The Attkissons

Um Yum!

2012-02-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

This is R eating rice cereal for the first time! She loved it! She insists on holding the bottle herself and once she saw the spoon she thought she needed to hold that too!

Update

2012-01-22T21:07:00.000-08:00

I know I posted a lot of pictures but I didn't really give any info. So here we go... TRAVIS GRADUATED! I know I mentioned it before but I mean come on it's a big deal! Granted he's still going for his Masters but that wont start until September. We're staying with my parents sense we left Idaho and it's been really nice to have no rent and Riley already recognizes her grandparents and let's just say that my mom is loving having her around all the time, pretty sure she could care less whether Travis and I are around as long as we leave Ri! Most likely we will be here through Master's Trav is really hoping for the U cause he likes their program the most but BYU and Weber are other options. He's working doing taxes but also keeping feelers out for something better.
Now on to the important stuff... Riley, she is adorable, of course, but spoiled! Honestly though I could care less, she'll grow out of it. It sounds like she has a lot of things in common with her older cousin Sarah! She's actually a really good baby, she sleeps 8 to 8 at night and takes regular naps. She's rolled over once from her back to her stomach, and sense she hates tummy time, she keeps getting close to doing it again but then realizes "oh wait I hate this" and then rolls back. She does love her floor mat with all of her toys and she's great at grabbing them and they go straight into her mouth. Besides the mat you can't get her to lie down, if there is anything going on she wants to see it and be a part of it if she can! She is stubborn and a screamer but so cute! She has the cutest dumbo ears, don't think I'm mean for saying it, I know she'll grow into them but right now they are just adorable!
So pretty much things are going great Travis is good, working and waiting for school to start again. I love staying at home with Ri, I never really understood what I was missing, I always wanted it but now I know I couldn't live with out it! Riley great, healthy happy and spoiled, what else could you ask for!

Sorry!

2012-01-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

Ok so I'm sorry it's been so long, just bare with me, this is a long post so just keep going its not over until you reach Christmas pictures. These are just some cute pics of miss Riley.Her first Halloween we went to a party at the Whitmill's, this is Travis (monkey) eating Riley.

The Jardine's working on their pumpkin patch, miss Lillian!

The Whitmill pirates!

Just the cutest banana in the world!

Cute babies!

She had her baby blessing on November 6th, grandma and grandpa Love came, it was a small circle but it was perfect... she was sleeping the whole time so that helped!

We had Thanksgiving this year at our apartment, with Grandma and Grandpa Love and a few friends, and yes if you couldn't tell we had way too much food!

The Sorensens

Part of the Hallings and Kacey's younger sis

Right after Thanksgiving we went to Missoula for my Aunt and Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary

Lots of get togethers, eating and of course card playing!

First time Great Grandma Lavon saw Riley

And Riley getting spoiled by Uncle Jeff!

TRAVIS GRADUATED IN DECEMBER! Yes I realize he still has his Masters to go but this is a huge deal... first kid on either side of our families to get a Bachelors!

Riley had the cutest BYU-Idaho outfit! Grandma and Grandpa Love came as long as our good friends the Jardines, it was great to celebrate his hard work, we all went out to dinner after and the Sorensens joined us there, it was wonderful!

SO PROUD!

First Christmas! With Great Grandma Lavon

Everyone on my side of the family was able to come except Aunt Clara and Uncle John

Milo had a great time!

Riley had a great time while we opened presents... playing on her floor mat!

Christmas church dress, Grandpa Love read the Christmas story in sacrament, it was great!

2011-10-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome Riley Denise

2011-10-09T20:22:00.001-07:00

8 lb 15 oz and 21 in long, born Ocober 6th

home coming outfit, says she loves her daddy!
there is a little heart on the butt!
snug as a bug in a rug
first sponge bath, loved getting her hair washed and thought the towel tasted good!
so pretty!
She looks a lot like her big sis except she actually has a few of Trav's features like lighter skin and his hair line... overall she's pretty perfect!

All Ready for Miss Riley...

2011-09-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well Riley is almost here just a few more weeks, her room is waiting! We decided along time ago that our nursery would always be done in Classic Pooh and when the kid got old enough to move in to a real bed and get their own room they could help pick what it would be decorated. So most of the stuff we have we used for Shelby's room as well. I also love Dr Seuss! We read him to Shelby and she loved it, the rhyming makes your voice sound soothing, so we have a lot of his books and some stuffys for go with them!
Just a view of her closet, I love little girl clothes, they are just so cute!
Another thing that will always be in the nursery, I make these out of the cards I receive for each kid, I just need a picture of Riley to finish hers up.
The bed set, I love it!
Another thing you just have to love about little girls... hair bows!
Love the Winnie the Pooh quote!

The puff balls are from one of the baby showers, they are adorable! So now all we need is a baby!
I also posted some pictures from our trip to Washington, so just push older posts to see them.

Washington

2011-09-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took so long to post this, but after we left Washington we realized that we had left our camera there! But anyways these are some pictures of our trip to Washington to visit my Grandma, we stopped for the weekend on our way back from Travis's internship. We had a blast and did lots of touristy things which was great cause our whole time in Oregon we never had any time to do any!

The Week of Lin...

2011-08-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

We had my niece Mandolin come and stay with us for a week right before we went to Lake Powell this year, it was great! We had lots of fun playing games, going to Phat Cats, Bear world and Yellowstone!

Old Faithful
Paint Pots

This was at Bear World, which was way fun! They had all the animals you can see at Yellowstone but here you're guaranteed to see them and up close too!
We had to bears come right up to our car and lick it!
The cubs were so cute!
They had a petting zoo!

And little theme park rides for kids and yes I made Travis go on this one!
Lin loved the gift shop and of course wanted one of everything but ended up picking out a bear claw

We went to the International Dance Festival Parade in Rexburg.
This so far is the only picture I have of me being pregnant and you can't even see my tummy that much but oh well! You can see Lin sitting down on the sidewalk waiting for the parade to start. We had a great week! Which was followed by another great week at Lake Powell! It was nice to have a reason to go to all the touristy places around here sense this is our last summer in Rexburg! One semester left and we're out of here!

Riley Denise

2011-05-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

We found out on the 23rd that Shelby will be getting a baby sister in October! Miss Riley looks healthy and strong, we'll have another ultrasound to get a better look at her heart cause her older sister had multiple heart conditions so they just want to be sure, but so far so good! Just wanted to update everyone! We are so excited!

