Grateful

This post is kind of personal, but I would feel extremely ungrateful if I didn't talk about this. I have been so grateful for an amazing family and amazing friends this last little while. The cookie basket above my sister sent and the flowers were sent by Jenny and Krissie. This was just a small example of the service people have given me in the last little while.

Let me start by explaining a little bit. I was 8 or 9 weeks pregnant when I had a miscarriage. Doug and I went in to get an ultra sound and they couldn't find a heart beat. This was extremely hard on Doug and I. We had been trying for 6 months to get pregnant and had finally succeeded when I lost the baby. We were both really emotional and had a hard time. Doug's mom flew out the night we found out and I went into surgery the next day for a D and C. Everything went great and Doug's mom went home a few days later. The day after she left I went to the ER and they found 3 blood clots in my right leg. I also had some other infections and complications. I was a mess!

I tell this story only to say that we had some amazing people come out of the wood work to help us in our time of need. My mom and dad were in Africa at the time and all of our other family members live in Arizona. Doug and I were on our own. We had a bunch of ward members bring us dinners, send us cards, and just drop by to give us treats and talk. We had others friends who watched Linkin while I tried to rest and get my leg better. Doug's mom even flew back out a second time to get Linkin and bring him to Arizona for 5 days so I could rest and get my body healthy again. I don't think I would have healed as well if she hadn't done this. She had it all planned so each one of Linkin's aunts and uncles could spend a whole day with him and show him love. He had an absolutely wonderful time! Doug and I came down to AZ after that and spent some time with family and picked Linkin up and brought him back home.

I have to mention a few people by name for their thanks: Kayla my mother in law of course, Emily Batitta, April Standring, Haven, my sister Britany, Jenny, and of course Krissie! I love you all so much and thank you for your help and support during this time. Especially those of you who got the crazy phone calls with me crying! haha. :) Love you all!

Mother's Day!

Linkin's preschool had a Mother's Day Tea Party. It was sooo cute!!! Linkin got a little confused at first because they had all of the kids on one side and the mother's on the other and the kids were going to sing for us. Linkin didn't really understand and he started freaking out because he saw me and he thought I was there to pick him up. He thought for some reason that I would leave him or something. He started FREAKING out! So the show ended up being a bunch of kids singing to their moms and than me sitting in the middle of a bunch of little kids. I think I added a little something extra to the show, don't you?! haha. After he realized I was staying he calmed down and we had a great party.
Here is the cute little gift they made for the mother's at preschool. I love this and have it hanging up on Linkin's Wall of Fame wall clips I made at MOPS Mothers Group. (I don't think I have blogged about MOPS but it is a Mother's Christian group that meets 2 times a month to do fun stuff and has cool speakers. They even have people watch your kids for you! One of the meetings we made cool wall hanging things you can clips your kids artwork onto.)

The Mother's Day Tea Party was tons of fun! The funny thing about this present was Linkin kept trying to tell me days in advance about this art project. I asked him what he did at preschool and he kept telling me he painted his hands. I didn't really understand what he was getting at until I saw this present. The teachers did an amazing job making it all very special! I love his preschool and he really enjoys it to. He asks to go every morning! =)

My Sister's Wedding

My sister got married! We are all so excited for the happy couple. She married a great guy named Cameron. He has 2 cute little girls that are 3 and 4 years old. Their ages fit perfect with all of the other cousins and we are so lucky to have them added to our family! I am pretty bummed we didn't get a picture with my parents in it too, but this is all we have for family pictures at the wedding. I hope Jess doesn't get mad I put up a picture of her pregnant. I think she looks adorable pregnant! So cute! (I'm about 8 weeks pregnant in this picture so that explains my rounder face and sickly complexion. haha)

Here is me and my man at the dinner after the wedding.

This is the story of my life! There were cameras and flashes going off EVERYWHERE at the wedding. People were taking pictures with everyone left and right. Doug thought it would be funny if he posed and got a picture with the Waiter. That's my Dougie for ya! I can't take him anywhere! (But that's why I love him right?!)

Easter 2011

Our ward did a really fun Easter Egg hunt this year for Easter. Linkin remembered doing all the hunts we did last year so he grabbed as many as he could and sat down and started eating them with in a few minutes. It was so funny! I had to get the eggs out of his basket and hide them for other kids because he was way to fast for the other kids. By the time the other nursery age kids had they eggs found Linkin had already found and eaten his candy. Smart boy I say! :)

The ward Easter Hunt also had fun games for all the primary kids. This game was so funny to watch. They had golden eggs the kids had to hold with their legs and run from one side of the field to the other. If the egg dropped they had to start all over again. It was so much fun to watch Linkin try to play the game. I have some pretty funny video tape to prove it!
Here are the two main men in my life! Love you Doug and Linkin! (Yes, Linkin is sticking out his tongue in this picture. To his defence he is just trying to show me the color of his tongue from all the candy....so he said anyways!) ;)
Linkin's Easter loot. The eggs have cute Thomas the Train trains in them and candy. The Easter Bunny was kinda sick this year and pretty lazy. haha. She promises to do better next year!

