Updates!

It's been a long time since I've posted something here! I am apologizing in advance, this is a really long post! I could have broken it up in a few different posts, but I just kept writing! This is also mainly for my benefit. I wrote so much so I can go back and write this in my journal. Thanks for reading! :)  I'm not sure if people even keep up with blogs anymore haha. The last time I posted was when Evan and I had been married for a year, now we have been married for four and a half years and we have a 17-month-old baby girl! Braelynn was born on August 14, 2015. :)

A lot has happened this year, well the past 4 years for that matter! In 2014, we moved to Logan so Evan could attend Utah State. While there, Evan had a few job changes while going to school. On December 13, 2014, we found out I was pregnant with our first baby. I freaked out when I found out! Evan knew all along. When I went to the doctor's, we were told I was 6 weeks along and our baby was due on August 24th. We found out we were having a baby girl on April 14, 2015. We were supposed to find out 2 weeks earlier, but I wasn't far enough along for the ultrasound tech to see the gender. It was the longest two weeks of my life! I couldn't wait to find out! The week she was born, Evan started a new job. August was a really busy month for us. I had my baby shower, that was thrown by my amazing mom and sisters; Evan's youngest brother, Logan came home from his mission; our niece, Phrankee was baptized the same week he came home, and his homecoming was the next day! Being 9 months pregnant, I was exhausted! We came down 3 weekends in a row!

