Life after Marriage......

more house pics......

2011-08-22T20:34:00.001-07:00

We have moved!!!

2011-08-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

Last friday (august12th we closed on our first home. WE are so very excited to have our own place where there will be no 6 month inspections or get told weekly to trim the grass and pull the weeds!!! So here are a few pictures as we get settled in. I have yet to take pictures of the second floor but here are some of the main level.

Elijah's birthday weekend

2011-05-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Elijah is already one (April 27th) On the 29th Tayva had a dance competition up NOrth in Provo so we decided to have Elijah's birthday celebration up there so I would have a chance to get together with friends/family I have not seen in a while. One of my very good friends and her two girls came up with us and it was a lot of fun. We rented a mini van (we figured we needed a test drive in case we need one in the future!!!). The three girls sat in the back and made key chains and played their nintendo DS games. We celebrated Elijah's birthday at my friend Tonia's house. She made a lot of yummy food and a girl that I know in cedar made Elijah's adorable curious george cake. We had a lot of fun and it was so fun watching Elijah destroy his cake. Tayva did really well at her dance competition. Two of her dances came in 2nd place and I"m not sure about the third. We also got our pictures done at Kiddie Kandids. It was a very nice and much needed get away weekend. Oh and of course our mini vacation wasn't complete without eating at the cheesecake factory! :)

Too cute......Just had to share!!!

2011-04-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we were at my friends house and Elijah took a little tumble on their fire place mantle and had to have a few stitches. He was such a trooper. It didn't even phase him while the stitches were in and his eye was swollen. He was still his little curious self ALL over the place.

Here is Elijah at his first trip to the park. He loved the swings

Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T20:40:00.001-08:00

Seasonal Chic 2010 Christmas 5x7 folded card

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Emmit's first trip to california/disneyland

2010-12-21T06:56:00.001-08:00

My parents got an offer to stay at the Marriott's Newport Beach Coast Villas if they would listen to the time share presentation. They were offered a two bedroom condo so they invited our family. Emmitt had never been to california or Disneyland so we were excited to go. My dad rented a minivan and off we went. We spent a day at disneyland and another day at California adventure with my uncle who works for Disney. We had a wonderful time. Except when we were in the car--Elijah HATES being in his carseat. I hated to leave our place we were staying at. Our bathroom shower had to shower heads. I told my husband if we ever build a house I want a His/hers shower!!! ha ha.

Our Trip to Houston

2010-11-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

We decided we needed to go to Texas before Elijah started walking! So we booked our reservation and spent a week away from reality to let Emmitt's family meet Elijah and get to know Tayva and I better since we have not been out there since we got married. We had a wonderful time with only a few minor problems with having a flat tire and getting horrible customer service from the car rental place--Basically they rented us a car that did not have the tools to fix the flat and because of the type of car it was the tow company could not help us either. And at first the rental place was going to make us pay for the car to get towed even though they rented us a car without all the equipment. If the stuff would have been in the car, emmitt could have done it all by himself. So I called them and threw a fit and they said they would send out a new car but it would be two hours (it was already 11 pm by now!!)) then they give us a much smaller car than we paid for and would not reimburse us. So we will never rent from them again. But it was so much fun seeing all of his family and going back to Keemah where we got married. Hopefully we can make another trip out there next year as well. I really enjoy his family. His twin sister is so much fun and hillarious.

Sealed

2010-06-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

On June 19th our family was sealed in the Oquirrh Mountain temple. It was such a wonderful experience and we were blessed to have many family and friends there to support us!!! The following day my cousin toured us around temple square. Tayva adores my cousin Mary and we all had such a wonderful time with her.
The missionary who baptized Emmitt in Texas last year was able to attend our sealing as well which sort of tied everything up for his conversion.

