Finals Week Adventures

As soon as we got back from Thanksgiving Kyle started his finals. It was a really long week. It didn't start out so bad. Kyle was gone a lot but me and the girls had a lot of fun. But it ended pretty miserable. 

Abby started to come down with a cold and a fever. She was pretty sick, and then all of the sudden Thursday night she got really bad. Kyle had his last final on Friday. So Friday morning I took her into the doctor. They were really worried about her breathing. And her throat looked really red and sore. They tested her for Strep and it came back positive. And the doctor thought that she might be getting pneumonia in her lungs. I just thought she had a cold, so it got really scary fast. They have her a breathing treatment and then a breathing machine for me to take home. 

That day she was so sick, and even with the breathing treatments she was getting worse. By the time Kyle got home that night I was starting to get really worried. She started coughing so hard she was throwing up. She was totally pale and lethargic. She was having serious trouble breathing, her little lips were even blue. It was so scary. So we rushed her into the Children's hospital. They got us right back and immediately gave her a breathing treatment that was really intense. And they gave her a steroid. 

Luckily the breathing treatment really helped her. At first they didn't think it was going to, and the doctor said they might have to move her to the ICU for even more treatments. That made me so nervous. Luckily we didn't need it, they kept us in the ER over night. My dear friend Kaity came and got Jules from us as soon as we found out we were going to be there for a long time. She took her home and put her to bed, and then cleaned my entire house. I love her so much. 

I stayed with Abby and Kyle went home to take care of Jules. Other than the nurses coming in to check on us every hour it wasn't too bad. They even had Iron Man 3 that I could watch when I couldn't sleep. That was awesome. 

Luckily only a few days later Abby was feeling much better so we decided to head down to Arizona almost a week early. It was so cold in Denver and we needed to get out of the house. But before we could leave we had to make our ginger bread house and hand out our treats. Abby loved doing the gingerbread house this year. She put tons of the candies on. It was so fun to have her do it with us. I look forward to all of these traditions next year. Its only going to get more and more fun.

This was during finals week before Abby got sick. They had so much fun reading together. They play so incredibly cute together. I just love it.

When it started to snow and got really cold we had a fun day watching Christmas movies and building our tent. I love days like this with my girls!

With all of the craziness of finals week I was so grateful we survived. Kyle rocked all of his finals and is so relieved to be done with the first semester of 2nd year! We're half way through the hardest year!!!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was really special. All of my mom's family came to Colorado and we stayed in this ridiculously nice cabin in Breckenridge. It was so incredible beautiful and there was plenty of space for everyone. We had a great time eating, talking, baking, eating, snowboarding, playing ping pong, eating, sleeping and playing foosball. 

The first night that we were there we had Juliet in a pack n play in our room and Abby in a pack n play in the closet right across from our room. About 12 Abby woke up crying so I brought her in bed with me. She was being so noisy and she woke up Juliet. As Juliet is waking up Abby says "Shh Juliet I sleeping!" She was doing everything except for sleeping. So we put Abby back in her bed and then tried to get Juliet to go back to sleep. I got so tired waiting for Jules to go back to sleep that we grabbed some extra pillows and blankets and laid down in the hallway right next to our nice beds. Just as Juliet had gone back to sleep and we were getting ready to go back to bed, Abby woke up again. We couldn't take her back in the same room as Juliet again. So the three of us slept in the hallway on the floor. It was really funny. Luckily we figured it out and everyone slept much better the rest of the week. 

The day after Thanksgiving we were able to go snowboarding. My aunts and grandma were nice enough to watch Juliet and Abby so that we could go. It was a blast! We went to the Loveland ski resort and it was beautiful. The snow was actually really awesome, we were worried since it was so early in the season. I only fell once and it was on the bunny hill go figure. It was so fun to be there with all of my family and Kyle.

On Thanksgiving day we had our Christmas gift exchange so all of the cousins could see each other open their gifts. My mom got Juliet a little baby doll. Juliet's reaction to that doll was one the highlights of the trip. She was in love. She kept kissing it and hugging it. She would rock it and pack its back. Everyone just cracking up over her. It was the sweetest thing. She will be a good big sister...someday.

It was the perfect trip. Abby had so much fun with all of the kids. We were all so sad when it was over.  

5 Years

I can't believe that it has been 5 years. It honestly doesn't feel like it has been that long! But then I look at all we have done and accomplished. 

- We have two Bachelor Degrees under our belts.

- Kyle took the DAT and rocked it!

- Kyle interviewed at 4 dental school and got into 3!

