't buy it, and that if anyone goes from a diet full of fast food and fat and turns to a healthier diet of whole grains and vegetables, they will be healthier with or with out the meat and dairy and eggs. To this I said, yes I realize and I know that this is not for everyone.

I have been trying to eat this way for about a week now and so far, I have been feeling "cleaner", happier, more energetic, and I sleep tons better. I do agree this could be a combination of things, in that I have been running like a crazy person training for my races, and I have tried to cut Diet Coke/caffeine out.

Any way I just wanted to share the movies I watched because they were interesting to me. Eventually I will post a blog that is more relating to Chris and my's adventure of life with a puppy that's almost a year old!

2012

This year I made some resolutions and thought that I would share them that way I am more pressured to finish them :).

• Be sealed to Chris: We just finished our Temple prep class so this should be happening rather shortly. CHECK! (April 6th, 2012)
• Run a marathon: I am scheduled to run the Bear Lake marathon June 9th, and the Disneyland half in September. I sure hope I still like running that far away!
• Read the Book of Mormon twice this year: I hope to finish it once before we get sealed and once after. (I wasn't able to finish it before we were sealed, but I was close.)
• Get good grades in school: First step register for Fall :).

Here we go 2012!

Wind Storm 2011

I wanted to share my feelings with the wind storm we had on Thursday last week. We all say the mass amounts of destruction on the news with all the toppled over trees, torn up roofs, and downed power poles. The part that I wanted to share was about Yesterday (Sunday). 

A little back story: After the big storm Chris and I were out of power for about 2 days. We woke up one of the days and our thermostat read 54 degrees. We decided that if our power was out for another day we would spend the night at someones house because that was just to cold. We part of our back fence break, but Chris ran out and picked up all the pieces and put them in our garage and when it mellowed out, he put the fence back up. Other than that we had no damage.

Sunday we woke up bright and early to get ready for church and made it on time (yes!) to our 9:00 am church. Our stake is set up backwards, and we have sacrament last. I went to relief society and Chris went to priesthood, and then we met back up for Sunday school. We went into the Chapel for gospel doctrine and about half way through one of the ward clerks came in and announced that the just got word from the Stake President that there was so to be another storm and he wanted to cancel services and have everyone go out and do service (good ol' ox in the myer syndrome). The concern was that with the next wind storm there would be a lot more debris because of all the trees that were already down.  It was kind of scary, but before we left everyone met in the Chapel and we had a ward "family" prayer and all went home to break our fast and change our clothes.

Chris and I went home and ate and changed our clothes and took the dog out to go potty and then ran to his Grandpa Jacobs house to help with their trees (they still didn't have power). Once we got their trees taken care of and ran to the dump with Chris's step-dad, we ran home and started to help out with our ward. It was amazing to me how much our ward got done in so little time. We had the entire ward cleaned up in a matter of hours. A task that seemed a bit daunting when you looked at all the huge trees our neighbors had lost. I took some pictures of the work being down (I wish I would have taken pictures of the before, but I didn't think about it in time). Around 2:00 Chris and I went home and changed out of our sap covered clothes and went to his Grandma and Grandpa Doxey's for dinner. 

When the day was done Chris and I were talking and we felt like we had met more people and gotten to know more people with this "natural disaster" then we would have if it was just a regular church day. Although there was damage done and people didn't have power, I truly have a greater love for my littler ward and know that they would do anything in their power to help us out in a time of need.

We Have Been Married a Year...

...3 months ago! I am really bad at this! But here are the pictures from our sweet anniversary.

 Here are Chris's presents set up for him in the kitchen for when he woke up.

What could it be???

A GOLF CLUB?! (I didn't really get it for him, he picked it out and put it in his amazon shopping cart...)

The other present, the smaller one, was a RoadID. So that when we are out ridding our bikes, if we get hit by a car, people can identify our bodies(jk), a bit depressing and not the highlight of his gifts.

Now it's my turn; for those of you who know me, understand I always have "my blanket." It's usually disgusting and ratty and everyone hates it but me... so Chris decided to make me one. He and his Grandma and Grandpa Jacobs got together and worked on it for me! And all this time I thought on Saturdays Chris was just really really slow... nope he was just busy quilting! 

I picked this puppy out!

It's a bit big but I love it! (now after using it for almost 4 months the only negative side to using it is I think my left arm is getting much stronger than my right!)

Digby has grown up!

I know many of you don't care about our dog, but I just wanted to show her off because I love her. I just wanted everyone to see just how fast she grew up in the short amount of time we have had her (we got her at 6 weeks and she is now 7 months).

 This is her as a 6 week old!

This is a picture from when we had to go out and buy a bigger collar. (also, not the yellow pillow on the chair in the back. Since this picture we have had to move it, because she finally got big enough to reach up and eat the corners of it.)

This is her on our anniversary in August. I remember looking at her then and thinking, "She can't get any bigger!"...

Here I wanted to show how she LOVES HERSELF. She loves her reflections and in anything that she can see her self she will lick... for instance, the glass on the fireplace, my full length mirror and our patio door.

This is her matching my pillows. Its nice having a dog that matches my house so perfectly so I can pretend she is clean.

She also loves looking out the front window. Shes our neighborhood watch dog!

