Matt & Shauna

Rest of home visit

2012-01-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

The rest of the visit was great. No need for anything but good quality family time. Something we don't ever get, due to our 3000 mile distance! Here are some fun pics with the fam!

Showin Zoey some Love

Ryan and Shannon stopped in for a day. It was a nice surprise! Zoey loved having them there and became very attached!

Zoey clung to Ryan from the second he got there.

Uncle Ryan and Auntie Shan with Zoey

Zoey and Grandma got to spend some good quality time too!

Check this out...

Wide awake, just hangin out!

Like 2 minutes later!

Adorable!!! She never does that!

Grandpa and Zoey

Nothin but smiles when she's playin with Gpa

Look how much she is lovin being with him.

Alaina and Zoey got some good cousin time in. They are really starting to interact with each other. Alaina brings things over and shares them with Zoey and tries to put her bows on her. Zoey just crawls over to her and taps her head or pokes at her, but it's sweet to see their friendship blossom :)

Measuring how big their getting!

Alaina taking it upon herself to add a bow to Zoey's head :)

Plus they look so cute in the tub together.

Zoey tried my mom's glasses on and it turned out to be quite a photo op. Don't you think? Had to capture that! I can't even take how cute these are!

Zoey and I (playin with some editing features)


Zoey did this to herself and then stayed like that just whining until someone would move it, it's like she forgot she hands for a minute :)


We played a lot of cards and poker while we were there. I taught everyone my favorite game Hand and Foot. Zoey seemed to enjoy playing too :) She just laid on my arm while we played! What a sweetheart!

Hammock Silk Classes :) Bre and I had my mom babysit for a bit and we went to this class! It was awesome! I'm so glad we went! Kinda felt like we were training for those cirque du soleil shows or the circus! My mom always thought we were fit for the circus! :)

Bre

Levi's Birthday Party at McD's. We weren't able to get a lot of pics with Matt's fam cause I thought we lost our camera, thank heavens we found it!

Then it was time to come home...but it was so nice having so much family around all the time! We'll miss that!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T21:08:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was awesome!!! We got to travel back to Utah to be with family. We got there on the 19th so that we could spend lots of good quality time with both of our families! I'll post the other portions of our trip later, but Christmas was awesome. We had spent the last couple days with the Maylin's, having family dinner, a baby blessing, and visited Matt's grandpa. We spent Christmas Eve morning with Matt's fam and the evening with mine. (Sorry I don't have pics of Matt's fam, I thought we lost our camera for good, but then found it just in time!) So here is the rest of the evening...

Christmas Dinner! Mmm mmm mmmh :) Gotta love Christmas Dinner, especially cause we didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with fam! Christmas dinner kinda made up for it.

It's opening presents time!!! We decided to not go with our normal tradition of opening gifts between 2-3am, or whenever Santa comes :) We needed to open presents when the kids would be up, and I'm sure glad we did! Cause Zoey loved the presents, and all the paper she could tear all night long!

My mom went overboard with gift once again! (See pic below, look at all those presents) She always says, oh this Christmas isn't going to be much but I want it to be fun so I just got a couple of things for everyone! Well it was fun for sure! And we got tons of cool gifts. Matt and I got a magic bullet, clothes, jewelry(me, not Matt), Zoey got tons of toys and cute clothes.

I was able to give my parents something fun too that I made. I printed it on a canvas so they could hang it or just display it. I like to give meaningful gifts cause I like making them and then I can't wait til they open it. My parents cried when I gave it to them, they mean the world to me and I wanted them to know how grateful I am to them for how well they raised us, and how much love they showed us through all the little things in life! It truly has taught me how to be good mom to Zoey! I have so many good memories and it's because they were and are such good parents! I hope Zoey can one day say the same to Matt and I!

Alaina kept sharing her pacifier with Zoey and the taking it back :) They enjoyed playing together most of the evening! It's so fun to see them interact.

Just the 3 of us for a Christmas family photo.

And that was our fabulous Christmas!!! Glad we made it home to spend it with family!

The Big Announcement

2011-12-20T12:11:00.000-08:00

December 20th, 2011
We had a big family dinner to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Styles anniversary (59 years! WOW!!!) and Christmas! Everyone was there....

The Styles Family

My Family

Jason and Ashley and Avery Eldredge

We enjoyed our absolute favorite Chinese food from ABC Manderine.

And enjoyed seeing extended family, including all the kids!!!

So I decided...what a perfect time to announce that there will be a new addition joining the family in June!!! :) I waited til I was like 14 weeks to tell everyone, cause I wanted to tell everyone in person. So I thought this was a cute way to announce it. :) Everyone was super surprised and excited! Yay!!!

'Nother Christmas Partaaayyyy

2011-12-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

Every year a family in our ward throws a Christmas Party! They invite the whole ward over for good food and socialization. We weren't going to go because no kids were allowed, but Brook Olsen a young woman in our ward told us she would watch Zoey for us. Well that lasted for about an hour and half. Zoey was crying to much and ended up coming to the party with us! We were glad to have her!

Work Christmas Party

2011-12-10T13:04:00.000-08:00

Elm's Christmas Party 2012

My work Christmas Party was a real hit this year. We were able to get a free hall to hold the party at (American Legion). We hired a DJ, bought some gifts for a raffle, and had a pot luck. It was a fun time for all who attended.

For the first time we left Zoey with a baby sitter and enjoyed the party without her. It was weird without her but also nice not to worry about her and have some fun!

Almost everyone danced the night away. I was surprised at how many people danced! By the end of the night people were yelling at Shauna to come out and dance...she stole the show!

Messiah Sing

2011-12-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

December 4th

I've decided that I really need to be getting back into singing. So I sung in the Messiah Choir. Talk about some tough music to sing, but what a way to get into the Christmas spirit!

Check Zoey out, she was so supportive, she didn't make 1 noise the entire show! She just sat and waved at all the choir members :) ha ha...

It was also nice to have friends sing in the choir with me!

It just felt so good to be singing again! I hope to do more of it!

House Party With Ron Paul

2011-12-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

So A family in our ward are big Ron Paul supporters and are helping him with his campaign here in NH. They had a small house party and we were invited to come meet Ron Paul, hear his speech, and ask questions. We had a great time and liked a lot of the things that he had to say. Plus we had to get one more pic with a potential president to add to our collection. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:12:00.000-08:00

THE COMPANY

Felt super close to family! We've really grown close to the Argyle's and the Olsen's! We hang out with them at least a couple times a month. They're like our "besties" out here! So I am so glad that we got to spend Thanksgiving with them.

Me, Steph, Kelly

The kids all playin

THE FOOD
Look at that! It was AMAZING!

THE LIL CUTIE PIE ON HER FIRST THANKSGIVING
Her 1st Thanksgiving meal :) Oh look, captions! :)

I wasn't going to offer her any. I guess she knew that :)

The two things in life I'm most grateful for, my amazing husband and my gorgeous perfect daughter!!! I'm so blessed!!!

Lovin on Daddy

2011-11-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

I love every second I get to spend with Zoey. I love to see her when I come home for lunch, after work, and then all day on Saturday and Sunday. Here are some pictures of Zoey and me!

Nothing better then holding her in my arms and having her cuddle with me. This is definetly the best part of being a dad.

Everyday I'm shuffling! :)

2011-11-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

You're gonna want to see this! :)

Especially you Shannon and Ryan!

It's a response video to the amazingly awesome shuffling video that I saw a couple weeks ago. (And the response by Ryan and Josh.) That video had me laughing so hard, then I couldn't help but dance. The movie kinda inspired me! When the power went out, we had a little bit of time on our hands. We were staying with some friends so we decided to make a response video to THE VIDEO that I LOVE so much!!! So watch and enjoy and then you have to comment and tell me what you think :) Okay, some of the things in here are because of the actual video and then some of the things are from the other video... alright... without further adieu.... here is some AWESOME SHUFFLING!!!

PS. It's clear that I, and most of us, didn't have the time to learn too intensely the art of shuffling, like some people I know, or just don't have that natural talent, (which Shan you totally have natural talent) but we tried our best! We had fun all the same! :)

Locked out in a SNOW STORM!

