Kicking!

Im 22 (23 tomorrow!) weeks! I am feeling Michael kick SOOO much more. Its crazy! It started 2 days ago. I was in walmart standing at the registry machine and I really needed to pee and all of a sudden I'm getting kicked. Its not little flutters anymore, its kicks! Maybe punches, all I know is he is practicing his Taekwondo on my bladder and my belly in general now!

I told Josh about it and later that night I could feel him again. Josh put his hand on my belly but couldn't feel anything so I told him to push harder, he pressed a little so I put my hand over his and pushed it in there and he was like I dont know if I felt anything...I felt a little bump. I told him "thats it!! That him kicking, its just a little bump right now!"

It was very exciting and it still is, although at times when I really have to pee, it gets a little uncomfortable and Im sure it will get more uncomfortable as he grows but I am just glad to be able to feel that my little guy is alive and definitely kicking!

Due date!

I get to change my due date back to my original April 30th! It seems so much closer than May 6th! :)

We had our 20 week ultrasound a couple weeks ago and thats when they measured our little boy, who by the way, is still a boy! :)

At the ultrasound they looked at his heart to make sure there were 4 chambers and there were. :)

They checked for cleft pallette and cleft lip but he didn't have either!

They also zoomed in on many of his bones, which all seemed to be developing right on!

It was so neat to see my baby and see all 4 chambers of his heart pumping. It was an emotional ultrasound that I honestly didn't expect coming. I didn't realize I could have been walking away from that ultrasound finding out that our baby would have some kind of issues and trials, but he doesn't and I am so grateful to have a healthy baby boy growing inside me. I just hope the rest of the pregnancy, his growth, and birth all continue on track and that we'll have no complications or at least not many with the birth and none for him.

2 years

2 years ago today, Josh and I were sealed in the Washington DC temple for time and all eternity!
It was the best decision I ever made :)

I never wrote in my journal about that day (shame on me, I know) so I thought I would write down now what I remember :) Warning this will be long!

Josh and I flew out to PA 2 days before our wedding, so the 18th. We had just finished finals and it snowed so hard in Utah we were afraid we wouldn't make it to the airport in Salt Lake from Provo BUT the snow stopped for a short time, right when we needed to drive. Thank you Heavenly Father :)

Josh's sister and brother in law picked us up from the airport. It was my first time meeting them. They gave us our wedding present in the car, it was awkward and funny :) They warned me of what was to come when we got to the house. Everyone would be sleeping (it was around midnight when we got there) but Mom wanted to be woken up. They warned me that the family was loud and crazy and would probably not stop questioning me because I was new. So i was warned but I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.

We got to the house and walked inside. Josh's mom was there waiting for us. We sat down at the table and talked for a little while and soon the whole family was down stairs talking. It stayed kind of quiet, at least for them but I was still a little overwhelmed and didn't talk as much as I usually would.

The next day we watched a movie, Mom and Jenn started working on the wedding cake and my parents flew in from California. The boys got in lots of boy fighting time and video games. We went to bed early (Not that anyone really slept because of the anticipation, but we tried) knowing we would be waking up early to drive to the temple to get married.

We woke up, I woke up about an hour or so earlier than everyone else so I could do my hair and all of that! I brought all of my stuff with me. Josh's dad showed up to drive us all in the big van to the temple and my parents and Jenn and Mark followed in their own cars. There had been ice warnings going on for days there. Everything was frozen over. One of my favorite things there were the ice trees. I'd never seen them before but what the warning meant for us was that the only people who would be going to the temple with us were our immediate families. As we pulled out of the driveway the van slid on the ice in the road, swerved and then finally got a grip again. I was a bit scared after that, we prayed we would make it there safely.

After the 2+ hour drive there we got out and went into the temple while Josh's Dad and my parents and all the siblings besides Jenn and Mark stayed outside and went to the visitors center.

