The Sant Family

December fun!

2012-01-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

Cousins: Brooklyn & Allie after getting pics taken in their matching PJs.

We went to visit Grandpa & Grandma Sant in Elko-Grandpa took Bugs on a Cat Cat hunt.

Grandma Christie & Bugs

Brooklyn holds on for dear life as we drive home on snowy roads from Elko.

Cousins: Brooklyn & Logan get pics taken in their Christmas PJ's.

Brooklyn at 10 months old. This is now the face she gives me when I pull out the camera and tell her to smile. Love it!!

Brooklyn & Santa-NO FEAR!!

Love the lights on Temple Square!

All bundled up to see te lights. (The words, "I can't put my arms down, I can't put my arms down!" kept running through my head. )

Love my family!!

Great-grandma Sant and Brooklyn.

Great-grandma Robison and Brooklyn

Aunt Radene & Brooklyn (Aunt Radene gave Brooklyn her cute Minnie Mouse outfit.)

Christmas morning....loves the pillow pet!

She didn't really care for the paper at all, but once she saw the toys, she was all grins!!

Pure happiness!

Playing with her new blocks, and wearing her Christmas outfit from Ama.

9 Months Old!

2012-01-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time flies! Our 'Little B' is not so little anymore. She loves to talk, she always has a big smile on her face whenever we get her up, she has the best giggle. I love wen she scrunches her nose, claps and waves bye. And she's starting to give kisses! At 9 months, she's starting to grow into herself. She's 30" long and weighs 23 lbs....still in the 99th percentile, out little giant. Love you Bugs!!

Happy Halloween

2012-01-04T21:37:00.001-07:00

My favorite black cat.

Celebrating the big 3-0!!

Isn't she the cutest ladybug you've ever seen?!

Fish face!

Before trick-or-treating...

During trick-or-treating....

After trick-or-treating.

A bumble bee, lady bug, and a nerd who likes to catch bugs. :) I'd say he did a good job!!

Family Pics

2012-01-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a few of my favorite pics from our photo shoot at Wheeler Farm. Thank you Amanda Bishop-we love them!! And don't forget the one at the top of our blog...definitely our favorite!!

Going Private

2011-10-07T12:39:00.002-06:00

I think we've decided to make our Blog private, so if you still want to be able to read it, let me know. :)

What we love about Brooklyn

2011-09-04T21:11:00.000-06:00

Dear Brooklyn,

Dad and I can't get over how much we love you and how cute you are! Here are just a few of the reasons why we love you and think you're so cute:

You'll try new foods. Yummy!

You love playing with your Papa!

Love those cousins!

Being good while mommy works.

Love those legs!!

Love coming in to find you asleep like this.

Can't get enough of those legs and toesies!

You're such a happy girl!

Watching football with daddy.

More cousin time-so glad we have all these cousins around!

You're great at catching animals. :)

Ready for church. Love that face!!

Backpacking

2011-09-04T18:14:00.000-06:00

Kenyan and I got to take a little weekend trip up to the Uintahs a few weeks ago. It was nice to getaway for a few days. And thanks to my mom and Lauren for watching Miss B for us while we were gone.

We decided to take Mazee with us since we were going by ourselves. We figured if we wanted to see how she did camping, now was the time to do it while no one else would be with us for her to bother.

About a mile up the trail Kenyan decided to take her off the leash. I was a little worried about this, but she did so good! She would go ahead of us up the trail, stop, look back, wait a little bit, and then keep going. She did this the whole way and stayed right with us! I was amazed considering this is the same dog who bolts out the front door as soon as it's open.

We were going to tie her up to a tree while we went and fly fished the river, but after barely walking away and hearing her bark and yelp we decided to try taking her with us. She would stay with whoever was further downstream.

So, besides the mosquitos being 100x more prevalent than they usually are, and the fact that I really need to get back into shape after having Miss B, we had a lot of fun!

6 Months!

2011-08-26T08:39:00.000-06:00

Our little Bugs turned 6 months old on the 16th! I'm proud to say she's maintaining her reign in the 99th percentile for weight and height. Drumroll please....

22 lbs. 10.5 oz.

28 3/4" long

That's our girl!!

June/July Highlights

2011-08-01T10:03:00.003-06:00

We have had a busy, but fun, last month and a half.

June:

- We went to the Chalk Art Festival down at the Gateway. This was our first time going and I was in awe!

- Celebrated Kenyan’s 31st birthday!

- I have a scar on my forehead from Kenyan scratching me…don’t worry it was on accident.

- We took Brooklyn swimming for the first time at Seven Peaks, she’s not too sure about that yet.
- And enjoying Brooklyn every minute of the day!

Ouch!

Hmmmmm

Happy Birthday dad!

July:
- Celebrated the 4th with friends, family, delicious dutch oven chicken and potatoes, and AWESOME fireworks!
- Got a visit from my sister-in-law Angie and her boys Conrad and Spencer, and their dog Copper.
- Brooklyn ate rice cereal for the first time.
- We took a drive by the "UP" house. We only got to see the outside.
- We got to play with my brother's family: Doug, Lu, Dillon, Layla and Addi.
- Brooklyn turned 5 months old!
- Brooklyn also finally discovered her toes this month.
- And Brooklyn loves to blow raspberries now-this is too cute!
- Robison Family Reunion to celebrate my grandparents' 60th Wedding Anniversary!
- We took Brooklyn fishing for the first time. (And the fish catch count: Kenyan: 2, Nicole: 2)

Miniature golfing with the fam.

Brooklyn with cousins Logan and Layla.

Kenyan and Addi enjoying smores.

Add caption

Brooklyn and Papa

Lu, Addi and Layla

I'm 5 months old!!

I love my mom!

We are a happy family!!

Family reunion

Brooklyn and Logan enjoying the reunion

Gpa and Gma cutting the wedding cake-they didn't have one when they got married.

Playing games and getting wet!

Trying to keep my cup of water full while jumping rope.

Another Pepsi fan!!

I found my feet!

Ama and Brooklyn

First fishing trip

Brooklyn and fish having a staredown

Smith and Morehouse

My first catch of the day.

Dad and B enjoying fishing together!

1st Father's Day!

2011-06-19T20:59:00.001-06:00

Happy 1st Father's Day to Kenyan!

Kenyan had to work today, but we got to hang out with him all day yesterday at the Chalk Art Festival. Brooklyn and I are so blessed. Brooklyn has a wonderful dad, and I'm pretty sure she knows it-she is always giving him smiles. She loves her dad.

I am so greatful to have Kenyan in my life. I couldn't ask for a more wonderful man in my life to call my husband and for Brooklyn to call dad. Thank you for all that you do for our family. I love you!

4 months old!

2011-06-16T23:55:00.001-06:00

Brooklyn turned 4 months old today! I can hardly believe it.

She is such a calm, fun, happy girl. Her neck is getting stronger and she's starting to push off her arms more. She loves playing "Pat-a-cake." She will sit and just let Mazee lick her hands and face. She loves to talk, I think she gets that from me. I could sit and listen to her all day. We love you baby bugs and are so glad you are a part of our family!

Vote for Brooklyn!

2011-06-15T15:38:00.000-06:00

So for fun I decided to enter Brooklyn in the 2011 Parents Magazine Cover Contest, so use the link below and go vote for her or "Like" her whatever it says to do. :)

Gallery Link: http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-1/2011-parents-cover-contest/4402100005

Seriously....who can resist that face??

Tummy Time

2011-06-13T10:40:00.001-06:00

Every now and then Mazee likes to join Miss B for tummy time. Mazee had lots of kisses to give to Miss B today while she was doing tummy time. So cute!!

Cardiologist Appointment

2011-05-31T18:13:00.004-06:00

Brooklyn had an appointment with the Cardiologist today. They did an EKG and checked her blood pressure to make sure they can rule out a Coarc. Here's what she looked like during the EKG:

Kenyan sent this picture to Aunt Crystal and cousin Alli, and this is what they sent back:

Alli imitating B with bottle caps and cords. :)

"Don't be scared cousin B! I will do it with you!!"

We have the best cousins ever!!

Here's an update on B's status from the appointment: They measured her blood pressure on each arm and leg and all looked good. She'll continue to be on her medicine for the SVT until she's 1 as long as she continues to show no signs of it. We have another appointment in 3 months to check in again and see how things are looking and they'll probably do another echo at that appointment to check for the coarc again. And she weighed in at 18 lbs. 14 ounces. (Less than what I thought it was going to be-I thought she was at least 20 pounds already-phew!!)

Thank you!

2011-05-30T20:50:00.003-06:00

Thank you to all those who have served and continue to serve. A special thank you to my Great-grandpas, Grandpa, Uncle Preston, Uncle Gregg and Uncle Doug.

Brooklyn Miscellaneous

2011-05-23T15:10:00.000-06:00

Brooklyn meeting cousin Daphne for the first time.

Brooklyn and cousin Ethan

This girl LOVES her thumb! (Ok, loves might be an understatement.)

