The Bigham Family

Holidays 2011

2012-02-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

We had a rough start to our holidays this year. Vaughn's Grandpa Charlie passed away on November 19th. He was a fun man to talk to. He was full of stories about his amazing past. He always called Layla "Tyke" We are going to miss him greatly. During the funeral services I noticed a robin sitting outside the window as if he were listening to the talks. He stayed through the whole thing till the end and flew away. I decided it was Grandpa Charlie listening in.

Thanksgiving this year was pretty low key. We had dinner with Vaughn's family. I made the turkey this year. I made the famous turkey that I won Vaughn's heart with when we first were dating. It turned out wonderful.

Starting the 28th of November I took a "vacation" from my business. It was my birthday week and I decided I deserved it. I started it off just right by going to the spa for the day. Oh it was so wonderful! We celebrated my birthday early with the family since I was going to be gone on my birthday. I got a new stove! I was so very excited. Our old stove was so tiny you couldn't fit a pizza pan in it. In order to fit the new stove in Vaughn had to do some remodeling of the kitchen counters. It turned out great.

On my birthday I hopped on a plane and flew down to New Mexico. I went to go visit my birth children. I went by myself. I flew into Albuqurue which was a 3 hour drive from where my birth children live in Roswell. I rented a car and spent the night at a hotel since the weather was bad. In the morning I had a very scary drive down to Roswell because New Mexico does not know what a snow plow is. I was praying the whole way. Once I got into Roswell I got a little lost because my map was wrong. But eventually I found their house and Kendrick was outside in the driveway hullahooping.

My visit with my birth children and their family was amazing. We had such good times reconnecting. I am so proud of them. They are beautiful and so smart.

And Silly!

For Christmas I made them an advent claender of sorts. They had 24 fun gifts to open. Here are the fun straw glasses!

It was so hard to leave but I am so glad I got the opportunity to spend time with them.

It was hard to believe it was Christmas time this year. We had such a warm winter so far and hardly any snow. To get us into the holiday spirit I bought us tickets to ride on the North Pole Express. Both Layla and I LOVE trains. She was so excited when we got there and realized what we were doing. It was a great experience and a great memory. I think we will do it every year now.

The train took us to the North Pole where Layla got to meet Santa and tell him she wants a trip to Jamaica. All she got was a jingle bell. She wasn't quite sure about him but she was pretty excited he gave her something. While we were on the train they had a high school choir sing carols and served us yummy hot chocolate.

Layla had a blast!

Christmas morning when Layla woke up I told her Santa had come and she somehow knew exactly what I meant and ran straight for the tree. She said "WOW!" It was precious! She got pretty spoiled this year. It took her all day to open her presents. She would open one and want to play with and not open any others.

After we opened a few presents we got all dressed up and went to my dads for breakfast and went to church. Then came home and opened more. For dinner we went to Vaughn's parents house and opened even more presents. We were all spoiled this year.

The Wednesday after Christmas we headed down to sunny Mesa, AZ. We drove down and Layla did amazing. It was in the 70s the whole time we were down there. We went down to Mesa to attend Vaughn's cousin, Kelson's wedding. We stayed with Vaughn's sister Maren and her family. The wedding reception was held outside at night and it still felt great! As always it was so fun to hang out with all the cousins and their kids. Layla had a blast playing with her cousins and her "other" cousins :)

We were still in Arizona for New Years eve. Vaughn's mom watched Layla for us and we went over to Vaughn's cousin Andrea's house. It was pretty cool to sit outside around the fire and roast marshmallows on New years Eve.

We hope you all had great Holiday season and Happy 2012!

Fall Time

2011-11-19T23:13:00.000-08:00

Even though I was sad to see summer leave I was very happy to say hello to fall. Fall is my favorite season. It never lasts very long though.

Vaughn's brother Mat graduated from schooling with the Marines and came home on leave for a few weeks. While he here his sister Maren and her family came up for a visit. It's always so fun to have the whole family together. Because we had the family together we got pictures taken. Hopefully we will have them on our Christmas card this year.

With the end of summer comes the Utah State Fair. We go every year and every year we regret paying so much to get in. They just don't know how to do fairs here in Utah. But I thought this was a cute picture.

October 4th was Vaughn's 29th birthday! The weekend of his birthday we went to our annual Pink Floyd concert. We had awesome seats this year. The show was amazing as always.

October was full of Halloween events. I took Layla to a event at the Senior center where the kids give candy to the older people instead of getting it from them. The next day my mom's group I belong to had a trunk or treat. Layla dressed up as a fairy again this year. On Halloween Daddy took her out trick or treating around the neighborhood while mommy stayed at home to pass out candy.

Mommy and daddy had fun for Halloween too. We went to a party at my friends house. I dressed up as a pirate and Vaughn was very original. He dressed up in all black and wore a shot glass around his neck. He was "A shot in the dark" Silly boy!

We had fun in October but we also experienced much sadness. 5 people I knew died. 2 of them hit me harder then the rest. First my very dear friend and neighbor, Dawn passed. It has been very hard to let her go. I miss our talks and waving to her every morning when I leave for work. Here is her obituary

Then second was 7days later. One of my favorite client's 17 year old daughter died tragically in a car accident. She was beautiful and sweet. I'm going to miss her coming home from school and chatting with me while I clean her mom's house. It's been very tough for my client and it hurts me to see her in so much pain. Here is her obituary

Even though it was such a sad month I know my friends are in a better place.

November has been a much happier month so far. One of my best friends from Wisconsin moved out to Utah and we got together with her sisters went to see a play. We went to see "My Fair Lady" What a blast!
November 7th was my inlaws 31st anniversary. Oddly enough they took all of us out to dinner instead of the other way around. It was so much fun.

Well things are staying busy. I finally hired someone to help me with my cleaning business. Vaughn's work continues to be busy as well.

We are all looking forward to the coming holidays and we hope you enjoy yours.

WHOOOHOOO I'm finally caught up!

Wisconsin Trip 2011

2011-11-06T21:33:00.000-08:00

For Labor day weekend we went to Wisconsin! We left on the 1st of September. All 3 of us went plus my sister Elise. Layla did amazing on the plane this time. Now that she's 2 she has to have her own seat. So we brought her car seat with us. She fell asleep for most the ride and watched movies. We were very lucky to get cheap tickets to fly right into Madison. We rented a car and stayed at my mom's house. She has a new house now in Sun Prairie and it was my first time seeing it. It was weird to come home and not have the same house to go to.
The first night we were there we went out to eat at Pedros with my friend Megan and her family. She has a son Bradyn, who is very close to Layla's age. It was so great to have Layla and Bradyn see eachother again. This is what they looked like last time we visited Megan's family.

And now they have grown so big!

Our second day in Wisconsin hung around town. I showed Vaughn my old elementary school Royal Oaks! And some other fun things in Sun Prairie.

We ordered some pizza at Papa Murphy's that night. Mallorie drove us to go pick it up. Now that was strange. She can't be old enough to drive. We ate pizza and watch RIO. A little before the movie was done my sister Nicole, and her family got in. They were staying the weekend as well at my mom's. I was so very excited to see my neice and my nephews. Especially my newest nephew Emmet that I had not met yet.

The 3rd day my mom was an angel and took all the grandkids to the children's mesume and Vaughn and I got some time to ourselves! I took Vaughn down to Hilldale mall so I could get me some FannieMay chocolate. They don't have it in Utah. And we had lunch at The Great Dane! YUMMY! That night Vaughn and I went over to my best friend Melissa's house to meet her boyfriend. We of course made the ritual trip to Bowl a Vard and played some darts.

On Sunday we went to church at the Sun Prairie Ward. It was so neat to see so many people I havent seen in years. After church my brother Eric came up from Milwaukee and we all went to one of my favorite places in Madison, Olbrich Gardens!

The cousin's had a lot of fun together!

Monday, Labor Day, we went to the zoo. We had a picnic and then walked around to see the animals.

We unfortunately had to leave the zoo early because Layla needed a nap. We had to say good bye to Nicole and Steve and family since they were heading back to Iowa after the zoo. It was so wonderful to see them and their kids. It feels like it will be forever till the next time. Monday evening Vaughn and I went out to dinner with Melissa and her boyfriend again and my friend Korri and her husband Brian. It was so fun to be with my girls again!

That last day in Wisconsin was very hard for me. I did not want to go back to Utah and back to the real world. But I am so very thankful we got to go this year. I miss my family and friends so very much!

The rest of Summer 2011

2011-11-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

It's November, I'm looking out the window and there is 3 inches of snow on the ground. I am finally going to update how the rest of our summer went and it already seems like it was more then a year ago I last felt warm. Brrrr!

At the end of July we welcomed home Vaughn's brother Ephriam from his mission. He served his mission in Wisconsin so now I have someone in my inlaw family I can talk with about how great it is there. I still cannot believe he had been gone for 2 years. It all went so fast.

I have a friend, Jessica Lloyd who is a photographer and I traded her cleaning for pictures. I had noticed lately when uploading my own pictures I'm hardly in any of them. Especially the ones with Layla. So I had my friend do a session with Just Layla and I. They turned out great.

I still have my cleaning business and it is still doing very well. However, at the end of July I tried my hand at another business venture, bridal assistant. I came up with the idea after being asked to be a bridal assistant to a friend quite awhile ago. I love weddings and I love parties. So I started a business to be a paid bridal assistant. If you are not sure what that is I will explain. They are much like a wedding planner except they don't do any of the planning. They just take care of everything on the day of. They make sure the day runs smoothly and the bride is happy. I had my first client at the end of July. She is also a friend. She was married at the Salt Lake Temple and had a reception in Idaho. I could not be there for the actual ceremony since she was married in LDS Temple but I was there as she came out of the temple and during her pictures making sure her make up was good and keeping her hydrated. Then I drove up to the reception to make sure all her wishes for the set up were a done. Since it was such a long drive I decided to spend the night there. For the fun of it I got myself a room at a bed a breakfast, The Black Swan. I got their pirate room, it was awesome!