Josh's mom, Jenn, Mark, and Josh and I went into the temple. We talked with the temple Matron and made sure all of our legal stuff was taken care of. We then went and changed into what we would be married in. Josh was waiting at the door for me and we walked hand in hand to our sealing room, the smallest and most intimate of them all and were sealed for time and all eternity. It was a beautiful experience and very spiritual. We were given guidance and advice for us to live a better, happier life. We then went into the celestial room where we could be in a quiet and peaceful place together, where it is easy to feel the spirit of God. After spending some time in there we went to the changing rooms again. I changed into my wedding dress and got "reready" fixing up my make up and hair. After I was ready, Josh was waiting for me at the door, it was so nice to feel so beautiful and see his face light up when he saw me for the first time :)

We walked out of the temple doors and Josh did his "golasso" pose. He is so..him :) We started taking pictures and hugging family. It was great to see my mom after that, to let her know how special this experience was and how grateful I was that she was there on the temple grounds when I was sealed. After we left we went to wendy's on the way back to the church for our reception, we had only a short time so fast food it was. We drove with mark and jenn most of the way and then my parents started falling asleep so we took over their car :) We got to the reception after almost everyone had already arrived, had to change into our wedding stuff and get out there fast for a short ring ceremony. It was a fun reception and very relaxed. I got to meet many of Josh's high school friends and had fun dancing and enjoying my first few hours as the new Mrs. Joshua GodfreyI'll do our CA reception and ring ceremony another day!

Movement

At 18 weeks (last night) December 5th 2010 (for documenting purposes) I am pretty sure (semi, kind of, almost?) that I felt our baby move.

I was laying on our game room couch watching Percy Jackson and the Olympians with Josh and half looking on the computer, kind of curled/squished with my knees bent and I felt TWO little...bumps? in my middle lower abdomen... then as I was getting up I felt one more. It was kind of like a little push, tap, something BUT i'm pretty sure it was my little monkey!

It was so excited because I have been WAITING for this to happen. I stayed up later last night than I have in a LONG time. I rarely stay up past...9 or 9:30 (this baby takes a lot of energy ;) ) and last night I stayed up until 11 ish and I think I felt him around 10:30-10:45 so maybe he's just a night owl!

I love this baby so much. He consumes all of my thoughts (and all of my energy!) but I would give everything for him! We tried for such a long time (at least to us, some people have much harder trials than we did and my heart goes out to you, it truly does) to create this beautiful baby. I hope he always knows he was wanted and that we could not be happier to share our lives with him. We are grateful to be so blessed to take care of a son of our Heavenly Father and to be blessed by his spirit. This baby has already had a positive impact on my life (and on Josh's as well). I want to be better because of him. I want to know more about the gospel and about everything so I can teach him. I want to do more so I can be an example to him. I just want to be a better person so I can be a better Wife to my husband and Mother to our "soon to be born" son.

It's a...

Well this is a little late, but we are having a

BEAUTIFUL BOUNCING BABY BOY!!

And we could not be happier!!

We drove up to Phoenix after saying we would just wait it out and find out at 19 weeks (which still happens to be a week away from when Im writing this)

BUT

My doctor office could not get me in until I would be 21 weeks and that was just TOO long of a wait! So at EXACTLY 15 weeks we got to see our little MICHAEL ALEXANDER on the big screen! (it actually was pretty big! They projects the ultrasound up on the wall so Josh and I both could look comfortably!)

We had a conversation with the technician before we started about how it is easier to tell if it is a boy because there will be "something" there as compared to early on nothing there could mean "it" just hasn't grown yet I guess!

We started the ultrasound and his little face was front and center! I said "Oh look it's the baby's face!" The technician said "That's not what we're looking for today!" :)

She wiggled the wand around a little bit and said "Well I'm pretty sure I already know."

We didn't really say anything, just waited and she said "Well you know how we were talking before about how easy it is to tell if it's a boy...well...It looks like it's a boy!"

She kept bouncing the wand on my belly and having me cough so Michael would get in a good position for us to see "the goods." She kept saying "Yeah, yeah, it's a boy" then said "BUT I'm going to prove it to you!"

So finally Michael cooperated, turned and put his body the way my body was, so his spine on mine kind of a thing, facing upward and gave us a great shot of his belly, legs and penis. There is no way my boy could be a girl now!I'm completely in love with this boy inside me, even though sometimes I still wonder if he's real.

First Buy!

Kind of the second but that didn't work out as planned. We bought a gender neutral car seat because it was SUCH A GOOD DEAL, so good that walmart said it was a misprint. SO sad. They did give us a $15 gift card for the "trouble" though. Not that it would make up for the $100 we thought we were about to save!

ANYWAY

We bought the CUTEST changing table/dresser! Mrs. Lisa Williams found hers and I LOVED it so I had to find a similar one that would go with what we wanted to do in our nursery and I DID!!

Buying this made me feel like we REALLY are going to have a baby! AH! I have been itching to just go shopping for our baby but hopefully this will tide me over for a little while!

