March 13-15th 2015

This past weekend we flew home on Friday to CA. 

When we got there that morning we were a bit tired! haha but walking out to 81 degree weather at 8:45 am was well worth it! 

Thats when I opened the door to get in, and the pile of clothes was Connor! What an awesome to surprise to have him be home! 

When we got back to the house, the flowers had already been delivered for Saturday night. There are very few things I love more than opening a box like this! 

My Grandma Sheppard got in on Thursday night like Connor, and my Grandma Stephens got in Saturday morning.  Both were so happy to see Connor! It was the first time since he has gotten back!

Friday, My mom, Grandma and I went shopping for my birthday. So fun to hang out and enjoy time with them! The boys went surfing and came home! Kade almost got up this time! That night we just hung out, ate thai food and birthday cake... and I worked on flowers. I love just spending time with family!

The next morning was the baby shower! A huge THANK YOU, to those who put it together and everyone who came. You spoiled our little one rotten! We are so so so grateful!

The other fun surprise was my Aunt Courtney ( left) flew in with her two girls and Calvin for the baby shower! So fun to see them! I really can't expressed how loved and grateful I feel for my family!

my sweet mom and I! Nothing gets better than this! 

Saturday was a crazy day, we had the shower, then rugby games, then the "mormal" pictures and Dinner for all the 32 kids coming to my parents house, grandmas flying out and overall craziness. But, it all worked out perfectly. 

I put together a few centerpieces for the tables and 4 couples personal flowers (which I will put pictures up later! )

Here is my only proof that Connor was there! Kade was super excited to see him! 

One of the arrangements

It was so much fun and I could not be more in awe of my amazing family and friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who was there this weekend in spirit and in person. It means so much to me to be having a little one who will be so loved by all of you. 

Getting in shape?

Currently on week three of this.... 7 miler this Saturday and it's kicking my trash!

long time, no see!

I feel like it was yesterday, seriously that this girl and I lived together! We learned a lot about who we are, what we weren't, and what we needed to learn. It was so great to catch up with her and know life has been good to the both of us! until next time chicka!

Sand Dunes

One of the nights this last week we went out to the sand dunes and rode our 4-wheeler. I am sooo not good it by myself and love to just hold onto to my hubby and ride on the back, less panicking this way! Which means more fun for the both of us!

( sorry still shots from the video! Hence the black) 

We also got around to staining our trailer... The color choice was Kade's... Not my fav but it will do! 

Love getting to play together every now and then!

Fashion via my mom

My mom has the best taste in clothing! Here are a few outfits from my birthday presents!

Plus I scored on some jewelry! 

Thank you mom! For teaching me how dress, be modest, and be cute while doing it! 

Sure miss you a lot! 

Love you! 

Disneyland!

So, My Dad surprised me by saying he wanted to fly us home sometime soon and it happened to work out to be over my birthday! So we packed up and drove to SLC to catch our flight on Thursday night.

by the time we got there we hadn't had time to stop and get something to eat, so Bennett took us to In-N-Out and this is what was left... nothing! 

Friday: we woke up and went to Disneyland... I was so excited to go! I haven't been since 2009 ( which for a girl who was raised there is a REALLY long time) 

Cars Land was open and was an incredible replica of the movie. 

Walker rode Hollywood Tower of Terror for the first time! 

Kade looks sooooo enthused. He also decided that Disneyland should enforce a dress code. Haha for the safety of the eyes around the horribly dressed. 

I also got to ride Toy story Mania for the first time! ( in case you didn't know I am a big little kid at heart)

Kade kicked my butt....

Then around 1 ish we went over to Disneyland. Of course, since it was our first time together we had to get a picture!

I love these people! and their willingness to ride and wait in lines with me!

What was super cool is that Big Thunder Mountain was open as a preview for Annual Pass holders... So of course we stole my mom and walker's passes and jumped on. Super fun.

Here is us on Space Mountain.

