Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The big 5





















Friday is her official birthday but we had her birthday bash last night! It was a blast! Thanks to all that came! We opted out on her friend party. Sorry to all of you she had invited over the past 3 months. Life has been crazy and I decided that going to Disneyland is enough of a party. Lucky girl!! Honestly, I think California is more for my benefit than her birthday present. I love going to California, soaking up the sun, eating all the food Cody will let me have, and enjoying family! Its going to be great! I joke about Cody and his spending obsession but he really is a great guy! He would never deprive me of something I wanted or needed! But anyways her party last night went great! Happy birthday my little Mouse!

Friday, April 17, 2009

My story and Our story

I have wanted to post this for awhile. Some of you know our history and others don't. I think our story is by far the most amazing ever. Not just because it is ours but because it is stinkin cool. And this is my journalish thing so here we go.....

Cody and I knew each other in high school. He played football and I played the flute in the band. Need I say more. I always thought he was good looking but it never passed the acquaintance stage. The summer after we graduated we ran into each other, talked a little. We both mentioned our plans, him a mission, me college. And we parted. He did serve a mission in New Jersey and I went onto college. While I was there I met Beau. We dated that whole first year and I thought it was 'it'. We married after my first year of college and then we moved to Lehi so he could continue to work for his dad in the construction business. Life was rough. We moved in with his parents and that was not a swell idea. We finally moved out with me telling him "I'm going with or without you". So we moved into a little apartment down the street. Things were good. We both worked and I loved life. I thought things were great. We got pregnant and I was working at Smiths in Saratagao Springs. I loved it. And I worked around some wonderful women. They never preached their religion to me. They never questioned my commitment to mine. They just set wonderful examples for me and I realized that was what I wanted for my life. I was raised LDS, just not active. I told Beau I wanted to start attending our ward. At the time I also had a wonderful visiting teacher. She was diligent and sweet. Never judgemental of my life style. Beau started to pull away from me. We didn't connect like we had been. I thought it was the arrival of our soon to be, and maybe my decision to start becoming active. He started things that were out of his character, drinking. I just thought it was stress. Anyways we had our little girl, Austyn, and he was helpful and great. But still no connection between us. He just seemed really depressed. I took him to my doctor to see what we could do. He was not interested in help of any kind. And things just got worse. We were fighting all the time. My mom, the sweet heart that she is, took Austyn for me, days at a time. Austyn was weeks old and my mom would take her so Beau and I could work out our differences. Finally when Austyn was 2 months old Beau said it. I want a divorce. I was devastated. I had no idea why. What the heck was going on? I asked him the usual, "are you having an affair" no. " Do you not love me anymore" beau- of course i do. this is just for the best. What???? I begged, I said what ever it was we could work on it. We could pull through this. He was adamant. It was like the shield fell over me and I complied. My birthday was coming up and so my visiting teacher came over with a surprise. It was a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. Beautiful!!! And in the card she wrote her hopes for me and Beau to make it to the Temple together. When she came over I was packing my stuff. She helped me and I told her it was just me leaving. Beau and I were getting a divorce. She felt awful about the card and I told her I was still going to make it no matter what. That's the life I wanted for my little girl. So anyhoo I moved. When my parents were coming to get me Beau didn't want to be there. Right before he left we hugged, cried, yes both of us were bawling, and he told me this was for the best. I had told him once I leave with my baby I'm not coming back. So when I got settled in my parents house I filed. Still having no idea why I did it. I was mopey and a mess. My mom looked at me one day and she told me in these exact words. "He doesn't want you. Let it go" I know that sounds harsh and it probably killed her to tell me that but that was the best thing she did for me. I changed. I filed with determination. I started to get my 'crap' together. I found out about Institute (college seminary) and I went.



Okay but wait a second in the middle of beau and I's mess I was thinking to myself. Who will want me? A single mother. A baby to raise. A divorcee? And I thought of Cody. I wondered where life had taken him. I wondered if he was married and had kids. Isn't that weird?



Anyhoo I went to Institute. That very night I went guess who I ran into....... CODY!!!!! Yeah, I saw him across the hallway and oh, man he was HOT!! I seriously pushed through the crowd to go talk to him. I was so excited. I just wanted to talk to him. To see how life was going. And he asked " SO are you still at Westminster?"... dom dom dom dommmmmm