- We have moved at least 10 times (at least it feels that way)

- We moved to Colorado!

- We have had two beautiful daughters. Its been so much fun to be parents. I didn't think I could love Kyle any more, but seeing him as a father melts my heart. 

- We've been to Africa

- We've been to Dubai

- We've been to the Caribbean

- We've been to Disneyland more times than should be acceptable

-We have been surviving dental school

- We have been on a million road trips

- I ran a half marathon!

- Kyle has played a lot of softball and won a lot of championships

-we've made some amazing friends

-we have laughed so hard we can hardly breath

- Kyle rocked the boards!

- almost 2 years of dental school

- lots of awesome callings

Kyle has taught me so much. Like how to properly peel a banana and use siri. But almost as important he has taught me how to laugh at myself and not take myself so seriously. He has taught me patience and true Christ like love. He is so selfless when it come to me. All of my needs come first. It constantly pushes me to be a better person. I just want to make him as happy as he had made me. 

In the picture below Kyle was recovering from his incredibly illness in 2010. That was a scary time for us, but we survived it and it has made us stronger. 

We had so much fun just the two of us. We had so many adventures together.

But none of those adventures compare to the ones that we have had since Abby joined us. She was a little bit of each of us, and she really made us a family. 

Then we found out about little Juliet. I was so nervous when I found out I was pregnant again. I mean they would only be 19 months apart! We were moving to Colorado. Kyle was starting dental school! What would he say? Would he be happy? The look on Kyle's face when I told him I was pregnant was one of the best reactions I have ever seen. His face lit up with pure happiness and joy. All of my apprehension melted away. He has that affect on me. He is the calm in my crazy life. I know I can count on him to always support me. 

And then the 3 of us became 4 and there couldn't have been more love in our family. It was amazing how much love and joy this new little spirit brought to our home. Those next 4 months were some the hardest of my life. I had a rough time emotionally after Juliet was born. Kyle was there for me. He sacrificed so much to make sure that I made it through and that I was strong. 

These past 6 months have been amazing. We have really be exploring Colorado and having a blast with just our little family. Even though Kyle is in his hardest year yet at school we have been surviving in it. And we are actually having a lot of fun. Its has been so much fun to watch our sweet girls grow up. They bring so much joy and laughter to our home. 

I am truly  blessed. Kyle is more perfect for me than I could have ever imagined. Not a day has gone by since we got married that I haven't said a prayer of gratitude to my Heavenly Father. I don't know where I would be today without Kyle. But I know I wouldn't be as happy, strong and faithful without his love and support.  We have both changed a lot since we got married. But have changed and grown together and have built such a strong relationship. We still love to spend as much time together as humanly possible. He is my best friend and we still stay up super late just talking and laughing. Nobody knows him better than I do, and nobody knows me better than he does. That is such a good feeling to know that he understands me and loves me no matter what failings I might think I have. I am grateful that my girls have such a good example of what a husband and father should be. 

Happy 5 years Kyle! I can't wait to see where we will be and what we will have accomplished in the next 5 and in the eternity to follow!

I love you. 

Halloween!

This Halloween was so much fun! It was a couple weeks long celebration. This second year of dental school has been really busy for kyle. We don't see him very much, so we really cherished the time we were able to spend with him celebrating Halloween! 

We started everything off with a trip to a pumpkin patch! There was this one pumpkin patch that everyone had told us about that was supposed to be a lot of fun. It was about 40min away but we decided it was worth it and woke Jules up from her nap early to trek out to Bloomfield. On our way out there I had the impression that I needed to check to website to see if the pumpkin patch was even open (we had a fiasco with showing up to a closed pumpkin patch that was supposed to be open last year). Even though the day had been absolutely beautiful, it had snowed a couple nights before so I was worried that might cause the patch to be closed. I jumped on their website on my phone (how I LOVE modern technology) and saw that the pumpkin patch was indeed closed. So I hurried and looked up other pumpkin patches and it turned out there was one even closer and the exit for it was the very next exit. Talk about perfect timing. It was such a testimony builder to me that the Lord knows us. He knows our needs and wants. I knew in that moment that he cared about me and my desire to take my Abby to a pumpkin patch. This one was open and was perfect for what we wanted. Abby was in heaven with all the pumpkins. She picked one out for herself and for Juliet. And she carried that pumpkin around everywhere for the next few weeks. It was so cute. 

After the pumpkin patch we went out to dinner. It was the first time we had taken both girls to a sit down restaurant in a really really long time. They both did great. And of course we had to bring the pumpkin with us. She was so cute with that pumpkin.