My future digital scrapbooker!

May 18, 1992

2011-05-18T19:43:00.000-06:00

19 years ago I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. At the time, I didn't really understand how this would impact the rest of my life. I just knew that I had to give myself shots and test my blood sugar all the time.

I started to really understand why I was diagnosed with this on January 1, 2006. I got a call from my brother-in-law telling me that my 3 year old niece Makenzie had just been diagnosed with Type I diabetes.

3 years old??? I was 10 when this all happened to me, I couldn't imagine what it would be like for a 3 year old. I realized that I needed to set an example for Kenzie. She needed to see that this was something that could be handled and that she could still do all the things that she wanted to do. I went out to see her for her birthday a few weeks after she was diagnosed. We tested our blood sugar together and I showed her how my pump worked. We have a special bond now.

I was given a special blessing when I was diagnosed that my diabetes wouldn't affect someone wanting to marry me and that I would be able to be a mom. Blessings are fulfilled, not in our time, but the Lord's time. You have to be patient.

15 years after being diagnosed, I married the most wonderful man who doesn't have a problem with it. He's ok with getting up in the middle of the night if I ask him to get me a drink because my blood sugar dropped. And even though I feel like the cost of the supplies I have to continually purchase all the time has put a burden on us, he never sees it like that.

Three and a half years into our marriage, we now have a beautiful baby girl. I made sure I took really good care of my self during my pregnancy to try and prevent as many complications as I could. The nurse even told me, "Just goes to show you can still have big babies even when you do take really good care of yourself." (I'm pretty sure genetics had something to do with it too.)

I'll admit I've slacked off a little bit taking care of myself the last couple months. But as I've been playing with Brooklyn the last few days and knowing that my "anniversary" has been coming up, I am making a goal to get it back under control. I need to be here for my family for a long time. They need me, and I need them.

So here's to 19 years and many more to come!

3 Months Old!

2011-05-17T07:29:00.000-06:00

She's 3 months old! You would never think by looking at her that she's only 3 months. She looks older just because she's so big. But don't let her fool you, she's still working on holding her head up, but she does smile a lot now and loves to talk to us. I could listen to her all day long! I love you Little B!!


There's so much of her, but I still can't get enough!!

Little B or Big B? Updates

2011-05-16T08:05:00.001-06:00

Update 1: Brooklyn is sleeping through the night!

Update 2: She can't wear 6-9 month pants, they don't fit over her thighs.

I love squeezing these legs!!

Sooo big!

First Mother's Day

2011-05-10T09:24:00.000-06:00

My very first Mother's Day. Unfortunately, Kenyan had to work that day. But my Mother's Day gift came earlier in the week. Kenyan took a week of paternity leave last week. (Yes, he gets two weeks of paternity leave, very cool!) While he was home he was working out in the yard everyday, cutting out my flower beds for me. They're getting there, soon will come the process of picking out flowers and bushes. (I'm not so good with landscaping, we'll see how it turns out and if everything stays alive.)

Several months ago, one of my former colleagues, gave me their piano that had been sitting in their garage. It's an older piano, but a piano nonetheless and I was excited!! Kenyan was going to surprise me and have it tuned, but hard to do surprises when I work at home. So he got it tuned, and the "piano man" is coming back again today to tune it again. (It hadn't been tuned for awhile....but like I said, it was free!!)

After church on Sunday I headed over to my parents' house for dinner and Kenyan was going to come over after work. I was coming down their street and Kenyan's car is in front of the house!! That was a pleasant surprise! He gave me the sweetest Mother's Day card from him and Brooklyn. (Brooklyn is one smart baby, she may not be able to talk, but she can write really sweet notes to her mom!)

I've only been a mom for almost 3 months, but I love it. I love that I get to wake up and see Brooklyn's cute face every morning. I love that she smiles at me when I sing songs to her. I love that even though she is so little, she makes me want to be a better person everyday. I love that she has blessed our lives and that she is home and she is healthy. I love that she is finding her voice more and more everyday. And I love that she knows who I am.

And I have to say Happy Mother's Day to my mom for all she has done for me! I don't know how you did it with 5 of us! I love you!!

Blessing Day: Brooklyn Nicole Sant

2011-05-04T11:31:00.000-06:00

4 Generations!

Love these 2!!

Check out those ankles!

Our little blessing

Kenyan blessed Brooklyn on Sunday. It was a beautiful blessing and he blessed her with the right name...I was a little nervous he might say Mazee instead. LOL (He's been known to do that around that house when he's holding Brooklyn and Mazee's sitting right next to him. Ok, I've done it one or two times myself as well.) Thank you to all our family and friends that were able to come!

Brooklyn's Stats

2011-04-25T16:11:00.000-06:00

Little Miss B had her 2 month check-up today...are you ready for these stats? Drum roll please....

16 lbs. 8 oz.

25 inches long

She is in the 99th percentile! Her weight according to her height puts her in the 88th percentile.

Way to be above average Little B!!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T16:05:00.000-06:00

Brooklyn looks so excited for her Easter basket, and I'll admit, I really wanted the Duck Tales dvds when we saw them at Costco. I loved that show!!

2 Months!

2011-04-16T00:19:00.001-06:00

Brooklyn is 2 months old today! I realize that this is not this old, but it's going by soooo fast!! I could stare at her and kiss her chubby cheeks all day long!

Some things Brooklyn is starting to do:
- She is finally starting to be more alert, still a little drowsy because of the heart medication she is on for the next year.
- She is starting to smile. I melt when she looks at me and just smiles!
- She is starting to copy us when we stick our tongues out at her.
- Every now and then we catch her starting to suck on her thumb.

I finally managed to capture a smile!


Mazee likes to lay under B's crib whenever we're in there doing something.

Just chillin'!

B's Photo Shoot

2011-04-03T07:28:00.004-06:00

My friend Bobette took some pictures of Brooklyn and my nephew Logan for us this weekend. I had a lot of fun getting B all dressed up. I can't wait to see how all the pics turned out, but if you want a sneak preview go here. Bobette did great! Thanks Bobette!!

Cousins

2011-03-21T21:39:00.000-06:00

We are lucky to have 2 cousins who live close by. We know Brooklyn is going to have lots of fun playing with them when she gets older.

Logan & Brooklyn
(Logan is 3 weeks older than Little B.)

Allie & Brooklyn
(Brooklyn is about 3 weeks older than Allie.)

One Month Old

2011-03-16T13:48:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe Brooklyn is already one month old! We're so glad she's part of our family.

Welcome Home!

2011-03-14T17:01:00.000-06:00

She's home and we are loving it! It was nice to wake up today and know there would be no driving to the hospital. We had a good first night at home, and I didn't mind the waking up because it meant that Brooklyn was home!

But, before we went home we actually had our first outing. We had to make a stop at my parents' house for my nephew's blessing. It was a good night and we're glad we were able to make it over for the blessing.

Going home!

Making a quick stop.

Logan meets Brooklyn.

Glad we were able to make it for Logan's blessing!

We couldn't be happier!! She's home and no more wires or
cords attached. :)

Logan and Brooklyn

Ready for our first night at home!
She's so cuddly!

March 13, 2011

2011-03-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

March 13th was the day Brooklyn was actually due. But now March 13th means even more....it's the day that Brooklyn gets to come home! (She was a champion eater and impressed the doctors so they're sending her home!!)

We're so excited! It will be so nice to be able to walk around with her and not have to worry about getting her tangled up in all the lines that have been attached to her for the last 3 1/2 weeks.

Welcome Home Brooklyn!!

Update & More Pics

2011-03-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn started eating a few days ago and is doing great. They were going to start her on a minimum of 1/2 oz. and work her way up to full feedings, but if she was hungrier then they would feed her more. Well, let's just say in her first day of eating she ate about 2 oz. at almost every feeding and now she's getting up to 3 and 4 ounces. They are taking out her IV today which has been giving her the nutritional fluid. Then Brooklyn just needs to average a certain amount of food in a 12 hour period for the next 24-48 hours and she can come home!!

Love those little feet!

Mom & Daughter time-love this! (And do you see her curled
hair on top-the nurses did that. Love those nurses.)

I never get tired of this.

Aunt Brittany & Uncle Abell meeting B.

Counting My Blessings

2011-03-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Today when I went in to see Brooklyn I found that we had a new roommate, a very tiny preemie who was born only a week ago and is in one of those incubators. As I sat there and held my sweet Brooklyn I couldn't help but think, "It could be worse." And I thought of this song:

When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

As exhausting as it is to go back and forth to the hospital, I am so blessed to be able to go in and cuddle with my baby. We have been blessed, and Brooklyn has been blessed to not have any serious complications that are going to keep her in NICU for much longer. I am blessed because I have had numerous people tell me if I didn't have a c-section my sweet Brooklyn wouldn't B here, or would've had serious complications. I love this little blessing....all 12 pounds of her!!

