DeGraw Squared

I can't believe i forgot!!!!!

2012-02-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

How did I just skip a post about my grandma, Ileane Pearson??????

I'm sure everyone has heard by now But my mom's mother passed away in Oct. I promise that soon I will do a detailed post about our crazy Oct Month, her health, and the cleaning of the ranch house!

wow

2012-02-03T18:32:00.001-08:00

i am sorry its been SOOOO long.... things got a bit crazy!

Did I tell you guys I went back to school in october? Im in massage theropy school full time and graduate in may. It takes up a good part of my week. Mon-thurs from 9-530 and sat mornings from 730 -130... Its ALOT of information to take in all at once and I am trying so hard to be dedicated to it.

To make my life even more stressful I got a job! My old company that I was planning weddings for, doing floral, and selling wedding gowns called me on christmas eve and asked me to come back as their full time florist. So between being a mom, wife, full time student and florist life is pretty crazy!!

So here is our christmas! Milo had fun and got spoiled... We woke up and went to my parents house to open presents first. Course I took my camera but took no pics. then i left it on the couch and didnt get any good photos at the degraw house. So after my parents we went back to our house and opened more presents with jareds family.

He has started to close his eyes during the flash so I have alot of closed eyes pictures.

grandpa and milo in their santa hats

jared got a tamahawk.... i dont know it was on his amazon wish list. chad bought it for him

I got a kindle touch from my in-laws!

Family Photo Time!

2011-11-30T19:02:00.001-08:00

Yeah so we got our family photos back! Our amazing photographer is Brittany Busk. If you need a photographer in vegas she is your woman!

halloween

2011-11-27T18:15:00.001-08:00

Ok so im WAY behind...

I was so excited to make milo this costume...

I had it all done and he would NOT wear it. He hates thinks in his face on on his head so everytime i put it on he would rip it off. I couldn even take a pic of it he was so fast... so round 2 on milos costume

He was a magician! And i became his assistant. course I don't have a pic of me... I found his cute tux onsie at target and made him a cape out of a pillow case. Then i made him a hat with a rabbit in it!

9 months

2011-11-27T18:00:00.001-08:00

Milo is already 9 months!

He is 19.5 lbs and 28 inchs

He sits in a big boy car seat now but its still facing backwards.

He gives kisses
He can wave hi & by

He bonks heads with people.

He claps hands.

He is SOOOO close to walking!

He crawls like a spider.

He is still just the most happy baby ever.

He still has no teeth...

He is so skinny but eats as much as anyone in this house.

He takes baths in the big tub now

His hair only grows in the middle and gives him a natural Mohawk

He will climb over ANYTHING if its in his way.

He flirts with everyone.

I am in nursery so he goes with me and will push the big kids over just like they do to each other.

Now he knows how to climb stairs so we have to watch him like a hawk

He has pulled my chest of drawers apart...

He has destroyed my computer cord

But he is still just the cutest thing ever!

I know im soooo behind...

2011-11-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

i was going to update this week but i have a HUGE test to study for this week so next week... My camera cord has been lost so i havent been able to upload my photos till recently... so till next weekend!

The Funeral

2011-09-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

So this morning was the funeral for our dear friend Bryce Turner. It was quite the event... Leave it to Bryce to go out with a bang! There were at least 400 people there.... Just imagine the stake center gym full for conference and thats how many people were there... and never seen at a funeral... there was a candy buffet (like at weddings). See ginger (Bryce's mom) and Amiee (his fiance) were looking at all the wedding stuff and Amiee said that Bryce would want everyone to take away something sweet... So we did... looking back there was not a day that Bryce was without some kind of gum or candy... like ever... So this was very fitting!

First his youngest brother, Brad sang Amazing Grace. He did really good at holding it together till the last few lines... I think it was about then that everyone started breaking down. His Uncle shared some stories of when he was younger and events that made him the man he is. He also shared Facebook messages from some friends... in other words, some of their storied of Bryce. Then Amiee played a melody of hymns on the Harp... It was beautiful! That woman is seriously talented... Be for she played she wanted to say a few wards. She told us that in the beginning she wanted nothing to do with Bryce... of course what Bryce wants, Bryce gets... at least thats how he sees things. She said he asked her to be his girlfriend 3 times and every time she said no. So he just started telling his friends/roommates they were dating and then later informed her they were dating... ready or not....

After Amiee, Ginger said a few words. I was amazed at how well she held it together. I can't even keep my cool that well when sharing my testimony... Ginger and I have always been pretty close ever since she was my young woman's leader. I have looked up to her as a great woman... Now even more as a wife and a mother... I couldn't imagine losing my son... or my husband. I guess thats why we have the atonement. We don't have to be separated from the ones we love for very long.

Ginger and Bryce

Its been a hard week and now we can start to find peace in things. When mark, Bryce's father, spoke at the end he said that this week has been hard but others have been through worse. We count our blessings and move on but always remember the impression that Bryce has left in our lives... Amiee asked that we do one thing and that was live and love like Bryce would... Its true that if we all loved like Bryce we would have a much happier world.

I thank my father in Heaven for every day I have to be with my family... Even though some days are harder then others. Its unfortunate that death makes you appreciate the things you have, but I guess we need that reminder once in a while.

#56 Big B

I just wanted to share a few of my memories with Bryce...
*Bryce always winked at me when ever he saw me...He had a way with the Ladies!
*Senior year I was looking at homecoming pictures with Ginger and Bryce sat down and wanted to know everything about my current relationship... Even if my BF was a good kisser lol... Bryce was such a lover!
*He always thought she was boss when it came to church basketball... and HS football...
*When it came to school spirit he was always the first one to ditch the shirt and paint his body purple.
*Bryce was also a huge baby. He cried and spoke in high pitch every time he was overcome by the spirit.
*Did a few shooting outings with him.
*When he came home from his mission he went through all of his music and took out the cds that had foul language... and then took them to the desert and shot them!

Brittany Tuke and I were best friends for 15 years. The tuke family has always been close with the Turners... Unfortunately she is currently on a mission in New York and missed out on this experience.

Brittany and Bryce... Brother and Sister for eternity!

Bryce and Amiee... Love is eternal!

15 things that change when u have a baby

2011-09-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

So i found this list and it is so not true for me! (and im doing this with one hand cause milo is asleep on the other)

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

4. You respect your body ... finally. nope... i wish i had my old figure back... and i wish my wedding ring could fit. i already believed in my mad baby making skills

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way. no not really... but we wont talk about those changes

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child. maybe i will when he is a little older

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago. no. i lost tuch with people when i got married... baby didnt change that

9. Your heart breaks much more easily. nope

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

11. Every day is a surprise. ok you thats partly right

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!) ok this is true for jared... he is no longer afraid of puke

13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself. only because i cant stand my body at this point

14. You become a morning person. oh i will never go back to being a morning person

15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.

does this make me a terrible person or just a prepared parent.... i have always said i am not the typical first time parent!!

lots of feelings this week

2011-09-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on posts (milo's 7 month, bryce) but I will catch up... This week has been hard and frustrating...

DISCLAIMER!!!!
I told you all before and I'm going to say it again.... If you don't like what you read on my blog or facebook then STOP READING IT! Your not going to hurt my feelings.... I do not sugar coat things, I will continue to tell my life story as it flows... Some months are just better then others and i write it ALL down for me, my husband, and my children so we have a record of our life... I love that others read it too though. It shows that you support us so read on.... or don't... your choice....

So a lot has happened lately... Just to mention a few... death, fraud, growth, sickness, tv, blood, welfare, CTR, missionaries...

DEATH - If you haven't heard yet, Bryce Turner died this last friday. He was found in his apartment in Idaho Friday morning. Back story is that He came home early from his mission because of a back injury. word for word from his familly...

As some may know Bryce had a herniated disc in his lower back that neurosurgeons felt was best treated medically to avoid problems of surgery in one so young as our Bryce. With a recent exacerbation of his pain he received new medications each of which carried the side effect of respiratory depression (compromised breathing). The investigation concluded that the combined effects of these medications with the position in which he went to sleep resulted in a progressive slowing of his breathing until he finally quit breathing all together and slipped peacefully and without pain into the eternities. Again our deepest appreciation for those who seek to help heal our most tender feelings at this time.
Sincerely,
The Turner & Vera family

Its unfortunate... Bryce was a great guy and only 24. He was going to be married in the next few weeks too... Our prayers go out to his family and beautiful fiance. The service is Sat, Sept 24th at 10am at the Robindale chapel If anyone would like to go.
... and to top it off I have already watched 2 shows this week that had funeral episodes...

Bryce and his beautiful fiance Amiee

The Turner family

FRAUD - Friday morning jared and I woke up to find that someone had hacked into my itunes account and purchased $60 worth of games for an iphone or ipad... 2 things we do not own.... so I have been back and forth all weekend with itunes and paypal... after being told that itunes had canceled that transaction, thismorning the bank authorized payment... so today i spent an hour arguing with the fraud department at wellsfargo... This lady accused me of trying to commit fraud as well as my inlaws cause I wouldn't give her their names.... She kept saying that what i was trying to explain to her wasn't making since... then she wanted to know the names of all persons living in my house... i put my foot down... and she told me i was lying to her and bla bla bla... finally i just told her i wanted the claim processed without the information including my inlaws... wow I hate wells fargo... did i mention lately that I have lost hundreds of dollars in fees in the last 3 months to them because they are money grubbers??? Yeah as soon as this crap is resolved im going to a different bank...

GROWTH - Milo is 7 months old - 17 lbs and 27 1/2 inches long.... love this baby boy. he is just so dang cute. I'll do a full post about him later...

SICKNESS - My grandma Pearson was in the hospital again... Doctors are giving her 6 months... in other words, he body is finally recognizing how old she is and its shutting down. This time it was her lungs and they put her on heart meds cause she had a racing heartbeat. She would wake up in the middle of the night short of breath so now she is on oxygen too... also milo and I have both had colds this week and jared has a sore throat...

TV - Two and a half men and "how i met your mother" started last night! yay something new thats not reruns!

BLOOD - Now that milo is very mobile and crawling everywhere, he drew his first drop of blood... A nice gash on the side of his head... he hits his head a lot but lately he has been very dramatic about it... we use to could clap and he would forget about it... now he crys and yells with his face buried in the carpet.

WELFARE - well we already have unemployment checks for me, medicaid for milo and now we get food stamps! im not proud of it all but we are struggling bad... jared was suppose to get a big rais this month and that didnt happen... also my $160 a week from unemployment turned into $33 a week because i did the right thing and found a part time job last year... so i guess i just shot myself in the foot on that one. this last 2 years have been extremely painful for a self sufficient person...

CTR - back to the bank issues... yesterday i went to the atm and the lady in front of me left her card in the machine... so i grabbed it and took it inside to a teller. she thanked me for doing the right thing and returning it... i did this because its a no brainier and the right thing to do... brownie points for katelyn?... but a part of me couldn't help but dwell on the fact that this bank is stealing so much from me so why should i save them...

MISSIONARIES - And last but not least Caleb is home from his mission. i already posted about it. He has only been home for 5 days and he is already feeling useless... welcome to the world of unemployment. i would love to switch him though... he is unattached and could start any where... work or school or both... ok so i wouldnt switch... i love my boys too much.

Uncle Caleb is Home!

2011-09-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

So Jareds brother, Caleb came home from his mission on thursday. He has been serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the last 2 years in New Zealand.

So we met him at the airport and of course his plane was late.... That meant a lot of sitting around and drinking some good ol DP!

Corbin wanted to push him around all the time.

Then he finally arrived after flying for 20 hrs! Hugs all around! He also got to finally meet his 2 nephews Corbin and Milo... Milo just thinks he is the coolest cause he will sit and play with him on the floor for a long time... We asked caleb what he wanted for dinner and he said Taco Bell! Apparently there is no mexican food in New Zealand.

Look at lizas face lol

We are all glad to have him home!

holding back tears

2011-09-04T03:01:00.000-07:00

it's 3 am and i am staring at my budget wondering how we are going to make it through the month without draining our savings.... again...

Lord when will we find peace?

-the prayer of a young wife and mother

ABCs

2011-09-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

I have seen this around a few times... guess it's my turn!

{A} age :: 22

{B} bed size :: California king baby! i will never go back smaller.

{C} chore you hate :: the dishes. i would rather clean the whole house the ever do dishes.

{D} dogs :: nada

{e} essential start unto your day :: sleep... if mama's sleep is interrupted, it ain't guna be a good day

{f} favorite color :: purple usually

{g} gold or silver :: white gold please

{h} height :: 5'7"

{i} instruments you play :: use to play the piano. havent really in a few years though.

{j} job title :: for now its just mother and wife

{k} kids :: milo and he is a hand full

{l} live :: in vegas... one day i will get out!

{m} maiden name :: Reid

{n} nicknames :: kate, sissy

{o} overnight hospital stays :: never!!! lets hope it stays that way.

{p} pet peeve :: people who think they are better then everyone else. socks with sandals!

{q} quote :: its better to be hated for who you are then loved for who your not!

{r} righty or lefty :: right

{s} siblings :: 4 + 6 in-laws

{t} time you wake up ::if its milos choice, about 7:30 or 8... if its my choice....... noon.