My next appointment is Tuesday! I most likely won't get another sonogram until my anatomy scan in 4 weeks. We were going to pay to do the gender scan early BUT since Im measuring a week behind I wouldn't be able to do it until I was 17 weeks and I'm getting my anatomy scan for free at my doctors at 19 weeks so I guess it's not really worth it, at least thats what I'm telling myself so I save that money for something else (like a crib or a travel system, oh the possibilities!)

PA

We got to fly to Pennsylvania to visit Josh's side of the family last week!

We had such a great time and love visiting his family so much!

We even had a little birthday party for Josh and the other birthdays near the fall!

The whole time we were there we were being fed great food! it was so yummy! Also every time there was an option for food or any kind of eating going on, everyone would say "oh the baby wants it" and would give it to me :) It was so funny. Although it was usually things the baby didn't necessarily want (or need) but Mama wanted it. haha Like the sticky bun at the market. SO delicious!

Gina and the boys are supposed to move here next summer! I really hope it happens that way because we would love to have them closer! We've only been home a week and we miss them already!

Baby update!

I'm 15 weeks pregnant as of yesterday!

My last sonogram was at 12 weeks ish. They measured the baby's neck and pricked my finger to test for down syndrome. The results came back saying everything was normal! :)

The best part of that appointment was seeing our little baby again! He/She was moving around and thrusting their body at the sonogram wand. I don't think they liked how hard the dr was pushing (I didn't really like it either!)

Profile picture of our baby at 12 weeksAt the end of the sonogram the baby turned and faced the wand! It was so neat to see our baby's face and feel like they were looking at us!

Even if they did look a little creepy ;) Creepy but SO CUTE :)
(I hope our baby has a sense of humor otherwise, he/she probably won't like my little adaptation of their photo)

My actual dr (not the one doing the sonogram) said that even though I ovulate later than most it's still within 2 weeks so she's going with my April 30th due date with out dating my baby. So at this appointment I asked the dr doing the sonogram to date the baby just for my information to see where they are at. The actual due date of what the baby was measuring is May 6th so I'm about a week off BUT i'm ok with going with the April 30th due date because that means i'll have my baby sooner :) As long as they're healthy and ready to come a little early!

Our active Baby!

We got to see our baby today!

He or She was flailing around, waving and kicking!

Watching our baby being so active made this pregnancy feel so much more REAL!

I can't wait to feel my baby!
(Although that won't be for quite a while!)

(Sorry for the crappy picture!)

I wish I had thought to bring my camera so that we could have recorded He or She moving around!

I was thinking...

I was thinking today about how I cannot wait to get all bundled up (or as bundled as tucson needs you to be) and drink hot chocolate and go see Christmas lights

That led me to remember how last year Josh and I got bundled up and walked around a neighborhood here that does Christmas lights. After that we got hot chocolate and those mini doughnuts and just drove around town talking. It was such a fun night.

Then I kind of remembered that we had an argument right before that. It's so funny and amazing to me that the memory of that evening is full of happiness and love. If I had not been thinking so hardly about that evening I probably wouldn't have even remembered that we had an argument.

Which led me to be so grateful that life's memories and moments are good. That even when things happen that are not so pleasant we don't have to focus on them. They don't have to be what we remember. I still believe life is what I make it and I can CHOOSE to be happy. I hope I always remember that..even when I feel like there's too much to handle!

9 weeks

My baby no longer has a tail AND has fingers and toes.

Grow baby, Grow!

Oh baby,

Why do you scare me so?

Yesterday I had to get lab work done AND do a glucose tolerance test for GESTATIONAL diabetes, Mind you I'm only around 8 weeks pregnant! Diabetes runs VERY...strongly(?) in my family so my doctor wants to the test already just to be sure. Anyway, we'll see how that went soon.

On to the scare.

I woke up to go potty (like I do Oh at least 2-3 times a night) and got this HORRIBLE, AWFUL unexpected pain in the lower left part of my abdomen. It hurt so badly that I doubled over in pain, got extremely nauseous, went white, and started sweating. It was the most excruciating pain I've ever felt (which also made me HIGHLY doubt I will be successful with the "natural" birth I have been leaning toward). When I could talk I called Josh for a bowl to toss my cookies in, although I was able to hold it in. After a couple minutes I was able to get up and started to feel better. Later I called the On-call nurse and she said because my body is changing so much for my baby it could very well have been

extreme gas pains.