Brooklyn is doing so well and we hope to have her home in about a week and a half. She gets to start eating again on Wednesday. They will start small and work their way back up to full feedings so we don't overwhelm her system and have to go through all of this again.

Brooklyn & Lauren

Brooklyn & Uncle Josh

We love visitors!

2011-03-05T20:43:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn & Aunt Crystal (We can't wait for our cousin to get here any day!!)

Brooklyn & Ricki

Brooklyn & Tara

We love getting visitors. So many friendly faces. :)

Cherish the Moments

2011-03-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

I'll admit, when I found out our Little B had an infection and was going to be in the hospital longer than expected, I was a little bitter. I can't be with her all day long, I can't hug and kiss her any time I want, etc. But since then, I have found a lot to be grateful for.

* We are grateful for the nurses and doctors that are taking good care of Brooklyn and can answer all of our questions.

* We are grateful that Brooklyn doesn't have any serious health issues that can't be taken care of while she's in the hospital.

* We are grateful that Brooklyn came when she did and not the first time I was admitted to the hospital, 3 weeks earlier.

* We are grateful that Little Miss B won't be in the NICU for as long as other preemies.

* We are grateful this infection was caught while she was still in the NICU.

How can we not be grateful for this little girl? Everyday when I go in to see her I can't help but smile. I get to be her mom and I am so excited! I love you Brooklyn!!

Our Little B is sick

2011-03-02T18:19:00.001-07:00

Just when we were starting to think we were in the clear.....

Little Miss B is on antibiotics for the next 7 days. She has an inflammation in her bowels and they can see little gas bubbles in the lining. They have also been doing X-rays on her lower right abdomen and have seen the bubbles in there as well. (There is an actual name for this, but I don't remember what it's called at the moment.) This area is starting to look better, once it is completely cleared up they will be able to start her feedings again after 7 days (give or take a day or two) of that being cleared up. They put a PICC line back in today to give her nutritional IV feedings.

The good news is, Little Miss B is handling this all really well. It looks like they caught the infection early and she isn't having any respiratory problems or having to be on oxygen. (Kenyan and I were joking that maybe she just wanted to come home closer to her actual due date.)

It's hard to believe it was already 2 weeks ago today that she came into this world. It's been physically and emotionally exhausting to have her in the NICU, but we are so grateful for the great care she has received and we love her more and more everyday. And she just gets cuter and cuter everyday. She is truly a gift from God and we are so grateful that He has blessed our lives with her.

My 2 Favorite People

2011-03-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

I love these two! And I am one lucky girl to have them both in my life.

Update on Brooklyn:

We had a little set back yesterday. Brooklyn has come down with some kind of infection. She was throwing up yesterday morning. When the nurse practitioner came to talk to us yesterday she said from her lab results it didn't look like anything serious, just some kind of infection that they've got her started on antibiotics for. They've stopped all her feedings and put her back on an IV with sugar water in it.

As hard as it his to have her there for a few more days and to delay working on her eating, I'm glad she's able to get treated for this while she's still there. (I know she loves her mom and dad, but maybe she really likes those nurses too-they've been really good to her, we couldn't have asked for better. Maybe I'll just have to take pictures in of her bedroom so she knows what's waiting for her at home.)

Our Little B

2011-02-27T17:38:00.005-07:00

One of my favorite things about the nurses in the NICU is that they match Brooklyn's bows with her outfits:
Brooklyn got a visit from Grandpa Sant today. We thought it was really nice of him to drive out from Elko for a quick trip just to see Brooklyn. Thanks Grandpa!
Brooklyn is doing great. All she has to do is eat for 48 hours straight without using her feeding tube. We should hopefully have her home in a few days. She's finally getting this eating thing down-yea!!

Dear Brooklyn

2011-02-25T23:31:00.002-07:00

Dear Brooklyn,

You are such a strong little girl. You have overcome many bumps already with just coming into this world 10 days ago. You have one more hurdle in front of you: eating. We know you can eat. You've showed us you can eat, and you even made a little progress today. Now you just have to be consistent and eat everything at every feeding without using your tube. We are trying to be patient, but we really want you to come home soon. We want to be able to enjoy you all the time. You are in a lot of people's prayers, including ours. We love you Little B and couldn't be more excited to welcome you into our family. Come home soon.

Love you,
Mom and Dad

1 Week or 3 Months?

2011-02-24T21:29:00.002-07:00

I brought Brooklyn some clothes from home today....at just over a week old, size 3 months is what she is fitting into, and probably not for very long. It was so fun putting her own clothes on her, and I'm glad she doesn't have to lay in her bed with just a diaper and blankets on any more.

Little B's PICC line is still in, but they have taken out the sugar going into her, she is strictly on full feedings. They've kept the PICC line active just in case they need to end up using it again.

Little B is also in a little crib now. (She's too big for the little baby bucket beds.)

We are now working on Little B's sucking. We had a speech pathologist come in and look at some things with B this afternoon, yes, a speech pathologist. I had no idea the connections with eating and what a speech pathologist can help with. I'm not going to try and explain it because I would just confuse you. But I'll just say I was impressed with everything he was telling me, and it made sense. He gave me some great tips for helping Little B.

Little B also got to spend time with her Ama today. It's the first time Ama's got to see her since she was born because she's been at home keeping her cold germs to herself. (Thanks mom!!)

One Week

2011-02-23T22:07:00.003-07:00

It's hard to believe that it has already been one week since Brooklyn was born. As much as I wish she was home with us right now, I'm so glad she has been well taken care of.

We got some good news today:
- She's off the Bilirubin lights, this means we get to hold her longer.
- Little B's PDA has closed.
- They couldn't rule out a Coarc from the Echo, but her blood pressure has stayed normal in her
upper and lower extremities. They will order another Echo before she is discharged.
- They're taking out Little B's PICC line tomorrow. She is strictly on full feedings now-that little girl
needs a lot to eat!
- Little B can come home when she is eating without the help of a tube! (Hopefully she'll start eating
better with her PICC line being out.)

Little B and Poppa

2011-02-23T09:07:00.002-07:00

Little B got to spend some time with Poppa yesterday. She loves her poppa....I think he even got a few smiles out of her.

They will do Little B's heart Echo today and we should have results no later than tonight. Hopefully she will be completely off the bilirubin lights tomorrow as well.

She continues to melt my heart everyday. I keep reminding myself that each day she's in the NICU is one day closer to getting her home. We love you B!!

Staying Strong

2011-02-21T23:09:00.004-07:00

Brooklyn's bilirubin count went back up this morning so she is back under the lights. The nurse also heard her heart murmur this morning. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, the nurse said the PDA can close and open. They have ordered the Echo to be done on her heart for Wednesday morning.

She was really lethargic this afternoon because of her bilirubin count. She wouldn't eat anything so they had to put her feeding tube back in. When we went back in tonight she was wide awake and we were able to get her to eat. She was back to her normal self tonight. I love that little one!

They did get B's PICC line in yesterday. It was originally supposed to go in through her arm, but because of her chubby little arms, they couldn't find a vein to put it through. They ended up starting it in her left foot and going up to her leg and it stops up by her waist. The PICC line is what they are now using to get the glucose into her system. They've taken out the line that was running through her umbilical cord, so now we don't have to worry about it being pulled out.

I love this little girl. She just gets cuter and cuter everyday!

Bittersweet

2011-02-20T18:29:00.002-07:00

I woke up a little emotional this morning knowing that I got to go home, but our Brooklyn has to stay for a little while longer. But I got up, ate some breakfast, pumped and then headed down to the NICU to see if I could make it in time for Brooklyn's 9:00 feeding. Lucky enough for me, her nurse was running a little behind.

I took Little B's temperature, changed her diaper, and then here's the best part....The nurse asked if I wanted to try breast feeding her. I told her I didn't know if I was supposed to yet because they wanted to make sure she was getting a certain measured amount at each feeding while they wait to see if her PDA closes. Since I had just pumped, she said it would be ok and it would just give B the experience of latching on.

To make a long story short, I'm 90% sure Little B will do great at breast feeding, but she was so hungry at this point she didn't really want to have anything to do with it. She was on for a little bit and we tried some little tricks with the milk, but she was just too hungry. The good news is I can start doing this with her more. After she finished eating the nurse let me hold her for about 45 minutes with just that skin-to-skin contact. We had the best cuddle time together!

And another positive update: The nurse didn't hear Little B's heart murmur this morning!! This could potentially mean that her PDA has closed. They are going to run her Echo on either Wednesday or Thursday now to see if it has closed. Yea! My testimony of prayer and fasting continues to grow everyday. Thank you everyone, our prayers are being answered.

Daddy/Daughter Time

2011-02-20T08:25:00.003-07:00

A setback

2011-02-19T22:59:00.002-07:00

When Brooklyn was first in the NICU her heart rate sped up in the 200's. Fortunately, she was able to calm herself down from this. It happened a second time later that day and she couldn't come out of it, so the nurses helped her by putting some ice on her face.