August brought on a lot of birthday parties for Layla to attend. She had so much fun! As family made sure we got as much outdoor fun as we could for the last month of summer. We went to the zoo and to the Peace gardens.

Summer Update

2011-07-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Wow I think it just might be time for an update. I haven't posted since May and it's now the middle of July. So here is a quick recap of the end of spring and the beginning of summer.
We had a fun Easter with Layla this year. She was more excited about finding the eggs and her basket of goodies that was at the end of a jelly bean trail

We had my dad over and had some yummy food and I decorated the table all pretty. I had a little too much fun decorating I think.

For Memorial Day weekend Vaughn's brother Mat was in town visiting. He has been in California training with the Marines so it was nice to see him. The whole Bigham clan made a trip to the Zoo. Boy was it crazy but we had fun. On Memorial Day we went down to Ephriam and visited Grandpa Kelson's grave, stopped and visited with the Browns and then drove by the old farm in Manti. It made me so sad to not be able to stop and stay the night there anymore.

In June I took a much needed mama time and went up to Midway, Utah with some girlfriends. We rented a condo and just scrapbooked for 3 days. It was divine! The day I came back from my little retreat I got a call that I became an aunt again! My sister Nicole gave birth to her 3rd child on June 11th. She had a baby boy. They named him Emmet. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to go and visit but it better be soon. I want to hold and snuggle that sweet baby boy! Another surprise I recived when I got home was a very sick Layla. Vaughn had said she threw up the night before but had been fine since. But as soon as I set foot in the door...litteraly she started throwing up again. It was pretty misserable she was sick for like 3 days.

My business has been keeping me so busy these days I hardly have time to breath. I've been wanting to do something fun so I have been randomly signing up for classes through a local education program. Layla and I went to Toddler classes. I went to a parenting class and Vaughn and I went to an Italian cooking class. They have all been so great and I can't wait to sign up for more.

Father's day weekend was the Kelson Family Reunion. Plenty of crazy fun times as usual.

At the end of June my sister Mallorie and brother Andrew flew out to visit my dad. Since my dad had to work some of the days they were here I entertained them and spent lots of money on them! It was great. I even took off of work. We celebrated the 4th of July by seeing some fire works that were walking distance from my dad's house. Layla was not impressed. I was so sad when Mallorie and Andrew went back home. So was Layla. She loved them. She still asks for them.

The day they left was Layla's 2nd birthday. We took her out to eat to McDonald's and to see Cars 2 in the theater. Well that didn't' go so well. The movie was so not a little kid movie and Layla pooped her pants and it went all the way up her back. Of course I ran out of wipes trying to clean it up. So we went home early. The Saturday after her birthday was to be her big birthday party with her friends. However, she woke us up at 3am throwing up. I was so frustrated not just because I had to cancel the party but because she had just been sick not too long before. Luckily this one was short lived. We rescheduled her party for the Tuesday following and it turned out great! She had so much fun and it was actually quite relaxing.

July 15th was Vaughn and my 5th anniversary. I woke up throwing up. I was so sick for most the day and could not keep anything down. I had all these plans of things I was going to do for Vaughn. But I couldn't even move. Like Layla I started feeling better at the end of the day so Vaughn and I still went out. We went to a play at the local theater. We saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. It was so funny! I felt awful though. The next day I woke up feeling great. Thank goodness because we had planned a camping trip for the 3 of us. We got all packed up and went up to Tanner's flat in Little cottonwood canyon. It was....fun. Mostly. Camping with a 2 year old is no...Picnic? :) But we still had fun.

Well that is all for now. Hopefully I will post sooner next time! Have a great rest of your summer! Please no more sickness!

.

From God's Arms, To My Arms, To Yours

2011-05-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

10 years!

2011-05-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

How can 10 years go by just like that? Today is my birth son Kendrick's 10th birthday. It's been a couple of years since I posted the story here on my blog so here it is again.

I was 19 when I found out I was pregnant for the first time. I was just about to start college. It was one of those things that I thought I was invincible from. It was a scary time. I didn't want my baby to have to grow up being the middle of custody battles and have to watch his mom struggle just to provide for the two of them. I wanted him to have a mommy and daddy that loved each other and him. So I started looking at adoption.

I went though my church's adoption program. They gave me a bunch of letters hopeful parents had written telling about their families. The first one I read hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew they were the one. But I thought, no I need to give the others a fair chance and read their letters as well. But I kept coming back to this family. I had had a dream about a little girl praying for a baby and they had a daughter that did exactly that.

The next 9months were the hardest. I had so many different people give me their views on what I was doing. Some thought I was an angel for choosing adoption. Others told me I was just throwing my baby away. I also had to convince the dad that adoption was the right decision for us. I was able to meet with the family a couple of times before I had my son. Those visits were amazing. It was like I knew them all along. One of the visits my baby's birth father came with and that did it for him as well. It finally hit him that this was the right decision.

I continued to keep the family updated on my progress through letters. And they told me more and more about their family. 2 weeks went passed my due date and I was still pregnant. I was getting so miserable and antsy. My doctor decided to induce me. So early morning on May 10th I went into the hospital and was put on pitocin. That is some nasty stuff. I had hard labor for 18 hours and 2 hours of pushing. Kendrick J was born on May 11th 2001 at 2:38am weighing 9lbs 7oz and 20inches long. He was a big baby.

I was able to stay in the hospital a couple of days with him and get to know him. May 13th Mother's Day was my last day at the hospital. I had asked that the adoptive family come to the hospital so I could place him in their arms. Even though he had to go to a foster home till all the legal stuff was done (stupid Wisconsin law) I just wanted to be able to see him with their family to make things feel right. It was a very emotional fist Mother's Day for me.

The ride home was so hard to leave with out a baby. But I felt like I had done the right thing. It has now been 8 years since my sweet little boy was born. So much has happened. I found my self pregnant 3 years later and had a little girl. I was so happy that I was still in touch with the adoptive family. I emailed them and asked if they would want to adopt again. So now Kendrick and his half blood sister are together.

Since then they have let me have visits with the kids and have been so wonderful to me. I am so thankful for the adoptive family. They have done so much for me that wasn't even required of them or expected. My birth children know where they came from and why.

Now I have a beautiful daughter of my own. The challenges I have had raising her with help from a husband has reaffirmed that I made the right choice for my two birth children. I feel so blessed that I have been able to watch them grow up. I feel blessed that I finally found a wonderful man to marry who loves me, loves our daughter and respects me for my decision to place my birth children. One of the many things I've learned over the last 10 years is God knows what he's doing!

Is it spring yet?

2011-04-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Spring? Maybe? yes? ok never mind. That's how the last month has been for us here in Utah. The whole month of March was such a tease. We had temperatures into the 60s and then snow. It's April now and yesterday it was 70 degrees and when I woke up this morning I found 4 inches of snow on the ground and it's still snowing. UGH!

Well enough whining about the weather here is an update....

We have had a lot of visitors in the last month. At the end of February my friend Lisa come to visit. We had dinner with her and some other Wisconsinites at Culvers. Oh yeah did I mention Utah finally has a Culvers? It was just like old times. Lisa and I got to hang out for a day. We went and had pizza and window shopped. Lisa and I have been friends for 18 years now! Wow that makes me feel old. I love friendships like ours that even though we don't see or hear from eachother for awhile it's just like old times when we do. I love you Lisa!

Also at the end of February Vaughn's brother Mat. He was on leave from his training with the Marines. It was so great having him here. Layla had lots of fun with her uncle Mat!

March did not have a great start for me. I started having a cold that turned into what I think was bronchitis and ended in a flu. It last 3 solid weeks. I am feeling better now but still have some left over symptoms plaguing me. Layla also got sick and seems to still have a stuffy nose. Vaughn just started getting sick last week and is still sick. We are so ready for this to get out of our house.

Needless to say we did not do much in March because of our constant sickness. However, we did have a little fun. Layla and I tried out Kindermusick. It was interesting. I was really excited for it but it did not go well. I think it was just bad timing. There was a kid there that was too old for the class that would not stop picking on Layla and also she refused to warm up to anyone there. I still want to try and take her but not quite yet. The teacher offered to trade with me, cleaning for the cost of the class. So that was exciting.

I signed Layla up for a class called Toddler time. It has been so much fun for her and I. We go once a week. They do all kinds of activities and has helped Layla and I have a little fun mommy daughter time. I have been attending my own class. I call it my Hippy Class. They teach you all about alternative healing methods. Including Reiki and meditation. It's been very interesting and fun.

At then end of March we had more visitors. Vaughn's sister Maren, her husband Brandon and her 2 kids came up from Arizona. We were able to go to dinner with Maren and Brandon as well our cousin Kamilla and her husband Matt. Vaughn's mom watched all the kids but one. That means she had 4 kids under 4. and one of them being under 6months. Crazy! Matt and Kamilla still brought their baby with them. WE had so much fun having grown up time.

Well April has had an interesting start so far with Vaughn being sick and the crazy weather. For April Fools Day I made something fun. It looks like Kitty Litter but it's cake. It was very yummy but we had to close our eyes to eat it.

Last night Vaughn and I attended a play. We saw "The Tale Of Two Cities" at the Hale Center Theater. It was amazing. It was exciting when I recognized one of the actors. It was the guy who played Riggeletto. So cool!

Well that's all for now. Enjoy our pictures....

