Christmas 2009

Christmas time seems to just keep getting better & better for us. Last year me & Scott were in our little apartment having our little Christmas the 1st year we were married. I will always remember last years Christmas. It was so tender. This year we got to house sit so we had our own Christmas & had quite a bit more money to use for presents because we're not paying for rent. We love having our little sweetheart here and can't imagine the holidays.. or life.. without her. She has her moments like all babies.. but she is such a good, happy baby. I am so blessed! I have a wonderful husband and the best little girl. I can't wait till next Christmas, I can't wait to teach her more about Christ & his birth & read Christmas stories to her when she'll actually understand a little more.

Most of you that have kids i'm sure you already know this and feel the same way.. but now it's all about our child.. everything we do evolves around her.. and this Christmas we totally went overboard on presents for her.. but we were so excited for her I think we forgot about buying presents for each other a little.

Summer got from Santa & Scott and I: a few books, 2 Disney movies, a sit & stand walker, some stuffed animals, new blanket, sippy cup, some bottle caps for her bows, crawl toys, bath toys, sock monkeys, stuffed soft doll, elmo toy, blocks, binkys, socks and toy rings.

After we opened presents at 4:00 in the morning (Iactually work up at 2:00.. woke Scott up at 3:00 and then we finally decided to get up at 4:00.. we were a little excited) the 3 of us took a much needed nap. Went to Scotts brother, Travis' house, had breakfast, went to my parents house. Opened presents there, had a late lunch, and then came back the the neighbors house that we're sitting.

My parents/sisters gave Summer tons of stuff as well.. 1st grandbabies get the royal princess treatment in my family. I think she's getting a little spoiled.. from Scott & I as well. I keep telling Scott that we need another one soon so the spoiling stops.. that doesn't go over well with him! : ) My parents/sisters got Summer: a bath seat, a sit & stand walker, Shelby drew a beautiful picture of her, some clothes, bottle caps for her bows, LDS Childrens Songbook, bath stuff, hangers (her favorite toys), heated stuffed animal, baby scrapbook & paper and baby food. Thanks grandma, grandpa, aunt shelby & aunt abbey!

Grandma & Grandpa Garton gave Summer clothes, Christmas outfits, a discovery toy, a Dora book that sings, soft farm animal books, hat with a cute flower on the side, a warm dog hat with matching mittens.

Blessed..

I have been thinking a lot this holiday season about how blessed we are. I love my family so much, they are my whole life, everything I work towards! I cannot imagine living a split second of my life without them. I say this a lot but I love my life.. I am so happy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Ohhhh I looove Christmas

YES! That is my sweet baby girl sitting up all on her own.

We wrapped Summers Christmas presents last night till our fingers bled!.. Not really, but we did it until our backs hurt so bad, we had plans to watch a movie after, but then passed out on the bed after!

My sister comes home in 8 days.. I haven't seen her since September! Yay!!

I finally squeezed out of Scott what he wanted for Christmas! (OF COURSE.. all things of which come from Sportsmans Warehouse)

..Did I mention that I LOVE the holidays?!

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for..

&

I love my family and am SO thankful for Scott & Summer. I can't imagine living my life without either of them in it. Scott works hard & goes to school full time to provide for our family while I get to stay home with our cute baby. Summer brings joy to my life every day with her sweet, happy personality. They are both perfect & I couldn't ask for more.. really & truely. My heart belongs to my sexy fisherman & a smiley little chubby chunk.

I love my life.

Sadest day of my life..

..I was sick with the flu. And no, that's not why it was the worst day of my life. Well, to start out I went to a family dinner on Sunday and got sick from someone there. Started feeling kinda sick on Monday night. Woke up Tuesday and I thought my life was over.

I went to the Dr. And OF COURSE they were out of flu shots and tests. She was pretty sure i had the flu & gave me a prescription for tamiflu. Went to Smiths to fill out the perscription and had NO IDEA it was going to cost me almos $90!!! Holy cowwwww!!!!!! So I went home to my in laws (we were dog sitting for the week) with no medicine. Scott came home early the night before because I was so sick and he was able to stay home with me Tuesday to help Summer.