2011-11-05T09:21:00.001-07:00

So it is not every day that something happens to you that you really feel needs to be written down. October 29, 2011 was one of those days. It was 5 o'clock and we had just finished moving into a house when it started to snow. Zoey had gone down for a nap and Shauna and I were putting stuff away as fast as we could while she slept. At about 7pm the power started to flicker and then all the power eventually went off. (which turns off all power, water, and heat) I decided to go out and shovel the drive way because there was already 12 inches. 2 1/2 hours later I came inside after finishing. I was soaked from head to toe so I went down to the basement and took all my clothes off and came up stairs in my underwear. Shauna had been talking to some friends that said we could come over and spend the night because they had a generator. We decided we would go but we needed to do something with the food in our fridge so it didn't go bad. We have a 3 season room on the back of our house that is attached to the kitchen. So Shauna, Zoey, and I went out there to see if it was cold enough to put our food out there. We all went out and to preserve the heat that was left in the house we shut the door behind us... and as you guessed it the door was locked. There we were, I am in nothing but my underwear, Shauna is in her pajamas and luckily Zoey had a jacket on. Shauna and I looked at each other and both smiled and thought this was not possible.

Shauna- maybe be the front door is unlocked
matt- I don't think so, but one of us should go check it out.
Shauna- I will since you are in your underwear
matt- I am not letting you go, I will go.
Shauna- There is a foot of snow and you don't have any shoes. Let me do it, we did this in high school for fun.
Matt- Stop I am going

So I open the sliding glass door and make a mad dash across the deck down the stairs around the corner down the driveway and up the stairs to the front door.Open the glass door and check the door...locked! Back down the stairs, across the drive way around the corner and up the stairs, open the door

Matt- it's locked
Shauna- Dang. What are we going to do?
Matt- (after I hit the door with my shoulder a couple times) I don't know! Looks a lot easier in the movies.
Shauna- I know the window above the garage is open because I didn't lock it after i talked to you when you were shoveling.
Matt-it's like 15 feet up in the air. There is no way that would work.

In the 3 season room there is some furniture.

Shauna- We could take the chair and you could stand on it and I could get on your shoulders and try and get the screen off and open the window.
Matt- what are we going to do with Zoey?
Shauna- We will barricade her in and go quick.
Matt- before we put this elaborate plan into play let me go check it out.
Shauna- okay, hurry

So off I go again, nothing but my underwear in the snow that now comes up past my knees. Across the deck, down the stairs, around the corner where I am standing in front of the garage. I look up to where the window is and it is a good 18 feet up from the ground. There is no way this is going to work. At that moment I look across the street and see a light on. I take of in a last attempt to SAVE my family. I run down the drive way across the street and up the neighbors long driveway. Their generator is on and is super loud. I start banging on the door, "help", "help". no answer. I run to across their yard to another door. Knock knock knock. The lights were on and as i look in no one is coming to help me.

After waiting a couple more minutes and screaming for help a couple more times I decided to try the people across the street. So I make a mad dash out of their yard across the street and to the door. Again I knock and no one comes. I look to my left and see the fire station. I take off up the street across the main street into the parking lot. Lights are on. I go to the first door. It's locked. I knock and yell for help. No one comes. I run around to the back. There are cars there but as I bang on windows and doors no one answers. I arrive back at the front of the fire station. I remember seeing a car drive on the main street when I was knocking on the first door. So I stand on the main street waiting for a car to come, Positive when a car drives by me, 27 year old male in nothing but his underwear, will stop and help me. Well, no one ever comes. I start running again down the street towards the house and decide to try one more house, but with the same results. By this time is had been about 20 minutes of me running around the neighborhood. I decided to go back to the 3 season room. When I arrive back Shauna looks at me with despair.

Shauna- Where have you been? I though you were just going to the garage and back? I was worried sick. I came out and looked for you!
Matt-I'm freezing!
Shauna- I barricaded Zoey in and came after you. I ran down the road and saw your footprints I was screaming your name. I didn't know if you had fallen and were laying there unconscious, but because I didn't see you I though you had found some one to help and would be right back, with clothes on and some one to help.
Matt- I ran all over. No one answered. I knocked on four houses went to the fire station and no one came. We are going to have to break the window.
Shauna- Here take Zoey.
Matt- What are you going to do
Shauna- Break the window.

Shauna hands me Zoey and grabs a towel and starts wrapping it around her elbow

Matt- What are you doing! You are not going to try and put your elbow through the glass.
Shauna- I can do it. This is how everyone does it!
Matt- In the movies!!! Grab the piece of wood and use that!

Shauna then grabs the piece of wood and begins to try and break the glass. After hitting it a dozen times and doesn't even crack it

Matt- We can't even break the window.
Shauna- I am going to break my hand before I break the glass.
Matt. Take Zoey, I am going to try.

After hitting it a couple times I break it! We get inside and my feet are red and I am shivering like crazy! Shauna runs up stairs and gets all the blankets we have. Runs back down stairs and puts them all on me. We took a while to warm up. By that time it was about 10pm. After getting warm we decided to call our friends and tell them we would just stay home tonight. We figured we did a lot to get in, we might as well stay there.

And that's the story :) And below is the evidence...ha ha

The start of the snow storm Oct 29th


The door and the broken window that we broke :) We were only moved in about 4 hours before we ruined their perfectly good house!

And this is our new house! Matt took over 5 hours to shovel our super long drive way. 2 hours the night before and 3 hours in the morning. We got 21 inches of snow in a matter of hours! Look at all that snow, in OCTOBER!

Our house was already freezing by morning, so we had to bundle up even for breakfast! The top right is a pic of the footprints from the night before!

We were out of power for 5 days and had to stay at friends houses til we got it back. What a way to welcome us to our new house huh? :)

TRUNK OR TREAT

2011-10-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

We have been to more ward activities here. It's more like a big family party cause that's how cool our ward is :) It was fun to see everyone all dressed up :) And it was fun to have a place to bring Zoey that was indoors :) Plus I LOVE Matt's hair! I wish it was really like that, and mine doesn't look too bad either :) ha ha

Here we are: 

Two hippies and our LOVE child :) 
 
The cutest LOVE child ever :)


Our friends: the crazy tourists, the cowgirl and Maleficent Some fun costumes

Joys of Today

2011-10-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

Joy #1

We left Zoey in the living room while we were in the kitchen fixing lunch. Next thing we knew she was under the table with her cute little smile :) She is getting so fast!!!

Joy #2

Zoey has now learned to stand. When she woke up from her nap she was standing up in her crib waiting for mommy :)

Joy #3

85 degree weather in October!!! After Matt got off work we took to the park! We packed a picnic and enjoyed the night in the beautiful park right by our apartment.

Here are some super cute pictures of Zoey!

Here is her model pose, looking off into the distance!

"I'm such a cute baby" pose.

Pose with mommy!

Pose with Daddy!

Joy #4

Since Zoey has learned how to stand she is wanting to mobilize more and more every day. We introduced her to her first walking toy! You can see below that she is getting a hold of the whole walking craze!

GET READY...

SET...

STAND

STEP

GOT IT!

We're so proud!!! :)

Joy #5

Although Zoey doesn't fully comprehend the joy of a good playground, her mom and dad do!

Joy #6

Zoey does enjoy a good swing! What Booher doesn't? Her face says it all!

This little girl just fills our hearts with so much joy everyday!

Sum of all joys = INDESCRIBABLE JOY!!!

Milford Pumpkin Festival

2011-10-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

October 8, 2011 

The Joy of being in a small town is that we get to do small town festivals. The whole town square was closed for 3 days and booths were set up for little shops and food, live music all day, and  pumpkins and people everywhere.

Largest pumpkin contest...wining one weighed 1276lbs!!!

We also met some good friends at the festival. (Their parents were there too, although these little girls are fun too :))

Cheeks!

2011-10-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

When a cute girl with cheeks like these looks your way, you have no choice but to...

grab her

and kiss those cheeks

Ah! We just can't help ourselves! If you couldn't guess, those cheeks get A TON of KISSES!

MUAH! XXXXX

Mom N Dad's Visit

2011-10-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's just always nice to have your Mom n Dad visit! It meant a lot that they took the time to make it all the way out east. It was fun to share Zoey with them for the week and show them all the tricks she's learning. We took 'em to a bunch of our ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PLACES! These really are awesome locations! See for yourself... (I hope you get jealous of their trip and feel the need to make one of your own, wink, wink!)


John Hancock is buried right behind us, in the cemetery

Our week also consisted of... of course, super good home cooked meals! Cooked by, of course... ME! (Who did you think, Mom?) :) Well she helped, but times are a changin and I can actually cook now, so I had to prove myself to her, the master chef! :) ha ha! Okay in all reality we went out to eat a couple times too :) We also spent some time in our quaint little town of Milford. Weather was perfect and great for strolls around town! Along with a little time to just sit back and relax, this week turned out to be pretty close to perfect! I sure love and miss my family so I was so happy to have them here for a while! Come back soon!