Happy Birthday to Shelby

2011-04-26T14:53:00.001-07:00

Shelby's birthday was on April 24th which also happened to be Easter Sunday, we were invited by our wonderful friends the Walkers to join them and our other great friends the Sorensens for Easter dinner, which was amazing! Then we all got together later to celebrate Shelby's Bday!

We had 3 pies, 1 trifle and 1 chocolate cake, plus ice cream! Thankfully the Jardines also came over so we had more people to eat it all!

This is Travis holding (and totally falling for) Miss Lillian Jardine, what can I say he has a thing for girls!

Shelby would have been 2 on Sunday, we miss her very much but are so proud to have such a perfect daughter. We are thankful for the opportunity we had, and still do, to be her parents, she has taught us more than we will ever teach her. We love her, Happy Birthday Shelby!

Update...

2011-04-01T14:26:00.001-07:00

So I thought I would post, not that I really have that much to say but I realized it's been a long time. We're still in OR and I have to admit it hasn't been our favorite place, I don't know if it's just the places we've lived or the whole state but we are very excited to leave. Don't get me wrong there are some things that are absolutely great... it is beautiful, we live in like a bowl of mountains surrounded on all sides and it's green every where, huge trees and when you go outside it smells like the forest and for me that reminds me of my childhood when we would go camping, and despite what everyone told us before moving here... no snow, so I love that! We've also made great friends here that have taught us some great new games... so watch out everyone you will be forced to play with us when we get back! And Travis loves his job, they do a lot of fun things to keep everyone happy like trivia and games and walks and contests, he loves it! He works about 11 hours a day though so it's starting to get old but he's getting so much experience and he's finding that he's really good at it and enjoys it so that's good cause if he needed to switch majors now I think I would kill myself! So for the reasons why we can't wait to leave... TOO MUCH RAIN! I never thought I would say that but we are both sick of it! Also because it's so moist mold grows every where, I think I might be getting mold poisoning as we speak! But mostly we've decided from now on we will never live in an apartment that isn't in a complex again! Our first place here, well the nicest thing I can say about it is it was falling apart, aside from having to mop up our own shower water every time after we showered, the floors were caving in and when we moved in it was invested with spiders and other things. But we were going to tough it out until they figured out that to fix the shower they would have to pretty much tear the whole place apart. So we moved into a basement apartment while a huge step up from the first place still has some issues, it smells and I've tried everything but it smells like a basement not just that like a wet basement, I hate it! And the ceiling is low, meaning Travis being only 6ft can literally walk into the lights, the only heat we have are these little space heaters that are mounted on the walls that really don't help unless you stand right in front of them! And to top it all off the toilet and the shower drains are connected some how and every time you flush if you don't make sure the toilet doesn't keep running it will over flow and then cause the shower to over flow, it's not clogged it just keeps running, so one night lets just say it just kept of running until the whole bathroom and the hall way were about an inch deep in water, we call up stairs tell the owner whats happening she comes down to help clean it up and tells us like it's totally normal, that to fix it all you have to do is plunge the shower drain! At that moment I thought I had died and gone to hill billy hell! The most annoying thing is she didn't find it important enough to tell us when we moved in, also when told that our kitchen sink won't stop clogging no matter how much draino we use on it she says " ours does that too, we just use paper plates"!!!!! So I haven't really been able to cook anything real cause we have no way to do dishes, we've been living off of hot pockets, pot pies and frozen meals, anything that causes no dishes. So although the experience has been totally worth it, this really was the best internship opportunity Travis could have asked for, we are very excited to get back into a fully working apartment and to see our friends again, two of which are about to pop!

New Apartment

2011-02-04T10:47:00.001-08:00

Sorry the pics are fussy but you can get the point! So we moved into a new apartment and yes the rent is more but you have no idea how nice it is not having to mop up your own shower water after every shower and not having mold every where and having the floor caving in because of mold! Here's some pics of the new place, granted it's not the nicest anyways but a definite improvement! Bathroom, no water pressure but like I said we're just happy the pipes don't leak into the walls!

Bedroom, sorry it's a little messy but we really don't have anywhere to put most of our stuff

We have a living room that we don't use cause, once again we could only bring what fit in our car!

And this is just of the hallway, the chair is there because Travis gets up early for work every day, when I say early I mean so that he has enough time for about 45 mins of reading, so of course I told he couldn't do it in the bedroom cause I want to sleep before I go drop and him off and go to work out, so he sits in the hallway right in front of the heater, it's actually kind of sad to picture him out there but hey I need my beauty sleep!

This is the kitchen and where you enter the apartment, it's so nice to have a real kitchen again, we were actually able to buy things that go in the freezer! And by the way that sink is full of clean dishes not dirty ones so no judging!

So that's the new place, we are a lot more comfortable here then we were at the other place... no mold, working plumbing and the floors are nice and sturdy!

Walking...

2011-01-22T17:08:00.000-08:00

Today being a Saturday and one of the few sunny days we've seen sense we've moved here, we decided (meaning I had to talk Travis into) to go on a walk. We live right next to the Rogue River and what they call the City Center which is like the old school down town with all the cute little shops. We were gone for about 3 hours, it was a really fun day!
Some people were feeding the birds by the river and there like 5 to 6 different kinds all just waiting together, it was cool!

Do you see the geese just chillin under the bridge?

This is Travis's work, he loves it so far!

And us walking over the bridge, it's really pretty, pictures don't do it justice!

So all in all a really great day!

Apartment Update...

2011-01-16T16:33:00.001-08:00

Well we found out shortly after moving in that there was something wrong with the shower because after taking our first one we step out of the shower into a puddle of water, and I mean a lot of water. So I call the realtor and she says she'll send a plumber well I wait the rest of that day and the next day... no plumber! Mean while both days I had gone to work out, so needless to say I smelt! Finally on Thursday the plumber comes and I believe I heard the statements "that's not good" and "oh no" come out of his mouth as he was investigating the problem. It turns out that everything that goes through the drain ends up on our floor! So he says he's going to have to come back to look into it more and talk to the realtor to decide what they are going to do about it, his Friday is full so he's coming on Monday. I think by the look on my face he knew what my first question would be so he says " you can shower you'll just have to mop it up after". So we have been showering and then mopping up our own shower water... it's been fun!
On a happier note, Travis is really enjoying his work so far. He's learning a lot of new and harder things and he loves it! And they are a really fun place to work, a lot of pranks and office fun!

