Snow day/Thanksgiving

So I wrote this whole post a few days ago, and then our little toddler decided to run up and knock my phone out of my hand to be funny, which deleted the entire thing. Oh the joys of 2 year olds. 

The weekend I came back from being down in the valley we were supposed to get snow. When we woke up Saturday it didn't look promising. We went into town to meet Michael and McKinzie for lunch at Darby's. By the time we got there we were getting flakes. We sat at a table next to a large window and got to watch as the snow picked up and fell onto the ground. It was so serene. The trees were covered as we were heading back home. Later that night we met up with Rob and his family to see the hunger games. We sat in a small ice cream shop and sipped hot chocolate while we waited for the movie to start. Hallie fell asleep when we sat down in the theater so we were able to watch the whole thing. The snow hadn't really stuck yet in Show Low. But when we woke up the next morning we had a fresh coat of snow. We got bundled up and went outside. The dogs had never been in snow and surprisingly did well. They enjoyed running around in it. We attempted to make a snowman, but the snow was so powdery it was tough. So we uses the snow off Tyler's truck to make snowballs and of course Hallie loved throwing them at us. She thought the snow was fun until her hands got snow on them thru her gloves. Then wen came inside to warm up and made a hot breakfast. The snow started to melt when we got home from church, but it was fun while it lasted! 

Our Thanksgiving was really relaxed. The morning of we laid around and watched movies. I made a green bean casserole in the afternoon and we headed over to Robs house for dinner. The food was all delicious of course and we stuffed ourselves till we couldn't any longer. Even Hallie ate really well. She surprised us this year by being a huge fan of turkey. She still won't touch mashed potatoes tho. At 6 Tyler and I left Hallie and headed to Walmart. I know...there was a huge deal with people upset that stores were open on Thanksgiving day. But when what your kid is asking for is on sale and you're trying to pinch your pennies, you gotta do what you gotta do. So we went. The entire parking lot was full. So was the Wendy's, Panda Express, and Home Depot next door (none of these places were even open..just people for Walmart). We split up so ty could go grab the bike and I wanted to look at movies. After 20 mins of being pushed around trying to even get close enough to look at the movies, I gave up and met up with Tyler. We found all of what we wanted to get Hallie and we were done. We were in and out in an hour..which is pretty dang good with how crazy hectic it was. I think we just finished faster than everyone else. I went back the next morning for a chance to look at movies and there was nothing left. Black Friday was completely outdone by their sales on thanksgiving this year. We enjoyed the rest of our weekend together. I didn't get one picture of us this year tho :(

Valley Fever

A week ago we took a trip down to the valley. Tyler had drill Saturday and Sunday, and my brother Clay was leaving on his mission that week so it worked out well. Kinda...we ended up having to take both cars down which killed us on gas. We drove down on Friday, and Clay was leaving to the MTC the next Wednesday which I wanted to be there for, but Tyler had to be back up Monday afternoon. We stayed with Picos on Friday and met up with my brothers to take family pictures before Clay left. We hadn't had pictures done for maybe 5 years, so I'm excited to have new ones. A lot has changed! Tyler got up super early Saturday and left to drill, so Hallie and I hung out with grandma and grandpa for most the day. We met up with Tyler at my dads for dinner and then went back to Picos. I went to my moms early Sunday morning and we all went to church where Clay was speaking for his first time. He did awesome! We went home and started cooking, because we were having our thanksgiving dinner early so clay could be there with us. Tyler didn't end up getting to be there for dinner because he wasn't released in time, but it was still so fun. I love my crazy family. We ate and played games and took pictures. Monday  Tyler headed back up north and got his first ticket in 3 years :( Hallie and I just hung around my moms and helped clay pack. Tuesday night the whole family went to dinner and then Clay got set apart as a missionary. We woke up early on Wednesday and made our way to the airport where we said our goodbyes for two years. So hard. I already miss the kid like crazy. When he gets back, Raegan will be the exact same age as Hallie was when Chad got home. I don't know why I have to be 6 months pregnant when my brothers leave, it makes me more emotional! Thursday we spent the morning with my mom and then we headed back up that afternoon. Hallie wasn't feeling good at all and was running a fever. She ended up throwing up later that night and then was fine. It was an eventful week so the time flew by, but I am so thankful for the time I was able to be down there. I absolutely adore my family. They are the weirdest, craziest people I know..but it sure makes for a good time. I am so thankful for their relationship with Hallie, she just loves them and it's nice for me to be able to get a break sometimes. We miss all of them being up here, but it's made our relationships grow stronger and I love that. 

