Simon Smiles

Aloha and Mahalo!

2012-01-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

Can you guess where we just got home from? Oahu, HAWAII!!! I can't explain how incredible it was. Just so relaxing, fun, and adventurous. It really was paradise. We went with my brother and sister in-law Brady and Melissa. Melissa is pregnant too-we're only 2 1/2 weeks apart! So, we both waddled together and peed every 15 minutes together :). So precious. haha. As a quick overview, highlights of our trip were lots of beach time and snorkeling, saw 7 whales collectively, snorkeled with a sea turtle, went to Pearl Harbor, went to the Laie temple to do sealings (SO gorgeous), the Polynesian Cultural Center, Hunama Bay, Diamond Head Hike, Punchbowl, and the Dole Plantation. And for a more detailed day by day play by play with pictures see below :) (Warning: Picture OVERLOAD but I couldn't help it:))

Thursday: Long 3 flights to get to Oahu. When we arrived we went to dinner and grocery shopping for breakfasts and snacks (we had a kitchen in our hotel)

Friday: Snorkeling at Hunama Bay (a nature preserve bay-SO GORGEOUS!!!) and saw so many fish!, went to the Honolulu Aquarium, Chilled at the beach, went shopping on "the strip" of Hawaii, went to dinner
Hanama Bay:

Snorkelin' it up at Hunama Bay:

Aquarium:

Saturday: Whale watching (saw 5 whales), Diamond Head hike (very uphill 1 1/2 mile hike with a GORGEOUS view of the island from the top!), Delicious snow cones after hike (I still think about this shaved ice!), boys went snorkeling while us pregos sat on the beach and we got to see a MOM AND BABY WHALE JUMPING out of the water from the beach!!! (Incredible!), went to see the movie "We bought a Zoo"-super cute!

Whale Watching:

Diamond Head hike:
(View of Diamond Head (what we hiked) from the whale watching tour):

I'm drooling right now:

Amazing whales Melissa and I got to see from the beach:

Sunday: Church (the most beautiful LDS church I've ever seen!), Punchbowl Cemetery (Memorial cemetery for vetrans-so gorgeous and neat-also had an amazing view!), went snorkeling and saw a HUGE SEA TURTLE that was swimming with us for a while at an arms length away!!!
Church:

Punchbowl:

Our friend the SEA TURTLE!:

Monday: Pearl Harbor (We saw the USS Arizona, the bowfish submarine, the Missouri Ship and the meuseums), went to the Dole Plantation and ate yummy pineapple ice cream, and went to the North Shore and watch surfers and the sunset

Pearl Harbor:

Dole Plantation:

North Shore (Serious Waves):

Tuesday: Temple Sealings at Laie Temple, Polynesian Cultural Center
Temple:

PCC:

Wednesday and Thursday: Flea Market, Snorkeling/Boogie Boarding/Beach Hopping

It's a New Year!

2012-01-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012 everyone! Since Christmas we went ICE FISHING and Shoe Skating at Utah Lake! It was so much fun! My bro and sis in law live RIGHT by the lake, so we got to go with Darrin's family. A bit scary at first stepping on the ice, but became a lot of fun. It was such a GORGEOUS day-pretty dang warm for end of December! Plus, my feet didn't even have to hurt from ice skates :). Bonus! Parker LOVED it too!
My Bro and sis in law caught 8 fish between the two of them, Darrin caught one, my pole caught one (I froze out before then...:(), and his other brother caught one too! All in all a fantastic day! Here are some pics:

And for New Year's we went to Darrin's parents and ate yummy food, played "Minute to Win it" Games and watched the ball drop :). Plus I got to take some pictures with my cute sis in laws. 3 of us are prego. One due in March, I'm in April and the other due in May! How awesome is that?!

Minute to win it games:

Us Prego sis in laws:

All of the sister in Laws youngest (Mua) to oldest:

We had a great new years eve :)!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T15:57:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas was wonderful! It was packed with good food, family, fun, games, etc. On Christmas Eve, we went to Darrin's family's for dinner, games and the traditional Nativity Story acted out by all the grandkids which is always fun! Last year Parker got to play baby Jesus, this year he was a little big for that so he got the part of a Shepard :).

Doesn't he make a cute little Shepard?

After Christmas Eve at Darrin's family's we headed over to my parents for our traditional PAJAMA OPENING and reading of "The Night Before Christmas". My Mom also made these INCREDIBLE books for each of the Grandkids that she gave to them on Christmas Eve. The book has letters to Parker, family history of me, Darrin and Grandparents on both sides! What a treasure!!

This is what our house looked like Christmas morning:

It was such a great morning spent opening gifts and stockings. Then we were off to church with my sister at 9am. The program was filled with wonderful music and the spirit. I thought it was really nice to have that time set apart to think about the savior and feel the spirit. After church we headed to my parents for breakfast and gift opening/exchanging. My Uncle Richard was able to be there even though he's been in the hospital for the past few days and so it was SO nice to see him!

After my parents, we went back to Darrin's family's and did the gift exchange/opening. And then we did Dinner and games.

We were SO blessed with SO many generous gifts all around! It would take me all day to name them all but to name a few I got LASER HAIR REMOVAL from my Sweetheart :), an extra FREEZER (YAY!!! I cannot explain how SMALL my freezer is!), gloves, COZY socks, "Our Best Bites" cookbook (:)), new KNIVES (mine were TERRIBLE!!!), an apple corer, slicer, peeler (Already used it-LOVE IT!!), FHE book, Bluray player, a Mani-Pedi, a DOUBLE STROLLER and more :) My goodness when I list it all out I realize even more such how much I'm SO blessed. I have such a wonderful family!

Darrin got a new HP TOUCHPAD (which he's been on NON-stop since Christmas :)), a cozy LONG blanket I made him, an XBOX game (can't remember what it's called), an air compressor, staple gun, fishing pole, and more!

Parker got a BASKETBALL HOOP which he LOVES, a remote control TRUCK, CARS, BALLS, Pillow pet, SNOW GEAR (YAY! He LOVES the snow!), Potty Time Signing Time, Lego's, toys and more!

WOW! What an amazing Christmas we had. Here are some pictures:

Darrin, his Dad, and some of his brothers ALL playing on his new Touchpad :)

Parker checkin' out Dad's new toy:

Parker's first try with his new BBall Hoop:

NBA Parker with his new BBall Hoop:

Accident Prone and Gingerbread

2011-12-20T21:50:00.001-08:00

Well, it's been busy here and we've had a few accidents lately...
1. Parker slipped on some water he spilled in the kitchen and fell onto his face on the tile resulting in a FAT lip. Poor guy.
2. I feel down the stairs while holding Parker. It resulted in a bruised lower back, heel, and elbow. But luckily Parker, me and the baby are all ok.
3. Darrin split his head open by accidentally hitting the top of his head on an open kitchen cabinet...OUCH! He had to get 7 staples in his head-without even getting it numbed. I can't even explain how much blood and nastiness there was.

ALL of these things happened within a WEEK!!! Can you believe it?! But luckily we are all ok and alive :). Could have been much worse.

Parker's Fat lip:

I didn't get any pictures OR video of the fall down the stairs-crazy right?! haha.

Here's some proof of Darrin's accident:

On a happier note, we recently made our gingerbread houses (our yearly tradition :)). Here are some pictures:

And lastly, some cute pictures of the newest invention at the Simon household. They made the table into a slide and the kids were going nuts. Parker sure likes him some slide :)

Our Life Lately

2011-12-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

Well, We've been busy having lots of fun and I wanted to document all of that :). Thanksgiving was great! We spent most of the day with my family and then headed over to Darrin's parents for Black Friday fun. Other things we've been up to is selling the salon stuff from Ogden (FINALLY!!!), we went shooting with some of Darrin's family, Parker and I went with friends to the FREE day at the Aquarium which was a lot of fun!, we went to the festival of trees with our good friends Shane and Mel Otvos, we went to MIDWAY with our good friends Pattyanne and Cory Waddoups and stayed at Zurmatt Resort and it was SO SO much fun to spend the weekend with them and our little ones love spending time with each other and we love spending time with them!, and lastly, we got to go to Lights at the Zoo last night as a little family-a lot of fun!

So, now you know we've been busy having fun. Here are some pictures to prove it:

Shooting in Saratoga Springs with Darrin's Family (my first time). The kids stayed warm in the car watching.

Free day at the Aquarium (Fishy, Fishy Fishy!!!)

Festival of Trees. Parker was not happy that night. He just wanted to be running around everywhere and we couldn't really let him because we would have lost him in a second in all those crowds-SCARY! But we still had a great time. And here's my 22 weeks along prego picture:

Weekend in Midway with the Waddoups. We had SUCH a good time! Parker learned to jump into the pool to Darrin and I-he LOVED it-what a daredevil! And we also saw "Father Christmas" at the Swiss Christmas boutique we went to. We went and saw the "Crater" at the homestead and relaxed.

Last night at the Zoo Lights. We had such a good time even though it was preeety cold! Parker LOVED looking at all the animals-especially the monkey that was right at the glass to see him! And he loved walking around with Mom and Dad holding hands :)

There you have it-our life lately. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family and friends! I just feel overwhelmed with good feelings and I'm SO excited and happy that it's the Christmas season! I LOVE it!

Gender Revealing Party!

2011-11-04T18:38:00.001-07:00

Well, my sister-in-law and I are having babies 2 weeks apart :). So, we decided to do a "Gender Revealing Party" tonight! Here are some pictures (see video at bottom to see WHAT we're having!!!): And here's THE video to find out what we're having! DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!....

This is Halloween

2011-11-01T16:39:00.000-07:00

How was your Halloween? Ours was great! We went to our good friends The Waddoups' party on Saturday (Thanks Mom for Babysitting!)and we won the prize for SCARIEST COSTUMES!!, and then last night we went over to our brother and sis-in-laws for a part-ay. We made homemade root beer, had breadsticks shaped like bones with our spaghetti, and dirt 'n worms for dessert :). YUM! We played a murder mystery game which was a blast and then watched "The Village". Over-all a GREAT Halloween!!

Wondering what we were for Halloween??? Well, here's some pictures:

Darrin was CHUCKY and the baby protruding out of my belly was the SPAWN OF CHUCKY coming out to Trick or Treat!

A game we played at The Waddoups' party- boys vs. girls of who could fill the cup the fastest with candy corn held from a spoon in your mouth!

Our little MONKEY:

More Pics & Halloween Food!:

Park City and Lately

2011-10-23T13:05:00.001-07:00

Remember how I said that for my Birthday Darrin gave me a voucher for a Park City weekend getaway?!? He scheduled it for when I was 16 weeks prego so that hopefully I wouldn't be as sick. Well guess what?! That was this past weekend! Oh, we had SO much fun and it was a MUCH needed, relaxing getaway!! So, here are pics that show what we did (although I didn't get pictures of shopping at the outlet malls, at the movies-we went and saw "Real Steel"-super good!, or at meals out to eat-I know, what was I thinking?!) Our getaway basket, and the condo we stayed it-I don't know why I didn't get pics of the bathroom because it was AMAZING too :) Look how GORGEOUS it is up there this time of year-pictures do NOT do it justice! We went to the Olympic Center in PC and did a tour (really neat) and even got to see some athlethes practicing on the big green jumps! It was really cool! So, Park City was a BLAST and now we're back :). Another shout out to my wonderful in-laws who babysat Parker while Darrin and I got alone time. Are you guys catching on how amazing these people are?! In other news, Parker is walking all over the place and showing off new tricks all the time which is a lot of fun! Here are some fun pics and videos of him lately: At our ward Luau:
Beginning stages of walking (now he's a walker :)):
Parker LOVES to crawl in, through and around things. Want proof?