Brooklyn went about 48 hours without this happening, we thought we were in the clear. We got a call up to our room tonight that said her heart rate was back up and it had been going for about 20 minutes. We got down there as fast as we could. Right after we got there they were getting out the ice to try and calm her down because she wasn't coming out of it on her own. (I'm going to admit, this is right about where I lost it and couldn't watch what was going on.) The ice didn't bring her out of it. There next option was to get some medicine into her through her IV. The medicine should take her heart rate down immediately, well it didn't. They don't know if it was because her IV was in her foot and it just wasn't getting there fast enough or what. They put in a new IV, but the only spot they could find a good vein was on the front side of her head. (Definitely wasn't in the room for this.) This spot finally was able to reach her heart and her heart rate came down.

They let us know if it happens again they will probably transfer her to Primary Children's because they have a good team of cardiologists up there. They are going to start her on some regular medicine that is given to her twice a day that we will continue once she is home. They aren't sure what triggered it, it could have been her sugar line that's in her moved up and started tickling her heart. So they are going to take that out and put in a PICC line.

On a brighter note, Kenyan and I went down to visit her tonight and she woke up and was looking at us and was a very happy baby. We had a good visit with her, and I think it calmed both Kenyan and I down a little bit. Kenyan and I both got to hold her tonight and Kenyan was able to feed her while we were down there and loved being able to do that.

As hard as this evening was, Brooklyn is one strong little girl. We know she's going to pull through all of this, it's just a matter of time. We can't wait to be able to bring her home, but are extremely grateful that she's in good hands right now as well. Thanks to all of you for all of your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate them more than you know.

Just can't get enough

2011-02-19T06:04:00.003-07:00

I got to hold Brooklyn yesterday morning for the first time. Besides marrying my wonderful husband, this was by far one of the best moments of my life. I can't believe how much I can love one thing so quickly. She is the most beautiful gift that Kenyan and I have been blessed with this week. And she's one tough cookie. I love watching Kenyan with her. He is already the best dad ever. He has been there for me and her this week. He leans over her, comforts her and calls her "Sweet Pea."

She knew exactly when she was supposed to be here. (With some help from our Heavenly Father too.) When I was here 3 weeks ago, they knew it was too early for her. They knew this week would be the best week.

Update on Brooklyn:

Brooklyn's blood sugars are stabilizing. When she first came out her pancreas was working double time. It was working for me and for her. I believe when they tested her after pulling her out that her blood sugar was around 40. This was the first thing they needed to get stabilized. After working on this they noticed a heart murmer. Brooklyn had an episode where her heart sped up in the 200's really quickly. She was able to calm herself down this first time, but it happened a second time and the nurses had to help calm her down by rubbing some ice around her jaw line. Those two times are the only times it has happened. When I was visiting her last night the nurse said it had been 36 hours since her heart last did that.

After doing an image of her heart and sending it to Primary Childrens for interpretation they said her PDA line hasn't closed. If I remember correctly, his is the ventrical coming from the right chamber of her heart. This should close on its own, it's not an uncommon thing. The nurses have told us it happens in babies that come full term as well. It might take Brooklyn's a little longer because of her being early. That's the big thing we are waiting for now.

Because of this PDA line they have only had Brooklyn on a sugar drip. Which is the white line coming out from her umbilical cord. This is why no one has been able to hold her. If this line came out it could cause her to bleed severely. They also haven't been feeding her anything, but yesterday she got to start eating some food, but only in very tiny amounts, and I mean tiny! I went down last night to see her and got there right as the nurse was getting ready to feed her. Lucky me, because she asked if I wanted to do it...duh!! So I got to hold and feed my precious Brooklyn again last night. The feeding took her about 30 seconds, but she loved it! Then the nurse took her blood pressure. They have to check it 4 times-once on each arm and leg. They were doing this every 6 hours, now they're only doing this every 12 hours. Good sign!

I'm so grateful for all the nurses and doctors here. They have taken such good care of me, but especially my Brooklyn. If she has to be in the hospital, she couldn't be in better hands right now. A huge thank you to the NICU staff at the IMC. Thanks for watching over my baby.

Brooklyn Nicole Sant

2011-02-17T09:49:00.005-07:00

Brooklyn's story of coming into this world:

On Tuesday, February 15th, after my mom had finished her appointment with the endocrinologist I decided I was getting tired of being all scrunched up inside this dark space. I started poking around and found that when I poked this one balloon it would get my mom all wet. This kind of freaked my mom out. I heard my mom talking to people trying to figure out what was really going on. I think my dad thought she was joking.

A lot of stuff happened from the time I started poking at the balloon. The next thing I really remember is someone's fingers touching the top of my head and telling my mom she was a 4. (If you ask me, I think my mom's a 10!) Then things kept getting tight on and off. I was being squeezed to death!! (or that's what it felt like, it kind of freaked me out a little bit.) This kept going on for a while. It stopped for a little bit and I think my mom got a chance to relax for a little bit.

I heard a doctor come in and tell my mom that she wanted to do a C-section. She told mom that she gave it good try all night, but she was starting to swell up and it would be better to do a C-section. I know my mom always tries to be brave, but I could tell she was a little emotional about this. I wish there was something I could have done to help her feel better. But my dad came to the rescue and told her she'd done her best and that they were going to have a daughter soon. (This is where I really come in.....)

The next thing I know is, my head was poking out and there were lots of people standing around. I heard my dad say, "She has hair, lots of hair!" They kept pushing on mom and pulling on me until I was free!! It was a lot brighter now, I liked it a lot better than being crammed up in that dark space. I heard all the doctors keep saying, "You made the right decision doing C-section." What's that supposed to mean? They took me over and put me on some kind of machine and said that I weighed 11 lbs. 10 oz. I'm not sure what that means, but all the doctors seemed shocked by this. I don't know why they were so shocked, my dad seemed really happy to see me. He took me over by mom so my mom could see what a good job she had done. I could tell my mom was really happy to see me too, which is funny because I think she might have been crying too.

Then this nurse came and took me away from my mom and dad. They took me to a special room and got me hooked up to all sorts of things. I heard them say my pancreas was working over time to help out mom, so now it has to get used to just helping out me. They took an x-ray of my right clavicle because I wasn't moving my arm, but I was just tired. The x-ray came back fine....see, I told you I was just tired. They are also checking some things with my heart to make sure it's ok. I have a lot of great people taking care of me, but I have to admit, I can't wait to just be with my mom and dad.

(**Update from mom: Brooklyn is doing well. She might have to be in NICU for up to two weeks. They're doing a few more images of her heart and sending those to the doctor's at Primary Children's-just making sure everything is looking ok and is doing what it's supposed to. Her blood sugars are starting to stabilize, which is great news!)

The Nursery

2011-02-11T19:39:00.002-07:00

The nursery is just about done, we have a few things to finish up, but that probably won't get done until after the baby comes. But here it is in all its glory so far:

Trip to the hospital

2011-02-11T19:04:00.004-07:00

Our trip to the hospital started about 3 weeks ago. Fortunately, we have been home for a couple weeks now and our little girl decided to stay in and bake a little bit longer. It was definitely an emotional and exhausting experience. Kenyan was great and stayed there every night with me.

The baby didn't show any signs of stress while we were there, she did great! When they did my ultrasound while I was there she was measuring at 7lbs. 7oz. (Let me remind you this is at 33 weeks!) She's huge! And every doctor that came in to "check" me said her head was right there.....as if I didn't know that already. :)

We're almost there and I think we're just about as ready as we can be. We're so excited for our new little addition and can't wait to meet her!!

Signs of Christmas

2010-12-07T13:03:00.004-07:00

I'm thinking, Mazee may be getting excited for Christmas too because this is what we woke up to the other morning....sitting in our bedroom door. I couldn't stop laughing for like 5 minutes, I thought it was the funniest thing. (Still can't stop laughing just looking at the picture.)Kenyan said he was a little creeped out.

25 Weeks and Giving Thanks!

2010-11-28T22:01:00.003-07:00

I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I'm not going to list everything, but just a few...So bear with me and my list (in no particular order):
- A wonderful husband who supports me through my ambitious endeavors.
- Kenyan finally being able to put his degree to good use with his new job at Fidelity.
- Getting a new job with WGU so I can work from home and be with my baby.
- Home, food, clothing...the necessities.
- Mazee....I love playing with her!
- My parents, family, and friends.
- The Gospel
- A disease that I am able to treat and take care of.

But I think the thing I am thankful for the most this year is this little baby girl waiting to join our family. I was always worried about getting pregnant and how my health would be while trying to create a healthy growing environment for a little one. I have been so blessed during this pregnancy to not have any complications as of yet. Everything is looking good and we couldn't be happier. It has not been without a lot of prayers and fasting that things continue to go so well through the rest of this pregnancy. I am so excited to be a mom and can't wait for Baby Girl Sant to join our family!

At 25 weeks: (Give or Take)

Snow Storm??