Getting Sealed

2010-06-12T02:16:00.000-07:00

Well I just wanted to say that after a year of being married Emmitt and I, along with our two children are going to be getting sealed in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple on June 19th. We are so very excited and blessed that things went so smoothly to allow Tayva to be sealed to Emmitt and I. It could have been a lot harder to have that happen but her biological father was very cooperative and sent us the letter of permission for this to happen!!! Emmitt took out his endowments last Saturday-June 5th and Elijah was blessed by my father the next day. (with Emmitt being a new convert he still was not comfortable blessing Elijah in front of so many people) we are loving having our little man home with us and can't believe he is already 7 weeks old. Tayva is having the time of her life with her new brother.and will actually ASK to change his diaper at times!!! She is such a wonderful "little mother" and is such a big help during the day when my husband has to sleep from working the night before.

Here he is!!!! (it's a long one but worth it)

2010-05-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Here he is!!!! Elijah was born April 27th at 1:11 pm. I had a prenatal appointment the day before and my blood pressure was super high from the pre-eclampsia so dr sent me to labor and delivery for further testing and I was told to pack my bags and return at midnight. I was super nervous since we weren't expecting to come in until april 30th. Well they started the induction by giving me cytotec. Three hours later I hadn't made any progress so they repeated it. 2 hours later I was dilated to almost a 5 and the nurse suggested I get my epidural. later on the doctor came in and broke my water and everything happened so fast after that. My epidural did not provide pain relief from my belly button down so I felt every contraction and ended up delivery this little guy feeling every bit of it!!! good thing he was only 6 pounds 7 ounces. In fact I had the urge to push for a while and the nurse said she thought it was too soon until she checked me. Then she panicked and told the doctor to hurry over. When he got to the room I said "You better hurry cuz I've got to push" Within a couple pushes he was here!!! He was so adorable and Tayva was in Heaven with him. She couldn't get enough of him!!! Emmitt got to cut the cord and give him his first bath. Later that night the pediatritian came in and checked him over. What we thought was an umbilical hernia the doctor wasn't convinced. He was concerned it was an omphalocele and wanted a second opinion. Since our hospital is so small surgery there would not be an option. The doctor returned after calling primary childrens and our little man ended up being life flighted to primary childrens hospital for immediate surgery. We were torn apart. Tayva could not stop crying as she watched her new little brother get taken away and Emmitt and I could not hold in our emotions either. My doctor came in the next morning and discharged me and we rushed up to salt lake to be with Elijah. The surgery ended up being necessary as not only did he have an omphalocele but he also had a volvulus which is where the intestines are twisted. So the doctors fixed his intestines, removed his appendix to prevent future problems and put the intestines that were pushing outside of his belly button back in and stitched him up. The doctor was also kind enough to circumcize him while he was already under anestesia!!! He was on a breathing machine for three days and last night they removed it and I got to hold him for the first time since the day he was born. Now we just have to reteach him how to feed. They estimate he will be there about 2-4 weeks for recovery. Everyone tells me how lucky Elijah is because if the doctor would have not caught it and i would have nursed him a lot more his little intestines would have been blocked and it could have been a LOT more serious. I am so greatful that the pediatrician was humble enough to want a second opinion. It's been a rough week but we are so pleased with the outcome and knowing our little man will make a quick recovery and we can soon bring him home.

Sorry no cute pictures with this one!!!

2010-04-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well I just wanted to say that we are having our little man even sooner than expected. Tonight we will go in and start the induction. We were supposed to have the baby friday which is still three weeks early but at my prenatal appointment today my blood pressure was pretty outrageous and I had a headache so to prevent further complications with my preeclampsia the doctor wants to induce tonight. So I am extremely scared but I will have faith that all will go well.

baby shower 4/17/2010

2010-04-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post some pictures from my baby shower that a good friend of mine from Salt Lake planned for me. She drove all the way down here and did an amazing job. She should really consider being a party planner/caterer for a living (she also provided the food and such at my wedding reception) I definately have to say I was spoiled and was so blessed to be around good friends (some drove as far as Salt lake and Las Vegas) It was good to see everyone since bed rest has left me in the dark for the past few weeks!!!

Dead at 40??????

2010-01-20T03:26:00.000-08:00

Last night when Tayva was getting ready for bed she was telling me about all the girls in her class that had "boyfriends" I asked her if she had one. She said "NO way--I don't want one" So I told her good. You should probably wait until your 40 before you get a boyfriend. Her response: "40??????? I'll be dead by then!!!! " I could not help but laugh my head off as I proceded to tell her the people in her life that were about to be 40!!!!