Can you believe that? Pregnancy is CRAZY.

I've been fine since then (No cramping and no blood). Still crappy feeling because well..I'm pregnant and my beautiful little baby is sucking all my energy and health BUT that is A okay with me! They can have it all :)

btw-I CANNOT wait for my next appt. October cannot come soon enough!

2 Hearts!

Well I am officially PREGNANT!!

There are 2 hearts beating inside of my body at this very moment!

It has been a long journey for Josh and I to conceive this baby and we are SO grateful that Heavenly Father has granted us the opportunity to be parents and entrusted us to raise one of his children.

We found out August 25th after the day before I had gone to have 2 ultrasounds to check my insides to make sure all my "parts" were working right. The ultrasound tech when starting the second ultrasound said "Have you taken a pregnancy test yet?" No. I had not. I had basically lost hope that we would be able to get pregnant, at least for that cycle, but of course her question raised my suspicions and I needed to go to the grocery store anyway, so I picked up a test. The next morning I woke up and finally talked myself into just "taking the test because it's better to just know than to wait for aunt flo to come"

The results of that ^ test were FABULOUS. I walked into the bedroom, stood in shock for a moment and then mauled Josh with the news. In his barely awake stooper, he looked at the test, said "Really? Yay," and gave me a hug. (Later, once he had fully awoken he gave me a much better reaction).

The next day I called the doctors office made an appointment for September 13th and started counting down the days!

The 13th felt like forever away BUT it finally came and after worrying about getting an early ultrasound, I didn't even have to ask and my doctor just gave me one. After doing a belly sonogram and having it be "too hard to really see anything other than the sac" she suggested we do a vaginal ultrasound. Of course I agreed and right away...
my little "peanut" showed up on the screen with it's little heart flickering away! We even got to hear the heart beating! It was amazing and one of the best feelings I have ever experienced!
I am 7 weeks and 6 days today (or 7 weeks 4 days depending upon what you go by) and so excited to prepare for our little baby to come and join us.

So far I have not really gotten sick. I get a little nauseous if I don't eat when I'm hungry and I get headaches a lot more, oh and my boobs hurt like mad. I also never feel rested but it's worth it and I'm glad to know my peanut is beating it's heart inside me :)

(I know not many people read my blog but for those who check in, that's my little surprise for you...if you didn't already know ;) enjoy!)

Martha Stewart?

I've been having a lot of fun decorating our home!

I'm no Martha Stewart but I'm working on it!

I still need quite a bit of things, both BIG and small but its all coming together!

Hopefully this week or next we'll get bookshelves and that will definitely make our great room look close to finished!

This is one of my latest projects! Decorating above the kitchen cabinets. I still need to make/get a wooden sign for it but other than that its done!

This is our entry way. I love it!

Life update

I started my new job June 1st! Its been extremely fun! I can honestly say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY JOB! What a wonderful feeling! The way the preschool works is I have 5-6 kids who are mine! :) I will be their primary caregiver at school and do their home visits and stuff like that. I am so excited to get to know them and their families :) I love them so much already!

Anyway, life has been hectic with me working full time and Josh working full time. Our schedules have been opposite for the last two weeks and thats been absolutely horrible because Monday-Thursday evening we don't see each other at all. :( BUT as of today he will no longer have that schedule! YES!

Ruger is also getting HUGE! We're hopefully going to take him to the vet this weekend and we'll get to see how much he weighs. He is SO fun and LOVES to play. (also chews EVERYTHING!)

Anyway, thats my update for now :) Life is good. We're happy!!

Outdoors

At Lake Patagonia.
I've always played sports but I dont think I would consider myself outdoorsy, BUT im trying :)

Its been really fun living out in the middle of the desert and having lots of outdoorsy things to do (especially the fact that those things require a lot more energy than watching TV lol) PLUS my hubby is SUPER into hiking and biking and stuff of that nature. We've made a list of all of the things we want to do together, instead of TV and vegging on the couch.

Thursday we went to Lake Patagonia which is like an hour away from us. It was really fun to bring Ruger and take a tiny hike through the state park. We also rented a canoe and rowed around the lake! It was SO fun! Next time we're going to buy our own raft before we go so that we don't have to pay tons of money for the rental.

We also just went exploring around our neighborhood and found TONS of hiking trails and a map with their names and whether they're paved or not! It was pretty awesome! Im excited to be an "outdoorsy" person and to eventually have an "outdoorsy" family!