Another video before he could walk on his own but this is the way he liked to get around before:

And lastly, we carved pumpkins last night and here they are:

Happy almost week from Halloween!

Before & After

2011-09-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

I had posted on facebook a little bit ago that Darrin and I bought a condo! But I haven't posted anything about it on here yet. So I thought that I would share :).

We've been working hard on remodeling. So far we have had the ENTIRE place painted (EVERYWHERE: Kitchen cabinets, insides of closets, ceilings, EVERYWHERE.), we got all new carpet, we replaced all the light fixtures (well, we still need one but are going to replace it), replaced all the wall plates, replaced the bathroom sink with a nice vanity, we're going to replace all the floor registers (we like clean :)), and CLEANED, CLEANED, CLEANED!!! Every once in a while Darrin and I like to do a project together. Boy was this a PROJECT! Almost finished, not quite, but I want to show it off now! The pictures really don't do it justice Before OR after. We have ordered nice, new wood blinds too and they're on their way so ignore the blinds please.

If you know anyone who's interested in renting the condo, it's pretty much ready to show and rent right now :). Here are the specs: 875 sq. feet, 2 bedrooms (one with a closet I LOVE), 1 bath, kitchen, dining room, living room, 3 storage closets plus a coat closet. It does have washer and dryer hook ups. It's in West Valley at approximately 4000 South and 4000 West. It has a garden space that is for the condo (which I think is pretty sweet to be able to have that). We're going to be asking $675/month for it on KSL and craigslist, BUT for trusted friends or refferals we are willing to do it for $625. H.O.A., water and sewage and garbage are INCLUDED. We just want someone we can trust in there that respects property (especially because we just re-did everything) and pays rent. If you have any questions just let me know!

Well, here goes nothing showing the before and afters (I wasn't going to post before's because they gross me out but I wanted to share with y'all how hard we've been working :)):

BEFORE PICTURES (prepare to be grossed out):
(you can't really tell in the picture but the sink is crooked and falling off the wall a little bit :))

AFTER PICTURES (they really don't do it justice-you can't see all the pretty new light fixtures in them and we didn't take many of the bathroom yet since we still need to install the faucet and mirror)

Bedroom #1:

Bedroom #2. I love this closet-which you can hardly see in the picture. It's kind of a walk in closet. Not huge but MUCH bigger than mine with plently of clothes and shoe space:):

The hall with laundry area at the end of the hallway:

Bathroom Shower/Tub (like I said we didn't get the rest of the bathroom 'cause we haven't installed the faucet or mirror yet :( )

Dining Room:

Kitchen (LOVE the kitchen-but again, IGNORE the window-we have new wood blinds on the way :))

Living Room/Dining room/Entry way (BLINDS WILL BE REPLACED :))

So, there you have it. Our new condo. We're kinda excited about it :)

My Birthday and Surprise!

2011-09-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

Well, my Birthday was this last week and it was great! Darrin worked from home the first half of the day to be with me and took the rest of the day off! Do I have the best husband EVER or what?!? That meant so much to me! I walked out the door to go meet my Mom for breakfast when at my front door were flowers and chocolate from a dear friend, Mary, in my ward-what an amazing way to start out the day! My Mom and I had a lot of fun. Then, I went to playgroup with Parker and to my surprise when I walked in the door they had a cupcake with a candle in it and sang me Happy Birthday! After playgroup Darrin's Mom watched Parker while Darrin and I got to go see "The Help" (I LOVE my mother in law!-Thank you!) I have been wanting to see "The Help" since I read the book and heard it was coming to movie-it was FANTASTIC! If you haven't see it-go now (don't stop reading yet though-news is down the line...) After the movie we picked up Parker and had dinner at Ruth's Diner. It was lovely. For my bday Darrin got me a certificate to go get a Shellac Manicure (which I asked for) and he also surprised me with a 2 night getaway in a Park City Suite in October-booked and everything-I CANNOT WAIT!!!
Then, later in the week Pattyanne took me to lunch at Costa Vita (first timer there-yum!) and Marta took me to breakfast at Eggs in the City (YUM YUM YUM!!) and then Marta and I did some DI shoppin' afterwards and had a blast! Marta made the most thoughful card for me that I may have ever gotten. She had written up 23 memories with her and me!!! I loved every second of memory lane!
And THEN, this weekend my Bro and Sis in Law had us over for dinner they made for my bday and my FAVORITE for dessert=FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE...oh my flipping goodness...I dream about that stuff...
So needless to say, my 23rd Bday was pretty much a hit and I love all my family and friends who helped make it special!

Here are some pics (also-keep reading...)

The mysterious envelope that was my gift from Darrin, wrapped in envelope after envelope after envelope after envelope...

After seeing "The Help"-Super good!

Dinner at Ruth's Diner:

Breakfast with Marta-I had Nutella Crepes and she had steel cut oatmeal. mmmm.....

Brady and Melissa's house for my Bday Dinner

Out to breakfast with my Mom:

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Ok, so now that I've talked about my special week last week, onto a surprise. Check this out:

Catch my drift?....

I'm EXPECTING again! It was quite the little surprise. There's a story to go with it but lets just say it hapened VERY quickly, much quicker than expected. BUT someone obviously is anxious to come join our little family and we're excited! I'm 10 1/2 weeks along, due April 5th, and have been in for 2 ultrasounds. Both look great. It's the coolest thing to see the progress of how much this baby has grown. In the picture above (the ultrasound) the picture on the left is 6 weeks along and picture on the right is 10 weeks. Wow-how they grow. And how AMAZING it is to get to see the baby's little heart beating on screen! Parker and baby 2 will be 22 months apart, tough I am sure it will be, but I believe that everything happens for a reason and that things will work out! I'm so grateful to be in the process of becoming a Mommy again!

Summertime Stuff

2011-08-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

Since I've last blogged, we've been to Yellowstone with my family and Lake Powell with some of Darrin's family. I will tell the story with pictures :). For some reason it's taking FOREVER to upload video, so I will have to forgo those-sad! Anyways, here it goes: Grandma with Kezi and Parker at the cabin: Sitting around the campfire: Grandma & Aunt Cindy singin' songs with Parker: Parker kept wanting to climb this steep ladder. I finally gave in and gave him a shot at it, obviously right by his side. He did the whole thing all by himself! WOW! We went to a mountain-man thing. Kinda cool: Yellowstone Pics: On the way to Lake Powell. Have you ever seen anything SO BEAUTIFUL?!?: Lake Powell fun: The Waterslide that the boys MADE! We bought plastic, borrowed a water pump and used a hose=VUALA! Waterslide! They had to clear out a TON of rocks, shape the sand, and set it all up. The next day they improved it by BUILDING a JUMP! Very impressive workmanship if you ask me :)People were stopping and admiring, even asking if they could ride it and of course we let them!

Best Weekend EVER!

2011-07-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

We had an AWESOME, spontaneous, fun-filled weekend! On Wednesday our good friends Cory and Pattyanne in the ward invited us to go on a last minute trip to their cabin in Bear Lake! Uh..."HECK YA!". Then on Thursday, Darrin's brother called and asked if we wanted to go to Lava Hot Springs for the night! Uh..."HECK YA!". So, we packed our bags and headed to Lava Hot Springs with Darrin's family. We went tubing down the river, went to the Olympic pool with slides and HIGH platforms, went to the HOT springs, went out to eat for dinner, and then headed to Bear Lake.
Once we got to Bear Lake and got settled in the SUPER NICE cabin RIGHT ON THE LAKE, we watched "Zoolander". It was "ridiculously, ridiculously, ridiculously" hilarious if you know what I mean. Ok I'll give you a hint...he is "ridiculously, ridiculously, ridiculously good looking!" haha. But, I fell asleep mid-way, so it was lights out.
The next day was filled with good food, good friends, wakeboarding, games, relaxing on the beach, then back out to go tubing behind the boat, went out to get burgers and fudge raspberry shakes (YUM!!!), made a fire, roasted smores and starburst (not gonna lie-not a fan of the roasted starburst...), launched bottle rockets (SO much fun! Especially shooting them in different ways toward the lake!), and played the “Have you ever…” game.
I had the most fun Tubing then I ever have! It was windy, making the lake choppy, making us fly and get SPRAYED like crazy from the lake. A BLAST!
The whole trip was just a ton of fun and I’m so glad we were able to do all of that! I love our family and friends! Yay for amazing summer weekends!

Parker

2011-07-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Parker,

You just turned one year old and I can hardly believe how time has flown. It seems like just yesterday that I held you in my arms for the first time. The long awaited moment that I was so eager for. You looked at me with those big brown eyes and I felt so in awe, and knew right then and now that I have been blessed with such an amazing gift---you. I have the privilege of being your Mom. And what an amazing privilege and honor it is. Ever since I can remember, I have wanted a family of my own. And here we are-a little family. You are my first little baby, Parker and I will always love you and remember our time together. I have enjoyed getting to spend time with you and getting to know your little personality that is beginning to shine. You’re not always so easy with your sneaky messes, your shrilly screams, and how you somehow can find the power button on ANYTHING, BUT you are SO much fun and SO worth it all!

As I have reviewed the pictures from the past year, and watched the slideshow of pictures your Aunt Heidi put together for you for your birthday, tears come to my eyes as I am overwhelmed with love for you and the many amazing experiences and moments of pure love and joy that I have experienced with you. You bring so much happiness, peace and sunshine into my life. You are so sweet, so funny, and so talented.

I listen to the pitter patter of your little hands and feet against the floor and think of all the many memories and milestones to come. You are growing up into such a handsome little boy Parker and I’m so excited to see what you grow up to be and do! I’m sure you will do great things! I will try and cherish all the time I have with you, to cherish all of our precious memories together. I will try and be the best Mom I can to you-to teach right from wrong, to teach you how to pray, to teach you to share, to teach you to serve and to teach you to be respectful of others. I hope that I can help you fulfill your dreams and desires. I hope that you will grow up loving life and making good decisions. I love you more than I can express in a letter. So, I will just have to kiss your little face, your little hands and feet every day and tell you how much I adore you and love you!

With love,

Your Mommy

P.S. Please start to walk soon because you are getting really heavy-that would be great :)!

