This is Shelby's Christmas tree, we buy a new ordinment every year, so there's only two so far but there will be more
This is the nativity set Travis has slaved to find every piece for me, I just love it!
And our tree, kind of a bad picture but we love it and yes I put them up really early! Like November 1st early! We're moving in December so I just wanted to enjoy them for a little while!Last night we went to a wonderful Halloween party at our good friends the Ottosen's apartment. It was way fun which I have documented with wonderful pictures!
This is Gracie shes the Ottosen's 4 year old and adorable and every other sentence out of her mouth last night was... I'm Super Girl! It was so cute, also she fell in love with the Pirates!
Devin and Kari Sorenson, Devin can do an amazing Chewy, games that help you to gain this random information are hilarious!
Lucy and Ricky Ricardo a.k.a Nate and Sally Jardine or some would say one of the Jonas brothers!
Casey and Kristin Whitmill a.k.a Gracie's new favorites!
Rebecca Seely, what a little devil!
Jared Seely or a very tight fitted Batman!
The Phantom and his sexy lover!
Lindsay Crebs and my goofy self!
Lori Smith and Kate Summerill
Amanda Walker is in the blue and green and her sister in law Kari Sorensen
Brittney Carlson and Robbie Ottosen
Katie Shakespeare and Karen Rambow
Lindsay is like the best cake maker ever and this is her handy work! Isn't just adorable! Homemade frosting and fondant (ok so I don't know how to spell, just sound it out!)
So last week a few of us decided that we just needed to throw Amanda Walker and baby shower... so we did. It was at my apartment I handled the food and games, Robbie did the invites and Lindsay made that adorable cake (and delicious!). We had a blast! It's funny though because in our ward you can't swing a dead cat with out hitting a pregnant lady, at the shower alone there were 4! It was my first time throwing a shower, I've done my fair share of bachlorett parties but as you can imagine those are quite different! But I think it went well, at least I had a good time and Amanda got lots of presents so that's good! 
So we went camping over the 4th of July, it was way fun! We ended up with a lot of wood so on the last night we decided to just use it all and not be wasteful, right?
Fires are so beautiful, don't worry I'm not a pyro, if you need to worry about anyone it's Travis but come on what boy doesn't love fire?!
The Ottosen's, Robbie and Dan and Gracie who's sleeping on Robbie. They are amazing!
Rebecca and Jared Seely, who were so much fun! They handled everyone teasing them about there decade old tent very gracefully!
In the spirit of not being waistful, we found some left over bacon and Dan decided he just had to cook it in the fire... let me just say it was some of the best bacon I've ever had!
This is Brookie, my brother Aaron and his wonderful wife Jessica's oldest daughter, you can't tell me that she's not the cutest thing ever! And she such a stinker, which is great for Aunt and Uncle but I'm sure is hard for the mom and dad some times! But we love living only 3 hours away because we've been able to spend a lot of time with her! We both just adore her!So it has been a while... sorry! Life has been pretty busy this whole year seems to have been insane. First, a year ago July 1st Shelby pasted away and was buried on the 6th, that was not fun or pleasant but she is happy where she is and we know we will be with her for eternity. Well the emotional after maths of that event were not fun either... if anyone knows me they know that when I'm not happy I have no problem eating whatever I want whenever I want... well in the end this lead to a lot of weight gain.
Secondly, to top off everything else, Travis and I got pregnant in January, we were happy about it but at the same time were having a hard time not knowing what it would be like to have another child but still really wishing we had Shelby in other words I don't think we were ready... well Heavenly Father must have thought so too because I ended up having a miscarriage the very end of March and ended up having to get a DNC because nothing was coming out and my placenta was still growing, for what reason the don't know, but the baby had stopped growing at 6 weeks but my placenta had progressed to about 15. With our history they really wanted to know what went wrong so they tested the DNA (or as Dr Evans put it "the proof is in the pudding") and found that it was another chromosome problem but unrelated to Turner's Syndrome, which is actually pretty common. And then after all of this 3 days latter we went on a week long vacation to California with Travis's parents... needless to say I was probably the most uncomfortable I've been in my life, minus what I felt like right after my C-Section, I wasn't the most social or the most grateful on the trip and for this I want to apologize, it wasn't fair to Travis, my wonderful in-laws, or the extended family we stayed with, I'm sorry.
Well after all the life went on (all be it a few pints of blood lighter!) And after Shelby's one year birthday I decided to take control... I went on a diet and started exercising a lot more... I now write to you 35 pounds lighter than my previous post. Yes yes I know that's great but trust me I still have a ways to go to get back to were I want to be, but I am very happy with the results thus far.
