The Week of a Thousand Years

Have you ever had a week that just seems to go on forever? That's how this last week was for Josh and I. Last Sunday, the 12th, we received a call that my aunt had had a massive stroke and was in the hospital.  She wasn't able to walk anymore and would never be able to live alone.  Josh and I headed up there to see her and found that it was much worse than that.  She couldn't talk or hardly respond, and the doctor had come in just before we got there to say that she would be leaving this world soon, so this time would most likely be one of goodbye.  I was stunned by this!  It was so sudden and we had just seen her a week earlier at the family Christmas party.  How grateful I am that we went to the hospital that night! Amid my tears, I was able to hold her hand and tell her how much I loved her and thank her for all that she did for me.  She did move her head towards me, so I think she knew I was there.  She passed away the next day.  She was an amazing woman!  She was so loving and kind and was more like a grandma than an aunt to me and my siblings.  She is dearly missed!

With the passing of my dear Aunt Carol, our anniversary plans changed.  Our second anniversary was on Friday, the 17th, and we had booked two nights at The Castle Creek Inn to celebrate.  The funeral was planned for Saturday, so we knew we wouldn't get all the time together we wanted, but figured it would still be a wonderful weekend.

Friday rolled around and I had the day off, but Josh had to work, so I worked around the house for awhile and then he came home and got me so we could go to our prenatal visit.  At the visit, my blood pressure was high.  It had been high two visits before, but the last visit it was fine, so we hadn't worried about it.  We went through the visit and the doctor ordered lab work to check for preeclampsia and then rechecked my blood pressure.  It had shot up very high at that time, so we went directly to the hospital to be monitored.  We stayed for about two hours at LDS Hospital while my blood pressure and the baby were monitored.  The labs were done there and once the results came back, my doctor came and talked with us.  The labs were all fine, but my blood pressure had stayed high the whole time we were there.  Not as high as it was at her office, thank goodness, but still higher than it should have been.  She said that I had preeclampsia and explained all the possible complications that came with it.  She also said that from now on, I was on strict bedrest until the baby came.  She sent me home, but I think it was only because we had hotel reservations.  I had to do a 24 hour urine test, which they usually keep patients in the hospital to do, but I'm so glad that she trusted me enough to do it on my own and we didn't have to stay overnight. 

We did get to the hotel that night, but later than we had expected.  It was a really nice room and we were glad we had the chance to enjoy it.  Saturday was the funeral and I wasn't going to miss that, bedrest or not.  It was a beautiful memorial of her and it was nice to be surrounded by the love of my family. We went back to the hotel afterwards, but to a different room.  This one was really nice as well and the staff treated us like royalty.  We couldn't do anything except lay in bed and relax, but it was nice to have that time together.  Josh was so sweet to stay with me and not complain about our sudden change in plans.

Needless to say, I am very grateful last week is over!  This week has the promise of being a much better one with Christmas.  Josh and I definitely have a lot on our minds now, but we need to have faith in Heavenly Father and His plan and know that He will take care of us and Drako. 

Bring on The Turkey!

Sorry that this next post won't have any pictures. They accidentally got erased from the memory card before being saved on the computer. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great day and it was nice having Josh at home and not working. We ended up having three Thanksgiving dinners this year and I am proud to report that I only gained three pounds in those two weeks between prenatal visits. 

I love that there's a holiday dedicated to counting your blessings. Thanksgiving is such a neat time of the year and I always reflect on what I'm grateful for. We have been blessed so very much and I am eternally grateful for a Heavenly Father who watches out for his children individually! I can't believe how much He cares for each one of us and provides for our specific wants and needs! It's an incredible feeling to realize just how much He loves me!

We were able to spend the holiday this year with each our of families which was really nice. My family is one of the things for which I am most grateful and I love being with them at this time of the year. Our first Thanksgiving dinner was with my family. Ryan, our brother-in-law, is a police officer and had to work on Thanksgiving, so we had a dinner for him the Sunday before. My mom and sister decorated the kitchen at my parents' house so festive with a turkey tablecloth and dishes and cute place cards. All of my siblings and their families were there as was my sweet aunt Carol. We enjoyed each other's company as we ate the traditional, mouth-watering food and had fun playing games afterwards. It was also cute watching part of "Ernest Scared Stupid" with my nephews. Maclain just wanted to see everything, whether it was scary or not, but Payton would casually stroll down the hall when he felt things were getting too scary. lol. I love those two boys so much!

Our second dinner was on Thanksgiving day. Josh and I had decided to have dinner at our apartment with his family. His mom, Kim, had had carpal tunnel surgery a few days before the holiday and we wanted to make sure she was able to enjoy it anyway. We took over most of the cooking, but she still insisted on bringing rolls and pies which were very delicious. It was the first time either of us had cooked Thanksgiving dinner and I think we did a great job. Okay, so Josh did a fabulous job! He cooked the turkey and mashed potatoes while I did the easy things-the Stovetop stuffing and heating up the gravy. Josh's family came over a few hours before dinner so we had time to visit and watch football. Besides Kim, Josh's brothers came as well as her boyfriend, Steve.

