1 year in a nutshell

I'm going to try to start blogging again, since I realize that it's been over a year. My roommate keeps bugging me about blogging, saying that my facebook statuses are too long. So, since I just had Connor, we'll try to see if I can keep the blog up.

In April of last year, we celebrated 6 years together. We went to dinner and exchanged presents. It was nice to be out. We also went shopping to get new bedding and a new blender, and I was thankful for a cousin willing to watch our girls so we could do that.

In May, McKenna turned 3 and she was finally potty trained. She was in underwear during the day and pull-ups for nap time and night time. We had a fun party for her, where we had Ian's parents who came from CA to celebrate, and my cousin over for the party. We also got a chance to see my friend Kennie whom I served with in So. CA in 2007 for Achievement Days. Her oldest son was being sealed to his wife in the Jordan River temple, and she invited Ian and I. We were able to reconnect with her son, and offered the invite that if they wanted to hang out, we were cool. Little did we know, we would end up inseparable from them and would begin hanging out weekly, sometimes more than once a week. They have become real close friends/almost family for us. Ian's parents stayed for 2 weeks, and it was good having them here to see the girls, tour the zoo in SLC, and just spend time being lazy. Ian's mom was in the hospital for a short visit while here, but was better when she got out. They went back to CA the 2nd week in May (after celebrating Mother's Day with us), and 2 weeks later we got the devastating news.

It was 3:30 am, my phone began ringing. I woke up, saw it was Ian's mom calling, hung up and sent her a text asking what was up. The phone rang again, and it was Ian's mom calling again. I answered and my heart sank. Ian's dad was on the other end crying, telling me that mom had just passed away. He said that she woke up with the cats jumping on the bed, laid back down, and began gasping for air. He tried to help her, performed CPR while dialing 911, but he lost her. She had passed away on May 31, 2012 at the young age of 64. My heart sank, and I was left to the task of waking Ian up while still being on the phone. I woke him up and told him, and he began screaming this bloody murder. His worst fear of his whole life had just come true, and he was heart broken. I finished on the phone, knowing that Ian's dad's bishop was there and his dad's parents were on their way down from Dutch Flatt. I went and woke the girls up and told them that Grandma had just passed away, and she was in heaven now. Hunter, at 5 years old, was able to comprehend, and began crying. I sat there holding her, then woke McKenna up, who didn't understand. We went downstairs and sat there and cried for the next 3 hours. That whole day was horrible for Ian, as he sat there staring at pictures of his mom, who had just been ripped away from him. He cried a lot, was quiet a lot, and began withdrawing from everything that day. That next week while we waited to go to CA for the funeral was a long week for him. Thankfully he was unemployed at the time, so he was able to grieve and heal in his own time, and we were able to spend 4 days in CA taking care of Ian's dad and making sure he'd be okay before we left to come back to UT. To this day, every month that passes with 31 days, the 31st is always a hard day for him.

In June was Ian's mom's funeral. It was a good visit and gave us the chance to visit with family that we hadn't seen since we moved to UT in Jan. In July Ian started his new job and we spent 4th of July at a rodeo and enjoying time with the Tritsch's. Bro. Tritsch teaches Gospel Principles, which we were attending in the ward, and Sis. Tritsch was the 1st one to say hi to me in RS. Their kids are older and living on their own, and they loved taking our girls in. We grew pretty close to them pretty fast, and it was nice having friends in the ward again.

August, Ian and I both celebrated our birthdays (small celebrations). We also found out we were expecting a baby, due April 1, 2013.

September and October were small months, with nothing really going on. We celebrated Halloween by taking the girls out trick or treating and going through trial after trial with deciding whether we were moving. In November, we found out we were staying in the ward, Ian was laid off, then he started a new job. It was a very crazy month, but we also got the best news ever. We found out we were expecting a boy....

December brought Christmas and we had the joy of being able to host Ian's dad, Ian's brother, and his brother's boyfriend. It was a very nice visit, despite the nasty snowy roads. We also had the chance to go down to Springville on Christmas Eve to see Ian's aunt and uncle (his mom's brother and sister in law, and their grown kids with their spouses). It was a very nice visit, even if it was only a couple days, and a good way to spend the holidays.