Bar Harbor, Maine

2011-09-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

BAR HARBOR, MAINE

Labor Day Weekend

Sept. 2nd - 5th, 2011

We live pretty close to Maine, but just had never made the trip. So when some friends asked us to join them for a camping trip we were all in! We heard of this coo place called Bar Harbor, it's a small island on the coast of Maine. (Just FYI, It's actually where Jake worked all summer and did bike tours!) It's so beautiful!!!

This is where we camped, but on a little bit more grassy area! :)

The joys of camping: frisbee, lounging, and taking walks along the shoreline.

Here is the crew. Horrible Pic, I know, but I wanted to add a group photo

This place is famous for biking so there are biking trails everywhere!

We rented bikes for 4 hours, strapped Zoey on and biked all around Acadia National Park

Check out the scenery!

So Matt and I had literaly just written a bucket list a few weeks back and on mine is "Try Lobster while in Maine." So here is Matt and I trying Lobster! I practically had to twist his arm to try it with me!

My face says it all, and check out Zoey's face too :) Ha ha She is like "what the heck is this thing and why is it so close to my face?"

Here is the preparation. We didn't have to do the dirty work of preparing it all, which made it a little easier to eat. :)

It wasn't as bad as I thought, but it wasn't that good either :) It may be an acquired taste.

This is Sand Beach, and the Blow Hole in Acadia. How GORGEOUS, huh?

Nothin beats a good camping trip with a bunch of good friends. The area was probably one of the most beautiful places that I have EVER been to! This trip was definitely a trip to remember and one that I would love to do again!

Another Day at the Beach!

2011-08-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

8/13/11

We love being so close to the beach! It's fun to take Zoey but as you can tell by her face, I don't think she gets the excitement of it all :) Still cute though!!!

Happy Birthday Shauna!!!

2011-07-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

Adorable Zoey

2011-07-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

While I was in Utah I wanted to get some cute photos of Zoey, so my BFF did some. :) Zoey was a little fussy the day we did these but she still got quite a few that turned out super cute!
*Taken July 25th, 2011. Zoey is about 3 & 1/2 months.

Zoey's Blessing

2011-07-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

We were able to wait to bless Zoey til we visited Utah. It was good to have both my family and Shauna's family there for the occasion. Due to our short stay in Utah we had to have the blessing the same day as Jessica and Jake's wedding. It was a hectic day but we are glad that our famliies could be there!

Proud Parents!

Beautiful mom and Zoey

Zoey's dress was made by one of Bonnie's friends, Jolynn. She did a fantastic job! The blessing was gorgeous.

Blanket from Shan

2011-07-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

So when we were visiting Ryan and Shannon in sunny California, Shannon and Shauna went and picked out fabric for a blanket that Shannon was going to make a blanket for Zoey.

We finally took some super cute pictures of Zoey and the amazing blanket that her Aunt Shannon made for her.

Shannon, we are sure if Zoey could talk now she would tell you how much she loves the blanket. It definitely has a Zoey style to it! Soon enough she will be able to tell you herself!

4th of July 2011

2011-07-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

We had a great 4th of July this year. We were not able to spend it with our families but thanks to some great friends we have made here in New Hampshire we had a blast.

We started off actually on the 3rd of July at the Amherst Fireworks. We were a little worried about Zoey and how she would react to all the fireworks, but she loved them. She hardly fussed and watched intently during the whole show.

The next morning, 4th of July, we had to be up extra early because we got invited to walk with Mitt Romney in the Amherst city Parade. Although it was super hot we had a great time. We're not really all that political but it was a good experience :)

When Mitt showed up to greet us all he taught us a little ditty that his dad used, it goes like this:

Hooray for Romney, Hooray for Romney!

Someone in the crowed yelled hurray for Romney!

1...2...3...4... who ya gonna vote for?

Romney, that's who!

The Parade lasted about an hour and a half. During that Shauna and Zoey got a picture in with the Presidental Candidate.

After the Parade was over I quickly took my Romney shirt off and got a picture with Jon Huntsman Jr.

After the Parade we went home and took a long nap in front of the Fan!

We then headed over to the Warners house for a good 'ole July 4th BBQ.

It was a great day filled with politics, fireworks, sun, sweat, good food, and most of all GREAT FRIENDS!

Rolling Over

2011-07-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

(From Zoey's blog, the one that Matt and I are keeping for Zoey)

7/2/11

Zoey,
Yesterday was the first time ever that you rolled over! It was the coolest thing! I had just changed your diaper and ran to wash my hands and when I came back you were just flipping over your left shoulder on to your tummy! A lot of kids go from tummy to back first, but not you! You are unique! You have been since the get go! :)

Then today you rolled over tons! Yesterday you realized you could do it and today, whenever you were on your back, all you wanted to do was practice! We got it on film and everything! :) Sometimes your arm gets stuck under you so when you try to move you roll back onto your back and then you try again but your arm gets stuck again :) It is so cute! I love watching you grow and develop! I know I am going to say this a million and one times in your lifetime but... I can't believe my little girl is growin up! Ah! You're only 3 months but slow down already! :)

Well as much as I love keeping this record, you are in bed right now and my sleep time is limited :) So I better get... :)

With So Much Love,
Mommy

PS. I had to grab the camera so here you are right after you flipped over.

I think it scared you at first :)

Then you realized you just did that all by yourself :) Ha ha

More pool fun

2011-07-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

We have so much fun taking her to the pool! As she gets older I'm sure it will get more and more fun but she is just too cute to handle so I had to post a couple pics :)

Nobody has ever made sandals look so cute :)

She LOVES it!

She always gets so tired after a day out in the sun!

Playin on a Beautiful Summer Day

2011-06-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

The Best part about our apartment in Milford was that it was right next to a big park. One day after work we had to take advantage of the beautiful day!

This is one of the first times Zoey was in a swing. She loved it. Must be a Booher thing :)

We can't wait for more days in the summer where we can have fun in the park.

Strawberry Festival

2011-06-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

Each year a family in our ward plans a Strawberry Festival where everyone goes to the strawberry farm, picks strawberry's for an hour and then goes back to their house for a big party where all sorts of strawberry dishes are served. There was Strawberry cake, cheesecake with strawberries on top, strawberry shakes, chocolate covered strawberry's, angel food cake and whipped cream... with, you guessed it STRAWBERRIES!!!

Yummy!!!

It was a lot of fun! A lot of people came and we played Foosball and enjoyed the evening together! What a good idea, but talk about a sugar high :)

1st Day at the Pool

2011-06-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

The pool is now open, and I have a feeling we'll be there a lot this summer!

Here's to hoping she'll be a little water baby like her mommy!

Testing Zoey out in the baby pool first. She's excited, you can see it in her face :)

Then on to the big pool. She's lovin that too!


All tuckered out from all the excitement! All in all I think she liked it!

Zoey's first time at the park

2011-06-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Day at Keys Park
June 18, 2011
On Saturday we wanted to have a good ole picnic. So we got some lunch at Subway and headed to the park. We had lunch and watched a local baseball game. After lunch we headed to the playground to take Zoey on the slide and swing for the first time.

After Shauna went through the tunnel slide the static got the best of her hair!

Zoey has found out that if she cries and gives us her sad face that we'll pick her up. Look at that face! Wouldn't you :) ?

Zoey was tired out after all the sliding and swinging that she took a little cat nap!

Catching up!

2011-06-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hey, just wanted to say sorry to anyone who is reading this, which i'm pretty sure is only 2 people (mom & shan) :) But I have been a little preoccupied with my darling little sweet pea! I have a bit of catching up to do, so stay tuned for the latest and greatest.... and for the super duper old stuff!

Cream Cheese and Peanut Butter

2011-06-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

"I cream cheesed my purse and peanut buttered my hand and bagel" were the first words of a series of unfortunate events!

:) Matt had made me breakfast to eat on the way to church: a half of a bagel with cream cheese on it and a piece of toast with peanut butter on it. They were sitting side by side on my paper towel balancing in my hand as I got in the car.

As you can imagine, with a baby you carry about 12 million things with you when you go anywhere :) So I've got my purse, my church bag and the diaper bag and I'm carrying my breakfast! Of course :P As one bag falls off my shoulder it jolts me and the cream cheese gets all of my purse and the peanut butter got all over my hand and the bagel. So I set my breakfast on the dash board so I could get all situated and cleaned up.

