My life in the month of July

Things have been uber crazy for me this past month. Let's see if I can remember most things and enlighten you on them.

First, school. Summer semester is pretty difficult. Especially when you are taking 3 classes. I started with 2 for the Summer I session. This lasted until July 23rd. However, on July 6th I started Summer II, adding on one more class. Summer II goes to August 6th. What this meant was that every spare second at home was occupied with any one of my three courses. And they were College Algebra, General Business, and Managerial Accounting.

Finals week for Summer I was a little brutal. We had just come home from Colorado (more on that below). In 3 days I had 6 exams. I went into finals week feeling very unprepared. I had very little time to study for my exams and just went into them with a prayer that I at least get a passing grade. Thankfully, I did. So now I am down to just one class, my accounting. I will then have a wonderful two week long rest from school before Fall semester starts. Oy!

This month was filled with a lot of traveling. Jabon's grandma died on our anniversary and her funeral was on July 3rd up in Heber City, UT. We were able to drive up to UT for her funeral and spend time with his family. His grandma was being buried in a little town in Idaho called Geneva, so we also drove up to be a part of that. Jabon and Cody were pallbearers. It was really beautiful. Jabon's cousin Beth got to ride up from Utah to Idaho with us. They haven't seen each other for about 15 years, so it was great for them to catch up on things. Cody talked his grandparents Eagar into taking him back to Colorado with them, so he was on his own 'vacation' until we showed up two weeks later.

We went to Colorado for my little brother's temple sealing and reception. Peter and Genica married last year when he got home from his mission and were able to get sealed the 18th. They also found out two weeks beforehand that she is pregnant! So another niece or nephew is on the way!!

Jabon was asked to be their wedding photographer. So he took their pictures while I posed everyone. We had a lot of fun doing it and even joked about the idea of doing it professionally. We also took engagement photos for our friends Ben and Amanda, who are getting married in March. Here is a pic of my brother and his wife at the Denver temple:

Thankfully, Ashton and the other boys were great travelers.

We brought Jabon's mom down to AZ with us. Our sitter is having a baby soon and we needed someone to watch the kids. So, she came down to stay until October, giving our sitter enough time to recover from her scheduled C-section.

My sister Shelly, her husband Josh, and their 4 kids came down a day after we got back from CO. He interview and scored a job with a hospital in Scottsdale. He starts Aug 10th. I am extremely excited! My big sis is moving down from Montana to live by me! I am stoked to have our kids grow up together! While they were here we went to our grandma Pearl's house. Here she is holding two of her newest great-grandbabies:
Ashton is on the left and his cousin Millie, who is exactly 2 months younger, is on the right. They are pretty identical in a lot of ways. It will be a lot of fun watching them get older together.

While Shelly and her family were here, it was as hot as usual. So Jabon and the kids hooked up the sprinkler contraption and had fun in the back yard:
This was a long post, I realize. Sorry for that but it has been so busy that I can't seem to blog any sooner that every 3-4 weeks! Plus, I am working full time and Cody's football season begins in a little more than a week.

I really need a vacation at a spa. No phones, tv, school, or worries. Just me, hot stones, mud, and relaxation. I think I'm going to start a fund. Wanna pitch in?

9 Years of Wedded Bliss

Jabon and I are celebrating our 9th anniversary today. We both are pretty proud of our accomplishment! We've had some rough patches and some awesome times. I think I can say for the both of us that we feel truly blessed to be each others partner in crime, I mean, partner in life. :)

I love my husband so much! He is a wonderful man, so strong, dependable, smart, handsome, and a great dad. I am really excited to see where our lives and love go from here. I look forward to the day when we can make our marriage everlasting and our family eternal.

Here are a few pictures of our wedding day. They are not the best, but you get the idea. We took about 3 whole days to plan for our wedding and Jabon's mom did the best she could, given the situation, to make our wedding day nice. Jabon's dad and brother took our pictures, we married in the Black Forest ward church house and had our reception in the gym right after. Jabon's mom bought me a prom dress off the clearance racks, we picked out some flowers, got cheesecake from Sam's Club and were all set! Unfortunately, none of my family were able to make my wedding due to them living so far away and me giving so little warning. But, when love beckoned I ran to it!

Yard Work

Yesterday, Jabon came home from work early because he wasn't feeling well. Soon after that, we decided to go to Home Depot and get some pavers to create a walkway in our backyard in between our grass and the garden we wanted to plant.