We're also planning on taking a trip to Lake Powell either in June for our Half-anniversary (which we celebrate bigger than our full anniversary because of how close it is to Christmas and birthdays) and then later in the summer going with a big group and renting a powerboat and going tubing! ANYWAY, it would be SO fun! I'm just excited and ahead of myself! :)

^^This also happens a lot.^^
Ruger poops because he is a dog. Gross. :)

New House!

I realized that I never posted the finished picture of our house! Here it is! We love it and think its the prettiest on the block! (Although I'm sure everyone feels that way about their own houses!)

Josh making a delicious dinner in the kitchen!! (it's messy but you get the idea!)

This is the "great room." Its pretty bare but its a work in progress!

Going back to Preschool!

I am going back to Pre-school!

BUT

this time it will be as an assistant teacher :)

I'm really excited!

Plus they'll help pay for my school!

(so i'll be switching back over to Early Childhood Education or El ed with emphasis in Early Childhood
BUT
I will still take Culinary classes for fun! Like Cake decorating and Candy Making this summer!)

(Also I've lost a total of 27 lbs so far! I'm feeling really good and excited to continue my lifestyle and lose more! It feels good to be healthy! I can almost button my old jeans haha)

Proud Puppy Parents!

I think our baby puppy deserves a post all to himself!

Our first little family picture!

And this is the picture of him sleeping on his back! What a silly boy!

Anyway, Ruger has been really fun to have! He is half Belgian Malinois and half Alaskan Malamute and changing his looks all of the time!!
He is basically house trained and just goes potty outside! He also has learned to climb out of his pen SO we're taking that back and getting him a kennel!

We LOVE our Ruger!!

OFFICIALLY HOMEOWNERS!!

We've even moved in!! We are loving our new home, our new puppy, and our new neighbors! Its been a pretty interesting move, but its for the most part over and we're as settled in as we can be with what we have! I'll post pictures and update more later. I have a super cute one of Ruger sleeping on his back! Have you ever heard of that? A dog sleeping on his back? so silly :)

Culinary Arts!

I had a meeting with the Culinary Arts program director at my CC. It was SO fun, interesting and felt SO right. How awesome, right?

Well, anyway we planned out my whole schedule. This summer I'm taking Cake decorating and Candy Making class (5 weeks, 1 day a week)! The way the program is set up is its two days a week 8-440 those days. 1 day is lecture classes (I'll have 3 during the fall) then the second day is your lab course. I'll have 3 of those during the fall too and they last 5 weeks each. The first one is Bakery and Pastry production! It is the one I am MOST EXCITED FOR! Then Hot foods and then Garde Manger which is like..cold foods. Im really happy with the way they set up the program, it just makes sense. BUT its going to make it so I might not be able to keep my nanny job. We'll see though.

OH AND I have to wear a Toque, jacket, apron and those big baggy checkered pants like a real chef! haha I think i'll feel silly but eh it'll be kind of neat too! **tried to find a picture but nothing looked right, oh well!**

I am so EXCITED to start!

Can't Sleep

So I'm on the computer. I know it's not helping and I honestly haven't shut off the TV and tried yet but I can just feel it. Do you ever have days like that?

We get to go see our house on Tuesday. Our first of I think 3-4 appts before we close on our house!! (the closure would be the 3rd or 4th) Im trying to get Josh to let us go see it before Tuesday, Im just addicted! And it should be painted now!! AHHH its like a surprise because I know of the color but haven't seen it on a house. Its just supposed to be light colored...like white...Im super excited to see it! Sorry for the rambling!

House in its primered state!

In other news, we bought tickets to go visit Josh's family in PA for the end of MAY! Hooray! That will be fun! Really quick trip because Josh barely has a 4 day weekend. While there we'll go to Josh's best friend from HS's wedding, congrats to them!

Life is good

We are getting SO close to being able to close on our new home and move in!!! We cannot wait! They stuccoed the outside last week!

I also decided to change my major. Im thinking im not passionate enough about teaching. It takes SO MUCH energy and I guess I just decided that I want to spend my energy on my own kids :) Josh and I weren't really planning on me working anyway so I figure might as well learn about something that I am more passionate about! SO i've decided to start working on a degree in Culinary Arts and someday (maybe if time and family allows) opening up a little bakery in our new town where we're going to be living! How amazing would that be?! ANYWAY, thats whats going on with us/me...that and Josh working his tail off with an awful night shift. It sucks to sleep alone!

comfort

I take great comfort in knowing that my Savior has felt the pain that I feel; that he has felt it FOR me so that I can let it go.

