Merry Christmas- I Finally Went to the Doctor

It's officially Christmas Eve, my favorite day of the year! Merry Christmas everyone! We are going to be enjoying our families over the next few days and I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday.

So, after a few more days of feeling so sick I finally went to the doctor. Nate and my mom ganged up on me and made me go. However, I am glad I went. Can I just say how much I love my doctor? Dr. Brockbank is the absolute best. So Nate drags me to the doctor and Dr. B talks to me and runs a urine test, and next thing I know I am laying there with some girl trying to start an IV in my arm (worst part of the day, pretty sure I don't want you poking around the same vein for 10 minutes, no joke, she ended up starting one in my wrist). Apparently I really was sick. I had tons of sugar in my urine and my blood sugar was really high. This can be a side effect of my PCOS, I had been on metformin, although it seems it wasn't doing it's job. The high blood sugars explains my nausea/vomiting, my sweats/chills, my extreme thirst and dry mouth, and my need to urinate every 5 minutes. After the IV and some nausea medicine I was already feeling a lot better. For the next few days I have to check my blood sugars at home and give myself insulin shots each night. I need to track my blood sugars and I see the doctor again Monday morning. As far as the lady pain goes, nothing major seems to be going on, just some cyst pain from the PCOS.

So yah, that's what is going on. I'm glad I went to the doctor. He said I would have just continued to get sicker and sicker. I already feel much improved. I had just been to see him early last week for my monthly med check so I felt kinda dumb showing up a week and a half later, but it seems I needed to go. Nate and my mom are happy. I feel more at ease knowing what is going on. Hopefully I can survive the shots, although the finger pokes hurt way more than the shots. I see Dr. Brockbank again Monday, but I am sure I will have nothing but good news then. Thank you all for the kind thoughts and well wishes, I really needed it. Merry Christmas!

P.S. Since this blog is about both Nate and me, though lately I have been talking a lot about myself, let's talk about Nate. Nate is doing really well. Work is going great for him, his health is good, he is growing a beard, and he is loving this new show called American Ninja Warrior. It is this crazy extreme obstacle course competition. In fact we are watching it right now at one in the morning. Check it out!

A Penny for Your Thoughts

Okay, I am not going to post anymore about having good days!  Every time I do, I have a bad day that follows.   I must jinx myself.  Anyway, I am feeling sick and Nate is still at work and no one is answering their phone so I figured I would vent on my blog.  I’m sick, but I’m not sick.  Let me explain.  I have to take  19 prescription pills every single day (thank you PCOS and your lame side effects).    Some of the prescriptions make me have a really dry mouth.  If my mouth gets to dry I start to gag and then  I throw up.   This is why you always see me with a water bottle.  I also have to pack a gallon size ziploc bag around in my purse.   I learned that lesson after  I threw up in the car.   I know, so attractive.   I don’t feel sick, I just throw up.  It happens on average two or three times a week.  I feel sick, throw up, and then I am totally fine and I carry on my day.  Not a big deal, I can handle it.    But the past  5 days I have been throwing up.   I have been getting sick multiple times a day and feeling so so nauseated.  This is not the usual.  I also have had some random lady pains, not cramps, pains I only had during our fertility procedures.  I am absolutely not pregnant, let’s just get that clear.  I am as infertile as they come.     I WebMd’d my symptoms (nausea and pain) and I don’t find any good diagnoses.  I just saw my doctor at the beginning of last week so I don’t really want to go back.   Thoughts anyone?  Suggestions?  Advice?   Basically I just don’t feel good and want some sympathy.   Sorry, I always get a bit sad at Christmas-time that we still don’t have any children.  Next month also marks 3 1/2 years that we have been trying.  I just had a few things happen lately that make me feel really sad about my infertility.  I just need a few days to get over it and then I will be back to normal.  Thanks for reading, sorry for the graphic descriptions :). 

P.S.  Is anyone looking at the family recipe blog?  I feel totally lame  that I have posted like 10 x more than anyone else.