Biggest Loser... Love Style (

2011-01-13T13:04:00.000-08:00

So my family already knows this but just to give us a little more motivation I thought I would let the rest of the world know as well... My family is having our own biggest loser competition, from January through April we're seeing which one of us can lose the highest % of weight and of course for the winning theres a buck per pound from Grandma and .50 cents per pound from all the other players. My oldest sister Clara isn't competing cause she's preggers but the rest of us are in... and lets just say I'm going to win cause I'm in OR with nothing else to do!

Oregon

2011-01-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

This is the door to the bathroom, trust me you don't want to know what it looks like in there, it would ruin your day.

This is our stove, under sink cabinet, refrigerator combo, whatever you're thinking trust me it's smaller!

Sorry this isn't rotated, we don't have Internet so I'm sitting in a pizza place that has a horrible connection but I'll take what I can get, cause if I die in this apartment I want there to be some witnesses!

This is the drive up to our place, beautiful! Over all it's livable so we're ok! Everyone has to live in a crappy apartment at some point right?!

So we're here, after driving all through the night to get here before the realtor office closed, we made it. And I have to admit it's not exactly what we thought it would be, don't get me wrong Oregon it's self is beautiful, it's the apartment that's not what we were expecting but it's ok, it's bigger than we thought but it's a lot dirtier than we thought too! We have an ant problem not to mention a spider problem and we all know how I feel about spiders. So we've sprayed a lot of Raid, enough to make Travis cough so much he threw up! The floor is caving in in the hall way but I mean over all it's totally livable but I think we've just been spoiled in Rexburg.

A Kansas Christmas

2011-01-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

We went to Kansas for Christmas this year, it was way fun. I think there was like 15 people there all in the same house! So a little crazy but so much fun! On Christmas Eve we had a gingerbread house building contest, we bought kits or you could make something original, each family had there own, so left to right, Balsmeier Family- Mom and Dad so the Love Family - Jasper Family - Attkisson Family (the best one!). Can you guess what temple we made... the Rexburg Temple, Grandma Lavon chose the winners... and we were it! It was a little cheap cause how could you not choose the Temple but hey you do what it takes to win!
I have to say I got the best present ever this year! We drew names and Terron my wonderful brother in law drew my name and he went all out! It was awesome! He made a "Where's Jessie" book, so it's a Where's Waldo book but with me instead of him! So there's a little Jessie hiding on each page with a little story about what I'm doing there! That alone is an amazing gift but in between each page were even more gifts, like gift cards and tickets to cirque du sole ( I think that's how its spelt!) and a hotel stay for while we were in Kansas and tickets to Spamalot in Medford, OR in February, I mean I can't even tell you how amazing this gift was and still is! Thank you so much Terron!

So over all an absolutely wonderful Christmas!

Chirstmas Came Early...

2010-11-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

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!

Halloween Party!

2010-10-30T14:36:00.001-07:00

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!

We had so much fun playing games and talking and eating! It was great!

Amanda's Baby Shower

2010-07-21T09:32:00.001-07:00

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!

Camping

2010-07-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

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!

Lori and Scott Smith came as well and Nate and Sally Jardine but i didn't get the chance to get pictures of them but I didn't want to not mention the either. It was a great fun and relaxing weekend!

So Cute!

2010-07-08T19:56:00.001-07:00

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!

Recap...

2010-07-08T18:50:00.001-07:00

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?!

Happy Birthday Shelby!

2010-04-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Shelby 1st birthday on Saturday the 24th! We went to Utah for the weekend and took some beautiful flowers to her grave and Travis and I spent over an hour sitting in the grass talking at the cemetery, it was really nice. Its amazing how cemeteries always used to make me uncomfortable but now I think they just hold a completely different meaning... our daughter is not in a cemetery, her body is but she is not and that takes all the fear and anxiety out of it and replaces it with comfort and so much respect for our Heavenly Father and the amazing sacrifice he made of giving up is Son so that we could have all the amazing blessing that we do.

We stayed at my parents house and did a few chores but that night we had cake, or should I say cakes... see Travis and I disagree on what would be Shelby's favorite so we had two cakes, a beautiful vanilla cake with chocolate drizzle and some cheesecake(I bet you can guess which one I chose!). I covered both with candles and we sang and then Travis blew out his choice and I blew out mine.

Overall it was a great weekend, don't get me wrong I for sure have my moments(just ask Travis) but we had a chance to just really focus on her and relive some of the most amazing memories. We love our daughter so much and thank Heavenly Father everyday for the opportunity we have to parents to such an amazing and special daughter of his. Happy Birthday Shelby, we love you and miss you so much it hurts but we will remember you always until we can finally be with you again.

First Camping Trip of the Season...

2010-04-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

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!

Update...

2010-04-10T15:14:00.001-07:00

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.

Happy Birthday Travis!

2010-01-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-02T12:12:00.001-08:00

Indulging in Grief

2009-12-01T23:24:00.000-08:00

So I've decided that I need to be honest, I am broken, the reason I want to share this with the blogging world is because for some reason if I say it it will make it truly truly sink into me that it is true and then I can work on fixing myself. I miss Shelby with all my heart, I feel like there is a void in my life, I know I am still a mother and I will have her again but for right now I am missing part of myself, my purpose, I think about her every minute of every day, I feel like she is getting farther and farther away but at the same time I feel like she is with me all the time, I feel devastated but so happy to have had her for as long as I did, really I don't think I can put into words how I feel and no I really truly don't want any ones pity, I am blessed beyond means and would do it all again in a heart beat. I just need to talk.

The reason this is coming now and not before is because I have come to realize my grieving tactic, indulging... in everything food, spending, change, decorating, self pity... everything! As I continue in these habits I feel I am growing further and further away from the person I was and the person Shelby helped me to become, and that's someone I never want to lose. So I plan on fixing myself by simply stating my goals and following up on them probably weekly...

First Goal: To strictly adhere to our family budget, Travis made it and he loves it, of course he does he's an accounting major it's what he does. But I have been under minding him by indulging in things that we do not need but that I want and for some reason I think it will make everything better. I have started by sincerely apologizing for this, meaning I balled my eyes out saying "I'm so Sorry!" and he patiently held me saying I love you and kind of laughing at me... this is what I mean by me being blessed beyond measure, first the perfect husband for me and then a truly perfect daughter!