Lonely

This week was Josh's first week of Field Training! Its pretty exciting because he is finally out there doing what a law enforcement officer actually does! He's having a pretty good time and his first FTO (field training officer) is a pretty awesome guy! He's working days for the first two weeks which is good and bad. Its awesome because I still get to sleep next to my hubby BUT it kind of sucks because we never have a day off at the same time! SO Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday I am one LONELY girl!

Eventually tho he'll be working nights so at least he'll be home when Im home for the most part and sleeping while Im at work or class.

ALSO we got our official closing date for our home! APRIL 21st!! Its so soon and we CANNOT wait! :) Life is good!


Oh AND this week I got 20 boxes of FREE barilla pasta (whole wheat and piccolini) and 20 boxes of FREE Quaker Oatmeal squares cereal (which we, especially Josh, LOVE!) and some other AWESOME deals (nature valley granola bars/clusters, canned veggies, frozen foods)! We are well on our way to having food storage!

I LOVE COUPONING!

It actually looks like a house!

I know! I know! All of my posts are going to be about our house for a while! There's not much a whole lot of exciting stuff going on :)

We find out the exact (or tentative exact) date that we should close on our house this Wednesday, but our Construction Manager told us April 20th is what she's thinking! How amazing is that!? APRIL!!

Here are some pics of our framed house!! :)


Look you can actually see our frame house there in the middle of the others :)

HOUSE!

Or no house actually.

Its not there yet but it will be come May! :)

We signed the contract to buy our house/have it built on February 15th! SOOO awesome! It's out in Vail which is south of Tucson. It's nestled up to some mountains and there is not a lot of anything near by except schools (The best around! All of Vails schools are rated really high and have great reviews!), a gas station, a little italian restaurant, and an ace hardware with a post office inside :) Its a growing community, SOO neat!

We found the floorplan online and just thought it would be perfect for us. Its a 4 bd 2 ba +den/gameroom single story! We thought we wanted 2 stories but after talking about it only like a week before seeing the floorplan we thought we might like a 1 story better! And tada, there IT was! :)

Anyway, just thought i'd post that update!

Our Lot! :) and house getting started!

View across the street!

Oh and did I mention there are THOUSANDS of acres of state land behind our backyard? Yeah, its pretty awesome :)

Valentines Weekend!

Saturday Josh and I headed up to Mesa where we got to go to the Temple, Ikea (We dont have one here in Tucson, WEIRD), and Cabela's! It was a lot of fun to just get away and spend the weekend doing things we love to do (including just being with each other!) We stayed in a really nice Sheraton hotel in Tempe, AZ and got to sleep in, watch movies and spend time with each other with out having to worry about ANYTHING!

SO WONDERFUL!

This trip has been a long time coming!

(Oh and we also got an extra 30 chicken nuggets for free at McDonalds on the way too! WOO HOO! They are my new obsession and favorite food, although Im going to have to limit them considering they are probably not one bit healthy!)

On Friday, One of the most momentous things that will happen in our life came to pass...
We got pre-approved to buy a home!!

Can you believe it??

I hardly can! We also are pretty sure we've found the house for us, but more on that to come later, don't want to jinx it! haha :)

We are loving life, but there's not much more going on! Just school, nannying, and homes for me and the academy( and kind of homes) for Josh! Pretty busy but it's all pretty basic!!

PARTAAAY!

Ok so it wasn't some bangin party...but it was a fun little get together! :)

Saturday after Josh graduated the academy we celebrated at Kamry and Tyler's apartment with some of our friends here :) We played some awesome Scene it, where Josh and I completely failed but it was fun to see Dusty and Tyler compete to win! haha We got to catch up with friends and eat lots of yummy food! Thanks Tyler and Kamry for being AWESOME and letting us have the get together at your place (as usual) and provide some of the yummy food (as usual too!)

We didn't take like any pictures because I completely forgot I even brought my camera but I did take a picture of the cake before we left!

Its Official!

My Police Man and me :)

I like this one, even though I'm awkwardly in it :)

Josh is no longer a Police Officer Recruit!

He is OFFICIALLY a Police Officer!

Wow, I can't believe the academy is over!