{u} university attended :: none.. collage of southern nevada, penn foster career school, and as of october - nevada school of massage theropy.

{v} vegetables you dislike :: beats, eggplant, onions,

{w} what makes you run late :: my baby

{x} x-rays you’ve had :: teeth, back and neck.... now that one was interesting. i still wish i had those xrays

{y} yummy food :: italian

{z} zoo animal favorite :: i dono.... elephants, penguins

Baby in a Bucket

2011-08-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

My best friend was complaining about not having any pics of milo and i have been wanting to take some new ones. SO we found a bucket from our wedding and we played in it....

Growing and moving

2011-08-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

So Milo is 6 months old now! This boy is getting so big so fast. He is army crawling everywhere! He follows you around and if you dont pay attention to him, he will squeal at you... He is VERY vocal!

His sleeping habits are getting worse... I dont know what happened to my good sleeper but i'm getting less sleep now then i did when he was a newborn... That's just wrong!

He flirts and talks to everyone when we go out. He is more interested in your toys then his own. One of his favorite things to do is lay around and suck on a paper towel... Go figure!

He is becoming so much fun and such a lively baby. He is 16.5 lbs and 26.5 inches long. Hasn't grown much in size but he is growing. He is faster and more feisty.

milo and cousin corbin....i swear this kid never wears clothes when he is at grandmas house...

we celebrated his half birthday last sunday and made him a cake. this kid LOVES chocolate... the other day he found my half eaten Hershey wrapper and just attacked it. When the chocolate was all gone he threw the biggest fit i had ever seen.

this baby boy is deff our son!

Built up Frustration

2011-07-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

Pre warning all who read... I'm upset and ranting... I have nothing against education, the church, my previous employers, etc... This also may make no sense at all because it is a rant from my brain to my fingers... and is going to be obnoxiously long.... If you continue to read.... keep an open mind... and the crazy begins!
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ugg where do I start...

I was sick from wed to sat last week with a MASSIVE headache and a temp that topped at 103.9... It was LOADS of fun.... I think I stressed myself stiff and sick. My back and neck were out (and we all know I have the worst spine in the world) which brought on the headache, then I caught a bug that my little brother had and I think milo had it one day.... I just happen to keep it for several days because of the stress I am loaded with is kicking at me...

THe first day I got sick jared was also not feeling well... Our bishopric called and asked us to speak the fallowing week... guess what on... my current favorite topic.... Employment and education. I actually got really mad! I have never been mad or refused anything I have been asked to do in the church. I have always felt that it was for a purpose and I was called by god... But I just couldnt do this... So I called them back sat or sun I forget... I told him that I have been sick all week and if im going to give a talk i want to properly prepare... when I was a teen i could write a 3 min talk the night before but now that im expected to do a grownup talk i like to take my time.... And I left it at that.... He didnt need to know the whole story...

I know if i would have kept that take it would have come out very bitter on the stand and thats not the mood we should take to church. I REALLY REALLY dont want to give a talk on my BIGGEST trial in my life right now...

Now let me back up. For 2 weeks I have been interviewing with a company... 3 times... and I was told I would be called by friday... No one called. We all know what that means. So I called just to check and sure enough I didnt get it. That makes 37 interviews in the last year and 3 months... and who knows just how many applications i have filled out... im going to venture at least 500... I spend at least 2 hrs a day job hunting... and thats minimum.

So friday was my worst day. I broke down, hit a fever of 103.9... it was a bad day. I had a lot riding on that job... did I mention all three interviewers LOVED me and i was narrowed down to 1 of 4 people applying for 3 positions.... yeah slap in the face...

I have a very pretty, very expensive piece of paper that says I have an education but no one seems to care because across my resume is stamped the words FIRED and people cant get past that. All my education and all my work experience is crap...

So what, because I was fired does that mean im done in that industry? do I pick a new career? Which means more school. I hate school! I was lucky to make it through an associates... Is this a sign that I just need to stay home and take care of my family? If so that means many more months living with my in-laws... I really REALLY REALLY want my own place again... We can't survive on 1 income (I mean come on we had to move in with my in-laws!)... especially if jared starts school. so student loans? jared hasnt even taken the SATs yet. That has to happen before we can get accepted anywhere good. and school starts next month!!! Jared knows he needs to go to school for the career that he wants but I have asked him every week to go to the school office and fix his account, I have bought him an SAT book... There are just something I can't do for him.... LIKE GO TO SCHOOL or TAKE THE TEST... I feel like a nagging wife trying to get him to get this school stuff together....

I guess thats why i keep thinking that I need to have a job. Because I have the drive and potential to make more money then him??? I guess I dont really know what my thinking is.... Mostly because I feel like I'm at a dead end with many choices but yet no choices right? I wish I could draw a picture of what i see in my head....

I love my husband and my son. I want to be there for everything they need. I'm just torn on what that means. If I would be a better use in the home only or providing an income.

Of course someone is going to come back with a, "well maybe you should pray about it."..... Really? You thought that I haven't already come to the lord about this... like 500 times? I have bothered him so many times about it im getting to the point where I already know his answer... Patience... I hate that answer....

5 months and growing!

2011-07-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

My big boy is now 5 months old!!!

He weighs 16 lbs and is 26 1/2 inches long. What a big boy!

He has started to figure out the crawling thing. He will pull his knees under him and then throw his arms forward. It kind of looks like leap frog!

His favorite color is red... Yes my 5 month old already has a favorite color When you put several toys in front of him he pics the red one. A big red truck drives buy and he watches it till he cant see it anymore.... I need to find him a red blanket. He would LOVE that!

He loves music... Have i mentioned that already? He will be whining and then someone starts singing and he laughs and laughs! He is going to be a singer like his mommy and daddy.

He slept 10 hrs straight through the night 2 days ago. He has been not the best sleeper this last month but its getting better.

Love this boy!

Fiirst Foods

2011-07-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

Well I have tried to feed milo foods for a while now but he just doesnt get the swallowing idea. When we were visiting family this week he threw a fit that I would share my peaches one morning so i fed him a slice and he loved it. SO today i tried bananas and he actually ate quite a bit! My big boy is starting to eat! Where did my baby go....

i look awful but there hasn't been a pic of me on here in a while. mostly because im always behind the camera.

4th of july

2011-07-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

I didnt take many pics this year... im getting better at remembering now that i have a nice camera.

We hung out at the house and had some food, went swimming, had some friends over. Then at night we went and watched the GVR fieworks.

4th of july is also the anniversary of our first date so happy 3 years Babe!

Fathers day

2011-07-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

I know nothing is in order at the moment...

So for fathers day I bought jared and milo matching ties! Aren't my boys just so handsome? Milo also had a suit that finally fits that grandma janet bought him so he wore it and looked just like his daddy!

Family Reunion

2011-07-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

We are just traveling fools around here. Hopefully there wont be any more trips this summer.... unless im staying in a 4 star hotel and everything is free.... cause im 'tripped' out.

milo and I just got back from Humansville, MO.... yeah population just over 900. Lame I know. Well we went there for the Pearson family reunion. it was mostly just the sisters and their kids.

It was also Milo's First plane Ride and he was amazing!!

Grandma Pearson

There were baby kittens, bunnies, and puppies EVERYWHERE!

Milo had fun but also got beat up all weekend... first he got a little too much sun the first day cause we forgot sunscreen. then Quinny... well she gave him 2 good bruises on his head but we wont tell you HOW. And he also ended up with a couple scratches on his toe and his ear... poor baby but he had lost of fun!

Celestia (left)

Aunt Kay

Celestia's baby girl

Mandy. recently married and now expecting the same week in September as her birthday!

aunt Kay had her 60th birthday this year so we had to celebrate her! we also did a party for Aunt Ruth.

Rosie and Aunt Helen. Roselie Looks great. She just 30 lost lbs!!

Vanessa and her 1 year old, Emm. she is also expecting her second Girl in September.

Regan, Rowdy, Aunt Dona, Aunt Jelean, mom, Aunt Beth, Grandma

Salt Lake

2011-07-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

So we went to Salt Lake this last week for one of Jared's Missionary companion's wedding. We took Quinny with us to watch Milo while we were in the sealing. I had fun testing out my new camera in a different place.

its a real Liger!!!

random shot. i was messing with the settings

I love my zoom!

temple doors

Elder DeGraw and Elder Shunn


my eternal family

my big boy!

Mr and Mrs Craig and Breanna Shunn

Milo is 4 months old!

2011-06-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

My baby boy is growing too fast! He is the sweetest thing ever. Milo has now learned how to laugh. He will laugh at almost anything. He really starts to laugh when he hears someone else laughing.

He is 15 lbs and 25 1/2 inches long! one long baby boy with cute chubs on his legs!

I snapped this pic in the tub yesterday... he was actually really happy but this photo almost needs a caption... like... "mom put the camera away and lets get this over with."

He has recently found his toes!!

And he has a new love for toys!

Jared's B-Day

2011-06-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

We are playing blog catch up...

Jared turned 27 this june... i'm married to an old man. he is officially in his late 20's. he had to work on his bday so we had our family celebration on sunday. i got him an ice cream cake... cause this fam likes ice cream more then cake... and of course it had to have his fav thing printed on it... batman!

Happy birthday babe!

junk mail...

2011-06-17T18:48:00.000-07:00

So I got this email this morning... another "send it to 6 friends in the next 6 seconds" deal.. usually i glance over them and then delete them but this I had to share. So who can totally believe whats in these kind of emails but the story was that a young girl who had cancer wrote this and wanted everyone to hear it... yeah ok whatever... but this really is a good poem that makes you think...

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Do you run through each day

On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time

To call and say,'Hi'
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last..
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Don't waist time...

The "I'm Bored" list

2011-06-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

We all know that when summer break starts the kids get all excited to have free time and play... but we know it wont be too long till they utter those dreaded words.... I'm Bored!!!

So a lady in my stake, Chris Jenkins, mad a list with her 4 kids of 60 things to do this summer... and its got some good ones on it! Of course some are specific to vegas but you can get a good start on your own list by checking out theirs here...

So have fun and keep busy and cool in this hot summer!

No more school!

2011-05-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

Monday I graduated college!!!! It took me 4 years to get a 2 year degree but I finished! I got my Associates of Applied Sciences in Small Business Management! It was a windy day and they made us stand outside for an hour in it so my hair looks awfull. very sad! But it was a good experience and I'm glad I did it. My parents and inlaws came along with my Grandma Reid and of course my wonderful husband and baby boy!

There were over 2200 students that qualified for graduation this year... of course thats not who came! The oldest graduate was 79 and the youngest was 17!

creepy guy kept looking at me. thought it was funny that jared actually got a pic of him doing it lol!

Corbin's birthday and present

2011-05-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

So I finished it!!! I made Corbin, my nephew, a quiet book. Of course he only turned one so he really wont understand the book till he is 2 or so but it still turned out good! Milo's is exactly the same but its not done yet... cover still needs to be put on. I started out doing an ABC book but i ran out of ideas and time so I did an 8 page activity book instead. so here it is!!!

So Corbins Birthday was last sunday. We made dinner and had cake!

Here is the progression of his cake experience!!!

the cake!

mommy, corbin, and half of daddy's head...

We were all laughing so he was laughing too!

oh and the hat... its Lisa's from when she was a baby. every time someone tried to take it off him he got mad.

Happy Birthday little Corbin!

Milo is a big boy

2011-05-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

My baby is 3 months old now. Time has flown!! He is still just the best baby ever! He loves his mama and will cry out just to get your attention. He is now grabbing on to toys and loves his softy/monkey. He has found his lungs and now yells when he "talks." When he is laying on h is back he tries to do sit ups... I'm sure he will be sitting up on his own in no time. We bought him a bumbo chair the other day and he likes it. He still cant quite keep his head up by himself but he is working on it! He is a growing boy! We have upped up his bottles and spread out his feedings. This last week he got Thrush so i haven't been nursing him and he has mostly been on formula. Cause I let him nurse too long I am cracking and bleeding when I pump so I get blood in the bottles... So unfortunately my baby is on formula only right now. I just hope my milk stays long enough for him (and me) to get better.

He is just so dang cute though!!! He also sleept all night with out a feeding the other day for the first time. He has always been a pretty good sleeper but this time he actually went 8 1/2 hrs with out a feeding.

He is 13.5 lbs and 24 inches long... big boy!!!

cute video of milo talking to us!

2011-05-21T14:04:00.001-07:00

i know im a little behind and milo is 3monthsanda week now...hopfully our 3 month update will be upby sunday. baby has been sick so mommy has been very busy!

just a growen!

2011-05-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

Yep my baby boy is getting so big! yesterday we pulled out his "sassy seat" or "johnny jump up" and he loved it... even though he is still too small for it. he figured out how to turn in circles and was laughing. it was really funny.

is he lifting one eyebrow in this photo or is it just me? so cute! He has figured out to grab things now so we have broken out all the toys. when he cant reach things he pulls the blanket closer to get them.

and since this cute boy hardly ever cries it was rare that we got this way cute pic! oh I just love him!!!