It's Christmas Time

Oh man, today was good. I was able to do two of my favorite Christmas activities, wrapping presents and driving around looking at Christmas lights. I LOVE wrapping presents, LOVE it! Drop your gifts off at my place and I would be happy to wrap them for you! Tonight for Family Home Evening we went and drove around looking at Christmas lights. We have these fun glasses that turn the lights into fun shapes. We blasted our Christmas music and had so much fun just talking and driving. I've been a bit of a scrooge this year, and haven't been too excited for Christmas. Someone is doing the 12 Days of Christmas to us this year and I have to say, it really has brightened my mood. So if it is you, THANK YOU! Merry Christmas! Soon I will have to post some pictures of our decorations.

Family Recipe Blog

Oh man, I so need to be cleaning, we are having company tonight. Oh well, I've been posting on our new family recipe blog! That's right folks we have a family recipe blog. It is Durfee Family Recipes. So come on over and take a look! If you want to contribute, just send me your recipe and I can add it, or if you are familiar with blogging, send me your email and I will add you as an author. To be able to add a recipe, check your inbox for an invitation, then click on the link to be added as an author. Once you have done this then you can post away! I need lots of new ideas for fun dinners, so everyone better be posting tons! Also, post your kitchen tips or fun food websites for the rest of us to enjoy! If there is stuff you would like to see on the blog, let me know, I am open to suggestions. Happy cooking Durfee girls, and those of us who have married in!


Just click the image to go directly to the recipe blog!

Thanksgiving Festivities

It is no secret that Amanda and I LOVE hanging out.  I seriously think that we married our husbands in order for the two of us to meet.  It it so nice that Nate and Benji get along so well and have similar interests, so while the boys do lame sports or technology things, Amanda and I go do fun things.   Okay, just in case you’re not family, Amanda is my sister-in-law, we married brothers. 

This year is the year that we celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  We have coordinated it so that when it is the year we spend with the Smith family, all the married couples are there.  So since Amanda and I were not going to be together for Thanksgiving, she came up with an awesome idea that we have a “pre-Thanksgiving” dinner.  The Saturday before Thanksgiving we got together and made our own feast.  We had everything from appetizers to turkey to mashed potatoes to jello to dessert.  It was very nice and traditional.  Although, at the end of the day we were so so exhausted.  The food was good and the company was fantastic.  I think it may just become a tradition!

Nate and I went to see Harry Potter later that same day.  We went to the Thanksgiving Point theater, the one with reserved seating.  So we get there and sit down and this old man next to us turns and says, “We took your seats so we could sit by our family.”  Seriously, this old couple took our seats!!  What is the point of reserved seating if it isn’t truly reserved?!   What bugs me most is that they didn’t even offer our seats to us, they just stated that they stole our seats as though it was no big deal.   I was bugged.  It is proof that it’s not just the younger generation that has become lax on common courtesy.   Anyway, other than that it was a pretty good movie.  Nate loved it.

 

On the actual day of Thanksgiving we went to my mom’s house in Cottonwood Heights.  We had a nice meal and we stayed and hung out with my family for most of the day.  I didn’t even take one picture of our feast, just a few of us playing games.  After we ate we played games, Nate fell asleep in the middle of Passwords.  He missed some funny moments though.  My mom was trying to get us to guess the word tattle.  Here were her three clues:  rat,  tale,  mommy.  We thought she said tail, and I was so so confused.  What does rattail mommy have to do with anything?   So we were guessing mullet and ratlings and all sorts of crazy things.  Oh man.  Then later I was giving the clues for the word arthritis so my first clue was joint.  My mom yells out “MARIJUANA!”  Literally yells it.   I seriously almost peed my pants.  I seriously wonder if I was adopted.   So we had a low key Thanksgiving and Nate and I slept in on Friday, no Black Friday shopping for us this year.   My brother came and spent the night at our apartment.  We took him back to Cottonwood Heights and visited my mom  for a few hours.   Anyway, that was our holiday.  It was nice for me to have Nate home for so many days.  I’m not looking forward to Monday.  I am hoping to put up our Christmas decorations this coming weekend.  I LOVE this time of year!  Hopefully you all had a wonderful holiday too! 