Our Mardi Gras Dinner

Our Nephew Eli

Kamilla's son Lincoln

Time for an update I think

2011-02-25T07:56:00.001-08:00

Well looking at my blog and seeing that Christmas pictures were on my last post I think it's time for and update.
January and February have been rough months here in the Bigham household but we are still holdin on.
One of the biggest set backs has been my injury to my hip. I'm not sure when I did it or how but the doctor said it's from over doing it. Which I'm not surprised. For months I was teaching 4 water aerobics classes a week and cleaning 5-8 houses a week. My body just gave up. It came on gradually but eventually I couldn't even walk. I went into the doctor and he said I injured my hip flexor muscles and gave me an anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxer and told me to stay off my feet for a week. I laughed. If you are a mother to a toddler you know that's not possible. So I did my best. Well that week has come and gone and I'm still hurting pretty bad. I want to go in for a second opinion. I know they are going to tell me to stay off my feet for a whole month. Our money situation is not going to allow me to do that and neither is my child. I already feel the pounds starting to come back as well. So at the moment I'm just trying to take it as easy as possible.
Other then my hurt hip things are going well for my business. It's booming! I was asked by a Utah blog to write an article on organizing. It turned out to be a 4 part seiris that they ran through the month of January. If you would like to check it out here is a link http://www.enjoyutah.org/2011/01/get-organized-go-part-one-time.html
I was also featured in a newsletter at my other job about my weight loss. If you would like to read that article here is the link to that http://viewer.zoho.com/docs/vdPodj
It's been a proud month for me!
Vaughn and I had a great Valentines weekend. My dad watched Layla over night and we went to a bed a breakfast. It was so romantic. On actual Valentines day I made a fancy dinner and invited my dad to join us. It was yummy!

Layla is getting bigger and smarter everyday. It's scary. She repeats everything that she hears us say. I love hearing her try to pronounce words. She is so loving. She loves to give us kisses and hugs. she will just randomly come to us and kiss us on the leg. She likes to hug us and say "UGH!" Some other favorite words are shoes, turtle, bottle and Hi. Just walking around the store she will randomly wave at people and say hi. I love it. Her cuteness barley makes up for her naughtiness however. She has turned into a monster. I think she is Jekyll and Hyde! People tell me that the 3s are the worst so I'm scared that things can get worse. She's scary!

Well that's all for now. I need to go see what Layla is getting into.

Holidays 2010 and a NEW YEAR 2011!

2011-01-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

Now that I have a few moments to breath I will update my blog!
December was a very busy month for us. Many Holiday parties to attend and many many houses for me to clean.
Vaughn and I decided to start a new tradition of see the "Forgotten Carols" every Christmas. I've seen it once before and heard the story and music many many times before. This was Vaughn's first time seeing or hearing the story. After the show he told me he now knows why I wanted to go so bad. The 3 of us all went to the Peppin Family Christmas party at my grandparents house in Spanish Fork UT. We enjoyed the food and spending time with that side of the family. The following day was the Kelson family Christmas party. Every time that side of the family gets together it amazes me how many there are. And many were missing!
Our Christmas Eve was eventful in a bad way. At the beginning of the day silly me left my hair straightener at the edge of the sink. Layla reached up and grabbed that very hot straightener and screamed. We took her to the emergency room and she had 2nd degree burns on 3 of her fingers. Her poor little hand looked awful. We were given this stuff to put on it and had it bandaged. I felt awful. Once Layla was all bandaged up she felt a lot better. When we got home after hours at the ER I decided I still wanted to make my traditional treats that we usually deliver to our friends and family. Well I finished making them but we did not deliver them that night. Too tired! We did however manage to grill some steaks outside Brrr! It was so yummy! When Layla went to bed Santa got to work wrapping presents and stuffing stockings. We were so blessed this Christmas. So many people gave me things their kids no longer needed even some things brand new items. So Layla got lots! We had a wonderful Christmas morning. Watching Layla's face as we led her into the living room was priceless. The sad part was watching her open her presents with one hand because of her bandage. But she made do and loved all her gifts. My father and sister, Elise came over for breakfast. We relaxed for most the day. Then in the afternoon we headed over to Vaughn's parents for a Christmas dinner. It was a wonderful day!

For New Years this year we just really wanted to spend time together as a family. So we stayed home and watched movies. It was great.
We feel so much hope for this coming year! It's a great feeling to have. Vaughn has his dream job, I have a growing business and we have a beautiful healthy daughter. We want to thank all our friends and family that helped us through this trying year. We mad it through! We hope that your New Year is filled with hope as well.

Thanksgiving and the big 3-0!

2010-12-05T20:11:00.000-08:00

What a whirlwind month November was! Most of the month for me was spent cleaning clients homes and planning my upcoming birthday party. I felt like a chicken with it's head cut off. Or maybe a turkey :)
For Thanksgiving we went with my in laws to Mesa Arizona to visit my sister in law Maren and meet our new nephew Elijah. We left the night before Thanksgiving. We drove the 12 hours straight. It was a rough drive but we made it safely. We got there in time to shower and change and then head to Thanksgiving dinner well lunch actually. We joined the Roger family (Vaughn's aunt,uncle and cousins) and enjoyed a very yummy turkey! I never had a juicier turkey. It was so wonderful to see the Arizona group and have some warm weather! We enjoyed a lot of eating and talking. We also went and checked out the Christmas lights around the Mesa temple. Layla thought it was pretty cool. Sunday was Elijah's blessing. Then it was time to head home. There was quite the snow storm going through Utah while we traveled home but we made it to West Valley at least. A few of us got stuck a mile from our house in my in laws van. That was no fun. The snow was so deep and no plows in sight till 2pm the next day. 2 hours after we got stuck we finally were home.

The following Thursday was my 30th birthday. YIKES! I seriously have to really convince myself that I'm actually 30. We had great news on the morning of my birthday. Vaughn received a raise! It will be a nice raise too. So we will be almost back to what we were making before the job switch with out having to work the overtime to get it. Vaughn is doing so well at his job and they said they would give him another review at the end of 6months which makes us even more excited!
As for the rest of my birthday day it was pretty rough. I was running errands all over town trying to get ready for my Mock Prom I planned to celebrate my 30th. What was miserable about it was Layla crying the whole time. She really has been having a rough time lately. I'm not sure exactly what is wrong but I am guessing it's her teeth. She has been getting them one after another. I didn't see much of my house till about dinner time. For dinner my dad took out all of us for dinner to Applebees.
Friday, the day after my birthday was crazy too but lots more fun. I started planning my Mock Prom when I turned 29. I figured if I had to turn 30 I would do it in style. I rented a venue, had a DJ, photographer and rented a beautiful dress. I had my hair and make up done as well. I felt like a princess. I had so much help decorating and getting everything together from my family. I felt so loved. Before the party I went to dinner at the Olive Garden with some friends and family. Then went to my Prom. The party lasted 4 hours and I didnt sit down once. I danced so much that when I got home my feet were swollen. Saturday was spent recovering and today we went to my in laws for a family party. It was such a great birthday weekend. I have been so happy. Its been a long time since I felt this way. I feel so blessed. Enjoy the pictures.

Our Fall Fun

2010-11-06T20:59:00.001-07:00

Ok major update time! Some how September and October both slipped away from me!
September was a busy month for my business. Things have really picked up. I have about 3 houses a week now. Sometimes more. Poor Layla has had to spend lots of time away from me. At least most the time she can be at Grandma Bigham's house and play with her cousin William. She loves him so much. I got to babysit him one day in September. Layla had an interesting reaction. Usually she is so happy to see him but having come to her house was a whole new thing. She was not happy. She would not let me go and screamed and cried for almost the whole time he was here. Finally for the last hour she decided it was going to be ok and had some fun.

In September Layla got to go on her first Trax ride. We took Trax downtown to see the Circus Parade. The Circus was in town and to advertise they marched all the people and animals in there show down the middle of the road. It was pretty cool.

One of our favorite activites this year has been going to Wheeler farm. We went with my friend Amber and her kids and fed the ducks and went on a wagon ride.

Layla and I have really enjoyed being a part of a group of moms that live around Salt Lake. We get together and have playdates and activites and moms nights. In September we went to a lot of activites. They had a end of summer BBQ that even daddy came with us to.

At the end Of September we had a visit from Vaughn's Grandpa Mat Bigham, Grandma Ronnie, aunt Cassie and her two kids Bailey and Jerome. We had so much fun spending time with them. Layla warmed right up to them. She even reached out for them to hold her. I didnt get the best pictures while they were here but this is what I got thanks to Hannah. I'm hoping to see their pictures they took!

Thanks to Vaughn I was able to get out and have some fun mommy time. Although I wish he would have been there to dance with me!

That was our September short and sweet.
Now for October!
October 4th was Vaughn's 28th birthday. We hosted a birthday dinner at our home. And packed our house full of people. We seriously need more room. Can you believe I didn't take any pictures? I was too busy entertaining. But Vaughn did say he had lots of fun. One of the presents I got for Vaughn was tickets to see Austarilian Pink Floyd. We go every year to go see them. Don't know who they are? You are missing out! We found my cousin Marco and his wife Amanda at the concert as well. That was awesome!
We finally had our first family pictures done! Here is one of them.

October was also filled with many Halloween activites. We had a hard time deciding what to dress Layla up as. As a last minute costume for a trunk or treat with my mommies group she dressed up as some kind of woodland fairy. She put on a leotard that her aunt hannah used for dance and I put some sparkles on her face. The Trunk or Treat we went to was the weekend before Halloween. It was raining so it turned out to be a picnic table or treat.

In my mommies group I am apart of the Charitable Events Committee. One of our favorite things to do is go to the Senior Center with the kids. For Halloween we had them dress up in their costumes and hand out candy to the seniors. I think both sides had fun.

We waited till last minute to go get our pumpkins this year. We didnt even get to the pumpkin patch till the sun was already down. It was a cold night. It had just snowed a few days before. Lukily all the snow was gone. We went to Wheeler Farm. They had a bunch of fun activites. We went through a hay/corn maze and the wagon ride. It was fun going on the wagon ride at night. They had some lights on the trail for deocration. We even had some hot chocolate. When we got back from our ride we went and picked out our Pumkins. Layla liked that part the best. She LOVES pumpkins. Every time she sees one she gets excited no matter if it's real or fake, Jack O lanter or plain old pumpkin.