Linkin did love his toys though. That guitar is one of his favorites. When he's watching tv and there are shows with music, he gets his guitar and starts rocking out and singing with his favorite tv shows. That kid has always loved music! I see a big future ahead for him in the music business. jk

Disney on Ice

When I was in Arizona for my birthday Linkin and I got lucky enough to go with all of our friends to go see Disney on Ice. There was a group of 6 families that all went and there happened to be 2 extra tickets so Linkin and I got to crash the party and come along. I am so bummed I didn't get a picture of everybody, but here is me, Krissie and Jen. I think we had more fun their our kids did! We were singing and rocking out to all of our favorite childhood songs! (and yes we sounded just like them! just picture me as Ariel...aaaaa aaaaa aaaaaa! Like an angel!)

The show was actually Disney Princesses on Ice, so Linkin didn't really know a lot of the movies. He knew Aladdin and the Little Mermaid, but not much else. After the ones he knew were over he got kinda bored. Hence the light up spinney toy he is holding. He got a little bit scared during some of the songs and the dark auditorium didn't help. This was his night light for the evening. He LOVES this toy. (right now this toy is in the naughty box, but that's neither here nor their... haha)

Here are all of the princesses skating. It was a really amazing show! I enjoyed myself!

This has nothing to do with anything other than it was an awesome picture. I guess when I came to Arizona I brought the San Francisco rain with me because it actually rained a few days. This picture is taken from my parents patio after one of the rain storms. (it's an Arizona rain storm so it wasn't really that much rain compared to what we have here in San Fran but still a pretty picture, huh?!)

Birthday Trip to Arizona

I have to start out by saying my husband is absolutely amazing! For my birthday we flew down to Arizona and had a birthday extravaganza!!! It really was one of the funnest birthdays ever. It was like a week long celebration. (I know I know I am totally spoiled) ;)
Doug went a little over board this year with making it special for me. A few months back Doug got an Ipad for his work. At first we kind of 'shared' it and than I kinda took control over it. His work started developing an Ipad ap so they needed the Ipad back. It was the saddest day of my life! A few weeks after that the Ipad 2 came out and I TOTALLY wanted one soooo bad. Doug got up at 5 o'clock in the morning on my birthday and went down to the mall to stand in line for 3 hours to surprise me with an Ipad 2 for my birthday!!!! He was the first guy in line and the store only got 2 in that day and Doug got one for me. Can you believe how awesome he is? I am really lucky to be married to this guy all of eternity. Love you baby!

A few of my girlfriends in AZ all have birthdays with in a few days of each other so we always do a fun birthday celebration. This was our dinner out at Macaroni Grill followed by a movie and late night gab fest at the Desert Ridge fountains. These girls are way to fun! (pictured: me, Jen, Dani, Mindy, and Krissie)

I have said it once and I'm sure I will say it many more times but NOBODY DOES PEDICURES LIKE ARIZONA!!!! I have gotten my toes done in many other states, and Az does it best my friends. Nobody else does as cute of designs on your toes as Arizona does. I always have to get my toes down when we go down to Arizona. Here is all of the girls going to get their toes done. My nieces are even getting in on this! I love it!

How's this for a sexy pic? My mom was taking pictures of each girl in their chair. I am not one to just sit and smile.... you are proud aren't ya mom!? haha

Linkin spends a lot of time with his girl cousins when we go down to Arizona. He pics up some funny interests....such as feeding the baby in this picture. I came in the room and saw him watching a show and feeding the baby. It was the funniest thing EVER! You can tell by his eyes he has so much fun when we visit he gets crazy tired. Look at those tired eyes! He will be a great big brother! (no I'm not pregnant but some day he will be a good big bro!)

Preschool

Today was the start of Linkin's first day of preschool! I have been looking into preschool for the longest time to try to find the best fit for him and I think I found it! I was so excited to find this place and to be lucky enough that they had a spot open up. I know Linkin will be really happy at his new preschool! I started him mid year and I will also be doing it through the summer. I was going to wait until next August to start him, but I realized that he was so extremely ready for the social interaction and the structure and routine preschool would provide him and I couldn't hold him back because I wasn't ready to see him go out into the real world. I signed him up and he is thrilled! Today I went to drop him off and I was getting all the papers turned in and putting his stuff away and he ran away from me faster than a bullet! He was so excited to go run and play with the kids. When I went out to tell him I was leaving he was like, "okay." He could care less I was leaving he was having too much fun and he was annoyed I was getting in his way of basketball! haha. I'm glad he is so well adjusted! :)

As soon as I got in my car to drive away I started to cry a little bit. I couldn't believe it. It was such a weird feeling to leave your kid and send him off in the world when for 3 years I've tried my hardest to shield and protect him from it. I ran through and got me a coke (yes I fell off the wagon and occasionally indulge in a few cokes :) and than I went home licking my wounds. jk. I am so glad he is happy and loving preschool! I will miss you little buddy! (but I will say I am excited to get some things done like going to the grocery store and not bringing along my "helper"!)

Poptarts are the NEW breakfast of champions in our house! He thought he was so big with his backpack and his 2 different rain boots! As soon as we walked into the school yard he yelled to all the kids, "look! I have a back pack!" (I had to bribe him to smile for the camera in these pics. HE was giving me the evil eye until I said hey Link I will give you a marshmallow if you smile! Than I started getting the GQ pics! Now I know the secret weapon to get him to take good pics!!!)