Three Things That Made My Day

I guess I should really have titled this post, "Lame Things I'm Proud Of." Then I remembered that sentences shouldn't end in of. Please ignore the fact that I just ended two sentences that way. Man, I really shouldn't blog when I'm so tired. I don't think I've gotten more than 4-5 hours of sleep any night this week. Anyway, I've been having a pretty good day. I was lucky enough to see Keith for a few hours today, he showed off for me saying all the new words he learned. Honestly, he has the cutest little boy voice! We were playing while Amanda put groceries away and he was being a little naughty so I said, "No way Jose!" Oh my gosh, he laughed and laughed. He kept knocking the same bottle over again and again, and each time he would look over at me and smile until I said, "No way Jose!" Oh gosh, I could listen to Keith laugh all day! That was fun thing that made my day number one. Number two was the fact that I bought a 14.5 pound turkey for $4.70! Amazing deal!!! That comes to $0.32 a pound! Woot woot! That also made my day. Okay, number three is pretty lame, I will readily admit that. So I was eating a sucker and made it the whole way without biting it. Okay, lame, I know! But I seriously can NEVER make it through an entire sucker without chomping it into little pieces. Now insert random fact of how I have never had a single cavity. Anyway, I'm just having a pretty good day, I hope all of you are too.

Dating Ideas

I can’t believe I haven’t shared this before!  A few months ago I found this cute website The Dating Divas.  It is full of fun ideas all about how to “date” your husband.  It has step by step instructions and downloads for fun themed dates.  Most of their ideas are really inexpensive.  So often I feel like Nate and I get stuck in the rut of  dinner and a movie.  Not anymore!  I am determined to plan more fun dates.  Just thought I would share.

Happy Birthday Nate!

My handsome husband Nathan Walter Smith turns 25 today!  Happy Birthday babe!   We have some fun plans to celebrate tonight and I hope today is wonderful for you.  I also hope that 25 is your best year yet!  I love you.

Blogging Tip - Lock Your Photos

Last night I taught a little class on digital scrapbooking. Thank goodness Amanda came so I had some moral support! During the class I briefly touched on the subject of blogging. I mentioned that you can lock your pictures to prevent people from right clicking and saving them. My blog is public and my scrapbook blog is public as well. The reason I leave these blogs public is because my pictures are locked! Since I post a lot of pictures of family and friends and their kids I feel so much safer knowing that no one can steal or copy my pictures. It seemed like most everyone at my class last night wanted to know how to do this so I figured I would post the link with the tutorial I used.

Right Click Disabling:
This is a one time deal. You only need to edit your blog's template HTML once and it will always be right click disabled. Right Click Disable

Left Click Disabling (photos only):
Even if you disable the right click function on your pictures, people can still left click and enlarge the photo. Once the photo is enlarged in a new screen then they can right click and save/copy it from there. DO NOT disable left click all together, then you wouldn't be able to click on links, comments, or anything!!! In order to left click disable your pictures you have to remove the link for every single photo. It is a little time consuming but I think it is totally worth it! It only took me an hour to go back through all my blog posts on all my blogs and lock my pictures. Left Click Disable

P.S. Did I totally confuse you? Questions? Need help? Call me or email me (my email is on the side) and I can walk you through it.

Perks

So I had to drive Nate to work today. We have some fun plans this evening and didn't want to have to drive separately on the way home, so I drove him to work. On our way to South Jordan we had a nice talk. During our conversation the matter of our infertility came up. Nate mentioned that he wished he knew what he could do to make it up to me. I said DIAMONDS! Nate joked that every time I start my period I should get a diamond. Sweet! Then I remembered that I haven't had a period in months (the doctor and I are working on it, however my uterus is not known for being cooperative). Dang it! Can I get diamonds for all the other months though? Just curious. Sorry if that was a little personal, but my mind has been on diamonds all day. Babies and diamonds, that is my Christmas list this year, which is funny because I think that has been my Christmas list for the past few years. A girl can dream.

Christmas Cards

Okay, 'tis the season. I am doing custom Christmas cards this year. I'm just wanting to do something on the side to make a little money for our adoption and in-vitro costs. See some examples I made really quick at ksdigitaldesigns.blogspot.com. I can also do announcements and invitations or almost anything you want. Pricing is $20 for a 4x6 or a 5x7. I'll sent you the digital copy and you can print it at your convenience. If you like my work pass it along!