me-"Actually I did go one year and then I got married and I have a little girl. And now I 'm getting a divorce. " I thought he would bolt right past me and never look back. But he didn't. We talked and it was amazing. He asked about Austyn and I asked about his mission. It was great. And we said we'd see each other next week. After that time at Institute we ran into each other around town and Institute. Me and my friend were going to go to the movies and at the last minute she said she was going to bring her boyfriend. There was no way I was going to be the third wheel. I looked up his last name in the phone book and called a random number. Yeah, i was soooo nervous. It ended up being his cousin. She gave me his home number and I called there. His mom answered and said he'd just left. And she's like "I can give you his cell phone". me- I don't really want to call him if he's on a date. her- he's not, he went to visit a friend. So I did. He must have felt some pity for me because he came. It was a blast. That night I actually told him everything that was going on and I was interested in him but I needed to wait tell the divorce was final. He was so amazing. At the time I was living with my family he would come over, help me bath Austyn and put her to sleep and then we'd stay up and talk about everything. He answered all my questions about the church and he was just awesome. He was sooo good to Austyn and so was his family. I moved out of my parents house and got my own townhouse. That was a big step for me. It was crazy being a single mother, working, paying all my bills, and raising that little monkey by myself. But it was a liberating experience. Cody and I knew we wanted to get married and go through the Temple. It was a huge struggle having my own place and knowing he should leave at night even though there was no one stopping him from crawling in bed with me at night.
Right about the time Austyn started talking Cody and I were married. Dec. 2, 2005. She called him dad. And she never knew anything different. Once I moved to Tooele, from Lehi, Beau only came out maybe 4 times to see her and then he stopped. After 1 year of paying child support for a daughter he had nothing to do with he signed over his rights. That was such a blessing. Cody was able to adopt her and we were sealed in the Temple as an eternal family!!!
I love being married to him. We are two opposites and it took us awhile to find 'the groove'. But life is so great. Some may say my life is dull but after everything I've been through I love living this low-key lifestyle. We live in a quaint neighborhood with wonderful neighbors. Our life is simple and I love it. I stay at home with these 2 beautiful kids and Cody works really hard so we can have all that we need and want. I am so grateful for him and all that he has done for us. When I think about what he gave up to be with me and Austyn, it makes me wonder why?? He jumped right into a crazy lifestyle of diapers, tantrums, and responsibilities. He loved her as his own flesh and blood. He picks her up, loves her, tickles, kisses, and disciplines with love. Here we are 4 years later still co-existing! I feel so blessed. I love our story and I love our domestic life.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

surgery

Stitches on Monday and now surgery on Wednesday. Crazy, crazy, crazy! Brody had tubes put in his ears which actually went really well. We were there at 6:30 this morning and were out of there by 9:00. Everything went smoothly except when he came out of recovery. He was so cranky and miserable but that's to be expected. Austyn was the same way when she got hers done. I'm so grateful we did it. the Dr. came to talk to me afterwards and he told me that Brody's ears where full of infection, like a glue substance and no antibiotic would have taken care of it. So we are lucky we had it done now because he was just getting worse. We do plan on going to DISNEYLAND in a few weeks so at least he'll be up to par when we head out. Sorry, no pictures. My camera wasn't working this morning and so you just have to trust me that he looks like a doll in the hospital gown with his droopy little eyes from the medication. Oh, he was just adorable with his little butt hanging out of his gown! Oh, and now he has SEVERE diarrhea! Yeah, absolutely disgusting!!! Major blow outs at this house. I keep telling myself 'this to shall pass, this to shall pass'! So this house hold will be quarantined for awhile. At least the weather is crummy. And hopefully in a couple days we'll be ready for the sunshine...and probably another catastrophe :)

Monday, April 13, 2009

Stitches

my little pirate





















Yes, my little monkey got stitches today!!! I'm so proud of her and how strong she is! She was playing at our neighbors house as I was running some errands around the neighborhood; her and her buddies were in the back yard and the swing hit her right on her eyebrow, split it right open. My sweet neighbors had her all cleaned up when I got there and so I just took her to the urgent care. I heart urgent care!!! They were great. And cheaper than the emergency room. They were so gentle with her and I love the receptionist! She is such a neat lady. good times, good times. Anywho, she got 3 stitches and 2 suckers. She is such a tough little chick. When we got home all she wanted to do was play again. She was riding her bike and fell off, onto her face, yep, you got it. Right onto her eyebrow!!! Road rash all over her forehead and then the 3 stitches holding her eyebrow together. Poor child.




I just love my babies so much. They are the world to me.












This picture kills me.

"Crap. Dad caught me poking Brody in the eye. Better pretend to love him better so I don't lose my Easter loot!!"

Easter

Easter was fab!!! The weather was beautiful and the day was perfect. Family, fun, and food. Whats better then that? We did an Easter Egg hunt at my Grandma Eltons house and it was a blast. The kids had a great time. The kids have enough candy to last until Halloween and the best part is Cody didn't have to work. We had him all day.












This is my favorite picture!!! Kaesie, Austyn, and Thomas. Best Friends! They were all born around the same time and they have sooo much fun together! I'm excited to see them grow up through the years!


Serious egg hunting








the crew







all dressed for church! YEAH!!! And I played the flute in Sacrament. Yes, with the choir. It brought back so many memories of high school. And Raech. We both played the flute in high school and I haven't played since. I can't believe how much I missed it. My family and Codys family came to hear me and it was so nice to know that it meant that much to them. Especially my parents. Me and Raech used to play together all the time and so to see me playing brought back some serious emotions for them. I love them so much and I am so proud of them. I know that we are going to be with Raech again someday. And I can't wait!!!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

eat your heart out ladies!!!


This is an example of how spectacular my husband is!! I know after reading this, you will all want a little bit of Cody in your life!!! We have been debating about going to Disneyland with Codys family the end of this month. We went in November, when I was prego with Brody; 7 months along, huge, and hungry all the time. All you women out there who have ever been pregnant you know when you eat you can't eat huge portions at one sitting because of the limited amount of space. So right after eating a meal I would be starving again.
Cody no likey. He was upset that I was spending so much money on FOOD! I didn't want a sweatshirt souvenir, I wanted a dang churro, and then some popcorn, and how about some cotton candy on top of that!!! It's not like we had to pay for my pretzel with a credit card, gees!!! And plus Brody is a HUGE eater!!! That kid needed every bit of food I gave him in-utero.



So here goes our conversationg today....
Cody: if we were to go you can't be spending money on everything you see.
Me: I don't want any souvenirs I just want to eat.
Cody: that's what I'm talking about!!!

Yah, in his own little round-a-bout way he just called me a fatty fat pig! I defiantly can't wait to crawl in to bed with THAT tonight.