During this time I didnt get to hold my baby girl once. It honestly was the hardest thing I've gone through in my life. We were so worried that she would get sick! I would look at her and wonder what she was thinking. Every time she started crying I had to call Scott over to come get her. Did she think that I didn't want to hold or be around her? I can only imagine what she was thinking. Hopefully she didn't care at all! (Scott did a amazing job! Getting up with her, feeding her, bathing her.. you were a awesome Mr. Mom! Love you!)

Anyways, I never ever ever want to get sick again for that reason alone!

And this would be like what our place looks like right now..

UGH! Why can't boxes pack themselves?

4 more days.. & we're gone forever.

Moving!

I can't believe that we'll be leaving our "home" in about 2 weeks. I haven't packed up one thing, haven't gotten boxes and haven't gotten a storage shed yet. I think i've just been putting it off because it's so sad to me. This is where Scott and I have spent our 1st year together. So much has happened here.. I mean we have a baby now! So many memories.

I used to complain about this apartment.. we're on the middle floor so we can hear the people above and below us. Our sink has over flowed twice. The bath towel bar and laundry room bar has fallen down thousands of times. And our carpet is SO dirty. But it's became our home and I love it.

..Bye bye my cute home.

A little update

Well so much has been going on lately!
This past weekend we went to Island Park with my parents, my sister Abbey and my grandparents. It really was so much fun. I had been looking forward to it for a long time. I really needed a vaca to do something fun.. I feel so cooped up in our little apartment. Scott works so much and with school I feel like I never see him. One day during the week I don't see him until about 10:30! : (
Anyways, we left Thursday after Scott got out of class. Scott actually got 2 days off, thank goodness, he needed it! We stayed up late almost every night playing my grandpa's new game "Marbles & jokers" (if you haven't played it, it's pretty fun!). We went 4 wheeling (and I was SO scared we were going to see a bear on the trails b/c my mom saw one on it a few days before!) We did lots of hot tubbing. We went into Yellowstone Park one day, didn't see many animals, but went to hot pots & saw Old Faithful. Later we went to see an Imax about Alaska. It was pretty neat. My dad bought us girls some new Yellowstone jammies. And Summer got a new teddy.. she didn't like to play with it much.. she just liked to eat it! And of course on the way home we stopped to eat at Smitty's in Idaho Falls. It was so nice and a very much needed getaway.
Here are some pics from the trip.



My cute little family

Abbey, Scott, me, Sum, Dad, Grandma & Grandpa

Buffalo Summer

Our little pink bear

Poor Sum couldn't move an inch. She's the little boy off "The Christmas Story"


The fire WE started for the BOYS while they were fishing

Summer giggled for the 1st time yesterday. It was the absolute cutest thing I've ever seen. Every time I got close to her and said "boo!" she laughed a few times and stopped. And then I would do it again and she would giggle again. Every time she laughed I almost cried I was laughing so hard!

We got Sum a jumper on Monday. I've been SO excited to get her this but we were waiting for some extra money to get it. It's a Fisher Price "Precious Planet" jumper, and it absolutely adorable. We set Sum in it & she will entertain herself for about 10 minutes and then wants out of it.. huge disappointment but I'm sure she will grow to like it as she gets a little older.

Cute huh? Too bad they don't make it in adult size! : )

I have been trying SO hard to eat healthier lately. But I just get so bored at home I end up making cookies or experimenting with Bakerella.com.. ugh! I want to lose my baby weight and it's just not happening. I try to go on walks.. but I have to drive to a park or somewhere with a walk on it because our apartment only has a sidewalk that circles around the complex.. lame! I find it a HUGE oxymoron to DRIVE somewhere to go on a walk. Abbey & I are planning on running a half marathon in the spring and I just don't see how it's going to happen. Hopefully I can find some 5 K's around the area.. I've been looking but haven't been able to find any.. anyone have any ideas where to look for them??!! Anyways, needless to say I have been very discouraged lately about weight & stretch makrs & the endless piles of cookies.. urghhh DiSgUsTiNg!