That pregnancy glow

This pregnancy has been a completely different world than the one with Hallie. I LOVED being pregnant that first time. After I got over just a few weeks of all day nausea everything was easy-peasy until the very end when I was extremely uncomfortable. But I loved it. And I couldn't wait to be pregnant again to have the same experience. Ha! Jokes on me! 

Like I mentioned in the last post, I knew I was pregnant (after my miscarriage) right away. I couldn't get off the couch most days from being so tired and I felt like crap. Taking that pregnancy test only made it get worse (maybe it's mental?). Now, don't get me wrong. I have friends who have suffered with such horrible nausea throughout their entire pregnancy that they lose tons of weight, throw up multiple times a day, have to get IV's because they get so dehydrated from being so sick. I am by no means even comparing my sickness to theirs. I can't imagine what they go thru. But..I was expecting this one to be as easy as it was with Hallie. It wasn't. I was sicker than I've ever been for weeks. I never threw up, I've trained my body to stop because I hate it so much. I'd have to lay down on the couch with a wet washcloth on my head and suck on a mint while taking long deep breaths. But I felt horrible. Not only that, but I was already uncomfortable. At 10 weeks I felt like I did when I was 30. I was bloated, my body hurt, and I couldn't sleep because I couldn't get comfortable. My sciatic nerve was also giving me a ton of grief. I couldn't get Hallie in and out of her car seat without crying in pain. And when I asked my dr about it, he told me it was too early to be having back pains so it couldn't be my sciatic nerve. Once again, so happy with my NEW doctor!! 

Things finally started evening out around 16 weeks. I still had my bad days, either feeling sick or being in pain, but it was better. I had a little more energy. But it still wasn't that "pregnancy glow" you're supposed to get during your 2nd trimester, and it was nothing like how I was feeling during my first pregnancy. I'm much more emotional this time around, my skin is dry and breaking out. It's all just been fun and games. 

Now, at 26 weeks, I am getting back to being uncomfortable. It's getting harder to sleep at night. I have the WORST heart burn EVER! I haven't been able to sleep thru the night since I got pregnant because my bladder won't hold. But now I'm going every 2 hrs like clockwork. Little Raegan has decided its fun to tap dance on my bladder, so I've woken up several times with some close calls. And ohhh the Braxton hicks. I only got them a few times with Hallie until the very end, and even then they weren't painful. I've been getting horrible contractions every time I stand for too long. I can't cook dinner, wash the dishes, go grocery shopping, or do my hair and makeup without having to sit down and drink water in the middle of it. My whole stomach gets super tight and I get a pain that feels like my stomach is gonna rip open. 

I'm hoping that all of this is good news. I'm hoping that my Braxton hicks are just my body preparing already so that when the time comes it can kick it into gear and get this baby here fast. Let's hope baby waits till it's time tho :) I have a feeling that labor will be painful this time around. I barely felt anything the whole time with Hallie, but I was in labor for 40 hrs. I'm wondering if a painful but quick labor will be worth it. 

I'm also hopeful that a tough pregnancy will mean an easy baby. Which would be the opposite of how it was with Hallie. I am crossing my fingers that all of this will play out in my favor, and that I'll want to be pregnant again in the future when all is said and done. 

Please, please, please do not get me wrong. I know it sounds like I'm doing nothing but complaining about all this. But I am extremely thankful. I know it could be so much worse. I am grateful that I actually am pregnant, that I didn't have any problems getting pregnant again after my miscarriage. I'm so grateful that at the end of this I get to hold another sweet baby girl. Please do not think I'm taking this all for granted. I am definitely not. I just want a record of this pregnancy so I can look back on it when I have tried to forget it all :) 

I'm so bad at this

Seriously?? I am so horrible at this blogging thing. I don't know why. But I just keep coming back to it so there must be some point to it. I would love to be better at it, I have friends who are amazing bloggers and I envy them and their ability to write down everything that goes on in their lives so they can look back on it. I am going to try to be better for the 50th time, but no promises. 

