OOH LALA!!

For those of you that don't know, I'm nuts. Truly. At least I own it. I feel like if more people would own their craziness, the world would be a better place. If you already know that you're insane, when you tell someone that you rotate your silverware after each wash and they look at you like you're crazy, you won't get offended because you already knew that, so no harm done. Now, we got this here new computer and it's lovely except, when you put pictures on it, it forms a new folder. Which is just dandy, but then at the end of the month when you want to gather all the pictures form the month and put them in one folder so that your picture file is nice and organized, it won't let you do that. I'm sure it's operational error, but thinking of the picture chaos inside the one February picture folder makes me convulse. I don't like chaos, it gives me unwelcome twitches. So, instead of putting pictures on the computer throughout the month, I do it on the first of the next month. So, today I will put February pictures on here. Who cares right? Well, I imagine no one, but it explains why I am still talking about January when it's March. Because I couldn't put January pictures on here until February and so February was dedicated to talking about January just like March will be spent talking about February. I don't really know why I felt the need to explain myself, I'm just crazy, that's all there is to it. Now, onto the last week in January. The last week of January brings with it our anniversary! So sweet I know.

   Boy oh boy! I truly felt like this day would never come. When he was on his mission I was so worried that he was going to come home and move on without me. I was so happy when I finally convinced him that he should marry me! Even though there were a few folks that tried to talk him out of taking the plunge with me, he didn't listen. Although, he did hesitate at the alter, he finally said yes! To this day he denies the hesitation, but it was there. He says that he didn't know the sealer was at the end of the long question. B's pause was long enough that people in the room started to fidget and I was terrified that he was going to bolt for the door.Thankfully, he said yes, I basically shouted yes and it's been 12 years of bliss since. Note- the following pictures will be blurry. I had to take pictures of the original pictures. When I tried to scan the originals into the computer and upload them, I was told I could only add pictures and video. Stupid computer.

 He was in school. Shocker I know! He also worked at a bank as a teller. I was a pee on dental assistant and worked full time. We talked about how sweet it would be for him to be done with school and to just have to work. We talked about him only having four years left. HA!

Pretty soon, M was on her way. Poor B had to take care of me, go to school and work. What a guy! Thankfully, the feeding tube was only part of our lives for about eight weeks. It did get us out of a speeding ticket! My sister and her husband were sealed in the temple. After the sealing and lunch we were going out to my parents house to visit with family. There is a speed trap on the way to my parents house. B forgot and of course he got pulled over. The cop came to the window and asked to see insurance and registration. I started to look in the jockey-box, not realizing that the hand I was using had an IV stuck in it. The cop leaned down and looked in. He took the papers I had handed to B and walked away. A few minutes later he walked back, handed B the papers and told him to be sure to slow down next time. The cops in Lehi, Ut never let anyone off the hook. We are sure the reason he let us go was because of the feeding tube and the IV! That my friends, is a tender mercy!

Time goes by so fast when you're not pregnant or have a new born. Now it was the three of us. This was taken when M was ten days old. The only reason I remember that is because she came ten days early, so we took a picture to celebrate that she was already here! B was still going to school full time and working full time. He had decided that he wanted to do nursing and then specialize, he just didn't know what specialty he wanted to do. 

 We bought a condo and moved to Provo. B had decided to become a Nurse Anesthetist. He had to work in ICU for two years before he could apply to any programs. He had gotten a job as an LPN at Utah Valley. He was working there full time and still going to school full time. Seeing him with his backpack was as common as running into a member of the church in the grocery store in Utah County. Pretty common. We truly wondered if he would ever be done with school.

Welp, time marches on and in a moment of pure insanity, K was on his way. This time the Dr didn't want to do a feeding tube. He felt that if we could stay on top of the dehydration problem, it would be better. He sent me to IV therapy every day for three weeks. When I was still losing weight, (my legs looked amazing!) he decided that a P.I.C.C line was the way to go. I had that for three days, getting TPN(fluid with tons of vitamins), until the site became infected. I was put in the hospital for a week because I was septic and couldn't keep anything down. B was working full time and going to school full time. We couldn't have made it without family being willing to take care of M for us.