We are moving in with my parents the end of this month. I"m going to miss our little apartment.. it's been our home for over a year now. Moving in with my parents is going to be so helpful for us to pay off some bills and debt & is so nice of my parents to let us barge into their lives. I am very grateful for this opportunity they're giving us. On the other hand it is also very discouraging because unlike Scott I feel like we have other options. And at the end of this month Scotts schedule is switching he goes in at 1 and gets off at 9:30 p.m. I feel that we are just going back to the old schedule working nights and only seeing each other on his days off. Moving in with my parents to North Ogden will delay Scott getting home by about 20 + minutes as well as him leaving that much earlier for work. Hopefully after his 3 months is up he will be able to switch his schedule.. or not.. I just feel like we're destined for the crappy hours & never seeing each other schedules.

Ok, enough of my complaining..

..until next time!

I got tagged..

..and I'm bored.. so of course I'm going to do it. You have to write 10 honest things about yourself. I don't know if these are supposed to be things that people don't really know about you?

10. I am now into shoes. It used to be my expensive purses.. and I still have that fetish. Now it has turned into a full blown Aldo shoe fetish. Not healthy for a poor one income family.. but cute!

9. When I quit my job to stay home with Summer I said I was going to lose all my baby weight + some by going on walks & eating healthy. I've decided it's too hard to take Summer on walks & it's less expensive to eat normal foods.

8. You may laugh when I write this after the last number. But, next spring I'm going to run a half marathon. I'm going to get motivated & get in shape and I'm going to do it! When me and Scott move in with my parents it will be much easier to get in shape. The parents don't believe in eating unhealthy and they actually live in a neighborhood with side walks.

7. Since I've been home with Summer I've been watching way too much TV. The Office, Melrose Place, Gossip Girl, The Beautiful Life, The Kardashians, Kourteny & Khloe Take Miami, The Vampire Diaries and soon to be American Idol take up too much of my time. Thank goodness for for Tivo.

6. This is no secret, but I love being a mom & wife more than anything in the whole wide world. For us not even having a real plan, Heavenly Father sure did know what we needed. We love Summer to death and always have so much fun with her. I love my family.

5. Whenever I'm getting ready for the day or cleaning while Scott is not home I always have the TV on. It calms my nerves because I hate being home alone.

4. I NEVER clean the house when Scott is home after work or on the weekends. I've learned that what time we do have with Scott when he's not working or in class is valuable and I don't want to waste that time cleaning when I could be spending it with him.

3. I have the craziest most random dreams. Like, last night I had a dream that I met Drew Barrymoore. & a few nights ago I had a dream that Summer turned into a vampire & tried to eat me.

2. I say "like" and "I mean" way too much and am working on it as I speak. I've learned that it's very annoying.. and I don't want to be annoying!

1. This is not a secret either, but I hate scary movies. I never watch them & have no desire to because they give me nightmares & I stay up in bed thinking about them. The movie "It" has still scarred me.


Okay! Now here are the people I tag and I expect it to see it under your posts! : )

Megan Scott
Kendra Corely
Collette Fowler
Trudy Stanton
Natalie Kimber

Dear Baby Sis,

I was inspired to write today. I'm no fan of the depressing, self pitying blogs by no means, but today is a horrible one. My sweet baby sister, one of my best friends in the whole world, has moved 2,000 miles away back to Virginia. I just got back from taking her to the airport.

The only thing that makes me feel the slight bit good about the situation is the idea that maybe she's out there to inspire some lives that need inspiration?? Maybe she's out there for a reason bigger than we understand?.. Or because there needs to be realization that people change?.. maybe for the better, mostly for the worse.. in this case at least. I like to think that Heavenly Father wants her to be here with her family, but if she feels she needs to be elsewhere than she's bettering lives that need it.

Most of you don't know what I'm talking about, but certain people do.. and I hope Shelby stays strong. I love you baby sis. Come home soon because your family needs you more than you realize.

4 month stats

My baby girl is 4 months tomorrow. It's amazing for me to see her transformation.. from a tiny newborn to a tall, chunky growing little girl. Today we went to Summer's Dr. .. which I was absolutely DREADING. Every time we have gone to Summer's Dr. she's cried or has been fussy almost the whole time.

This time she was happy.. so happy she was jabbering to the nurses & smiling at the doctor and kicking her feet, she was so excited. Other than throwing up ALL OVER the examination room floor room IN FRONT of the Dr. she was in a perfect mood. Normally I would've have been frusterated and kinda embarassed.. but she was acting so cute I could've cared less. (She has acid reflux, which pretty much means I have to do her laundry twice a week.)

