Baby Reveal!!!

So the time has finally come! We got to go in for our appointment to see how our baby is growing and what gender our baby is. We loved this ultrasound :-) they got a picture of between the legs as of baby was sitting on a glass table and we were looking up from underneath. 

ITS A GIRL!!! 

The ultrasound's picture to prove it weren't super easy to see so here is the cool picture of our baby :-) you can actually see her face! 

To announce it to the world of our family and friends, we held a gender reveal party :-) however, waiting a day and a 1/2 to tell everyone was brutal for me. Next time it will be the day of. Haha

Shannen made a cake and some cupcakes, I decorated and made sandwiches and veggies and pink and blue juice. I also had a tray for everyone to pick if they thought it was a girl or a boy and a name suggestions jar. I got the pictures a little later than I should have so the tray was practically empty by the time I took it. But I got a lot of help from Shannen, Rachel and Ashley in getting the party going. Thank goodness!! 

We had so much fun! I am so thankful for everyone who came and was a part of our excitement with us :-) 

Puppy dogs and Lady's night.

This past week has been a fun one :-) well, not for everybody...

We noticed the other day poor Bella had sores on her chin :-(
We aren't sure exactly what happened but the vet has some theories. We are now giving her an antibiotic and an antihistamine to try and help it go down. They are thinking it could be an allergic action to hard plastic toys like the frisby she chews or possibly her kennel we switched her to. Not sure yet but I'm determined to figure it out so we can fix it. Poor Bella :-( 

To make matters a little worse for her that day, Owen decided it was time for a shave. Haha. Poor girl now has sores on her chin and is naked....

Also this weekend, was the General Women's Conference. I absolutely love this time of year. I always feel like it ushers in the fall season. It's like the beginning of great traditions followed by fun games. Family is so important to me. This tradition is where all the ladies of my family get together for dinner and to go listen to the apostles and general women leaders give us guidance. A couple years ago they started allowing the young girls ages 8 and older go to the Women's Conference. This is so awesome for me because it means Jessica has started being able to come with. She isn't always at our house the weekends they take place, but when she is, I absolutely love that she can be a part of this tradition. 

I didn't get a ton of pics, but my Mom insisted on a pic of me and my sisters (Missing Vanessa) 

We went to Johnny Rockets for dinner then on to the conference at our stake center. It was a great meeting! President Uchtdorf told a beautiful story of a little girl going to her aunt Rose's house for the summer. She learned how to be happy both in life and spiritually. Jessica and I had a very nice time. I love the intelligent and worthy young women she is becoming.

Bats and Boys Night!

I love this time of year!!! I admit to being a little early on the timer but we decorated for Halloween this week :) The kids helped me out. My philosophy is to get something new each year to contribute to the Halloween decorations. Same thing with Thanksgiving and Christmas. We still have to put up the stuff outside and the stuff up on the high ledge. I haven't done that because climbing the big ladder doesn't sound super appealing to me while pregnant. haha. But I have a husband who is a good sport. :) I'll enlist his help in the matter.

Since I was a kid, we didn't decorate a ton for Halloween, but I realized, I like Halloween decorations as long as they aren't super nasty lookin. haha. It is no secret, I hate scary movies and I don't like being afraid to sit in any room of my own house. Soooo haha we just keep it Halloween, but not scaretastic

This week Jessica got the opportunity to go hunting with her step-dad Ryan. We usually have the kids over Tuesday and Wednesday. They left Wednesday so we had after school with Mitchell until 7 by ourselves :) We decided to enjoy this time with him alone and make it all about him. He wanted homemade hamburgers and his favorite onion dip Owen makes. (I think it's gross lol). He also wanted a hair cut so the boys went to get their hair done while I cleaned up a little. Mitchell was all sorts of excited to lighten his hair load so he doesn't get so sweaty when he runs away from girls at recess ;) hahahaha Love this boy so much!

 

 

 

My cute boys :)

 

My Faith

I don't write about religion very often. I find it personal. I feel it is my beliefs and I don't like when others feel the right to break them apart for the purpose of changing me or hurting me.

I find it amazing the way the world is dividing. Watching it in real time is kind of amazing/terrifying. Something I have found more prevalent lately is the feeling that if I am a religious person, people don't want to hear it or see it. To just keep it to myself. I believe 100% in not pushing my beliefs on others. I will share my beliefs with you if you ask, or if you have questions, but I will not force others to accept what I believe. With that, I hold an expectation to others to give me the same courtesy. Do not make me change or hush my beliefs because they make you uncomfortable. I do believe in God. How sad that the world makes that statement seem so archaic or outlived. What is wrong with holding a belief that helps you through your troubles? That encourages friendship and love and assists in coping with hardships in life? It exists to bring hope. To encourage faith. Not hate. Anyone who says otherwise is only looking to make religion a motion to silence other people. And that, is not God's plan.