Cody took a picture of us. It was well over 90-something degrees outside. And I am sure you all want to know: I was sweating profusely! Pay no mind to the extremely white legs. They rarely see the sun.



We are working on our yard a little at a time. It's a big chore, but something I think both Jabon and I enjoy working on. It was nice to have Jabon home on a Saturday, even though he wasn't feeling well.

California Adventures

Sunday morning we packed up and left bright and early to go to Monterey, CA. Jabon and I had a few days off work and decided to take the kids to the beach. After we checked into our hotel, we drove south down the coastline and stopped at a ton of beaches. It was the first time the kids saw the ocean; I have rarely seen it myself.

Monday morning we went on the 17 Mile Drive. For those of you that don't know, it is a drive through an exclusive neighborhood along the California coast and features a well known icon, the Lone Cypress. Jabon got some pictures of it, but since he hasn't been able to get through his pictures yet, here is one I snagged off the internet:

After that, we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was really awesome and was exciting to see. Cody's favorite thing was the sharks and Brett swears that was his as well (but I think that's because he wants to be like Cody). We ate dinner at a local joint and then drove out to Hollister, a small town Jabon grew up in. We had some trouble getting onto the right highway but we eventually made it up there. He had a great time down Memory Lane!

Tuesday we got up early and headed to Big Basin Redwood State Park to check out the big trees. I have always wanted to see them and I was not disappointed! They are incredible! We went on a small hike and saw the Mother and Father of the Forest, two of the largest trees there. I think the Mother was about 320 ft tall, she was the biggest. She was 70 ft in diameter, while the Father was 66 ft. I asked Cody why he thought the momma was bigger. He didn't know, so I gave him my conclusion: after the momma has all her babies, she's usually fat. I was feeling bloated and crappy since I hadn't exercised in a few days and I guess that came out in my comments! We also went on another hike to see a waterfall. It was pretty, but the short hike we took was a killer: Straight up the hillside at about a 70 degree angle!

After the redwoods, we drove to Santa Cruz and started hitting the northern beaches all the way back to our hotel (we were staying in Marina). It was such a beautiful day! Sunday and Monday were both pretty foggy, but we could see the ocean for many miles on Tuesday. For dinner, we decided to go eat on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. We stopped at a small restaurant on the pier and Jabon finally got his seafood he has been craving since we decided to go to California! I actually tasted the lobster and was quite surprised by how good it tasted. That said, I would never order one for myself. I have too strong of a mental block about eating seafood. It was garnished with caviar, and Jabon and I both sampled it. It was really salty. Not too bad, but definitely not too good, either. After dinner, we walked the pier a bit and got cotton candy at a local candy shop.

This was Ashton's first trip, and overall he did pretty well. Of course he cried while we drove and I so badly wanted to just get him out of his car seat and set him on my lap! Normally, Ashton goes to sleep really easily at home: I just get him ready for bed, feed him a bottle, then lay him in his crib and turn on his music. Unfortunately, this did not happen at the hotel. I had to rock him to sleep the first 2 nights we were in CA. He got better the 3rd night, but I turned on the radio in the room to help him sleep. I read The Host, by Stephenie Meyer to Jabon during the drive. He enjoyed the story, but Ashton must not have. Anytime I started to speak, Ashton would talk back. If I stopped, so would he. When he got really grumpy and loud, we turned on a CD for him and he would fall asleep to Tom Petty.

Sadly, we had to return to reality and came home Wednesday so Jabon and I could get back to work on Thursday. Jabon's first day back to work he was going to be told if he would be affected by Intel's lay-offs. Thankfully, when he had his meeting with his boss today, he was told his job was safe and he would not be laid off. It's unfortunate that we had to go on vacation with the dread of possibly being laid off on our minds, but we are so grateful that he still has his job!

Below is a short slideshow of some of the pictures I took. Like I said, Jabon took some pictures (okay MANY pictures). When he's gone through them, he'll post them onto his blog, so check them out when you've got a chance. He does a great job!

New things with me

It's been a little over a week, so I guess I should let you all know what's going on.

Cody has been sick this whole week. He only went to school on Friday. He was suffering from a fever, up to 102, and a slightly sore throat. The nice thing was Jabon has every Monday and Tuesday off, so he was home with him then. I took of Wednesday so Jabon could get into work. I took Cody into the doctor that day and had him checked for strep. The in-office test came back negative, but the doctor sent another swab out for a more thorough test. By Friday, Cody was feeling better, but that evening the doctor called and said that the other strep test came back positive. I told him it seemed like that was a late April Fools, since Cody was feeling better. So even though he's feeling fine, he's taking antibiotics. I'm just glad his fever is gone!

