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follow me.

finally getting around to starting the new blog....
so here we go.  follow me.
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an end of an era.

As I went to update my blog...finally.  I was notified I had "reached my storage limit". What 281 posts and 1657 pictures is too many?  Ok well fine blogger.  5 years, lots of memories and LOTS of posts....its time to sign off.
Oh dont worry. I'll start another. :)

So Charming...

Halloween was magical for us this year!  We had the most beautiful Cinderella and our Prince was BEYOND charming!  I decided to try and make Ryder's Prince Charming costume and was totally thrilled with how it turned out!  Thankfully Gram helped me pull it together, I think we were both shocked we did it!  I am going to cherish these photos forever!  Taylor just loved having her brother as her Prince and kept telling people "this is my prince, but i just hope he doesn't kiss me" and Ryder just kept saying "PRINCE"!  He just loved that he had a sword and got to hold a bucket and say "trick treat".  

Presenting Cinderella and her Prime Charming!

 

 

 

 

Taking inventory...

The night ended with Cinderella laying her body over her candy and screaming "noooooo prince" when Ryder tried to check out her candy. And....it was bed time.
 



sheer gratitude.

here is a look into the past 7 weeks of recovery.  i am overwhelmed with sheer gratitude for the love and support i received.  i required full time help with ryder because i wasn't able to lift him for 6 weeks...we were blessed with visits from friends and family to help us make it through.  honestly we could not have done it without them. literally...could not have done it. 

 

 

surgery and hospital recovery. my parents, ryan and cambria were all there to see me at my finest. :)

 

the first two weeks of recovery were spent being completely taken care of by my parents at the coast.  they also had ryder to take care of and were truly amazing.  my mom woke up at 2am to bring me my pain meds. now that is love.  ryder loves playing with his papa & backa and i am so thankful they were able to bless us with their love and support. while at the coast i received some wonderful gifts, these beautiful flowers came from my amazing clients Steve & Cherie! i also had a wonderful visit from Gena to help brighten my day!

meanwhile taylor and ryan were in lg going to school...ryan had to be super dad and get tay ready for school each day!  he then had to deal with a sick litte girl when she came down with a cold.  i know he was ready for some serious help so thankfully his parents were able to help him out during my second week at the coast.  ryan is an amazing dad and taylor loved her alone time with him!

cambria was brave enough to drive me the 5 hours back to home and she then took amazing care of my family.  it was a hard adjustment with all the travel and still in the early stages of healing so i required a lot of help.  cambria is a true bf. she made my meals, took full care of my children and helped ryan in the evenings with bath and bed time.  just love her.

our next visitor was annie who drove all the way from helena, montana!  we were so thrilled to see our amazing friend again and just loved the week we got to spend together.  before surgery i had thought i would be feeling really good by the time annie came to visit...the truth was i was still really exhausted and needed a lot of help!  thankfully annie was ready and willing to do whatever she could!  we of course were completely spoiled with her amazing cooking which she also left us a freezer full of!  so thankful for annie and the time she spent with us.

next came our trip to boise to see our besties...the wolf family!  ryan had to leave town for a conference and i still needed help so luke & angie were so sweet to let us come take over their house and help me!  our trips to boise are always so much fun and thankfully i was starting to feel better by this time and was able to even go shopping with Ang which is a must!

 

 

 

week 5 was spent with my bf...again!  cambria came back to help us yet again and we enjoyed some amazing fall weather together. sipping on our coffees, enjoying ryans delicious cookies and just being thankful that we had this time to spend together. 

 

 

it's not over yet. next came dan & glenda!  we had a great weekend together and it was homecoming at eou so we all braved the rain and watched the parade and some of us (not me) made it to the football game.  we also got to go to the pumpkin patch together which was so much fun!

 

6 weeks later it was time to head back over to portland for my post-op appointments.  my parents and dan & glenda also helped me with the kids as I got back to work.  it felt good to start feeling normal again. picking up my baby boy again was an amazing feeling...except for the fact he felt like he weighed more like 100 lbs than 26lbs.  i haven't attempted lifting taylor yet but just being more present and available to them both feels amazing.

my post-op appointments went well and i am thrilled to be putting this entire ordeal behind me finally.  thanks to everyone for the prayers, the meals, the time and the love that you have given us. 

sheer gratitude. 

 

recovery.

surgery day has come and gone and thankfully i am now on the road to recovery. 
i don't remember much.  i remember sitting in the pre-op room with ryan and my parents trying to stay calm.  i remember fighting back the tears when my dad begin to pray over me and then being wheeled down to the operating room.  after that i was in the recovery room trying to take deep breaths and begging to please go see my family.  ryan stayed by my side the entire stay at the hospital and was able to talk with my doctor after surgery. 
the surgery went very well and i ended up not having any endomitriosis, instead they found that i had pelvic congestion syndrome.  i am told that its like having a bunch of vericose veins in your abdomen.  they also found the adenomoysis.  in other words my body was very much in need of this surgery.  the great news is i was able to keep one ovary...so no hormone replacements! 
it has been a difficult couple of days, but i am now at the coast and being well taken care of by my parents.  the pain is a bit overwhelming but it's already slowly getting better and hopefully the recovery will continue to go well.  i have had a lot of different emotions throughout this entire experience and i am just thankful to be past the surgery.  i have such wonderful family and friends supporting me through this and i am very thankful. 

first day.

Dropped our baby girl off at Pre-Kindergarten today!  She was so excited, not nervous or scared...just thrilled to be going to school!  Taylor popped right into her classroom and handed her teacher Mrs. Miles her little gift we had prepared (apple scented hand sanitizer with a cute little label that Tay wrote) and hung her Lallaloopsy backup under her name tag!  Then she was off.  No looking back, just see ya!  Ryder was a bit more concerned and kept saying "bye bye tay" and when we got to the car "where sissy".  Poor guy!  Taylor had told him before we left the house that she was going to leave her door open for him so he could play with her kitchen while she was gone (that is major for her). 
We were both very excited to pick her up after school and hear all about her first day!  She said her favorite part was learning the Pledge of Allegiance and playing with the doll house.  Proud of Taylor and can't believe it's already time for school.  What a big girl she has become and I love that she was so excited to go and learn!  When I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up she said "a teacher of course".  Then she paused and said...but also I might want to be a horse trainer.  When I asked her if I should write that on her sign she paused then said "well maybe not because I am actually kind of scared of horses, let's stick with teacher".  Ok Tay. Ok.  Just love this girl.