Layla also got to go Trick or Treating at her Grandpa Bigham's work. With her cousin William and Grandma and Nathanial (my inlaws foster son)

Layla wasn't the only one who got to have some Halloween fun! Mommy and daddy did too. We went to two parties. I dressed up as a Dark Fairy and Vaughn was a Air Force Gunner.

Layla loved mommy's wings

In Utah, when Halloween falls on a Sunday most Trick or Treaters come on Saturday night. It always throws everyone off. We got enough candy though for both nights. After Layla's Halloween activities we decdied that we didnt need to take her out trick or treating. We stayed in and decorated and carved our pumpkins. It rained that night so we didn't get very many kids.

Wow that was everything. I hope you enjoyed my update.

Good Bye Summer

2010-09-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

Good Bye Summer, Hello fall. I do love summer so I am sad to see it go. But my favorite season of all is Fall. The only bad thing about fall is that winter has to follow.
Our last month of Summer was a busy one. I have been working so many hours with my new house cleaning business. I even set up a website because I had such a great demand. I may even take on another person to help me. I still need to get licensed and insured though. Check out my website... www.freewebs.com/outstandingcleaningdivas/ I have also been very busy at my other job, teaching water aerobics. 3 instructors were on vacation so that kept me very busy.

Layla and I drove with my in laws to San Diego on August 18th. We were going down to see my brother in law Mat graduate from the Marines. Vaughn was not able to go because of work. Layla did quite well on the drive there because it was night time and she just slept. I however, did not sleep. I never sleep well. We got into San Diego and drove straight to the marine base. To make a long story short we had some problems getting on base so had a little time to freshen up in the van and we were finally were able to at least park right at the gates. We met up with Vaughn's sister Maren and her family and Rheana and her family. Layla had lots of fun hanging out with her cousins and her cousin's cousin. :)

We spent the day touring the facilities and learning about what the marines do. It was very hard on Layla and I because we were hot and both needed a nap but in the end we were able to see Uncle Mat. He looked great in his uniform. The local LDS church put on a BBQ for the LDS Marines and their families. It was very nice to get some food in our bellies. We spent a little more time checking out the base. Then finally we made it to our hotel. Needless to day I did not take many pictures that day because I was tired and grumpy and looked awful.

The next day in San Diego was the actual graduation. It wasnt too long so that was nice. We were very proud of Uncle Mat.
Once we got off base the fun began. We went down town San Diego. We walked around awhile and looked at all the cool statues that were built to pay tribute to the military.

Then we took a Harbor cruise. It was so much fun! We saw some cool ships and submarines. We also saw Sea Lions. It was my first time seeing them in the wild.

After the harbor cruise we headed over the Coronado Bridge to Coronado island. We had some dinner and then went to the beach. The sun was on it's way down so it was very chilly but some brave members of the family dove in anyways. It was my first time ever being in the Pacific Ocean. On that beach was the hotel Del Corando. It was very cool to see it since the hotel I used to work at in Disney World was designed to look just like it. So it was a bit of a trip to see that hotel.

Our last day in San Diego we drove by the temple. It was pretty cool looking temple. Then we stopped by our friends, the Cherrey's house. We had not seen them for a few years. It was so great to see them. Then we were off again on our trip home. Layla did well again but was awake more and required more entertaining. We were so happy to get home.

Mat was able to take a 10 day leave before he had to go on to more training. So Vaughn, I and Layla spent lots of our time over at Vaughn's parents house to see them. We even got to go out on a double date with Mat and Rheana while grandma babysat both kids. The last Saturday of August Vaughn went with his brother and some other brave family members and hiked mount Timpanogos again. If you remember last time he came home and his socks were covered in blood. Well this time his knees gave out on him and he could barley walk the rest of the week. I think that may be the last time he hikes it. We will see.

Layla's 1 year old pictures

2010-08-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

These adorable pictures were taken by Tina Miera. Her photography company is called Bumps and Bundles. We LOVE her! You must check her out http://www.bumpsandbundles.com/ We are very sad that she is moving farther away but heck I think I may even travel to have her take pictures again! :) We did these pictures for Layla's 1st Birthday enjoy...

Busy Summer!

2010-08-02T20:58:00.001-07:00

July whipped by me so fast I barely had time to breathe! Here is our happenings of July...

Layla turned 1!!! The weekend before her birthday we had a party for friends. It was a pool party but of course the weather was quite cool for that time of the year. Only a couple of kids wanted to get in the water. It was also quite windy so everything kept blowing away. Layla loved opening presents. It took her a second to figure out how it worked but now she loves it. Layla's cake was awesome. I had a friend of mine make it. Not only did it look pretty it tasted good too! We had a great time!

On Layla's actual birthday July 7th, we had a family birthday party at her Grandma and Grandpa Bigham's house. Layla ate the traditional Peppin family 1year birthday meal...spaghetti. And she got to make as big as mess as she wanted. Spaghetti is her favorite food so that helped with the mess. It was so fun to watch her. She got to open presents again which was exciting for her. I still can not believe she's one. Next thing we know she's going to be 16!

The weekend following Layla's big birthday Vaughn joined his uncle John and some friends on a hike up to the tip top of Mount Timpanogas. I knew it was going to be bad when he got back at 10pm. His socks were covered in blood. Had huge blisters on both of his heals that had popped.

July 15th was our 4th anniversary. We went for a hike up Red Butte in the evening after work. We found a perfect spot overlooking the city. We watched as the sun set while we hate a picnic dinner we had brought. It was very romantic. That weekend we went hiking, just the two of us, at Tanners flat. We were up a canyon and it was beautiful. We had a perfect spot. We had camped at Tanner's Flat on your Honeymoon so it was fun being there again. We made foil dinners and smores for desert. We talked and sang and had a great time. I did not want to go home in the morning.

Less then a week from our camping trip we were boarding a plane out to Minneapolis, MN for the Quinn family reunion. My sister Elise flew with us and we met our mom, Eric, Mallorie and Andrew at the hotel. In the morning was the reunion picnic. My sister Nicole her husband Steve and her kids Alex and Ivy met us there. It was so great seeing so many cousins and aunts and uncles and even grandma! We had our picnic at Como Park. Some of my favorite childhood memories involve the park. I was pretty excited to be there with my husband and daughter. We went to the zoo and Observatory. What memories. It all ended too fast and too soon. We spent the rest of our time in Minnesota running all around town. We had fun in Bloomington with my dad's cousins Joe and Mary and Great Aunt Fran and their families. I had seen them at my uncle Kevin's wedding but before that had not seen them since I was just a little kid. It was great to go there and be so comfortable. Besides knowing they were family I felt it. What a great feeling. We also got to spend a little more time with my Grandma Quinn and Aunt Marilyn and Uncle John. Our last night we spent with the Zitnacks. I used to live with them while I went to school in Minnesota. I had not seen them for over 4 years. Their kids had grown like weeds. Even though it had been awhile it was like I had never left. We even slept in my old room. I miss them already. It was sad going home but I was glad to be back in my bed. Although I have not been able to spend much time in it. I stay up too late and get up too early YAWN.

This last weekend in July was very relaxing. We didnt do a damn thing. LOL. I was in my PJs till the afternoon both days. The only thing we did do was go to the zoo.

It was a crazy and eventful July. I hope you enjoyed some of our pictures. August is not quite as crazy but we do have a few events happening. so stay tuned.

Layla 11 months

2010-06-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well its only a couple of weeks till Layla turns one so I thought Id put her 11month update on here before that happens. Layla loves climbing all over. She refuses to walk but she has no problem holding on to the couch and walking around. If she's on the couch she likes to climb up on the end table and get into everything. Every day I am constantly cleaning up little messes all around the house. She likes to open drawers and empty them. She is getting so fast at crawling she loves for us to chase her she squeals with delight. she loves to squeal and its so high pitched that I swear its going to shatter some glass sometime. Whenever shes excited you will here a loud squeal. She also likes to stand at the tv and push the buttons and often turns off my exercise video as I'm trying to exercise.

Our crazy summer has begun. This last summer we went to our friend Lisah's wedding reception and my cousin Andrea's wedding.

Falling Behind!

2010-05-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Wow the days are going too fast! I've gotten a little bit behind. Layla turned 10months old on May 7th. She has finally started crawling and loves doing it! Shes still quite the talker and is now saying real words and seems to know what they mean. She says, Hi, all done, Daddy, and Turtle. She loves to mimic everything we say. She pulls her self up to standing and loves to have us help her walk or tip toe is more like it, around the house. She adores being outside and any time the front door is opened she crawls as fast as possible to get out. We cant wait to take her camping and to see how she reacts!

Mother's day was pretty good. Even though some how daddy got way more sleep then mommy I guess i get to sleep in on Father's day right? I got chocolate and flowers. We went over to Vaughn's parents house and had dinner. We also got to talk to his brother who is on a mission for the LDS church in Wisconsin.

May 11th was my birth son Kendrick's birthday. He turned 9. it's always an emotional day remembering back. If you have not yet heard the story just go back to last may's post and I wrote his birth story. It made it a little bit easier this year to be able to hold Layla close whenever I was sad.

Vaughn is doing well at his new job as a programmer. It's been so nice to see him progress. He tries to tell me about his day and I sit there with a blank stare and think huh? even though I say oh ok right. like I know what the heck he is talking about.

I have lost 32 pounds so far. I am not as far as I had hoped I would be this time of year but I'm getting there. I was very excited to finally hit my pre pregnancy weight and now have 50 more pounds to go to get to pre marriage weight. Both my jobs have been helping with that. I am still teaching water aerobics but I have also started up my own house cleaning business. Its been going very well. I clean 1-2 houses a week on average. One week I even cleaned 4. Its exhausting but its very nice to have the extra money.

Well those are the main happenings the first half of May. We are looking forward to this summer. So many fun things to come. Weddings, graduations and 2 family reunions! We hope to see some of you soon!

