2013

SO it has literally been like a year since my last post or so it feels like it. The other day I read through some old posts and was laughing my can off! Let it be known I am hilarious! HAHA!! So I will try to catch up on what's been going on this past year. It seems like it has gone by so fast, and yet so slow in some areas. Here's some of the top 10 events of 2013. 1. We up and moved to Sunny St. George, such a great choice, but my heart hurts when I think about how much I miss Beck. It has been nice to see her every couple of months, but it is still really hard to be away. 2. I started working for my Dad and Andrew, at the old High Country Ammunition! I have really enjoyed working there and have felt very accomplished. I got to work for 6 months with Hailey, which was really nice to catch up and be our stupid selves again! 3. Ty got a job working at Snow Canyon High School as a special ed. teacher. We were so stinking blessed to have that come down the pipeline! Ironically Ty and I were talking about this yesterday and while I was working every day at the shop Ty was home with the kids. It was HARD for a while. depression, anger, frustration and anxiety were daily emotions. Then such a lovely and unexpected turn of events followed. Ty had a very hard time enjoying our kids before we moved here. He saw them as the reason our life got extremely hard and crazy after they came. Don't get me wrong, he dearly loved them, it was just a distant love. Because Ty was with the kids every day, he began to bond with them in a way neither of us would have happened. This was the biggest blessing I could have ever asked for. Ty realized that at least for now, we weren't prompted to move down here for a job or better weather or even to have a fresh start. It was so he could learn to love his kids unconditionally. As soon as he realized that he got a job that started as a part time position teaching, and eventually led to full time teaching! What the what? Heavenly Father knows our hearts and our minds and what we need for progression. Having me start working was a win-win because I was getting REALLY burnt out on the kids, and Ty has such an amazing bond with them now. I work Monday's so I can have a little break and have a little adult interaction. We really are so spoiled! 4. Nixie started preschool at Dixie College. He LOVES it and made a really cute little friend named Adrian. Nix is about a head taller than everyone, but I don't think he knows it yet. He is learning a TON and can write his name now. He loves being the "captain" and a helper when he can. He even has his first "girlfriend" Kiera. 5. I had my gall bladder removed. This was a fun one! I had been having small attacks since Nixie was born, but attributed it to back pain. Then they started getting worse and worse until I was writhing and crying on the floor. I had some pretty amazing blessings that really helped with my attacks when I didn't know what was wrong with me. September 1st we were covered with insurance, again, perfect timing for my surgery. By September 11 I had an ultrasound that concluded that I had several small gall stones all wrapped up into a golf ball sized stone. Booooooo! So I had surgery which I was really nervous to go under anesthesia for and had that crap cut out! The surgery was a lot harder to recover from than I thought. My mom came down to help and I had no idea how much I needed her. I was in crazy pain for a long time, it hurt so bad to get up and move for like 2 weeks, I am glad that's over. 6. We had our first Halloween in St. George, which was actually pretty warm! The kids didn't even need coats! We took our kids over to my Dad's for their street party (which is crazy!) The kids got tons of candy and had a lot of fun in all the kiddie haunted houses and fully decorated houses. 7. Ava started potty training. I am always so crappy at this. It seems like my kids are always ready to start before I am. I get really excited in the beginning but get stressed out when it takes forever to learn. We are still trying to avoid accidents but it will be a long process. 8. We got to go cut down our own Christmas tree this year. Although we had a lot of trouble setting it up and Ty about killing me we had fun. This might be our last year of cutting it down, but maybe we can still go to Costco to cut one down. It was pretty neat though, after hours of frustration of having a tree stand that was too big I all but gave up until I realized I needed a piece of 2x4 to hammer into the trunk so it would fit in the tree stand. So I set out to a construction site in the middle of the night. Ya, and as I was pulling out of my parking lot I saw my friend Brittany Stokes that was bringing my family a Christmas gift. When I told them about the craziness upstairs they said they had an extra tree stand they weren't using. They let us borrow it and I was never so grateful for a dang tree stand! Again, Heavenly Father's hand in the timing. 9. Ty had surgery on his nether regions. He was been in pain with his bum for 10 years now and was in too much pain to go on living like that day after day. He took off a couple of days before Christmas break to have the surgery done and he got a blessing from my dad the night before that was so tender and personal. The next day the surgery took only 7 minutes and was a complete success! Ty hasn't been this pain free in years, already and the surgery was Wednesday. Wow, I am SO thankful! 10. I saved the best for last, we are getting a townhome!!!! We are just plain elated! It is about 6oo square feet larger than our tiny place now and has a GARAGE!!!!!!! Currently we have all of Ty's motorcycling stuff crammed in the living room and things in every closet and under beds. I can't wait to have a place for things again. There is also a backyard, very small, but it has grass!!! Our kids have been playing on the hot pavement all year. I am going to be so glad when all the paperwork and stress is done and over with that's for sure! All in all this year has been very eventful, stressful, joyful, intense and incredible.