Milos first Ranch trip

2011-05-10T22:48:00.000-07:00

Of course my traveling baby was so good! He got to meet his Great Grandma Pearson, go on a walk to the pond, play in the dirt, all the fun stuff little boys love!

our walk to the pond

When the snow melts it floods through the canyon and this year it whipped out the dam at our pond. So we decided to play down in the pond cause it was all sandy!

4 generations... w no makeup on... dont judge. we dont wear makeup at the ranch!

grandma and great grandma

OMG this quiet book is kicking my butt!

2011-04-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

I started out doing the Alphabet and then decided that it was toomany pages... even with 2 letters on each page... so now im just doing activities. I have found this a little less stressful... only like 2 weeks left to do this...

So here is my vent about job hunting. I inteviewed around 15 times while i was pregnant and i have been to 5 interviews in the last month and still NOTHING!!! All the jobs were here in vegas and im starting to think that that is half of the problem. We are not suppose to be here. there is nothing left in vegas for me. Plus it would bee good for us to be away from family for a while. We REALLY need to get to St George. The problem is that we can't survive on only one income... and its going to be hard to find 2 jobs at the same time in a fairly small town.... which means that we are going to have to go off of student loans... yuck but needed. I really think that this must be the hardest time of a persons life... unemployment, college, new baby, young marrige, no savings = one very stressed out wife and mama! I'm a planner and when I dont know where i am going next i FREAK OUT! Jared on the other hand is a "go with the flow" kind of person.... hince why he is in the same job and I have changed job so many times trying to get somewhere I can progress.

My baby boy is getting so big its crazy!
He is such a morning baby... and jared and i are NOT. He wakes up and smiles and talks to us the first hr. he is so cute! I tried to pull out the camera yesterday and vidoe him and the moment i put it in his face he quits acting cute.... little bugger! but i do have a few new pics.

my parents had an easter bbq/ swim party. quinny was trying to fit this little kid lifejacket. she broke off the zipper trying to get it on. i was even holding it together for her. Face it girl! you got boobs!!!

This day we took milo into my moms hair salon. 90% of the clientel there are over the age of 70... my grandparents have owned it for years and my mom use to work there before i was born. anyways milo ofcourse allways gets ambushed by the older people there. he was being so sweet and talking to all the people. everyone just thought he was the cutest baby ever... well he is!

milo by the pool... in a hoodie cause grandma thinks that its cold out...

see what i mean? even grandma was in longsleeves. u should see her at little leauge games at night. a sweater and 2 blankets at least!

my floor and mooving boy! look at those eyes!

That tounge comes out alot.... and i just love these jammies! so does Auntie Quinny!

2 Months Old

2011-04-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

So its amazing how much Milo has grown in the past month. Not physically but in his personality. Last night Milo fell asleep at like 10 and then woke up at 12. From 12 till 3 we laid in bed with all the lights out... while milo talked our ears off. We kept telling him to save his stories for in the morning but he just had to tell us in the middle of the night! Thats my baby!

He laughs and talks to us all day long!
He still loves being on is tummy.
Now he rolls from tummy to back AND back to tummy.
He holds his head up longer now.
He looks around more and is now recognizing is toys.

He likes Batman (or so his daddy would like). He wears his batman onsie more then any of his other clothes... maybe its because his dad has been dressing him in the mornings lately. So mommy found more batman onsies and bibs so he can have a variety of batman to wear.

He has also started to drual... A LOT... i didnt think this started till like month 3... my boy is a fast one thought! He likes to surprize us to... I think it will always be that way!

I just love this little boy!!!

Sew excited... haha

2011-04-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

So i like to think of myself as a crafty person. I like to sew, scrapbook, stamp... Well my cute and talented cousin Chelsey Barrus mad her little boy a quiet book a couple months ago and i love it! I wasnt going to make one for milo cause my mom and I made a VERY detailed one for Rowdy when he was little and it took forever. i was just going to steal rowdy's (cause he just turned 7) and use it for Milo...

But i got to thinking... My Nephew, Corbin turns 1 at the end of may... I could make 2 REALLY simple ABC quiet books ( for milo and corbin) and just keep it felt... I think im going to do it... so i have 2 months... wish me luck!!!

Here are some pages she did. You can also see her whole book here...

NO sugar here... its all real!!!

2011-04-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

So I love reading others blogs... I guess facebook and blogging has kept me informed on how friends and family are doing... I keep a blog not only to inform my family and friends but to have a place to rant cause life is not perfect.

A friend from my ward growing up posted on her blog today about the reality of blogging. She was reading an artical that a woman wrote about "Mormon Mommy Blogs" and how they make life seem like a piece of cake.... only posting positive things and talking about how to be the perfect mother and wife... So are blogs really showing how it is or are we just posting the positive notes of our lives?

I can assure you that my blog will NEVER be sugar coated... You will fine my good days and my bad. I will post whatever I want on my blog and if you have issues with it then stop reading it. I am not going to brag about how i am the perfect wife and mother. You will only find our daily events here, our ups and downs, the movement of my family.

Like today... today has been an ok day... Milo slept good, we went grogery shopping ( i saved 50% off on swimming diapers for milo at kmart!), cought a woman stealing at walmart, and now im watching a movie and planning on scrapbooking tonight.

ALSO... NEW NOTE... my baby boy is 7 weeks today and is just such a happy baby! I love being a Mommy.

Some People

2011-04-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

SO... I'm at walmart in the self checkout aisle and a womon walks up to the checkout next to me. Whoever was there before did not finish their transaction so the screen said, "would you like cash back." She looked at it for a min and then pushed yes... and then pushed 100$... the 100 came out in tens and then she continued with her own transaction. I hurried and checked out and went to the manager to report her. I know time are hard but stealing??? When the manager went up to her and asked about the money she lied and said the money was left there in the tray and she was going to turn it in... you could tell she was embarrised that she got cought... she gave the money back and left the store. Since i didn't have to give a statment to security or anything i fallowed her out.... SHE GOT INTO A MERCADIES..... really lady??? you didn't need the 100$ just sell you designer purse and you'll have 10x that... what a moron!!!!

I know we have all hit hard times here but when we resort to stealing from eachother... you know the world has gone in full circle and we are back in the pride stage of the cycle.

I really hope whosever card that was that they notice and report it to the bank...

Genderal Conference

2011-04-04T01:32:00.000-07:00

"Use your hands to blog and text message the Gospel to all the world, but please remember: All at the right time and in the right place." - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

So whenever conference is over i regret not speritually prepairing for it... and getting my butt out of bead and watching EVERY session. This year i only got to watch sat morning and suday afternoon... So I missed the talk by Pres Uchtdorf... so I stole this quote from my beautiful missionary, Sister Brook Kenemore....

I do enjoy reading the GC Ensign though. We dont get the ensign anymore since living with my inlaws but I have made it a point to go buy the conference copies.

The talks that I did hear though, I enjoyed. Elder Scott was prob my favorite... It was focused towards the young single adults and the newlymarried. I loved that he talked about his marriage. I tried to keep my husband awake and make him pay attention to this talk but he was hopless... I still love him though. I think my favorite thing about his talk was that he was so forward... just go on a mission, come home, and find that woman you want to spend eternity with... plan english... that talk I'm sure will be requoted over and over in the robindale singles ward next week.

I think that after last october when an apostile's talk was taken out of context, Elder Hollands talk was NEEDED. He was like ,in your fface, NOT EVERY TALK IS MENT FOR YOU! Some topics are for informing the general public and some are for specific members. Also I was happy that he pointed out the
fact that its not only members listening.... as shown in last octobers outbreak...

Anyways when the ensign comes out I am going to read and focus on the messages more.

now taking donations

2011-03-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

I love my little man! He is growing so fast. He was making noises and laughing all day today and I finally got a pic of him pushing himslf up while on his belly... but recently i have ran into a problem. This pic was taken with my phone because my camera sucks.... and my phone is no better then my camera.... and this can not continue while my little man grows rapidly...

So my new goal in life is to own a Nikon Coolpix P100 10MP Digital Camera w/ 26x Optical Vibration Reduction Zoom & 3.0 LCD screen.

So for the next however long it takes i am hiding away $20 or so a week so I can properly document my growing family!

Birthday Bust

2011-03-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

Can we just skip March 19th every year? like take it out of the calender so I don't have to deal with this birthday crap every year...

Since my freshman year of HS i have dreaded my birthday... nothing good ever happens... There's always been someone who's died, broken up with me, I'm sick on my death bed, got married, on vacation, or my parents/friends have forgotten... LOTS of things have taken over my birthday... Most i'm ok with but now its just depressing. I knew this year was going to be no exception.

Milo and I had a rough night last night. I wasn't feeling 100% and milo was a light sleeper. I ended up sleeping on the couch and till 1pm-ish. Jared bought me flowers and took milo for the morning so i could sleep. Then he went to work. All week i was looking forward to getting a pedicure today but never got to it. By the time i got up, showered, and showered milo, no one was home so i had to take milo with me. We went to target and picked up something for lunch. Milo was getting fussy so i didn't end up getting my toes done. SO i came home... I still wasnt feeling very well anyways. So went home and ordered a pizza...

You know your a mom when u give up the one thing u were looking forward to to please your child... I guess this is where it all starts.

I think alot of my depression today stems from the last year of events. I am just so ready to move to St George and start over.

Anyway my birthday rant... 22 down and many more to go. Lets hope this year is better then the last!!!

1 Month Old

2011-03-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

My big boy is a month old today. We love him so much! I need to go though his clothes again because he is growing so fast! he is 10.5 lbs now and is starting to get chubby cheeks.

*He is starting to smile when he hears you laugh.
*Kid has a fat head. i tried a 3month hat on him and it is WAY too small.
*He thinks he is a strong man and lifts his head for long periods of time. We have even caught him pushing up on his elbows... this kid is going to be crawling in no time!
*Speaking of crawling when he is on his tummy he wiggles so much that he turns. I will walk away and come back 5 mins later and he will have turned 90*s... its funny!

* he sleeps super well. We feed and change him once at night usually. And when i say we i mean me. Jared usually takes him in the morning so i can sleep a few more hrs.
* poor kid has baby acne EVERYWHERE! He looks like a teenager...
* he is a good pooper! And he is famous for doing it the moment you finish changing him and snapping up his onsie... like literally the moment you snap him up!
* Milo went on his first road trip to St George last wed. He slept all the way there and was so good all day long.

And now just a bunch of pics from lately...

Went to church! Was almost to big for this outfit. Going to see if we can squeeze him in it one more Sunday.

Sleeps like his Grandma Lilly... mouth wide open!

Great-Grandma Reid... Milo is her 14th great-grand baby

My binkie boy... He likes to fall asleep with it. If there's no binkie he will suck on a number of things... his hand, your hand, your shoulder, your neck, his arm, your arm, the blanket in his hand, just his tongue, fingers, you name it!

2 Minute Vent

2011-03-15T00:29:00.000-07:00

So WORST SHOPPING DAY EVER!!!!!!

So because we are living with jareds parents I packed most of my regular clothes in storage... So I decided to go buy a pair of jeans and a few tops that wernt maternity... worst idea ever! I have never been so disgusted with my body. I know I should give myself a break cause i DID just give birth a month ago but it was humiliating. I tried on like everything in Downeast and nothing fit or looked good... My boobs are too big for regular tops, my hips have spread and i have all this extra baby fat that looks lumpy under any shirt with out a girdle... so mad... So i left only buying a brown skirt cause it had an elastic waist band... awful

Then I went to target cause i like there clothes and they usually fit me well... so depressing... I had to buy jeans that were a size double digit...ugg... let the diet and exercise begin...

Then I'm walking out of target and I get a phone call from my best friend. Apparently John Roske, a guy we went to high school with, died in a car accident on saturday. He was riding his motorcycle and was hit by a lexus doing a u-turn....
I wish i was keeping cound of how many people from HS have DIED so far... i'm turing 22 this week and the count of dead classmates can no longer be counted on my 2 hands. I love chelsey but everytime someone dies she goes into depression mood for several months. FOR THIS REASON i am thankful for the gospel and the knowledge of life after death... Sure i get sad when people die but not for the dead person, more for their family. I have shared the gospel with chels before and she has come to church several times... but she doesnt believe in god. If only she knew what I knew about the eternitys I don't think she would "morn" as much... On sunday a girl (erin) spoke in church and talked about her older sister kelly... or Baby Kelly as most knew her as... She was killed in a car accident after a party her freshman year of HS. Erin talked about how sad and confused she was when this happened. Now she has been a member of the church for a year and is the only member in her family. She had the opportunity to go to the temple and be baptised for her sister. Now that she has the understanding of where her sister is and what she is going through the only tragity for her is that she was taken at such a young age...

anyways my awful day...

2 years down, an eternity to go!

2011-03-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

Today is our 2 year wedding anniversary! Unfortunately i was sick all night so i slept all morning. Jared woke me up before he went to work so we could see each other for a few mins. He will be home in a few mins and we will prob just sit and watch a movie before bed.

Wed we get to go out an celebrate. My mom is going to watch milo so we can go out on our first date since he has come in to our lives. We are going to go to the Melting Pot. Its kind of become a tradition to go for our anniversary. We went when we were on our honeymoon and when we were in Florida for our first anniversary before the cruise. After dinner we want to go see a movie... most likely Rango... but we will see how the little man is doing. He is such a good baby though i dont think we will have a problem.