We did have one mishap with our cooking. The turkey had cooked faster than we anticipated, so we were scrambling around trying to finish everything else and in the process forgot to stir the potatoes as they were boiling. They ended up burning on the bottom but Josh was able to scoop out the not burnt parts and you couldn't even taste that anything had happened. We did find out one thing for sure that day though: our fire alarm works. lol.

After dinner everyone except Josh and Steve fell asleep. It looked like a huge slumber party was going on because there were blankets all over the front room. The two of them stayed awake to watch the second football game of the day. Silly boys!

Our third tryptophan-filled dinner was the night after Thanksgiving. Josh's ex-stepdad invited us to their belated holiday dinner. This is the dad of Josh's brothers and he raised Josh for most of his childhood. The food and company were nice, but I'm not sure how I feel about him wanting to be a bigger part of our lives.

The Best Laid Plans

This next post is pretty random, and I apologize for that.  There are so many thoughts going through my head right now, and I wanted to get them all down.

Our plans for the next few months have changed once again.  I thought we had it all figured out a few months ago, when I last posted about this, but I'm eating my words now.  I don't know about everyone else, but one thing I've learned about life is that my plans always change.  Josh and I had made a basic 5 year plan-including him going back to school full-time starting next semester and watching our baby once he's born-but then he was given a great opportunity and was hired at Discover Card.  It came about very quickly, so we know it was a blessing from Heavenly Father.  Josh was told by his cousin, who works at Discover, that there was a job opening.  He applied the next week and two days later received an email asking him to come to a "job fair" the next day.  He attends this, goes through several interviews, and by the time the day is over, is offered the job. 

We're very grateful for this and work it into our plans so that he will work for the next few months, we'll put money into savings and pay down some bills, and then he will quit once the baby is born.  He'll still sign up for classes and begin in January. Our plan is still on track.  Before Josh got this job, we had made some financial changes in preparation for the baby coming and only living off of one income.  We sold the motorcycle, the truck and two of the guns.  We were blessed with how fast everything sold and were able to pay down a lot of our debt, so we're more comfortable with our financial situation.  It was really hard to see the motorcycle go for both Josh and I, but as he says, they're just things and we can buy another one when we're able to.

So we sat down last week and went through our monthly finances, just to make sure everything would work out, thinking that everything would be fine because we felt good about it.  Well, we found out that it's just not possible for us to live off of one income right now.  Even with all of the debt we've paid down, it's just won't work.  We probably should have looked at this earlier, but figured that with all the changes we made, it would be fine. 

Now to make some big changes to the plan.  Josh will be working at Discover for a lot longer than normally planned. We don't know for how long, but it will be for quite awhile.  He still will take a class or two every semester, and we will work towards him going to school full-time and not working.  He has dyslexia and it's really hard for him to work full-time and go to school full-time.  His goal now is to go into the engineering program at SLCC and then transfer to the University of Utah.  I can see him enjoying this and doing a great job at it, and it has a much better job lookout than being a police officer. 

Another change in our plan is that we will have to find someone to watch Drako during the day when we both work.  We don't want to take him to daycare and would much rather have family care for him, but are not quite sure how to do this.  Most of our family live in South and West Jordan which are in the opposite direction of both of our jobs.  

It's been hard these last few months seeing Josh lose the job that he had waited so long for and then having to search for another job and finally finding one that is not in the area that he trained for or would like to be doing.  I know Heavenly Father helped him every step of the way to become a police officer at Midvale, so there must be a reason in His plan that it was taken away.  We just don't know what that reason is.

Our Defeated Feet

Yesterday was not a good day for Woodland feet.  Josh and I are both sitting on the couch with our feet elevated right now, waiting patiently for our wounds to heal.

Yesterday afternoon Josh and I went to my grandparents' farm to take pictures.  We haven't had any professional pictures taken since our wedding and wanted to have some new ones done.  My grandparents have a small farm in Riverton which we thought would be a great backdrop, so we met the photographer there and started having a lot of fun with different shots.  After about half an hour, I was walking to stand by an old barn, when I felt this sharp pain in the ball of my left foot.  I quickly took a few steps forward and saw that I had stepped on a rusty nail that was sticking out of an old piece of wood.  It didn't hurt too bad at that point and I thought the wound must not be too bad, so we continued shooting for a few more minutes.  Once we were done with that particular backdrop, our photographer, Brittany, suggested I sit down and see what happened.  As soon as I pulled off my shoe, I knew it was a lot worse than I thought.  My sock and the bottom of my shoe were soaked in blood.  Josh put a quick stop to the photo session at that point and I went inside the house to assess the damage.  The bleeding had stopped at that time and my grandma helped me to disinfect the wound and bandage my foot.