2010-11-24T14:58:00.003-07:00

Well, the "Blizzard of 2010" came and went, and all I have to say is.....we got about an inch of snow from it. We got at least 6" last weekend and there was hooplah over that storm! Anyway....at least Mazee enjoys going out to play in it.

Crib Bedding!

2010-10-21T18:11:00.005-06:00

So after going back and forth and back and forth, we found some crib bedding that we love!! (Yes, Kenyan loves it too, phew!)

I need to preface the picture of the bedding with a little story:

One time when we were playing the circus game at Circus, Circus in Reno we won these stuffed animals...a giraffe, an elephant, and a lion. I loved them-they're so cute and fluffy and I made Kenyan keep playing with me until we had all 3. I always had a thought of doing a Noah's ark room when we had a baby. Well, we found this bedding and they go together perfectly! If our camera was working I'd take a picture of the animals so you can see them, but right now you'll just have to imagine until we get a new camera. :)

So we ordered the bedding and hopefully like it as much in person as we did online. (We're not going to paint the room like that, I have other ideas in my head...just can't wait to put it all together.)

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-10-13T09:02:00.003-06:00

I got the best birthday present ever!

On Monday night, Baby Girl Sant decided to finally let me know she was really in there. I was so ecstatic! And yesterday morning, I'm pretty sure she was singing Happy Birthday to me because she was moving all over the place. I can't wait to have her here!

Kenyan got me the sweetest birthday card that was "From the both of us." (Meaning him and baby, in case you didn't get that.) My favorite part was the end..."P.S. If you swallowed a baby monitor I'm sure you'd hear, "Happy Birthday mom!"

I love my family!

New Beginnings

2010-09-19T17:40:00.003-06:00

After teaching for 7 years and 6 weeks, I have resigned. It was a bittersweet decision. I loved teaching....the ups, and the downs. I learned a lot about myself and grew in so many ways.

I have always had those kids in the back of my mind every year, and tried to find ways to reach them so they enjoyed coming to school, and would learn and progress along the way.

Teaching was a hard job, but it was very fulfilling. The hard times made it worth it when I got to see the lightbulb click on. Several months ago Kenyan and I went to Texas Roadhouse and the host that took us to our table was one of my first students. After we recognized each other he said, "You just made my night." Oh, that made mine!

After 7 years of putting my students first it is time to put my family and myself first. I accepted a job with WGU (Western Governor's University) as a mentor in their education department. I will get to work at home and raise my baby. I'm so excited for the opportunity that I have been given to be home with her.

So as I say good bye to one chapter in my life, I am so excited to start a new one. I wish the best to all of my students, past and present, but I know they're in good hands because I left some of the most amazing teachers I have known. Thank you to all of you for your love and support!

It's a Girl!

2010-09-17T16:26:00.004-06:00

We're having a girl! We took a stop in Vegas on our way home from San Diego and my sister scheduled an appointment for us in the doctor's office she works out. They were so nice to bring us in and look at the baby!

She was quite modest at first and wouldn't move her legs, but after a little pushing her around she exposed herself. :) We are quite excited! I know she'll have Kenyan wrapped around her finger, even though he was a little disappointed it wasn't a boy to take fishing and go dig in the dirt with for worms. But I told him he can still do all that stuff with her. :)

So, here is Baby Girl Sant:

Happy Anniversary!

2010-09-07T08:58:00.003-06:00

It was 3 years ago today that the most handsome man took me to the Salt Lake Temple to be married for time and eternity. I consider myself lucky and blessed. Kenyan is amazing. He is a hard worker, educated, considerate, positive, and he never gives up. I could go on and on.
I know it doesn't seem very long to most of you, but it's hard to believe that 3 years has already come and gone! We have some big changes ahead of us, and I'm looking forward to everything that lies ahead and spending it with my best friend!

Happy Anniversary Kenyan! I love you!

March 14, 2011

2010-08-22T11:58:00.002-06:00

If you haven't noticed, there's a new little widget on my page. Baby Sant is coming-March 14, 2011....give or take some days.

We are so excited! And Baby Sant is going to have a couple other cousins right around the same age to play with.

Everything is looking good so far-I'm at the doctor all the time-which is fine by me. As long as we can do everything we can to get a healthy baby here and keep mom healthy too.

I haven't really been sick. I'm exhausted by the end of the day and sometimes not feeling well. And certain foods either sound good or bad. I'm grateful to be making it through teaching all day and not have to run to the bathroom all day. So far so good!

Motorcycle Diaper Cake

2010-06-25T11:03:00.002-06:00

My friend and I made this diaper cake for our friend Marci for her baby shower. All of our husbands love to ride their motorcycles together. I think it turned out so cute and it wasn't too hard!

Surprise!

2010-06-25T10:59:00.003-06:00

It was Kenyan's 30th Birthday yesterday.....and I surprised him with a "Hawaiian" themed birthday party. Usually he has an idea that I'm planning something, but he told me he really had no idea! Wahoo!

I made one of his favorite meals: Hawaiian Haystacks and we had a "roasted" pig for dessert.

Happy Birthday Kenyan! I love you!

Yellowstone!

2010-06-14T10:59:00.008-06:00

We went on a quick weekend trip to Yellowstone a couple weeks ago after I was done with school. We went with my friend Amy, who was a terrific tour guide because she knows Yellowstone like the back of her hand, literally! Kenyan and I decided we need to do more trips like this because it's only 4 1/2 hours away!

The last time I went to Yellowstone was with my Grandma and Grandpa Johnson....that was like 20 years ago, and I believe my brother was there too. I don't remember a lot of Yellowstone so I had a lot of fun and we saw so many animals: grizzly bear, black bear, black bear cub, bald eagle (loved that!) elk, brand new baby elk, coyote, and lots and lots of buffalo. Amy always talks about the baby orange buffalo and how cute they are-she wasn't kidding! They are so fun to watch...one literally hopped on all 4's going across the road. Kenyan and I were a little nervous when they started getting really close to the car, but finally decided to trust Amy when she said we'd be ok. :) Love ya Amy!

Weekend Trip!

2010-04-01T07:41:00.005-06:00

Several weeks ago Kenyan and I drove to Cali for a quick trip. Our destination: Camarillo, to see my favorite little sister, Brittany, in the play "Annie." We had lot of fun Beej! She took us to the Santa Monica pier-that was a first for both of us. I love going new places! We drove the PCH to get to Santa Monica and drove through Malibu. We're thinking about buying a beach house there, (lol) there were plenty for sale! Then we went to this yummy ice cream place in LA called Diddy Reise. Wow! You get to pick 2 cookies and the kind of ice cream you want, and $1.50 later we had the best ice cream sandwiches ever!

Brittany did great in "Annie." She was perfect as Grace, Daddy Warbucks' assistant. I was very impressed with the whole play-they did a great job with the costumes, props and scenery.

Thanks to Heather who let us use her house as a pitstop along the way, to and from. We left Vegas at 5:30 in the morning so we could spend a day in Disneyland. (I love Disneyland! And Kenyan didn't fight me, just couldn't believe we'd wake up that early!)

More Mazee

2010-03-27T11:34:00.002-06:00

Introducing...Mazee

2010-02-13T20:47:00.003-07:00

We have had Mazee for a whole day and we can't get enough of her! (And I think Kenyan likes her a whole more than he'll actually admit.)

I gave into the whining & whimpering last night and went and laid next to her in the laundry room for a minute til she fell back asleep. Then I slept on the couch and set the alarm to wake me up every 2 hours to take her out to the restroom. She did pretty well.

We've had a few accidents....surprise, surprise. :)

We took her to Kenyan's sister's house last night and she met Kodiak, their chocolate lab. We have one tough puppy-she totally held her own and kept following Kodiak all over!! She sure is tons of fun!

The Newest Member....

2010-02-11T19:34:00.002-07:00

We have a new addition coming to our family.....tomorrow (so obviously, I'm not pregnant.) We are getting a puppy! I am so excited! She is a schneagle. (Isn't that fun to say?!) A schneagle is a schnauzer/beagle mix. I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can. The picture below is a picture the seller had posted of her:

Mr. Do-it-Himself/Amazing

2010-02-07T23:10:00.004-07:00

I love Kenyan-he never ceases to amaze me. He got me a ceiling fan for the family room-which I was very excited about!

He installed it one day while I was gone, without any help. He says it wasn't a big deal and that it's just a ceiling fan....but I still say, "He's amazing!" I love it, and it fits our room perfectly! (FYI: I always knew that ceiling fans could go different directions, but I didn't know that you are supposed to set it a certain direction for winter and summer. Did you guys know this? I found this out while reading the end of the instructions for installing-such a silly thing, but I had no idea!)

Another reason why I love Kenyan: Kenyan brought home a beautiful Japanese scroll from his mission...almost 8 years ago. I wanted to get it framed for him for Christmas, but we found out that it would cost a pretty little penny. Michaels said it would cost over $1,000!!

So, Kenyan decides....he can build a frame for it himself. And guess what, he did!! For how much you ask? Around $80! Take that Michaels! The final product:

The picture doesn't do it justice, but you kind of get the idea. He had to make it slightly deeper because the scroll has a thick rod at the bottom in order to roll it up.