Jared is an amazing husband and is a great dad and I love him very much!

One happy mommy!

2011-03-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

I just had to post that I have the best baby ever! He slept a solid 6 hrs last night! Such a good boy. Of course I didnt sleep like he did. I kept waking up anticipating him wanting to eat. Not keeping my hopes up that this will last but he has been surprizing me lately.

My cute boy will be 3 weeks old on tuesday. So far he loves being on his tummy more than anything. I know he will be moving quick. He already starts turning in a circle when I put him on the floor. He is so wiggly! He loves to eat and when he isn't eating he loves his binkie... or his hand... or whatever else he can get a hold of to suck on. He doesn't like baths but he loves to shower... So I take him in the shower with me. Must be the constant run of the water. Its very soothing for him. He falls asleep almost every time even if he is compleatly awake before. He is already growing too much for me. I want him to stay small and cute forever.

He loves to cuddle too... specially with his daddy. I try and keep him awake till Jared gets off work so they can spend time together. Right now it seems that when jared is home milo is asleep and when jared is at work milo is awake... So not alot of daddy time. Hopfully we can get his sleeping schedule fixed soon.

We love our baby boy!

i found them like this the other morning and just had to take a picture...

Just want to eat him up!

2011-02-24T18:03:00.000-08:00

So my friend and former co-worker, Vanessa Fulcher called me yesterday and wanted to do a photo session with my little one. A friend of hers was in town for the WPPI convention (some big photography thing) and she was going to teach Vanessa some newborn photography tricks... Luckly she knew someone with a week old baby... Mwa! Here is a sneek peek... they are so cute!

A Story for Stories

2011-02-21T16:51:00.000-08:00

Well if you haven't heard yet we had our baby on Tuesday.... and EVERYTHING was a surprise for me.

Most of you know that I chose to have a home birth. This was one of the best decisions i have ever made. This choice made labor and delivery a breeze... like i didnt know i was in labor for like the first 3 hrs. So Monday night I decided to try Castor oil. I took a teaspoon at 10:30pm and then got online to see how much people suggested. Most said that 2 tablespoons to 4 ounces depending on the person... well i didn't want the runs, just labor, so i took one more teaspoon and went to bed. By 1am when we climbed into bed i was cramping up and not feeling to hot. I knew if i didn't go into labor it was still going to be a long night in the bathroom. I woke up at 3am and used the restroom. At this point my cramps were pretty bad that they were waking me up. I tried to go back to sleep and ended up waking up again at 5. As i got out of bed to go to the bathroom again, my water broke. So I hurried to the bathroom and figured that these cramps had to be contractions. i tried counting to see how long and how far apart they were but i was all over the place. I got my phone and used the stopwatch and found that i was already 50secs long and 2-3 mins in between... so i text my midwife and she called and chewed me out for not calling her the moment my water broke. She lives an hr out of town so she knew she had to get here quick. It being 6am i decided i better wake up jared. After showering my contractions were almost back to back. Trying frantically to pack up jared and I finally left the house at 7. We packed uo the car and it wouldn't start so we had to switch everything over to jareds parents van. We decided to have the baby at my parents house because there is more room there and everyone would be gone during the day. So when we got there jill had already arrived. She checked me and said i was already a 7. I wanted to get in to the tub but it never happened. Things just progressed so fast. another half hr and i was at a ten. So i got ready to push.I felt like such a wimp at this point it took me like 45 mins to get this kid out. I hear stories of like 1and 2 pushes and i was like at push 10 and barley getting a head to show. Well my baby came out there was a hand presentation with the head so i tore a little. The stitches took me by surprise more then the pushing... Sure both hurt but the stitches pain was out of my control so it took me off a little.

Anyways back up just a little. When the baby came out Jill put him up on my chest so that I could have this first hour to imprint. Now at the hospitals most doctors will cut the cord asap but midwifes wait till it is done pulsating. Mine pulsated for 45 mins. jill says that thats a real long time and a good thing. So as the baby was wrapped up on top of me we kept checking the cord. at one point i lifted the blanket to check the cord and got the ultimate shock. I looked up at Jill and then looked at jared.... "it's a boy!" Everyone just started laughing. Jill didnt check when he came out because i had an ultrasound that said we were having a girl... so we just assumed he was a girl... boy were we wrong.... I guess I get my money back for that one! So all this pink i have is totally useless. I kept having this feeling for the last 2 months that i should pack gender neutral clothes for the baby but didnt so all i had was pink... poor guy. so we wiped him down and got into bed. At this point all i had to wrap him in was a lady bug receiving blanket so thats what we wore.

My parents were both there and called trent and cheri jenkins, our neighbors. They have 6 boys including a 3 month old. So Cheri brought over some newborn gowns and blankets. All day was kind of a blur. I felt pretty good and had serious energy. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that we were finally parents cause i was so focused on the fact that it was a boy!

We named him Milo Rockwell DeGraw. Milo is Jared's Grandpa's name and jared's middle name. He is so precious and sweet. So far we have been having pretty good nights. If i keep him up till midnight then he sleeps for 3 or 4 hrs, is up an hr, and then sleeps again for 3 or 4 more hrs. We Love him! And Jared has been great with everything. The kid pees on him EVERY time he changes him... Im sure one day he will figure it out.

Milo's stats... Born Feb 15th... 7lbs 9oz... 21 inches long....and beautiful!

Jill and Jared getting his foot prints

Mommy and the baby boy!

Uncle Rowdy and Milo

Grandpa.... weird i know

kissing lips... or nursing lips

This was taken on my due date... 10 days before Milo was born

Oh Baby!

2011-02-14T19:04:00.000-08:00

Well we are now 10 days over do and still no baby! I am trying not to focus on it anymore so I don't get hung up and stressed out. Had another appointment with Jill on friday and nothing had changed. I was still dialated to a 3 and my cirvix hadn't changed.... She said i could prob go another week.. oh joy! When I got my ultrasound at week 20 or so and they gave us the Fab 5 ue date, jill told us that this guy was usally 2 weeks early with his messurements... which means we were looking more at feb19th...

Its funny that this is how things are turning out. I was reading my baby book yesterday and my mom wrote that my due date was March 5th and I was born 2 weeks later on March 19th. Alyston was due Fab 5th and will prob be born closser to Feb 19th....

It is also that time of year again... yeah its Valentines day... I have never been a fan of the day because of bad hs bfs and the commercial aspect of it all... but I have learned to like it now that i'm married. Its been hard for jared and i to get use to it the past 3 years (3 years already?!?!). The first year we were together we both worked. We were a month away from getting married and i was running around that day trying to throw together someone elses wedding! But my sweet Fiance showed up with yellow roses on his way to work! The next year it was on sunday. I made dinner and that was about it... actually he forgot it was vday... This year he took me to lunch before he went to work and I bought him a few new ties and fun dip... i know we are so sweet and original... We didn't plan anything because we didn't know if i would still be pregnant, in labor, or in bed with a newborn... Also we were talking about it this morning and we both kind of felt the same about this holiday. Never liked it before because we never had someone to make it special. Maybe next year we will get more serious about... maybe...

I'm going to go check the mail and see if my photos have gotten here yet! CD of photos from our belly shoot should have been here by now...

Splash!!!

2011-02-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

So one more day till my due date... the date where i start to go bonkers...

Today I decided I better go to the Chiropractor and get adjusted so that my back will be as "in" as possible for labor. I already have a bad back so thats the last thing I need to be worrying about when the day comes. So when I got there they put me on a table that has rollers up and down your back, it heats up, and it vibrates... When Dr. Roach walked in he started laughing and turned it off. He looked at me and asked if my water broke yet. Apparently a pregnant woman he was working on had her water break while on this table. They decided after that that they wouldnt put any 3rd trimester pregnant women on the table. Guess the assistant didn't look at my due date... which is tomorrow... Man I wish that would have worked though. that would have been great!

any day now

2011-01-20T14:42:00.000-08:00

My midwife, jill came over yesterday for our weekly check. when she went to check the position of Aly, she wasn't 100% sure she was head first still... This baby has gone back and forth from being breach and being head down and in. So i did some stretches tring to get her to come forward so we could tell more. Finally we found her head down but still couldnt tell if it was her head in the canale or if it was her sholder and she was stuck. Just at that moment the amazing Lydi Owens called Jill and jill asked her to come over for a second opinion. For those of you that dont know, my mom birthed all 5 kids at home and Lydi was her midwife. When I found out I was pregnant i wanted lydi too but because of family problems she wasnt taking on any new clients so she gave me Jills number. Lydi trained Jill so when I met Jill I was alot more comfortable with her then I was with the other 3 random midwifes i found around town.

So when Lydi showed up she felt around on my tummy and found the same thing Jill did. They decided then to do a Vaginal check. Right off the bat Lydi said, "are you sure your not in Labor now?" At this point I dont really know what contractions feel like so i was like, I don't think so.... She said I was already dialated to a 2 and most definatly had this girl head first ready to come out.... Then Jill checked too and she said the same thing. Last night was a full moon too so we were all wondering if I would have her sooner then we thought. I was so wishing that this would have been the case... part of me wants to stay with my original due date which was Jan 23... 3 days from now... instead of the 2 weeks that I have to go.

...but no baby yet...

So any day now. I'm tired and uncomfortable and ready to have this baby.

oh and We did that photo shoot with Brittany Busk, so here is a few shots from that! Im excited to see the rest. they look great!

my eternal companion

2011-01-14T15:16:00.000-08:00

I'm not feeling 100% today so Im trying to finish somethings like thankyou cards, scrapbook pages, and blog posts...

I have been wanting to write this post for a while...

I have the most amazing husband EVER! He is soo supportive and will do anything I need him to do... usually without complaining. We were laying in bed the other night just talking about how uncomfortable i am getting (just lots of me complaining) and he was just saying how worth it this will all be in the end. At the time i was thinking "well yeah, easy for you to say. your not 30 lbs heavier getting ready to push 8 lbs through a hole the size of a golf ball..." But I have to remember that he has been through a lot through this pregnancy too....

It of course all started with me being unemployed and moody... then we added pregnant to that. Shortly followed by sick in bed for 2 months. Jared was so good with cleaning up after me, sitting there for an hour and listing every food in the world just TRYING to get me to eat something, all while being unemployed himself and worrying about our bank account. Then when I finally got to a functioning point in this personal hell he went back to work and still kept the house fairly clean. When It was time for me to look for work again i was getting several interviews but no offers and it was so frustrating. I'm a fairly emotional person and i like to keep things pent up till it all comes flowing out at once. My poor husband has been on the recieving end of my emotional frustration with jobs and this pregnancy one too many times. When i did finally get a part time job, it started to take a toll on my feet and back. My AMAZING husband has rubbed my feet every night since the day I went back to work... even if he just worked a ten hr day. I think that he has deffinatly kept my feet from looking like sausage toes because of all the foot rubs. He has even (on his own) rubbed my feet in the middle of sacrament meeting. He will get me anything I ask for even if he has to get out of bed and get in the car to get it.

I am so spoiled by him! He is truly amazing. With all the ME, ME, ME going on i sometimes forget how he is going through the same things just in a different way. I love him and I hope he knows what he means to me and now to little Alyston too. I couldn't have asked for a better husband, partner, and best friend!

God help me to be everything that I can for him!

Love you baby!

25 days... and counting

2011-01-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

I'm so just ready to have this little girl! Here is a picture of me on new years... 35 weeks? I have everything ready for this girl and now im sitting and twiddleing my thumbs...

out with 2010, in with 2011

2011-01-02T00:15:00.000-08:00

Ok so 2010 want the greatest year for us... at all...

And because I have very negative feeling towards this year I am going to make a list of 10 good things that did come to us this year...

1. Went on a cruise for our one year/birthday/make up honeymoon. It had lots of bumps but totally worth it!
2. Jared got a raise... finally! It was next to nothing, but a raise.... not going to complain about that!
3. We are having a baby. Had mixed emotions in the beginning because of our incredible timing but now we know its all going to be worth it!
4. Spent the weekend in salt lake with Brook before we got to ship her off on a mission. I'm so proud of her!
5. Went to the Grand Canyon for the first time... Granted we were puking our brains out all night long... but it was a good experience (the canyon not the flu).

****now were are stretching for good things... and jared is helping****
6. Jared got a new phone!
7. We got a Wii for christmas
8. I was finally able to find a part time job.
9. my one luxury this year was getting a monthly pedi so i didnt get sausage toes! Totally worth it!!
10. Tron came out! Jared was stoked

Wow that was a lot harder then i thought it would be.... Please let 2011 be WAY better then 2010.
We have 2 things to look forward to this year and thats our baby girl and my college diploma!!!!

Update!!

2010-12-29T22:09:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays/ winter break so far.

So im going crazy! one more month to go and im dying. Im so uncomfortable its unbelievable. I woke up with a huge head ache this morning because i have a disk out of place in my neck... 3 more days and my insurance is back and i can get it fixed!! My feet hurt and thats normal after work but now its starting to play on my knees too.