-At one year old Parker is pulling up onto everything possible, but not quite walking yet.
-He just started crawling rather than army crawling and he's doing great!
-He has started to say "ball" (his first real word) and that's his favorite toy!
-He says ma-ma now, but only when he is crying :(.
-He's so excited to see Darrin when he get's home which is so cute to see!
-He signs milk, hat, baby, more, eat, dog and he just signed cat for the first time the other day!
-He makes the vrrr sound for cars when he's playing with them and he also makes that sound when he sees a fan!
-He now has 8 teeth! 4 on top and 4 on the bottom
-He is 23lbs. (50th%) and 31" (90th%)
-He loves swimming/splashing, playing with balls especially, pulling up on everything, pretending like he's talking on the phone, playing with cars, being outside, watching signing time, and he loves his family!
-We love having Parker in our little family and are so excited he turned 1!

Pictures from lately (we've been VERY busy with lots of fun things!)(pictures are backwards in order of how they happened fyi...):

As promised

2011-06-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

As promised here are some pictures from Parker's 1 year photo shoot (sorry there are so many-I couldn't choose) I really think they turned out great! Thank you Vallery!:

Campin' it up

2011-06-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post that we bought a camper this winter! We got it for a great deal (they are a lot cheaper in the winter). The outside is kind of a piece of trash (but hey-then we don't have to worry so much about it getting damaged :)) but the inside is great! Wood floor, new cieling, new matress, new stove/oven, new microwave, new curtains and cushion coverings etc. We've taken it out twice so far and we are LOVING it!!! Can I just say how amazing it is to only have to pack our clothes and food? Everything else is pre-packed in the camper! And how AMAZING it is to have running water, electricity and a stovetop! What a beautiful feeling it was to wake up this last weekend in our camper and make hot chocolate in the comfort of our own camper? PLUS, Parker has taken naps in it like we're home-it's fantastic. Pure BLISS I tell you. Ok, off my tangent and how wonderful and fun it has been, and onto telling about our trips:

We went camping with my family on memorial weekend to Mapleton Canyon which is where we camp every memorial weekend. It was great to be with family, have a camper and just have a good time.

This past weeked we camped at Vernon Reservoir. It was beautiful! We did tin foil dinners for dinner, pancakes for breakfast and then went geocaching! Have you ever been? It's fun-there are caches hidden everywhere! You just have to know where to look...

And on a side note-my little baby is almost 1 YEAR OLD! Can you believe it? I sure can't. Last weekend we went out and did a 1 year old photo shoot-pictures soon to come-I can't wait to see them!

Here are some pics from camping:

Pictures at Mapleton Canyon

Vernon Reservoir pictures:

And this is what happened when we got home:

CRASHED!

sunshine

2011-05-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

We got back from St. George on Sunday. It was sunny there. And hot. And it's cold and dreary here. I was hoping Utah would get all that bad weather out of it's system while we were gone and be beautiful upon returning. My hopes and dreams have been shattered.

ANYWAYS, we had a fantastic trip with the Simon fam! Our vacation was full of hikes, went to the Saturday Market there, went to the temple visitors center, the tabernacle, Brigham Young's winter home, shopping, swimming, volleyball, MEGA-settlers of catan (ask if you're interested :) haha), Rock-band, hot-tubbin' and just plain old FUN!!!

Here are pics (I'll just put descriptions with the pictures for further info on our trip and just to warn you they aren't in order very well :)):

The following pictures are of the petroglyphs hike we went on. Parker fell asleep in a VERY uncomfortable possition as you see. So SAD, yet hard not to laugh.

The following pictures are of swimming at the condo. Again, Parker fell asleep...poor little guy....

The following pictures are taken at the St. George temple and the fountain next to the Tabernacle:

The following pictures are of my FAVORITE hike-the RED CLIFFS hike. There were a bunch of natural waterslides in the rocks and some of us decided to DO IT (even though we didn't bring swimsuits)! It was a BLAST!! We saw tons of frogs there and jumped in water, slid into water etc. Wonderful time there.

The following pictures of are of the "Pioneer Names" hike:

Parker's first experience on the swings-he loved it!

I will soon do another post about all of Parker's milestones. He's grown up SO much in the last couple weeks and has a bunch of new tricks up his sleeve...I swear-every day he shows me a new trick and I'm having so much fun with it!

SURPRISE!!!

2011-04-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday afternoon we SURPRISED Parker! Watch this:

He had NO idea...haha! We went to California with my family and had a FANTASIC trip!

We left last Thursday and got back this Thursday. We drove with my parents, so we pretty much did everything with them and then we did things with my sister's and thier families too. We went to San Diego first and spent two nights there. We got there on Friday and on Saturday we went to SEA WORLD. We had a really good time there seeing the spectacular shows, the dolphins, whales, Baluga whales, and lots of other wonderfully beautiful creatures. It was great!

Then on Sunday, before church I had sat Parker up in the corner of the couch with some toys, I turned around to grab something and next thing I knew, Parker had taken a dive off the couch and hit his head on the carpet, making a nasty rugburn on his forehead. I felt SO bad-still do-he has a huge scab :(. Just goes to show that we need to watch him a lot more closely now that he's a bit more mobile... Church in San Diego was good- I love how the gospel is the same everywhere you go-different people, but the same wonderful truth of the gospel. After church, we went to the beach with the Cindy and Heidi's families. The beach was a little chili, but Parker of course loved playing in the sand for the first time. He was in heaven. Darrin took him out to the ocean water and held his little hands and let him walk. He walked right into the freezing ocean up to his chin! Granted, we were in a bay, so the waves weren't crashing in, but still-he was fearless!

After the beach, we headed to Anaheim. We stayed in a Super 8. The room was actually pretty updated with a flatscreen and all :). It was about "8" minutes walking distance from Disneyland, and it included breakfast. We also ended up being really close to the pool and hot-tub which was nice. Overall, I think the hotel was good for the price-although, the breakfast lady was SUPER stingy, she was watching your every move and you had to ask for your milk and spoons from her-which she didn't seem happy to give them up...BUT overall I thought it was pretty "SUPER" for the price.

On Monday, we spent the day at California Adventure. Darrin had never been there so it was really fun being on the rides with him for his first time. My parents were REALLY awesome to help watch Parker and switch off taking turns on rides. At the end of the night, when Parker fell asleep, my wonderful parents took him back to the hotel and we got to stay and do more-baby free! At 10:15, the WORLD OF COLOR show, it was FINAMONAL!!!! The most AMAZING man-made thing that I've seen-Darrin agreed. Wow.

On Tuesday, we headed over to Disneyland and spent the day. We had a really good time. Darrin and my dad worked everything out so that we were doing fast-passes and we hardly spent anytime in lines which was really great. We did pretty much everything we wanted to in both parks. And at the end of the day in Disneyland, we saw FANTASMIC which was also INCREDIBLE, which was followed by the FIREWORK SHOW. PURE MAGIC it was!

Wednesday, my AWESOME parents babysat Parker all day while Darrin and I went to SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN! They have set a ton of records as far as highest, fastest, longest drops etc. I've never been to anything like it-SO MUCH FUN!It wasn't all that crowded at all which was awesome! We went on EVERY big ride in the park except for the river rafting one because 1) it was a coldish day and 2) we had already been on two just like it at sea world and california adventure. We went on most rides twice, some three times and my favorite ride, DEJAVUE, four times!!! It was so much fun! We really had a blast-although I got a bit nauseated a few times, but all in all=AWESOME! And it was a really nice date day with my sweetheart :).

Going back in time a bit, on Monday morning, Darrin and I were telling Parker that we were going to go to DISNEYLAND and we said, "CLAP hands! We're going to Disneyland!" And we clapped our hands. To our SURPRISE, SO DID PARKER!!! We've been trying to teach him that for what seems like forever and he FINALLY did it, ironically on the day we were going to Disneyland!!! He hasn't stopped clapping since :), we'll be watching a movie and he'll start clapping for something, or watching a show at Disney and he'd clap, or, my favorite, he woke up at 1 or so in the morning one night, and he was crying. I sat there, waiting for a minute to see if it was a bad dream or something and I hear him stop crying and start clapping! YAY for Parker!!

Parker has also been really good for the trip-just loving being outside, being involved and seeing all kinds of new things! Of course he wont remember it, but we have pictures and they are great. Plus, seeing his face with a big grin, experiencing rides with him for the first time, and seeing him "clap hands" has been such a wonderful time in our new adventure as parents. Our first family vacation was a success!

It wouldn't have been nearly as great without my parents! They were such a HUGE help to us! Thanks Mom and Pops!

WARNING! OVERLOADS OF PICTURES DUE NO INABILITY TO CHOOSE:

Parker LOVED swimming and he loved his new swimming float-I completely forgot to get a picture of him actually swimming with it but he loved it and he loves the water!

In San Diego at Luigi's Pizza Place. We ordered a HUMONGUS Pizza as you can see:

SEA WORLD!:

SAN DIEGO PICS:

DISNEY!!!:

MAGIC MOUNTAIN:

If you have not seen the World of Color or Fantasmic, PLEASE, GO NOW! MUST SEE! :) It was a magical vacation!

A Good Grief

2011-03-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

To start off, last Thursday Darrin and I went to a benefit concert with my family that was hosted by "A Good Grief". If you've never heard of www.AGoodGrief.com, then you've got to check it out. My sister Heidi's good friend Molly is the founder of agoodgrief.com. She tragically lost her adorable 3 year old daughter in 2008 and has taken such a horrific event and blessed the lives of SO many families who have lost children. She now raises money to pay for headstones of those that loose their children. Please check out the website. So touching and so amazing what she has done!

The benefit concert she held was incredible! So many wonderful voices sang, including my FAVORITE-CHERIE CALL!!! If you've never heard of her check her out as well-she's a wonderful LDS musician and I just love the way she tells stories in her songs. Among other artists at the concert were Lea Cabrera (season 5 finalist in American Idol), Emily Dunn (Trisha in Napolion Dynamite), Nicole Riding, and many more! AMAZING!

My close friend Teresa, and my sweet sister in law, Kat, have recently lost their little babies. My heart aches for them and this cause has touched me being that it hits close to home. I think it's so wonderful what Molly has done and encourage all to read her story and others on her website. She truly has turned this trial into "a good grief".

This is totally on a different subject, but I had to also write about this-Parker got his first tooth!!! Finally! haha. He grabbed my finger to stick it into his mouth on Saturday and I thought, "Ouch!". Oh my goodness he has a tooth! Exciting for us, more milestones. He's also getting closer and closer to crawling-we've been working with him a lot on spending more time on his tummy (soon after we were enforcing "tummy time" in the first place he learned to turn over and has refused "tummy time" making it nearly impossible for him to learn/want to crawl!). So, he now does a kind of wiggle until he gets what he wants but a few times he has got up on his knees and kicked-so close! :)

Here are some recent pictures of Parker:
(on Friday Parker was just posing for the camara. haha. I couldn't stop taking pictures he was being so cute! And the result was this collage)

Misery and Miracles

2011-02-18T10:33:00.000-08:00

I have been debating whether to share this experience on my blog with all of you. But I figured that I would since I'd like to believe if you're reading this that you care about me and want to hear about what's going on in my life. This experience/trial has brought on many emotions and so I think it might help to get it off my chest. Here it goes:

For the past two or three months I have been getting a lot of clogged/plugged ducts(Definition: Plugged Ducts and Infections - a plugged duct can occur when one or more areas of the breast are not draining well. It may feel like a tender lump or a knotty hard spot.). I cannot explain how uncomfortable and painful they have been. It hurts to put on a seat belt, it hurts to pick up Parker, it hurts to be touched, I have a hard time sleeping since I sleep from side to side, I am simply miserable when I have this blockage! I tried many things to make the pain go away, but it seemed like no matter what I did the pain and discomfort lasted about 24 hours and then went away. It's been on one side at a time and then it will just move on over to the other side. Sometimes I have as many as three clogged ducts in a week! I cannot count how many times this has happened in the past few months.

