Fort Sill Bootcamp Graduation

I just got home last night, or this morning, I should say, from a very long roadtrip. I drove with my mother and Cache to Lawton, Oklahoma to see my youngest brother, Josh, graduate from boot camp. I could not believe the young man I met there. I was proud to call him my brother. He had lost a lot of weight, was kind and respectful and impressed me a great deal with the in depth knowledge of the weapons and different jobs and ranks in the Army. He told me he woke up at 4 a.m. everyday and made his bed and organized his locker and bags. I don't think my parents were too psyched at first but you know the video gaming zombie who treated them so poorly was absolutely gone. I think this was so good for him and he loves it. He is going into artillery training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma and hopes to be graduated from that program by April. I am incredibly proud of who I just met and am grateful to him and all of the other men in my family and country who serve. Three days away from Justin was hard for me and especially Cache, he clung to him this morning and cried when he left. So glad to be back with him!

I love this little boy so much

Dad is doing really important stuff...

Just some of my favorite recent photos of monkey

Happy First Easter Cache!

Texas!

We have been living in San Antonio Texas since the end of April for a summer sales job til August. I have been super homesick but have curbed the sadness with fun adventures to the real Alamo of Texas, season pass to SEAWORLD and lots of cool museums and sites. We frequent the pool often and hang out with other wives. It's like 100 degrees here everyday and tends to have high humidity so not so fun for Justin. Cache has stood up by himself a few times and is just about to start running i just know it. He keeps me sane every day and I love my little monkey! I can't believe he will be one in July. We are flying to Florida for his birthday and a family reunion and HARRY POTTER LAND!!!! Can't wait to see the last movie and get a wand and have a butterbeer and see my family!!! Justin's oldest sister Cassie and her family came to visit over Memorial Day weekend which was such a treat since we don't see them at all in Idaho and her husband Danny leaves for Iraq in July. My mom is coming this Monday and will stay for a week which I am really excited about. I really miss all of our friends and family in Idaho and Michigan and basically wherever life has taken them. I am going to attempt to start knitting so we will see how that turns out...

What a whirlwind. Cache was born July 28th at 7:29 p.m. at 7 lbs 11 oz. He is currently 7 weeks old and 12 lbs 7 oz so he is growing fast. Two weeks after I had him I had my gallbladder removed and two days later ended up in the emergency room in terrible pain and having sever muscle spasms at the incision cites. Conveniently my surgeon went out of town and nobody could access the surgical records so I laid in the hospital for two days without being able to eat in case we had to do emergency surgery. Turns out that after they removed my gall bladder and 60 plus stones that a few escaped into the remaining biliary duct. The doc thought they would pass but apparently they got stuck and backed up the bile causing bacteria and spasms to occur. They put me on such heavy doses of narcotics to dull the pain that I could not breastfeed so Cache got totally off track and is now taking only bottles...oh well. I am doing really great now and am so glad that is all over. It's a lot of fun just hanging out with my son, despite the gas, case of thrush and other typical baby stuff. Justin is taking 14 credits and working 30 hours a week for our friend Justin Klingler at American Family Insurance. It's a really great job and Justin and I are really grateful for it. Well that is as good of an update as any and I will post some pics real soon.

Gall Bladder Attacks

Oh what a nightmare the last two days have been. I have had four sever gall bladder attacks over the period of 48 hours and have ended up in the hospital twice. They are doing an ultrasound today to look at the gall bladder more closely, but the only thing they could really do is take the darn thing out. Which, conveniently, they almost never do when you are pregnant, especially 8 months pregnant. I feel like someone has been punching my stomach repeatedly. Why is pregnancy so painful? My mother in law, bless her heart, keeps telling me how easy her pregnancies were. You know, no pain, no throwing up, just a bit uncomfortable. Man that is NOT how mine has been. I have heard way worse stories and know I probably have no clue what real pain is yet, but I am using my blog to vent, so for my own purposes, THIS SUCKS!!! The greatest two comforts are my awesome husband who has been beside me constantly and when I think about this little person who it has all been for. I can't wait to meet him and I never thought you could love someone so much, whom you never have met.

Crib

Does anybody know someone getting rid of a crib? Let me know.