The week we returned home, we knew Braelynn was coming, we just didn't know what day. I was experiencing a lot of labor pains and I was really uncomfortable, to say the least. The night before she was born, I thought I was going into labor, so when Evan came home from work, we went to the hospital. They examined me and said I was only dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. They told me to walk around for an hour to get contractions going, and if there were no changes, they would send me home. After walking around, I was disappointed because there were no changes. I was discharged. We left and decided to get dinner at Arctic Circle. When we got there, I was having really bad pain in my lower back, the same I had been having earlier, but worse. 20 minutes after we left the hospital, I was going into labor. I just didn't know it! I wasn't able to finish my dinner because the pain was making me sick. I was in so much pain, I couldn't sit down, stand or lie down. I didn't know what was wrong, I tried everything to help, but nothing did. I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't. I got maybe five minutes of sleep. Every time I tried to sleep or get comfortable, I couldn't because I had to get up and go to the bathroom and the pain was keeping me from getting any rest. I didn't want to bother Evan because he needed to go to work in the morning. The next morning, I finally decided to call the hospital. I spoke with the doctor on call and she told me I could be in labor! She suggested I make an appointment with my doctor to double check if everything was okay. I called as soon as they opened and got an appointment for 9:30. We lived 5 minutes away from the hospital, which was great! I had a feeling to grab my hospital bag and diaper bag, but I pushed it aside. I got dressed and left. I drove myself because Evan was at work. I checked in and waited maybe five minutes before going in. I told my doctor what was going on. She examined me and said I was dilated to a 5 and 100% effaced and I needed to go upstairs right away because I was in labor! I was freaking out inside! I called Evan right away and told him I was in labor and he needed to go home and grab our stuff and come to the hospital. By the time I got upstairs, it was about 10 AM. I tried calling my mom, but she didn't answer. So, I called my dad and told him what was going on. I sent my mom a text message, as well as my siblings and in-laws. My mom told her boss her daughter was having a baby and she wasn't going to stay at work after all! I changed into a hospital gown and I was freaking out! I couldn't believe she was coming!! Evan arrived a short time later. The nurse was very sweet, her name was Ruth. :) she hooked me up to a machine that kept track of contractions and Braelynn's heartbeat. It was really cool to see. I was in the same room I was the night before, room 14. Which, for me, was cool because Braelynn was born on the 14th. :) The hospital was really busy, it was the day/weekend to have babies haha! By the time the anesthesiologist was able to give me an epidural, it was after 12. I was so scared to get it!! I hate needles! It wasn't as bad as I thought surprisingly! The cold, numbing spray afterward felt worse than the needle! I had to lean all the way forward and hold onto Evan. Thank goodness he was there with me! After it was in, I had to lay down and the nurse showed me how to use the medicine if the pain got worse. I was SO out of it! Haha, it was pretty funny. I was so numb! I had never felt like that before. My hands were shaking because I was in shock. They said that was normal. I couldn't stop shaking for awhile, it was crazy! We watched HGTV while we waited. I was going to try and get some sleep since I didn't sleep at all the night before, but I couldn't. The nurse checked on me every half hour to hour. She came in at 2:30 to see how I was doing and said she would be back at 3.  Before this, a doctor came in to break my water--that was the weirdest and most uncomfortable feeling EVER! I kept pushing the button for medicine because the pain was starting to come back. Not even five minutes after the nurse left, I had to call her back in. She examined me and I was dilated to a NINE! In an hour, I progressed from a 5 to a 9! I was ready to go! She started to get me ready to push. I was so scared! I also couldn't feel anything because of the epidural. She instructed Evan on what to do. He was standing next to the bed and holding my hand. My family was on their way to the hospital. They actually arrived just as she was born! :) perfect timing! My doctor arrived and took over. At one point, she told me to look and I saw our baby's head! It was such an amazing feeling! I pushed  4-5 times and she was out! She was born at 3:22 PM. They asked Evan if he wanted to cut the umbilical cord, but he said no. They handed her to me and I held her really close. She grabbed my finger right away. :) That was one of the best feelings ever. They took her away to get her weighed and measured.The nurse told Evan to take a picture of her on the scale. She weighed 6lbs, 3 oz and was 19 inches long! She was born ten days early, but she wasn't too small. Evan went out to the waiting room and told my mom and dad to come in and see her. My mom held her really quick before they had to go and wait again. I had to take some ibuprofen to help with pain. The nurse handed Braelynn to Evan while she helped me into a wheelchair so we could go to a room to recover. They handed Braelynn back to me and she wheeled us to an elevator. It felt like she was going so fast because I was dizzy from all the medication. We went to the mother/baby unit upstairs. I believe we were in room 8. There were a lot of nurses that helped me! They had to get me situated and also take Braelynn to the nursery for routine tests. When she was brought back, my sisters and parents came in and got to see her. :) I was exhausted! The nurses helped me breastfeed Braelynn. She didn't have too many issues with it, so that was nice! It did take some getting used to. It took a little while for the medicine from the epidural to wear off, I was numb for awhile and needed help getting up and walking around. I was finally able to eat! I ordered something from the cafeteria for dinner. Evan was able to get a free meal as well. A pediatrician came to check on her and see how she was doing, she was healthy, which was great to hear. :) Braelynn didn't get her first bath until almost midnight because the nurses were so busy running around. It was nice to have her clean! I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. The room was freezing and I couldn't get comfortable. Braelynn woke up every couple of hours to eat. She was in a crib right next to my bed, it was nice. :) the next day, our families came to see us and meet Braelynn. :) Evan went home and ran some errands and got some things for our little townhome. My parents got us some groceries and washed our dishes for us, it was really sweet. :) I asked the nurse when we would be able to go home, and she said if everything was going well, we could go home that day. I was happy to hear that. I wanted to be home, in my own bed. Evan's parents took him to dinner in the evening and got to come hold and see Braelynn afterward. My parents and sisters got to hold her some more as well. We took a lot of pictures, pictures I will always cherish. Our lives changed so much when we brought our baby girl into the world. Being a wife and mother is the best thing in the world. Before going home, she had to do a few more tests. Evan brought up the car seat so we could put her in it. My mom helped me change her into her outfit, it was too big haha. :) The nurse made sure she was in her car seat properly before we left. Evan carried her down and we put her in the car. It was new for her, and she didn't like it. I sat in the back with her. Luckily, it was a short ride home, but she cried the entire way, it was sad. :( Before leaving, we said bye to our families. It was so nice to see them, they were so helpful! My parents had to get back and help my little sister, Katie get ready to go to SUU. When we got home, she calmed down right away. I took her out of her car seat and held her. They say the hardest part is bringing your new baby home from the hospital because you're on your own. No medical professionals to help you out. We were starting a new adventure, a new chapter in our lives. We had the rest of the weekend as a new family. Evan had to go back to work on Monday. He was a big help and I appreciate all he does for our little family. I have been blessed to stay at home while he provides for our family.

Right after she was born :) 

I love her so, so much! 

 One of my favorites :) 

Also one of my favorites :) 

Ready to go home!

1 month old! 

2 months old! :)

Blessing day :)

Halloween outfit :)

Three months :)

4 months old! :)

Christmas :) 

First Christmas :)

Christmas :)

We traveled for the first time with her for my birthday that year. We probably packed way too much for two days, but it was our first time traveling with a baby! You can never be too prepared. Evan blessed her on October 18th. A lot of family and friends came up to share in her special day with us. :) We got our first family pictures taken on Halloween. I loved how they turned out! :) We came down for the holidays as well. She was so cute on Christmas morning even though she didn't know what was going on. She opened a couple of presents with some help. :) We rang in the new year with my family at my brother and sister-in-law's new house. It was a lot of fun! :)

Family pictures 2015 :)

One of my favorites :) 

I love our family! :)

I love our family so much! :)

 