On Tuesday night, I started to have severe shooting pains. It felt like someone was sticking a needles in me. OUCH!! On Wednesday morning the pain was still awful and was on both sides. I couldn't help but cry, it hurt so badly. Darrin told me to go to the doctors which I was really grateful for. We try not to go unless we really need to.

The doctor (Dr. Nielson-my OB who delivered Parker) asked me some questions and examined me. He told me that I have a TON of milk. That it's rare that someone with an almost 8 month old baby even has this much milk at one time. He also guessed that my milk is really thick and that would be contributing to the reoccurring clogged ducts. It's called milk overproduction. I am constantly getting engorged and that's what causes the clogged ducts. I had never really thought about it before but I am "full" A LOT. I thought it was just normal, that everyone experienced this, but apparently it's not normal, especially for someone with a baby Parker's age. I am always complaining about it. We figured out that the clogged ducts started happening once I started feeding Parker solids 3 times a day. He said that normally when you start feeding your baby less, you produce less milk, but I didn't. My body has continued to produce a whole lot of milk, making engorgement, clogged ducts and pain a reoccurring thing for me.

So, my options were these: Pump all throughout the day in addition to feeding Parker OR stop breastfeeding altogether. I asked him the question of "If I pumped in addition to feeding Parker wouldn't I get even MORE milk?!" and he answered saying, "you already have a TON of milk-I don't think it'll make it worse." Dr. Nielson leaned toward the option of telling me to stop breastfeeding. He said that based on how much pain I had been having, it would probably be the best option. He also kept reassuring me that I'm not a bad mother if I chose that. But that I had made it to 8 months and that's a huge accomplishment. He also said that the first 4 months of a babies life are the most crucial to receive breast milk as they are still building their immune system and need the extra antibodies that formula cannot provide.

Then I told Dr. Nielson that Parker does not take a bottle. He has REFUSED to take one the last few months. He all the sudden decided that the bottle just wasn't for him. He's gone twice for 8 plus hours without eating because he would not take a bottle and I wasn't there to feed him. We've attempted several times since then and he simply will not. My mother in law has tried, Darrin has tried while I've been out of the house, I have tried, we've tried different bottles, different formulas, pumped milk. I feel like we've tried it all when it comes to trying to get Parker to take a bottle. Just a couple weeks ago my sweet mother in law had to feed Parker with a syringe because he wouldn't take a bottle. That boy is stubborn! Dr. Nilson said what I thought he'd say, but hoped he wouldn't say, "trust me, when he gets hungry enough, he will take a bottle!"

It was a really emotional, tough decision for me. But when it came down to it, Darrin and I both felt that the option to stop breastfeeding Parker was the right decision based on how much pain and discomfort I'd been going through the past few months. But even though this option just felt right to us, I have had so many thoughts of,
'What will people think?',
'am I a bad mother for doing this??'
'Parker loves breastfeeding! I would feel so bad for him!'
'I enjoy breastfeeding Parker, and I enjoy the bonding time we have together while he eats. I enjoy that those are times that I am the only one he can come to. I enjoy cuddling with him during this time. I enjoy that it's an obvious expression he has on his sweet little face that tells me he loves me and tells me he's enjoying himself.'
'I enjoy the amazement I experience when I think of how amazing it is that my body is capable of this.'
SO many thoughts blazing through my mind! But the thought that it was wonderful while it lasted and this was the right thing to do overpowered the rest.

It's been a really emotional few days (sorry Darrin and Parker!)! The doc told me that the best way for me to stop was cold turkey. This being because my body wasn't recognizing me trying to just "slow down". So it would be best to stop all together. I am now at 42 hours of not breastfeeding. I am miserable. I've been trying to stay on top of Ibuprofen for the pain, I've tried cold cabbage leaves (most common suggestion), and Ice packs. Ice packs have been the most helpful as it helps to numb me. But everything hurts including picking Parker up, holding Parker, etc. Dr. Nielson said the miserable pain would last about 4 days and then go away. We'll see.

The last time breastfeeding Parker, I prayed to my loving Heavenly Father that he would help Parker to be able to accept the bottle. I told Him that I was so afraid to have both of us miserable and I hate to see my baby so sad and confused. I begged and pleaded and thanked Him for the beautiful opportunity that He has blessed me with to feed my baby for this long. I ended as we are told to that all of this was in His will and I recognized that even if it took Parker a while to take the bottle, Heavenly Father would sent love and comfort to my home.

The time rolled around and it was time for Parker to eat again just before bed. I asked Darrin to take on the task. A MIRACLE took place in our home. Parker simply took the bottle in his chubby little hands and began to drink ALL BY HIMSELF!! I could NOT believe my eyes. My heart was full of thanks and I felt God's love for me as an individual. He has continued to take the bottle and is doing SO well with it.

Although I am certain to get comments from people about how much decision was wrong, both Darrin and I feel good about our decision as a family and we are excited to get past this pain! I'm so grateful for the love that I've seen! My closest friend from the ward came over this morning and brought me over a surprise (see picture below of red poster)! I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family who support me. Even though I'm miserable at the moment, as my husband keeps reminding me (thank you sweetie!) it is TEMPORARY! I can get through this painful trial!

Our Day of Love...

2011-02-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic Valentines day! Some of the events included breakfast in bed, candy bar love notes, red roses, candy, making a DELICIOUS dinner together (so much fun!), and watching "Flipped" which was way cute! In addition to the roses and candy, Darrin handed me an envelope. In this envelope was the SWEETEST coupons of all time! Some of the coupons included (read through them ALL because they are SO cute:

1 free "do the dishes NOW" coupon; $10 value-not redeemable for cash
1 free chore-any chore coupon; $20 value-not redeemable for cash
1 free FULL cleaning of any room- includes vacuuming/sweeping/mopping; $600 value-not redeemable for cash
1 free trip with your sisters while Darrin stays at home and babysits Parker Saturday-Monday (my sisters and I have a weekend planned out) All trip expenses paid! $3,000 value-not redeemable for cash
1 free "Do not play video games night when Darrin wants to play video games that night coupon; $6,000,000.00 value!-not redeemable for cash
1 free Parker night coverage; $50 value-not redeemable for cash & MAY NOT be combined with "Do not play video games night when Darrin wants to play video games that night coupon"

Now answer this: Do I not have the sweetest hubby EVER?! I love him a whole whole whole lot! Thank you sweetheart! Happy Valentines day!

3

2011-02-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

It's now been 3 years since I've been married to this handsome stud:

I can honestly say that I am SO happy! I love Darrin so much and I've had so many wonderful, unforgettable memories with him these last 3 years. Some of my memories include:
-Black Friday's (he LOVES Black Friday!)
-Vacations including: Puerto Vallarta, our Mexican Riviera Cruise, St. George, Park City, Arizona, Dominican Republic, we've been to 3 different Bed and Breakfasts, etc. We LOVE vacations!
-Finding out we were Pregnant
-Being Pregnant and all that came with that
-camping
-Holidays (holidays are always such a blast with Darrin-we usually find something awesome to do for Holidays thanks to Darrin)
-Watching movies and TV series (you name it and we've probably seen it-we LOVE watching TV shows and cuddling :))
-Our Scouting calling together
-Doing projects around the house (we've done quite a few projects-projects and I have a love hate relationship. But I have so much fun working on things and accomplishing them with my sweetheart!)
-Birthdays (Both of our Birthday's are in September and I love that-we have so much fun!)
-Building our Business together
-and many many more wonderful memories that I'm so grateful for!

This year for our anniversary (February 1, 2008 was our wedding day), we decided to go to a Bed & Breakfast and get out and have fun! So, we stayed at the "Hansen Inn Bed & Breakfast". It was a beautiful room, the owners were very sweet, and breakfast was delicious! We also went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse (YUM!), and went to "Airborne Trampoline Arena" which is new to Draper. We recommend it. SO much fun and great exercise. here is the link to their website if you're interested: http://www.airbornesports.com/. There is a deal going on right now on citydeals.com that makes it half off!
We then went out for ice cream and headed back to the B&B. The next day we went to Trafalga and played glow in the dark mini golf and did some rock climbing. After that we went and saw "Unstoppable" in the dollar theater. We kept busy and had an AWESOME time! My sweet mother and father in law once again babysat little Parker for us-THEY ARE SAINTS!!! THANK YOU!!! here are some pictures of our celebration:

But BEFORE all of the fun, I recruited my BFF, Marta, to help me decorate Darrin's car at work to surprise him. It was a blast-we felt like we were in high school again. We even had to come up with an excuse to get the keys from Darrin at his work since we only have one set for each car. Long story but we got them...sneaky, sneaky...

Darrin is such a fun, sweet, thoughtful, caring, generous, smart, handsome, handyman guy. He is such an amazing Daddy and I love him so much. I ended up with the PERFECT man for me! We complete each other and I love it :). I love you so much Darrin-Happy Anniversary! I'm so excited for many more wonderful years to come!

Our Christmas

2011-01-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

I know it's late but I figure better late than never. Our Christmas was wonderful this year! We got to spend time with both of our families and it was so much fun this year with now 6 month old Parker! Of course he didn't really know what was going on, but he knew that he was having fun! Parker got some awesome toys and outfits, his favorite I think would be his sit to stand toy. I got a SEWING MACHINE!, and fishing gear (fact that most people don't know about me: I love to fish! No, I don't eat the fish I let them go (kinda mean-I know) but the thrill of catching a fish is incredible and I love to be in the great outdoors), and some Ipod touch accessories. Darrin got some video games for the xbox360 he was wanting, frisbee golf discs, new xbox controller and Dashboard Confessionals tickets.

We had such a great time with family and I'm sad that it's all over with. But I'm SO excited for the new year as well! With the new year for me came a NEW CALLING. I used to be a primary teacher for the 10-12 year olds for the past year and a half. Now I am the Mid-Week Committee Coordinator/Chair-basically the Enrichment Night Coordinator for those that don't know the new term "Mid-Week". I'm REALLY excited about my new calling and I hope I can plan some great activities with my team!

Parker had his 6 month appointment after Christmas and I wanted to share his stats:

Height: 97th Percentile!!
Weight: 18 pounds! 75th Percentile!!

We love our little boy SO much it's unbelievable and we're excited to watch him grow through the next year! Here are some pictures from the holidays:

Our Weekend

2010-12-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

All too often, Friday night gets here and we have absolutely no plans. So, our weekend ends up being just like any weekday night. This past weekend we wanted to get some plans going so we could be "cool" :).