Wisconsin Trip, Easter and Layla 9months

2010-04-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well we've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. On March 26th Layla and I hopped on a plane and flew to Wisconsin. The plane ride was awful. She was so tired and refused to sleep in my arms untill we were landing. Then she woke up as we got off the plane. We were both so happy to be off the plane. My mom picked us up. She was so excited to see Layla since she hadnt seen her since she was a week old. We had lots of fun during our stay. We got to see all the babies that were born the same year as Layla. We saw my friend Bobby Jo and her baby Brookelle, Megan and her baby Bradyn and my sister and her baby Ivy.

We also got to see many other friends as well! It was so fun to also spend time with my siblings. Most of them had never even met Layla before. On the last couple of days on our trip we went down to Iowa to see my sister Nicole and her family. It was so fun! And the weather was beautiful! It was hard to come home to snow. It was kinda weird to go from a warm Wisconsin to a cold Utah. Kinda backwards. Vaughn was so happy to have us back.

Sunday was Easter and the Easter bunny came for both Layla and Vaughn. Layla got a basket full of stuff and Vaughn got a new bongo drum. The Easter bunny forgot me this year.

Wednsday the 7th Layla turned 9months...WOW. She still does not crawl. She still just a roller. She likes to grab on to me and try to pull her self up but usually needs some help. I try to get her to stand on her own but she likes to stand on her tippy toes. She's eating lots of solids now. We go on Monday to the doctor so I will post her measurements later. She loves to point and say dad or that. Shes been so fun to watch and I swear gets prettier every day.

Layla is 8 months!

2010-03-19T09:57:00.001-07:00

I'm a little late posting this. But on March 7th Layla turned 8months. She is getting so tall. She gained about a pound. I started noticing all her clothes are getting too small on her. So we moved up to the 9-12month size! It is exciting to move to a new size because of the new outfits but it's a little bitter sweet packing up her clothes that dont fit her.
Layla still is not interested in crawling. She loves to roll and roll. She likes to do this in her crib as well when she dosnt want to nap. One of the things she likes to do in her crib is turn side ways and kick the wall. Layla has always been a big kicker even since she was just tiny. Now that she figured out how much fun it is in the bathtub she gets so excited to take a bath and once she in in she kicks so much I end up being soaked from head to toe.

Layla is way more interested in big people food. She rather not even eat her baby food. She wants what is on our plates. I probably shouldn't be giving her everything that I have but she loves it.
In one week Layla will be taking her first ever airplane ride. Her and I are flying out to Wisconsin for a week. We are also traveling to Iowa while we are there to see my sister Nicole and her kids. We are so excited. Most of my siblings have not yet met Layla. I'm also excited for Layla to meet her cousins Alex and Ivy! Stay tuned for pictures when we get back.
I am so excited for this summer. Layla and I are going to have so much fun. She loves being out side and so do I. Here are some pictures I took the other day.

Layla's first swim!

2010-03-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

On Saturday February 27th we decided to take Layla swimming at the fitness center where I work. I got her a cute 2 piece swim suit. It was sooooooo cute! She was my very own Esther Williams! When we first got her into the pool she was a little nervous of all the noise but once she got used to that she started splashing and playing. She loved it!

After our swim Layla's fingers and toes looked like raisins. She was so tired. When we got home we gave her bottle and she passed out on the floor.

Enter to win a free photo shoot from Lush

2010-02-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

For my Utah friends and family, Check out this link and you could win a free photoshoot from Lush.
http://www.bargaindivas.com/2010/02/giveaway-enter-to-win-free-photo-shoot.html

Layla is 7months and other happenings

2010-02-08T07:24:00.000-08:00

Layla turned 7 months yesterday! She stayed the same size in weight and length but I swear she keeps looking taller! She is holding her bottle all by herself now. And the best part is starting to sleep till 7am. If she does wake up earlier she will play for awhile in her crib. It is so nice. She hasnt shown any interest in moving around at all. She still hates being on her belly and mostly just sits when she is on the floor. Not that I'm looking forward to her getting into things but it would be nice for her to be more mobile sometimes.

We had big news come to us in January. Vaughn was offered a new job. He will be able to work in the field he has always dreamnt of working in. This job come via his friend Olen who works for this same company. He will be an apprentice at a company that writes programs for companies to use on their computers. He's very excited. This is what he started going to school for and just hasnt been able to finish yet so this will help him. He starts a week from today and will be working from home. It is a huge blessing we never expect so we are all very excited. the only down side is he will be making less money for now. But we will survive!

Layla is 1/2 a year old!

2010-01-14T12:31:00.000-08:00

Are you serious? It's been six months since I had my baby girl? WOW! I'm a little behind in posting this but here we go....Layla now weighs 15lbs 11oz and 27 1/2 inches long. She is tall and skinny. Must get it from her daddy's side. Since I'm short and fat :) Layla is sitting up but still topples over after awhile. Her favorite thing to say is Dadadadadada I've been trying to get her to say mama but she cant figure that one out yet. She sleeps through the night, most nights. When she does wake up we just have to giver her her binki and she goes back to sleep.

Happy 2010

2010-01-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

It's a new year! New beginnings, new adventures, new friends and hopefully a new body :)
Here's pictures from our fun New Years!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-29T06:01:00.000-08:00

Wow I feel like I blinked and it was all over. We had a great Christmas. Weekend before was the Kelson family Christmas party. It was so nice to see everyone and all the babies. I think there was at least 8 babies 1years and younger. I wish I could have got a picture of them all but there was just too much chaos! As usual.

Our niece Lydia

Vaughn's youngest cousin Scarlett

Our Nephew William

This year we had a secret elf delivering the 12 days of Christmas gifts to our doorstep and running. We still don't know who it was but it was so much fun and they were very creative!

Christmas Eve I had to work. I got home about 1pm after stopping at the store and had to hurry and make cookies and treats for our tradition of bringing plates of cookies to our friends and family. I dressed Layla up like a reindeer. She looked adorable. We didnt get home till late and put Layla to bed and made our cheese fondue. We were so tired so we hurried and ate and wrapped the last few presents and went to bed.

Christmas morning was so great waking up with Layla. Even though she didnt understand what was going on she did have fun opening her presents!

Later that day we went to Vaughn's parents house for dinner. His sister Maren and her family were up for Christmas. Vaughn's brother Ephraim is on a mission in Wisconsin (weird huh) and he got to call us on Christmas. We all got a chance to talk to him. It was great. Next time we get to talk to him on the phone will be mother's day.

I want to take this time to thank all those you helped me make my Dad and sister's Christmas a little bit brighter. They were so surprised and enjoyed themselves so much. I couldn't believe all the people that offered to help. Friends I hadnt seen in years and people who didn't even know my dad and sister. May you be blessed for your generosity!

We enjoyed seeing and visiting with so many of you. We love you and hope you have a great new year. Till next year.....

Celebrate good times....Alright!

2009-12-10T15:32:00.000-08:00

This has been a good start to December. December 2nd was my birthday. UGH I turned 29. My last year to be in my 20s. I was out and about with my sister Elise trying to find some fun to have on my birthday while entertaing a baby. Vaughn got home before I did and I came home to beautiful pink roses. That night Elise and my dad watched Layla while Vaughn and i went out for our favorite local pizza place. YUM! We bought a small cake and Vaughn and Elise sang to me.
Saturday was a busy day. I had a Christmas party to go to for a message board I belong to with other Salt Lake Moms. Then I had to rush home for a Wine, Cheese and Chocolate party we threw at my house for my birthday. We had a blast. Unfortunately my batteries in my camera died so I only got on picture. Sunday we went to Vaughn's parents house and they celebrated my birthday there. All in all it was a great fun week.
On the 7th Layla turned 5months old! She weights about 15 lbs and is about 27inches long. She has started eating solids! she has tried prunes, peaches, pears, sweet potatoes, carrots and rice cereal. Her favorites are pears and sweet potatoes! She's a big fan of eating from the spoon not the bottle.

Sign My Guestbook!

2009-12-01T12:34:00.001-08:00

2009-11-28T14:17:00.000-08:00

Sick Thanksgiving :(

2009-11-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

We had a bit of a rough Thanksgiving week. It all started Monday night when I threw up once before bed. I thought oh gosh I better not be pregnant. Then the next day my stomach felt awful. Tuesday night I started feeling worse and worse. That night Vaughn and I were both up all night running to the bathroom. A few times he was at the toilet so I had to run to the kitchen to throw up. Wednesday was awful trying to take care of a sick baby and being a sick mommy. Vaughn some how got himself to work so we could get holiday pay for Thanksgiving. When he got home the 3 of us were all just so tired.
Luckily Thanksgiving we all felt better. We went down to my Aunt Sheri's house. It was so great to see all the family. Even my dad's cousin Gaylene was there with her kids. We haven't seen her since we got married. Layla was quite the entertainer. She jib jabbed for a good 30mins and told everyone a story. We only got the last part on video when she started to fuss. But everyone was just laughing at her.
When we got back up to Salt Lake we went to Vaughn's Uncle John's house for their get together. We didnt stay long we were tired and couldn't handle the crazy kids that someone brought. That night I started the throwing up process all over again and Friday was so awful. Today I think we are finally all healthy. We are having a nice lazy day waiting for the Utah vs BYU game. We cant wait to see Utah kick their butts!

Layla is 4 months!

2009-11-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

Layla turned 4 months on Saturday November 7th. We went to the doctors this afternoon. She hasnt gained very much weight since her 2month appt so the doctor told me to keep an eye on her weight gain over the next couple months but he says he's not too worried. She weighs 14lbs 7oz which is in the 69%. However, she has gotten very tall. She is 26 3/4 inches long which is in the 99%. She did very well with her shots just cried until I picked her up.
Layla has 2 new teeth. I cant believe she has teeth already. Her sleeping patterns have gotten worse. I'm so done with it. She eats 4-6oz every 2 1/2 hours. She loves her feet anytime she has her pants off up go her feet and she grabs them. She loves to roll from side to side but no rolling all the way over yet. She hates tummy time so she dosnt like to lift her head up when she's on her tummy but she has great control of her head. If you sit her up by pulling her arms she keeps her head with her body. She loves toys and can grab and hold them for long periods of time. She is a babbler and hardly is every quite she's always making some kind of noise.
It has gotten easier to set her down and have her be entertained for longer periods of time so that is nice.
I'm so excited to enjoy the Holidays with her. We have so much fun watching her diffrent milestones. Hopefully she will hit the sleeping through the night one sooner then later.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty good Halloween. We didnt carve our pumpkins till the night before but oh well. Here's our pumpkins. I didnt get a picture of Vaughn's.