Anyway, drumroll please....... Summer is a whopping 25 1/2 inches tall. She is in the 95th percentile for height! 13 pounds 10 ounces.. makes her in the 75th percentile for weight. Holy cow what a big girl.

Since we went to the Dr. today and she's 4 months tomorrow I decided to start giving her rice cereal. It was quite the experience.

Breaking news

Well, Scott and I are attempting the inevitable. WE ARE MOVING IN WITH MY PARENTS!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! (No offense mom if you're reading this!) We have decided to pay off some bills.

Bills, bills, bills.. we have got Dr. bills coming out of the wahoo. After we pay off some bills and save up some more money we have decided to move to North Salt Lake area. At least we're a big happy family!.. My parents are so good to us. And of course I think having Summer here sweetens up the deal for them.. especially my mom!

Anyways, thats that for now.. we're about to head to the State Fair with my cute sister and mother in law.

Three month pics

I can't believe my baby girl is 3 months (well 3 1/2 now) she didn't have a Dr. appt this month so I had fun measuring and weighing her myself.. that was an adventure in itself. She weighs 12 lbs. and is 25 1/2 inches long. She has even started roling over.. soon enough she is going to start dating if she keep growing the way she is! Here is a few of Summers 3 month pictures. Our cute friend did them for us. If you want to see the rest of the pictures or want to see some more of her work here's her blog: http://fowlerinc.blogspot.com/.

Yes, I know, she's the cutest baby in the world!

School

Well Scott started school today. I'm so happy for him, but so jealous too! : ) I was going to go to school this Fall but we decided that we're too broke so only one of us can go! I'm so sad! I was so looking forward to going this year. It's ok.. at least Scott can go. I can't decide what I want to go into anyways. Some days I want to go into ultrasonography & other days I want to teach high school history. Lately I have been leaning more towards teaching though.

Scott got up at 5:30 this morning for class. He couldn't find his backpack, and of course it was my fault. Scott was storming through each room & into the storage room AND into Summers room looking for his backpack. And I was storming right behind him closing Summers door and turning off lights because I was sure he was going to wake her up! Funny now, NOT funny then.

Anyways, since Scotts new job is in West Valley he decided to switch from Weber State to SLCC. GREAT choice. I think that Weber is ridiculous!

Wiggle Worm

Man, I am doing so good at writing my blog the past few days. I just have so much to tell lately with all the great stuff that's been going on.

Last night, Scott got Summer ready for bed & put some pj's on her that I don't like to use because I think they're a pain. The pj's that are long and don't have a bottom in them. They're like a long dress with elastic on the bottom. Anyways, Summer woke up at 5 a.m. (which she never does). I was so tired, so I wrapped her back up, gave her her binky and laid her back in her crib to go to sleep. She went right back to sleep. She woke up a hour and half later. When I went in to get her she was completely unwrapped & facing the opposite side of the bed & wiggled out of her wedge (this is a pretty normal morning for Summer). But she had kicked off her pj's & was naked. I started laughing at her & she looked up at me & smiled.. too funny. It was so cute. In the picture you can see her jammies on the right side.

3 Month Pictures / TV

Well, my mom & I tried our hardest at taking some cute pictures of Summy without having to go get them done some where. We didn't do too good & Summer was very tired and just wanted to sleep. Here's some funny & cute ones.

Here's her happy picture.

Here's her self soothing picture.

"I want my binky!"

"NOW!"

"Nope, not good enough!"

She wiggled out of her prop so much she completely slid out.

And finally she gets her nap!

__________________________________________

Summer has been focusing in on the TV so much! It's so cute. We love watching her watch TV.

HAHA I LOVE this picture. She's propped up on her pillow watching TV.

A new beginning

SCOTT STARTED HIS NEW JOB TODAY!

