Amber
So I doubt many people even read this I rarely update….but I need to vent for a min. I’ve decided I’m having one of those girly days and I say that because as far as I know I don’t know many guys that feel the way I feel right now or would at least admit to feeling it. 
I miss home…don’t get me wrong I’ve grown to love where I’m at, I have tons of great friends, the girls have tons of friends, we love our house/yard things are really great and I don’t have much to complain about and I’ve been very blessed, but today I miss home or at least my old home. I miss being close to family and the open spaces and the slower pace that I feel when I’m at home. I hate missing all the family things and not being apart of all the craziness. Okay I think I’ve got it out! Luckily I booked our tickets to go out this summer and it can’t come soon enough!
On a happier note, I’m really going to try to keep up with this. I think that’s part of my problem right now. I miss being on top of things the way I used to be. I feel so behind in so many areas of my life and I feel like things just keep getting crazier and I’ll never catch up so I’ve decided to take baby steps to hopefully make my life feel more put together. Wish me luck! (And to you that might read this thanks! Hopefully there will be more to read more often and I can be better at keeping you up to date on our lives. )
So ever since General Conference last month I have been thinking about everything that I’m blessed with. Some of the talks really made an impression on me. Plus it’s Thanksgiving here in a week and half and well it will be the first Thanksgiving that we aren’t surrounded by other family. This year we’re staying home and doing our own Thanksgiving (I won’t lie I’m a little intimidated with the Thanksgiving feast thing…) anyway back to the real reason I started writing…I have just been reflecting on everything I have to be grateful for especially my family. I have a wondering and loving husband who works so hard for me and the girls, I’m SO lucky! I have two beautiful and amazing girls. I never thought I could be so lucky. We have some friends that have had some challenges with their kids in one way or another and even though we have the “typical 2 year old” she really is a good girl and I love Emma dearly. And while most people don’t know this we had a scare with Ashleigh while I was pregnant with her, it turned out to be nothing but it was such a relief when she was born and there really wasn’t any problems. Now to have this wonderful and happy 5 month old, it just really is amazing. We know we are truly blessed to have healthy and happy girls. I have an amazing family both my family and John’s. I don’t know where I would be without their love and support. I have just really felt strongly how much my life really is blessed and I hope that I can always remember that!!
Now I know there are some of you wanting to see Halloween pics of the girls…yes Rachel I know I’ve been killing you not posting this…SORRY!!! (Just an explanation of Emma’s costume…it was a little big and falling off her shoulders because we had to buy the 3/4T size as we tried the 2T size and they didn’t even cover her diaper she was so tall so to get one tall enough we had to go up and well it was to big but at least it covered her bum!) Halloween was fun, we spent the night before at our ward Trunk-or-Treat. Emma had a BLAST and got more than enough candy. Sunday (Halloween) we went over to John’s parent’s house and had dinner with his parents, his Aunt & Uncles on his Dad’s side, as well as some other relatives. It was a fun evening. John weighed and carved his pumpkin that he grew….yes it was 88 lbs and he is very proud of it! We made doughnuts and just really had a lot of fun together.
One last thing that I’m really excited about….this past weekend we (mostly John) put new blinds in on the main floor. The blinds that were up when we moved in were to put it lightly disgusting and I’m so happy to have new blinds up, not to mention the past couple of weeks I’ve got new things in the house, a coat rack, key holder, new picture decorations…basically I feel like my house is becoming mine and even though I’m not the greatest decorator I’m pretty happy with the way it’s coming together! I don’t have pics yet of the many things we’ve done but I’ll work on getting those posted as I know some of you have wanted to see how it’s coming along! Look for those soon….I hope!
To end I just want to say THANKS to everyone (friends and family) for your friendship….it’s really meant a lot, and more than likely I’ve been thinking about you the last couple of weeks!!
So a few weeks ago (Oct 9th-13th) my sister Amy, sister-in-law Bethany, and I decided to surprise my Dad for his birthday. Whenever we talked to him about what he wanted for his birthday he would say to see his grand kids. So we all loaded into my sister’s van, 3 adults and 5 kids, and headed to California. We drove the 12 hour drive in one day. We left about 10:30 and got there about the same time that evening. They were so surprised when we got there, it was well worth the drive. We were able to spend Friday through Sunday with them ( we went on Thursday and drove home on Monday). I’m glad we were able to give my dad what he wanted if it was only for a few days, and it was good for me to spend time with them as I’ll be moving to Virginia here in a month and half so my time with them these past few months has been special. While we were there we got to go downtown to San Fransisco on Sat and go to the aquarium as well as a bay tour. While we were out on the boat they were having a celebration for Columbus day and the Blue Angels were there so they were flying overhead as we took a tour of the bay. Very cool…but also very loud! It was a great time!