Aly is starting to drop so im finding pain/pressure in new places... yay... Also i had my first braxton hix on christmas. that was not pleasant... I think it just caught me of guard cause I didn't know what to expect. The closer I get to "d-day" the more anxious i get. I'm not worried about the pain, i am just worried I wont know what to expect. I told this to my Mid-wife and she is doing great working with us. We have started seeing her every 2 weeks now. I asked her about a birthing class and she said she would teach us everything we need to know. Its been nice learning all the different "relief positions" just one-on-one instead of in a group setting.

Finished school... well this semester... with 2 B's. One more class to go and i will FINALLY be done! This diploma has taken WAY to long.

Mom and Chelsey threw me a baby shower 2 weeks ago and we had lots of fun. Aly is a spoiled little girl! I think i'm pretty much ready clothes and blanket wise till she is 2! The last things i need before she gets here is a stroller/carseat and a breastpump. I can't wait to meet this little girl!

My beautiful cousin, Crystal Crooks had her baby on Monday. Daxus Roy Jessop was 6lbs 13oz and 18 1/2 inches long. He is trully a Pearson boy... born will a full head of red hair! He was in the NICU for a few hours cause he had a little fluid in his lungs and they wanted to watch him. Both mom and baby are health and doing well now.

I'll try to put more pictures with my posts but i just never take pics anymore... even though i carry my camera everywhere... So here is the Reid family pic for christmas this year... what a lively bunch...

Who wouldn't want to save 5 grand grocery shopping?!?!

2010-12-29T21:47:00.000-08:00

So im sitting on the couch... doing a lot of that these days... and surfing the channels i find a show on EXTREAM coupon users...

One guy bought $5,700 worth of items for $250!!!!! he did all this with coupons!
The next lady did a more simple shopping trip and got $300 worth of groceries for $6....

Both of these people had one VERY important thing in common... they were Debt free!

So thats it. If this is whats going to keep me debt free and financialy able to take care of my family (with one income) then i need to become the anoying coupon lady! They both said that they spend hours cliping and printing out coupons but in the end its all worth it. I know I'm not going to be able to do the extream shopping (like bulk/food storage shopping) till we have a more permenant house but i can start to get in the groove of things now.

just lately

2010-12-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well we have about 50 days to go! I just had 2 friends that both had their babies this week and im really wanting to be in their shoes... well just the baby being out part. I dont envy their labors at all. both ended in c-sections... One day soon I am going to post about MY choices for me and my baby because I think it is important for people to know why I choose a home birth.... but that will come soon enough.

Lots of crazy stuff going on around here lately. I have finals this week (that i should be finishing my notes for cause my first one is only 5 hrs away). I am surprised at how well I have done in this astrology class. Everyone that I have talked to says this is one of the hardest classes and im actually getting a B! So proud of myself. May just go out for ice cream to celebrate after class tonight! After this just one more online class next semester and i will FINALLY have my degree in Business!

Woke up this morning starting to feel some sinus stuff kick in... not excited. I really dont want to get sick this week. Sat is my shower and i dont want to feel groggy...

Yep my shower is finally here! I'm itching to get this girl all ready. Working at a baby clothing store isn't helping that at all!

I have almost finished her blessing dress. Pics to come... I just have to hem it and do the button holes. It will be done this week though cause its all over my parents basement and thats where the shower will be.

I went with my mom yesterday to go see my grandma. She got really sick about a year ago (i think it was feb) and just hasnt been the same. This winter we convinced her to move in to town cause the roads get really bad and if something happens to her we wont be able to get out to her as easily. So they rented a little house in panaca. Then she was all worried about her goats so we had to move them down too. So we rented a partial field about a half a mile from her house to house the goats. Sunday was just for us to go up and take her some food and check on her health. I have never seen her so frail before. Next time ill see her is at the end of the month for her birthday/ Christmas party.

And last but not least... I love the Jenkins family. We have lived next door to them forever and my dad grew up with trent. So they just had their 9th baby at the beginning of November. Cheri had a really hard pregnancy this round and at the end there were almost 2 c-sections and it ended in a very traumatic birth. Baby Daxton seemed to be good and so he went home. They noticed he was acting quite right and after what they thought was a seizure the decided to take him back in. Turns out he had bleeding in his brain. Poor baby! They watched it and did what they could do. When he was released again they were afraid he would have to have a Shunt put in his brain... Sure enough at his one month check up they found that he was 1 pound under his birth weight. This happened because the drugs they still had him on were making him drowsy and he wasn't eating enough. so back in the hospital AGAIN... this time for brain surgery... All is done now and his family says he is acting like a regular happy baby! So hopefully this works for him. I pray that his family will be comforted and that baby Daxton will grow to be a health and normal kid.... I think being pregnant with my first baby has made me stress about this situation 40 times more then I should. I just keep thinking "is my baby going to be ok?"

anyways thats about it for now. I have really got to get back to studying. I wish my head wasn't so congested so i could focused and think better... ug

Trimester Three!

2010-11-15T21:16:00.000-08:00

Its finally here.... the last leg of the beginning of our family. Im 28 weeks as of last sat so i had to take another pic on sunday. Im feeling huge some days others i still feel really small and manageable. I'm starting to plan for this little girls arrival. I finally found a bedding set i liked a week ago and i have started stocking up on diapers when ever there is a sale and coupons.

Today jared had the day off so i skipped class. We made lasagna for dinner and then went to a pottery place to paint. I did a big soup bowl/cup and jared did a little monster. I'll post pics when i get them back this weekend all finished. it was nice to do something different then just dinner and a movie... kind of expensive though. it's $7 per person and then whatever ur pieces cost. So I got a coupon out of the Entertainment Book for a buy one get one on the pottery so we didn't have to pay for one of the pieces... I really love those Entertainment books. they only cost 20$ and i have used mine 3 times already... free golden spoon ($4), free entree for dinner ($13), and a free pottery ($12)... totally pays for its self. the best buy of the year... and there is SOOO much in it. My parents buy the book mostly for the movie tickets. regal has like 10 coupons in there for 2 dollars of and u can use one coupon for up to 4 people. its a total bargain. plus it gives you ideas for new places to eat and things to do.

bought 2 new movies the other day... Grownups and Scott Pilgrim vs. the world... LOVED both of these movies so we had to buy them. we don't usually buy movies that are brand new cause they are expensive but yet again i found a coupon!! I'm becoming the coupon queen... i think its the mom kicking in... I had a coupon for $5 off Grownups and found it on sale at target for $16. plus target also had Scott Pilgrim for $18. so instead of $40 for 2 movies i only paid $32. i figured it was worth it since most of the movies i buy are $5-10 each.

well time to watch Grownups!

Halloween, jobs, and Medicaid

2010-11-01T00:21:00.000-07:00

So I FINALLY got approved for medicaid. its only covering anything pregnancy related but thats all i need. It will also cover the baby for the first year... well at least till we move to st. george. we are hoping to have insurance when jared switches jobs up there...

More job news I got a job offer!!!! I will be working 20hrs a week for Carters baby wear at the mall... I have decided to take it but im not 100% happy with it. I just feel degraded because im now working for minimum wage again... thats a 2$ pay and 20 hrs cut from my last job... Its hard cause I finally have the experience in my industry I need and I can't find anything in town! I have the potential to make great money and i'm forced to make $8.25/hr cause my unemployment runs out in 2 weeks... it just sucks.. and im actually going to be making less a week than i was getting from unemployment.... its frustrating but im happy to be getting out of the house and doing something...

SEMA - the big car convention - is coming to town this week so jared has been working 7days a week, 12-14 hr shifts for the past few weeks... He is tired but our bank account thanks him. Wednesday he will be able to go back to his regular schedual. I love him and all the hard work he puts in. I know he trys not to complain about it but when your boss makes you work extra hrs and not everyone else (cause you get paid the least) its kind of hard not to. We will be so happy to be done with this company!

Because of this lovely convention I have been "Single" on Halloween for the last 3 years. I always go to a party that my friend throws and I am always the only married one there. This year was really funny cause there is more and more people there each year that I don't know. So when I walk in with my pregnant costume on people had to ask me or Dianna if i really was pregnant... It was entertaining! That and Baby Alyston was kicking the crap out of me cause I was eating candy (so she was sugared up). Because of this i kept holding and rubbing on my belly and it would bring on more questions. I think this year is the most interaction I have had at that party all because I had a conversation starter on my belly! Dianna and her room mates allways dress up together and this year they were the teenage mutent Ninja Turtles. It was totally cute and creative. And of course D and I had to do our anuall pose on top of the rocks... Just sad that Brook wasn't here this year.

I loved my costume! Jared and I made it by finger painting. He did the outline for me while I wore it and then I filled it in. I tried to use a paint brush but my finger worked SO much better.

I also went to my parents trunk or treat as well as ours. Living at my in-laws means we are back in the ward we were in when we first got married and its nice cause I know people and its not like starting over again. Liza, Janet and I dressed up and Angel (my sis-in-law) brought Corbin who was dressed as a tiger! He was so cute! He is getting to be so much fun. He is 5 months old now and just starting to sit up. We are trying to get him to crawl but I'm just happy he is ok with being on his belly now. He HATED it before. We knew he was going to be a tough one.

I think thats it. really nothing else thats new... I'm hungry...

Sister Brook Kenemore

2010-10-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

So my sweet friend Brook left on a mission in Feb. She is serving in the Santa Rosa, California mission. Currently the church has set up a new program with "online missionaries" and brook gets to be one of them. As far as I understand they have specific hrs scheduled into their day where they sit on the computer and "procilite."(sp) They are on facebook, Brook is blogging, and they are on skype chat. Of course they are just suppose to use these resources to teach, but im happy that I will be hearing from her a little more often than once ever 6 months... we are terrible writing friends...

Anyways, here is the link for her blog...

www.sisterbrookkenemore.blogspot.com

She updates it everyday with a new church related message... So if you just need a good spiritual moment for the day, this would be a great place to go. Plus her blog will link to many other missionaries blogs that you can read as well.

Positive News

2010-10-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today has been a good week in the news world... I am so tired about hearing about the war and the money and politics.... For once we got to see something really great happening in the world and I honestly couldn't stop watching the TV.

This week the 33 Chilean miners who have been stuck under ground for 69 days have all been rescued!!!!

God really had his had in this one and all those men knew it. After being trapped for 17 days before anyone knew they were alive, they were able to lower necessities down to them so that they could survive a rescue mission that was looking like it was going to take all the way till Christmas. Now here it is mid OCT and all the men are out and safe! It was really humbling to see these men raised from the hole only to drop to their knees immediately to thank god. Also as of this morning most of the men are already out of the hospital and at home. Only the oldest minor developed pneumonia and a few had dental sergery. All the rest of the men are doing well. This just shows you that all these men are alive because of their faith and their families faith. This was truly a great teaching experience.

This baby wants to be made of nachos!

2010-10-14T12:03:00.001-07:00

So i get daily emails from a mommy/pregnancy site and there is a corner of the email called "mommy blogs." They always highlight a blog post of someone who is going through the same stage that you are in. Today this moms blog was titled "this baby wants to be made of nachos" and thats exactly how i feel. From the beginning i have been craving nachos and mac and cheese.... and pretty much anything drenched in cheese!

My favorite thing has been Panera Bread's broccoli Cheese soup. I liked it before but it seems 100 times better pregnant. Eating has been hard the last couple of days because we just moved last weekend into jared's parents house.... which means i dont have my own kitchen and fridge. all my food from the house is still in a box on the floor. I know eating is important but its been so hard not knowing whats here or being in charge of the "house menu." This morning has been rough because this eating ordeal has caught up with me and not im not feeling so hot. Also to throw another curve in my "settling in" process, i am watching 3 teenagers this weekend while their parents are out of town. So it means not sleeping in my own bed for a few days and again a different food situation.... i just have to watch myself.

This little girl gets stronger and stronger everyday. I love it. One night just laying in bed jared was trying to catch her moving and he was saying that he couldnt imagine how weird it must be to feel something moving inside of you. It still catches me off guard sometimes but most of the time (cause its still new to me) i stop what im doing just to concentrate on her movement. My new thing when people ask me what im up to today i just say "i'm making a baby" or "im making eyebrows and fingernails." just the miracle of the fact that a human is growing inside me still is hard to wrap my head around.... But im totally ready to be a mother. jared is starting to feel like this is our baby too. When his brother comes over with his kid who is only 4 months old and jared gets to play with him, it really makes him happy he is getting his own lol.

anyways i need to get some more food in me... I think Panera is calling my name!

Milestones

2010-09-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

Well now that I have a better idea of dates as far as my pregnancy goes, I can post my milestones!

Positive pregnancy test
- 6weeks 6days

Flu
-7weeks 1day

morning sickness really started
-9weeks

morning sickness starts to wear off
-15weeks

first time Ifelt the baby move
-18weeks 6days

find out its a girl
-20weeks 5days

jared felt her move
-20weeks 5days

A breath of fresh air!