2010-02-02T23:12:00.004-07:00

Last year we had a fun time ringing in the New Year our own "Rockin' New Year's Eve" style. We decided we liked having a theme to go with so this year we went Western.

We found this new game called "Bang!" If you have never played it, I highly recommend it! It's a little confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is a lot of fun.

Here's some pictures of us ringing in the new year with a "BaNg!"

Bernice & Sean-I love Bernice's skirt!Aren't we cute? (Except for my face, I'm not a very good outlaw.)Marci & Jeff-Yee haw!Josh & Crystal....supposedly they were "not informed" of dressing up...hmmmm.BANG!!

Let me ask if any of you are like this...Kenyan and I are constantly wondering what to have for dinner almost every night. Then we end up going back to the grocery store every night to get what we need for dinner. Just a pain to be running back and forth all the time.

So, the other day when I was at Target they had a pad of paper that had every day of the week listed on one side and a grocery list on the other side. Easy concept-but I didn't want to pay for it, so I made one for myself. Starting today, after getting the grocery ads in the mail, I tried to plan out meals around what was on sale and what we already have in the pantry or food storage for the next week. We will get our grocery shopping done tomorrow and be set with dinner for the next week. We are also going to try and buy a few extra cans of food each time we go grocery shopping to help build our food storage. We have "officially" started a food storage now that we have a place to store it and we started to stock up on the last case lot sale. Any other great ideas for food storage? I had a great time remembering dating cans of food for my mom after she went grocery shopping and I was doing it for my own food the other day.

My Dinner/Grocery List...Hopefully I can keep this up!

The start of our food storage...it's not a lot, but it's a start. Necessities: Yellow Death (AKA mac & cheese) and Ramen

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-21T08:24:00.002-07:00

If anyone even still reads this....and just in case you really cared, here's my New Year's Resolutions:
1. Make sure my diabetes is back under better control. ( I kind of slacked off amidst the business of getting a master's degree and everything else.)

2. Be on the Ellen show. :) I know this one sounds like a long shot....but I have something I've been working on.

Advent Calendar

2009-11-24T17:00:00.003-07:00

Check out these cute cards I made on Heritage Makers. (Check out my website: www.YourStoryToday.com)

They are a very cute way to help your kids countdown to Christmas. Each card has an activity to do every day during the month of December, through Christmas.

If you would like to order a set of these let me know ASAP. They are $15.

I found the stockings I used to display them at Target. Another cute idea is to use mittens and clothespin them to some twine. There is a "To/From" card if you want to give them as an early gift to someone.

HeRiTaGe MaKeRs-CeLeBrAtInG ChRiStMaS!

2009-11-17T19:20:00.003-07:00

The Heritage Makers Holiday Hits Sale! This is my biggest sale of the season! Let me help you cruise through this month and next knowing you have your gift giving under control -- especially your Heritage Makers gifts.

This week, Greeting Cards are on sale starting at $49.95 for 50 of them ! Contact me today to get this amazing deal!

To see this week's special, follow this link www.YourStoryToday.com

You can have your greeting cards directly shipped for only 64 cents a card!! You won't even have to touch them!

I just finished making a cute set of countdown cards out of our deck of cards. Each card has a day of the month of December printed on it and then an activity to do to help countdown the days until Christmas.

These are so fun to do with your family and would make great early presents to friends and family. Let me know if you want a set-only $15.

Happy Holidays!

Eye Opener

2009-10-24T08:51:00.002-06:00

I recently got back from babysitting my nephew and 2 nieces in Oklahoma while my brother and sister-in-law took a much needed vacation. Wow!

Just in case you need an update...I have 0, nadda, none, zilch, kiddos. I went from that, to 3!

I was excited to spend time with them since I don't get to see them very often, things didn't go as planned. All 3 of them were sick! Addie got better first, but the other two got sick because of her. It is one thing to take care of 3 children, it's a different story when they're all sick.

Not to toot my own horn, but I've always thought I would be a pretty good mom. I'm used to dealing with 25 different personalities everyday. Being a mom is a whole different job: Doctor, teacher, therapist, chef, event coordinator, message deliverer, etc.

All I can say is:

THANK YOU MOM! I LOVE YOU!

And to all you single moms out there, or those whose husbands are away right now. Hang in there. You may be under-appreciated right now, but they'll thank you for it when they're older.

*And Doug and Lu, don't worry, you didn't scare me away from having kids.....I was happy to help! We had a fun time. :) Love you Dillon, Layla and Addie!

My First Trip to the ER

2009-10-10T06:40:00.006-06:00

I had an interesting night last night.....it all started when my one-year old niece started throwing up.

My sister-in-law, Lu, and I went to the store to rent a movie while my brother and like 10 other guys from the ward rocked out to Guitar Hero. We came back and Doug told us that Addi had thrown up while she was sleeping and put her head in it. (Don't worry-he had it all cleaned up!) (Apparently my nephew, Dillon, came out and said, "It really stinks in my room."

After we got home she did it again. We got her out, cleaned her all up and Lu held her shivering in her towel when she threw up again. We got everything cleaned up again and then took her temperature. 104.

Since Doug was in charge of the young men activity at the house, I went with Lu to the ER. (He really did feel bad.)

Luckily, the ER wasn't busy and Lu was able to get Adi checked in and they took us back quicker than we thought. Here's where the fun begins: I'm pretty sure the hospital staff thought we were lesbians.

Top 10 reasons why the hospital staff thought we were lesbians:

You know he hospital staff thinks your lesbians when:
10. We walked into the hospital together with a baby.
9. It was 11:00pm. (Wouldn't you normally have your significant other with you when you have a really sick
child?)
8. When the nurse kept asking Lu different questions she would say, "We did this
about this time and this about this time...." (What do you think the nurse thinks when Lu says,
"We.")
7. Lu turns to me and says, "It was about such and such time, right?"
6. Lu's not wearing her wedding ring.....I was. (I guess that makes me the more feminine one in the relationship.)
5. Every time the hospital staff talks to use they refer to us as, "the both of you."
4. They ask for one of us to bring Adi to take x-rays.
3. The doctor introduces himself and shakes both our hands.
2. We're in Oklahoma, not Utah....people are more accepting of various lifestyles.
1. You have to try and sneak in phrases (Because you can't just tell them you're not lesbians. What if
they never thought that?) around the hospital staff like, "My sister-in-law took her..." "Do
you have any towels? My sister-in-law had a bottle in her purse that spilled all
over." Doug calls and I say, "I'll talk to him." (Since the doctor is trying to talk to Lu.)

It was an interesting night.

By the way, Adi is ok. They said she has the flu and is on the tail end of it.

Falling behind

2009-09-09T18:26:00.002-06:00

For all three of you who read my blog anymore-I apologize for the lack of blogging. These are my excuses:
1. School started
2. Grading papers
3. Coming up with behavior contracts
4. Grading papers
5. Helping (very little) Kenyan put in sprinklers-he is a trooper!
6. Grading papers
7. Playing Dr. Mario (I'm slightly addicted.)
8. Sleeping
9. Laziness
10. I'm not an eloquent writer-my blogging isn't as fun to read as others. I apologize for not being entertaining, but thanks for reading anyway.....all 3 of you!

Now, to update a little more....Kenyan and I celebrated are 2nd Anniversary on Monday. Two years doesn't seem like very much, especially after dating for 5, but it has been a wonderful two years. For your enjoyment, 10 reasons why I love Kenyan:

1. He doesn't give up.
2. He can fix things himself. (Although if we were rich, we'd definitely hire out!)
3. He is a good listener.
4. He supports me in all my crazy adventures/jobs. :)
5. He is going to be an amazing dad.
6. He likes watching (most) chick flicks with me.
7. He is witty.
8. He can always make me smile.
9. He's an outdoorsy guy. (Don't worry, I can make up my own words.)
10. He's thoughtful.

I could go on more, but I wouldn't want to get too mushy. Happy Anniversary Kenyan!

I've been reviewed!

2009-09-01T17:51:00.004-06:00

I just got a fabulous review from The Bragging Mommy-go check it out here!

Switch Flops

2009-08-01T10:02:00.002-06:00

Go to "The Bragging Mommy" website: http://www.thebraggingmommy.com/ and check out her review of Switchflops.
Go visit the Switchflops website: http://www.switchflops.com/

Buy one pair of shoes and switch them out to match every outfit....so cute! And they're giving away a pair with 2 straps on The Bragging Mommy website!!

Good News

2009-07-28T18:46:00.003-06:00

Well, it seems people have finally come to their senses. I, along with all of my Master's buddies, am getting my lane change pay increase for my Master's Degree! Wahoo!

P.S. One of these days I am going to get pictures of the inside of our house on here....it just hasn't happened yet....I've been a little busy and my house is a mess. :) I'll just keep all of you waiting in anticipation....

Why did the peacock cross the road?