10 Questions God won't ask........

2010-01-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

So my friend sent this to me in an e-mail. It was perfect for me because many times I am guilty of comparing myself to others and wishing I had "more" But then I have to stop and remember how blessed I have been to be able to have Tayva in my life and a new husband and all my friends that I have been able to continue to keep contact with over the years. So I thought I would post it for others to see but also to have on hand during my "down" times. Here it goes:

10 Questions God Won't Ask
1. God won't ask what kind of car you drove, He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.
2. God won't ask the square footage of your house, He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.
3. God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet, He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.
4. God won't ask what your highest salary was, He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.
5. God won't ask what your job title was, He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of our ability.
6. God won't ask how many friends you had, He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.
7. God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived, He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.
8. God won't ask about the color of your skin, He'll ask about the content of your character.
9. God won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation, He'll lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven, and not to the gates of Hell.
10. God won't ask how many people you shared this with, He'll ask if you were ashamed to.

Little children, let us not love in word or speech,but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18-24

our ultrasound

2009-12-30T01:31:00.001-08:00

Well here are a couple pictures of Elijah Carter in utero. She said baby is still measuring about 6 days smaller than original due date which just means I probably conceived later in my cycle since every ultrasound has been consistant with that. So Original due date: may 20th. but could be as late as the 26th!!! I just wanna hold this little baby. Tayva is so very excited. She is helping me pick out outfits and asked if she gets to feed him sometimes. I still haven't convinced her to change his diaper yet but maybe when he's born it will change!!! (doubt it)

Is it a????????

2009-12-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

Well Husband finally caved in and decided he wants to be part of shopping for this little baby and wants to know the gender of our baby. I haven't posted what we are having before because I didnt' want it to get back to him somehow!!! But since he now knows I can tell everyone that we are having a little BOY!!!!

Something to think about!!!

2009-11-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who have facebook you probably know by now I had some problems in the beginning of my pregnancy a few weeks ago. Well the other day I was at the hospital with Tayva waiting to get some lab work done for my 12 week appointment and Tayva turns to me out of the blue and said "Mom, I finally figured out why you were bleeding a couple weeks ago" (for those who do not know I started bleeding at about 5 weeks and it lasted about 10 days) Anxious to hear what she had to say I let her continue: You were bleeding so much because the baby was getting lots of bloody noses!!!! Now why couldn't my doctor figure that one out!!!

No- pictures just words

2009-09-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone who reads this I just wanted to let you know that we're expecting!!!! Yippie. My due date is tentatively May 22nd (but that can always change) We are all so very excited.

Funny for the day!!!!!

2009-08-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

LADY'S YEARLY EXAM
I went to the doctor for my yearly physical.
The nurse started with certain basics;
"How much do you weigh?" she asked.
"135," I said.
The nurse put me on the scale. It turns out my weight is 180.
The nurse asked, "Your height?"
"5 foot 4," I said.
The nurse checked and saw that I only measure
5' 2"
She then took my blood pressure and told me that it is very high.
"Of course it's high!" I screamed, 'When I came in here I was tall
and slender! Now I'm short and fat!"
She put me on Prozac.

2009-07-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well I know it's been almost a month since I got married but I wanted to show a couple pic's from my reception. I'm going through all the wedding photo's in texas so it will be a bit longer before I have the actual ceremony posted. These pics were taken by my uncle dean from california.

Getting married........

2009-04-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

So here is our wedding announcement that I will be mailing out later this week or so. I don't have very many of your guys' addresses so PLEASE send me your address so you can get one in the mail!!!

The moment I have been waiting for is here..........

2009-03-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

Well as several of you know already Emmitt has "popped" the question.. We are going to get married in Texas June 13th and have an open house reception in Cedar June 20th. I know it's coming up quickly and I will get invites out as well but all are welcome to attend either or both events!!!! I went to Texas last week to see Emmitt get babtized. He had an amazing service. The speakers were outstanding and I could really feel the love and support the ward had for him. I'm so excited to be sealed to him in the temple next June!!!

Getting caught up with life.......

2009-01-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Winter Everyone.