2010-09-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

Today we finally had an ultrasound. My 2 big things were to find out when I was due and if it was a boy or girl. When we got there the baby was asleep so I had to move around and get it to wake up. Then we took measurements and found that I was 20 weeks along instead of 16 which is good. So my new due date is Feb 5th. then we spent 20 mins trying to find out the sex because my stubborn child wouldn't cooperate. I again had to move around and try and get the baby in a good position. The ultrasound guy told us what he was looking for (the obvious for a boy and then 3 little white lines for a girl) so we would see what he sees... Finally after poking at my blatter for and hour we found it. We are having a little Girl!!! Her name will be Alyston DeGraw... we haven't decided between 2 middle names yet but thats not so important yet... But we are excited. I knew from the beginning that it was going to be a girl. She is all healthy and he bones, organs, and fluids all look good and im most happy about that. Being as sick as I was made me wonder how much it would effect her. When I went to tell our families my parents were excited and my dad first said "Good. Girls are easier to spoil... and raise." you can tell my parents point of view on this!

Anyways way excited!

Changes in Life

2010-08-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

So we have come to accept the fact that Las Vegas is slowly drowning us... unemployment is still at 14% and I cant find a job anywhere. Jared has been with the same company for almost 3 years now and is still considered part-time and has never had a raise.... so something has to change...

We have decided that we have to stay in vegas till the baby is born (so end of feb, begining of march) and till I finish school (this dec). After that we have decided that it is off to St George for us. Jared will start school at Dixie next fall (at least thats the goal) and the economy is just better there. It's not too far from vegas so family is still close. Also I have cousins and an aunt that live in St. George if I ever need anything.

our lease on our appartment is up in the middle of october and after that we will live with Jareds parents for a few months so we dont have to sign and then break another lease. Living with the in-laws isn't ideal cause I like/need my space but it will be a good oppertunity for us to save some money since our savings is practically gone. Us both being out of work has been really hard financialy and we just hope I can find something soon and jared will go back to work before the end of the month.

So thats the current plan... we will see how things go.

oh my baby

2010-08-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

So I am having a home birth for many, MANY different reasons. One of them is that I don't believe that it is healthy to be getting an ultrasound every month. I do plan on having 1 to find out the sex and the basic check up... well now I may need 2... to find out if the baby is there and how old it is...

Today my wonderful midwife, Jill Lamping came over for our monthly appointment. At the beginning of today I believed I was almost 16 weeks. I'm still pretty sick and still losing weight. She did her usual tests and then started to look for the heartbeat. To this point we still had not heard the baby so she was suspecting that I have a tilted uterus. Well no matter where my uterus is at this point we should be able to hear a heartbeat.... STILL NO HEARTBEAT TODAY!!!!! This of course frustrated us all. Jill started feeling around my stomach and got this questionable look on her face... She said that my uterus was not big enough for 16 weeks.

We know I'm pregnant. I have every symptom in the book plus 3 positive tests.... so we went back and did some math... I went off my birth control in April and have not had a MC since. that is what the 16 weeks is based off of... the new theory is that i didn't actually conceive till June. when i had no MC in may i took like 7 test and all were negative. Then when my MC was up again in June I got 2 positive tests... so we always assumed i was pregnant for both months and just blamed the HCG levels on the birth control. so now with a new idea of conception and the size of my uterus we are guessing I'm only like 10 weeks.... do i really have to do these last 6 weeks all over again??? I guess 10 weeks explains why i am still sick...

So I hate being in limbo not knowing how far along I am. Its quite annoying... She said I have 2 choices... First, if I ever actually feel the baby move then I am around 16 weeks and I can go get an ultrasound done to determine for sure. My last option is to just wait till my next appointment in Sept and see if we can get a heartbeat then.

So sitting and waiting.... not a happy mommy...

new stuff

2010-07-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

couple different things going on lately....

i'm down 13 pounds now... i dont remember the last time i was in the 140's... high school prob. just 8 more pounds and ill be at my target weight before i found out I was pregnant.... I really hope it stops dropping and I start gaining that weight back. that will mean i'm eating better. mom and her sisters were in town so of course they put me on 20 new pills that will make me feel better... so far what i have found that works is B6. I am taking one before I go to bed and waking up not feling sick, just hungry. also im sleeping better at night... cant say that for jared though. he is waking up at like 3or 5 or 7 in the mornings no matter what time we get in bed...

started a new job and lost it all within the same week... shortest job i have ever had... 2 shifts... i was watching a 1 year old. She had been through a few nannys before she found me and by the time i was hired they were trying to get their step daughter to come live with them and watch little Noah... so now she ishere and i am out... it least i tried... my unemployment us up in 2 weeks though. not sure wha we are going to do. jared is still out of work and they wont start bringing people back till mid august.

got a $2100 grant for school. The pell grant website lies by the way.... it says that after tuition is paid the remander amount will be for the student to use for living expences. thats BS. went to school 2 days ago and they said that I only get 700$ of that for this semester because I'm only part time and after tuition the check cut to me will only be $60... who can live off of 60$??? so im getting screwed cause im only taking one semester this year cause im gratuating. that means that the rest of that money that I was counting on to pay for this baby is now going back to the government... i just dont see how this is right....

My good friend Jordan Mitchell is back from his mission in dallas, TX. I invited him over tuesday to meet Jared and just catch up.... of course him and jared just swaped mission stories most of the time... he also told me that his wonderful mother has been really sick an the doctors can't figure out what is wrong with her. she has done every test out there and still nothing... he said that he didnt know she was sick till he got home. apparently she had been sick most of the 2 years he was gone. Jordans parents got a devorce shortly after we gratuated high school. because of this and the sickness she is back living with her dad who is also a wonderful man. After the devorce she stopped going to church which was sad but all her children still served missions and she supports them in everything. Jordan goes back to BYU in august to work on his crazy education... double major in math and physics as well as the ROTC up there... always was an over achiver...

My beautiful cousin Savanah is FINALLY getting married next month. These 2 have been together for a few years now so we are excited. Its going to be in St. George so a mini vacation for us. She already took her pictures and they turned out amazing! if you want to see them they are at http://www.nickadams.com/ under client the password is "crooks." I was happy to help her get started and help he tie up loose ends last week. I'll be there helping set up of course! The night before the wedding my mom and her sisters are doing a tribute event to my Grandma. Just a typical Pearson event... hopfully it goes over well. there has been some drama in the family lately and thats why we didnt go to the reunion... My aunt Beth wrote a poem that she wasnt to turn in to a rap. Watching a bunch of 50 year old ladies try and rap the other day was pretty entertaining.... My aunt wrote it for her daughter Cassie. Cassie has joined the Army and so this trip is kind of her send off as well... should be a good show. i'll try and remember to record it and post it.

ok so its long but thats that.... i need to go eat...

Food Cravings

2010-07-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

So right now i am just at week 12 and I feel the worst today so far... i really hope this stops soon and I get my appetite back.

So I have decided I need to be blunt with my self about this pregnancy process so that I can learn from it for next time. My weight started at about 161... Since the flu and just not being able to keep much down these last couple of weeks i have lost 7 pounds. this morning i weighed in at 154...

I have also decided to turn my comments back on cause I want to know what has worked for people during their pregnancies...

For the last few days I have been craving bufflo chips with cheese from bbw. Since they still sounded good today and i cant think of anything else.... nausea moment.... to eat I sent jared out to pick some up... along with some golden spoon...

Can I just tell you how much I love my husband?!?!? He has been so great through all of this. Even when we both had the flu he was still trying to make sure I was ok and as comfortable as possible. neither of us like doing the dishes at all but he has done them without complaining for the last few weeks and has just been so good.... nausea moment....

ok so what worked for your nausea and morning sickness?????

Just when you think your life has hit a low...

2010-07-11T04:10:00.000-07:00

I just read Lucy Bowman's blog and I am in shock...

Cody Bowman is your definition of Cowboy. All he wanted to do in life was work with horses... now its being limited. This week Cody was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. My prayers go out to the Bowman family. MS means long roads and treatments ahead of them. There is no cure for MS but there are ways to treat it and make living life normal again. We hope all will go well...

This just makes me thankful for my own health. Being pregnant is hard enough on the body let alone a disease thats attacking your central nervous system...

It was bound to happen sooner or later...

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

I am tired of not being able to talk about how crappy I feel and cant wait one more week... so....

We are having a baby!!!

I'm 11 weeks so this terrible trimester is almost over... It's killing me. Jared asked me to explain the pain once and all I could say was that its uncomfortable and it wont go away... He has been so good at taking care of me this past month though. I have been wanting to blog about this trimester so bad but wanted to wait till it was over... Of course the weekend that I came up positive we were on vacation in AZ. that was also the weekend that I thought I was going to die from stomach flu so we had to tell our friends there and our parents immediately so that I could get home and get help...

I'm due January 26th!

Why does life have to be so complicated....

2010-07-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

Geez... so I have been out of work for 3 months... no fun. Well jareds company always does lay offs in the summer for a few months and his started this week.... I'm not liking this "no income" deal....

Las Vegas is up to 15% unemployment which is making it SUPER hard to find a job...

We thought about moving but unfortunatly I am one semester away from gratuating so we have to stay....

What a Weekend

2010-06-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

What an experience...

Every 2 years jareds friends from high school get together for a weekend vacation. This year we went to Williams, AZ where we stayed at Audrei's grandpa's cabin. All was going well. Friday most of us traveled from vegas together. When Marc and Ingrid got there from cali they informed us they were expecting!!! We are super excited for them cause they have been trying for a year and a half now. Friday we just hung out and caught up with everyone. Saturday we went to the grand canyon! Most of us had never been so we were pretty excited! It was a beautiful day.

We walked around the gift shop and then ate lunch right away. After lunch we went to walk the Rim. Got some pretty good pictures. The parents with kids left early and the rest of us stayed and walked a little longer. We all got brave and started climbing out on the edge and jared threw a penny off and Mark peed off the edge. Lol boys were a little too excited about it. When we got back to the cabin jared and I had a 3 hour nap. it was great. By the time we woke up it was dinner and I started to not feel so good. We all ate and then I decided to have a bath. At this point I was starting to feel really weak so Jared helped me and stayed in the bathroom with me the whole time. During my bath my stomach started doing weird things and then I knew I had to puke.... That was the start of a VERY VERY long night. I was the first to go then jared and then everyone else in the house.... We thought it was food poisoning but then the baby started to throw up too and she is just on formula...

So the night went on and jared and I literally slept in front of the bathroom door so that we could take turns leaning over the toilet. If it wasnt one of us it was poor pregnant ingrid or audrei. Its a good thing there were 2 bathrooms in that place. That was the worst night on record.... In the morning everyone decided (since no o ne could keep anything down and we were all clearly dehydrated) that marc an ingrid should get to the hospital so she can get an IV because of the baby... After talking we figured it all out... of course at this point im still lying curled up in a ball...

Brittanie and her family came to vegas a week early to hang with family. They had been sick the week previously. While there Brits daughter Erin got the day flu and puked once.... So after sharing a house together they gave us all the STOMACH FLU..... WE were not happy at all when we discovered this....

I was in no shape to drive and jared cant drive stick.... so i called my mom a asked her what to do about being sick and getting home. Then dad called me and said since I wasnt keeping anything down he would give me an IV when I got home as well. Finally we decided that Tyler and Telima would go to vegas instead of driving all the way home cause their fam was still not feeling well too. So tyler drove my car and I rode back in the fetal position in the back seat of their suburban. When we got to our apartment my dad came over and checked me out. I got an IV... and was poked 3 times...yay! We got talking about jared and he had been short of breath all day and was having numbness in the chest arms and legs... meaning no circulation. Dad decided to hook Jared up with an IV as well. We were doing a whole lot better after all was done....

What a weekend.... a weekend of firsts... Babies, grand canyon, whole house puking, peeing off the grand canyon... lots of fun!!!

sorry its kind of long but was all very eventful...

Please excuse the hidious picture of myself and the after math.... it clearly describes how my weekend had gone...

Pillowcase Dresses

2010-06-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

So my RS's curent service projects is making Pillowcase dresses to send to Africa. So Eliza and I needed some new projects and took this on. My mom sewed almost all my clothes growing ups so I went through all of her scrap material and we made them out of all of that. I think by the end of it all we made about 20. It was fun and easy!

what a cruel world

2010-06-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

its like someone is out to get me....

I have been out of a job for 2 1/2 months now. its been hell trying to find a new job. I have been though 6 interviews and no one will give me anything. I had one offer and this woman only wanted me for 30 hrs at $150 a week... Thats $5 an hour to watch her crying 9month old and 5 cats....

Jared was just told by his part time job that he is now on call.... and of course freeman will most likely lay him off temp some time this summer... can anyone say screwed???

anyways we know everyone hates job hunting but this is the worst. Now that I can't just veg off of my parents anymore and I am a married adult the world has decided to hit me with the big one.... I was layed off before but still living at home and it wasnt THAT big of a deal... This time the funds are running out and I'm beginning to beg for anything.... except for that crazy lady... im making more a week on unemployment...

so frustrating....

tbc...

NEW weight loss blog

2010-06-01T13:49:00.001-07:00

Ok so I decided to start a blog that is tracking my "weight loss journey"..... Im hoping this will keep me on track to getting to my weight goal.... follow me!

http://www.kateslosingit.blogspot.com/

I'm and Aunt!!!!