It's been a whole year since I've blogged last. I'm not even going to attempt to do the "November thankful-for" posts, because I just can't. But I am going to try to recap this last year, since we've had some major changes. And then we'll see how well I can keep this up :) oh, it'd probably help if it wasn't so ugly to look at. I need to figure all that out

December 2012- 

Hallie hated Santa. But that's ok, because it gave us a pretty epic picture. I will frame this every year because I think it's hilarious. But I hope one day she'll be excited. We had been living with my mom for a couple months waiting for Tyler to be switched to active duty. After months of trouble, we decided to give up. My moms house was getting too small for that many people, so we got our own apartment again over in Mesa. We were enjoying our independence again and although it was really small and kinda ghetto, it was perfect for what we needed at the time. We loved our ward, and we got callings right off the bat. Tyler was called to 12 yr old Sunday school, and I was called to serve in beehives. Let me just say how awkward it is to show up to your first mutual activity and everyone mistakes you for a new young woman. The whole house was sick for the holidays. Hallie woke up super early on Christmas throwing up and ran a fever all day. I got a cold soon after and then Tyler got the stomach flu for New Year's Eve. We made the best of it all tho

2013- The new year started out great for us. Tyler was still working at the apartment complex, I was still coaching cheer (I went down to just one location and it made life so much easier) and Hallie was growing and learning new things every day. Her language was above average, and she was just so funny. She loves making people laugh and spending time with her family. Soon, we had a car mishap and the Baja broke down. It still makes me sad thinking about it. We looked into it and our best option was to get a new car. We financed a 2007 Dodge Avenger. 

March- 

My brother came home!!! After serving two years in Lansing, Michigan he was home. Hallie and him hit it off right off the bat. It's been so nice to have him home and see how much he changed and grew while he was gone. We celebrated Easter the same as every year, going out to the desert and shooting eggs and other things. Love that tradition!

April- we were having some problems with our current apartment manager, and feeling like we needed to move...again. We decided to move back to the apartment complex where Tyler worked. And good thing too because as soon as we did we found out that the drug dealers that had lived under us had previously broke in and murdered the previous tenant. Awesome!! With Tyler working where we lived, we weren't using both cars much. We decided to sell my Lincoln navigator that was causing us problems and killing us on gas. Having one car was definitely a sacrifice sometimes, but it helped us out financially. 

I also found out in April that I was pregnant. We could hardly believe it, but we're really excited to be expecting a baby in December. I always wanted a Christmas baby. The next few weeks I just felt weird. I wasn't really sick, and I just had a bad feeling. At the end of April, I came home from working a 12 hour competition day and found out I had lost the baby. Even tho I hadn't felt right about being pregnant the whole time, I still had a hard time. I felt like working that long day and pushing my body maybe did it. I know now that it is nothing that I did. I would have lost that baby even if I had been sitting on the couch all day. I'm so grateful for my husband and family for the support and comfort I received during that hard time. 

June-

It feels like all we did this summer was study. Tyler was nominated for promotion from specialist to Sargent in the army, which meant he would need to go to the board and have an oral review. I made him a bizillion flash cards and we studied all day and night. I pushed him so hard with this, I'm surprised he still loves me. But I knew how important it was to him and how much he deserved it. The day of the boards went great. He is now promotable and he is still on the list waiting for a slot. 

Right after studying for the board, Tyler's uncle gave us an offer that we decided to take. His uncle Rob had recently joined State Farm as an agent, and opened his own insurance agency in Pinetop (where I went to camp for a few summers). We prayerfully decided it was the right thing to do. But it meant Tyler needed to get his licensing, which meant it was back to the books. Most of it was online, which meant I couldn't do much to help. But Tyler worked so hard and was able to pass both of his tests, getting his life & health insurance, and his property & casualty insurance licenses. I was so proud of him! We took a trip up to Pinetop and found a rental house we really liked. Unfortunately, while Tyler was at annual training for two weeks, the realtor gave the house to someone else because she couldn't get ahold of Tyler. It was back to searching and making arrangements for us to move. 

July- 

Around this time we also found out I was pregnant, again! It had been six weeks since my miscarriage, and I was feeling sick and tired. So I decided to take a test. Low and behold, we were having a baby! Due in February. This time, I knew everything was going to be ok. I was so sick all the time. It was much worse than it was with Hallie. We had lots of movie days and my house was a mess for months, but Hallie was so patient with me. 