Second Goal: Less food more exercise! Who ever knows me knows that at one point in my life I ran 3 miles a day on top of taking 3 or 4 PE classes, I was intense, I don't really need or want that again but we do plan on having 6 (according to Travis 5) more kids and I want to be able to do this with out having to worry about heath issues, I've had enough of that, no more bed rest (unless the baby needs it of course) more walking running and just being happy. Working out really does make you happier, I promise.

Third Goal: No more "keeping up with the Jones", everyone knows what I mean, whether you want to admit to it or not you do it, and I have latched on to this idea and ran wild with it, guess what... no one cares what my house looks like! No one cares what I look like (unless I really lack in the personal hygiene ares, which I don't)! I need to do my hair and my make up because it makes me feel good! I need to workout for me not so I can be skinny and show it off to everyone, who cares! As long as I am happy and trying my hardest to be a truly good person, nothing else matters!

Fourth and Final Goal: Grow closer to my Father in Heaven, he has blessed me so much! The most amazing and wonderful husband anyone could ask for, the most beautiful daughter anyone has ever seen! I have in-laws that are truly concerned with our well being and love us. A family that has done everything in their power to help us, parents who love me and really did teach me the true and ever lasting Gospel. Sisters who are absolutely amazing with brother in laws to match. And a brother who if he truly knew what I know with all my heart that he would be waiting at the gates of the temple to be sealed to his family for time and all eternity, Aaron I love you so much! You have the most amazing wife who I love and she really is my sister! I have a testimony and I want to share it more so that Shelby can hear as often as she wants, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church! Eternal Families are real and I have one, Shelby is doing the Lord's work and I will have her again. Travis and I will never really be separated even by death. The Church no matter how many guidelines and rules, will only and can only improve your life because by showing self control you can only become a stronger person.

Thank you for listening and sorry if it doesn't make sense I just had to talk.

Halloween Party!

2009-11-11T12:17:00.001-08:00

So we threw our usual dinner in a pumpkin party on Halloween this year! Sorry I can't get the pictures to rotate but you can still enjoy them! The only people I didn't get a picture of were Michelle and Nate and they were a farm girl and her red neck boyfriend! It was pretty funny! The party was great, we all had a lot of fun!

This is Nate and Sally Jardine and I think you can tell what they were!

Collin and Joy Winks, Collin was a rock climber and Joy was suppose to be an on call Docter but really I just don't think she wanted to dress up!

Casey and Kristin Whitmill, were Greasers.

Travis and I were, well I think you can tell

Dan and Amanda Walker, were... lets just say scary, I opened the door and I couldn't tell who it was until I saw Dan, she did a good job!

Crafts

2009-11-11T11:30:00.001-08:00

These some halloween bolcks I painted.

This is an ottoman I made, I'm also going to make a bigger one but just ahven't had the time yet.

2009-09-08T12:13:00.001-07:00

Shelby's New Room

2009-08-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

So I needed to redecorate Shelby's room because keeping it the way it was when she was here was just helping me have a place to mourn and break down. So we turned it back into the office and put all the baby stuff (except for things I just couldn't put away) in storage. But it will always be Shelby's room.

This picture hung in one of the sleeping rooms in the PICU waiting room and while we were there I fell in love with it, so my mom being the best mom ever found it for Shelby and gave it to her for her one month birthday.

This is a picture of the first time i was able to hold Shelby and these are the cards from her baby shower.

These are some of our favorite pictures and sayings that we love.

2009-08-11T13:58:00.001-07:00

Sorry this is kind of a bad picture, but this is the portrait my brother drew, we love it! It hangs in our living room. Thanks again Aaron!

So yeah it's still a very special room to us. We love her so much and the only word that I can come up with that some what describes how I feel is ache, I ache to hold, touch, kiss, snuggle and just to have her again. And we know that we will have her again, we just have to wait and be worthy of her.

2009-07-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p3e8_XKoRo

2009-07-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

Shelby passed away on Wednesday July 1st at about 11:30 PM of heart failure. We held grave side services on Monday July 6th at the Mountain Green Cemetery in Morgan Utah. We are so thankful that many of her family members were able to attend the services. Thank you to everyone who was able to come, we appreciate it more than you know. Shelby was able to touch many lives and we are thankful and proud to be her parents and can't wait to have her again.

Favorite Things...

2009-06-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

So she's only done tummy time once before so yesterday I thought I would try it, and she loved it! Or she just loved sucking on the mat but either way right?!

She smiles all the time now, and she just loves her floor toy!

So cute!

And I think her most favorite thing of all is her boppy, she loves to sleep in it and if hse wakes up she's just perfectly happy sitting in it and looking around!

Nursery

2009-06-19T08:58:00.001-07:00

This is Miss Shelby's very pretty room! Mostly classic Pooh with a splash of giraffes! She loves it, which isn't that surprising because compared to the hospital it's like the Plaza!

Homecoming Day!

2009-06-19T08:44:00.001-07:00

This was Shelby first real outfit she's ever worn! Shelby was discharged on June 16th, after 54 day in the hospital. She was sent home on oxygen and with her NJ feeding tube still in. The 4 hour car ride went great, she slept the whole time! She loves her room and all of her wonderful things that people have given her! Our family is so blessed! Both Travis's and my families have helped us in so many ways and we are so grateful! Aaron and Jessica gave me a place to stay in April before I had her and they lent me their car while she was in the hospital, they are so amazing! Both of our parents have helped us so much without which we wouldn't have been able to survive! Thank you so much to Rose who came and spent time with me every week! Thank you to everyone who came and visited because that really made time go by faster! And everyone who has sent Shelby stuff, it was so nice to come home on Tuesday to a room that already had almost everything she needed! Thank you so much to our ward! We could not ask for a better ward! Just sense we've been home, they have gotten us groceries, helped me clean, and have just come to see and visit Shelby!

So I guess what we're trying to say is that we are so grateful to have our family, the church and our amazing friends! Everyone has been so wonderful! Thank you everyone!

Visitors

2009-06-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mom, Clara and the kids came to visit Shelby! It was so much fun, the hospital gave the kids some different medical supplies to play with so that they could better understand what they do to Shelby. And of course Grandma got her fair share of cuddling in!

Big Girl Bed

2009-06-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Yep she graduated today Doesn't she look so tiny in her new big girl bed!

First Bath and Grandpa Time

2009-06-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

It was so peaceful... so much so that Grandpa even fell asleep and was snoring like a bobcat!

She didn't really enjoy the first bath, she even got mad enough to pooh! I'm glad I'm not a nurse!

She was so mad at us but after words fell right asleep!

Moving...