Brownie Contractions

Phone crisis averted! Whew. So only six more weeks til Cache Handy's world debut and my graduation. I am way excited for my mother to be out here in two weeks for the baby shower! It will be awesome to see her again and I know she is taking the whole grandma thing very seriously. I have heard rumors of her sewing an entire bedroom set for the baby and that she may be sending me a rocker. I love my mom, and I will really appreciate having her out here. Emmy Montez is throwing the baby shower and it has been so nice not having to worry about it or deal with who does what and where. That is the greatest gift EVER, thank you Emmy! Who, by the way, just had a beautiful baby girl and is still catering the whole event and planning it all. Pretty incredible I think. Justin's sister and brother-in-law are here with their three boys who adore Justin, so we have had a blast with them. Our sister-in-law Jen just got arraigned this last week for embezzling 100,000 dollars and is currently in jail. This has been super hard on the family and I feel so sorry for her three kids. But that's family right? Learning to love and not judge no matter what happens. On a different note, I have been having bouts of Braxton Hicks contractions, which kill!!!! If Justin were to be graded on his breathing and relaxation techniques I would give him a B+ for effort. So I am having a really nasty contraction and am sitting on the bed trying to breathe and he runs to the kitchen and comes back with a BROWNIE! Through gritted teethe I ask him what the brownie is for and he says, "I thought it would make you feel better." Hahaha. I was like, what a guy. He probably thought, "If I was in pain what would I want somebody to get me?" and I am sure a brownie was the first thing that popped into his head. Well at least I got a good laugh out of it before the next contraction hit. That is why I love him so much. I can be in alot of pain, physically or emotionally, and he always has a way of making me laugh or smile and forget about the problem, even for just a moment.

HELP! I need a verizon cell phone!

My phone is broken and I am right in the middle of planning a big event and cannot read all of my text messages that are coming in. If you have an old Verizon cell phone I can buy, borrow or whatever, please, please let me know. I can still receive phone calls but the screen is totally black. 989 295 8050. Thanks everybody!

Pics

Last semester and trimester

So this is my last semester and I will graduate with my Bachelors in Communication and Minor in English. I have to wing 18 credits, graduation and deliver a baby all within a precarious amount of time, but I will do my best! Justin is off track and is working at the Hospital doing housekeeping 30 hours a week and works as a cook/driver at Pizza Hut approximately 15 to 20 hours a week. He is such a hard worker and we are on the constant lookout for new jobs. We are happy to actually stay in Rexburg for a summer but can't help but think about the money we could be making if Justin was working for Pinnacle Security again this summer. It's just as much time and effort he is putting in now and yet a lot more fruitful. But, Justin and I didn't think we could be apart from each other in the last trimester of the pregnancy and my graduation. Cache is growing and active. I swear this kid is going to be a handful because he never rests as it is. I am having lots of good and not so good pregnancy dreams, heartburn and 4 a.m. cravings for grilled cheese and Raisin Bran. I just wanted to acknowledge all of the incredible mothers out there who endured 9 months of discomfort and emotional and physcial changes. I never imagined it would take this much energy, effort and resilience to have a child and I have not even seen him yet!!!! I never wanted to have children much less get married but things always have a way of surprising and changing you. I met a man who I trust with my life and my love and can't believe there is somebody good and strong enough to make me feel confident bringing a child into our screwed up world. But Handy does exist and I am so happy for it. This is going to be an amazing adventure that has already had an interesting and humbling start.

Baby Boy!

So we are having a little boy. Today was our 20 week ultrasound and we got to see our little Cache Robert moving all around. Everything looked good with one issue with an extra pocket of fluid by his kidneys. They recommended the amniocentesis to check for any birth defects but I would never abort the baby anyway and they can't do anything about it right now so I declined. We are just praying he is ok and will just wait to find out when he is born. I can't believe that I am halfway done! I have been reading a ton of books and magazines and baby websites and definitely realize I am pretty clueless to this whole thing. The coolest thing was Justin's sister in law, Adrian, has given us everything! She gave us clothes, stroller, crib. high chair etc...We owe her so much. This was really needed because baby clothes and supplies are so expensive and Justin is already woking two jobs just to pay our bills. We have definitely been blessed!

PLEASE DON'T USE PRICELINE!