P.S. If you are related to Nathan or myself your design is free. Merry Christmas!

P.P.S. Thanks to all my family and friends for being my models!

Good Day, Bad Night

Disclaimer:  Long post up ahead.

Both Nate and I had good days yesterday. Nothing extraordinary happened, it was just a normal nice day.  I made bread, did all my laundry,scrapbooked two pages, and made a good dinner.  All in all I felt productive.  Nate said he had a good day at work and he took out the garbage just like I asked.  We went to bed early at 9:15, that is so early for us.  Usually we are up until at least 11.  We were laying in bed talking about how it had been a really nice day.   We totally jinxed ourselves.  We were finally finished talking and were trying to fall asleep when Nate says, “Kim!”  I said, “What?  What is it Nate?”  No answer from Nate.   So I am starting to get a little nervous.  Then he finally answers and says, “There is a mouse.  Hand me some tissues so I can get it.”  Are you kidding me?!  There is a mouse in my house?  I am now officially in panic mode.  I toss him the box of tissues and then run to the safety of bathroom and lock the door behind me.   Once I am in there I realize I left my glasses in the bedroom and can’t see anything.  What if the mouse follows me in there?  I wouldn’t be able to see it!  I am totally vulnerable, and I am pretty sure this situation is not good for my high blood pressure.   While I am hiding and leaving Nate to deal with the mouse I have an epiphany.  This could be why I’m infertile!  I wouldn’t be able to protect my kids from vermin!  Isn’t that one qualification of being a mother, to be able to protect your children?  What would I have done if we had kids, leave them to defend themselves from the mouse, teach them the lesson of survival of the fittest?  Looks like I have some work to do before we have kids.  :)

That however, is not the end of the story.  I did warn you this post was long.   The mouse was not caught.  Nate says it ran back outside.  Here’s what we think happened.  When we moved into our apartment we didn’t have central air so we installed a window unit in our bedroom.  We have since gotten central air but haven’t removed the window unit.  Nate figures that the mouse got in and out through this window unit.  So after this ordeal I told Nate that  I was still a little scared and was worried about falling asleep.   Nate is a great husband and wanted me to feel better so he offered to take the window unit out right then at 10:30 at night.  I told him it was late and not to worry about it until the next day.   He however wanted to be the hero and went ahead and started to take it out.  Next thing I know I hear glass shattering.  Yes, Nate broke the window.   Again, are you kidding me?  A broken bedroom window at 10:40 at night?  So Nate left the window unit in and we boarded up the window the best we could.  I was thinking that it’s a good thing that Nate sleeps by the window so that if  someone comes through the window, whether it be man or mouse, he can protect me.  I was also worried about freezing to death during the night and of course last night it snowed.   Not only could I not protect my kids from mice, but they wouldn’t even have a warm shelter!  Worst non-mother of the year award goes to me!   Well I did live through the night and our awesome landlord is going to get the window taken care of today.  However I am refusing to leave the house today because I don’t want anyone to see a broken window and decide to break in.   Nate says that we have renter’s insurance and I shouldn’t worry so much.  I say he should have listened to me last night and we wouldn’t have a broken window.   Oh well,  I am just grateful nothing worse happened and that is something that can be fixed without too much difficulty. 

 

 

-P.S. I just want to make one thing clear, I keep a reasonably clean house.  We have never had an infestation of any kind.  Our next door neighbors have had ants and our previous upstairs neighbors had weevils, but we have never had anything but the occasional spider.  I promise I clean and that we aren’t hoarders.  I don’t know why we had a mouse.  I am choosing to believe that it just wanted the warmth of our apartment.

-P.P.S. I never saw the mouse but Nate assured me it was the smallest mouse he had ever seen.  He said it was only an inch and half long.  I hope that was the case.   Not that it makes any less scary to me.