While we were at the doctor's office for Cody, Jabon texted me and said he was at Intel's nurses office, because he was not feeling well. They diagnosed him with a bronchial virus. We guess Ashton passed it onto him. Jabon was stubborn and went back to work Wednesday, but his boss sent him home and told him not to return until at least Friday. Jabon was given the same treatments that Ashton had to have.

Speaking of Ashton, he was using the nebulizer every day from Friday until Tuesday. It made a vast improvement on his breathing and I think by Wednesday he had finally kicked that virus. He's doing much better. He's been growing very big and was last weighed in at 18 lbs and 8 ounces. He is getting so tall that his feet are starting to hang over the edge of his car seat. He is finally willing to spend some time on the floor, but hates being on his belly, so he's not very interested in rolling over yet. He is interested in sticking his tongue out frequently, though. It's pretty cute, because he's got a very skinny tongue.

Brett has been having a hard time this last week. He is so jealous of the fact that all the other boys in the family have been sick and have gotten to go to the doctor and get medicine. He kept telling me, "Don't worry, Mom. I'll get sick soon!" He's a crazy one, I tell ya. I was watching General Conference the last few days and at one point Brett was watching with me when President Monson was speaking. I told Brett that this man was the prophet of our church and his name is Thomas S. Monson. His eyes got very big and he said, "Like my Thomas train!!" Later on, when President Monson was back on the screen, I asked Brett if he remembered this man's name. He said, "It's Thomas!" It was incredibly cute!

Gotta go. I've got a grumpy baby I need to care for.

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth...

I guess it's been a while since I've blogged since my husband asked me when I was going to do a new post. I just got lazy. I was enjoying my Spring Break, even though we didn't go anywhere and I still had to work. But it was nice not having to do homework every single night of the week!

Ashton is 5 months now. He's talking a lot. And by that I mean he's doing the baby talk where he screeches and just makes noises. He is still recovering from the stinkin' bronchial virus he got, but he just has a little bit of a cough left and is doing better. Saturday I learned that a family in our church lost their 5th child, an 8 month old baby boy, to SIDS. He was totally and perfectly healthy and passed away this last Thursday morning. This news really hit me and I had a hard time getting over this even though I don't know the family. Every time I looked at Ashton for the next 48 hours I would get all teary eyed and want to cry. I kept thinking that Ashton could go that easily and that he lost what could have been his little buddy. (I'm obviously still emotional from being pregnant). The Relief Society sent out on email with the family's blog because it had the funeral information on it. There was a picture of the mom holding her son, with dad next to her, just before the coroner took him away. Okay, it's obviously still affecting me, because I gotta switch subjects before I cry.

Here is a picture of my 3 baby boys. See how nicely Cody tans? Just like Peter. Lucky kid.
Brett and Cody are doing good, too. Cody is registered for the next season of football already, even though it doesn't start until August. Brett has been learning new things and having preschool time with the lady who watches the kids for me, 'Babysitter' Lori. He's really enjoying that.

Jabon still has a job, thank goodness. I guess his group's layoffs start in 2 weeks. One good thing is one of the general managers knows him by name (which is nice considering it's all for poitive things and there are 1000's of people who work at his location). This GM told him the other day that he has great things in store for Jabon. So, as long as this GM doesn't get fired, Jabon's job should be okay, too!

As for me, I am re-pledging to exercise. I have only done it once in about 4 weeks--and I was doing so good, too!! But I have been trying to focus on school and studying more than I have earlier in the semester. The nice thing is, my weight hasn't changed, so at least it has not gone up. Hey, I gotta look on the bright side of things.

A Sunday Full of Blessings

Today our family got to partake in two blessings. Ashton received a blessing for healing. He's been fighting bronchiolitis for a few weeks now and has been on albuterol since then. I always enjoy listening to blessings and appreciate the gentlemen who administered his today.

The other blessing our family received today was Jabon being ordained a Priest. We are both really happy about his advancement in the Priesthood and I am especially proud. He's such a good man and his blessing/ordination was very touching and full of wonderful things.

We have a goal to attend the temple together and be sealed as a couple and as a family and this was a very big step for us.

We are all excited and wanted to share that with our friends and family.