RIP Monty

Today was a sad day. A dear friend, a faithful friend, a beloved friend, was laid to rest. I bought Monty my freshman year at BYU. I knew he was old, but I was not expecting him to be so wise. We became close as he took me many places, and shared with me many adventures. His 4 wheel drive often came in handy and his off road capabilities were always a joy. A few of my favorite features were his tiltometer, which would supposedly flash danger if you were about to roll (I never put it to the test) and the handle bar in front of the passenger seat that you could grab onto when things got rough. He was patient as I taught more than one person to drive a manual on his transmission. He was a trooper through his trips to the shop. He always waited until a convenient time in my life to not start or give me trouble. He was patient through girly blasting music and many late night outings. He might not have had air conditioning, or a cd player, or a sparkling exterior, but boy did he have spirit. There were several occasions when I got offers from "car guys" who thought he was awesome and wanted to have him. But I was never interested. Monty and I were closer than that (ok I do have a price, but they never hit it). Excuse me while I continue to ramble a few more favorites I shared with Monty.

• The day I got him up and running. He was washed, waxed, and decorated with a 311 sticker to really make him mine.
• The day his plates came. He proudly carried around the name Squeaks and looked good doing it.
• The time I ran out of gas in the rain, with a dead cell phone because the gas gauge didn't work.
• Blasting No Doubt, 311, Unwritten, Chris Brown, and so many other of my favorites.
• Squishing way too many passengers into his tiny interior.
• The time he died and I was pushed home.
• The time I successfully taught 3 people to drive him.
• The time I fit everything I own into him and moved in one trip (again, very tiny interior).
• The time Mare borrowed it and got pulled over :)
• The trip to Silver Lake when the road was so rough my body was sore the next day.
• The time he turned off while on the freeway and Ryan coasted off to a parking lot. I came down to meet him and we spent most of the night working on him.
• All the times I wasn't stuck because of the 4 wheel drive.
• All the trailheads he took me to.
• The natural high I got whenever I drove him.
• All the sweaty summers
• All the toasty winters
• The day he died, in the exact spot I bought him from. He was sitting in the driveway of my brother's house when I picked him up and now he sopped for the last time in the driveway of the same house, but its the house I live in now. Its like he knew he was back home, and it was a safe place to rest.

So of course I am being a little over dramatic in this post, but I would be straight up lying if I said I wasn't deeply saddened that Monty is no longer up and running and never will again, at least with me as his owner. I am very attached, and I will miss him very very much. He was my first car, my only car to this point, and he was all mine. He served me well. I love you Monty!

one month

thought I would toss on some pics of Kyle around his one month mark for the Aussie in the family.

A personal penguin will change your life.

My dear friend brought Kyle a present a few weeks ago. We have used it every single day since, and I really think it is more for me than him. It embodies everything I find happy in the world. And what did we discover yesterday? There is a song to go with it! So if you know me, and you read this book, you will understand why it has become my favorite part of each day. Please go read it, enjoy this song, and let a personal penguin into your life.

A reason to celebrate.

Ryan graduated! He didn't walk so we had to celebrate on our own, and I only took pics of our celebration not the whole family one... but we tried to live it up. He said it didn't feel that huge cause he is already back in school as I type this starting the journey to his masters, but I think finishing ANY degree is reason to celebrate and yes, you guessed it, bust out the magic bullet! So here's to you Mr. Engineer man!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

The holidays were nice this year. We did more on our own and less with extended family. We love it both ways, but some small family time was perfect. Sadly our camera was lost Christmas morning so we were unable to document our breakfast and Kyle opening his stocking. But we did get some pics on the Eve and Christmas night. Kyle even got a sweet remote control car just his size from the Grandparents.

New Years was also good. Our neighbors happen to own Noni and put

on one amazing firework show at 12. Basically like stadium of fire next door. We got home from our minute to win it party just in time to enjoy! We are happy to bring in the new year and hoping to accomplish the goals we've laid out for ourselves. What am I most excited about? The fact I won't be pregnant all year like 2010! Although 2010 was a pretty fabulous year, it will be hard to beat, but we'll give it a try!

Must See and Lucky Me

Have you read these books? You must. Have you seen the movie? You must.

Last weekend we were visiting my parents and decided to rent a movie. I chose Ramona and Beezus much to everyone else's dismay. But I had wanted to see it forever and let me tell you it did not disappoint. You see it was a magical movie. I laughed, I cried, and I missed my sister very much.

My whole life I have had one constant thing going for me: an amazing older sister. As long as I can remember she has been my hero. When I was little she read to me every night, played with me a ton, took me many places with her, allowed me to follow her around and hang around her friends, and spent many many weekends and nights babysitting me rather than doing more exciting things. She put up with me in times I know most siblings wouldn't dream of having their little sister tag along. The 7 year gap between us has never seemed that big at all. She has always been my biggest fan, cheering me on through everything. She has always had a huge concern for my well being and always took great care of me.

Aside from the fact she read all the Ramona books to me, this movie made me think of her for so many reasons. I was little and frequently annoying but she always loved me. She did my hair for me when I needed to look nice, she protected me from the stresses in home and in the world, and when we both got our own rooms I still spent much more time in hers. I could go on and on like this but I suppose I should stop. I just loved the movie and I consider myself so lucky to have a sister that has saved my life so many time. When was the last time? Yesterday. 4:00pm. Much needed phone call. Saved me. So a big thank you to Michelle, when I grow up I hope I can be just like her.

It was my birthday shout hooray!