My Pumpkin

Layla's Pumpkin

Layla was a flower. I was going to take her out to see some family and friends but she passed out before we could go. Our friend's Cori and Justin stopped by with their daughter Shaylee to say hi though.

We took Layla to her Grandma Bighams for the night and Vaughn and I went to our friend Jared's Halloween Party he has every year. I dressed up as a witch and Vaughn was a Black Eyed Pea.

Here are some more pictures from the party we went to.

Vaughn playing the base guitar

Our friend Jared on the drums and Jason on the guitar

for decorations they had boats sitting in their yard

They had 3 fire pits!

scary moon!

5 years ago today.....

2009-10-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

I woke up in the morning and I thought I was peeing the bed. I yelled for my mom and I said I'm either peeing the bed or my water just broke. Sure enough my water broke. My baby wasnt due for another 3 days but I sure was glad she was coming early. Pregnancy was never nice to me. And this pregnancy I thought was the worst so far (until Layla). I called the father, Josh, and he came over and walked with me around the block to try and get some contractions going. When we got to the hospital I was dilated to a 4. My mom, dad, Josh and my best friend Melissa were all there to support me. Josh and I walked around the maternity floor to see if we could keep the dialtating going. I got in the tub for a bit as well. They checked me and I was still a 4. So they had to give me some pitocin and an epidural. almost 11 hours into labor it was time to push. It took about 45mins to push her out. She decided to put her hand up by her head has she came out so that was not easy to push out. They laid her on my chest but she wasnt crying or breathing. It scared me for a bit they had to take her away and got her to cry.

She was a huge baby. She was named Taryn J. She weighed 9lbs 14oz and 21in long. Newborn diapers didnt fit her very well. I tried to nurse her and she kept falling asleep. We had a wonderful stay in the hospital and we had many visitors. Then our last day together came. Her soon to be family came to see her. They even brought along my birth son Kendrick, who didnt really know what to think the whole time so he just pretend to sleep. We had a great but emotional visit. Exchanging gifts and the adoptive mom sang a song to us, "The One and Only You" by Micheal McLean. Click here to hear the song http://www.imeem.com/stompeed/music/l49bsbn0/michael-mclean-one-and-only-you/ then we held Taryn together as we listened to "From Gods Arms To My Arms to Yours" http://www.imeem.com/people/pUuVyyR/music/Blyarwzm/michael-mclean-from-gods-arms-to-my-arms-to-yours/

It is very hard thing to give your newborn to another and to be able to trust them completely to take care of them and love them the way you wanted to. But it isnt as hard when you love that other person like they were your own family. I felt so much peace as I handed her off to her new family. The next couple months were hard missing her and trying to get my life back to normal. But it was wonderful knowing she was with her brother Kendrick and with a wonderful family.

I have been looking at her baby book today and cant harldy believe its been 5 years. She has grown up so fast. And I have been able to watch her grow, thanks to her wonderful family.
I love you Taryn! Happy 5th birthday!

I love October!

2009-10-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

Did you know this is my very favorite month? I love the crisp air, the colors, fall foods, the smell, and Halloween! We've had a fun month so far I thought I'd share some pictures. Layla went to get her first pumpkin at Wheeler farm. She had so much fun. She loves being outside. She is so chill when she is outside. And if you know Layla you know being chill is not one of her strong points.

This last weekend I had a Witch's potluck. Every year Gardner Village hosts a Witch's night out. 100s of women dress up like witches and go there for some fun. So I had a pot luck at my house before we headed over. It was way too crowded to have too much fun but we did have a good time over all. I didnt get a picture of all the girls that went with us. poo.

Here are some more random pictures from this month.

Layla and her cousin William

Layla is 3 months old!

2009-10-07T13:09:00.001-07:00

My little stinker is 3 months today! I weighed her on my scale and it said 14 lbs. So not really little. For her new "tricks" she can laugh and giggle, bring her hands to her mouth and hold her head up while on her belly for a good 3-4 mins. She starting to try to grab things. She tries so hard but her hands dont always go where she wants them to go. Her laugh is so great. She still loves to be held and played with. She tells you how it is anytime you put her down or look away. One thing we have noticed over the 3 months she can sleep through noise but she will not eat through noise. She gets so mad when it's noisy when she eats or when you try to talk, or even look at her while she eats. Her favorite game is to hang upside down. She usually brings her hands to her mouth and talks. The longest she has slept in a row has been 8 hours but that was only once. She has been mostly sleeping 6hours, eat, 3 hours eat maybe if i'm lucky sleep 1 more hour and she's up. YAWN!
Vaughn and I are really starting to get the hang of this baby thing. Its been tough and tiring but great. We love watching her reach her different milestones. I am ready for her to start entertain her self but not ready for her to start moving around. It has been so nice to be able to set her down somewhere and go do something until I cant stand her screaming.

Happy Birthday Vaughn!

2009-10-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday Oct. 4th was Vaughn's 27th Birthday. This birthday has really worried him since some of his favorite musicians died at the infamous age of 27. I told him since he's not in a band at the moment he might be safe from that curse. We had a party at his parent's house. A bunch of his aunts, uncles and cousins were there because his Uncle Aaron came out from Minnesota to drop of cousin Melanie who will be living here in Utah now. It was a great party.
Vaughn feels very old and I have to constantly remind him that he should be happy he's not my age. Sigh. I spent way too much money on him and bought some tools that he's been wanting. I'm hoping having new tools means that some things will get fixed around here soon. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Vaughn works to hard at work that by the time he's home he has no energy to do much else. We are trying to think of ways to get him back into school and still afford to stay alive. Air Force has come up a couple of times since his brother Mat is joining the Marines. Not sure how I feel about it but it's defiantly an option. We are having some major money issues now that i'm not working full time and because we have to now buy formula and diapers. Babies are expensive! Tomorrow Layla turns 3 months so stay tuned for a blog about her.

Layla is 2 months!

2009-09-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Monday Layla turned 2 months old! We went to her 2 month check up on Tuesday and she weighed in at a whooping 13 lbs 5 oz which is in the 96%. and 23.5inc long which is 88%. So she is a big girl. She has been cooing so much. Mostly in the morning we have our little chats. She looks like she may roll over soon. She has decided she is no longer going to sleep well at night. She now only sleeps 4hours straight at the most and its been very hard for me.
I got a job! I am now working as a water aerobics instructor at my gym. I'm actually in training right now but I teach my first class on the 17th. I'm very nervous. It has been perfect for me because it's not very many hours and is only a mile from my home. And if I cant get a babysitter there is a nursery. i have to pay for the nursery but if I am in a bind I can just use them.
My baby is growing so fast I cant believe it. I just wish she would sleep through the night. Its really starting to wear on me.
I started Weight Watchers when Layla turned 6 weeks. I have now lost 8lbs since Ive been on it and 38 pounds since I had Layla.

6 weeks!

2009-08-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

Wow Layla is growing so fast! She is smiling like crazy and loves to "talk" its so sweet. She has been pretty fussy lately though and has decided she no longer likes to take long naps during the day. Which makes it hard to get anything done. I weighed her on my scale and I think she's almost 13lbs! What a chunk. I went to my 6 week check up and all is well. I started Weight Watchers on Monday and started exercising. I still have a lot of weight to lose to even get back to my pre pregnancy weight but i'm on my way.
Layla's Auntie Elise came to visit us for the last 2 weeks. It was great to have her help. I even got to go back to my water aerobics class while she babysat Layla.
I'm currently searching for a part time job. I so dont want to work but I'm going to have to if we ever are going to get out of debt. Sigh.

Layla is 1 month old!

2009-08-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

Layla turned 1 month old today! How did that happen? She has been smiling alot and tries to coo. She also has been trying to lift her head. My scale dosnt work very well but I think she is almost 10 lbs. In honor of her month birth day she gave me 5 hours straight of sleep last night! It was wonderful. She has some what of a schedual going. So I can kinda plan things around her schedule. The only thing that hasnt been going so well is her feedings. We stopped breast feeding/pumping because it just wasnt going very well for either one of us. So now we are trying to figure out the right formula for her and she's been very sensitive. She also has decided she wants to eat every hour. Instead of 2 or 3 hours. Its been kinda rough trying to get her back to at least a 2 hour schedule. Vaughn and I are trying to get things back to somewhat normal. I've been looking for a part time job. We just have way too much debt for just one income. Anyways here are some pictures I took today!

Layla's Blessing

2009-07-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

We had Layla blessed at church on Sunday. She was a bit young but it worked out better for us since my mom is in town, Vaughn's family was having a reunion, Vaguhn's uncle is leaving for Iraq and that was the last family function for him and VAughn's brother Ephriam is leaving on a mission and he spoke at church for his mission farewell. We had a fun weekend. No I'm tired here are some pictures.

Layla Ann Bigham is here!

2009-07-10T11:49:00.000-07:00

Monday I had a doctors appointment. I went in and the doctor said I was dialted to a 2 and still 50% effaced. He told me I had 3 choices; we can induce this week, next week, or do nothing and wait. I chose induce this week! I was just done. So he stripped my membranes one more time and got me on the waiting list at the hospital to come in and get induce.
Tuesday morning at 5am we got a call from the hosptial telling us to come in they are ready for us. We got there about 7am and got hooked up to pitocin. Contractions started out slowly and light. I think it was a few hours later and my doctor came and checked me and said I was a 3 and he broke my water. That's when the contractions started getting really strong and close together. I was able to tolerate them for awhile. My mother in law Christie and Vaughn were both by my side reminding me to breath. That got to be too much and I asked for an epdiural. We thought the epidural had slowed things down as we watched the montior but I went from a 4 to a 9 in 2 hours! I felt so relieved and happy when they told me I would be pushing soon. Like and hour later my doctor showed up I pushed like 5 times with in 2 contractions and she was out! Less then 10mins of pushing! They put her on my chest and she was screaming and covered in vernix. She may have been over due but still was covered in the stuff.