More and more, people are believing that to be a teenager means to party or drink or make mistakes. I was a teenager who partied, meaning I went to parties where we played pool and listened to music and watched movies and laughed playing games with each other. We went to lakes and swam and boated and hiked and danced in dancing groups and traveled with my choir group and performed in the school plays and other stuff outside of school. I loved going to concerts and getting dressed up with my friends to meet new people at church dances or new friend parties that didn't actually involve alcohol. I am not weird for this. I am not crazy. I learned to cultivate my brain instead of my addictions. I learned who I am, not who I can't control because of an illegal substance. I learned social skills with my head clear. I learned how to take care of myself abroad and to take care of my friends whenever they needed me. I learned my strengths and my weaknesses.

I'm tired of the world telling me what is "normal" as if to fall into a lifestyle of unhappiness and sadness is "normal". The jokes about being a teenager are plagued with bad decisions and circumstances of regret. The jokes of marriage are all ball and chain oriented. The naggy wife. The man with his mancave. The idea that once you are married, "Game Over". Wrong. At least, not my marriage. The world may tell me that is normal. The world may tell me that is standard. Well I believe in something better.

I am divorced and remarried. I am not perfect. I have never professed to be. I have questioned my faith. I think we all should. The leaders of our church had to in order to know the path they should take. There is nothing wrong with personal journeying. There is nothing wrong with discovering oneself through mistakes either, but to believe that we HAVE to be a certain way because the world proclaims it, is so far off base.

The world is divided currently on the belief regarding homosexual marriage. I am a religious person. I believe that God loves all of us. No matter our sexual orientation. I believe I don't know why some decide to live the way they live. Whether it be their "nature" or their preference decided later in life, I believe in love. I don't believe I can tell a man or a woman who they can or cannot marry. That is not my call. I believe I can tell myself who I can or cannot marry. That is it. God is the judge. Thank goodness I don't have to be. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I feel like I can't tell everyone that or they will be "offended" or they will judge me as a bigot. I feel like people resent and even hate religious posts. They either find them old fashioned, self righteous or judgmental. They see me as a bigot because I stand with a religion that states homosexual relations are immoral. I am not a bigot. The act of homosexuality is a personal decision and personal preference. Again, I am not the judge. God is. And I am so glad because I don't want that stress. I don't want to feel like my job in this world is to "fix" people. To change them. It will not happen. God gave us the beautiful gift of Free Agency. He has to uphold his end of that law. God does not intervene when someone is choosing their life most of the time because it is their God given right to choose how they will live and what they will do. I live by that same law.

I had a friend who does not believe in God say once, "How could a God, if there is one, allow such horrible things to happen to children and good people all over the world?". My answer to that, is because he is God. He is bound to uphold the rules of Free Agency he gave us. If a woman decides to harm her children, we all know how we feel about it, but it doesn't change the fact that she may choose to do it anyway. The same is true for those who choose fast food and weight gain over healthy living and exercise. We make choices every day. There will always be someone somewhere close by to tell us when and where we make "wrong" decisions in our lives. Here's my line: if your choices are not hurting others, then by all means, keep on living your way. I draw the line at cruelty or abuse. But homosexual marriage is not abuse. It is not cruelty. It is love based. It is a choice, one that is not mine to judge.

Love is one of the most amazing gifts we have in this world. I love all my earthly brothers and sisters. Whether they be my religion, no religion or any other. Whether they be white skinned, or any color of the rainbow. Whether they love someone who is religiously sanctioned for them or not.
I believe in God. I believe in love, and I believe in being who we are to the fullest. Not ashamed to be the current underdog. Religion may not be popular. But it is who I am. And I am proud of it.

"He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love" - 1 John 4:8

35 is Alive!

Happy Birthday you Hunk-a-Hunk of burnin love! lol. (straight out of my mama's playbook of phrases)

Owen turned 35 on September 10th. I had fun picking his gift this year. I had his brother be my partner in crime and throw him off my scent talking to him about specs of flying copters. It worked like a charm :)

He loved his present!! After gift time, we went out for his favorite. SUSHI!!! (don't worry, I had grilled teriyaki chicken instead ;) )

A few days later, we took the kids (including Bella) to the park and played with the new present :) Bella can jump so high!!! But not high enough! haha

Happy Birthday to my amazing husband. He is my bestie. My bud. And my love.