So this year I was not able to get christmas cards out since I had a visitor!!!! Some of you are dying to hear about whats going on in my life lately so here it goes. The guy in the picture is Emmitt. We actually met when I lived in Korea years and years ago. He was in the army and I was in high school. Well as the army would have it he got transferred to Oklahoma and my father got transferred to Northern VA. We kept in touch for a while but life took us in seperate directions and we eventually lost touch----until last year. A friend of mine convinced me to get a my space account and within a couple months my best friend from elementary school and Emmitt both found me. He currently lives in Texas. We have been talking on the phone for several months and then he came to visit over Thanksgiving and then again over christmas and new years. Tayva has him wrapped around her finger and in some ways I believe she thinks he came out here specifically for her!!!! I don't know how she does it (maybe it's her big brown eyes) but she managed to get him to play her favorite game "pretty pretty princess" and she also talked him into painting his fingernails and toenails. She was disappointed that he wouldn't wear the polish to church the next morning though!!!!! Thank goodness for nail polish remover!! So as of right now the plan is for him to move out here. I have lived in Texas before and i don't do heat or humidity. His father is in the hospital right now so he will be in Texas at least until things get better for his family out there. And I know everyone is asking if there are wedding plans and to that YES we have talked marriage. He is actually going to start the missionary discussions this week and has a desire to be baptised already so if things are meant to be with us we'll probably tie the knot later this year!!!

Our DisneyWorld adventure and Cruise

2008-12-24T23:37:00.001-08:00

So this year our family decided to spend the christmas season in Florida and the Bahamas on a disney cruise. We had a lot of fun. Coming back was an adventure. We flew from colorado to salt lake only to be flown back to colorado due to the airport being closed indefinately!!! We stayed at the denver airport for six hours before we could fly back to salt lake city. The only other mishap was the last couple of days tayva developed this horrible cough. I didn't have my stethescope on me but I could hear wheezes when i listened to her back with my ear so when i got back to cedar i took her to the doctor and she had a really bad ear infection and the dr also said she had RSV. I am not sure about the RSV i bet she had bronchitis or pneumonia. But anywho I had to purchase a nebulizer machine and she is doing treatments every six hours on top of taking a couple different antibiotics and steroids. Well I will tell more about the cruise later. I just wanted to hurry and post some pics. We had a blast. My brother, tayva and i had one stateroom and my parents and uncle had another stateroom on the boat. I'm already planning my next cruise with some friends for the near future!!!

Tayva gets glasses

2008-12-03T16:58:00.001-08:00

So this past year tayva has been bumping into things more frequently and not enjoyed reading as much and having a hard time jumping down to the next line. I decided it was time to get her eyes examined. Well the dr said she has great vision but has an astigmatism in both her eyes. He said that glasses should correct the problem within a year. We also found out that she is not color blind----which makes me question her taste in clothing then since sometimes I wish could follow her to school and announce that I had nothing to do with her wardrobe. Anyhowzers, here she is. She thinks and feels so smart now. She better after a pair of Hannah montana glasses and a 180 dollar eye visit. Yikes. I told her we were going to be eating rice for the next few weeks!!!!

2008-11-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

Every year the high school has a craft fair and Dancers from different companies are able to perform. This year tayva is on the Junior company and so far is really loving it. She does miss her friends that she danced with on mini company last year but is making a lot of new friends with her new team!!!!

2008-11-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

For Halloween this year I decided to be a "plus size" Victoria's Secret Model!!! (since anything above size 00 is considered plus size in their eyes! :) ) Two of my CNA's wore their clothes inside out and did a few other fun things with their attire that I will leave unmentioned to spare their dignity!! I took the first 4 hours of work off to take tayva trick or treating. Our church had a carnival and then "trunk-or-treat" in the church parking lot so Tayva hit the jackpot early on with candy. We stopped at a couple other houses to see her friends and then I took her over to my parents so she could help my dad pass out candy--that has become a tradition for the two of them. My dad and Tayva have so much fun racing to the door--actually my dad has slowed down his pace over the past couple years-ha ha.