The next festive activity was the ward trunk or treat. It was pretty fun. They didn't start dinner until 5:30 and the line for dinner was 40 minutes long. It was ridiculous. So we didn't start the trunk or treat until 7 and it was dark and freezing by that time. We couldn't see anyone's costumes so that was a bummer. But our costumes turned out so cute! I made Abby's cop costume. It turned out a lot better than I thought it was going to. She looked adorable. So we were bank robbers, Abby was a cop and Juliet was our bag of money. It was great.

This picture didn't really turn out. It was so dark by the time we got our trunk set up that no one could even really see how cool it was. So we had our bags of "money" and we handed out 100 grand bars. That was Kyle's idea and I loved it!

All of Abby's candy. She was in Heaven. She loved trick or treating. The next morning I heard her downstairs with Kyle saying "Halloween I love you!" as loud as she could. It was hilarious.

Juliet's first sucker. I think that had she not been so cold she would have enjoyed it a lot more.

The night after the trunk or treat we went to the Seller's house for a spooky dinner. I am so sad that I didn't get any pictures but it was so fun. Abby had a ball. We didn't even see her the entire time. She went straight downstairs with the kids and had so much fun playing. I love that she is becoming her own little person.

The night before Halloween we carved pumpkins with friends. This is one of my favorite halloween activities. Not really because I love carving pumpkins but because I LOVE pumpkin seeds. So Kyle carved the big pumpkin and I carved the little mickey pumpkin. The only thing that could have made the pumpkins better for Abby was putting Mickey and Minnie on them. She was thrilled with the results. I love Juliet's face in this. Classic.

Then it was finally the big day. For Trick or Treating Abby was a cheerleader. And Juliet was a baby trying to keep warm in the freezing cold wind. Sorry Juliet for the lack of costumes on you. It was more important to keep you warm!

Abby loved trick or treating. She knew what we were about to do and she was so excited. In the picture below she is telling me "candy!" She didn't want to take anymore pictures, she wanted to get started. She would march right up to the doors and start knocking. If they didn't come fast enough she would knock again. When they would answer she would hold up her little pumpkin as high as she could. Then say thank you and run to the next door. We were all laughing so hard. It was too cute.

Clark Kent and the cheer leader. These two are so cute together.

As much as I enjoy Halloween, I am always really happy when it is over because then the REAL holidays can begin. And yes we are already listening to Christmas music. And I am so ready to put up the Christmas decorations. I think this is going to be the best Holiday season yet!

Life Lately

So these pictures are stories are from all over the place. But I wanted to get everything down! 

We have been loving fall this year. The weather has been beautiful and we have loved being outside and seeing the leaves change! Its such a fun time of year.

 Last week the weather was perfect so we seized the opportunity and went to the park with friends. It was a lot of fun. Abby loves, loves, loves her friends. Its so sweet to watch her interact with other little kids. She is a funny little kid. 

Abby randomly fell asleep on the way home from running errands. The she stayed asleep when I got her out of the car. I had to take a picture because this has never happened before. I wish I could have snuggled her all afternoon.

One morning Abby pulled out every single book we own and she read every single one. It was adorable. She was having so much fun.

Abby loves to hold Juliet's hand when we are in the car. Its really sweet, except for the fact that Juliet doesn't like to hold hands. Sometimes she will tolerate it for a little bit. I love their little relationship. They love each other.

This sweet little 10 month old is getting so much personality. We can't get enough of her. She is always happy and smiling. She is crawling around everywhere! She loves to follow her sister around and they play so cute together. She is cutting around 5 teeth right now. Its been rough on her poor little body. We have missed our happy Jules.

Kyle's softball games ended last Wednesday. They were the undefeated champions! It was fun to get to go watch him almost every Wednesday night. This particular night was freezing cold, but we had fun anyway.

Juliet trying to get her big sister. They have so much fun together. They are just so much happier when they are together.

A couple weeks ago Kaity and I ran a 10k. It was just a little bit south of where we live at a small reservoir. It was so beautiful! It was freezing cold, but totally worth it. My knee has really been driving me crazy so I wasn't my strongest. But it was still so fun. I hope we can do it every year.

Taking a walk to play in the leaves. Abby loves to kick the leaves and crunch them when she walks. I'm so glad she gets to experience these kind of things.

This is the view from our front yard. I don't ever want to forget this. Its so perfectly beautiful. I love it!

The trees outside our house. Seriously fall rocks. I love it.