BUT of course we were late, so Matt didn't have any time to wait while I did that, So...

Before we even leave our apartment parking lot there is peanut butter and cream cheese on the dash, the side of the door, my skirt and then ended with both items of breakfast face down (of course) on the floor of our car :) I knew it was going to be a very good day! :)

As I went down to pick it up, my hair went forward and I cleaned the dash board with my hair then as I wiped my hair back from my eyes I strategically placed peanut butter on my forehead from my hand! :)

MORAL OF THE STORY: Cream Cheese and Peanut butter should be eaten at the table, they are not "on the go" foods! :) But it made for quite a fashion statement at church! :)

Memorial Day '11

2011-05-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

This memorial day was really great! Once again we were adopted by a couple of families in our ward so that we would have something to do for memorial day! (SO KIND) This is how it went:

BBQ, slip n slide, trampoline, nature walk, watched Megamind, canoeing on a BEAUTIFUL pond! What a gorgeous day and what gorgeous scenery!

Good food, good company, good fun, good day!!!! :)

DC Road Trip

2011-05-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

May 12 - May 15, 2011
The night we got in, we got in a little late, but Jake and Leeann made us some dinner. And we hung out and planned the next couple days.

Zoey was making the cutest faces in the morning! She was frowning, then smiling, then frowning! It is hilarious! Check this out!!!

Jake was so sweet to ride his bike downtown in the morning to get us tickets to go up into the Washington Monument.

The view from the windows of the Washington Monument:

Inside of the Washington Monument

Looks like Matt just had the baby :) (written by Matt)

Forgot to take off the zoom when taking this picture, but it turned out to be a sweet pic of Alaina. :)

Here we are, going through the museums...
We stopped at all of my favorites: Museum of Natural History, Museum of National History, and the saddest museum: the Holocaust museum.

Views walking around the Smithsonian

State Capital Bldg

After dinner at a one of Jake and Leeann's favorite family style pasta restaurants we went walking around downtown to see the Lincoln memorial, and all of the war memorials.

We stopped at a couple more museums the next day. Didn't take too many pictures of the museums, but these ones are pretty darn cute!!!

Just hangin out at Leeann's apartment.

Thought we'd take a picture before heading out....so sad to go!

Zoey bein a lil cuddle bug!

All loaded up and ready to go.

Final Stop: Arlington National Cemetery. We had to stop to see the changing of the guards.

Drive home. Check this out, one second they're fine.......

the next, they're not! :) Ha ha ha ha

Hilarious!!!

We love our road trips, especially with the babies. We can't wait for the next one.

The Elms Pie Throwing :)

2011-05-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

So ever year at my work we have a pie throwing fund raiser. The money is raised to help provide more activities to our residents. Staff, families members, and the residents all can participate.

Here I am enjoying the giving part of the pie throwing.

Gettin Ready for the first pie :)

This is after the first couple of throwers.

I think just about everyone in the building threw a pie at me that day :)

Thought this was an appropriate shirtv:)

Of course Shauna and Zoey had to join in on the fun!

Here I am after! It was super hard to get out of my hair!

This is not my favorite even of the year, but it raises a little money and the staff and residents love it!

Zoey Capri

2011-04-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

* 2 weeks old

Tryin to induce labor

2011-04-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

So I was so far along that everyone, including the midwives, thought that I would go into labor at any moment! So my mom and Bre flew out as fast as could be so that they wouldn't miss the delivery! :) Then we waited! I was at a 3 and then a 6 and 100% effaced, but still walked around until 3 days after my due date! I think my mom and sis jinxed me by coming! :) We waited and waited but we knew that she'd be worth the wait!!!

We tried everything to get Zoey out...

racquetball


Going for LOTS of walks!

Relaxing

Candle Pin Bowling

More relaxing!

but she is just as stubborn as her mama! :)
Then she finally came! And she was definitely worth the wait! I would've waited a thousand lives for her sweet spirit to bless my life!

Maternity Pics

2011-02-23T14:30:00.000-08:00

We took a couple fun maternity pics by ourselves in Hawaii :)

Then my bestest friend Chels took these ones for me! She did an incredible job!

*Taken at approx. 34 wks

I love that maternity pics are becoming popular, what a wonderful way to help women feel beautiful, at a time when their body is a bit different than they are used to! :) Pregnancy is a miracle and definitely something of beauty!

Happy Valentines Day Shauna

2011-02-14T04:26:00.000-08:00

As I thought about how I could best tell Shauna how much I love her and how much she means to me this Valentines day, I thought about what means the most to her. I know Shauna doesn't like flowers, i.e. the flowers I bought for her 24th birthday and 1st one in New Hampshire. Could have been the $50 I spent on them or the fact they died after a week, probably a combination of the two. Either way I now know that she isn't the flower type of girl. Over the past 4 years and 3 months I have come to learn a lot about Shauna, for instance I know Shauna married me for my money and muscles. I knew this early in our relationship and even though I had neither when we met I promised her both of them. Unfortunately my gym time has been lacking so I won't be able to give her muscles this valentines day and even though our financial status is better I still won't be able to fulfill the money aspect of my 4 year old promise, I wanted to give her something that I know will mean more to her than flowers, money, and muscles.....something from my heart! :)

This picture was taken a day or two before we decided we were going to get married. I love this picture for a couple of reasons. One, it shows how young we were when we got married :), it shows your natural hair color, and lastly, because of how the people in the background are a little blurred. I love that because at that time in my life everything BUT you was blurry! I fell so hard and so fast for you that I couldn't beleive I had found the girl of my dreams, the girl I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

A lot of people said that only knowing each other for 4 months before we got married was too quick and that there is no way we had time to fall in love with each other. We had plenty of time to fall in love, like when my soul felt something it had never felt before on July 12, 2006. When I looked up and saw this beautiful girl standing in the park. My soul knew yours. It was the most incredible feeling that has ever come over me.

There was also our first date when you hung out my sun roof and yelled, "Putt, golfer putt" at all the miniature golfers. You're everything I've ever wanted!

There was also every night before we said goodbye. We would just hold each other and talk about anything. I remember it was in front of my house by your car that I looked you in the eyes and told you that I was falling in love! Your response was just what I needed, "Not any faster than I am!" I think that after that night we both knew that this just wasn't another person we would break up with in a couple months. We knew it was the start of our Fairy Tale life!

Here are some of the pictures that show little parts of our fairy tale lives thus far....

These are just a few of the times that make our lives a Fairy Tale. I never thought I would travel the places that we have or done some of the things we have. You truly make this life to live for!!! The best part about being married to you isn't traveling to Europe or Central America. It's waking up next to you every morning. It's kissing your soft lips. It's coming home every day for lunch just to see you during my hectic day. It's your amazing out look on life. It's your ability to make such wise decisions! It's your eyes that see me for what I can be and your will to help me get there! Above all, it's the fact that I get to spend every day of the rest of my life with my best friend.

Lastly I know how much music means to you so I wanted to have a song that I feel tells how best I feel about you.....Just the way you are

I LOVE YOU SHAUNA with all my heart! I am so grateful that you are in my life. Our little girl is so lucky to have you as her mommy :) You will provide for her a life of happiness, adventure, learning, and love!

Lets let Valentines Day mean "I love us" not "I love you"!!!!

Love you much!

-Matt

San Francisco

2011-02-08T12:32:00.000-08:00

February 5-8, 2011

We decided to make a family visit on our way home from Hawaii, cause we've never been to see my bro Ryan and his wife Shannon in the bay area. They are our closest pals, and now the only time we get to see each other is over Skype :( So we stopped for a couple days :) It was a lovely trip! We spent the first day in downtown San Fran. And hit all the major spots, -Full House town, Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's wharf, saw Alcatraz, although we had no time for the grand tour, and walked the strip :)

Alcatraz

Fisherman's Wharf, San Fran

Then we visited the Google campus, Intuit campus, and then had lunch at Stanford University. It's a lovely place :)

Google, Intuit, and Stanford

Paddle Boating with Shan :)

It was nice to visit and catch up with Ryan and Shannon! I can't believe it had been like 7 months since we'd seen them last! Hopefully they will come visit us next :) Thanks Ryan and Shannon for letting us drop in for a quick visit. We love ya!