2009-06-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

Shelby was moved out of the PICU for the first time on Friday. This is her new room and it's huge, she even has her own bathroom! (which is nice for me!) And we can use cell phones here because there is no life support equipment in the Children's Surgical Unit.

Pretty baby!

Don't you love that face! This is her new toy that we bought her, I love giraffes and he even plays music!

Tummy Time

2009-06-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

I know these ones she's not on her tummy but aren't they just cute pictures, she's so pretty!

This is the first time Shelby was ever put on her tummy and she did lift her head a little. They are some pretty good shots of her extra hygroma skin.

Happy 1 month!

2009-05-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

The hospital is great at being really involved and knowing what's going on, they made Shelby a poster and give her gifts and everything.

For most of her short life Shelby has had a hard time opening her eyes because of the swelling and things like that but she has definitely started to get better!

Looking around, so cute! And her pretty birthday bow is adorable!

She was finally ex ta-bated successfully on Monday and so Travis was able to hold her before her left! She already got him wrapped around her little finger!

Travis took this, it's a little blurry, but her tried! j/k

Recent Fashions of Shelby

2009-05-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

The only "clothes" Shelby has are her blankets and her bows so we kind of go all out on them!
The birthday bow made by Jamie at bowlicious!

Purple to match her blankie!

Pretty in pink, my favorite bow also given to Shelby by Jamie!

Hawaiian day!

Update (3 weeks old tomorrow!)

2009-05-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

So this is Shelby with out any wires or tubes in her tummy, for the first time in her life! All the little red dots that you can see are where all of them were.

There is something wrong with her liver and the specialists can't figure out what that is so they are doing all different kinds of tests. They took her today to the Nucular Medicine department for a special liver test called a HYDA scan, anyways sense they took out all her wires and everything the past couple of days they only have one IV to put her meds in, but the dye they use for this scan couldn't be mixed with the meds so they had to put an IV in her head and I hate it! But if it helps them figure things out then I guess it's worth it.

Update...

2009-05-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

Ok so lets just start from the beginning... sorry it took so long to post but lets just say I've been busy. So just keep going down because I uploaded a lot of pictures!
Me before c-section and huge!
Shelby right after, they thought she wouldn't be able to breath by herself but she proved them wrong, as she has continued to do.

This is her pretty face, and when I tell people that she was very swollen I don't think they ever really bleive how much but her's my proof, she looks like she was beaten (she wasn't) but just compare this picture to the last one of her on her and the difference is amazing!

This is her hygroma, in utero it was pretty much a bubble of extra fluid about twice the size of her head but at about 30 weeks is just deflated and no they don't know why or how just like everything else about her.

Her legs and arms were huge, I don't even think the pictures do her justice!

2009-05-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Very swollen!

Big baby, she weighed 8lbs and 4 onuces when she was born but has sense dropped signifigantly because it was all water weight as you can see.

Ok so this is my all time favorite so far... this is my family!

They had to life flight her to Primary Childern's even though it's pretty much just down this long hallway but whatever, they thankfully mad a pit stop so I could see her for the first time!

2009-05-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

This is the day of her baby blessing.

She looks so pretty for every body!

Uncle Ransom, Terry Attkisson, Travis (of course), and Mark Love were in the circle.

2009-05-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite days! We were able to hold her for 2 days total so far but are soon hoping for more!

So sweet!

So sense her toung is swollen she can't put it all the way in her mouth most of the time, so it drys out so we get to use these little wet spunges to clean and mouisterise it, she actually loves this!

This is Great Grandma LaVon, who Shelby is named after holding her, which she did for like 3 hours, can you say baby hogger!

2009-05-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know what an attractive picture of your truly, but who cares it's not really about me is it?! Anyways this is the day before they int abated her and one of the only days we could hold her.

Cute baby! Cute bow, thanks to Shelby's favorite "baby tender" Carolyn! You can see her hygroma in this picture, it kind of just goes up and down along with all her other swelling

This is her right after open heart surgery, she has 3 chest tubes which are what are draining onto the floor into those bucket things. She has 3 heart lines that go directly into her right upper chamber of her heart and that's where all her medicine goes. She also has a PD Cath which drains the extra fluid by her kidneys and of course a catheter. And her pretty Christmas tree of meds to the left and the vent to the right.

I just love her little life vest! But this is her right after surgery.

2009-05-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is right after they closed her chest. Her teddy is helping hold up her tubes and she likes to hold things so I gave her a little tube to hold, so cute!

This is one of my favorite pictures, isn't she so cute! She's actually being punished in this picture because she kept pulling on her breathing tube which she did pull out once, so they put a mitten on her. Her other had has her ART line in it which is where they draw blood and keep check on her blood pressure.

So this is her on high flow which worked for about 18 hours but she was working so hard to breath that they were affraid that she would get tired and stop, so they put her on C PAP.

This is C PAP, it's one step down from the ventlator. Don't you just love her little hat!

This is Shelby after they took out her 3 heart lines, so the black dots are from those and where her chest tubes were. The blue lines are her pacers, so in case her heart stops beating they can "jump start" her! But they actually took those out today but sorry no picture of that yet. That's also one of her many binkies but sense her toung is swollen they don't really stay in so they just sit there kind of but she likes it, so who cares! I will try to up date more but honestly I'm pretty busy.