So, when Darrin got home from work Friday, we drove straight to Crystal Hot Springs (1 hour and 15 minutes away-near Brigham City). We brought Parker and decided to wing it. They said you could bring babies as long as they had a swim diaper on. So, we brought one just in case the water was an ok temp to bring him in. Otherwise we thought we'd just have him chill in his carseat next to us in the pool.

We got there and he wasn't liking the carseat too much. So, we decided to bring him in with us. The water wasn't too bad-99 degrees. They have three hot pools and that was the coolest. So, we got his swim diaper on and brought him in. Not all the way but mostly just splashing etc. He LOVED it! We all did! We had so much fun and the temperature was perfect, the night was perfect-PERFECT Friday night.

After the hotsprings we went to this really cute Country Diner that was DELICIOUS!!!

Then for our Saturday we went Sledding and to the Festival of Trees

All in all our weekend was perfect-I love it when that happens! And I love my boys and spending time with them! We also went and got our tree and got it up (REAL)! I love it!

Fall and now Winter

2010-11-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. A few major things have happened.

First of all, Darrin and I got new cars (well, new to us)! Darrin got a RED Dodge Ram 1500 and I got a BLACK Volvo S60. We both love our new cars! Darrin's brother got into a pretty bad accident and totaled his car so he got our Ford Focus. It had been a good little car for us but it was time to let it go and it all worked out well that his brother needed a car when we were looking at getting a new one. I cannot explain how WONDERFUL it feels to have a car. It's been a year and a half since I've had my own car and can get out of the house while Darrin is at work. YAY-it's wonderful!

Second item of business is that Darrin is now an OFFICIAL employee for American Express!! He's worked there as a contractor (temp) for a year now and FINALLY got hired on. He's working on finding/flagging frauded AMEX gift cards. So, if you're frauding AMEX gift cards, WATCH OUT cause my hubby is gonna catch you!

Thirdly, I was on my way to Saratoga Springs the week before last and my tire BLEW OUT on the freeway. I was all by myself and it was super scary. It took 2 1/2 hours to get the spare tire on. I was in the MIDDLE of the freeway people! I had pulled to the middle because I was closest to there and then my Pops came to rescue me but several things kept going wrong-needless to say it was scary and I don't want to go through it again!

Fourthly, Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful! We spent it with Darrin's family and it was full of good food, great company, Black Friday shopping, seeing the movie "Tangled" (fantastic!), and we also went on the Heber Creeper train ride with Santa! It was all a lot of fun.

Fifthly, we pretty much sold our Ogden Salon last night. We sold to a nice LDS couple who is leasing to own until they can get a small business loan to purchase it which they're hoping will be in January or February. We are SUPER MEGA EXCITED about it! We hope they do really well and love the salon that we put so much into! The reason why we're selling is because it's just been too hard to manage it from Salt Lake and now with little Parker I didn't have much desire to continue putting so much work into it when I've got my hands pretty full here at home with work and being a mom.

Lastly, Parker is eating solids like a champ-yet he's stopped taking a bottle! Lame. But he's also rolling over really well and today especially he's been showing off his sitting up skills. He's growing up so quickly and we love him SO much! He's been so much fun and we're excited to get the Christmas tree up so he can gaze at the lights as we know he'll love them.

Hooray for Christmas time!!! Here's some pictures of lately:

Wheeler Farm with my Sister, Heidi:

Toe Sucking:

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Heber Creeper with Santa:

Halloween & Eating

2010-11-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

Darrin and I didn't really have any excuse to dress up this year :(. But we dressed Parker up anyways. He was a caterpillar :). Cutest I've ever seen. He's also been able to start solids. So far it really hasn't been his favorite thing. But he's getting the hang of it. I think he just doesn't quite like the idea of shoving a foreign object into his mouth that he's supposed to eat off of like a spoon. Plus the tastes are obviously different. But it's sure been fun working on new milestones with him!

Dominican Republic

2010-10-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

On Saturday evening my heart POUNDED with excitement as I was being driven home from the airport. Usually I'm NOT excited to be coming home from vacation. But in this case, I was thrilled to be coming home. Why you ask? Because it had been a week since I had seen, heard or held my little Parker baby!

Q&A

Q: Why were you away from Parker for a week?!
A: Darrin and I went to the Dominican Republic. We had buddy passes that expired on October 31st that we needed to use. It was going to be very expensive to bring Parker along and wasn't going to be quite the vacation we were in need of with a baby. My AMAZING mother in law seemed eager to spend a week with Parker, and so we couldn't resist :).

Q: Why the Dominican Republic?
A: Well, good question. Jet blue flies there which is the airline we went through. And we found a super awesome deal for an All-Inclusive resort there, so we thought, "what the heck! Why not?"

Q: What about feeding Parker while you were gone?
A: I pumped as much milk as I possibly could while still feeding Parker before we left. The grand total of milk I left with him came to...drumroll....90 ounces!! (can you tell I feel pretty proud of myself? :)) But unfortunately, it wasn't enough :(. So, he got about 2 bottles per day of formula in addition to my milk.

Q: How did he take the formula?
A: My mother in law said he had a little trouble the first time but after that he took it great. I am so blessed with a versatile baby! He took the bottle great, the formula great, my milk great, and then resumed back to breastfeeding right when I got back great!

Q: Was it hard to leave little Parker at only 4 months old?
A: YES! But to be very honest, not as hard as I was imagining. It was really hard to see all the little babies over in the Dominican Republic and not have my baby! BUT it was a much needed vacation and it really helped us to rejuvenate. When I got to come home, I appreciated my little one all the more. I spent more time worrying about missing Parker BEFORE I left then when I was gone. Plus, it REALLY helped that I trust my mother in law 110% with him. I knew he was safe and sound.

Q: How did you keep up your milk supply?
A: Pumping, Pumping, Pumping! EVERY 3 hours. Not so much fun. But worth it to be able to come back and resume where we left off.

Q: How was the Dominican Republic?
A: It was great! Mid 80's the whole time and VERY humid which made it even warmer. The ocean water was INCREDIBLE!!! Like walking into a nicely heated pool. We went to Ocean World (like sea world but on a smaller scale in a good way), went snorkeling (saw some amazingly beautiful things and fish!), and went sea fishing (a bit boring until a large Mahi-Mahi was caught).

Q: What's the Dominican Republic like?
A: Very warm, CRAZIER THAN CRAZY driving, humid, lots of sugar cane, beautiful greenery everywhere, beggers all over the place, VERY friendly people, people from Haiti go to the Dominican Republic illegally (just like people from Mexico coming here) and the Dominican's really don't like that, all in all I would just tell you that it's a lot like Mexico there with a few exceptions.

Q: Would you go back to the Dominican Republic?
A: Probably not. Once was enough, although I think we'd love to go back to the Caribbean since the ocean water is SO AMAZING!

Q: Did you go with anyone?
A: We went with my Parents which was a lot of fun! Thanks so much mom and dad for coming! We had a blast with you!

It's good to be back. I love being a mom! Speaking of which, today Parker has his 4 month appointment and get's to eat rice cereal for the first time this week!!! Very excited for that milestone. Here are some pictures from our vacation:

We were on a red-eye flight and so they gave us these SWEET eye covers :)

The beautiful beach by our resort.

Of course we got all the food and drinks we wanted at our All-Inclusive resort. Lots and lots of Pina Coladas. Those will be missed!

With my awesome parents and a typical Dominican Republic background. Beautiful.

At the cigar factory. They practically made me roll one. Haha. The guy insisted. But at least I can say I've rolled one now.

My Mom and I got braids.

Yummy Food at the Mexican Restaurant at our resort.

Our friend the Lizard that was in our room. Sweet Darrin took it out carefully. It was really quite cute though. Lots better than finding a spider in my room :)

The Love Birds at Ocean World that ate out of your hands!

Parrot kissin' Darrin

Sharks...Run!

Shark show at Ocean world. Pretty amazing!

The Beautiful Dolphins

Swimming with tigers. Now how many people can say they've done that?

Cool Mermen

Gone fishin'

Clear blue waters

The Mahi-Mahi that was caught

The shell we found while snorkeling and the creature that was inside

Kinda creepy

That's my man drinkin' his drink

And we got to come home to this handsome little dude!

LOL

2010-10-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

My niece Kalli is 12. She's a talented song writer, guitar player and singer. SERIOUSLY folks-she's going to be FAMOUS so LOOK OUT! Anyways, she has a blog and I had to pass along her recent post because it brought a WIDE smile to my face :) (Keep in mind she's 12!!!!!) If you don't Laugh Out Loud something is wrong. Just remember back to when you were 12:

Crushes are tough! Recently I had a crush on a very cute boy named Issac. He had those angel eyes---ya know? But he turned out to be a huge jerk. So this is for all you girls who are having cutie crushes. ;)

Dude, before you decide to fall in love you need to know something: if you are as old as from elementry age to around 15....there is no such thing as love at your age! I am 12 and I know that even 16 is a dangerous age to fall in love. The reason is, you don't know what you are doing!!! 16 is GROUP DATES! 18 is when you can single date. Other than that, no suree!!! But if you are sure that he is just a crush and that you won't get yourself into a HUGE mess--like I did. <.<-- then make sure he is a nice guy. I'll quote my friend Christene now who was having a difficult time with crushes. She was very angry. She said "All the cute guys are jerks, all the nice guys are 'not very good-lookin' and all the cute guys that aren't jerks are gay." I was surprised. I opened my mouth and then closed it again and then said, "You have a point." So--to see if he is a nice guy and to get to know him-- ask him a question a day. For example, like "What's your favorite color?" or "What do you like to do?" Those might sound ,like, waaaaay cheesy but hey. This might give him the hint that you like him but guys can be SO oblivious sometimes... Come on, agree with me girls!

So, here are my tips witch probably really suck:
~flip your hair just a teeny bit, but really don't overdo it--that will just make you look mental
~if it is appropriate, wink, but then look nonchalant as if it is just his eyes playing tricks on him
~go into the light often, most of the time, in the light, hair SHINES!!!
~smile at him often
~sort of let him know you like him but not with words--never mention it
~make him laugh
~ have fun flirting
~blink slowly (it makes your eyelashes look long and beautiful) but don't go slow mo--you WILL look retarded
~ do the peek-a-boo eye--that is when you look up through your lashes
~ often play with your own hair--braid it and do other things with it
~smile and laugh all the time
~HAVE FUN!!!

And most important of all:
BE YOURSELF!!!
everyone else is already taken!

Jumparoo

2010-09-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

Parker loves his "Jumparoo"!

Lately...

2010-09-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a while and a lot has been going on lately.

1. My dearest Auntie Al took her life. I miss her more than words can say! She wasn't married and didn't have any children, so she treated my sisters and me like we were her little girls. I have so many fun memories with my Auntie Al. She was such a FUN, OUTGOING, KIND, GENEROUS, LOVING, SILLY person and I will always remember her by those wonderful qualities! I have felt comfort through reading "After my Son's Suicide: An LDS Mother Finds Comfort in Christ and Strength to Go On". My mom's best friend wrote this book and it has so many comforting scriptures and talks from general authorities in it. I am still reading it and I would recommend it to anyone who has gone through such a terrible tragedy. I love you SO much Auntie Al!!!