That brings me to 2016. A lot happened last year. In February, we celebrated Evan's 25th birthday. Our baby girl also was six months old on Valentine's Day. :) In April, Evan lost his job. It was unexpected and very stressful. He was going to school, and it was toward the end of the semester. A week or so later, my grandma was diagnosed with bone cancer. I went down right away. Evan had to stay in Logan because of school. Braelynn and I stayed with Evan's family. That same week, his family lost a dear friend. Evan came down the next week so we could attend the funeral together. My grandma had been in the hospital. When we got to Salt Lake, I was able to meet our new nephew, Sam who was born a few days earlier. Later that evening, we went to the hospital with my parents. My grandma was in good spirits. To her, it was one big adventure. It was nice to be able to visit with her. In May, I was able to video chat with her one more time and hear her tell me she loved me. I went down to Salt Lake again after receiving a call that she wasn't doing well. She passed away in her sleep on May 25th. Evan was able to come down for the funeral, but he couldn't be with us the entire week we stayed because he was blessed with a new job. The following Sunday, we came back for the blessing of our nephew. In June, we celebrated four years of marriage. It was a lot of fun. :) for our anniversary, Evan got us a trip to the Grand Tetons in August. :) We also had ordered Olive Garden to go and had it at one of our favorite parks. Evan originally planned to give me one of my presents,  charms for my bracelet with a drone, but it died. So, he ended up bringing them to me with the emails for the reservation to where we were staying. He made a little check box asking if I would go with him on the trip. Of course, I said yes! :) We also celebrated Father's Day that weekend. I made Evan a yummy dinner and we spent time as a family. :) In July, we went to Chuck-A-Rama on my grandma's birthday. It was one of her favorite places to eat. I think we will doing that for her birthday every year. August was a really busy month! We celebrated Braelynn's birthday with family. I was stressing out because I was running behind, trying to get everything ready. We were able to rent the pavilion and community center at our complex. The theme for her birthday we sock monkeys. :) we had a taco bar for lunch. She didn't know what to think of her cake, she didn't like being messy! She opened a majority of her presents at home because people had to go home. It was a lot of fun! :) After opening presents, we went to Peach City in Brigham City with some of my family. It was fun and really good! :)The following week, we went down to Salt Lake to go to the Josh Groban concert. We got tickets for Christmas the following year. We were really excited! :) Clarissa babysat Braelynn for us. We went to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant before the concert. It was at the USANA amphitheater. Luckily, it wasn't too hot! It was a great concert, we loved it! :) Before the fall semester started, we went on our trip to the Tetons. Just before we left, our CD player got jammed and we couldn't fix it. We ended up getting help at an O'Reily Auto, then we were on our way. We left so late because of it. A lot of the drive was in the dark and we didn't get to our cabin in Driggs Idaho until midnight! Originally, Evan had a reservation for a different place, but we needed to stay somewhere cheaper. While there, we spent some time in Jackson Hole and looked around at the cool shops. Everything was so expensive! One of the days, we went on a boat tour around Jackson Lake. It was so pretty! We loved it! We ate at two different places in the park, one we will never eat at again! It was terrible. First, they undercooked our food, then we talked to the waitress about it, they brought it back and it was overcooked! The second place we ate at was in a place at Signal Mountain Lodge. It was so good! Next time we go to the Tetons, we will definitely be eating there! We felt an earthquake on the last day we were there! It was crazy! I had never felt one before. We were in a shop on the second floor and everything shook. Luckily, it didn't last long! We took the scenic route home this time. We stopped in Star Valley and saw the new temple. We had to stop in Montpelier again and we ran into Evan's uncle! It was pretty cool. :) When we got to Bear Lake, we got some raspberry shakes. :) We were almost home! We just had to drive through Logan Canyon. It was so dark by the time we got there. It was really smoky in the canyon because of a fire, It was really eerie. I was so glad when we got out! October was a really busy month! A lot happened that month. The beginning of the month, we went to a really cool vintage fair that had a lot of neat antiques. We got Braelynn a rocking horse. :) October 2nd marked 5 years since we started dating! :) I couldn't believe that much time had passed! My cousin, Emily got married on October 7th, so we went down for that. It was such a beautiful ceremony! :) the next day, we went to the pumpkin patch with Evan's family. It was Braelynn's first time going. :) It was actually really warm for being October! The following week was my birthday. :) We went out to dinner and Evan got me tickets to see Celtic Woman in December! :) It was a combined birthday and Christmas present. :) The next two weekends were pretty busy as well! We went to the dinosaur park on the 15th with my family and the 22nd with Evan's family! They were having a Halloween carnival. It was lots of fun to go with both families. :) Evan's younger brother proposed to his girlfriend at the dinosaur park after giving her lots of clues. It was really cute! I'm glad we were able to be there