Shelby Lavon Attkisson

2009-03-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

So I realized that besides my family and some friends that I've happened to talked to recently no one really knows what is going on with our baby girl and honestly I've been putting off saying anything but seeing as how I'm 32 weeks along and will soon hopefully have a baby, that it's probably time to share with everyone.
When Travis and I went to our 20 week appointment thinking we were going to find out the sex of the baby we actually discovered much more, and they couldn't actually see what sex she was, lets just say she's modest! They saw some abnormalities, some kind of growth on her neck and way too much fluid, I mean like 12 cm too much in the placenta. At the time all the Doctor said was that they thought it was probably Turner's Syndrome, which they said was a chromosome disorder that usually affects women and that to find out more we would have to see a specialist that flies in from Salt Lake to the Idaho Falls hospital once a week and that he was probably want to do an amniocentesis (where they stick a huge needle in my stomach and into the placenta to get the baby's DNA). Well the next week was Christmas so we actually had to wait until December 30th to see him. He also thought it was Turner's but because of the severe conditions Shelby was in he recommended waiting on the amnio because she would probably be dead very soon, and yes he did tell us that. So we made an appointment to see him the next week... well she was still alive so we did the amnio and let me tell you I hated it. We had to wait ten days to get the results and they weren't good, she had Turner's and it was also as bad as the syndrome can get....
So brief explanation, Turner's is a chromosome disorder only affecting the x chromosome, in Shelby's case it means that she has all the right chromosome pairs except for having two Xs she only has one.
... So from then on we had appointments with the specialist every week and every week we were told that she wasn't going to make it. Well eventually they gave into the idea of her actually surviving and told us that if she did it would have to a c-section in Salt Lake at Primary Children's and that I would need to move down there about a month before the actual day of delivery.
By the way the growths on her neck are called cystic hygromas which are caused by problem in the lymphatic system, they can sometimes be removed but are likely to just grow back. Because of the complications in the lymphatic system she is also swollen every where, which I think makes her look even cuter than any other baby! Mean while they also noticed problems with her heart so they sent us to a heart specialist in Salt Lake, he discovered a few problems in her heart which will have have to be operated on but they think they can fix it. But I have appointments with him every 3 weeks and with the OB which I just met this week, which even then they were sure to inform me that Shelby will most likely not make it.
So sorry it's so long but there's really no way to shorten it but that's what is going on. I have faith that whatever happens was meant to happen and I know that no matter what I will be able to raise her some day. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to have such a special baby, no matter how long I get to keep her.
This picture was taken two days ago it is a 3D picture of her face if you couldn't tell but I think she hates doctors, she never cooperates with them. This time they were just trying to take a picture of her face for me but as you can see it looks like she has 3 lips but really the middle on is her tongue which was out the whole time and which she kept using to lick her hand... so the picture is know of distorted because her hand was in the way the whole time and because our scanner I don't think is of the highest quality. But enjoy the love of our lives and the cutest baby ever!

Famliy Fun!

2009-01-27T16:43:00.001-08:00

I'm sorry it's been so long sense I've updated but I've been distracted. I still wanted to share some of the pictures I got when some of my family came to visit us the beginning of January... my mom, Aaron, Jessie, and Brooke came up to visit! We had so much fun!

Luckily it was just in time to celebrate my mom's 29th birthday again which I think we've been doing for 20 or so years! I made her a lemon cake with lemon frosting and we had lemon custard with it (yummy)!

And if you can't tell Brooklyn is like the cutest baby ever! We didn't have any toys so she played with an old remote, a new toothbrush and the box for the toothbrush the whole time and she was just perfect!

We took them to Big Jud's which is a local burger joint where they serve 1 lb hamburgers and if you eat on you get your picture on the wall... and of course Aaron just had to get his picture up there!
Before...

After...

I think next time he comes he should try the double because even after finishing that he ate his fries and a waffle come!

We had so much fun! And were so happy to have them come and visit, it can get very lonely in Idaho!

Merry Christmas...

2008-12-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

We just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all our wonderful family and friends! Thank you so much to everyone for being so great to us! We are blessed to have the nicest families ever! Who are so generous, kind and loving! It is wonderful to have every one's support through this time in our lives! I want everyone to know that we both see our up coming challenges only as unattained blessings and can not wait to receive the greatest blessing of all, parenthood! Thank you everyone for everything! WE LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday to Me...

2008-12-20T11:51:00.001-08:00

It's my birthday! I'm officially 23 years old as of 6:11 AM this morning! Travis and I stayed up until midnight and opened presents and had cake (cheese cake actually!) And then this morning he made me breakfast in bed! My mom called to wish me happy a birthday and asked if I had gotten my package yet, I hadn't, but about 5 minutes after we hung up it arrived! Filled with wonderful goodies! About 5 minutes after that the flowers from my parents and my sister and her family arrived! Thank you so much everyone I love everything! I also got the cutest calender with all my nieces and nephews on it, it's adorable! Also not pictures are two other movies my parents got me, Wallie and Kung Fu Panda, I love cartoons and musicals (Kiss Me Kate and White Christmas are pictured), my mom knows me well! Travis's parents also got me cartoons and sense I think we're having a girl it's great to have more princess movies (Sleeping Beauty)! Travis got me the first 3 seasons of Gilmore Girls, every girls favorite show! And as you can see the baby got lots of wonderful things too (I think giraffes are the cutest things ever!) I LOVE Dr Seuss too! THANK YOU everyone! It has been a wonderful birthday!

My Funny Hubby...

2008-12-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

So I was doing the laundry and asked Travis to fold a load... well the next thing I know he has dumped the basket on himself and was cuddling with the warm clothes! What a dork but isn't he just cute!

My Bedroom

2008-12-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

So my mom really wants to see the rest of my apartment so here it is... no judging!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-11T11:37:00.000-08:00

So we're totally getting excited for Christmas (and my birthday!), so we invited our friends over and we made cupcakes! I have this amazing cook book called Hello Cupcake and it have the cutest things in it! So we made gingerbread men...

This is Jenni's and Kathleen's...

This is Casey and Kristen's (Casey drew on it and we decided it kind of looks like a monster not a gingerbread man)

This is Travis and mine, so cute!

Our Apartment

2008-11-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

So my mom has been wanting to see what our apartment looks like and I always forget the camera when I see her so I decided I would just post the pictures on here and then I can delete the pics off our camera... so here it is....

So I know it's a lot of pictures but our place is odd shaped and I couldn't get it all in 1 picture. I just like the flowers in the pictures so I had to show you!

This is Travis's favorite so I had to put it in... well this and the computer!

Our picture wall...

This is kind of the biggest view I could get of the living room...

I really wish we could paint the walls, it's kind of washed out!

I'm Pregnant!

2008-10-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

So I have spent the last hour trying to get my scanner to work or to get a video uploaded and lets just say I can't do it anymore! I wanted to tell every body in a creative way but I guess I'm just not cleaver enough to figure out our new computer!

Anyways, I'm pregnant! 13 weeks exactly or at least I think it's really hard to keep track of that well at least for me! So far it's been ok, ok meaning I think everything stinks and makes me nausea! But I've been told that that will go away soon, I'm definitely crossing my fingers!

As for do we want a boy or a girl... I honestly don't care but Travis has been pushing for a boy for the past 3 months! Although he told me yesterday that he had a dream with a lot of little girls in it just running around and playing and just being girls and that it kind of made him want a girl! So now he doesn't really care either!

Well I just thought that it was time to tell everyone and I want you all to know that I am extremely happy and excited! Of course I'm a little scared too but we just don't talk about that!