Justin and I just reviewed our business card statements from this summer that we used for tax write off purposes. We purchased our food, clothing and travel expenses on this card in affiliation with Pinnacle Security. One purchase we made for a hotel was through Priceline. Little did we know the scam they would pull on us. Because we made so many purchases we did not notice the 12 dollars a month charged by an unknown company. It blended in with the Wal Mart and gas station purchases and we did not notice it until all use of the card had ended with our summer job. We then thought it was a service charge for our bank account and went in to cancel the account. The bank said it wasn't them and gave us the number. We called the company which was called Great Fun. They had ALL of our personal information. And I mean EVERYTHING. They had payment, personal, even Justin's mothers maiden name! We asked where they got it and they said from US! We denied it and they said they had authorization from my husband and that he had recieved emails and had responded to them. THIS IS A LIE!!!!! We checked the email and there was no record, Justin NEVER called them or entered any info anywhere. The woman was so rude and said how it was my fault and that I should have checked my statement more closely. She said that we had entered in all this information from a pop-up on the Priceline website. I told her that was a lie and that the only place she could have gotten the info was if Priceline had disclosed it to her. I had gone onto Priceline to do that name your price thing because so many people had gotten cheap tickets from it. Well we lost over 70 dollars from it. We will never use Priceline again.

Christmas Break

Feeling a ton better starting week 11 of the pregnancy. I have not felt nauseous ALL DAY! Woohoo. So anyways, Christmas was good and quiet. I got a cake pan with a cover, a blender, perfume and a SEWING MACHINE! SO excited to start some projects. Pillows and place mats are at the top of that list right after I get all the mending done. Justin got his really nice basketball he has wanted, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Blokus, a game Mike and Emmy Montez showed us. So things are good and we have alot of time off til January 5th. I hope I continue to feel better so I can make it through these next two semesters. We are cutting it short with our dealines this year as I am supposed to graduate July 18th and the baby is due around the 26th. So pray it does not happen early!!!

Baby

So we are officially pregnant and we are due as of now July 27th. We are hoping for a boy, Cache Cameron, but of it's a girl that is fine too, Brooklynn Rose is the name we have for a girl.

Busy Busy Bees!

Sorry I have not posted in a while. I am just sort of lame right now. I went and did pilaties and I loved it! Very hard and a great workout. Anyhoo, I guess I just wanted to ask some questions and see what any of you think. I guess I am just wondering about the people in my life that I love and have always been there, but who are very opposed to my religion. I have dear friends and family who just won't give up this fight and neither will I. My question is how can you maintain a relationship with these people? You can only take so much. I can't stand to hear "there is no God" and "religion is the crutch of weak people". I just feel so worn out after talking to these people. I fear to tell them anything about my religion like getting married in the temple, having a baby so young and other aspects of my life. I feel like I almost need to just shut them out.

So we have been crazy busy. My parents came for a week and we got to do a bunch of family names at the temple, and to my Dad's surprise my Mom had gotten his parents names prepared and they were sealed! So cool. My mom also got sealed to her grandmother who practically raised her. It was so amazing. After they got home my brother josh got beat up and got suspended for being involved in the fight even though he never hit anybody and was sticking up for another kid. His eye lid was split open and they had to glue it shut! The same day my niece Nadia passed out at day care and was also taken to the hospitol where they decided she was just very tired since her dad, my brother John, had just gotten home from over seas. So she prob just wasn't sleeping cause she has not seen her dad in a year. So we are very happy our bro is home and safe. We went to the Blackfoot fair and ate at Rupes, way way good! Than we went camping at Twin bridges and fished the Snake River with no success, but was still really fun. We started school on Thursday and are replacing all of the skirting on our trailer tomorrow, so busy busy. It is good to be back but things went from a very lazy summer to a very busy fall.

This is our new car! Well its a stock photo of our new car. We pick it up on Thursday and I will get actual pics then. It's a 2000 Chevy Malibu with 77,000 miles on it. It's in really great condition and we got it for 3,000. Original owner and never been in an accident. I think we got a good deal. I am excited to drive home next Sunday to Idaho and go back to my house. I think it's been a productive summer but I want to get back to school so I can finish and start our family. It sucked missing my summer track but hopefully I can catch up now that I am on fast-track. I can't wait to graduate next summer and be done. I will finish my bachelors degree!

I made some headbands as you can see. I saw ones just like these at the icing and claire's for 20 dollars! I got the headbands at the dollar store and used my 50% off coupons to buy feathers and gems at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. I really enjoy this stuff. I have not tapped into sewing yet but I just may.



This is the strawberry rhubarb pie that I made. Tasted very good but did not set as well as I wanted it too. Any suggestions? Oh and the crumb topping tasted very good on this pie but gets soggy if not eaten after it is baked.