Actually it's not. He still has 5 more weeks doing department specific training (post basic) at the academy for Tucson. He then will be out in the field with a Field Training Officer showing him the ropes. (I know I'm not ready for that yet.)

These past 2 weeks we've been preparing for the graduation and start of post-basic. This month went by SO fast.

Wednesday night Josh and I went to his graduation dinner at La Fuente Restaurant here in Tucson. It was DELICIOUS! good pick to those who chose it!

I met some of the other recruits who had made it through the academy and their significant others or a member of their family. We also watched a (mostly comical) video of all of our beloved recruits at the academy getting beat up and pushed around! (and they enjoyed it of course! ) It was SO great to see all of the things they did while there. It was an inspiring video. Made me proud to have a police officer for a husband (not that I wasn't already! )

Thursday morning we were supposed to be at the academy ground between 730 and 800. We woke up at 730 due to an alarm not going off at 600, put on clothes, brushed teeth and ran out the door. We were only about 10 minutes late. The video was played again for those who didn't see it the night before. Then all of the recruits left the room and only family was left to talk to the behavioral Science people who then proceeded to tell us how to deal with living and loving a police officer! It was some good advice and made me really think about things and how as much as I have needed to be supportive during the academy, things will STILL be tough when Josh is just starting to get used to being out in the field. DUH, but sometimes those things don't register when you're thinking about getting through one thing at a time.

The graduation ceremony that afternoon was GREAT! They really did a good job of making it special and Law Enforcement truly is a family. Finding a seat for the graduation was not like it would be at the movies. You didn't make sure you had a seat separator so that you didn't sit by anyone you didn't know. You sat next to whoever you sat next to, got cozy and chatted about how much you loved those men in blue(other than one guy in brown) up on the chairs and how proud you are of each of them, whether you know them or not. You gush over what you've gone through the past few months while your loved one was MIA from anything not involving the academy and his brother of the law.

The speakers were great and the recruits now officers really showed their pride. One of the city council members shared this story:

The Creation of Peace Officers
When the Lord was creating peace officers, he was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."

And the Lord said, "Have you read the spec on this order? A peace officer has
to be able to run five miles through alleys in the dark, scale walls, enter
homes the health inspector wouldn't touch, and not wrinkle his uniform.

"He has to be able to sit in an undercover car all day on a stakeout, cover a
homicide scene that night, canvass the neighborhood for witnesses,
and testify in court the next day.

"He has to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black coffee
and half-eaten meals. And he has to have six pairs of hands."

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands... no way."

"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord, "it's the
three pairs of eyes an officer has to have."

"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. One pair that sees through a bulge in a pocket before he asks,
"May I see what's in there, sir?" (When he already knows and wishes he'd taken
that accounting job.) "Another pair here in the side of his head for his
partners' safety. And another pair of eyes here in front that can look
reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say, 'You'll be all right ma'am, when he knows it isn't so."

"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow."

"I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk a 250 pound
drunk into a patrol car without incident and feed a family of five on a civil service paycheck."

The angel circled the model of the peace officer very slowly, "Can it think?" she asked.

"You bet," said the Lord. "It can tell you the elements of a hundred crimes;
recite Miranda warnings in its sleep; detain, investigate, search, and arrest
a gang member on the street in less time than it takes five learned judges to
debate the legality of the stop... and still it keeps its sense of humor.

This officer also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with crime
scenes painted in hell, coax a confession from a child abuser, comfort a murder
victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how law enforcement isn't
sensitive to the rights of criminal suspects."

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the peace
officer. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to
put too much into this model."

"That's not a leak," said the lord, "it's a tear."

"What's the tear for?" asked the angel.

"It's for bottled-up emotions, for fallen comrades, for commitment to that
funny piece of cloth called the American flag, for justice."

"You're a genius," said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there," he said.

Anonymous

I really enjoyed this little story. She changed the word Lord to Creator, but that was fine with me. I know who the Creator is :)

At the end the Officers were dismissed and they said yelled or "spoke loudly" their theme, 09-04 One Team, One Roar. The room was silent and it was amazing. You could feel the pride and happiness in the air.

After the graduation, I took Josh out to a celebratory dinner at Black Angus, my baby loves steak so thats what he got! :)

On another related note-

The discussion with the behavioral science people really got me thinking. I wish we had family here in Tucson. I'm excited for Josh to start doing what he loves and I'm excited to be there for him, to do my best and to love him more than ever..(and I know this is kind of selfish but) who is going to be there for me when my husband works 10 hour days that turn into 12 or 14, and I have no idea what he's doing, how he's doing, and nothing to distract me? I'm just a little worried. I know I'll be fine, but I wish we had family here to support us (and me in supporting Josh) and that I could go through this with. Anyway, enough worrying, TODAY is a HAPPY day, The love of my eternity is doing what he loves! Life is good.