2. My Auntie Al's funeral was on my birthday. But we just tried to pretend like my birthday was the day after my real birthday. For my unofficial birthday my sweet Darrin took me out to Cheesecake Factory for Dinner (YUUUUMMMM!!!!). They sang happy birthday to me and it was really awkward because they got my name wrong. They sang the wrong name and wrote the wrong name on my plate (see picture.) haha. After dinner we went of to "Hidden Falls Hike". The "falls" were so hidden that we weren't able to find them :(. But Parker loved going on the hike! He loved being in the outdoors and listening to all the sounds and feeling the breeze while being in the baby bjorn which he loves :). My BFF Marta also took me out for my bday. We had dinner at Whole Foods and then had gelato for dessert. Delicious. Thank you Marta! And my mother also took me out to breakfast on my unofficial birthday. I had a lot of fun-thank you mom!!

3. Darrin's Birthday was yesterday. We went to Tucano's for Dinner and then went SURFING!! We went to "Flowrider" which is in Ogden and it's an indoor surfing place. SO awesome! But boy does it hurt when you biff it! haha. SO worth it though! We had a ton of fun. HUGE Thank You to my sweet Mother in Law for babysitting! Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

4. Parker is so much fun! He's 3 months old this week! Here are a bunch of cute pictures of my little man:

And here's a video of him talking (SO CUTE!!!):

Staycation

2010-08-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

This last week my family had a "staycation". Meaning: A vacation at home (SLC). My sister flew in from Arizona and we got the party started! Some of our activities included: Girls got Pedicures, Guys went shooting, we all went to This is the Place, Zoo, Aquarium, Clark Planetarium, Snowbird (tram ride), Lion's House for lunch, Drive in Movie, Thanksgiving Point Gardens and Museum, and got family pictures taken.

Seriously-we all had a blast!

Parker loves being in the stroller, so the week was enjoyable for him too! Ok, here comes a ton of pictures from the week. Enjoy!

Melt

2010-08-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

If this doesn't make your heart melt, I don't know what would!

This little guy has been SMILING at us a lot these past few days! SO stinkin' cute if you ask me!!!

Blessing & Our Basement Apartment

2010-08-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Parker's baby blessing was this past Sunday. It was wonderful! Darrin did a great job blessing our little boy and he was so reverent :). Didn't cry the whole entire meeting! Way to go buddy! Not to mention, I think he looked pretty handsome! After the meeting we had family and a few friends over for lunch. In order to fit 50 people in our house (ya-I know-crazy!) we knew we'd have to finish our basement and host the event down there. Our upstairs just isn't big enough. Plus, it gave us a deadline to get the basement done (we needed one!). So, LOTS and LOTS of work later, we finished (mostly) on Saturday night thanks to help from family (THANK YOU!!!). I will post pictures of the blessing and the basement apartment. Refer to this post: http://dtsimonsmiles.blogspot.com/2010/04/big-project.html to see before pictures of the basement. If you know of anyone looking PLEASE pass the word along :)!

Blessing:

Basement Apartment:

One Month

2010-07-27T11:15:00.001-07:00

Parker is now a month old! Wow-how time flies! Darrin and I cannot believe how quickly he's growing and that it's already been a whole month. He was born at 8 lbs. 10 oz. And at his two week appointment he weighed in at 9 lbs. 12 oz.! He had also grown an inch since birth at his two week appointment. I'm excited to see how much he's grown at his next appointment which is his 2 month.

He's so fun to hold, cuddle with and watch gaze up at his toys, ceiling or outside. He is now very much more aware and he's growing stronger and stronger by the day. He's so strong in his legs and neck now!

We're still waiting for the day that he gives us a "real" smile but we SO SO SO enjoy his random smiles and laughs. It's my very favorite thing in the world at the moment when he laughs in his sleep!! SO adorable!

He LOVES to be held (thank goodness for the baby bjorn!), he likes car rides (when the car is moving), he likes to be sung to, he likes to stick out his tongue, grunt, and kick his legs. We've also found that his back is ticklish! Cute to watch him squirm while we tickle it (is that mean? sorry little man! We just love to see you react to things-it's pretty much adorable :))

This last weekend for the 24th, we went to Idaho with my family. We had a lot of fun and were able to go boating, see all my uncles animals (he pretty much has a farm) and chill with the fam. Parker did really well on this first long road trip. Way to go Parker!

Darrin and I have also been trying to finish our basement apartment that we tore up months ago. It's been a little tricky with a baby but we've managed trading off watching him in between naps to work on it. We're SO close to being finished-I can't WAIT until we're done and I can't wait to post pictures when we're done!

Parker's baby blessing will be this coming Sunday, August 1st and I've excited about it! I'm SO excited to finally go to church again and to see everyone there!

Here are some pictures of our little man who's growing up so fast:

Introducing...

2010-07-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

Introducing Parker Kayde Simon
Weight: 8 lbs. 10 oz.
Length: 21 inches
Cuteness scale (1-10): 100 +!!!
Birthday: June 24, 2010
Birth Time: 8:55pm

Well, as most know, I was induced on June 24th. I was told to call at 6:30am that morning to see when I could come in. Let me ask a question here: how on earth is a woman supposed to sleep the night before she knows she's going to have a baby?!? Strangest feeling ever. So, unfortunately I only got a few hours of sleep and woke up at 4am SO excited that I just couldn't sleep a minute longer! The minute it turned 6:30 I called and they said, "Well, were kinda busy so call back at 7:30. We might not be able to get you in until 11.". WHAT?! I wasn't supposed to eat or drink starting at midnight the night before, so I was starving and ANXIOUS to the max! I made it to 7:30 and called. They said to come on in!! So, I went and jumped on the bed to wake Darrin up and tell him it was time to go to the hospital!!! I had been waiting oh so long to say those words :)!

They started the pitocin at 9:30 am and turned it up about every half hour. It brought my contractions closer together but they stayed about as painful as I had been having for the last 7 weeks. My OB came in at 12:30 pm to break my water. Wow-that was quite an interesting experience:).

They gave me the option of getting the epideral before they broke my water. I said no because I really wanted to go through some of labor and do as much as I could without the epideral. So, I went on. Once they broke my water things got pretty dang intense! The nurse told us that I was having what they call "piggy back contractions" meaning that it would go contraction, contraction, break...contraction, contraction, break...etc. This was an indicator that he was faced posterior. Posterior meaning that is head was faced toward the front rather than the back. She said that the posterior position is no good and we needed to get him turned. So, she suggested that I get up and walk, sway, and move as much as I could to see if he would turn.

So, I did just that. Darrin was right along side me helping me through these contractions that were unbelievably painful. I made it two hours before I just couldn't take it anymore. The anisthesiologist was in a c-section when I wanted the epideral. Figures. They offered to give me pain meds through my IV but I really didn't want to be foggy in my head from those. I just wanted to be numbed. So I said no to those drugs. In the end, it was 3 hours until I got my epideral. Can I just say "WAY TO GO!!" to all those brave women out there who go all natural?! WOW.

The first time they did the epideral it only numbed my left side. Which does absolutely no good (besides me not being able to move my left leg whatsoever :)). So, they had to re-do the epideral. This time it worked. What a difference! It was INCREDIBLE!!! I could hardly feel a thing...it was heavenly.

Things progressed quickly after I got the epideral. I went from a 5 1/2 to a 10 within 2 and a half hours. But by the time I was about a nine, I started to regain feeling- I had what they called a "hot spot" where the epideral was no longer working and so I became extremely uncomfortable. They had to re-inject the epideral medicine three more times before I became numb enough to push but I could still feel quite a bit.

Parker was still posterior and I had been at a 10 for over two hours trying to get the epideral to work again. Well, my doctor said that most posterior babies end up coming c-section because they're too hard to get out. But I wanted to give it my best. An hour and 15 minutes later of pushing, little Parker arrived!!! The doc said if he was facing the right direction that he would have been out in 10 minutes for me :(. BUT, nonetheless he is here!! YAY!!!! So amazing.

Then came a whole other adventure. He took about 3 minutes to take a breath. SO terrifying for me who was just watching them shake him and try to get him to breath for what seemed like an eternity! But he FINALLY cried the tiniest cry I've ever heard. He had a fever and was breathing fast so they gave me about 5 minutes with him and then whisked him away. Fortunately, Darrin was able to stay with Parker while he was brought to the nursery for further tests. I can't explain the feelings and emotions I went through at this time. I had him at 8:55pm and didn't get to see him again until 12:45am. But his fever went down and by about 1:00am his breathing was back to normal. What a miracle!

I was FINALLY able to feed him for the first time at 1:30am. It has been an incredible, miraculous journey. He is my angel. I can't explain my emotions that go through me when I look at him and think of where he just came from. When I think of how blessed I am to have this tiny, perfect human being in my arms I can't help but cry a river of joy. Wow. God loves us.

Darrin is SUCH a good and proud daddy. I love to watch him with Parker. I love my boys so much! Darrin was also so great during all of labor-there for me every single step of the way. Thank you sweetheart!

I also had the privelege of having my three sisters and mom there for the labor and birth. They were such a great support team and I love that I was able to share the experience with them!

I am full of joy! Full of gratitude, wonderment and amazement! I am loving life! It's amazing how sleep deprived and sick (yes, I got a cold the day after I gave birth) I can be but yet be so happy.

Sorry the pictures are in backwords order so you'll have to look from bottom to top:

Maternity Photos

2010-06-14T18:23:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to take some Maternity Pictures for quite a while now. I was going to have my friend Vallery take some for me (she is AWESOME at what she does! See her work here http://www.valerybunnell.com/). But I was going through the whole preterm labor drama when we had planned to take pictures :(. So, Darrin had the day off today and just for fun we decided we'd go take pictures since I'm still pregnant. Gotta keep myself busy! So, we went and took pictures at the Garden Park Ward and had a lot of fun! This REALLY nice camera man from Channel 5 news was there and had an hour break and offered to take pictures of us both too. How lucky is that?! So, that's how we captured some of the both of us. Thank you Channel 5 Camera Man!

Ticking Time Bomb

2010-06-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

I feel like a ticking time bomb. Literally. I believe that every pregnant woman has this feeling near the end. Everywhere I go it seems like I get comments like, "WOW-you're about ready to pop!" and, "Be sure and stay away from sharp objects!" (it took me a minute to get that one the first time I heard it...)

My OBGYN is going out of town next Tuesday. For a week. So, someone I’ve never met could be delivering my baby. Not a huge deal but kinda sad :(. He get’s back into town the night of the 23rd of June. I will be put on the schedule for the morning of the 24th to be induced if I haven’t had my sweet baby by then. So, THERE IS AN END IN SIGHT! What a blessing to know that I WILL have this baby :). The end is near in sight. Now it just takes a lot of patience to get to the end.