Hawaii Vacation

2011-02-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

Jan. 29th - Feb. 5th, 2011

A while ago I had a chat with Matt and said we should go on a "baby moon" before we have our lil girl. I asked him "If you could choose to go anywhere, where would you want to go?" He said..."HAWAII" So, that was that... and a couple months later, there we were! :) We also enjoyed the company of the family members that were able to join us! Bre, Chase and Alaina came with us from start to finish, but my Mom, Aunt Debbie, Jess and Josh also came for a couple days too! It's so fun that my fam has flight benefits so that we can share these experiences together!

WAKIKI ~ 1st Day at the Beach

We found a hotel right by the pier on Wakiki, it was perfect! We loved walking the strip and seeing all the street performers, shopping, and getting some exercise in a beautiful city!

Hanauma Bay

Matt and I got to try out our new snorkel gear :) We saw tons of colorful fish!!! The most random thing were the chickens roaming all over the beach :)

Pearl Harbor

Arizona Memorial

So incredible to learn about Pearl Harbor in more depth and pay tribute to those who died on Dec. 7th, 1941. It's crazy that as you stand on the memorial, you can still see the boat below you!

Dole Pineapple Plantation

Something you just gatta do when your in Hawaii! Plus pineapple is my favorite fruit, at the moment! :)

Polenesian Cultural Center
Also something you have to do! We got to learn about Samoa, New Zealand, Hawaii, Marquesas, Tahiti, Tonga, and Fiji. Then we had a nice canoe ride, dinner and a luau. :) The night show was awesome too! We couldn't take pictures but they did everything from singing and dancing to the crazy magic fire dance show thing :) It was the coolest thing there by far!

Turtle Beach :)

We went twice to Turtle Beach, the first day there were no turtles, but the next day there were 2 on the shore and a couple more swimming right at shore break! I LOVE SEA TURTLES!!!!

North Shore - Day at the Beach

My favorite day in Hawaii, for sure!!!! Just a nice relaxing day playin in the sand and in the ocean. We were having so much fun! Chase brought his boogie board, and we all swam out and played with that thing for hours! Jess, Bre and I had a blast body surfing, boogie boarding and just chillen in the ocean and goofin around :) When we got back to the beach Matt told us we had been out there for 1 & 1/2 hours! You know what they say... time flies when you're having fun!

LDS Hawaii Temple

One of the most beautiful buildings ever!

Cutest pictures of Alaina, don't you think? I just had to throw these in somewhere :)

We love vacations and love Hawaii! We're so happy that we got to go! It was also nice to skip out on some winter in exchange for some sunshine! :) Gotta love that!

Maylin Fam Get-Together

2011-01-29T16:33:00.000-08:00

1/28/11 

After 6 months of living in NH, we finally made it back for a nice family get together. It was so good to see everyone and try to recognize our nieces and nephews that have grown like weeds in 6 mo! :)  Everyone also really got into this new game on the Wii called "Just Dance." Literally EVERYONE got into it! :) So fun! It was nice to remember what it was like to have a big fam get together again! Ha ha, it hasn't been that long, but we've never lived away from family before! :) 

We are already excited for our next visit to see family again this summer! And this time we'll be able to show off our little girl!!! :) That'll be the best!

Jazz vs. Celtics

2011-01-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Shauna's mom we were able to go to the Utah Jazz vs. Boston Celtic game in Boston. The Jazz were blown out but it was still fun to see our Jazz play some where else besides the ESA and now that we live near Boston we have to cheer for them too :) We also ate at the Cheese Cake Factory before the game, it was soooooo goooooood! Thanks Bonnie for the game and giving us a chance to go on a date!

Guatemala con mi Mama

2011-01-21T13:58:00.000-08:00

January 3rd - 19th

I needed to get out of the house and work on some goals of mine, instead of being a lazy bum with no job in NH, so I decided to head to Guatemala again to attend the same Spanish school, Sevilla, that I went to last year. I told my mom that I was going and she said that she'd come with!!! :) That was wonderful news!!! We went and stayed with the family that I stayed with last year, Iris, and her two boys. I was also able to take her around some of the mos beautiful spots in Guatemala. We spent 3 days out at Lake Atitlan. We stayed in Panajachel but visited Santa Clara and San Pedro enjoyed the scenery from the boats. We also went to the markets in Chichicastenango.

Santa Clara y San Pedro

Antigua

My mom and I talked about the luxeries that we so often look past at home... like toilettes that you can actually put toilette paper in, hot water, food that we enjoy, roads that don't make us sick and people that we can communicate with easily. It is fun to travel and be amidst others homes and lives for a while, but it is also nice to be home! So, my mom left for home... and I stayed a while longer to continue my spanish skills.

Estoy feliz y orgulloso de mí mismo. Estudié mucho y me siento que puedo hablar mejor que antes! Tengo mucho mas aprender pero, poco a poco, correcto? Por lo menos, estoy tratando de aprender! :) Voy a continuar estudiar y tomar clases.

It was hard to be away from Matt, but we spoke daily on Skype, and I feel a bit more satisfied that I was working toward a goal that means a lot to me! I hope to continue to progress! Matt is planning on taking Spanish lessons soon! That will be fun when we can both practice and mess up together :) Isn't that sweet of him to do that! I love him!

I could end now, with just saying what I have, but I did want to share an experience that really opened my eyes....

This trip was a great experience, but I had one very eye opening experience while I was there, and that was when I spent some time volunteering at the local hospital called the Hospital Privado Hermano Pedro. There were so many individuals there in very bad shape! Dr.'s go there to perform the cleft lip and palate surgeries, which are needed, but honestly if that's all you have then you are in the best shape of anyone there! I feel bad even describing the deformities that almost all of them had, so I won't. I initially went there cause I wanted to see if I could help in any way but I left there feeling helpless, realizing that there is really nothing I could do for them. I have spent a lot of time in hospitals, care centers, and group home settings, but this hospital proved to be unbearable for me! I left crying every time! I hope my attempts at reading Spanish books to them at least brought some sense of change or delightment to their monotonous days. There was really nothing else that I could do for them, except for feed them, which was very difficult for me to do as well! The only food that some of them get is a bottle several times a day, like a baby. Most individuals do not even have the ability to hold the bottle to drink. As I stood there with the bottle in my hand tilted so that they could drink it, I just wished there was something I could do for them!

I am so overly blessed in my life with so many undeserved blessings. I don't know how I could live such a life, while others live such a small fraction of life. I know that God will compensate them in the next life, but seeing them in this life was very hard to do! Because I am able bodied I hope that throughout my life I can find opportunities to help those who aren't able to do things for themselves. I walked away from that hospital saying, "I will never ask Heavenly Father for another thing in my life!" I am already so blessed with just my health, but then when you add family, faith, and all of the things I thought I needed which are just really unnecessary luxuries,
I can't ask for more! Growing up I used to have a favorite poem that is very fitting.... it is called:

"The World is Mine"

Today upon a bus I saw
A girl with golden hair;
She seemed so gay, I envied her,
And wish that I were half so fair;
I watched her as she rose to leave,
And saw her hobble down the aisle.
She had one leg and wore a crutch,
But as she passed--a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two legs--the world is mine.

Later on I bought some sweets.
The boy who sold them had such charm,
I thought I'd stop and talk awhile.
If I were late, t'would do no harm.
And as we talked he said,
"Thank you, sir, you've really been so kind.
It's nice to talk to folks like you
Because, you see, I'm blind"
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two eyes--the world is mine

Later, walking down the street,
I met a boy with eyes so blue.
But he stood and watched the others play;
It seemed he knew not what to do.
I paused, and then I said,
"Why don't you join the others, dear?"
But he looked straight ahead without a word,
And then I knew, he couldn't hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two ears--the world is mine.

Two legs to take me where I go,
Two eyes to see the sunset's glow,
Two ears to hear all I should know,
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I'm blest, indeed, the world is mine.

Dr. Tennyson Guyer

I am grateful that there are many programs to help people with disabilities now, and I hope to be a part of them! I am also so blessed to live the life that I lead and will never forget it!!!!

Painting Zoey's Room

2011-01-11T18:22:00.000-08:00

Zoey's First Room

So Shauna and I are not big fans of white walls. So obviously when we were getting ready for Zoey we had to paint her room.

Don't you think her room looks a lot better now? We do:)

Geek!

2010-12-26T14:41:00.000-08:00

Geek, Nerd, Dork...call me whatever you want but Matt is convinced that this is when it all started downhill for me! He says my parents should have warned me! :)

You see, I was looking through my mom's old pictures and found this one and was struck by one of my favorite memories ever!!! So I of course showed Matt the picture and then recounted the memory.