Thirdly, (yes I know you wouldn't think there could be more but there is!) My Grandmother passed away June 21, my dad's mom. This was sad but happy at the same time, she had been sick for some time and had been waiting to reunite with her eternal companion for some time and I am sure beyond any doubt that they are together and happy. The really sad part of this is that when I heard the news... I was jealous... not of the dying part but of what I know she can do after death...She can be with Shelby. Don't freak out, I don't wish could die or anything and honestly can't explain why this was the first emotional respond I had. Well anyways we went down to Utah for the funeral which was planned one week before Shelby exactly, so exactly 51 weeks a part from each other. She was buried next to her wonderful husband, who Shelby is buried right on the other side. So yes the burial wasn't exactly that fun for us because there were so many similarities but it was beautiful and it was so great to hear all of the wonderful and touching stories about her from all 7 of her children, my grandmother was an extraordinary women, educated, a great mother and an amazing wife, you can follow this link to her obituary and read more about her www.legacy.com/obituaries/deseretnews/obituary.aspx?n=eleanor-love&pid=143741240
Finally, I've been very stressed about my dad lately... a few days before grandma passed away he had surgery to reconnect his bicep which he tore trying to lift a hot tub. And then a few days ago decides while still not having use of his left arm to climb on to the back of the boat, which when out of the water is pretty far off the ground, well he loses balance and falls, hitting the chain link fence on the way down. After the paramedics, yet another trip to the hospital and a cat scan latter, they discover he has aneurysms on his aorta and will probably have to have surgery on that too. Man I am just sick of loved ones being sick, I think in my mind the only thing it leads to is death, once again I know it's nonsensical but I mean look at the history! I love my dad and want him to be around and I think NEED him to be around for a long time, I need him to be there for our other children just like he was for Shelby, I just need him.
So after the novel I've just written just to recap, this year has been crazy! Also no judging me because some of the things I said, no I do not wish to die, I am very happy living and can't wait to continue to grow our family when the time is right and I honestly could not dream of being separated from Travis. But seriously even though it may not sound like it we've had some amazing times this past year, Shelby of course was worth every heart ache because she also taught us what perfect love is and has built our testimonies in a way no other experience ever could. But we love our ward and where we are at right now, we have tons of friends and plenty of great times! We are actually very happy with life, doesn't the gospel just make things good?!
When went camping this past weekend in Swan Valley a place called the Falls, it was beautiful! It was a little cold but really it wasn't that bad. We went with our good friends Nate and Sally Jardine and we stayed two nights. We cooked in our dutch ovens and made smores and Nate made his very own mallow cigarette! Travis and Nate hiked a mountain and while up there Travis found a 5 point elk antler. And we all went on a walk and pretty much had a great time!
So no pictures with this one, we just haven't been taking any, sorry! Well I thought it would be nice if I just gave a little update into Travis and mine's live seeing as how I haven't blogged sense the beginning of January...
We found out that we were pregnant in January and after a few appointments we found out the baby was not alive, I should have been about 15 weeks, but the baby wasn't growing right and the placenta was growing like crazy so it was just a little weird, the doctors say it was just another chromosome problem but just more severe than Turner's Syndrome. It was decided that I needed a D&C because it just wasn't coming out on it's own. So we went to the hospital and did that, thankfully it was a lot easier than a C-section, it was an out patient surgery. And don't worry everything is fine, we have experienced a lot worse and this is just another bump in the road but at least it was Everest like last time! We thank our Heavenly Father that we have the ability to have children and for all of the experiences that we have had because the make us into who we need to become to live with Him again.
After that we kind of just felt like getting away and the next week we were going to California with Travis's family, so in the mean time we decided to go to Utah and help my parents unpack into their new house. Then Travis's parents came and picked us up in Utah and we headed to California, it was fun and on the way back we stopped in Las Vegas and Travis took me to go see Phantom of the Opera which was absolutely amazing!
So anyways we've been gone for two weeks so needless to say it's great to be home! We had a lot of fun in the past two weeks. And that's our life in a nut shell.
So on Travis's actually birthday we went to Idaho Falls with the Winks and the Jardines and saw Avatar in 3D and then went to eat at Garcias, which is Travis's favorite Mexican restrauant. But on the next day, a Sunday, we had people over for cake and conversation!
Dan Walker and Devon Sornsen.
The Burton's looking all cute!
Joy and Collin Winks (there's really nothing else to say about this picture!)
Nate and Sally Jardine, looks like Nate and Travis are talking about something pretty intense!
And Travis with as many candles as I could find! So old at 25, but our whole marriage I've been telling him he acts like he's 70 sometimes, but hey he's one hot grandpa!