Birthday Boys

Yesterday we got together for a family dinner to celebrate the birthdays of Spencer, Nathan, and Brandon.   Everyone is getting older!  We had a good dinner, some Halloween cupcakes, and some funny conversation.  Brandon showed us some shoes he wanted and as a family we unanimously voted that they were ugly.  Keith showed off his sign language skills and identifying parts of the body.  We watched crazy videos of Aaron dancing and discussed Julianna and her brother’s style.  You had to be there. All in all it was a blast.  Thanks to Ben and Katie for hosting.  Happy Birthday Spencer, Nate, and Brandon!

I Am So Doing This

I just came across the most darling idea. I am absolutely going to do this when we finally have children. I think it is so cute. It is a family art gallery where you can display your kid's artwork. Love it! I found it at The Creative Crate.

Individual Spaghetti Dinners

How cute is this dinner? Oh man, now I feel bad that I am serving this to Nate tonight. Sorry Nate, we are having Shepherd's Pie. I need to make this recipe though, minus the ricotta. I love when food looks and tastes great. Picky Palate is a fun site and has some cute ideas.

What's Your Rap Name?

Oh goodness, I am laughing my head off. So we found this website My Rap Name that will take your given name and tell you what your rap name would be. So dang funny. It came up with names like K Muffin, KK Spunky Silk, and K Kimmy Jewel (and some others that I won't share) for me. For Nate they came up with NN Menace, NS Flash, and my personal favorite Methodical Frosty Natty Tank a.k.a. Outlaw Chill. So if everyone could please call us by our rap names, that would be great!

Peace Out,
K Kimmy Jewel

The Happenings

Everybody knows that I LOVE watching BYU games (please read the sarcasm). It is the highlight of my weekends!! Fortunately Amanda feels the same way I do, so we try to other activities while our husbands watch the game. We've gone shopping, played with Keith, and baked all to try and endure the games. These pictures are from the first game of the season, notice how I failed to take a picture of anyone but Keith, oh well, he's cuter than us anyway. Thanks for entertaining us Keith! You're welcome over anytime!




Nate and I try to make it up to visit my mom every couple of weeks. This time we went up for Sunday dinner and games. Just in case you're wondering, I did win. :)




Justin and Whitney blessed their cute baby Beckham earlier this month. Here are a few pictures I took that day. I am not totally happy with this double page, I'll probably re-do it. Just click on the picture to enlarge.




We went to Sam's farewell and luncheon. It was fun to celebrate a missionary and to see all the family.


Happy Birthday Jake! Congrats on reaching double digits!

Durfee Family Calendar

Nate's cute cousin Alisha is in charge of the annual family calendar. She asked me to help this year and I though I'd show you what I have done so far. These are obviously the top half, the bottom will have the calendar and a section for notes. I don't have pictures yet, I can't wait to add them. Enjoy!

Scrapbooking

We've been so busy lately, birthdays, farewells, baby blessings, family, etc. It has been crazy! I'm slowly but surely catching up on everything. I am making a dent into all the scrapbooking I need to do. I don't really go in order, I just work on whatever sounds fun at the time. Here is a double page I made of our engagement. I am working on finishing a book, they can hold up to 100 pages, and I have 85 thus far, just a few more to go then I can order it!

Happy Birthday Benji!

This is a few days late, but Happy Birthday Benji! The Smith's had a family dinner to celebrate and Amanda made the cutest cake. It looked so good, I'm a little jealous. You can see a picture of the cake below. Nate and I had a double date with Benji and Amanda this past Saturday. We went to Brick Oven and then to Golden Spoon, and I didn't even take one picture, dang! I love spending time with Keith (and his parents) he makes things so fun. However it was Benji that threw a crayon into Nate's water. Goodness, we always have a fun time with them. Thanks for coming guys and thanks for giving us a reason to celebrate! We hope this year is a great one for you Benji!

Update on Nathan

Nate is now home (I brought him home yesterday) and feeling a lot better. His surgery was successful and he will make a full recovery. No more hernia! Thank you all so much for all the prayers and text messages and emails on our behalf. Now I just need to think of some things to keep Nate entertained while he is at home! I did tell him that if he was well behaved today he could have a sno-cone. :)

Worst End to Date Night Thus Far

Guess where Nate and I are? In the hospital! So long story short, Nate has a hernia and is having surgery this afternoon. That is how date night went last night, dinner, shopping, ER visit. Not exactly how it was supposed to go. Nate is a little nervous, and so am I, so keep us in your prayers today.