My dad got back from San Francisco and met us at Downtown Disney were we decided to head out and go to True Food Kitchen for dinner.
Where Kade asked what sparkling water was.... gonna have to work on that! and our waiter questioned whether anyone was actually a local or not....

The view was gorgeous!

I got some super yummy fish tacos and a honey lemonade. Kade got a Bison Burger. I think the best dish was Jackson's curry though.  ( side note: I had a total blonde moment I thought Bison and Buffalo were two separate animals... hahaha Like I said MAJOR blonde moment) 

It was a super fun day to spend with everyone and I am grateful we got to go! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Flowers

For my birthday... Last year ( I know I am really slow) my mom gave me these adorable pots and seed packages. Every pot has a flower painted on them and matching seed package the same color with matching illustration from the pot!

This is only half of them, but I am so excited to have 12 blooming flower plants here in the next 6 weeks to adequately welcome spring!

Here they are three days after my birthday! 

Good Eating and a little Comfort talks

So as I mentioned before... I am trying to be/eat healthier.  As for my goal... I failed. I ate what I wanted on date nights, then went out of town and could only eat out. So I am going to try again.

With that said, it's pretty expensive to make everything at home, to me that is the hardest part. There are something's you just can't make with out the right equipment ( soda, ice cream, ice( didn't have an ice tray) etc...) So you have to give in on those store bought items. Other things take so much time, you buy the ingredients and then they go to waste because you can never make the time... this project takes a lot of planning out and recipes that use the a lot of the same ingredients. I really like the "freezer meals," but have a hard time eating so much of the same leftovers.

As far as the comfort talks go, there is something to be said about dinner time. I LOVE sitting down eating and talking to people. It's three of my favorite things in one shot! Haha, anyways, I have had some great conversations at the dinner table these last few weeks and I am grateful for them. The idea of having a conversation with people sitting down at a table, is seeming to me to becoming a lost art. I really wish people would go back to some of the basics. But hey, maybe I am just old fashioned.


Here are a few tried and loved recipes from this last round. Until next time:)

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Coke-a-cola Cake ( this is SO addicting)

White Chicken Enchiladas

Bean and Bacon Soup

Bowling

So BYU-I has a bowling alley in the MC( main campus Building) and its $2.50 for shoes and a game. So Kade and I have been exercising our bowling skills and having a blast.

Here is my best score so far ( yes its over two games, no pros over here!)

Here is my awesome hubby rocking it... ( this night he beat with scores that were so embarassing I didn't take pictures)

Poor Kitty

So Audrey was fixed and declawed( front only)

It's been a horrible expirence.
We will see when we can finally take her cone off if this was worth it....


They kept her overnight and she chewed out all her stiches but one.. So they put her under again and re-did all of them the very next day. Then taped up her little paws... This is the first night we brought her home... it was a LONG night.

She was so sick and tired all she wanted was to lay on us and sleep.   Since then, she managed to get the cone off once, chew out a stitch, bleed all over the carpet, and go back to the vet and have it super glued.

 

So some of the funny parts about this expirence:

• She HATES the vet... like they had to trick her out of her kennel by leaving the door open for her to escape, dumped her in a plastic bag, and put her out in the bag because she had bit them, scratched them, hissed at them and tried to attack them.  When she see the vet she instantly bares her teeth and hisses at him. It so funny because she has never done this to anyone else. It is like she is possed.
• She looks like dracula in her cone staring at you...
• She drags her cone agaisnt the door to get your attention
• She has to back up like a car to get around corners

 

Her paw after she chewed out the stitch.... massive!

Anyways, she gets treated like a kid around here, because I can and I want to. She is named after a TV show character and movie star. Anyone who thinks we gave her a normal name for any other reason, obviously doesn't know us that well.  

 

She is slowly returning to her normal self and jumping into things she shouldn't. Which makes me a happy camper.

So glad this little adventure is almost over!