Sick again? Really? Since we've moved at least one member of our family has been sick almost the whole time, in 25 days! Seriously! We are cursed, that's what. Well, at least I have been baking, last night I made apple cobbler from my own apples, which is above and beyond for me. I think this year I am going to can the apple mixture, it was so easy to make and it's so much cheaper than what, like 3-4 dollars for 1 can of apple filling? Plus it makes about double the ammount you get in the can. We have been missing our friends and fam in Orem, Jenna and Calvin came to visit this weekend, it was so great to see them. I admire Jenna, even in hard times that girl can make you laugh till your jowels shake and your face hurts. A huge sorry to Calvin if he got anything we had. On Thursday I thought all was well with everyone finally, and then Friday at 3:00 am the beasts come back and slap you in the face with a crying kid, fevers, pink eye, sore throats and a grumpy Momma the next day. Good news though, Ty was called back for a weekend position at a treatment center! At least he could have a temporary job there till he finds something more permanent in the teaching world. Here's a couple of funny things the kids do now a days. Nixie LOVES lego Batman. You know when you trick your kid to think that he's the other player in a game with an unplugged controller? Well, he hasn't caught on yet, and loves to sit and play with anyone who's willing. Ava loves to put coins in a jar with the lid that has a slot in it. She goes around the house shouting MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!!!!! She currently says bunny, money, momma (when she wants ANYTHING), ahhhhh (when she is being sweet or Nixie is hugging her), myyyy (for mine, DADDY whenever she needs him or she got hurt, here go (when I give her something she wanted), PEEEEEAAA for please, and the rest of the time it's straight up screaming. Today was pretty great, Nix snatched something out of her hands and she started shaking like a mad man and grinding her teeth. This is funny because Ashley always teases me that whenever I was mad I used to press my lips together so hard and shake. HAh, like daughter like mother I guess. Well, I gotta go to work so I'll write later.