2009-07-13T18:43:00.002-06:00

I was on my way home this evening and noticed people slowing down. As I got closer to see what everyone was slowing down for I saw.....a peacock! Hmmmm, peacocks in Magna, who would have guessed?

Vote for my Cousin

2009-07-12T12:34:00.001-06:00

My cousin recently entered a scholarship hosted by Microsoft in which I had to make a PSA (Public Service Announcement) about their new web browser Internet Explorer 8. Watch the clip below and then vote for his video!

Create Your Own Internet PSA

Sponsored by Internet Explorer® 8

He's Gone!

2009-07-07T18:39:00.001-06:00

Wes is finally gone.....off the Bachelorette! He thinks his little shinanigins were good for publicity-he just made himself look like an idiot! Good ridance!

Good Morning America!

2009-06-22T18:05:00.001-06:00

Heritage Makers is going to be on Good Morning America Tuesday at 8:00 am. Get on and watch so you can see what an awesome company I work for. If you're interested in getting started or hosting a workshop let me know or go to my website: YourStoryToday.com

This is the next BIG thing!

Too Funny!

2009-06-19T09:51:00.005-06:00

We made a slurpee run a couple weeks ago to 7-11 and we pulled into the parking lot and saw this:

Is that not the funniest thing ever?! And then two little girls came out, got in, backed out and drove off with their dad walking next to them. So cute!

What's the point?

2009-06-10T15:54:00.002-06:00

So, I need to vent for a minute. I went to a school board meeting regarding the negotiations of the 2009-2010 school year budget. The proposed budget is to freeze teacher salaries and not give us our regular steps increase or lane change....which also means I will not get an increase in pay for completing my Master's Degree.

They allowed teachers and patrons to voice their comments, but then went right to approving the budget. They said they care about teachers, but they don't. They didn't even discuss or value our opinions. They already had their minds made up.

So I took advantage of this wonderful program the school district offered to help me get my Master's degree. I took out student loans and worked hard for two years and now I'm getting nothing for it. What's the point?

There were other options that I won't get into right now, but apparently they're doing all of this in the best interest of the students. How is not supporting your teachers in the best interest? All the extra time and extra money I spent out of my own pocket are going to be no more. I guess I'll be doing all worksheets next year and not doing the fun creative activities that help my students learn more effectively.

Good job board of education, way to slap all your teachers in the face and screw me over.

We're Moving!

2009-05-06T12:35:00.003-06:00

Kenyan and I got our first house! We're so excited and can't wait to move, as Kenyan says, it's like waiting for Christmas. It's amazing how things work out and we feel so blessed for how everything worked out with this house.

So I'll post more pictures when we get them and after we're moved in... but here it is:

Happy Graduation!

2009-05-06T08:23:00.005-06:00

It's hard to believe that graduation has come and gone, but thank goodness! I got my Master's Degree last Saturday from Southern Utah University. The bad news is, I still have a couple classes I have to finish up two classes in July. It's kind of weird graduating from a school that you've never been to.

Class of 2009

My #1 supporter!
But he sure is glad to get his wife back!

The proud parents

Me and Thor the Thunderbird

My partner in crime-we are so glad to be done!
I couldn't have done it alone-thanks Amy!

The Academia Champion!
You had to have seen my Rocky moves. :)

Pop-u-ler.....lar

2009-04-26T19:32:00.002-06:00

The wait is over....WICKED was amazing!

These tickets have been sitting at our house for.....a year! (Thank you Leslie and Holly!)
I had high expectation for Wicked, and I left satisfied. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was much funnier than I thought it would be. (If you haven't seen the Wizard of Oz, you're not going to get a lot of the jokes, so watch it!) I was ready to watch it again the minute it was over. And now I can finally relate all those songs to parts in the show, and they mean something when I sing them!
I loved it! If you can get a hold of any tickets........grab them fast!

Come See Me

2009-04-14T18:11:00.003-06:00

So I booked my first boutique on Friday to promote my new Heritage Makers business. Come stop by and check out all the other vendors as well as mine! I'll be there on Friday from 1 to 6. The boutique is at 14329 S. Knapper Ridge Cove (6450 W.) Herriman.

You can go check out my website at YourStoryToday.com

I'm a Heritage Maker!

2009-03-28T08:34:00.003-06:00

How many of you have stories to tell? How many of you have pictures stored away where no one gets to see them? Do you want your heritage to be forgotten?

I have just started my own business as a Personal Publishing Consultant for Heritage Makers. Heritage Makers is a digital scrapbooking website. We offer many products besides storybooks. Greeting cards, decks of cards, family picture folds, cookbooks, posters, and more. Our books are library bound-very secure! Some of our most popular items right now are a "Familyland" game and a "Proclamation of the Family" poster surrounded by your pictures.

Even if you aren't a "scrapbooker," you can do this! It's easy and a friendly website to use. Kenyan even helped me create a deck of cards.

Go check out my website at www. YourStoryToday.com and see our products. If you want more details let me know. I would be more than happy to sit down with you and tell you more about what this wonderful site entails. If you would like to host a workshop I can do that for you to! If you're not located in Utah I can still help you out. Email me at YourStoryToday@gmail.com

Share your story today and don't let them be forgotten.

Fun Facts

2009-03-17T14:26:00.002-06:00

As I continue to take breaks from writing my papers, or continue to stall, here are some fun facts about St. Patrick's Day I found on the internet:

- In Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, people traditionally wear a small bunch of shamrocks on their jackets or caps. Children wear orange, white and green badges, and women and girls wear green ribbons in their hair. (Lots of green at school today!)

- In Chicago, the Chicago River is dyed green with a special dye that only lasts a few hours.

- There has been a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston, Massachusetts since 1737.

- St. Patrick was born in 385 AD somewhere along the west coast of Britain, possibly in the Welsh town of Banwen. At age 16, he was captured and sold into slavery to a sheep farmer. He escaped when he was 22 and spent the next 12 years in a monastery. In his 30s he returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. He died at Saul in 461 AD and is buried at Downpatrick.

- Some American towns have “Irish” names. You could visit: Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia; Shamrock Lakes, Indiana; Shamrock, Oklahoma; Shamrock, Texas; Dublin, California and Dublin, Ohio.

- According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on a clover is 14!

- One estimate suggests that there are about 10 000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.

- Legend says that each leaf of the clover means something: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Anyone there?

2009-03-16T21:45:00.002-06:00

I want to apologize for the lack of posts lately, but apparently that seems to be the case with everyone lately as I look down my blog list. I haven't had anything really exciting to blog about; therefore, no posts.

On Sunday I got a new calling in the ward (well it's not official yet) I'm no longer in the primary, I am joining the ranks of the Young Women as the Beehive advisor. I'm really excited-I love being in Young Women!

I got my graduation announcements in the mail about a week ago, wahoo! The light is getting brighter and brighter. I have to brag about what a wonderful husband I have. Kenyan has been so supportive and helped me so much around the house. He has made some delicious dinners lately!

So here's the timeline:
April 8th-Mail in National Board papers (Sleep all day on April 9th since I will be off track!)

May 2nd-Graduation!

May 7th-Last day of my math classes

July 16th -Officially done with my masters degree-last day of classes!

July 17th-Amy and I are partying like rockstars because we don't have any more classes!!

I'm exhausted, I know it will be worth it when it is done, but as of right now I don't know how much longer I can go. Pray for me!

Are you smarther than a 4th grader?

2009-02-23T20:48:00.003-07:00

Today I started talking about the 3 different types of rocks with my class : sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous. It was actually a very tasty lesson...more on that later.

I'm just curious as to how many of you can correctly match-up the rock with the correct definition. Here are the definitions....in no particular order of course:

a. changes to another rock
b. solidifying magma
c. layered rock

No peeking anywhere! Good luck!

Who's it Gonna Be?

2009-02-17T20:52:00.006-07:00

For all of you Bachelor fans out there....I'm just wondering, who do you think it's going to be?

Melissa or Molly?
Or do you think DeAnna still has a chance?

Lack of Blogging

2009-02-10T23:39:00.002-07:00

Forgive the lack of blogging, but if I could get a little empathy...this is my life right now:

Math class every Wednesday night for 3 hours.
- Read chapters and do homework for next class

Write papers for my portfolio for National Board Certification: Due April 15th
- Entry 1: 10 pages
- Entry 2: 14 pages
- Entry 3: 12 pages
- Entry 4: 12 pages

Master's Class: Attend Friday and Saturday once a month and get reading and assignments done before next class.

Teach 27 fourth graders how to understand double-digit multiplication and division....load up on the Advil!!

Poor Kenyan will be glad to have his wife back when this is all through. He has seen a lot of tears the last couple weeks, but he is so supportive. Luckily, the end is in sight: May 2nd-Graduation Day!

Disney World!

2009-01-25T18:25:00.008-07:00

Where do I begin? We had a wonderful trip to Florida and got to stay with my sister and her family. (Thank you again!)