September Madness

Recently Owen got tickets through his work to go to a ReAL Salt Lake game. Owen had never been before. While I don't love sitting in chairs that seem to squoosh my insides currently, we still had a lot of fun. It was nice to catch up with a friend too :)

We also got to do Labor Day weekend just the two of us Staycation style. We have wanted to focus on some house projects lately and this opened the door for that. I know it sounds like I'm a terrible home owner, but I was really grateful we got time to really focus on getting the grass mowed, the kitchen cleaned and stay cleaned and the basement room rearranged a bit. We still have a long way to go in the basement, but I really think it is going to be a great lounge and exercise room when we are done.
Owen got in a mood and made his Pork Stew MMMMMMM!

Which put me in the mood to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bread ( I bake better than I cook)

It's these kinds of things that put my heart in a cozy fluffy slipper type of place!

Here's a sneak peak at one of the things we added to the basement room. I found this leather couch with recliners at the DI for $50. Sorry, but I NEVER find good deals, so I was super duper proud of myself for this one haha

There's really barely any dings or dents. The kids still don't know so I'm excited to show them when they get home. It's nothing hugely special but for me to find that deal, and have it work so great in that room (more to see soon) AND for it to be in great shape, I just want to pat myself on the back and pay me for the great find haha. I'm also excited because Owen really loves it. His words were, "you always make great choices" but to know he loves it and will enjoy it as a good ol' basement lounger makes me super happy.

Sidekicks and Siblings

Well kids, it finally is happening :) Owen and I are having a baby. We waited for quite a while to post it on Facebook out of fear because of the last instance, but we finally feel like we can share our joy with the world. I admit it's hard for me to talk about this kind of stuff, even on a happy note. I'm more private than some people realize, but we are both (along with the kids) so excited to have this change coming to our lives. We know it will be a challenge, we know it will be an adventure and we are both excited for the ride. We don't know the gender yet, but we are close to knowing. We find out September 28th!! So cross your fingers for whatever gender you want most :) Even though it's already decided, we're just all the last to know haha.

Here is our post from Facebook:

GUESS WHAT?!! We're growing our own little breed of gremlin :)  ‪#‎inlovealready‬ ‪#‎nauseasucks‬ ‪#‎family4ever‬ Owen Esau

Summer 2015

I have to admit, the summer has been SOOOOO busy, almost TOO busy! It's been so hard to find time to clean my house let alone update my blog! Instead of doing a bunch of separate posts about each event, I am going to sum it up into the Summer of 2015!

To start, We love to have fun :) So I found a mustache app on my phone and we played.

Can't help the fun! :)

To start out the events, we did a trip to the Black's Cabin at Flaming Gorge with the Anderson side of the family. We had a lot of fun! I was taking it easy this trip so I didn't do the boating but the kids did and we did a nature hike and played games in the cabin. It was a ton of fun :)

Next we went to Rockport and fished as a family! We love fishing. We also went to Bountiful Pond and fished as well. Owen got lucky both times!

Next, Owen and I went to Oregon for our 4th Anniversary. It was so much fun but the drive is so exhausting haha. I think we'll try to fly next time. This really is our home away from home though. We love it there so much!

My friend Zoe was so amazing to let us stay in her cabin on Mt. Hood. So amazing! The trees are so intimidating it just takes your breath away!

 

 

 

Then we went over to the coast and stayed in a beach house for the rest of the week. Cannon Beach by Haystack Rock is unbelievably gorgeous!

Had to. Our conductor on the train looked exactly like the Polar Express dude.... :)

Sunset was an unforgettable experience!

 

Next time, we will be bringing the kids including Bella. They will love it!

We also got to have some fun adventures doing Family Photos with the Esau side of the family:

The kids are getting so big! Almost too big!!

We had some fun campouts in the family room and silliness on the daily

We then had some great memories made going to Bear Lake with the Esau's. I feel bad, I didn't take tons of photos this year. We were too busy having a good time :)

Then came the family reunion! This one was a very special one for me. I got to meet Ellen. She is my mother's sister. My aunt. I have never met her in my life until now. She is mentally handicapped and has been all her life. They had her brought in special to the family reunion to meet us and spend time with the whole family. And we got a sibling picture of the whole pack. I only wish my Grandpa could have been alive to see and feel this experience.

Then Jessica turned 11!!! I cannot believe she is growing so fast and getting so big. I remember thinking I owned the world when I was 11. That I was ready to take it all on! Little did I know.... haha but turning 11 is a big milestone for her. I am so proud of the lady she is becoming. Her heart is big, her intentions are always to help and serve others. I love her with all my heart.

Then we went to St. George! We saw Beauty and the Beast and Sister Act. It was such a fun time with the kids and family. It's one of my favorite trips of the year! We also went to the fair where the kids got to hold a snake (me too!) and we went out to the Glitter Pits where we got to pick out crystals. It was amazing out there....and HOT!!!

 Couldn't resist. Jessica sleeping. LOL

We've also had a lot of water fun and play outside. All in all, this summer really has been a blast!

 Mitchell went down a big kid slide for the first time ever!!!So proud of him!!!