Ryan and I at Sundance

So I usually wouldn't do a post about my own birthday... but something amazing happened this year so I just gotta! This post is also late... lets just assume all my posts will always be late. Anyways this year my birthday was the day after my due date so I didn't feel like partying too hard... but we still lived it up. Michelle was in town which was magical cause the last time I celebrated a birthday with her I was turning 14...so it had been a while. Anyways the morning of my uncle took my family to Sundance for breakfast. If you haven't been there you should definitely go. The atmosphere is beautiful and the biscuits and gravy are the best I've found this side of the Mississippi (I haven't tried any on the other side I just like that phrase). So it was a sweet way to start my day. Then Ryan whipped out the BEST OF ELTON JOHN collection! So needless to say THAT was just magical. Then as if this all wasn't enough later in the day Michelle made my dreams come true when she handed me a large box. Wh

at was in it you might wonder. Allow me to show you.

That's right folks. A MAGIC BULLET! I have always loved infomercials...but this one is definitely my favorite. I have wanted one for oh so long and BAM! All at once I had it in my own paws ready to use! To top it off Elly had brought me some Milo from down under which is especially delicious. So thanks all around to my family for making it such a fun day and all my dreams come true.

Showered with love

So this is obviously very late... but I had two fabulous baby showers in November! Even though it is way overdue I couldn't let them go undocumented. The first one was a family shower hosted by my mom and my aunt. It was a lot of fun because it was combined with my bff cousin Kenna, who was due three weeks after me. Ken and I have been close for years so it has been fun to go through everything at the same time. Kenna and I weren't feeling especially photogenic.. after about 50 tries we gave up on getting one we both liked so there aren't many pics.

The next shower was the very next week and was hosted by my fabulous friends. Not many people can say they are still so close with high school friends after 5 years but when ya find friends this great ya just don't give them up! Everything was super cute and even decorated in the same prints as my nursery decor. When it comes to throwing a party, my friends know whats up. (shout out to nicole too who I know did a lot of the decor, thank you!)

And just for kicks and for those who missed it, here is one last pregnant pic of me pretty much full term. Might as well document to remind myself of how it was:) The first one Michelle took of me dancing is the day I went into labor and the other one is the day of one of my showers. And that my friends, ends all posts on my pregnancy. Now we can all move on!

Here's the story...

So I started having real contractions about 20 minutes apart at around 3 pm on Thursday. I tried not to get too excited because I knew there was still a long journey ahead and it could still take a really long time. I was a week overdue and really wanting the little guy to come. My sister had come from Australia and it was getting dangerously close to her departure date. And to be honest I was just a little done being pregnant...anyhow. So Ryan was at work and demanded I text him every time I had a contraction. This turned out to be good because my text outbox became my contraction log. So my whole family was planning to go to 5 Guys for dinner, so I of course joined but luckily passed on the burger. As we were there the contractions starting getting about 10 minutes apart and much more painful. Michelle told me I could probably start getting excited at this point. I was scheduled to see my doctor and have another stress test the next morning at 9:30. I was really crossing my fingers I wouldn't make it to that appointment.

After dinner things got to about 5-7 minutes apart. Michelle called the hospital and they said I couldn't come in until they were 3-5 minutes apart and so painful I couldn't walk or talk through them. Lame. But I called Ryan to come home just in case and we headed home to pack our bags. By this point it was around midnight and they were about 5 minutes apart and pretty miserable. We called again and must have gotten a nicer lady cause she said we could come in and was very pleasant about it. So we headed to the hospital!

We arrived and checked in. They said I would be monitored for an hour and then they would chart my progress and call and ask my doctor if I could stay. Oh how I wanted to stay. Long story short I got my wish, we got admitted around 2 am, and got the party started!

After a normal labor and delivery Kyle Robert made his debut at 9:20am! (10 minutes before I was supposed to be at the doctor. My doc thanked me for delivering punctually) Ryan was a trooper and a huge help through the overnight journey.

He was nice and healthy and extremely tiny.

Ryan went with him while he got bathed and such. He really enjoyed his shampoo... that's my boy:)

First family pic! Michelle was fabulous at documenting our hospital stay.

Our hospital stay went well. We had many visitors and were well taken care of. The food was even fabulous. No complaints here!

On Sunday morning we packed up and headed home. Our house was decorated so festively thanks to my family. We were grateful for how smoothly things went and decided at a week late, he was worth the wait.

Pictures

Lil' Man had a photo shoot. I called who has become my go-to photographer and I definitely was not disappointed. These are just a very small sampling of the many I loved.

Out of touch

So we moved the week before Ky was born. We were supposed to be getting the internet shortly thereafter. We have not yet accomplished this goal. I was putting off quite a bit of blogging until I could finally do it from the comfort of my own home (haven't had the internet since March)... thinking it would only be a few days. Alas, it has been quite a while. Thanksgiving, my birthday, a visit from my sister, the birth of our child, Christmas, and a few other noteworthy things have happened since our move. I would really like to document all of these things, and I still intend to, but it will be very out of date. You see, it seems the internet companies seem to think we live in the middle of nowhere. They either say they don't have service in our area or offer us dial up. Dial up? Really? Is that still out there? Apparently. So it is still a work in progress.

So here I sit wanting to share so many things and so many pics but I cannot. I have been able to throw a few pics on FB and use my parentals computer to do a few things. Maybe tonight I will gather all our other pics and try to bum the internet again tomorrow to catch up. As for now I will share a few pics that happen to be loaded to my Dad's computer and continue to ramble about how much I would like the internet. So cross your fingers and these crazies wake up and realize its Geneva Road not Mars! And prepare yourself for a post overload coming your way in the next few days... since I know all you readers have been on the edge of your seat waiting for more glorious posts :)