P.S. Question, am I the worst wife ever for taking pictures so I can scrapbook this?

Happy Wedding!

Today was Brandon and Julianna's wedding and we just wanted to take a second to say congratulations! Here is a quick page so you can see the happy couple.

Banana Crumb Muffin Recipe

This morning we spent a few hours dipping chocolate strawberries for the wedding tomorrow. I have to admit, we were really quick. I thought it was going to take all day! Thankfully Amanda knows where to get the chocolate for dipping, and thanks to Lori for hosting, she has a great nice long island that we used. Anyway I brought these muffins to share and everybody loved them and wanted the recipe so I thought I would share.



Disclaimer: I do not like bananas so I did not try these, but they smelled amazing!

I Might Be Crazy

Just before our first Christmas together Nate's mom gave us a huge box of all his mission letters, photos, and souvenirs and informed me that it was now my job to scrapbook and preserve his mission memories. So I hurried and rushed to make a 15 or so page scrapbook for Nate (this was back before I started digital scrapbooking) in time for Christmas. It turned out okay, definitely nothing amazing. I told myself that one day I would make something better. Since I got Photoshop I have really wanted to go through all of his pictures (2000+)and really make something nice.

So two weeks ago I lost my mind. I was looking at a cute scrapbooking site and saw this darling book this girl had made. It was a full fledged book, with an engraved cover and everything, so so cute. She had it made by Winkflash. I went to their site (winkflash.com)and they were having a sale! Their custom books are 60% off through the end of August. So, my 100 page 12x12 leather cover engraved book would be just a little more than $40. Sold! I have everything all picked out now I just have to scrapbook 100 pages! I am officially crazy. Did I mention that Nate's brother is getting married this week too and I have been busy helping with that? It would seem that I like to keep busy. I do have to admit that I am off to a pretty good start. I have a little more than 50 pages ready to go. My goal is to be all done by the 25th so then all I will have to do is organize them in the book and place my order! I am going to do it!!! Just a few more weeks of no sleep and I'll be done. Wish me luck!

Here are a few of my favorite pages thus far. I'm trying to keep everything similar without being to matchy-matchy so each page has this dark blue paper on it somewhere to keep the theme going. Also I've tried to make the pages seem somewhat masculine, as masculine as scrapbooking can be. I worry that they look too boring but I don't want to add more if it is going to make it too girly. Tell me what you think.








P.S. Please excuse any grammar and spelling errors, as previously mentioned I've had very little sleep.

Summertime Crafts

Every other Friday morning my mother-in-law hosts girls' time. We have been making bead jewelry and I have to say they have been turning out super cute! In addition to the jewelry it is so fun just to spend time together talking.


I made homemade bread for the first time yesterday. I know, shocking! I'm 24 years old and have been married for over three years and I've never made homemade bread. Here's the story: a few weeks ago Nate's cousin Alisha made these super yummy rolls. One day at our jewelry making session I told her that I had to have that recipe. Alisha told me that it was the Pantry Secret recipe and that she would teach us all a class with the recipe and all the variations. I decided I couldn't wait for a class, so I googled the recipe and tried it yesterday. To be honest I think it turned out pretty good for a first try. Now I am even more excited to attend Alisha's class! Thanks to Alisha for the great recipe!!

Durfee Family Reunion

Nate's mom's side of the family had a reunion the weekend of the 24th. We didn't camp out, but we did go up for a few hours Saturday morning. I got to play with Keith and Nate had to defend his arm wrestling prowess. It looked like everyone had a good time. Thanks to Mary, Sabrina, and JJ for being in charge of the party planning. I just learned that there is another reunion occurring in September, seems like we can't get enough of each other!! Here are the pages I made of the reunion. If you want to make them bigger and easier to read, just click on them:).

Big Exciting News!