We ran from one park to the next....we were tired! We started in Animal Kingdom. They've added a lot to this park since I've been there.The tree of life

Do you see the baby elephant? So cute!

The meerkats sunbathing! Hakuna Matata!

T-I-Double G-ER
Everest was a fun ride-kind of a mix between the Materhorn and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Dinosaur was pretty fun too, similar to the Indiana Jones Ride in Disneyland but with dinosaurs. :)

Next stop.......Epcot

Kenyan has a picture just like this from his mission, he thought he could have just served here instead. :)

Kenyan had fun reminiscing in the Japan part of Epcot. We ate sukiyaki at one of the little restaurants in Japan and Kenyan said it was exactly like what they serve in "real" Japan. In one of the shops you can pay to pick a clam, so we did and I got a beautiful shiny pink-white pearl...that's what they called it. It was cool to watch them open the clam and get the pearl out.

"Fish are friends, not food!"

We had a lot of fun riding Soarin' and Turtle Talking with Crush. Kenyan barely survived Mission Space. We chose to be part of the Orange Team, the more intense team. Kenyan thought it would just be more shaky, not so. It really feels like you are taking off. For those of you who remember the Gravitron in the 49th Street of Galleria-that's what it is. It was fun! We were really excited to ride Test Track, but we were not so impressed. The last part of the ride is fun, but the first part is kind of lame.

Our Favorite.....Hollywood Studios

In front of Mickey's Sorcerer Hat with my nephew and niece, Matthew and Makenzie.

Our new favorite ride: Rockin' Rollercoaster. The first time we rode this ride we got the front row! Love that!

Our picture on Rockin' Rollercoaster.

Our other new favorite ride, (yes we are allowed to have two) the new Toy Story ride. It is similart to the Buzz Lightyear ride in that you are shooting at targets, but in this one you wear 3-D glasses and stop in front of different screens with different targets to shoot at. The accuracy and details are remarkable! Definately a must ride.

Last Stop.....Magic Kingdom

Cinderella's castle

Dumbo the flying elephantKenyan having a showdown with GoofyPocahontas is not one of my favorite movies, but I love Meeko!

We didn't spend too much time in Magic Kingdom, but we did have a fun time. We went to the Monster's Inc. laugh floor, Kenyan was afraid they were going to put him in the spotlight, but no worries, we were in the safe zone.

We had quite the adventure home, we didn't want to come home, but we were relieved to finally make it. Instead of flying from Orlando to Salt Lake we went Orlando-Atlanta-LA-Salt Lake. We went from coast to coast, what a trip! Luckily, we made it on each of those flights and didn't get bumped on any of them. The stress of making the cleared list was a little much, but we made it. Kenyan had quite the adventure on the Atlanta-LA leg, but that's a whole other story!

Thanks again Tiffany, David, Matthew and Kenzie-we miss you!

Delicious!

2009-01-25T18:18:00.002-07:00

(I know...it's been a while, but I'm back. That is, until the craziness of school, both attending and teaching, catches up with me!)

The other night I made Hawaiian Chicken for dinner. It was delicious! And easy....even better! So I thought I'd share:

4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple
1 bottle (16 oz.) barbecue sauce
4 to 6 cups rice, cooked

Place meat in greased 31/2 to 5-qt. slow cooker. Combine pineapple and barbecue sauce and pour over meat. Cover and cook on high heat for 3-4 hours or on low heat 6-8 hours. Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings.

Enjoy! (Recipe from the book "101 Things To Do With a Slow Cooker")

Disney World

2009-01-07T09:01:00.002-07:00

Hello everyone.....Kenyan and I are off to Disney World for a week so no posts for me for a bit. But I wanted to tell you about something else I'm doing in a couple weeks. On Thursday, January 29th I am having a Heritage Makers party at my house. Heritage Makers is a digital scrapbooking website (my favorite)! The party will be at 7:00pm. They have a variety of different things you can make: books, posters, cards, calendars, playing cards. I made my mom and dad a deck of cards with all of our family pictures on them for their birthdays....they loved them! And if you need good gifts for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays. Out of all the websites I've looked at for digital scrapbooking they are the best! So come on over! (If you need my address let me know.)

And a Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T15:52:00.004-07:00

We decided to have our own, Rockin' New Year's Eve party this year.
One of our Christmas presents to ourselves was Guitar Hero World Tour. We invited our friends over to rock out with us and dress up like rock stars. We had a lot of fun! And even Mason had a wonderful time! I think the pictures pretty much explain it all, so Happy New Year everyone!

Sean and Kenyan

Sean, Mason and Jeff
My favorite part was Mason was totally rocking out with us and getting into playing that guitar!

The Band
(Sorry Beej, I don't sing as well as you do!)

Jeff, Marci, Kenyan and Sean

Mason rockin' out on the drums!

I'm married to the band leader! What a hottie!

Merry Christmas...

2009-01-01T15:35:00.003-07:00

Don't worry that it has only taken me a week to get these pictures posted....and I don't even have that many, apparently I did more video taping then picture taking.

Christmas was wonderful, a little different, but wonderful. Kenyan made a delicious roast beef dinner that we had with his mom, sister and brother-in-law. We came home and put out presents and went to bed, woke up in the morning.....at 6:30 (but I might add that is an hour and a half later than last year!) We're like little kids, we get so excited!! Kenyan got me the Anne of Green Gables series on DVD (to his own dismay) and a Mosaic Mickey puzzle-which I completed in about a total of 8-10 hours! Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. (Thanks to Kenyan for keeping up the puzzle tradition which my parents started!) And since I am a Disney fanatic I also asked for a couple of Disney movies that we don't own: Monster's Inc. and Beauty and the Beast, and he got me both. And my favorite gift of all.......the leather storage ottoman....it holds so much!

This was one of Kenyan's favorite games when he was younger that I managed to find. (Don't worry.....I kicked his trash the first time we played!)
That's not the only thing he got......he also got some Wii games and movies and a new sweater, but his most favorite thing is the mini-fridge. (I know what you're thinking....???? Kenyan ALWAYS gets thirsty in the middle of the night and always talks about wanting a fridge next to the bed so he doesn't have to get up in the middle of the night to get a drink. So if you ask him what he got for Christmas, he'll tell ya, "A new nightstand."

Bring Him Home Santa

2008-12-24T13:51:00.003-07:00

This is a tear jerker!!

Thank goodness for stand-by

2008-12-14T22:35:00.006-07:00

I know, I know, you are probably asking yourselves, "Why in the world anyone would ever be thankful to be on stand-by?" The chance of not getting on, your baggage making it to your destination before you do, not being able to sit by the person or people you're flying with, having to wait until the very last minute to board (because that's when you find out if you have a seat) and having people stare you down like you are the reason for the hold up of the plane departing.

Well, I was very grateful for stand-by last week when my sister-in-law didn't make her flight. I wasn't going to be able to see her, but lo and behold the stand-by gods didn't let her on. (Hooray for me.....sad for her and my brother!) But this meant that I got to see her and two of my nieces instead! (One of which is new to the family and I haven't had a chance to meet yet.)

Thanks Lu for sticking around so I could see you and the girls! (I know you didn't plan it, but thanks anyway!!)

I went to help Layla play my dad's new Wii, and she kept telling me, "I know how to play this Wii." She did a wonderful job teaching Ama how to "golf correctly." I just wish we had Guitar Hero with us so I could have heard her sing "Heartbreaker." Maybe next time, as long as the stand-by gods cooperate with me again. :)This is just too cute!

I think she loves her Aunt Nicole!

Me and the girls!

He sure is going to make a cute dad one day!Fore!

'Tis the Season

2008-12-14T22:24:00.004-07:00

I love Christmastime....the lights, decorations, traditions....everything that goes along with it. A couple weeks ago we went with our friends to see the lights at Temple Square-beautiful, gorgeous! We had the perfect night to go, it was still around 60 degrees outside! It doesn't get much better than that to walk around and see all the lights and displays. As most of you know, pictures don't do it justice, but here you go:

That would be our friend Jeff behind us....need I say more? (J/K, we still love him!)I love the reflection!I love this picture! Pretty good job if I do say so myself!! A Nicole original. :)

Utah vs. BYU.....the fans

2008-11-24T20:30:00.006-07:00

So, I should preface this post in that I am normally a BYU fan. I grew up cheering for my Cougars. Well, after Kenyan graduated from the U, I've had to somewhat adjust. I enjoy cheering for the U, but don't always cheer them on as much when they are playing the Y. Kenyan said I was a 60-40 BYU fan, I said it was still about 80-20. Anyhow, I was glad for the Utes and am very excited they get to go to a BCS bowl game.

My friend Amy and I were going to "decorate" a former colleague's car in UTAH attire last Friday before the game on Saturday, but she decided to take a personal day. Fortunately for us, the Utes won and she didn't take a personal day today. Amy and I went down to our former school during lunch to "decorate" her car.....oh, did I mention she's an avid BYU fan!! Take a look:

The victim and the culprits

Utah's #1 Fan!