Josh was wonderful throughout the whole thing, making sure I got what I needed and then taking me home soon afterward so I could get off my feet and take some pain reliever.  I felt so bad for him, though, because he turned white as soon as he saw the blood.  I haven't really been hurt since we've known each other, and I think this scared him a little.  He hates seeing anything bad happen to me and has kept a close eye on me since then, making sure I don't do too much and that I keep my feet up.  He is the most wonderful husband!

Here are some pics of my foot today, and the bloody shoe.  You can see where the nail went through the sole.

Now to the second part of our story. Last night, just as we were getting ready for bed, a loud noise startled our cat, Moroni, who jumped up and quickly ran away from us.  The only problem was that she used Josh's right foot as a jumping off point and gave him a long gash with her claw.  Josh wouldn't let me clean or disinfect it, saying it was nothing.  Silly man!  As you can see from the pictures below, it's not "nothing" but I'm glad it's healing well.

                                    

Preparing for Baby and More Changes

We've been working on getting things ready for the baby.  After we found out that we were having a boy, we decided to get a few things every so often so we wouldn't have to buy it all at the same time.  We've been buying little things like onesies and bibs and my mom has been making some really cute burp cloths.  She's such a cute grandma and gets me more excited with each new one she gives me!  The above picture is of the dresser drawer with the baby's things.  We don't have very much and need so much more, but I had fun organizing what we do have.

We also found a crib online for a great deal.  It's in really good shape and Josh bought a new mattress and sheets for it.  Right now it's holding all of the great baby gear Becky gave us.  Here are some pictures of the baby's room.  It's not much of a nursery now, but I thought I'd take some "before" pictures and will definitely include the "after" pictures once it's put all together.   

I am now 23 weeks along and have only four more to go until I get to the third trimester.  I'm starting to feel the baby, which is a really neat experience.  Right now it's not consistent or every day, but I enjoy the times I do get to feel him.  Last Sunday morning, I had turned onto my right side and soon afterwards started feeling all these "pokes" on the right side of my abdomen.  I think he was telling me to turn back over because he was getting squashed on that one side.  There was also a time after I had eaten ice cream where I felt all this fluttering and when I put my hand on the area, could feel the movement.  Josh thinks I gave him a sugar rush and my mom thinks he got brain freeze. Poor little guy! lol.

Now to the second part of this post.  It's been pretty frustrating for Josh the last few months.  He's been searching so hard to find a job and the reason to why he was fired, but to no avail.  He's been so wonderful through it all-cleaning and cooking and doing everything so I wouldn't have to.  It's been hard for him to be cooped up in the apartment every day, and we've been doing some thinking and praying, trying to decide what to do.  For the last couple of weeks we've both been feeling like he needs to go back to school.  He took a test online to see what his interests are and what career he should go into and he meets with a counselor at SLCC next week.  He's still been looking for a job and if a wonderful one comes along, he won't go back to school, but it looks like he'll be going back full-time next semester.  He'll try to take all night classes, or work his schedule in such a way that we'll only have to find a babysitter for Drako part of the time.  We'll still pray and fast and make sure this is the right road to go down, but we've both had a peaceful feeling whenever we talk about it.

Enjoying Fall

The last weekend of September, Josh and I went on a motorcycle ride up Millcreek Canyon.  I am excited to say that this year we made it all the way to the top. lol.  The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day to be outside.  The leaves were starting to change and it was incredible to see the beauty Heavenly Father has created for his children!

Josh was our photographer and he has such an eye for beauty.  We saw a lot of these berries which gave a neat contrast to the colors of fall which surrounded them.

We stopped at the top of the canyon to take pictures.  We had the tripod and were able to get a few different poses, but this was the cutest.

Special Surprise

On September 3rd, Josh came and picked me up from work holding a single, pink and white carnation. I love that he still gives me flowers, even though we've been married for almost 2 years! A few minutes after he started driving, I knew Josh wasn't planning on going home. I tried to find out where we were going, but he never answered my questions, and soon he had me put on a blindfold. Once the car had stopped, Josh took my hand, helped me out of the car, and then had me follow him through a maze which turned out to be a parking garage. He took me inside a building and up an elevator. I then followed him into a room where he left me for a few minutes and then called out, inviting me to join him. Once I took off the blindfold I found that I was in a bathroom. I followed the sound of my sweet husband's voice, and found myself in a beautiful hotel room.

Josh had booked a room at The Little America. We were on the 12th floor and our room had a balcony with a beautiful view.

Josh is so good to me and decorated the room with rose petals and a bottle of sparkling apple cider. He had also packed everything we needed and brought the suitcase up while he was leading me through the parking garage.

We had a great time eating dinner at the steakhouse, relaxing, and then enjoying breakfast in our room the next morning. It was such a wonderful night! 

I could never thank my sweetheart enough for this sweet surprise! We needed some time alone and it was so nice to forget the rest of the world for a few hours! I am continually amazed that this extraordinary man fell in love with me and became my husband! He makes me happy every day! Thank you to my forever love!