Hiking the Sandias

We went for a little hike last weekend in the Sandias. I was pleasantly surprised how much the kids loved it, which made me think "why have I not been doing this?!" I want to go every week now! It reminded me of when we used to live up in that area and would go hiking up there- such a pretty part of Albuquerque. Pretty you ask? Well it's all relative I guess!


little hiker

this picture kills me


our view


Jace LOVED running down the mountain


...until he fell... about 20 times
Then poor Jace face was walking right in front of me and I saw a cactus next to him, but thought he missed it... nope! The poor kid got cactusized. He had about 20 needles sticking out all over his hand! it looked disgusting! Luckily they came out really easily and were smaller than a pin, so it didn't hurt too bad, and 2 minutes later he was loving it again!


Makenna running down the mountain

6 years!

When I was younger I always hoped I would marry someone that could give me butterflies years after the wedding ceremony. Someone that would balance out the dumb things I do. Someone that could make me laugh at myself and everything else too! Of course I wanted someone charming and, (uh-hem) hot. I always wanted a man that was strong in the gospel and that I knew would help me get the forever family I really wanted. I hoped I would be able to find someone that would be understanding when I cried for no reason at all! I wanted a man that would be the kind of dad that plays with his kids and reads them bedtime stories. I wanted a man that would make me want to be better and that was worth improving myself for. When I first started dating Scott, I was amazed and surprised that I was able to check all those things off my "list" so quickly. Did I really hit the jackpot with this one?? I was willing to find out! Now, 6 years later, he has still lived up to all those things I thought he was back then. I feel so lucky that I found such a good match for me.

One of our first dates! Sweethearts dance.

7 months later!

Nowadays

D-R-A-M-A

This girl is all about the drama. Sometimes I even call her drama. She is so cute and funny. Today at the grocery store she was telling everyone (in a very loud excited voice) that her birthday was in two weeks and she is three but she's turning four on her birthday and she's going to have a party and she's going to invite her friends. I had to write it like that because when she said it, it was like one long sentence. The funny thing is, her birthday is in 3 weeks, but she insists that it is not in 3 weeks mom, it's in 2 weeks. Everything she wants to do is very dramatic too. She needs to have her friends come over to play. She has to go outside and ride her bike. She has to have a snack right now! Or she just might keel over. At least that's what it seems like. drama. Let me just say I get a lot of laughs out of that little girl and the funny things she says.

This picture reminds me of her dad.

18 month- stats

Height 34.5 inches (95%)
Weight 29.5 lbs. (85%)
Head: 85 %

I need a boost

I mentioned in the last post that Jace scoots chairs around the house for a boost... hahaha well here's a great example of that! He pushed this chair all the way out to the garage from the kitchen (they are not close in proximity) so that he could get to the juice boxes! I could not stop laughing when I caught him!

18

Sweet baby Jace Face
You are a big 18 month old now! It doesn't seem that long ago I looked into that cute face of yours for the first time with your beautiful dark eyes and the little cleft in your chin. You have brought so much love and joy to our family. We love your big chubby smile, and your sweet chubby-boy laugh. You have a fascination with life, and we love to watch you explore the world around you. You are cautious yet open to the people around you. You have so much fun with your big sis. I often see you two laughing so hard you are sprawled across the floor! You are my active little boy: running all around, climbing on everything, and throwing anything even remotely ball-shaped as far as you can. You are my little talker these days, and although there are still only a handful of words you use, some days you surprise us by blurting out sentences like "Where did it go?" and "I want some." You amaze us all the time by your smart little mind. You are such a funny little boy too. We giggle to ourselves when we see you move the chair around the house for a little boost, pick all the fruit and veggies from our garden and eat them raw, dump everything out all over the floor, and obsess over carrying around toothpaste and toothbrushes. Best of all, mom loves the time she spends with you at night exploring through books together and rubbing our noses together. You are the little boy I never knew I always wanted.
We love you Jacey!

unexpected hospital visit

If you are a man and don't like to talk about women stuff, don't read on. thank you.

After being in cramping pain for 3 days, I decided to go in to my OB to see if she could find out what was wrong. After checking me and doing some tests, she thought it looked like I had appendicitis, and that I should go to the ER. So I made my way on over to the ER, reluctant at what was in store for me, but relieved that I may finally figure out what was wrong. They did a CT scan of my stomach, and husband joined me in the ER as I waited for the results. The ER doctor was finally able to tell me that my scan came back abnormal and it looked like I had an ovarian cyst that ruptured and bled a lot. I had a pool of blood in my lower abdomen and going up my sides. She then told me she hadn’t seen that much blood from an ovarian cyst for a long time (about 12 oz) and I would probably need surgery, but she would wait for the OB to come and make the final decision. So here I am gearing myself up for surgery, when 3 hours later (KILLER!) one of my OB’s partners graced us with her presence, and decided we would just try to wait it out and see if my body absorbed all the blood. So I will just need to continue to deal for the next few days. The good thing is, I don’t have the constant cramping feelings anymore, just a little dizzy and uncomfortable, and a lot of pressure in my abdomen. The bad things is, I am still pretty helpless. The good thing is my wonderful MIL will be here till tomorrow, and my husband has really stepped it up and been amazing! Thank you so much to everyone that called and prayed for me. I truly feel I was blessed throughout all this. Hopefully I will be up and around in a couple days!

In conclusion- my IUD may have caused the ovarian cyst and I have decided to take it out. I guess there is no easy way to do birth control! Here is a lovely picture of me at the hospital...

This is what happens...

When mom's not feeling good.

Makenna decided it would be fun to paint with mascara all over Jace's body.

I need to zoom in on this one...

On a side note, Jace chipped his tooth the other day! A little redneck...

What, mom?

Jed came to see us! Jed and his family used to live in NE Heights with us and we became the best of friends. We miss them muchas. The poor guy was down for a business trip that day and got into a car crash on the freeway going 70 MPH! Thank goodness he was fine, but holy cow how scary. We made sure to treat him extra nice!

Speaking of holy cows, that cow ice cream scoop was my birthday present last year I kid you not. Jed couldn't stop laughing about that.

Christ-like

Just thinking about this crazy world we live in. With all the shananogens going on these days, it is refreshing to know there are some really good people out there just trying to do the right thing. There are our neighbors who unscrew our light bulb in the mornings when we are on vacation, and tell us when we leave the light on in our car, there are the sweet people that hold the door open for me as I desperately try to get my monster double stroller through it, and then there's the story from Lisa's blog about the sweet couple that gave her flowers after their baby had passed away- man it just touches me to the core! I have always been inspired by Christian music- I spent my high school days going to Christian concerts such as Switchfoot in San Diego. Truth will always carry the spirit with it, and I could often feel the spirit as I listened to their songs. I have now found a new inspiring singer Brooke Fraser- her lyrics really are amazing. I am in love with this video because it helps me to realize there are people all around me seeking truth, and striving to be better, and sometimes I feel really bad that I'm not reaching out of my comfort zone more. You know how it is... the mormon mom syndrome... where it's easy to stay inside the box because it's safe and happy? Is it just me?? Well heck I may just need to step out of the box a little more! I am so blessed to have truth in my life and sometimes I want to shout it out to everyone, but then reality kicks in and I keep it all to myself. Why is that?