School?

It is SO weird to be back at school. It seems like its been forever since I've had homework or had to be responsible and be at a certain place at a certain time! I am only taking 6 credits, 2 classes. Writing 102 and Education 200.

I had the Writing 102 class on Tuesday and the Edu 200 class is online :) SO nice! The Writing class is going to be so...interesting I guess.. There are only 16 students and 8 of them are from a Boarding School here in tucson so they're SENIORS in High school! and they definitely act like it!

Thats ok though, Im willing to get over it. Its only 2 days a week and I dont think the class will be too difficult.

Im starting to work on the Edu 200 today! Wish me luck!


Oh and btw Josh graduates the Academy NEXT week!! :) Hallelujah!!

New Years!

Happy New Year!!!

We had such a blast this year (especially compared to our last year of barely moving into our apartment and falling asleep before midnight only to wake up after it and drink a sip of sparkling cider before heading back to bed!) ANYWAY, This year we went up to Mesa with some of friends who are from there but live in Tucson now. We went to their friends house and had lots of food and fun games!

Then Friday we all went out shooting! We got to shoot SO MANY crazy different guns. I can now say I've shot an AK-47, or whatever the civilian name is, a 12 gage shotgun, and an AR-15. It was pretty cool. I didn't shoot a lot on any of them because I still get a bit scared around guns! haha It was a blast though! We had such a good time shooting and spending time with our friends and each other.

Saturday we went to our friends twin baby boys 1st Birthday! :) So fun and So cute! They did a really good job planning it and preparing food :) The boys were adorable and so fun to watch open their presents! Their 2 year old probably opened more but i was surprised at how much the twins opened them in the beginning, then they got distracted by toys! SO CUTE!

We had a blast the whole weekend and stopped at a place called ribbons n lace on our way back to Tucson. They have super cute flowers for hair and stuff so I checked it out and managed to buy a couple :)

This year has been SO great! So many things have changed and Im very grateful for those changes and how they have made Josh and I and our relationship grow! Life is good :)

Birthday and Christmas!

For my 21st birthday my hubby took me out to dinner! We went to carrabas and it was pretty delicious, i think i still like my olive garden better but it was super good nonetheless :) We had a wonderful time. I love to be able to get away and just spend time with my love.

This is Josh and I on the home from Carraba's when I was realized we hadn't taken any pictures. He was driving, well we were stopped at a light but he was like OH NO, i think its illegal to use a camera with flash in a car...???? what?? Oh Josh :)

These are the beautiful flowers Josh tried to hide in my stocking :) it didnt work too well so we put them in water on Christmas Eve!

Christmas came really fast this year. We knew we weren't going to be able to spend it with family, at least physically, so we made some plans of our own! We woke up in the morning, opened some presents from our family and the stockings we filled for each other, we then chatted a little with joshs family, got ready, then talked to Josh's family again so that we could kind of hear and talk to his sister Brittany who is in Argentina serving a mission for our church. Then I started cooking all our yummy food and we got to skype with my family in Antelope. It was pretty neat to be able to show my mom what i was cooking and get her help with the ham :)

SKYPE is AWESOME!

I showed my family the cake i made

My mom then asked how I made the cake, when I made the cake and if I used anything "new" to make it... I then had to confess that I used the new
KITCHEN AID!!!

that my parents got Josh and I for Christmas. :) She wasn't surprised though! :)

This is our spread! Porcupine delicious ham, apple pie, strawberry cream pound cake, delicious fresh green beans sauteed with bacon and garlic, and homemade mashed potatoes! Dinner turned out really well, i feel a little more grown up now that I've cooked a holiday dinner (although I'm sure once I'm cooking for more the just Josh and I, I'll feel even older! )
What a man! I thought i should document Josh doing the honors of cutting the ham!

Our couple picture at the dinner table!
And another couple picture when we went to go see Christmas Lights!


This was probably my favorite house in Winterhaven. Its was SO cute, they actually made the front of their house look like a gingerbread house!
And that was our Christmas, we read Luke 2 and did a couple more low key things during the day, all in all it was wonderful! :)