My Quirks

2008-10-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Kaylin

"Every man has his own quirks and twists" Harriet Beecher Stowe
1.I am a clean freak, neat freak and organizational freak! It makes me feel bad for Travis but I just have to have everything the right way(which means my way!) or it drives me crazy! Like for example dusting a dresser, first I must remove everything from the dresser then spray it with that good wood protecting dust remover and then I must dust every single item that was on the dresser by it's self and then I place everything exactly back where it came from. Remember this doesn't just go for dressers this is for everything, needless to say Travis leaves most cleaning to me! I think I have OCD!

2. I love decorating! Everything just has to be moved around until it's in the right order and the right spot so it looks perfect... well at least to me! I love decorating for each holiday! What can I say I'm festive!

3. I love peanut butter toast! It is just amazing! I have in the past week gone through 1 whole loaf of bread just for peanut butter toast! I love it!

4. I too absolutely adore musicals and old movies... they have to be one of my favorite things in the world, another one of my quirks that I'm sure Travis doesn't enjoy! Some of my favorites have to My Fiar Lady, Singing in the Rain, Robin and the Seven Hoods, Can Can, and I could pretty much go on forever!

5. I love to collect movies! If anyone has ever been to my apartment I think that it's apparent! I just love watching movies but I am very picky about the movies I want to own, no movies that I wouldn't want my future children to see, not meaning when they are 3 or something but I mean when they are 13 or whatever I would be comfortable sitting down and watching these movies with them.
6. I love music! I like to have it on all the time, no matter what I'm doing, cleaning, palying a game, anything! Music is wonderful and I enjoy most any kind as well!
I Tag: Clara and Alicia
Rules: Mention rules on your blog. Tell 6 quirks about yourself. Tag fellow bloggers to do the same. Leave a comment to let them know.

Lake Powell II

2008-09-30T15:24:00.001-07:00

So we went to Lake Powell twice this year... what can I say we are blessed!

This is my dad's new boat... as you can see it's wonderful and bigger than his full size truck! It didn't even break down once... if you knew anything about our old boat you would understand that that's a major improvement!

One of the days we were there it rained and we were driving down some of the beautiful canyons and there were little rainfalls every where it was gorgeous!

Just hanging out with the cousins in the new boat tubing and doing all that kind of stuff!

It's always fun to watch the little kids go tubing... so many screams!

We had a great time and can't wait until next year!

Summer Fun!

2008-09-30T15:11:00.001-07:00

So we, meaning Travis and I, Casey and Kristin, Kathleen and Jack, Jenni, decided to go floating down the Snake river! Our plan was to end up at Beaverdick Park. It was so much fun, a little cold but you know you get used to it!

Well before we got started floating we saw a bridge, and you know me, I decided to jump but before doing so I convinced my friends to do it too! But only some of them were stupid enough to do it too...

This is Kristin and I before and after we jumped, it was actually pretty far down there! But we had a lot of fun!

This is Casey and Jack jumping!

The day was a lot of fun, I mean how could it not be if it included a park named Beaverdick!

Our Trip to Montana

2008-09-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

Our niece Dani's birthday was in August and we went to go visit, we had a great time. Cory and Bri taught us how to play spades which is a very fun game and I have to say that Bri and I kicked the boys butts every time! Girls rock! Dani definitely does, she is so cute and sweet, we just loved her! Austin is so funny, he's so ready for potty training because every time he has to go he runs up stairs to the hall closet and shuts the door, we got a picture, he wasn't very happy with us! Bri made these amazing cupcakes for the BBQ, she's really good in the kitchen! We had a great time and hope to go again soon!

We also visited the Army Base where my Grandpa and Uncle rest. We toured the base and got to see the house my Grandma lived in when she had my mom. My Grandpa was a Major so they lived on officer row it was gorgeous! We went and saw my Aunt Sandie and my cousin's Craig's wife Wanda and their children Kelly and Sam. It was so much fun to see everyone and to the see where part of my family came from and the history there.

Lake Powell

2008-08-19T09:19:00.001-07:00

So the Lake was awesome this year... just a little different than most... my parents boat broke so my dad, John (Clarar's husband) and Terron (Amanda's husband) were gone for 2 days trying to get it fixed but to no avail!

We still had a wonderful time and found plenty of things to keep us busy... going tubing on Uncle Ransom's boat, cliff jumping and playing with the kids.

When we went cliff jumping it took Travis and I forever to actually do it, yeah I know I'm a baby, it's just funny that we used to do it all the time and I was fine but now it scares the crap out of me... I guess this proves that you really do get smarter with age! You know what else happens with age... pain... tubing has never hurt so much, it's a good thing we only had one boat or I think I would be dead! Don't get me wrong tubing is my favortie but it's just a little more painful than it used to be! It was great for Travis and I to see the kids, I've missed them so much! Lin was kind of a brat, but hey she's 6 what do you expect, she's still cute as ever! Abbie was terried to go into the water by herself for the sole reason that she knew that whether she could see them or not there were fish in there, it was adorable... she's such a girl! Jake was great, I love that age when they just love you and believe everything you say!

One example would be playing a magic trick on him and telling him the penny wasn't behind his ear but in his belly button... it was great! Oh and watching them eat was a whole other thing!

We fed Issac licurash for the first time...he loved it! And Jake just loves spaggetti so much that he rubbed it all over his body and anyone who would let him touch them... which was only grandma! All in all we all had a great time and can't wait to go again!

And I just found out that we are going again Labor day weekend because my parents got a bigger better boat! So you will soon be getting another Lake Powell update, I know you're just so excited you might pee your pants but just wait for it!

