Off to a Magical World

We are leaving next week to go on a much needed family vacation! By family I mean the WHOLE family. We are so excited we can hardly wait! My dad had always wanted his whole family to go to Georgia at the same time on vacation. He never did get his wish. This year my mom decided that she was going to make his wish come true. I don't know if my family would ever have made this trip without her. She has graciously paid for plane tickets for all of my siblings and any of our children who are not yet married and do not have children of their own. In all she bought 18 plane tickets!!! She is amazing and we are so thankful for this gift!

We are leaving on Friday, June 8th and will be returning home on Sunday, June 17th! What a fun vacation this will be. I am so excited for many things...my girl's first airplane ride, the many aunts/uncles/cousins my family will meet for the first time, and especially for the chance to have what will most likely be my last visit with my Grandma Swain. I am so glad that we will get this chance to hug her and kiss her one last time. We are having a couple of get togethers with family and then we are off on an adventure for FUN!

Have you guessed where we are going yet? DISNEY WORLD!!!! I have not been there since I was 18 and I have so many fun memories of going there as a kid. I am so excited to take my girls and have 3 whole days to play in the Magic Kingdom. We are going to spend a day in the Magic Kingdom, a day at Hollywood Adventure and possibly the third day at the Animal Kingdom or we will go back to one of the other two parks. I am so excited to see how Abby will do at the parks. She is either going to have a blast or she won't. There is not much in between with her. She is super excited to see "Mouse"! Chloe just can't wait to meet the Mupets!

I guess we will be off soon and I can't wait to share our memories with everyone!!!  Thank you Mama for giving this Magical trip!

Abby-B Turns 2!

Can you believe this little girl has been around for 2 whole years? I can hardly believe it has been that long. She is growing up so fast and learns more and more everyday. She has been such a special girl to have around. She is fairly even tempered and we rarely have tantrums from her. She LOVES...no ADORES her "Sissy" and they are the best of friends most of the time. She will talk your ear off and you can understand almost everything she says. She is a very social girl and I have no doubt she will have a million friends as she gets older. We are so very lucky to have such a special little girl in our home. We love you Monkey!!!

Her 2 year old stats:
Weight: 25 lbs. 10 oz.
Height: 34 1/4 Inches

City Creek & the Temple!

We have been waiting for a good excuse to go visit the new City Creek Mall in Salt Lake and we decided that my friends birtday was the perfect opportunity. We didn't get many pictures because Abby was not feeling well again and the place was so crowded that it was hard to stop and get the kids posed cute...next time we will do it. There were so many fun places to take cute pictures. We visited almost every store..Tiffany's (of course), Coach, the game store...etc. We ate at Taste of Red Iguana and it was delish!! Most of the stores at this place are high end and there was security everywhere, but it was way fun to look at all the things we want and will probably never be able to afford!

We took a few minutes and walked over to Temple Square to see all of the flowers in bloom. It was beautiful!!! The kids had such a good time and we were able to take a few cute photos of my cute family!

Happy Birthday Jeni!!!



Me and Jeni at my "happiest place on Earth!...Someday"

Easter...a little late!

Since Abby had been in the hospital, Easter came a little bit late at our house. The girls got their Easter baskets on Easter, but they didn't get to dress up in their pretty dresses until a week later. We had a fun little photo shoot in the poor lighting in the little hallway of our apartment. I found a new website for editing photos and decided to try it out. We hope everyone had a "Hopping" great Easter day. I am so thanful for these days that remind us why we are here and the miracle that was given to us by our Savior.

Abby's Trip to the Hospital

My poor Abby had been feeling yucky for a couple of days. She had a fever and was just miserable. She had not been her normal mischievious self for a couple of days and then we woke up on Monday morning and she would not let me out of her sight. She just wanted to be held and if I had to put her down she was right on my heels. I finally decided to call in sick to work and stay home with her. I took her in to the Dr. and they said that she just had a virus and sent us home. Two days later she was so much worse so Andy brought her to me at work and I left to take her back to the Dr. When they hooked her up to their machine that checks thier oxygen it was way low and her temp was way high. They gave her two consecutive breathing treatments, but nothing happened. Then they sent us to Orem Community Hospital to have a chest x-ray done to rule out pneumonia. All clear there. They hooked her back up to the oxygen machine and it was even lower and her temp had gone up a little. The decision was made that she needed to be admitted to the hospital so they could watch her close and give her some oxygen and fluids. Did I forget to mention that she hadn't eaten in days! We called the grandmas and the grandpa and they all came to meet us at Utah Valley Regional...acutally Grandma and Grandpa Boulter beat us there! Nana took Chloe home to stay with her while we were in the hospital and she was so scared. Chloe cried thinking Abby was going to die. We talked to her and explained everything that was going on and she ended up being ok. She is such a caring, sensitive sister. Andy and Grandpa gave Abby a blessing and then left to pick up some dinner. While they were gone the nurses came in to put in Abby's IV...not a fun few minutes. She hated it and they had to poke her 3 times. She was so dehydrated that her viens kept collapsing...3rd time was a charm though...thank goodness. I don't think I could have held her down for a 4th try. I stayed at the hospital with her over night and they finally had to put her on the oxygen around 1 in the morning. It was a miserable HORRIBLE night that I hope we never have to re-live. I was hoping they would send her home on Friday, but they were still a little worried about her so we stayed a 2nd night. By Saturday morning she was doing so much better and we were so happy to get out of there. She was so good the whole time...not happy, but good. I was really proud of her, and I was VERY proud of Chloe. She kind of got juggled around a little and had to spend Easter without us, but she did it! Needless to say we didn't get to do anything fun for Easter, but we are so grateful for all of our family that stepped in to help us out for these few days. We are very blessed!