2010-05-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

Sat, May 22, 2009 @ 5:57pm baby Corbin Samuel DeGraw was born! 5 lbs 15oz...

We love him! he is so cute! Corbin is Luke and Angels first child and also the first grandbaby for the DeGraw family. Can someone say spoiled?? his crys are the cutest things on earth. We went and saw the new family in the hospital that night he was born. I got to change his diper and he hated it. mostly he hated the cold whipes. When i went to take his diper off he apparently wasnt done. needless to say i got pooped on. Poor Angel had to have a c-section and is still recovering.

So yesterday I drove Angel and corbin to their appointments. After yesterday I have decided that this kid doesnt like to be naked... what a baby. When we got to the pediatricin we had to strip him down to his diper and he threw a fit. The whole time the doc was in there he cried his head off.The moment she left and we put his onsie back on he shut up. Then we went to the womens wellness center to teach him how to breastfeed.... because he makes a funny face and gives up every time Angel tries... and the striped him down to nothing. I could hear him screaming through 3 doors... His cry is so funny though its almost pathetic... so cute!

2010-05-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

took my finals on sunday and monday! I have only one more semester to go. 2 classes left: one business and one science then im finished with my associates!!!! Then jared gets to go back to school.

so now that i dont have school to occupy my time i am SUPER bored..... i need some projects

life

2010-04-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

So life In the DeGraw house is driving me crazy! I have had 2 interviews and still no job. Jared Just found out 2 days ago that he didn't get the promotion at freeman. And just to rub it in his face they gave it to a guy who acording to comany policy isn't aloud to have it.... and they asked jared to train him.... I would love to walk right into that warehouse and say a thing or 2 to his manager. I have been telling jared since we started dating that he needs to look for a new job. He has never been happy there.

Now we are forced to make some serious desisions asap... I'm almost done with school so where will jared go to school, where will I work, where will he work, do we move from las vegas? We were going to start a family but once again that is on hold...

I am someone who has to have a goaland a plan to get there. Jared just likes to float along. I am finding my self getting very frustrating lately because of it... To top it all offjared is still working from 10am - 1am which means no real time to sit and talk about what we need.

I really need to post more often...

2010-04-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

So here are the issues and desisions needed to be delt with in the DeGraw house.

Jared and I have been taking abut a baby for quite some time so like in Oct we decided to wait till the spring to try for a baby. Well I just lost my job a couple weeks ago so the question is "is now still the right time to start a family?"

Next is that I have been trying to figure out how close i am to graduating and turns out that I have 2 more classes to go next semester and will be done Dec 2010. Haleluja!!!! I'm so sick of school. We are also trying to figure out when jared will be able to go back to school as well.

Well i was doing a lot of thinking yesterday (cause i have nothing else to do while I clean) and Jared wants to get in to graphic animation. So I'm thinking that he needs to find a school that is close or works closely with a company he wants to work for and we just need to move there. I would do anything to help my husband get what he wants in life. I want him to beable to enjoy what he does... Maybe this is just wishful thinking because im not Freemans number one fan... Jared has been at part time status with freeman for almost 3 years now and has been passed up for every promotion and now that he is being considered for a fulltime position that has been open since feb they are taking their sweet time on telling us who got the position cause they want to give it to someone who doesnt deserve it and corporate wont let them. they told us a month ago when they "officialy" interviewed him that they would tell everyone the fallowing week... obviously didn't happen.... anyways...

The Book Of Mormon

2010-04-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

I love this testimony from Elder Holland. The book of Mormon is true and can guide us in so many ways. I have been spending alot of time up at the temple lately and the gospel just brings me so much peace!

Small world

2010-04-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Vera is great at keeping up with her blog and letting us know how Alex is going on his mission. Her newest post talkes about alex's first transfer on his mission and in on of the pictures... low and behold was my exboyfriend!! Jordan or Elder Mitchell has like 3 months left or something like that and I forgot they were both serving in Dallas, TX. I havent written Mitchell since may of last year so I have been trying to track down his address for a while to write him one more time but it has been like pulling teeth. I now finally have the mission home address!!! thank you Aunt Vera!!!

My cousin Alex (Elder Jones) is in the middle and Jordan (Elder Mitchell) is on the right

budget and unemployment

2010-04-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

So now that we are down an income i am looking at the budget again.... its not as bad as i thought it would be but it still hurts. I applied for unemployment this week and i have to keep filing every week untill I get called for an interview.... with as many people who are unemployed who knows how long that will take. because i was fired they would have to determine if i was at fault. If not then they will back pay me for the weeks that i have filed... and when thats all over i'll only be getting $183 a week....

job hunting is so frustrating. i feel like i have already looked everywhere. no one is hiring. i feel like i finally have the experience i need to move forward in my career and I can't find a company in the wedding industry that is hiring besides the one who fired me... which means i have to go else where and the only other thing i have experience in is retail. i dont want to go back there unless its wedding dresses... flip i opened and put together a bridal saloon with designer dresses! When I told that to the manager at a bridal shop yesterday he was shocked. then he asked me if i was sucsessful. i told he that by the time I left we were selling dresses to 2 out of 3 of our signed brides... I learned and did A LOT when i worked with Griffin Events... it joust botheres me that non of this experience is going to help right now.....

ugg, just frustrating

I hate job hunting!

2010-04-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

I got fired last week and because i'm "a hard worker and we love you as a person" they gave me 2 more weeks of work. Saturday is my last day and then its full blast looking for a job... I hate job hunting but I am relieved to be rid of this company. There just seemed to be so many issues... mostly with the managment there. It was getting really hard to work with. I know 3 people who are looking for new jobs so they can get out of this company as well...

So when I got fired I was told that I was a hard worker but they didn't think wedding coordinating was for me... HUH!?!?!?! I have been doing this for 3 years people... My last job had to hire 3 people to replace me because I was so valueble to them... Coordinating in a wedding chapel is a no brainer...
"Hi ____ & ____ How are you today? we just have a few things to sign and then you will get to meet with your minister and go over the ceremony. after that your photographer will come in and talk to you about your photo shoot. Do you have rings and your marriage license? sign here, here and here, traditional music ok? would you like to walk down the aisle together? Com on over and I'll pin you bout on... dont worry i'll poke myself before i get you! This is doug he is going to be your minister.... Ok we are going to start from here. we will play a short intro and then your song will start. I'll tell you when to go. Just take it nice and slow. after that doug will tell you exactuly what to do throught the ceremony"

ITS NOT THAT HARD! The thing that I dont like about wedding chapel ceremonys is that you have to develope a 5 min relationship.... where as when you are working with the same couple for months and then they are your only couple of the day, you really know what they want and expect and you have a better relationship... Also I have never done so much paperwork before and i have worked with some obsesive companies.... at the end of the day we have to fill our a form that tracks our day EVERY 15 MINS.... its like they want to stand over our shoulders all day long but cant so we have to report exactly what we did all day long... no trust... i got written up the other day for being on lunch and someone else left the door unlocked to the chapel that i aparently was in charge of. no matter how many times I say that I had the door locked and some moron left it open, i still got the blow for it. i got yelled at one night for standing outside and watching a ceremony for 5 mins. I was also standing there with one of the manager and a photogrpaher... my asst manager came over afteer the ceremony and yelled at all three of us. when i went to her at the end of the night and told her why i was standing there and that legally im aloud a 10min on the clock break sh wouldnt look at me at all.... from that point on she doesnt talk to me unless she needs anything. she was cool before she got put in managment... now she is out of control....

anyways, if anyone hears of any nanny, wedding, or floral jobs open in vegas let me know!

I got offered a job at a wedding venue in St George and i have never even met the manager. Just from our emails she said she liked my creative thinking. To bad we can't move to st george...

We are back!!!

2010-03-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that we have been married for a year already!

Jared and I decided that with our tax refund we would take a NICE trip and do a second honeymoon or a redo from our original. I guess the first one flopped because we never really planned anything... mybad. I was wrapped up in my wedding plans...

We went on a cruise to key west, fl and nassau, bahamas. it was kind of windy the whole trip which made it a little cold. When we got in to key west it rained all day and of course stopped as soon as we pulled out of port... anyways pictures!

so frustrating..... my photos wont upload here or facebook.... ill keep trying

ugg school

2010-02-21T16:17:00.000-08:00

man I hate school. School is not for procrastonators like myself... i am sitting here on the couch knowing Ihave things due tomorrow for business law and my comp exam online tonight... and im hungry...

anyways school is killing me this semester... I just want it to end!!!

I am blown away

2010-02-19T17:12:00.000-08:00

Its amazing how you can be right about people from day one....

In HS I really, highly disliked these sisters because they were WAY into themselves. Then I got married and was in their parents ward... Tara would say stuff like, "I thought you were cool and nice and I wanted to be just like you." Of course I didnt tell her I didnt like her. I helped her with her career choice and NOW these sisters are just a joke. PEOPLE WILL USE YOU TILL THEY DONT NEED YOU ANYMORE!!!

I posted on facebook one day that I was happy that homebirth cost $10,000 less then hospital birth cause thats what I want to do. I DID NOT CHOOSE HOME BIRTH BECAUSE ITS CHEAP. I chose it because its right for me. I did my research and I know the risks in both choices. Home birth isnt for everyone and hospital birth isnt for everyone.

But why would you tell ANYONE THIS??? "your putting yourself in danger and your unborn child. You are going to be a horrible mother if you do this. Your not thinking. You just posted this for the attention. Your not going to make it to the hospital alive if something goes wrong at home." These are just a few of the MANY comments I got from her.

Then I Posted last week that " I wish my husband understood me more." Tara tells me that this isnt a comment I should post on FB. Its a personal matter between husband an wife. DONT EVEN START ON ME GIRL! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MY MARRIAGE LET ALONE ABOUT MARRIAGE YOURSELF. YOU HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR WHAT? 3 MONTHS????
AND WE KNOW YOUR MARRIAGE ISN'T PERFECT.

I am just SO tired of people telling me what I should and shouldnt be doing and acting like if I dont do it there way I shouldn't be aloud to live... These people make me sick...

And finally George... becca's husband... The one who married becca 1 week before her long time bf was to come home from his mission. George told me that I was a horrible wife for "publicly bashing my husband." My husband has 100% access to my fb and blogs. Its nothing Im hiding from him.... Dont you think I didn't already talk to him about it???? moron... im so glad none of these people live in vegas anymore.

I had to delete my last post because I couldnt get the comments completely of there. One thing I dont like about blogger is that I can block users. I can make my page private but thats not the point of this blog so I now cant let anyone comment on my posts. Its pathetic that people can ruin good things....

From now on if you dont like my posts STOP READING THEM!!!

Crash and Burn

2010-01-26T13:45:00.000-08:00

I just feel like one day we are up and the next day something pulls us back down.

UP - decided to go on vacation with chelsey and tod! yay!!! cancun
DOWN - Tod couldnt get time off for our vaca so cancun got cancelled
UP - jared and I booked a 5 day cruise to the bahamas.
DOWN - my hours got cut so we are having a hard time saving.
UP-got a scholorship for school books
DOWN - still had to pay 100$ for books... dang Law books!
UP - the school gave me back my scholorship i lost because of my GPA. I had already paid for the semester so they gave me a $480 check.
DOWN - that whole check had to go to pay for our SLC trip because we took the excursion so gas was more... it was snowy and i didnt think it was a good idea driving my little car.
UP - went on a weekend trip to SLC for Brooks fairwell. It was great!
DOWN- first day of school when we came back and forgot that school actually started last week so I missed a week of assignments on my 2 online classes and now im behind.
DOWN - I'm only working one or 2 days a week right now and they are only 6hr shifts.
UP- jared found out last night that they are going to fill a full time position at freeman and as far as we can tell he is the only one eligable... I told him he needs to stick his nose in his bosses office or they wont know he is interested... freeman is famose for forgeting he exists and just droping the position...
DOWN - my "firsts" keep getting pulled out from under me.... by the same person....
UP - just started working on our taxes last night and we are going to get more then enough to cover our cruise!!!!
DOWN - went swimsuit shopping and just wanted to break the mirror.... i can't believe i have let myself get to this point... with a life as busy as mine, i just havent been able to put any time in for myself...

anyways thats where we are at.... and my house is a mess...

I am thankfull for good In-Laws

2010-01-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

Somy computer just gave out before christmas and if anyone could fix it, it was going to be the DeGraw house!

Well after taking it to a shop, buying a new harddrive (because it crashed), pulling off the files, trying to put windows 7 on, the computer gave compleatly out!

So my wonderful father-in-law bought me a new (used) computer from work for cheep and put all my stuff back on it! yay for a working computer again! To top it all off, he wouldn't let me pay him for anything... he never does.

Thank heavens for great in-laws!

-Kate

married people survey

2010-01-14T10:26:00.000-08:00

This is a survey for all of you married folk. Fill it out & post it!

(i would have put pictures with this but my computer is down)

1) When was your wedding day? March 14, 2009

2) What day of the week was it? Saturday

3) Did you get married in a church? Las Vegas Temple (of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints)

4) How many in your wedding party?lets see... I had my sister, jareds sister, and my 3 best friends. jared had his 3 brothers... so 5 & 3....

5) Where was your reception? my parents backyard. it was PERFECT! the weather was amazing.