2008-08-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

I have been asked/tagged to share a little bit more about myself and my hubby! So if you don't want to know stop reading but if you're in for the long haul, enjoy!
First there is one about Travis mostly and just a little of me mixed in...
1. What is his name? Travis William Attkisson
2. Who eats more? Well by the looks of us you would think me but no Travis is a little piggy!
3. Who said "I love you" first? He did, we were lying (don't hate me mom!) together on a couch and he whispered it in my ear.
4. Who is taller? Him of course and he won't let me forget it, although with some of my heels I almost close the 5'' gap.
5. Who is smarter? Well that's a hard question because I think Travis and I are complete opposites when it comes to our education and "street smarts". Here's how I'll put it Travis is a square and I'm a circle, in more way than one but for this purpose I mean that Travis is one of the smartest people I know when it comes to all things technical things, Math, History, English. He's like a genius! And I'm round in the sense that I'm smarter in other things but I'm ok in the things Travis excels at. Sorry if that was too complicated!
6. Who is more sensitive? Travis is very sensitive to me and my feelings and it's great!
7. Who does the laundry? We usually take turns.
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.
9. Who pays the bills? I do, only because I'm at work all day and have access to the Internet and I used to work at our Credit Union so I know a few more things about them.
10. Who cooks more? I do, but once and while Travis does and it's great, yesterday I came home form work and he had the kitchen blocked off so I couldn't see anything not even him and he made me sit in the living room until finally he stuck his hand through the doors and pulled me through... he was all dressed up just like a waiter even with the white towel draped over one arm and he took me to my seat were he served me sour cream enchiladas (my favorite) which he's never made before, they were wonderful and french bread and a glass of apple juice and there were candles lite and everything, it was adorable! He's great!
11. What meals do you cook together? Not many because we're usually never home at the same time so who ever gets home first usually makes something.
12. Who is more stubborn? Me of course, I'm working on it though!
13. Who is the first to admit they were wrong? Now that's a hard question, I would say that it's 50/50 most of the time.
14. Who has more siblings? Both have the same
15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Travis, I prefer shorts!
16. What do you like to do together? Read, most nights you can find us either sitting on the couches or in bed both reading our books.
17. Who eats more sweets? That would be me but when it's something Travis likes he definitely beats me!
18. Guilty pleasures? For me obviously it's eating, I'm working on it! For Travis I think it would be computer games and candy.
19. How did you meet? Well we've lived a block away from each other sense I was 13 I think, that and we were both best buds with Casey Whitmill and then we got to know each other and Travis and I became really good friends.
20. Who asked who out first? Travis, it took him awhile, say a few years of having a little crush before he went any where with it but rather late than not at all, right?!
21. Who kissed who first? Oh Travis did and he hates this story but it's so funny... he's sitting on the couch and I'm laying with my head on a pillow on his lap and all of a sudden he starts slowly inching down, like slouching until after about the whole duration of the movie we were watching his head was next to mine... yes I know what you're thinking, but he's just so cute that I gave in and let him kiss me, I mean come on I'd been waiting for him to try for almost 2 hours, he definitely put in the time!
22. Who proposed? Travis did, he took my to the Denver Temple and read me a poem he wrote me about what our life would be like together and then got down on one knee.
23. His best features? Do we mean physically or personality... Well his smile is amazing and his eyes are beautiful and yes I am a fan of his freckles!
24. What is his greatest quality? I can't pick one so you'll have to just hear them all! He is one the kindest people I know, he never thinks ill of anyone, he is responsible, he loves the Gospel, he served this church for two years in a very difficult mission and came home with flying colors... he never faltered and that says a lot about his character. I respect him, I admire him, I love him more and more every day, he makes me a better person, on my best day I am only half of what he is every day! If you didn't get the point I am the luckiest person in the world!

NOW FOR ME...
Four Places I've lived...
1. Rexburg, ID
2. Longmont, CO
3. El Paso, TX
4. Cereta, AZ

Four Favorite Books... (at the moment because it changes every time I read something new)
1. Twilight series
2. Harry Potter series
3. Stand for Something by Gordon B. Hinckley (it's awesome!)
4. The Host

Four Favorite Movies (now this is probably the hardest question because if you know me you know I like a lot of movies and I don't have any favorites but I'll try...)
1. Newies
2. Singing in the Rain
3. My Fair Lady
4. An Affair to Remember

Four Embarrassing Facts
1. I care way too much what other people think! It drives me crazy!
2. I'm not reaching my full potential physically, I know almost everything about health but I just don't apply it to my own life and how can I make a profession of helping others with the same problems I can't solve!
3. I don't do all I can do for the church, with the knowledge I have there no excuse for not doing everything that is asked of me.
4. Sometimes I'm not the best wife and this is the biggest problem I have, I can be more understanding and more patient and more loving always.

Four Dreams
1. Serve a mission with Travis
2. Get my bachlors
3. Be a mom
4. Be a tool in the Lord's hands in the lives of everyone I encounter

Four Pet Peeves
1. Close minded people
2. Some may think this contradicts #1 but it does not, a resent addition to my pet peeves would be those members of the church that support homosexual marriage.
3. Popping knuckles
4. Having to do my hair, some days I really wish I was a boy!

Four Things that Make me Happy
1. Knowing that I will be with Travis for the rest of eternity!
2. School, I like knowing that I'm better perparing myself for the rest of life and the eternities and my family
3. My family (all of them), they are great and I look forward to every minute I get to be with them.
4. The Gospel, who doesn't it make happy!

Four People to tag...
1. Alicia
2. Kathleen
3. Emily
4. Julie

Brooklynn Ann Love

2008-07-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

So I am officially an Aunt 5 times over... well if you count Austin and Danny then 7 times over! Aaron and Jessica just had their first on the 2nd! Travis and I drove down to Roy on the 3rd and watched the house and Mack while they were in the hospital. Brooklynn is absolutely adorable! She likes to suck her thumb but she scratches herself so she has to wear these little mittens which are just adorable! She is priceless!

The Wedding...

2008-06-30T10:34:00.001-07:00

Mesa Falls

2008-06-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

This place is about an hour North of Rexburg and it is absolutely gorgeous! We went on Saturday and we all brought food so we had ourselves a little picnic! Then Casey, Kristen, Travis and I hiked down this crazy steep dirt trail to play in the river. So then of course the boys decided that they just had to dam the river... Kristen and I still don't fully understand why, but whatever... I'm a nice wife so I tried to help?! Needless to say we did not succeed but we did manage to obtain quite a few mosquito bites, which have helped in prolonging the wonderful experience! It was really fun though, it's amazing to see what Heavenly Father made in all it's glory

Big Jud's

2008-06-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

So you know what the best food in the world is... the stuff that's as big as your head!

Rexburg may be tiny and surrounded by potatoes but man does it have some good food!

Rigby Lake

2008-06-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

A lot of people, my brother Aaron for instance, think that there isn't anything in Idaho besides "potato, potato, potato" but trust me we find plenty of things to keep us occupied besides the abundance of a certain vegetable...

The Beatles Tribute

2008-06-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

So the other weekend Travis and I and Jack and Kathleen and Casey and Kristen went to the Beatles Tribute... well we were too cheap to get in so we watched from affar! We took blankets and sat on the grassy field next to the staduim, it was wonderful! LOVE THE BEATLES!