PATIENCE. I am just SO excited to meet my little boy though. So is Darrin- to be Daddy. PATIENCE.

P.S. For those who are interested I am now dilated to a "loose" 3 and 90% effaced.

35 weeks

2010-05-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well folks, today I am 35 weeks along! It's been 2 weeks now since the whole "preterm labor" incident-so I'm feeling pretty accomplished by that. 2 weeks does A LOT for a babies development!

Bedrest. Well, it's been ok. I've tried to keep myself busy with journaling, thank you cards, craft projects in bed and some tv and movies. Surprisingly, I haven't been sitting around watching tv all day every day like I thought. So, that's good :).

I have had my fair share of break-downs the last 2 weeks though. It took a few days, but the emotions finally set in. All the unanswered questions: Is my baby going to be ok?, when is my baby coming?, how much longer do I have to prepare myself?, are all these painful contractions even doing anything?, will I even know when I'm in true labor because of all of these contractions I'm already having on a daily basis? etc, etc, etc...

The feelings of fear, excitement, anxiety, and wonderment all at once. Wow. Emotional.

We had a little scare of pre-eclampsia the last week. On Thursday I had high blood pressure and protein in my urine. Meaning that if this didn't clear up I'd be induced this week. Well, it cleared up! My blood pressure is now back to normal and no signs of protein in my urine. So, that was a bit of a scary thing but I'm glad I don't need to worry about it anymore!

I really don't think I'm going to know when I'm in true labor. The other night I had two straight hours of painful contractions averaging 4 minutes apart and lasting 50-65 seconds. Sound like labor? Does to me! But I figured I'd try and get some rest (I was exhausted!!! 3am) and go from there. When I woke up they were more spaced out so I didn't go in. But SHEESH! Ouch! And no fun! I really hope that my water breaks when the time comes-otherwise I'll be sitting around having contractions forever and not realizing when it's the real thing. Well, I guess we'll just have to see when and how it happens :)

But 1 more week and a day until I'm FREE!!!! YAY!!! I will then be 36 weeks and my doctor feels comfortable delivering me whenever after that. So, who knows when my baby boy will decide to make his debut? I could still go full term or over (but boy I sure hope not-these contractions are no fun man!). But whenever he decides to come I am SO eager to meet this little man of mine. I can't wait!

2010-05-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Today is Mother's Day. When I think of the word "Mom" I obviously think of my own mother and my husbands mother. Today, since I have the time on my hands, I've been in deep thought about these women and the title "Mother" which I will soon be called. So, my thoughts are jumbled but I want to share them.

My mother is not just my mother. My mother is my dear friend. My mother is my teacher. My mother is my example. My mother is my angel.

My favorite saying from my mother that will always be with me is,
"What does it matter in all of eternity?"
Whenever I was having a hard time with something that was going on in my life, she would state this. I use it continually throughout my life. Really-what does it matter in all of eternity? It makes those little issues that seem big little again :).

My mom is an example of all things good. She always puts others before herself. Service and thoughtfulness is definitely one of her many strong suites. She is an example of not just reading the scriptures but taking the time to ponder them. She even has a 'ponder page' in her planner of things to ponder on :). I love my mother!

I love that when I want to just 'think out loud' I can call my mom and she is an excellent listener.

Then comes my Mother in Law. Darrin's mom is an AMAZING woman! How can she not be when she raised 8 children? All of whom served missions. 7 sons and a daughter. How can you know that and not think, "WOW!"

All of her children look up to her with utmost respect. I love that!

She is also talented in SO many ways. She makes countless numbers of quilts for the humanitarian center. It seems like every time I go over there she's working on a new quilt for them. She's always offering a helping hand in any project that Darrin and I are working on.

She's a very clean person which I also love. Her house is always spotless and
organized.

My mother in law is a woman of faith and love. She shows deep concern for others and is always looking for ways to help. Just by knowing her you can tell of her love for the Savior and her love for her family. She has a light!

I feel so blessed to have these wonderful women and examples in my life!

Sometime within the next who knows how long, I will take on the role as a mother. I am overwhelmed at times at the responsibility that comes with this title. But then there are these remarkable women in my life that have shown the way. I just hope and pray that I can take these attributes that I love about them and apply them into my own life and into my upcoming 'mothering' days.

I cannot wait to meet my little boy and hold him in my arms for the first time. To see Darrin cradle his son for the first time and every time after that. I am overcome this mothers day with feelings of gratitude, excitement and respect for the wonderful women in my life.

Wait-Hold on a Minute!

2010-05-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well, looks like Baby Simon wants to come early.

On Wednesday evening Darrin and I were watching a movie. I started noticing contraction after contraction and decided I'd better start counting. 18 in an hour and a half. Called labor and delivery to see if they had any suggestions. They said to drink lots of water and rest for half hour-if I was still contracting to come in. 11pm Tuesday, driving up to St. Marks. No CLUE where to go for labor and delivery :) (good drill). They checked me in and hooked me up to all kinds of fun monitors. Said it was a good thing I came in-sure enough lots of good strong contractions. Dialated to a 1 and 60% effaced. So, called the doctor and the doctor said (no more monkey's jumping on the bed! JK) to give me a drug to stop the contractions. I had a horrible reaction to it-heart-rate of 136, room spinning, sweating, blackouts etc. FUN! So, doc said obviously no more of that. So, they then gave me morphine which helped slow them down a bit and sent me home at 3am. Said to call my doc the next day if I was still having contractions.

Woke up on Wednesday. 10 contractions in an hour. Guess I'd better call my doc. He said he wanted to see me in his office. We go to his office. Checked my cervix (sorry if this is too much info for some) I was at a 1 1/2 and 80% effaced. So, he sent me back to labor and delivery for preterm labor to try a different drug to stop these contractions and wanted me to get a steroid shot to develop baby's lungs. The drug didn't work. So, next step was a 24 hour treatment of Magnesium Sulfate through IV. Side effects included: hot flashes (have you ever felt like your body was on FIRE?!), tired, weak, headache, nausea. Fun, right! Actually though, for me, the worst part was the catheter. HORRIBLE!!! So, after having that in for about 4 hours they took it out and let me have a potty by my bed (thank you!). With the morphine they gave me I slept alright through the night. This morning was the headache and nausea from the Magnesium. My contractions were still going but less frequent. YAY! We want this little boy to hold on longer!!

So, I'm now home on strict bedrest for the next 3 weeks. They also sent me home with a prescription to be taken every 6 hours to slow contractions. To be honest, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this. No work, no cleaning, no cooking etc. Laying or sitting with feet up 24-7. Ahhh-pretty sure I'm going to go crazy! But, I'm SO thankful that the magnesium treatment helped and that I'm now able to be home. I know that prayers of many have helped Darrin and I through this SHOCKING time.

Seriously, we never expected anything like this to happen! How grateful we are to both of our WONDERFUL families and amazing friends who have been there for us! I think we're both still in literal shock. But I know that Heavenly Father can and will help us through this experience. How thankful I am to have a knowledge of the gospel! How thankful I am for the immense blessings that we've seen these past few days.

Any great movie or tv-series suggestions would be greatly appreciated :).

P.S. I still get to go to my baby shower! Doc gave me permission as long as I'm sitting with feet up or laying. I will SO be ready to get out of the house!! Yay!

Note to pictures: These were taken BEFORE magnesium treatment :)

Really?

2010-05-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Last week Darrin and I stopped by a yard sale. We ended up buying some adorable children's books for like $0.50! Sweet deal! Anyways, the lady came up to me and said, "Can I ask what you're having?" I responded with, "A little boy!" She replied, "Well, I have something I'd like to give you." I was a little taken back-I've never even met this sweet lady! Then she brings me this sweater and hat that she hand knit and says, "I want you to have this.". WOW! Who does that?! I was touched by this woman who didn't even know me but felt like she wanted to share such a precious thing that she must have spent a long time making! I want to me more of a person like that!

Surprise!

2010-04-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

I've had a special surprise date planned for Darrin and I for a few weeks now. I got a really super deal on a room in The Armstrong Mansion Bed and Breakfast. I thought it'd be a good surprise for a little getaway before our we have the baby. So, I told Darrin that I planned a date for us for Thursday but that it was a surprise. I called it his "your gonna be a daddy surprise date!"

When Thursday came we left after he got off of work. I pulled into the parking lot of the Armstrong Mansion and he was so confused-it was PERFECT-he had no idea! So, we had a super nice room, and had dinner at "The Garden", where we ate after he proposed. It was very romantic-the perfect getaway!

The next day we played at the Clark Planetarium and saw a movie. It was a lot of fun and I would recommend the Armstrong Mansion to anyone!

I love you Darrin!!! You are going to be SUCH A GOOD DADDY!!!

Here are pictures: (and yes, the staircase was in our room that led up to that MASSIVE jetted tub!!! It was AWESOME!!!)

Big Project!

2010-04-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

Well, as some of you know, we've started a BIG project here at the Simon home. Our last renters (long story) moved out and we were going to have to replace the carpet, repaint the walls etc. So, we decided to remodel our basement apartment! We're making it into a two bedroom apartment rather than a one bedroom. And the funny thing is that the second bedroom will be larger than the existing bedroom and the living room will be a foot longer than it was! So, we're making the best of the 1100 square feet down there and it's gonna be AWESOME!!! I'm wondering if we'll even wanna rent it out anymore since it'll be so nice...we'll see. But the demolishing is all done now, most of the electrical is now done and the wall is put up. Still LOTS of work to do but we're hoping to get it done FAST!

Darrin's family has been SO good about helping out. Seriously they are like the "macho-est" do-it-yourself men I've ever met. This is where having 6 brothers and an awesome dad comes in handy for Darrin. Not that they don't come in handy all the time! :). But we're so grateful to have such a wonderful family!

On another note, I'm 29 weeks along now in my pregnancy! 11 weeks to go-WOW-time flies! I can't believe I'll be meeting my little man that soon! It's so strange to think that we live together, spend all of our time together, he kicks and punches me all the time, and yet, we haven't met yet! I'm very excited! And very anxious/nervous/freaking out a bit at times :).

But still going strong and just dealing with the joys of the third trimester. I had a bit of a breakdown last week after my OB appointment though. My uterus is measuring a week and a half larger than normal-just meaning that my baby boy is a bit bigger than normal. So, my breakdown was about me freaking out about having a big baby and complications that can come along with that (I DO NOT WANT A C-SECTION!!). I was also freaking out about my weight gain-don't worry-I KNOW it's normal to gain weight in pregnancy! But I've been gaining more than the textbooks say you should. Made me super sad and self conscious. Cause I really don't feel like I'm binge eating or sitting around all day being lazy. I try to eat healthy and be active. Despite that, I'm packin' on the pounds and still have 11 weeks left! I've been feeling a bit better about it but still have my freak out times. I promise I'm not trying to be vain or anything-I just don't want to be unhealthy and huge :(.