6) How many guests were invited to your wedding? we sent out at least 400 invites and had about 300 people actually walk through at one point or another.

7) How long did you wait to Tie The Knot after your proposal:well we were dating for almost 4 months and then engaged for another 4 and a half months.

8) Who did you hire as your photographer & videographer? Cache Media Works. One of my bridesmaid's dad's owns a photography company and is fantastic! So Joe Kenamore took our photos on the temple grounds and then took us out to an old mine out towards Nelson, NV. It took us 45 mins to drive out there and then 45 mins back but it was SOOOO worth it! We ended up with amazing photos!

9) Did you have a DJ or a band? Nope just my Ipod. My dad just finished the bbq area in our backyard and it is set up with a speaker system. I bought a cd of old big band love songs and we just looped that. Music wasn't a huge thing for me with the style of wedding I wanted.

10) Did your father walk you down the aisle? no but he was our legal witness. in the temple we dont have that kind of a ceremony.

11) What color were the bridesmaid dresses & groomsmen vests? brides maids wore black dresses or white with black lace and then they had yellow sashes with jeweled broaches. for the guys they just wore black pants white shirts and we bought them matching green ties.

12) Who was your Maid Of Honor/Best Man? Well we didnt have those titles really but chelsey clamed MOH because she is my longest running best friend and Caleb clamed BM because he wanted to.

13) Did you have a Bridal Shower? Yes, my best friend growing up, he mom threw me a shower. All the older ladies were there and people from my ward growing up. Then the night before my girls took me out to the strip and we rode the NYNY roller coaster and just messted around. We even made a midnight trip to walmart!

14) What type of limo did you get? didnt! we hid my car so it wouldn't get covered in crap and we drove that to the hotel.

15) Where did you go for your Bachelorette/Bachelor Party? the strip. mostly NYNY. which is funny cause thats where jared and I had our room booked too.

16) What type of wedding gown/tux did you two wear? Lol dressshopping was hard. I thought i knew what i wanted but ended up geting the dress my mom picked out... go figure! Jareds tux was a sweet deal. We got it for free!!! At the time i was working for a company that planned big time weddings. I sent all my clients to Tuxedo Junction so they gave jareds tux to us for free... and what ever we wanted. He ended up picking a nice yellow demask print vest with a simple double breasted tux. he looked hot!

17) How was the weather? Couldn't have gotten any luckier. We did the reception outside in my back yard and all of our pictures outside... My parents collected heaters from people thinking that we would need them and we never used them. It was still like 80 degrees by the time we left that night.

18) Where did you go on your Honeymoon? we stayed 3 nights in vegas i think and then drove to hollywood. it was very interesting.... thats why we are going on a REAL honeymoon on our first aniversary...we were pretty done with CA after the second day so we went home early and went shoping for our house.

19) What was your favorite parts of your wedding day? oh the whole thing. we had a blast taking pictures... The food was AMAZING!!! The cake was unbelievable. I now have my whole family hooked on red velvet! My dad made me cry during our dance... the best part of the day though was probably introducing him to people at our reception as my husband! I still have days where i can't believe we are married!

20) How long have you been married? 10 months today!

For Garth Abbott

2010-01-11T22:08:00.000-08:00

An amazing man and his family are facing a nightmare we all hope we never have to see... cancer. Bishop Abbott does not have insurance and therefore NO ONE will treat him unless he has cash for part of his treatment... with radiation and what not everything will add up to $105,000.

His family has started a blog for support and right now they are housing an auction. You can bid on items or donate and item or service. 100% proceeds will go to the Garth Abbott Foundation. Take a minute to look at the blog.

http://thedailyabbott.blogspot.com/

2010 Goals

2010-01-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

I try not to make "New year resolutions" because I believe you should always be working on goals... so here are some goals that I want to accomplish this year.

-Lose at least 10 pounds by March 1st
-Go on a Big Vacation with my husband
-start a family
-graduate from college

Steps are being taken to accomplish all of these because I do not make goals I can't accomplish...

Christmas

2010-01-08T15:23:00.000-08:00

So this has been long in coming!

Our Christmas was fabulous! We bought ourselves a TV and some movies. That was suppose to be it but we got carried away. Jared bought me a beautiful bracelet and jacket!

Let me tell you my husband is the hardest person to shop for! He never wants anything and when he does he just goes out and buys it... Im kind of the same way but at least I hinted him what to buy me... (I sent him an email with pictures of things I liked cause he doesnt take hints)... I ended up buying him a belt cause he said he needed a new one, a safe for his gun, cause we looked at some one time and he mentioned the need, and a christmas manihime steam roller cd because thats one of his fav things about christmas... what a lame wife! like really i didnt know what to get him besides movies that I know he has been looking for. Are all guys like this? My dad is totally like this.

Anyways after opening presents together we went to the DeGraw house and had breakfast and opened more presents. Marty and Janet got us a beautiful picture of the Las Vegas temple that i have successfully hung up. I bought shelves to go with it but have tried unsuccessfully to hange them twice. It was nice to just relax for the day

That evening we went to my parents for dinner. Rowdy bought us a Brittany Murphy movie, wyatt got us a trash can (he has bought me a trash can for like the past 5 years. its a joke between us) and quinn gave us a "D" to decorate our house with. My parents gave us money for christmas to help buy our TV.

Jared had a bit of time off so we actually got to spend some time together!! It was nice. New Years was fun. We stoped in at Dianna's party and then my parents party and ended up at the airport garage towatch the fireworks!

Anyways... some fun stuff over the holidays... Jareds friends from high school all came to vegas for christmas so we got together one night for dinner and games. It was good to met more of them and for jared to spend time with HIS friends.

Sorry for no pictures. My computer also decided to compleatly crash out on me so it is suppose to be getting fixed.

Happy New Year everyone!

blessings

2009-12-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

so i was reading a friends blog and I feel very blessed.

I am so thankful for my husband and that he is willing to support me in any decision I make.
I am thankful for our jobs. Even though jared works 2 part time jobs and one lays him off every 3 months, it gets us through.
I am thankful that I have a job in a career field that I enjoy so that I do not dread work everyday.
I am thankful for the opportunity that I have to get and education. I only have one semester left and can't wait to be done.
I am thankful for my loving husband and the opportunity that we will have to start our family next year.
I am thankful that we have the meens to have a good Christmas this year. We spent way too much but Im glad that we were able to enjoy the holidays the way we wanted to.
Im thankful for the savior and influance in my marriage and in my life.

My goal for the month!

2009-12-09T09:24:00.000-08:00

Before the new year I need to find an OBGYN in Vegas who won't fight me on birthing my children at home...

Doctors are so stubborn....

And I need to get health insurance...

do you see it?

2009-11-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

so i found this new photo program called Picasa 3 from google that does these awesome collages. i think i found the link on someone elses blog... anyways my first fun one is here!

Now tell me what is missing in these pictures???? It will be interesting if anyone can get it...

My new Blog!

2009-10-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

Ok so i have business cards and everything now! YAY!

My next wedding is on Dec 19th so I got my business cards (finally) and set up my blog! check it out and share it!!!

www.simplyrealweddings.blogspot.com

-Katelyn Degraw
Wedding planner, coordinator, and florist!

Ok so life crysis of the month!

2009-10-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

SO we found out friday, Oct 2nd that the condo we are renting is being foreclosed and is going to auction on tues, Oct 6th... The owners went CRAZY when they found out that we knew. We refused to pay rent for Oct till we knew exactly what was going on. Because of this they called us 5 times a day trying to get rent out of us. I called around all week trying to get a streight answer out of anyone i could. Thursday, Oct 8th the owners tried to give us a typed letter saying that we have 30 days to move and then they will come to pull appliances. They are trying to evict us when they dont even own the place! We had to get a lawyer... the next day the bank that the house defalted back to, sent a rep to our house. He gave us a "cash for keys" aggrement. If we are out by the 23rd the bank will give us a check for 2000$. So we are moving to Copper Creek appartments on Sunday! We are very happy to be getting out of this house. the last couple weeks have been a stressful nightmere! We changed the locks and are still afraid to come home and find things missing. Next week can't come any faster.

The Blessings: free rent for october! only half rent for november! 2000$ which means school money! and 150$ less a month for rent.

Thank you heavenly father!

My life Calling!

2009-09-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ok so since leaving Griffin Events, i have noticed that i miss planning the WOW weddings! I left big weddings and went to chapel stuff because i thought it was stressing me out too much and the brides drove me crazy. I found that it wasn't that at all. Griffin Events drove me crazy!!!! I was doing everything and more and getting paid nothing. I was doing everything yet i when clients asked me questions, i didnt have the athority to answer them. This frustrated me...

I am very happy to start doing bigger weddings again! Katey and Paul are my next victums... i mean clients!

Katey is a friend from the singles ward and she has hired me to be her planner and coordinator! I am very excited. By the wedding it is my goal to have a really nice business card so that I can display them at the wedding and start doing stuff on my own.

My goal for life is to beable to plann weddings from home and beable to raise my children. This could be my first step.

December 19th here I come!!!!!

the curse of being newlyweds in this "depression"

2009-08-28T12:08:00.001-07:00

I hate to admit it but we are struggling. Jared isn't going back to freeman and Cache only works him 20 hrs a week. Rent is due next week and we are reaching to find the last pennies. We were looking at our finances and we own $1750+ with in the next 2 weeks. This will cover Rent, Car regestration, my ticket from last year, car insurance, car payment, phone bill, birth control, gas bill, and other odds and ends. not to mention that I just had to pay for school with my savings because my grant was denied. That will leave us with nothing in our savings and next to nothing in our pockets... What if something else happens?

I have decieded that the whole government system is screwed up. We are both trying to work and barely making ends meet and the govenment won't give me $1000 for school... but yet drugies can go collect their welfare checks every month...

Jared has been looking for a new job since we got engaged... It just seems like a never ending battle.

We are going to the temple to night with Caleb and I'm hoping to find some guidance there.

Summer

2009-07-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

So i am kind of dissapointed by how this summer played out... stupid economy.

I started in new job in june so i can kiss vacation time goodbye. Jared started a 2nd job in july because the first one keeps temp laying him off. So we couldnt go to the whole pearson reunion at the ranch on the 4th of july. I had to work sat morning so we went up right after i got off. we were only their for like 24 hrs. then the next week was girls camp. then the next week was the reid reunion up in big bear. I heard that was alot of fun. im very sad i missed it. Then jareds parents went on their own church history/rv trip. I would love to go back east and see all that. Jared served his mission their and thats the main reason jared wanted to go...

now here it is august already and i have left town for no more than 24 hrs... LAME!!!

also jared and i were trying to plan a honeymoon cause our first one sucked. I blame myself for not being ontop of that one. I plan the whole wedding and give him one task.... So we wanted to cruise next march. Well now my parents are saying that next summer the reid reunion is going to be a cruise.... now i have to wait a whole YEAR for another vaca.

Im dying here... and school starts in a month...

Reception pictures

2009-07-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

So i finially snaged my photographer at another wedding and begged him for my reception pictures... 4 months in waiting... he gets married in sept so i know he will vanish after that... so here are a few to share!

my birthday present

2009-07-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

so the other day i was mending jareds pants with the smallest sewing kit on earth... I told jared that night at the movies that i wanted a sewing machine for christmas. well that was about a month ago. Today when jared got home from his hair cut. he haded me the keys and asked me to get the stuff in the trunk. so i went out and low and behold my amazing husband bought me a sewing machine!!!

He said he has been thinking about it eversince i said anything. because of our wedding i didnt really get a birthday. so he said it was a late birthday present. well i didnt get him anything either... well i guess i did by him a new expencive shirt for our aniversary date earlyer this month.

either way i have the best husband ever!!!

Wedding merithon

2009-07-20T12:09:00.001-07:00

So Jared and I went to 3 weddings saturday night... as if i dont have enought weddings in my life with work...

Our first stop was Justin and Amy Zeleski. Justin was a good friend of ours in singles ward. He and amy started dating while jared and i were engaged. They had a small reception at the Double tree here. They are amazing together. We look forward to having another married couple to do things with! yay date nights!!!

2nd was Katie and Shane huntsman. Katie and i grew up together and they were in singles ward as well. She had her reception at Legacy Ranch aka Johnny Stewarts house. It was cool. Their colors were like yelow and orange Gerbra dasies with LIME Green dresses and black sashes. Very interesting. He cake was absolutly cute though. Totally forgot to take my camera though. The one thing i really like was that they had taken their pictures pre wedding and printed them on vinal banners. They were hung everywhere. It was very cute!! (also she was weiring the wedding dress i almost bought. Jared didnt like it. Thanks mom for looking and finding my dress!)

Our last stop was Elsie and (i dont know his name) (and just forgot her new name.. dang). Her parents are jareds parents neighbors. We went to represent the parents cause they are on a church history trip or something. Anyways. He colors were like a Champagne pink and Champagne. They had theirs at the stake center. about 200 peopl there. Total hispanic wedding. We were prob 2 of 10 people who spoke english as their first language. it was cute though. She looked beautiful.

Long night. Made me happy to think our wedding was over and behind us... even though i am STILL writing thankyou letters....