I was 5 years old and in kindergarten when I heard of an upcoming assembly at school! We were having Polynesian dancers coming to our school to "hula" for us! I was so excited. My Grandma and Grandpa Styles had recently brought home a luau skirt and bikini top for me straight from Hawaii. I was so excited about the whole thing that I wanted to wear my hula skirt and binkini top to school that day for the assembly. I wore it all day and when I got into the assembly they were so impressed that someone was so excited that they wore a luau skirt, so they decided to call me up on stage! I got to dance the "hula" with this group in front of the whole school!!! And at the end, two girls reached down and kissed me on the cheek! They had bright lipstick on and I had lip marks on my cheeks for the rest of the day! I was not about to wipe them off! I wanted the whole world to know that I had been the one up on that stage with them dancing. It made my whole year. :)

Anyways... after telling Matt this story he was convinced that this was the start of my dorkiness! He said "Who does that? You should have known right then and there that you were a dork!" :) ha ha I love it! I've always had quite a bit of dorkiness in me, but that's what has made my life so fun! I didn't see any of the other kids having the time of their lives up on stage doing the hula!

So like I said, call me a geek, nerd, or dork......... I don't mind :)

It's Christmas Time

2010-12-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

-CHRISTMAS EVE-

We were lucky to get invited to a family's home for Christmas Eve. They had family and friends over, so we had a decent size group. We ate dinner, enjoyed the company, and read "The Tale of Three Trees." It was really fun to spend Christmas Eve with a bunch of people!

-CHRISTMAS DAY-
Matt and I had a very relaxing Christmas this year! We got up, opened presents, made a nice breakfast, stayed in our PJ's and watched movies!:)

This year was the first Christmas that Matt and I actually bought presents for each other! Usually we just put the money towards a vacation...but this year I thought it would be fun to get a few things for each other! We set a budget, but then we kinda overly spoiled each other! :)

This is what we got!

It was our first Christmas all alone in New Hampshire but it turned out okay.... but next Christmas I think we'll be heading home to share the special time with our family! :)

Live Nativity

2010-12-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

There is no better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to be in a live Nativity!
Here are the pics that were taken by a ward member....
I had never even seen a live nativity before then but now I have been in one! It was a lot of fun! We met a lot of super sweet people and it gave us something gratifying to do together during the holiday season!

Hanging out before, after and between shows :)

I love Company!

2010-12-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

12/3- 12/8
My mom came out to visit NH for the first time and Bre and Alaina came to visit too! I love company!

Our trip included:

Dinner at Chilli's
Shopping (with no sales tax) :)
Walking around our "Gilmore Girl" town and visiting local shops
Meeting in the Milford oval for Christmas caroling and the lighting of the town Christmas tree
Showing off my visitors at church
Sleeping in.......when do I not?
Learning to make my mom's specialty meals and teaching her one of mine
Just spending nice quality time together!

Things having to do with Alaina

Dressing her in all the clothes we have to see how cute they are actually on a cute little girl.
Painting her nails and putting snowflake stickers on them
Spending lots of time smiling at her, so she'd smile back
Taking lots of pictures! :) .... here they are

He's so ready to be a daddy! But for now, he loves being an Uncle!

Such a good mommy! Already excited to teach her to ride a bike!

Cutest lil outfit!

Posing for the camera!

I just woke up, but decided to do her nails.

They turned out cute, huh?

Check this out, she slept a long time like that!!! :)

There's her cute lil smile!

And there is her cute lil bum bum! Look at her face, she is loving being nakie!

Thanksgiving in NH

2010-11-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

So we were a little bummed that we were not going to be back in Utah for the holidays. We were lucky enough to get invited to celebrate with friends.

Our neighbors from upstairs invited us over for a thanksgiving breakfast. French toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, and hash. It was a great way to start off thanksgiving.

A family in our ward invited us over for Thanksgiving lunch. We were lucky enough to sit at the married table :) The couple on the left is Kenny and Jenica. We have had many game nights with them.


Shauna and me at the end of stuffing ourselves! After dinner we all piled in their suburban and went and say Tangled at the movie theater. It was a good day and we thank all our friends for helping us celebrate Thanksgiving without out families. You all made it easier.

"Just wait" A Vent that's been a long time comin!!!!

2010-11-19T22:22:00.000-08:00

I'm rarely a pessimist, sometimes an optimist, but most of the time I'm just a realist and the reality of everything is that this pregnancy has not been the easiest thing I've ever done! I have always actually been a real optimist about all this stuff saying: "just keep positive, happy thoughts and your endorphines will help your body feel better when your sick"....etc. Well I wish that was the case but I am to the point now (21 weeks along) where I think I just have to live with feeling sick and I just have to shove food down my throat even though I want to regurgitate it that second! (I'm feeling much better than I used to, but still not good!) I know it's a bit more difficult now cause I don't have the cute one in my arms, but once I do I'm sure it will be so wonderful....and so worth it.... but everyone seems to be so pessimistic!

"Just wait" seems to be the famous phrase to tell people when they want you to know that you have something bad, or not fun coming up.

It's like people just always want to tell me "just wait" to make me feel bad! Who want's anyone to feel BAD??? But they do!

It's like I say.... "I'm actually feeling pretty good right now".... "Oh you just wait...you'll feel sick eventually, most people do! And some people stay sick their whole pregnancy!" (yes, actually said to me!)

People will say, oh my you are so small and thin still.... "Oh just wait... you'll get big soon enough! I knew someone just as small as you and she gained over 50 pounds. She was miserable!" (Actually I've heard this one, and worse, about 15 times!) Why can't they just say "Oh I can't wait til you start showing, you are going to look so cute with a belly!" From what I hear from people who have been pregnant, that's exactly what they need to hear to boost their self esteem in a time when they don't feel cute, or have to adjust to a body which they never really thought through the reality of!

Or when people ask if I'm sleeping okay and I say yes they'll say "Oh just wait, later in your pregnancy you won't.... and then especially when the baby gets here, just plan on no sleep for the rest of your life!" Matt and I stay up late and then I sleep in, which I know will change with a baby and I'm fine with that! But people are so quick to be like... "you just wait, you'll be in hell with all of us soon." (Of course I'm paraphrasing, and possibly exaggerating but it's what I feel like)

It's not like we didn't know these things people! We knew what we were getting ourselves into.... we got off all birth control for heavens sakes! These things are not surprises. Gaining weight is a given, getting sick is something that I knew was likely, no sleep...duh (I've never actually been a fan of sleep anyways). People are just so negative sometimes and I'm sick of it.

Other people knew what they were getting theirselves into as well so STOP COMPLAINING! It's fine to say... "I'm really tired lately, I've had no sleep cause of my baby"; or "my kid has been a real rascal lately and sometimes I just want to scream", these are realities and I'm sure every parent has felt and said these things, but don't hope and anticipate and claim to every pregnant woman that she'll hate being a mom because of these things.... and ultimately saying (at least what it seems to me) "You made the wrong decision! You should have never had kids! There is nothing good about it!" I've heard people say... the ONLY good thing about having children is that eventually you get to be a grandparent! Well you know what, tell me that about 25 years from now.... but right now I want to be excited about becoming a parent!!! And who knows, I might actually like it better than being a grandparent (my mom says she does)!

Here's the point! There are definitely hard things about everything...work, family, health, money...etc. Life is not ALL fun and pure bliss, but it should still be mostly fun and still mostly blissful, amidst all the crazy stuff!

I just want to hear about people that actually love being a parent and actually love their kids. It seems like nobody does anymore.

Why do you think I said when I got married "Give me a year and we'll have kids." and now 4 years later we're just starting a family! It's cause it never sounded fun! People don't make it sound like something that's wonderful and rewarding. Motherhood, parenthood in general, doesn't seem as cherished as it once was, and as it should!

I love my mom, and I hope she feels like she got all that she wanted out of being a parent and I hope she feels that she accomplished her goals of being the best mother she could. She has 8 kids that love her and can and DO go to her with ANYTHING! Now I'd say that's success! And not only that but I'd say we had a heck of a lot of fun a long the way! I can't picture a happier family or fun-loving family! That doesn't mean my mom got lots of sleep or didn't want to scream cause we made her crazy! It means that amidst everything, we had a BLAST!

So I'm not gonna "just wait." I'm going to live in the moment and enjoy it with any hardship that comes along in that moment.

I hope I never have such negative things to say about my kids... so much to the point that people think I hate being a mother! I love life, even though I do actually think I hate food :). I still have a good time every day! I laugh just as much as I did when I wasn't sick, and I share such good company, especially my husband, and I have a little growing one in my belly that makes me so happy!

