A little update

Today is the first day of spring and I woke up to snow on the ground. Not very much but when it's in the 70s back home in Wisconsin it kinda makes me a little grumpy. I shouldn't complain though. We really have had a mild winter. Barely any snow at all. Here are some pictures of the little bit of snow Layla got to play in back in January.

Layla got her first hair cut. She really doesn't have much hair yet but it was very uneven. Daddy just gave her a little trim. In this picture it's pulled back.

In January we found out we were pregnant. I am now 12weeks and just showing a little. I've been very sick as usual. Pregnancy just is not nice to me. I have not been as sick as I was with Layla though so I am able to some what function. I have given up most my clients. However, I am still some how teaching water aerobics. I have a friend who is a photographer and she is doing a progression photo shoot. We will be taking pictures of my belly every month. It should be fun to watch it grow.

Well that's all for now. I hope you have a Happy Easter.

Our little Bean

We had our first Drs appointment last Monday. Everything went well and we even got to see the little one!

ANNOUNCEMENT

We are expecting!!! Due Sept 29th! We are very excited. I've been very sick as usual but other then that all is well :)

Holidays 2011

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

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!