Hey guys! So really no one reads this as I haven't blogged since Ava was born almost 2 years ago, but maybe I can just keep in touch with Beck at least. We finally moved to SUNNT ST. GEORGE!!!! I am seriously LOVING the weather and ask myself why I lived in Orem for so long. Oh wait, yes, we also had to leave our very best friends, who I still have a hurt heart about. We miss Becky and Dan and all their sweet kiddos, Nix talks about playing transformers with Budgie daily even though I tell him he's four hours away every time. Ava sings a song about... BEeebbee Beeeebeee Beeebeee baybbbbbeeee "Wen" (Baby Owen) I have dreams I get to hang out with Beck and Dan and then her other family comes over so I have to leave. I miss laughing with them and watching funny shows that makes us laugh so hard we laugh at each other's laughs. I miss Angelee and her sweetness, and all her good advice. And what of my sister-wife Tara? We were partners in crime and had so many good times. Now I have to cook every night :( It's been hard to adjust to going back to work, even though I really love working there, the kids are having somewhat of a hard time. Ty is super depressed that he hasn't found a job that he would really love, but I always have hope there is something out there that will come our way soon. We had a pretty big spiritual confirmation that we needed to be down here but as we are ever learning just becuase you are doing what the Lord wants, doesn't mean you will get the things you wanted or expected right away. Just a couple of funny stories that have happened lately, Ty took the kids to the park the other day, well I guess they get to go every day now. On one of the trips Nixie saw a super old hobbily lady orange from all her sun tanning years, and purple hair coming towards them. Ty notices Nix's wheels turning and before he knows it Nix is yelling "Is that a clown?" Ty trying to hold back stiffled laughs says, "No Nix, that's someone's Grandma, say Hi." Nix thinks about this a while and happily shouts "Hi clown Grandma!!!!" Ty was laughing so hard. Nix is also very concerned about Ty getting a job so we can have more money to buy him toys. One day Nix strolls in from us running some errands and asks Ty, "Do you have a job yet or are we still out of money?" Ava is back to her normal self sneaking cat food to scarf when she gets to go outside and Simba is slowly letting go his grudge against me. He was angry that my Dad so graciously put him in a huggies box, and taped that box shut all the way to St. George. He pooped in the box, so it was a good thing he couldn't go anywhere because I am sure he would have "magically dissapeared" if he had pooped in Dad's truck. All in all I am happy even though money is tighter than it ever has been and Ty is miserable in many ways. The one good thing for him now is that he can ride daily if he wanted to on his motorcycle. He has a youtube channel about riding, which is pretty entertaining to watch, and he just got his 1,000th subscriber! Wait to go hunny! We went to Vegas this last week to celebrate our 9th Anniversary. Wow, I can't beleive we're almost to the big 10!! For now that's all I can write before the kids burn down the house, but I am going to try to write much more!

So much of what I have missed posting lately

I love this picture, it shows Nixie's look of pure wonderment! This was while he was watching the jets fly over the Summer Fest parade



Nixie loves to play with all things for Ava Jane, cribs, car seats, laying on her changing table, nothings off limits for him... or so he thinks. Really, I don't think he even cares about her coming, or just can't get into the idea, all he knows is that he doesn't have much of a lap to sit on anymore and gets mad when I can't hold him as much as he wants. Hopefully he won't be crazy jealous when she comes.




OUR BOY IS POTTY TRAINED!! I can't beleive it, and obviously it is an every day work in progress. I was NOT ready for him to be potty trained and if it were up to me I would have waited until he was 3, but the battle of keeping a diaper on, and changing it when he would keep it on was pure hell, so we said, I guess he's ready. He really has done so well, and on the fist day of training after I counted all the times he went pee, I was like BOOYAH we just saved money on 5 diapers!!!!! Yes, it has it's benefits, and draw backs, and I am sure he will have some sort of regression after the craziness when Ava comes, but I don't have a whole lot of options now. Pray for us!





This was just after Nixie got his stitches (busted his teeth through his lip after jumping off the counter in his room). If you can see the puffy eyes of both of us it would explain a lot. I had a serious breakdown when he had the stitches, it was so so terrible, strapping him in a papoose board and sticking a needle right into his cut, and then putting a drape over his face.... it was so AWEFUL! I left the room and balled to Ty on the phone until I could get it together enough to walk Nixie out (which I was still crying for). Man, I have never been so emotional in my life, this girl is stirring up all kinds of hormones I never wanted! Nix is still scared of going to see "Dr. Wind" and yesterday we had his 2 year check up, it wasn't pretty. At least we get another year before we have to go back +cross your fingers+





This is another battle wound with a branch Nix scraped himself with, man we are in trouble, he's going to need lots of band aids in his life I think!

Nix loved the creepy Moono doll I made him!

These are some rare beauties I tell you! Nix was so excited to have this creeper to sleep with and bash, and nibble on his only eye! Just thought you would like it. Here are also some pictures of Nixie giving Moono kisses, putting him night night... and just loving him!

Chili Video

So, I know these videos are from October but with the rate Nix wants to see "Paaacctuuures" we watch videos all day. The movie is a little long, but pretty dang funny! Hope you enjoy.

Found this beauty

This is pretty hilarious I forgot about this magic, hope you enjoy!