All in all, I think I'm pretty darn blessed! And I am so excited to have something so wonderful to wake up to in the middle of the night! I can't wait, but until then I'm gonna enjoy the little kicks, hits, and turns that reminds me that our little girl is getting ready to come into this world! Yay for children, for motherhood/parenthood, and yay for the miracle and blessing of life!!!

Happy 4th Anniversary :)

2010-11-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

11/17
I feel so blessed to have found a best friend and soul mate to spend my life and beyond with! We sure have done a lot and had a lot of fun in the 4 years we've spent together!

That list includes:

Both of us graduating with Bachelor's Degrees
Many job changes ranging from carpet cleaners, caretakers, and then working at competing nursing homes! :)
Scary finances, especially when I paid tuition to work 40 hours a week at the U of U for ZERO income (my internship), and Matt worked only on commission as a carpet cleaner! It's a miracle we survived!
Moving 5 times, living in: Provo, Salt Lake, Bountiful, Ogden (where we became home owners) and now Milford, NH
Visiting 12 countries: England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and several Bahama Islands :)
It's been so nice to have these years with just Matt and I, but now we are so excited about our little girl on the way! It'll be our next adventure!

It's been quite a ride and I've enjoyed it all! I knew I was blessed before, but I never realized how blessed I could possibly be until Matt came along! There is the quote from Into the Wild that states "Happiness is not real until shared!" My happiness has been multiplied at least 100 times since being with Matt! I get to fall asleep and wake up next to the love of my life! That makes me happy, in and of itself. Matt makes eating a bowl of cereal fun! Everything is fun with Matt! I love him so much! Happy 4th!!!! :)

We celebrated with this lovely ice cream cake!!!

Matt's 26th Birthday/ Jake's Visit

2010-11-19T13:41:00.000-08:00

Jake came to visit just in time to help celebrate Matt's 26th birthday. Matt was able to get 1/2 the day off so we went and scootered/ skated all down the freedom trail in Boston.

MA State House

Left: Samuel Adams Gravesite and 5 killed at Boston Massacre. Right: John Hancock's grave

Bunker Hill

Faniel Hall

Church in Copley Square

Striking a nice pose! Ahhh... cute!

We celebrated with a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory

Boston at night

The next day Jake and I went for a bike ride around our quaint little town and went to a nice small town diner for breakfast.

It was fun to get out for a couple days and to have Jake come and visit for a short while!

Bored on a Friday night!

2010-11-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

We couldn't play too long cause our blood pressure got too high :) This playstation stuff is INTENSE!!!! :)

Candle Pin aka New England Bowling

2010-10-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

10/30
First things first, we finally made some friends, Cheri and Sean :) They live right above us... and get this, she's pregnant and is only 10 days ahead of me! Fun, huh? Anyways.... so we decided to go bowling for a date night with our new friends. We didn't know we were so naive about "bowling." Check this out....

These are the balls you use in New England

This are the pins, candle pins! (If you can't tell they're super skinny and straight)

You also get 3 rolls each turn and they don't clean up the fallen pins until the end of all 3 rolls.

They call it "Candle Pin"

Notice the scores are much lower than what they would usually be in "real bowling" :)
We had tons of fun though playing this "foreign game" with our new friends! :)

Celtics vs. Heat Game

2010-10-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

10/26/10

TD Gardens is the home of the Boston Celtics

My old boss was in Boston so we met up and went to the game. You can see that our seats are in the rafters. Oh yeah we got a free shirt. Too bad it was extra large!

One of the main reasons I wanted to go the game was to see all the big names: LeBron James, Paul Peirce, Dwane Wade, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnette, Shaq, and the list goes on.

Over all the game was great. Boston beat the newly, big name, picked to win it all Heat.

Words to live by...

2010-10-25T09:04:00.001-07:00

Salem, Massachusetts

2010-10-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

10/21
In lou of Halloween, Bre and I thought since we live so close to Salem we would visit an actual witch town!

Bre, Alaina, and Me -Alaina is hiding in my Jacket :)-

We took a "ghost tour" of Salem and this guy was our guide. He is actually a history major and a wicken so he had lots of interesting insight about the town!

This "Gaol" is actually the old Jail. They keep the old fashion spelling, so the people that now work in this building (it's now a business building) don't really realize that they are working in the old Jail.


PSYCHO!

This city is probably one of the only cities that has "ghost tours" all year round. It was really interesting visiting the city and hearing all the stories from the 1600's! Matt and I later watched "The Crucible" and we plan to go back so he can visit Salem too! It's quite sad that people suffered so much for not admitting to something that they didn't do! I'm glad we are so close to some historic places and can visit whenever we want! Anyways... I don't really love Halloween, but this was a good way to appreciate the holiday.... so....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Much needed visit from family :)

2010-10-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

Oct. 15th - 22nd

Josh, Bre and Alaina came out for a bit while Josh had some time off during UEA weekend! Then Josh had to head back to get to school and Bre stayed so I wouldn't be alone while Matt went on a business trip to New Mexico. So nice huh? It was so nice to have family around!!! And have something other to do than just sit at home by myself!

Here is a little summary of our week in pictures!

Who wouldn't want this sweet little girl to come visit!

Won't he make the cutest dad! :)

The pumpkin festival! We learned that this is a huge tradition in New Hampshire, so we had to check it out! Pumpkins lined the streets for blocks and blocks!

Check out all those pumpkins!

We took a little hike up Pack Monadnock, a nice trail not too far from us.

We wanted to get some cute pictures of Alaina with the leaves all around but she didn't agree with us! :) Ha ha But she is still so dang cute when she's fussy, don't you think?

Is that not just precious!

One thing I've always wanted to do was walk through a drive-through but we've never been allowed. This night was our lucky night cause they mopped the floors and said it was safer to walk through the drive through! ha ha I'll cross that off my bucket list :)

You almost don't want to sleep just so you can watch her! Too cute, huh?


Aren't they both beautiful!!!

This is the area that makes you feel your walking through the 'Gilmore Girls' town

Then we went for a nice walk around town. This is Milford! It's a nice little town! We really like it! It's really beautiful this time of year!

NYC Vacation

2010-10-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

October 7th - 10th Short but Sweet ;)
This weekend Matt and I were able to go and spend some time with my parents and grandparents. We met up with them in Connecticut on Thursday and then drove down to NY on Friday morning! :)

We had fun in NYC learning all about the city with a 48 hour, hop on & off, bus tour. We got to see just about everything. We went to Brooklyn, Harlem, Queens, and all around Manhattan! We went out to dinner and tried NYC pizza and of course we tried the food from the food stands!!!

NYC city is a very busy city!!! With 8.4 million people living in the city and then all the tourists... it can get a little crazy :) But it makes for some very fun and interesting people watching!!! It was also just good to be with my family!!!

One of my favorite things was going on the Staten Island Ferry at night and seeing the Statue of Liberty again! We didn't get a good picture though cause it was at night, but it was beautiful!!! What a good weekend... and now my lucky parents and grandparents are on a 12 day cruise!!! :) I'm glad we at least got to take part in some of their vacation!

If you can tell, we're on the bus tour and the Empire State building is in the background!

Flat iron building

The Wax Museum, doesn't it look like we're really with Whoopi? :)

The M & M Store

The ball that is dropped on Jan 1st!

Time Square!!!

This was the night tour of the brooklyn bridge and and city lights!

CENTRAL PARK

The New York City LDS Temple

Since we were having to drive a couple hours anyways to get home, we decided to make a couple pit stops and see some of the beaches in Connecticut and Rhode Island on our way home.

A beautiful beach in Connecticut


We stopped and had dinner on Oakland beach in Rhode Island called Warwick :)

It's fun living on the East coast. We drove for a couple hours and visited 5 states :) Good times!!!

Our new car

2010-10-03T16:25:00.001-07:00

It's a Mitsubishi Outlander :)

Alaina Rose

2010-09-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

Bre at 40 weeks and me at 13 weeks :)

What a blessing it was to be at home a week before my sister had Alaina to spend that time with her before her life would change forever! It was also wonderful to be together as a family and go to dinner or just sit around in the living room talking. Living away from home isn't the easiest but it sure helps me appreciate having such a wonderful family and being able to spend time with them when I can!

At times we thought we couldn't be more blessed as a family (at least I did) but then having Alaina come into this life was a miracle! She was sent straight from heaven as a tiny, pure little angel! I felt honored that Bre let me be a part of it!