Our sweet little princess turned two at the end of the month. So bittersweet. At times it feels like it was yesterday, but then I look at how much she knows and how I can't remember life without her, and it feels like forever ago. We had such a fun, relaxed birthday for her. On her actual birthday we woke her up and let her open presents. I have never seen her so excited than when she pulled out her Cinderella dress from her new princess dress up box. She was almost in tears she was so happy. We took her to Dunkin donuts and let her pick out a donut. Pink with sprinkles of course. Tyler had to work so I got to spend the day with her. We went to the movies and saw Despicable Me 2. She had candy and some sweet lady bought her a popcorn, so she was hyper the whole time. After, we got lunch and took it home to eat with Tyler. After naps, my mom came over and Hallie opened presents. I made Mexican food for dinner and then we just spent time as a family that night. The next day, we met all of our family and friends at Peter Piper. We bought a few pizzas and coins, and everyone had fun. It was so relaxed and Hallie loved having everyone there to play with. It was also super nice to leave the mess at the party and come home to a clean house. Much better than the disaster I had for a week at home when we did her party last year! 

August- I turned the big 2-4 and enjoyed a nice birthday date out with my best friend. The rest of the month was spent still looking for houses up north, and packing. I swear, Tyler has gotten so lucky with getting out of packing. He's at work all day, which means it is up to me. You don't even want to know how many times I've packed all of our stuff up. And this time was even more interesting with me being pregnant. At the end of the month Tyler moved up to Pinetop to start working. He was staying with his Uncle Rob until we found a place. 

September- Hallie and I went up the first weekend to spend Labor Day with Tyler. I was so excited to be moving up north. We went around looking at houses, and I really wanted to look at one in Show low. We drove past it, and the previous owners were moving out. But it was inn the perfect neighborhood so I had Tyler set up a time to see it the next day. We met with the realtor at the house and loved it. It was exactly what we needed. Three bed, two bath, garage. And a huge fenced in backyard. But what I loved most was it was actually in a neighborhood, and I wasn't going to have to worry about a bear eating my child if she was playing outside. We signed the lease that day and we were allowed to move in two weeks later. Which meant when I got back home to the valley, I had to pack up the entire apartment. I worked all day, and when Tyler came down with the moving truck the next week we were all ready to leave. We got settled in and absolutely loved it right away. At the end of the month Tyler and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. We were struggling financially with the move transition, so we didn't do too much. We were able to go to dinner )with Hallie) and just spend time as a family. 

October- Halloween decorations went up, and I was loving having the problem of having too much space and not enough decor. We finally got Tyler's resigning bonus and we were able to catch up on all our bills, get some much needed things, and get on our feet. It felt so good. Tyler was absolutely loving his new job and doing so well. We had many community events going on, and adjusted really well to the small town life. 

I was already 20 weeks and we were finally able to find out what we are having! Tyler and I, along with all of our family, would have bet money on it that it was a boy. We had his name picked out and we were plannin our life around it. Everything about this pregnancy had been so different. Which is why we were shocked when we found out we are having another girl!! After the initial shock was over, we were able to get excited for all that is to come. Hallie is going to love having a baby sister. We decided on the name Raegan, and we can't wait to meet her in February. The move also meant switching obgyn's, and I could not feel more blessed by this. I enjoyed Hallie's dr, but wanted something different. And when I first sat down and this new dr asked me about my labor experience and what I wanted to change, I fell in love.

Hallie and I spent a few days back down in the valley to see family. My mom had her work schedule changed so she could spend time with us and we loved it. Hallie was a little more hesitant with all the scary halloween decorations at my moms this year. She asked my mom to put them outside. So she talks about how Michael Meyers died and had to be put outside. Hallie's been going thru a huge "witch" phase, and loves watching the wizard of oz with Tyler's cousin up here, so I decided she would be Dorothy for Halloween this year. She was so excited to have her "sprinkle Dorothy shoes" and ToTo. She asked me to do her makeup, and she felt (and looked) so old. She kept looking at herself in the mirror and saying "mama, I so beautiful". I agree with you, Hallie

We met Tyler after work and tried out the trunk or treat in Pinetop. It was so packed, we made one lap around and decided to go back home. Driving thru our neighborhood, I was surprised to see how many people were out and about. I didn't even know there were that many people who lived up here. Tyler took Hallie around while I stayed home and passed out candy.  It was so surreal, and different, to be trick or treating in the cold, with fall leaves all over the ground. I absolutely loved it. After our neighborhood died down, we went out to Native New Yorker and had dinner. It was such a fun night and Hallie loved all the attention she got from her costume. 

November- Tyler just turned 26 this last week and we were able to celebrate by a family dinner, and then him and I went out this last weekend. We are doing well and loving this life. It has been an answer to our prayers, and I am so thankful for all who helped make it happen. Tyler is finally in a career that he loves and enjoys, and where he gets compensated for the hard work he does. I am so proud of him. We look forward to this holiday season and all it will bring us