ANYWAYS, enough about me, here are some pictures of our basement and my belly :)

bowlin' and baby stuff

2010-03-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, my dear friend Amy came over last week for a visit and we had breakfast together. SO much fun! She's just over a week ahead of my in our pregnancies so we had lots to chat about! I love having what my mother would call "pity parties" with other pregnant women about all the "joys" of being prego :). Jokes aside, it really has been a joy to feel my little boy moving all around and getting stronger! LOTS stronger!

On another note, we went bowling on Monday with some family and had a blast! Darrin made his second all time highest score of 168!!! That's my man! And we got some laughs about how it looks like I stuffed one of the bowling balls under my shirt-news flash-it's a baby! I am also embarrassed to say how horribly sore I have been since Monday from the bowling trip. Feel like I can barely walk :)

On Tuesday I got to go shopping with my wonderful sister, Heidi. We had a great time shopping at DI and Ross. Found some good stuff! Unfortunately we didn't get any pics of the event-"Heid-What were we thinking?!"

And lastly, I'm helping out with a baby shower for my friend Pattyanne in my ward and I'm in charge of the invites. Didn't realize how much work it'd be till I got going but I'm very proud of how they turned out!

Here are pictures of these events:

Thumpety Thump Thump...

2010-02-22T08:12:00.000-08:00

Knock, Knock...whose there? Oh, that would be a kick from my little man!!!

I will start off by saying I have felt very deprived over the last few weeks because I haven't been able to feel kicking. The doctor explained this by saying that in my ultrasound they discovered that I have what's called "anterior placenta". Don't worry-it doesn't really effect the pregnancy much at all! It just explains why I haven't been able to feel movement as early as most. It means that my placenta is resting toward my belly, where as most peoples is on the sides or back of their uterus. So, I have this cushion between me and the baby where most people don't-resulting in me not being able to feel my little man as early as all my friends.

It's a question I get asked a lot-"So, have you been able to feel movement yet?!", and I always have to answer by saying, "I wish!". It sure would be nice to feel him because then I'd know he's doing ok, ya know?

Anyways, in the past week or so there have been a couple times where I have felt a kick. Not much but I've been pretty convinced that it was a kick. But then that's pretty much it.

But yesterday, Sunday, I felt him on and off through the WHOLE DAY!! SO SO SO SO SO exciting!!! There really is nothing like it in the whole wide world! Some people explain it as feeling like gas, some as fluttering. Not disagreeing with those statements, I would more explain it as feeling like something thumping or knocking from the inside of my belly! So bizarre, yet so amazing! Such a miracle, life is!

Darrin and I were watching a movie yesterday and he was kickin'. I didn't think it'd be strong enough for Darrin to feel, but I had him put his hand on my belly anyway. After a few seconds, BOOM! And at the same time I said, "Did you feel that?!" when he was saying "I felt that!!" So, Daddy got to feel his kick for the first time. Like I said, AMAZING!!!

Then, my mom stopped my yesterday to bring me, a little sickling with a cold, dinner (she's always SO SO SO thoughtful!!!). He was kicking again, and again, I didn't think she'd be able to feel it. But once I said he was kicking, she immediately came over and placed her hand on my belly. When to my surprise, BOOM! He just kicked her right in the hand and it was a BIG one!

Well, I want to say to my little man that I'm SO happy to be feeling him and I'm SO proud of him for saying hello to his Daddy and Grandma :). It was a pretty exciting day!!!

The IT Crowd

2010-02-17T16:45:00.001-08:00

So, Darrin has been sick :( and so we've been watching quite a bit of TV. Nothing too new. But our newest series that we've began and finished is "The IT Crowd". If you are a fan of "The Office", you HAVE TO try out this series!!! It's pee your pants funny! It's a British comedy that consists of 3 seasons-each season having 6 episodes. We watched it through netflix streamed to our xbox. We highly recommend it if you like laughing :).

And here are pictures of my EVER GROWING belly :)

Cruisin'

2010-02-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

We got back from our 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise this week. It was actually a 10 day vacation though because we drove and stopped in Vegas both ways. We went with Darrin's two brothers and their wives making a total of 6 in our traveling party. Can I just say we had SO SO SO SO SO much fun and it's really not as fun getting back to real life?

The down side of the cruise is that I got real sea sick! Sheesh that boat was a rockin'! But the upside was everything else: The sun, the ports (Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta), THE FOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!, the entertainment, the company we were with, did I already say the food? I want to say it again: The FOOD!!!

If you haven't been on a cruise, you should go on one! For what you get, they're really inexpensive! Wait, let me rephrase that: they're really inexpensive UNLESS you drink and/or gamble. And we don't do either of those so it was SUPER worth the money! We paid $791 for BOTH OF US for our 7 day cruise + gratuities.

Our Royal Carribean cruise ship, the Mariner of the Seas, had an ice rink onboard, a rock climbing wall, roller blading rink, mini golf coarse, pools, hot tubs, fitness center, and the list goes on!

In the ports we went snorkeling (amazing!!!), Kiaking, Boogie Boarding, saw a sea turtle in the wild, lots of sea lions, and tons of pelicans. Needless to say we had a BLAST!

Here are A LOT of pics:

It's a.......

2010-01-20T18:32:00.000-08:00

It's a BOY!! A healthy boy with ten fingers, ten toes, and all his parts. We couldn't be happier! We got to spend an hour today just watching our little handsome man. The ultrasound tech was AWESOME!!! So informative and just loved watching our baby with us. I must say, he's so adorable I love him so much already! Here, let me prove to you how stinkin' cute he is:

Third Picture Down: Just about to suck his thumb!

Fourth Picture down: Isn't it the cutest profile ever?!

Last Picture: Ok, honestly didn't know if I should post this or not. But decided to take my chances and prove that he IS a boy!

So, do you understand how handsome MY little man is?! I mean, come on, you cannot deny it!
On a side note, we're leaving for our Mexican cruise on FRIDAY!!! YAY!!! So, I'm sure next post will include stories of our adventures. Until then...

16 weeks

2010-01-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

Well folks, I'm now 16 weeks and 3 days along in the pregnancy. I'm in an awkward stage now where I feel like I've sort of popped out a bit and I cannot fit into my jeans but the jeans I try on at maternity stores are too big. Actually the belly usually fits fine it's the actual jeans that are too big :(.
But, as some of you know, I had to go out and find another doctor and choose another hospital to deliver at because of insurance. I was really bummed but I think it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I met my new doctor, Dr. Eric Nielson, yesterday and LOVED him! He really took the time to answer all my questions and concerns and the atmosphere was great. And a special thanks to my mamma who came along to the docs because Darrin was working. A
nd...GUESS WHAT?! We get to do the big ultrasound where we find out the sex and all in 11 days from now!!! YAY!!! And then two days later we leave for our cruise! I'm so so so excited! YAY!

Christmas!

2009-12-28T10:45:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas started off not so great but turned out fantastic! It began when I woke up at 4am to throw up and I had this MASSIVE headache. Then took meds and went back to sleep. Then had to wake up twice more to throw up. No fun. And come on...on Christmas?! Finally Zofran offered me relief from up-chucking and I was able to get back to sleep till it was time to see if Santa came. He did :)!

Darrin is such a sweetheart and spoiled me rotten. He even got me scrapbook paper that says, "Welcome Baby Boy!" on it. haha. He'd better hope he's right about that :). And rather than an orange at the bottom of my stocking he put an artichoke. haha. My favorite ever!!!

After we had our own little Christmas we headed to my parents where we had lots of fun with our new PJ's that we get every year. We ate lots, did our gift exchange, stories and visiting. My parents got everyone huge digital photo frames that have sound for music and everything! We're super excited about it!

Then off to Darrin's family's where even our little unborn baby got gifts! As always, we had a lot of fun over there too!

So, Merry Christmas and onto the New Year!

My little nephew, Joshua, had so much fun that he became tired and fell asleep like this right on the floor :)

Oh BABY!...

2009-12-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

Well, I think it's time I spilled the beans...I'm Prego! In two days I will be 14 weeks along and I am due on June 22, 2010. That's kinda why I haven't blogged in such a very long time. It's because I had this incredibly exciting news but didn't want to tell the whole world until I heard the heartbeat. Well, we've heard the heartbeat now and it sounds great! So, now I can finally shout it out to the whole world! YAY! We're really excited about it and can't wait to meet our little one. I can't explain how amazing the heartbeat was to hear though. It was like music to my ears and I've played back the video we took of the heartbeat MANY times!

Although we're super stoked, it hasn't been all fun and games. Unfortunately, I've been real sick :(. Why on earth do they call it "morning sickness" anyways? It's SO not only in the morning! WARNING: It can strike anytime and anywhere! So, it's been rough with such an unpredictable health tablet.

But I'm pretty much finished up with the first trimester, so hopefully goodbye sickness soon!!! (anyone who's willing: some extra prayers wouldn't hurt :)).

Pictures taken in order of 4, 8, and 12 weeks :)

Another SURPRISE!!!

2009-10-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well, last week Darrin SURPRISED me! He marked in my planner that we had a double date for last Wednesday. Then when Wednesday came he was being super secretive and at 3:00 in the afternoon he asked me if I was ready to go. I was really confused because you know, usually you don't go on dates until 6ish. So he told me to go wait in the car and not look at him when he came out. Then he began driving toward Park City. He asked if I had any ideas about what we were going to do on this date. I named some off and he just laughed saying, "well, to do any of those things we would need money. We don't have money so all of those things you mentioned are out!" In my mind I'm thinking, 'well then what on earth are we doing here?!' So confusing. He then pulls up to this really nice condo resort and says that we're going to have a two night get-away. Just the two of us. HOLY COW!!!!!! And goes on to say that we don't have to pay a penny! HOLY COW!!!!! It turns out that our friends got the condo for a week but couldn't use it the last two days so they asked Darrin if he wanted to take me.

We had SO SO SO much fun! It was just what I needed. So relaxing. Very romantic and just FUN! Don't I have the sweetest husband EVER?!

Camping and a SURPRISE!!!

2009-10-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

We went camping on Thursday night and got back this morning (Saturday). It was SO much fun! We went to Maplegrove Campground which is just outside of Scipio, UT. We went with Jason and Patti (Bro and Sis in law + their 3 kids), Brady and Melissa (Bro and sis in law) and Wes (Bro in law that just got home from mish). Melissa and Brady planned the whole thing down to an art. We had AMAZING food (dutch oven...yum!!!), and we also got the chance to go "Geo-Caching".
It was SO gorgeous! Seriously, it was impossible to ignore all of the BEAUTIFUL creations all around us. The leaves were perfectly red, orange, yellow and green. The whether was cold but during the day it was just right. Plus, we saw about 8 deer in different areas. Very cool. Here are some Pics:
After we got home I made my famous chocolate chip cookies. YUM! I went downstairs to bring Donna (our renter-she's been living with us for a month and a half) some cookies and to invite her to church tomorrow. She was GONE! She was there Thursday and then gone by Saturday and we got home at 11:30! She didn't call. Didn't text. Nothing. She just upped and left. I'm still in shock.
So, our apartment is up for rent again. If anyone knows of anyone please please please let me know :). Thank you. We'll also definitely need all the prayers we can get for a lot of reasons. Thanks everyone!