Layla Ann's stats born 7-7-09 at 7:08pm. Weighing 8lbs 13oz 19 1/2 inches long. Apgars 8/9 Light brown hair and dark blue eyes.

She is a great baby. Only cries when she's hungry. Breast feeding has been difficult but we are working on it. I'm loving being a mommy. I am walking on air. Well like a zombie walking on air LOL.

Being Over Due Sucks!

2009-07-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

Well I am now officially 1 day over due. And I want to kill someone. I'm cranky and frustrated and sore and miserable.....I have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning. We will schedule and induction. I didtn want to do that before but now with how I'm feeling I dont care if they cut her out. I'm just done.

Less then a week!

2009-07-01T06:54:00.000-07:00

Actually only 3 days left till my due date! Yep pretty much have been trying everything to get this little girl going. I went to the doctor on Monday and I'm still dilated to a 1 and 50% effaced. He stripped my membranes but I haven't noticed anything different. Today I'm eat Labor cookies (ginger snaps with a kick) and Raspberry Leaf tea. Come on Baby!
this last weekend I was able to see my birth children. The adoptive mom gave me Taryn's old crib and some clothes. It was so wonderful having a visit with them. I cant get over how beautiful they are. I talk about our visit to my husband non stop poor thing. He's probably like i know I was there! They are so sweet and funny! Here are some pics we got.

2 weeks left!

2009-06-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Had my 38 week appt Monday. Once again my doctor was gone delivering a baby so my nurse checked me again. She said I was was dilated to a 1 and that my cervix is nice is soft! This week I plan on doing a lot of walking and other things to get this baby out. I'm just done. I wanna cry. I have one more doctors appt Monday 29th. Hoping I dont make it!

3 weeks left

2009-06-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well here we are at 3 weeks left. I wonder how I can even survive being pregnant that much longer? Went to the doctor on Monday and they said baby is still high but I am a finger tip dilated. So that's good. I am glad she is looking like she'll stay put this week. My in-laws are outta town till Sunday and we still have a bunch of stuff to get done before she gets here. One thing that is done is the walls in the nursery! They are painted! I also washed all her clothes and blankets! The rest of our house though is a disaster. The nursery was acting as a storage room so now all those boxes are in the living room and kitchen till Vaughn finishes that shed. So if anyone is up for helping we need it this weekend! Stay tuned for next weeks update!

My Baby Shower!

2009-06-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my Utah baby shower! It was great. I rented a cabin at Gardner Village. Gardner Village is one of my favorite places to hang out. They took a bunch of historic homes and put them in this area and have cute stores in each one. Anyways, my mother in-law Christie did a great job decorating it and putting together all the games. I got a lot of great presents! I wish I could have got pictures of everyone there but I was so busy socializing! Thank you to everyone that came! I cant believe my baby is going to be here soon!

One more month to go!

2009-06-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow it will be 30days till my due date and on Saturday I will hit 36weeks. That means my last month of pregnancy! I'm so ready to be done. I've gotten to the point where I can barely move. But at the same time I cant find a position to rest in. Everything hurts.
Monday was my 35week Check up. I only gained 3 lbs which is good for me. Baby is doing well. He checked my cervix and its still closed and thick. My next appt will be in 2weeks and then I start going once a week till the baby is here.
Saturday is my baby shower! I'm so excited. Hopefully we will be able to get the nursery started after the shower. Yeah it's not done yet. Some one needs to light a fire under Vaughn's butt I think.
So here are some pictures. My belly at 35weeks and then a pic from our maternity photo shoot. To see the rest of the photos go to Go to http://www.marsvasquez.com/ then enter in then go to proofing the password is jeanie123

8 years ago today....

2009-05-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

I was 19 when I found out I was pregnant for the first time. I was just about to start college. It was one of those things that I thought I was invincible from. It was a scary time. I didnt want my baby to have to grow up being the middle of custody battles and have to watch his mom struggle just to provide for the two of them. I wanted him to have a mommy and daddy that loved each other and him. So I started looking at adoption.

I went though my church's adoption program. They gave me a bunch of letters hopeful parents had written telling about their families. The first one I read hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew they were the one. But I thought, no I need to give the others a fair chance and read their letters as well. But I kept coming back to this family. I had had a dream about a little girl praying for a baby and they had a daughter that did exactly that.

The next 9months were the hardest. I had so many different people give me their views on what I was doing. Some thought I was an angel for choosing adoption. Others told me I was just throwing my baby away. I also had to convince the dad that adoption was the right decision for us. I was able to meet with the family a couple of times before I had my son. Those visits were amazing. It was like I knew them all along. One of the visits my baby's birth father came with and that did it for him as well. It finally hit him that this was the right decision.

I continued to keep the family updated on my progress through letters. And they told me more and more about their family. 2 weeks went passed my due date and I was still pregnant. I was getting so miserable and antsy. My doctor decided to induce me. So early morning on May 10th I went into the hospital and was put on pitocin. That is some nasty stuff. I had hard labor for 18 hours and 2 hours of pushing. Kendrick J was born on May 11th 2001 at 2:38am weighing 9lbs 7oz and 20inches long. He was a big baby.

I was able to stay in the hospital a couple of days with him and get to know him. May 13th Mother's Day was my last day at the hospital. I had asked that the adoptive family come to the hospital so I could place him in their arms. Even though he had to go to a foster home till all the legal stuff was done (stupid Wisconsin law) I just wanted to be able to see him with their family to make things feel right. It was a very emotional fist Mother's Day for me.

The ride home was so hard to leave with out a baby. But I felt like I had done the right thing. It has now been 8 years since my sweet little boy was born. So much has happened. I found my self pregnant 3 years later and had a little girl. I was so happy that I was still in touch with the adoptive family. I emailed them and asked if they would want to adopt again. So now Kendrick and his half blood sister are together.

Since then they have let me have visits with the kids and have been so wonderful to me. I am so thankful for the adoptive family. They have done so much for me that wasnt even required of them or expected. My birth children know where they came from and why.

Now this Mother's day I am pregnant and married to a wonderful man. I cant wait to experience taking home a baby for the first time. I want to take this time and tell everyone who helped me through that emotional time, Thank YOU! and anyone who had given me a kind word of reassurance that I did the right thing. No matter how much it hurts when I miss them I will never regret my decision to give them up to a wonderful family.

Happy 8th Birthday Kendrick!

My Trip to Wisconsin!

2009-05-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

I had been aching to go to Wisconsin. Because I knew it was going to be a long time before I went again because of a new baby coming. I found a great price for a flight into Milwaukee! I left on April 30th. Lisa Lewis picked me up from the airport and brought me to Culver's for dinner! So YUMMY! It made me feel like I was officially in Wisconsin. We even got some fried cheese curds.
Friday my old friend from grade school Nicole Shultz picked me up and brought me to go get my hair done at my mom's salon. I really wanted my hair to look nice for my shower that night. Afterwords she took me to lunch and then for a shopping spree at Babies R Us. She spoiled me so much.
Friday night was my shower. We held it at the church building where i used to go. It was so great to see everyone. I got tons of clothes! I'm so glad I brought an extra suitcase!

Early Saturday morning we drove down to Iowa City, IA and went to see my sister and her family. Her daughter Ivy was born April 13th and she was being blessed at church on Sunday. They took us to a BBQ for mentally handicapped children that their church was putting on. I told my siblings they'd fit right in LOL (bad humor) Afterwords we headed back to their house for our own BBQ. Nicole's in-laws were there. It was so great seeing them. Our family knows them from way back. We went swimming at a hotel that Nicole's brother in-law and family were staying at. It was so fun to play in the water with my siblings!

Sunday was Ivy's blessing. My brother in-law Steve gave a wonderful blessing. He has always been so great with words. Ivy looked beautiful in her long white dress and headband that her Grandma Courtright made for her. My sister made her a little bracelet. Unfortunately all most all my pictures from that day are on my cell phone and I couldnt get them to upload right on to my computer. We had a really yummy Hawaiian Pork for dinner. After the BBQs and the Pork dinner I dont want to see another pig product for awhile! We headed back to Wisconsin that night.
Monday I did a whole lot of nothing. Just sat around the house till my siblings got home from school. We took my brother Andrew to the mall to get some shoes. Then when I got back my friend Melissa picked me up and we met our freind Korri for dinner at Pedros (always have to visit there!) Our waitress was Sunni Spencer, a girl that was in my church growing up. Crazy!

Tuesday my friend Bobby Jo Picked me up and brought me back to the airport. My flight back was awful. Lots of delays and horrible turbulence. I am so glad to be back.
I missed Vaughn so much. It felt so good to be back in his arms!

Busy week!

2009-04-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

This has been a crazy busy week in the Bigham household. Poor Vaughn missed a lot because he had to go out of town for work and worked many late nights. The great thing was I didnt have to make dinner all week until last night! My mother in-law Christie graduated from BYU this week. So we had some out of town guests come to see her graduate. My sister in-law Maren and her daughter Lydia came up from Arizona. And my Father in-law's father and his wife came over from Colorado. It was great spending time with them. Maren is still in town so we are still able to enjoy her and Lydia. I thought I'd share some pictures with you from the week.
6000 graduates! Thank goodness they didnt call them by name

My In-laws Gordon and Christie

My sister in-law Maren and my niece Lydia

Me and Lydia

Lydia saying hello to Layla. Come out and play cousin!