I was released from the hospital, only to go back a few days later. We tried an NJ tube( a different kind of feeding tube) and IV therapy again. It was not great, but B is amazing and made sure that M had somewhere to go every day and still did everything he needed to do. 

We made it through and had gone from a family of three to four. I know this will be a surprise to all of you, but B was still working full time and going to school full time. Right before K was born, B had graduated with his RN. It's so stupid, but an RN is only an associates degree. It takes four years and it's not a Bachelor's. So dumb! He needed to get his Bachelor's in nursing. He did  BYU-I's online program to get his Bachelor's. All the while working as an RN in ICU. I don't know how he did it. All I know is that he's awesome and I am so thankful that I get to call him mine! 

Over the next two years he did his Bachelor's degree and found out that there were two classes he was missing before he could go to Grad school. He did UC Berkeley online for those last two classes. Still working full time on ICU. Soon enough it was time to apply for CRNA programs. He applied to several and did an interview with Michigan State and Wolford College. One Sunday after church, he checked the mall and pulled out a big ol' white envelope from Wolford College. As soon as we saw the size of the envelope, we knew we were moving to Florida. We were excited and nervous and scared and I cried a lot about moving that far away from family.

 We loaded up the contents of our condo and moved to Florida! 

This was taken the first Sunday that we were there. I was full of anxiety and wondered if we would see him for the next 2 1/2 years. But, Florida was full of

Advetures,

 scary animals

and a couple trips to the beach. Truly, a couple trips about sums it up. I really don't like the beach.

One of our adventures whilst living in Florida was getting ready for little B to arrive. We had friends in Florida that we will never be able to repay for all the help they gave us during the worst of it. Our dear friend M, came over everyday to flush my IV and hook me up. Then she would take K home with her. I feel like she basically raised our children while I was pregnant with little B. Thankfully this time around the P.I.C.C. line didn't get infected and there was no feeding tube. B was able to be my nurse at home and change the dressing for me. We are still amazed at the sacrifices people made for us, especially J and M. There's no way we could have done it without them.

Oh happy day! Little B came and the pregnancy came to an end. I really wanted B to do my epidural, but the hospital wouldn't let him. Lame! Look at our cute little family!

June brought graduation day with it. I was surprised that I cried when they called his name. Not because I was sad that he was finally done with school. After 9 1/2 years of marriage, he was finally done! I was sad because I knew that this phase of our lives was over. The amazing friends that we had made in Florida were moving on to bigger and better things. My heart broke knowing that we were going to have to say goodbye to them.

Here we are. We had gone from just two of us to, us with three littles.

Graduation day brought a lot of goodbye's including the one to our house in Florida. The truck was already loaded, the house was clean and locked up. Our next adventure was to North Carolina. B spent the first few weeks after graduation studying for his boards. When I say he studied, it was from like 8-5. It was his full time job. He hated it, I hated it, the kiddos hated it. 

But, all his hard work paid off when he passed his boards the first time! Oh man talk about a happy day! He took his test the beginning of July and didn't have to start work until August. Our summer was awesome! We spent it in Utah with family.

Then it was time to go to North Carolina to start our next chapter. To say that we loved our time in North Carolina is a gross understatement. If the hospital there would give B the same amount of vacation that he gets here, we would move back in a heartbeat!

Our time in North Carolina was full of adventures!

We made great friends and we miss them every day.

We didn't know that our time there would be so short and we were sad when the time came for us to move on.

Now we're here and we're writing a new chapter of our lives. We don't love it here and can't picture ourselves staying here long term.

There's no way to know what the future holds for us. What I do know is that I am so thankful that I know this guy will be a part of it. He makes me laugh everyday and is just as nerdy as I am. He doesn't care that I'm crazy and is kind enough to rotate the silverware when he puts it away. I love him more than I can put into words and feel so thankful that he's stuck with me forever!