Dinner Party

Chris's Step mom and half siblings on his dad's side were in town from Houston last week to go to Lake Powell with the Doxey family and were going to be up near us for a couple of days so we were planning on having them over for dinner last night. Here are my thoughts and feelings about hosting my first dinner party!!

So I will start with Sunday night when we found out that Chris's family were coming on Tuesday. My first feelings were of panic as I looked around our house that was torn apart because the dog is at a "wild and crazy" stage and is also teething and is chewing EVERYTHING and making a mess, and then I looked at the kitchen where it was a complete disaster because Chris and I (mostly Chris) are putting in a tile back splash. I immediately stopped working on a little project I was doing for my niece's 1 year birthday party and went into crazy cleaning mode! I cleaned a little Sunday night, Monday night, and Tuesday afternoon. When I was done I thought to myself.. other than feeling happy that I have a nice clean house, why did I put so much stress on having a clean house? What really would happen if they came over and I DIDN'T polish the sinks and get the stove sparkling? Will they really be upset that the back door has dog tongue prints on it?

During all of this Chris and I were making all the plans and we realized that there would be a total of 7 people at dinner (Chris, his Step mom, half sister, half brother, Grandma and Grandpa Doxey, and me). We looked at our table and realized that we would have to bring in an extra chair and then the thought struck me! Chris and I wouldn't have enough plates or cups! So chris went to the store and got plastic cups and plates. Once the dinner got started we BARELY had enough silverware but for dessert we ended up have to use plastic spoons (luckily I happened to have them in the pantry!)

So then came the meal. I got really REALLY lucky on this. Monday night Chris went to his mom's house to pick up his grill and brought it home and he made pork chops for dinner. Chris's step mom brought a salad and Grandma Doxey brought a side and I told Chris I would make a side. Once Tuesday came and I had finally finished scrubbing the wood floors and realized I REALLY needed to take a shower I realized I didn't have time to make a side. Once I got out of the shower, I only had a few minutes until everyone was supposed to be at our house. So off to the store I went to get a fruit salad from the deli. I got home put it in a nice bowl (so it looked homemade) and throw the evidence away.

All in all, this experience made me really understand the stress and work that goes in to dinner parties that people invite me to! (it also made me really wish I would have spent the extra money on more dishes that I thought "we would never use")

The Cat Lady Said What???

Chris and I moved in (like 96% of the way) into our BRAND NEW house and as a family we decided that this move wasn't crazy enough so we decided to make our weekend a little more crazy! We had a medium move on Friday and then the BIG move on Saturday (thanks to the family members who help move all our crazy heavy stuff!!) and Sunday Chris and I decided that we would drive to riverton and ..... Pick this little girl out. INTRODUCING: DIGBY DOXEY. She is a 4 week old Dark Chocolate Lab. You are you not mistaken, the cat lady DID cave and we decided to adopt a little puppy (as in not a feline). We love her already. She is still too little to be away from mom, but we will get to bring her home in about two weeks!!! So much for have brand new clean carpets!

Here are her glamour shots that I fell in love with:

Brand New House

This blog, I will admit is mostly for me, so I can remember what our house looks like before we get all the clutter in it and it get all messy.

Here it is from the outside. cars in the garage and everything!
This is the front room right off the front entrance.
This is the mudroom right off the garage entrance

Here is the kitchen!

The Stairs

Master bedroom

Masther Bath (this picture took me forever to get it without me in it)

Master Shower

Mastercloset (this is my favorite; this picture doesn't do it justice)The Laundry room. This view is opposite of the washer and dryer. Upstairs full bath. Bedroom 1 This is the closet. The two bedroom closets are identical.

Here is bedroom 2. My future craft room.

** I forgot to mention, I didn't take any picture of the family room because we are painting and the blue tape effect was not what I was going for...

Hey what are you doing this week? ME? Well...

I thought that I would update my blog, but I don't really have much of anything (pictures that is)... so my words will have to suffice.

Last Friday Chris and I did the last walk through of our lovely home, and of course everything was done and it is now a real people house for real people! I planned to take many pictures to show everybody, however when I turned the camera on to take the first picture the batteries were dead. Funny how electronics need to be charged occasionally.

This means that if everything goes as scheduled, Chris and I do the "Follow-Up Final Walk Through" Thursday morning and straight there we go to Bountiful and sign on our mortgage and Friday (not sure the time) we get the keys to our first home! Super exciting!

As you can imagine this is a little stressful, especially the fact that this big day in our lives has fallen RIGHT DURING THE WEEK OF FINALS. Lovely. We have our home Friday, so instead of going straight from work to enjoy and bask in the idea of having a huge closet, I have to go straight to school and take a final. How am I supposed to preform to my fullest?!

Anyone bored and wanna help move us? just kidding... kinda

PICTURES TO COME!

The most recent pics off my camera

Since Chris is still at school tonight I thought that I would finish up the post that I started previously....

Week 6:

[this is the family room]

[the covered porch out back]

[Upstairs bathtub]

[master ceiling]

Week 7 (most recent):

[family room]

[the top of the stairs]

[master ceiling]

[master tub]

NOW!!! Christopher turned 27!!! Here are some Pictures from that!

[this is Chris's birthday present]

[here is us at dinner!]