Nathan and I have started the adoption process! We are in the very first stages of paperwork and we have classes to attend and meetings with a social worker, but we have started! We are so excited and hope this process goes smoothly for us. Please keep us, and all couples in our situation, in your prayers!

Nate's First Day

Today is Nathan's first day of work at LANDesk. He said he was a little bit nervous, but I know he'll do great. We know so many people that are out of work at this time and we feel so blessed to have this position. Nate has the opportunity to use his degree and I have the opportunity to stay home and to further my education. We are blessed!

Happy Belated Birthday Mom!

My mom's birthday was June 28th. Nathan and I went up and surprised her on her birthday. Next year is a big birthday and I want to throw her a huge party. Love you Mom!

Quick Page

I am loving this new kit! I just had to make a page with it. Here is a quick page with a picture of Nathan from last year. Just thought I'd share.



The kit is from Sweet Shoppe Designs. It is called In It Together by Julie Billingsley.

2011 Calendar - April

So I am working on a 2011 calendar to give as part of a Christmas gift this year. Here is the page for April. It is all about Stephanie! She is so much fun to have in our family, we sure do love her. This scrapbooking kit is called "In It Together" by Julie Billingsley and was purchased from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Belated 4th of July Weekend

My goodness, it's about time I posted our 4th of July happenings. Lately my time has been consumed with wedding invitations. I am making both Julianna and Brandon's announcement and Sarah and Michael's as well. Since I woke up at 4 this morning and couldn't fall back to sleep, I figured I may as well be productive. Here are the 4th of July pages that I made. I don't totally love them, but I don't know what to do to fix them. This kit is "Lucky" by Amanda Heimann and I purchased it from Scrap Orchard.

Finished!

I am done with work! Woo hoo! Last night was my last night at work, and I have to say, it was a pretty good night. I'll miss so many of my coworkers. I have some fond memories of Lorna getting soaking wet on April Fool's Day a few years ago, Holly running and sliding down the hall, Audrey saying "JK JK JK!" Dawney, codename Catnip, could always fill me in on what was going on, I remember a confused patient calling the cops on Brad, Ellen and her songs, several coworkers had dance moves, Michelle could do flips, and nearly everyone I worked with could make me laugh. I will miss working with all my fellow night shift PCT's. Thanks for all the fun times and I wish everyone the absolute best. Thanks guys!!

Exciting News

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Nate graduated in April with his bachelor's degree and now has a new job to go with that degree! He is going to be working in South Jordan for a company called LanDesk. He will also be using his Portuguese in this job. I am so proud of Nathan. This week will be my last week of work. We feel so grateful for this blessing and are looking forward to this next phase of life!

Happy Father's Day

Wishing all the fathers and future fathers a wonderful wonderful day! Today we listened to Amanda speak in church and she did a fabulous job. After that we went to the Smith's house and ate and played bingo. We had some cousins over and it was a party! We had a fun day, but we are exhausted.

Although he is not yet a father, I wanted to to remember Nate on this special day. I cannot wait for Nathan to be a father, he will be so so great. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Nate loves kids. Being one of the oldest in his family, he has been around a ton of kids. I love to watch him interact and play with our nephew Keith. He is so tender and cute and has the biggest smile when he plays with Keith. Keith likes Nate better than he likes me despite all my bribery. I guess Benji and Amanda raised Keith too well, he doesn't go for my bribes.
2. Nate has a great temperament. I've never heard him yell or scream. He is as mellow as they come. No situation riles Nate.
3. Nate is so smart. He is the only one of 70+ cousins to have a bachelor's degree. Need I say more? On top of being able to learn, Nate is really good at teaching.
4. Nate is handsome. He will have cute kids.
5. Nate is spiritual. I enjoy reading scriptures and praying with Nathan each day.
6. Nate serves. Whether he is serving me, his family, or our neighbors, Nathan is a great example of service.
7. Nate is a hard worker. He went to school full-time all while he worked full-time. Nathan is a great provider and he works hard both inside our home and outside.
8. Nate is loving.

For these reasons and many more I believe Nathan will make a wonderful father. I cannot wait for that day to come.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Anniversary

Today is our third anniversary. Here's to three years together and many more to come.