We are so excited! Scott got a new job at AmericanExpress in West Valley. For those of you who don't know, Scott got laid off at Key Bank ONE MONTH before we had our baby. We had plans for me to quit me job when Summer was born. We were both really stressed out, but thankfully my dad got Scott a job at Intertape Polymer in Tremonton really quick. The job was super hard on our relationship, he worked 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. We were SO grateful that Scott had a job in such a crappy economy. But we were only seeing each other on weekends & we didn't think he would be able to go to school in the Fall. We filled out tons & tons of applications. We saw that AEXP was hiring and were really excited because we heard that they were a great company to work for. Anyways.. long story short.. we couldn't be happier because Scott got the job. We are so grateful. Heavenly Father was really looking out for us, making sure we were ok. Now we are just in the process of looking for houses & figuring out where we are going to live come November when our lease is up. We want a house SO bad. I really hope that we can find one, especially now that we have the little one here.

He would kill me if he knew I put this pic on here.

But here's my hottie on his 1st day of work! : )

The new toy!

Summer got a new mobile for her crib.. She loves it!

I love this picture. It's so bright & cute.

Her face says it all.

Loving life..

I have been busy busy busy..

Kissing these chubby cheeks.

Watchin this cutie try to suck her thumb.

(She LOVES her thumb.)

And cleaning up all her slobbers! : )

One year anniversary

WOW! I can't believe Scott & I have already been married a year. It really flew by. It feels like just yesterday we were walking out the Salt Lake Temple & headed to Scottsdale (our honeymoon). We went camping on our anniversary.. with Sumer & my in-laws.. So not the most romantic of 1 year anniversaries. We're having a cheap anniversary by going out for dinner & a movie.. (which I am actually stoked about because since Summer has been born we haven't had ONE night out on our own.)

SO much has happened in the last year. One month after we were married we found out we were pregnant. It was the scariest/happiest/most nervous/excited i've ever felt in my life. Scott has gone through 3 jobs in the past year because of the economy. And for the past 9 months the apartment has been (for the most part) spiffy clean.. and then after the munchkin was born it turned into a nightmare. No matter how stressed, tired & overwhelmed I feel I can always turn to my Scott & it's always better. He is so great. I really picked a great guy.

Well we saved the top of our wedding cake for our one year anniversary. It brings back awesome memories.. but I think it's just going to sit there. I don't think either of us wants to try a year old cake. I smile every time I look at it though. YES we had a lime green cake! How many people can say that?

A Summer update.. Her new favorite things!

Favorite thing #1

Her bottle & Binky of course.

Favorite #2
Sleeping with her back arched & head tilted back.

(She cries when I move her from this position)

Favorite #3

Watching tv with daddy

Favorite #4

Lifting her head up!



And last but not least..

Favorite #5

Spitting up.. A LOT. : )

(this picture cracks me up)

Happy Birthday Scott!

Today was Scotts 24th birthday! For those of you don't know he has a horrible habit of having to know everything he's getting for Birthdays/ Christmas/ Valentines/ Fathers Day etc. He thinks it's hilarious.. I hate it because I love surprises. He get's so antsy about his presents that he snoops and if he can't find them he'll somehow guess by process of elimination. This year I got him a float tube for fly fishing and the new hugo cologne. Summer got him the new Daughtery CD. : )

It was a fun day. The day included getting up, I made him one of his favorite breakfasts, went to church, came home, took a much needed nap, woke up to Summers screaming because her headband fell in front of her eyes (I HATE it when that happens), going over to Scott's parents to go for dinner with the family, talked outside on the swings with everyone, came home, went swimming, put Summer's feet & legs in the pool for the first time, went inside because it started to rain, put Summer to bed, watched some Harry Potter, Summer didn't really go to sleep (she tricked us) so Scott had to go get her and try to get her to really fall asleep this time, and now i'm writing this blog. : )
I am so proud of Scott, he is such a hard worker. He got laid off at Key Bank & my dad hired him at Intertape Polymer. For those of you who don't know Scott too well.. Intertape is NOT the kind of work that Scott likes. He works horrible hours on a line at the plant working with shrink wrap. It's going to kill him if we don't find him a job soon. (He does all this while letting me sit at home.. not working.. taking care of munchkin). I'm just grateful that he has a job. Hopefully we can find something soon with better hours. He's too good to me and Summer. If he wasn't willing to work these horrible hours I wouldn't be at home doing what I'm doing now.. and I love what i'm doing now! (I LOVE YOU HUN!) Anyways, I am very grateful for him.