The Cutest Face Ever!

How can you possibly sad or mad or anything other than drop dead happy when you get to see this face every single day! This girl is full of mischief, but she always keeps us smiling!

Time for a little less ME!!!

I don't know if anyone reads my blog anymore since I went for so long without posting, but I am going to try to be better this year. It's all about new starts. I am feeling like I am carrying around a little too much me. I spent most of last year gaining back the weight that I had been trying so hard to keep off after losing 40lbs just before I got preggers with Abby. It didn't matter how much I worked out or watched what I eat. I have realized this is going to be a constant struggle for me for the rest of my life. I was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) about 2 years before I had Abby. The Dr. told me this is what has been causing me to have such a struggle with my weight over the past few years as well as a few other things. I feel however that if I can get my weight under control the rest will follow. This is something I really have a hard time talking about with most people because I feel so self-conscious about it and I have really felt bad that I have "let" myself get to this point. Like I said this is a new year and I am tired of feeling bad about myself and not wanting to do certain things because I am too fat or I don't look good enough. I am going to start loving myself enough to fight this battle for me! I intend to WIN!!! I am so grateful for Andy and how supportive he has been with my ups and downs. He has loved me no matter what size I have been from skinny to fat preggers to just plain fat. I am so lucky to have my number 1 fan in the same house as me. I still need all the support I can get, and I need a way to feel accountable for what I am doing so I am going to try to blog about it...not because I want to brag about any of it, but because if I have to answer to someone I will do much better. So here's to a new year and hopefully a new me. Thanks everyone for keeping me in check!

Time FLIES!

I can't believe it has been almost a year since I posted anything on my blog. So many things have happened and we have had so much fun, but I am not going to go back and "Blog Vomit" about all of it. We have all grown up a little, goofed a LOT, had some much needed family time and learned a lot about each other and ourselves in the past year. We have had visits with family and friends and made a lot of fun memories. A few highlights that we have missed...We spent a weekend in Wyoming over the summer with the Boulter clan and had a lot of fun riding 4 wheelers and camping. I babysat the cutest baby girl for a few months until her mom found someone else to do it and I cried! Chloe is in the 1st grade and is so smart and silly. Abby is almost 2 and runs from morning until night. They keep us on our toes and we are so in love with our girls!!! The biggest news of the year is that Andy finally got a new job and was able to leave EWS!!! This move has not come with out it's stress though. He got a job with a company called Freelinc doing accounting. He is LOVING every minute of it and I am so happy to have a happy hubby again! The job is only part time for now...hopefully it will be full time soon. So with his new job came the end to my time as a stay at home mommy. I have some very bittersweet feelings about this. I have really enjoyed the time with my kids and being able to keep my house clean and centered, but I am also really enjoying being back at work with my Osmond family too. I am so glad that I was able to just walk in and ask for my job back and step right back into the swing of things. The kids have the best babysitter in the world. She is my lifesaver and I a couldn't imagine having them with anyone else. We truly have been blessed and led in this direction and I pray for continued guidence and direction every single day. This move has truly been a test of faith for me...not just my faith in my Heavenly Father, but also my faith in my husband. I am truly gratefuly for both! In addition to this new job venture we have had to make an addition to our little family by way of a second car. Our schedules are so different now that one vehicle just wouldn't work anymore. I am so glad we had the money in our retirement to be able to buy a vehicle out-right and not have to finance another one. (One more big blessing) Andy found me a great Dodge Durango with low miles for a great price and I am loving it! I just want everyone to know how truly blessed we have been and how grateful I am for Andy. He does so much for our little family. He works hard and he studies hard too. I am so proud of him and I am looking forward to a year from now when he is done with school and I feel like it will be the beginning of the rest of our lives.