I’m so grateful for John for letting me and encouraging me to go. He is such a sweetheart. Not only did he let me leave for 5 days but when I got home the house was clean and I had flowers waiting on the table for me. He’s the greatest!!!
Hope you enjoy the pictures from our adventure! (For more pictures you can go to my sister (Dan & Amy’s) blog to see the ones she posted!)
aren’t the flowers gorgeous! Thanks John! I LOVE YOU!
Last Wednesday we had the most interesting night. It all started when John called me on his way home from school saying he needed picked up. He’s been riding his bike to school to try to save some money. Well when I get out or neighborhood there he is hobbling across the street from the Provo River trail. Turns out he was thinking about something other than riding his bike and ended up catching his handlebar in the fence along the trail and went up over his handlebars. Needless to say his leg is pretty beat up. Thankfully he didn’t land on his head!
Later on that evening I was trying to make dinner and I slipped with a knife and cut the tip of my finger pretty bad. When we couldn’t get it to stop bleeding I decided I probably needed stitches, so off we headed to the urgent care facility. It only took three stitches! Almost worse than the stitches was the tetanus shot they made me get as I had no idea when I had gotten my last one. Note to all…remember your tetanus shots…you don’t want to get more than you need!
That’s right…Emma turned two months on Amber’s Birthday. So it was an exciting day for both girls. John had school, all day so Amber and Emma just chilled till he got home. He wasn’t home for long when he took Amber out for a relaxing evening. He bought her some sessions of tanning (since she was pregnant and couldn’t get the tan she wanted this summer ), a hour massage, and dinner at one of her favorite restaurants the Olive Garden. He’s the prefect husband! It turned out to be the perfect evening and Emma was perfect! She didn’t fuss at all…all night!
This past weekend for conference Amber tried something new…she made homemade bread…it was her first attempt and it turned out pretty good. She also made cinnamon rolls for the Sunday Morning Session. Luckily they turned out too! So she’s working on become more domestic as she gets to spend her days at home!
Some other exciting news about Emma…
- She’s sleeping through the night…and has been for a little over a month now.
- She just rolled over…yesterday! She can roll from her tummy to her back (she’s growing up way to fast)
- She’s started to giggle…it’s so cute you poke her in the belly and she has the cute little giggle…I love it!
- She loves standing, I almost think she’s going to skip the whole crawling thing and go straight to walking as much as she loves to be on her feet.
- At her two month check up she weight 11 lbs 9 oz. She went from the 14 % to 72%…she isn’t hurting in the weight category.
- We bought her a toy that she can lay on the floor and play with and she loves it! She’ll play with it for an hour or so at a time without getting upset at all.
- We moved from the sling in her tub to putting her straight in the tub and she’s loving her baths more than ever! She just splashes around and has so much fun!
- She is the center of her parents’ lives and they love her SO much…just wanted everyone to know that!
So Amber graduated or rather walked in April. She won’t officially graduate until August but with her parents leaving on a mission and the baby coming in August walking in April was the better option. Rachel (John’s Sister), Mandy (Amber’s Best Friend), and Amber all graduated from the same college. It was nice to spend time with family and friends. Even though the formal process of graduating is over, Amber can’t wait to finish her last three classes and really graduate!
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Before the semester ended and all of Amber’s freshman roommates headed off on their separate ways, we all got to together at the Mayan and had dinner together. We all graduated at the same time…probably doesn’t happen very often. It was really fun to get together one last time and we were able to all get together and take pictures in our caps and gowns. These girls are awesome! We’ve had a lot of memories and a lot fun!
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John took Amber out to dinner at their new favorite Italian restaurant Carabba’s. Afterwards she came home to one of her favorite cakes, Strawberry Cake, made by her mother-in-law and sent by her mother. Not only that but both sets of parents spoiled her with presents. As did her husband who got tickets to King’s Dominion.