Lydia and Uncle Vaughn

Our nephew William

Emotional Roller Coaster ride at Child Birth Class

2009-04-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

So I have to tell you about my emotional roller coaster of a day I just had. Vaughn and I went to a child birthing class at the hospital. It was one of those all day things from 10am-4:30pm YAWN! As soon as I walked in class feelings just started coming back from when I went to a birthing class when I was pregnant with Kendrick. I almost started crying when it was my turn to introduce myself. I told them about Kendrick and Taryn. There was a girl next to me with her mother and turns out she's placing her baby for adoption. My mouth just dropped and I almost started crying again. It was like watching myself 8 years ago. Buts she is a bit younger then I was she is 17.

I had such a hard time keeping it together will these pregnancy hormones. Also watching all the videos and being able to have a loving husband there to get excited about everything that we were learning I was just bursting with joy. We took a tour of the hospital and I kept thinking that next time i'm there I get to have my baby and leave with my baby. It was nice that this time I got to really listen to the part about taking care of a baby but then my heart started to break for the girl sitting next to me that wont be taking hers home. And knowing what she must be feeling listening to it and what she's about to experience.

When we went on our lunch break Vaughn and I ate lunch with her and her mom. I talked to her about my experience and told her about ideas of keepsakes and stuff. Her's sounds like it will be more of a closed adoption because she dosnt think she'll be able to handle a more open one. When class was done I gave her my name and number and email. I hope she lets me know how everything goes. She actually lives in Florida and the adoptive family lives in Connecticut. But the agency is here in Utah so for some reason its all taking place here in Utah...strange.

When I was walking out to the car I just burst into tears. Just all the memories coming back but then at the same time being happy that that girl isnt me anymore. I have a husband and a stable life for my baby. I never thought this day would ever come. It makes me really realize god does love me. No matter how much I've screwed up in my life he's always made something good come of it. I am so glad I found the family that adopted my kids. I love the relationship we have. Sometimes I wonder why god blesses me so much but I stopped asking why and just am so thankful now!

Thanks for reading I just had to get this out.

Our Easter

2009-04-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

Our Easter this year was full of events. Saturday we went over to Vaughn's parents house and watched all his little cousins search for eggs in the back yard. Then we started to have a wienie roast but it started raining. Some of the brave boys including Vaughn roasted them for us and brought them inside. It was so fun to see all the little ones enjoying their loot.
Sunday there were two baby blessings to go to but we ended up only being able to go to one because of my sleepless nights I've been having. Vaughn is affected by them too poor guy and the baby isnt even here yet. We went down to see Andy and Lynn's daughter Elizabeth be blessed. Unfortunately my batteries in my camera died so I didnt get any good pictures.
While we were there at church we ran into my friend Melynda's husband. Turns out they are in the ward that meets before Andy and Lynn's so crazy! So we stopped by their house so I could visit with Melynda who is due in September! Then we went to have lunch with the other pregnant girl in the Kelson family Emma, John and family. We enjoyed our Easter lunch at Village Inn. Watching little Johnathan making silly faces. Afterwards we went and met the rest of the Kelson clan back at the church and we got to hold little Elizabeth. It was so nice to see everyone. We went home pretty tired from all the events. Emma did take some pictures of me and Vaughn and my 28 week belly. Boy do I look like I'm done or what! Still have 12 more weeks to go though.

Ivy Nicole Courtright

2009-04-14T11:11:00.001-07:00

We are Aunt and Uncle again!

2009-04-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

My sister Nicole had her baby girl today! After like 20 hours of labor Ivy Nicole Courtright came into the world at 4:24pm weighing 7lbs 14oz and 20 1/2 inches. This is the pic they sent me via cell phone. I cant wait to go see her on May 2nd!

Cousin Get together!

2009-03-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Dhar and Andraya came over to the Bighams house and a bunch of cousins all came to hang out together. It was so fun and everyone got to meet the new babies. Nicole and Ammon brought Beckham. And Mat and Rheana brought William. I had so much fun holding the babies! Sunday I got even more baby time. I went down to Andy and Lynn's to meet our new cousin Elizabeth! She is such a pretty girl! So I got my fill of babies this weekend. And I cant wait for more!

99 Paper Links on the Wall!

2009-03-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I'm finally under 100 days till this baby gets here. I'll be 26 weeks tomorrow. I've been feeling pretty awful lately. I'm in such pain in my pelvis. I cry when i turn over or have to get up to pee at night. My Pleurisy has started acting up again. BTW this is what it is http://www.medicinenet.com/pleurisy/article.htm#what it feels like I'm having a heart attack. My heart burn is uncontrollable. So next doctors visit I will be telling him to give me something for that and my pain or at least something to help me sleep. We have got nothing ready for the baby yet. But we do know where we are getting a crib so that is a start. The family that adopted my kids is giving up my birth daughters crib. It looks really nice. I'm so excited.

20 years ago?

2009-03-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

20 years ago today my sister Elise was born. I find it so crazy that I can remember that day so well. I was so excited to be a big sister again. Here are the pictures of the party we had for her yesterday. And a picture of when she was a baby.

Time for an update.

2009-03-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, March has been a busy month so far. Vaughn's cousin Elizabeth was born March 12th and then on the 13th his brother and his wife had our new newphew, William Mathew. We held our house warming party on the 14th and had a blast. Although I stayed up way too late and paid for it for the next couple days following. My pregnancy is going well. Little Layla Ann (pretty sure that's what we will name her) is growing fast. She kicks like crazy almost all day long. I think she will be a swimmer like her daddy and her uncles. I have 16weeks left which dosnt leave much time to get her nursery ready. We have the color picked out but we still have to put insulation in the room and get some furniture. I'm headed over to Baby's R Us today to see what I can find. I got an email yesterday from the adoptive family that have my 2 birth children. Kendrick is getting ready for his baptism in May and Taryn is starting preschool. They are growing up way too fast. I will include the pictures they sent along with the letter.

Our New Nephew!

2009-03-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

Vaughn's brother Mat and his wife Rheana had their baby yesterday March 13th at 6:53pm. His name is William Mathew Bigham 8lbs 11oz 20in. We got to go see him when he was only 2 hours old! I am so in love. This little man will be so spoiled. I'm glad they live so close!

Visit with some Wisconsin friends

2009-02-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

Today we headed up to Clinton, Utah to see my friend Stephanie Hansen (Brabazon). Adie Clegg and her famliy were also there. It was so fun to see them all. We had fun talking and playing Guitar Hero World Tour!

Babies, Babies and more Babies!

2009-02-23T13:45:00.000-08:00

Friday we had a baby shower for my sister inlaw Rheana. I thought I'd post a cute picture that we took. It is a picture of all the girls that were pregnant at the shower. (From left to right) Danette (my sister in-laws sister)she is having hers as I write this,Lynn (Vaughn's Aunt) due March 7th, my sister in-law Rheana March 13th, Me July 4th, and Emma (Vaughn's Aunt) Sept 25th. There is a cousin that couldnt make it. She is going to be induced tomarrow. I cant wait for all the babies to get here!

20 week belly

2009-02-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

Our little girl waving hello

2009-02-14T11:54:00.000-08:00

It's a Girl!

2009-02-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

Well today we are officaly half way to having our baby. We had a ultra sound a couple weeks ago and found out it's a girl! We are very excited. I cant wait to make her nursery all pretty. We are living in a new house in Kearns, UT. It's been a lot of work. We finally got our computer hooked up so hopefully I'll be able to keep this blog updated more often. I still have a bit to learn how to use it though. Im used to Myspace and facebook.

Good News!

2008-11-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

We are pregnant! I am 6weeks. I will be due July 2nd. I'll keep the blog updated after our doctor appt.

What a sad way to end summer.

2008-08-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well I cant believe its August. We didnt do half the things we wanted to. We did go camping this weekend. It was fun but we had some bad news when we came home. I miscarried. I found out Friday the day we left to go camping that I was pregnant. Then Sunday I started bleeding. We went to the doctor today and sure enough I misscarried. We are still determeined to keep trying so your prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Where has the time gone?

2008-02-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

Another year has gone by! I just dont believe its 2008. Well I thought I'd come on here and update everyone on whats going on. Vaughn is still working for Calply and things have slowed down alot. His pay checks are so much smaller so we are hurting. I found a new job as a dispatcher over serivces drivers at a tire shop. I am pretty much their manager but I dont have to worry about firing them or anything. i like it. My father is still living with us. Hopefully he will move out at the end of the month. Vaughn and I relaised the other day that out of the year and half we've been married we've only lived alone for 4months. Now that is sad. We will be uncle and aunt again this summer. Vaughn's sister Maren is due in August. We are excited but sad that they live all the way in Arizona. Other than that everything is same ol'. I need to get some more pictures on here.

Chase Bank SUCKS

2007-12-26T11:45:00.000-08:00

Chase Bank SUCKS!!!
Just a warning you guys. Chase Bank has screwed me one to many times. There is a reason why they give you money to open an account with them that is the only way they get customers. They ruined my Christmas and the rest of my year.
They will put a hold on your paychecks with out telling you. I some what understood the first time they did it to Vaughn's check they did it again to us and we've cashed thousands of his checks there. They said that maybe his work changed account numbers but they havent. So now we cant get any money till the hold is up and they charged us even though its not our fault that there's a hold on it. they charged us $128 WTF?????? So now i cant get grocery's and we cant go to Arizona this weekend either.

Please Pass this on!!!

The Stockings by the fire with care

2007-12-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas Tree

2007-12-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

Our First Blog

2007-12-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

Well my sister got me started on this blogging thing. I like her page so I thought I'd make mine. Vaughn and I were married July 15th 2006 in Manti, UT. I cant believe its be almost a year and a half. We are living in Midvale, UT in a cute apartment. I love our apartment. In September my father came to live with us from Wisconsin. Vaughn drives for Calply delivering sheet rock for construction sites. I'm currently looking for a job. I much rather just be a mommy though. We have no kids of our own yet. But I have 2 kids that I gave up for adoption. Anyways heres my first blog. Now i have to go figure out how to use this thing.