Tayva got these goggles at the halloween carnival and she put them on and started doing this crazy dance. It was so funny. I could not stop laughing. She is always doing silly stuff to make me laugh. Never a dull moment with her. OR at work for that matter with my fun crazy CNA's that make the night go by so much nicer.

This is Amber, April and me right before our workout at work one night. we decided on our lunch break we were going to "sweat" with some hip hop video. It was hillarious. Good thing most of the residents were sleeping...........It's amazing the crazy things we come up with at two in the morning at Kolob Regional!!!!

Halloween Carnival

2008-10-25T21:32:00.001-07:00

Well today was a long yet very fun day for Tayva and me. I promised her I would take her to the pumpkin festival this morning at 10 am and then go to her school halloween carnival later this afternoon. I worked all night but decided that if I tried to sleep for a couple hours when I got home I would not want to wake up so I just stayed awake all day so that we could have this fun outing with her best friends and their mom (one of my best friends-Kim) Enjoy the pictures. Tayva wanted to be a Zombie Cheerleader this halloween but when I finally had the money to buy it online it was sold out everywhere.....so this past week I went to St. George to find her a "very scary" (that was her criteria) costume while she was in school. I decided the vampire costume would have to do after going to about 5 different stores. It worked out perfectly for me since I am such a Twilite Junkie!!!! Yes I was actually lame enough to request 11-21st off of work to go to the movie opening night---but that's a whole other story in itself!!! Goodnight everyone. After being up for over 32 hours straight now I am signing out.

Baptism-October 11th at 0500 pm

2008-10-13T01:41:00.000-07:00

Well this was a very special day for my little girl. She made the decision to be baptized. My dad was so thrilled and honored to baptize and confirm her a member of the church. One thing that I will always remember about this day is that is snowed. I told Tayva it snowed to remind her of how pure she would be when coming out of the water. After the baptism we went out to eat. She stated that she wanted to be baptized again. I explained that you only needed to do it once and then after that there was the gift of repentence and being forgiven. She said "well i just want to be baptized again because the water was soooooooooo warm!!!!"

Fiesta Fun

2008-10-13T00:45:00.000-07:00

So Tayva decided to have her birthday party at fiesta fun this year. These are some of her cute friends that were able to attend. My dad sure had fun teaching all those girls how to play minature golf!!!!

My little girl is growing up so fast.......

2008-10-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

Tayva was born at 7:57 am on September 24th, 2000 and this was taken at 7:57 am on her birthday eight years later.

The night of her birthday her best friend

pulled out her upper tooth. One week earlier

her same friend pulled out the other tooth.

Rehearsal for audition

2008-08-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

2008-08-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

Best Friends Forever

The only 2 setbacks to this school are that they do not provide a hot lunch and they do not bus the students. The second one is fine since I always took tayva to school last year. I just hope I can remember to make her a lunch every day.

Tayva's first day of school.

2008-08-21T15:57:00.001-07:00

Ashley, Tayva, and Sienna were best friends in Kindergarden and here they are still friends three years later!!!! These next two are from Tayva's audition for Junior Dance company

So I enrolled Tayva to attend the new Charter school that opened this year. She was supposed to start on the 18th but the fire marshall said that there was not enough water pressure in the hydrants outside the school so there was a delay in starting. However because parents had already anticipated school starting the school was nice enough to provide a "day camp" for the children at SUU for three days. Tayva started her first day of third grade today and had so much fun.

Nursing Boards

2008-07-02T17:54:00.001-07:00

So as most of you probably know by now I did not pass my nursing boards. However, I did have fun with my friend Kim and her kids that came on the trip with me and also my friend Tara and her kids that live in vegas. And the good thing about not passing is that I will get to go to Vegas again in a month. This time to pass for sure.

2008-07-02T17:52:00.001-07:00

2008-07-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

2008-05-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

Me and the fam!!!

This is my squishy girl!!!

Nikie, Me, And Megan C
Jamie, Meg and Me
These were the guys in my class. They made nursing class worth going to!!!

The backrow girls!!! Megan, Whitney and Amber
My good friend Kim who was always there encouraging
me and helping with tayva!!!!

Graduation

2008-04-18T14:05:00.001-07:00

I am graduating in two weeks from Nursing School. I am so excited!!!!