for that. :) This is where life got interesting! Evan's current in Logan was going out of business. He was the last computer tech left and he didn't know how much longer he would have a job. So, he quit after receiving a job offer in Salt Lake at the VA office. We had to rush to find a place to live and pack up to move. It was very stressful. To make things even more interesting, Evan got another job offer! He got a job offer from Valcom. He worked there before, but this time he would be a network engineer. A job he has been wanting for awhile. He took that job even though it paid less. There is more growth with this position than the other one he would have had at the VA. He was set to start his new job on November 1st! We found an apartment in Magna, but it was only one bedroom. We put a deposit down to hold the spot in case we couldn't find anything else. We had gone to Walmart so Evan could get some parts he needed to put in our new stereo in our car. We went to Winco parking lot so he could put it in. It took way longer than we had planned. He finally got it installed and we were going to grab some food at Del Taco before heading back to Logan. Evan took a wrong turn and we ended up driving past an apartment complex that we hadn't thought to look at before. We turned around and went into the leasing office to see if they had any openings. It turns out they did, but it wouldn't be available until November 5th. We had to run to the bank and get a check for the deposit and application fee. After filling out paperwork, we finally were able to get some food. We had to wait and see if we would be approved to live at this complex. It felt like forever until we heard. Luckily, we were approved and set to move in on the 5th. In the meantime, we had to pack and get things ready to go because we were staying with Evan's parents for a week so he could start his new job. All of our stuff was in Logan except what we needed. On October 27th, Evan and I went to the Yellowcard concert. :) it was so much fun! We were able to meet the band and get a picture with them as well because we bought VIP tickets. We had been running late because that was the same day we needed to come down before Evan started his new job. It was a busy weekend! When Evan got off on November 4th, we went home to Logan so we could pack the rest of our stuff and get things ready. Evan and I stayed up pretty late packing and taking our bed down. We didn't think we had too much left to pack, but we did! The next morning, we picked up the moving truck.When we got back, there were a lot of ward members at our town home to help us pack and move. It was awesome! We had to finish packing some things and someone ended up getting us some more boxes because we ran out. Evan's dad and our brother-in-law, Luke came to help us as well. By the time everything was in the moving truck, it was past 2 in the afternoon. I had to call our new apartment and let them know we were running late. What didn't fit in the truck was put in cars. Evan rode with his dad who drove the truck. I followed in our car with Braelynn and Luke drove Joey's car. We had to stop and get gas on the way out, where I finally was able to get something to eat! Our families helped us move in, we were very grateful! We like our new apartment, but we also miss Logan! It's nice being so close to families again. We are about ten minutes away. :) Over the next few weeks, I unpacked and organized our apartment. There are still a few more things to organize, but other than that, it looks great! It's nice to have a bigger kitchen and a dishwasher! The only thing I don't like is we weren't able to have our washer and dryer because they already have a set in the apartment. Thanksgiving dinner was with my family. I was asked to make the potatoes. While preparing them, I cut myself pretty bad. That was NOT fun! :( That weekend, we went to the cemetery to visit my grandma's grave. We brought little things to put on her headstone. :) it was nice to have almost the whole family there. We sang Silent Night, it was so peaceful. Afterward, we went to Chuck-a-Rama for lunch. :) In December, we put up our Christmas tree. That's one of my favorite things about that time of year. :) We weren't able to get Christmas shopping done until closer to Christmas. We went to the Forgotten Carols with Evan's family, it was probably my favorite show we had been to! Evan got the flu just before Christmas. :( it was so sad! He wasn't able to go to the Celtic  Woman concert with me, so I invited my mom. :) I'm glad she was able to go with me! It was a lot of fun :) We walked around City Creek mall before the concert to get some food, but we ran out of time. The concert was amazing! I loved seeing them live! :) On Christmas Eve, we did gift exchanges with Evan's family and had a yummy dinner. On Christmas Day, it snowed!! :) We got at least a foot of snow! It was amazing! :) We didn't make it to church that day, but a lot of wards ended up canceling because there was so much snow! It was so cute watching Braelynn open her presents. :) I made a yummy breakfast casserole and orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast. :) We went to Evan's family's house afterward. There, we opened more presents and spent time with them. :) Later, we went to Matt and Rachelle's to have Christmas dinner with my family. :) We got so many things from both families to take home! It was so much fun watching Braelynn open all of her gifts. :) I love Christmas, it's my favorite holiday! Spending time with families is my favorite thing to do! :) We rang in the new year with my family as well. We played games and had yummy food! 2016 had its ups and downs, but there were so many fun memories as well! I look forward to many fun adventures in 2017. :)