Alaina Rose

Born: Sept. 20th 2010

6lbs 5 oz

19 inches long

The quality of this picture isn't great but I think it's beautiful!

That little foot is what kept pushing Breanna's belly out like crazy! :)

How perfect!


My favorite of all the pictures!!! Isn't she beautiful!

My 2nd favorite picture!

We thought this was hilarious! She pulled the bow down and was fussing cause it was covering her eyes!

Then she was fine because it was right where she wanted it - in her mouth :)

Mommy and Daughter

Daddy and Daughter

Proud Auntie of the cutest little girl!

In her car seat, a couple days old. What a little cutie pie!

The most amazing fireworks ever!!!!

2010-08-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

When we got to New Hampshire we heard about tons of things that we just had to do. Things like go see Boston, Go the Portsmouth, the beach, drive on the Kangamangus Highway, and go see the Atlas fireworks in Jaffery, NH "The best firework show in all New England" on August 21.

The Atlas firework show draws about 30,000 people every year for this magnificent show. It's held at an airport in a small city called Jaffery, NH. Atlas fireworks puts on this show for the public, for a small fee of $8 a person, and for potential buyers of their fireworks. It holds nothing back. The show is about 30 minutes long and is sync'd with music.

Well, yesterday, August 21, we were sitting at home and trying to find something to do and Shauna remembered about the fireworks. So we made some dinner (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grapes, cheez-its, gold fish, sour patch kids, and airheads) and headed off to Jaffery NH, which is only about 30 minutes away.

We parked on the airport runway, which proved to be not such a good idea later, we took our dinner, blankets, and chairs and found a place to sit. While waiting we bought $10 fries, played phase 10, relaxed, and enjoyed each others company.

At about 9:30pm the show finally started. Words do not explain the show!! All we could do is say, "WOW" and "Oh My Gosh" and laugh in amazement of the most amazing firework show that we have ever seen. Shauna recorded some of the middle of the show and also the very end, capturing the grand finale but trust me, the video does not serve justice!

So if you ever come to New Hampshire make sure it's on August 21 so you can travel to Jaffery, NH and go see the firework show!!!

This was in the middle of the show

The end reminds me of how the end of the world will look!!

Red Sox Game

2010-08-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

August 19th Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels :)
Shauna has always wanted to go to a Boston Redsox game. Now that we live 45 minuted from Boston we had to go. It was pretty fun!!! :) Not a seat open in the whole place!!!

Our first visitors! Jess & Josh

2010-08-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

JUST CHILLEN

PLAYIN IN THE RAIN

GOING TO THE BEACH

BURYING JESS

AND JOSH

STANDING ON JOSH'S HEAD, WHEN HE COULDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!

PUTTING CRACKERS ON JOSH'S HEAD, SO THE BIRDS WOULD GET SUPER CLOSE AND POSSIBLY EAT OFF HIS HEAD :)

HA HA HA

TELLING THEM THAT WE'RE PREGO.

First we tried to have them find out by themselves, by finding the pregnancy test which was conveniently left right on the sink in the bathroom, but neither of them caught on to that :) So... we just told them! ha ha

OUT TO EAT AT "AMIGOS"

GOOD TIMES!!!

Beatles Concert

2010-08-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

We totally got to time travel and go back to 1964! We went and saw The Beatles in concert!!! They were amazing! Their accents were perfect, the sound was identical to the original Beatles and they even tried to portray the personalities of each of them! It was too cool! Way better than expected!!!! Love, love, loved it! It was totally radical!!! ;)
Here is a video... the cover band is actually called 1964 The Tribute (Beatles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnfyP2Ej0Ko

Pregnant??? Seriously???

2010-07-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

I had a small feeling I might be prego, especially cause I'm normally right on the money and am never late!!! So we took a test. Matt looked at it as it turned positive and says to me "This thing is broken!!! You're not pregnant" And then walked away!!! Can you believe it!?! So a couple hours later I took another one by myself and walked out of the bathroom and said "Let's try this again..... I'm pregnant" And that's when I got the response I always thought I would get! "What? Really???? Oh my heavens...." And then a huge hug!!! :) Now that's more like it! Ha ha

Barely positive, you can hardly tell!

Matt kept looking at it cause he didn't believe it!!! :) Ha ha

Don't I look a little bit scared!!! Ha ha I'm like "wow, I don't know what to think" :)

Reality has yet to set in, as for now SHOCK and of course EXCITEMENT! Yay!!!

Sleep over

2010-07-29T10:36:00.003-07:00

Shauna and I love spending time with our nieces and nephews and since the last sleepover we had was such a blast we wanted to have one more before we moved to New Hampshire. First we went swimming on Hill Air Force Base in Layton. We tried to teach them how to swim but they were not interested so much in that. They did have fun jumping of the edge into our arms.

After that we went to the splash pad. The kids liked that much more! They had fun running around getting splashed in the face!

Levi was so cold the whole time but didn't want to get out. Finally he got hungry enough and agreed to leave!

Scooby provided some fun and fear for the kids. Gabe was absolutely terrified of him. Everytime he heard the little footsteps he would jump into Shauna or my arms for protection. It wasn't until they left that Gabe was finally not scared of scooby!

So the last time we had our sleep over Shauna and I told them that we should build a fort. They had never heard of a "fort" before. They kept saying can we build a quilt! (I think that is because my mom is always working on a quilt, so...thanks mom) Needless to say they loved it so much last time that they wanted to build another one! So here is our fort at the Booher's house.

After we built the fort we popped popcorn and watched Over the Hedge. They all fell asleep before the movie was over! The next morning we made pancakes and played in the back yard! Levi loved the swing and wanted to go higher and higher! He is one fearless kid!!

Overall the sleepover was a blast. We actually didn't have anyone get hurt this time!! Thanks kids and we look forward to doing it again sometime!!

My Birthday :)

2010-07-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

July 27th, 2010 The BIG 24!
I was a little worried and sad cause I moved away from home, friends and family just a week before my birthday, but it all turned out great! :) Matt was able to take quite a long early lunch so we went out to the Milford oval and had some breakfast in a cafe :)

We we out to dinner the night before my and our friends that we couch surfed with brought me flowers for my birthday!!! That was so nice of them! It really meant a lot!


Matt bought me some beautiful flowers too !!!

I told Matt I wanted to do something really fun for my birthday! So I found out that every Tuesday in July in downtown Boston, they have a folk dancing group! So that's what I wanted to do! We drove down to Boston and watched some street performances for a while and then made our way to the center for these classes. We started out as just a little group but as bystanders came to watch, we convinced them we were having way too much fun for them not to join!!! By the end we had about 100 people dancing with us! It was probably one of the funnest things I've ever done on my birthday!!!

And with all the calls and extra love, I had a fabulous day!!! Yay :)

Besties Get Together

2010-07-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

It's definitely hard to say goodbye... especially to friends I've had since the 8th and 9th grade!!! We had just a late notice, last little hoorah before we left for NH! Chelsi and Kasey couldn't come :( sad, but we'll be back to visit! So the besties got together for dinner at Javier's and games in the park! It's so nice to have good friends! I feel so blessed to have these guys!!!!!


Marjie, Steve, Jeff (our newest addition :), Bobbie Jo, Matt, Me and Regan!

Just playing frisbee and football, then we played on the swings and reminisced about the good ol days!

We caught a ducky!!!

And were totally stocked about it! So cute!!!

I'm thankful for you guys!!! Love you so much!!! We'll be in touch!!!! :) Until then.....

Why did the chicken cross the road?

2010-07-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

 To stick with his best friend, Mr. goat!

Why not???  RANDOM :) 

We were just driving down Gordon, when we had to stop for this chicken and goat to cross! I got my camera out just in time to get a couple pictures! :) It made my day!

Sun Dogs

2010-06-29T22:52:00.001-07:00

The Sun dogs is a co-ed softball team that my work put together. They have been doing it for years and have never been any good. We actually did really good this year! We weren't able to play the whole season, cause we moved, but the Sun dogs actually took 2nd place. We are proud members of the Sun dogs!!

Shauna was known for her short hits, some would call them bunts, but she always got on base, thanks to her lightening quick speed! She also played 2nd base and out field. No matter where she played she was always making good plays and keeping our team in the game!

I was the pitcher. Mainly because nobody else wanted to do it. I wasn't the best but we got the job done with a great team! Shauna is the pretty second baseman behind me :)

Thanks Sundogs for a great time. We enjoyed the time that we spent with you and all the victories that we had!