Families can be together forever

"Brayden are you ready for our big day tomorrow?"(me)

"Ya."(Brayden)

"Our family is going to be sealed in the temple tomorrow!"(me)
"Do you know what that word sealed means?"(me)

"No, wait, ya, ya, ya... it means our family will be together forever."(Brayden)

...

I can remember ever since I was a little girl wanting that fairy tale prince and the fairy tale wedding. The first wedding I remember my sister and I were flower girls.  I remember standing up next to the bride and groom and watching the beauty happen and how happy everyone was.  I think I was 5 or 6 at the time.  I wanted that.  I have been to many many weddings in my lifetime.  All of them beautiful.  All of them exciting.  Everyone looking beautiful in big white dresses and fancy tuxes.  Big parties, lots of good food.  But as I got older and actually listened to what the preacher was saying, there was a tinge of sadness to me.  Always ended with until death do you part.  UH.. say what?  Why does this happy day and marriage have to end just because we die?  Never made any sense to me.

Why does anything have to end just because we die?  I don't believe that.  There is more than just this life we are living now.  I know it, I believe it and I'm so grateful for that knowledge.

I remember at my own wedding I asked our Bishop to make sure not to end our ceremony with those words.  I hated those words.  Such a downer.  I didn't want my family to end at death.

...

Fast forward to almost 6 years later (after our wedding)... Gary and I have been preparing ourselves and our family to go to the temple. Why?  Because that's where we believe that families can be sealed together forever with the proper authority from God.  A sealing, is the joining together of a man and a woman and their children for eternity.  The sealing means that family relationships will endure after death as long as we live according the teachings of Jesus Christ.

And that is what I had been waiting for all these years!  For my family to be sealed so we can be a family for all eternity. 

Yesterday we did just that.  My family and I went to the Denver Temple and we were sealed for all time and eternity.  It was truly the best day I have ever had!

(It was freezing and snowing like crazy so maybe when it gets warmer we can go back to the temple and get nicer family photos!!)

Baby Ashlynn Margaret has arrived!

This may end up being quite lengthy... so settle in and grab a snack!  Enjoy!  I will start with all the goods first!

We had a scheduled C-Section for Ashlynn on Friday June 13th.  Even though it was scheduled there was still lots of excitement, and yes I was still nervous!  My dad and Lynn, sister and Madalynn all came into town for the big day.  What a huge help it was to have them here too!  I didn't have to worry about Brayden one bit!  He was well taken care of and a very busy busy boy!

We had to check in at 6:15.  Everything really did happen kind of quick. Once we checked in I was changing and getting IV'd, shaved, and signing my life away.  LOVE my doc though and was really not worried one bit!  Once I was prepped for surgery they moved me on in to the OR... got my spinal and cath and we were on our way.  It's amazing how more aware of everything I was this time.  I wasn't exhausted from laboring this time.  I was wide awake through the whole thing.  I felt lots of pressure but no pain.  Once they started, it seemed only minutes before Ashlynn was out.  It was the closing back up that seemed to just last forever!

She was born at 8:12am all 8lbs 8oz and 20 1/4inches of her.  Since she was born by C-Section she had a lot of fluid in her lungs and was having a hard time breathing.  She needed to be put on oxygen asap.  I was really quite oblivious because I was being "put back together".  Gary said it was pretty scary because she just would quit breathing for a few minutes.  So they swooped her away quickly after I got to see her.  I guess babies born vaginally get "squeezed" more and it flushes a lot of that fluid out as they are born.  Anyway we were told she would have to be under oxygen for 4-5 hours.  But maybe an hour later they were wheeling her into my room!  So exciting.  She is just beautiful!!  She looks just like me and looks like Brayden did when he was born!

I'm recovering well, now anyway.  I had a few scary moments after I got home from hospital with my incision opening.  But we are all good now and healing quickly.

I can't believe already she will be 3 weeks old tomorrow.  It really does go by so fast and sometimes I need to remind myself of that, as I have had a few rough days.  Her first week I felt so blessed and thought that I had such a good calm baby.  She is miss fussy buckets when it comes to sleeping (but only during the day) She screams and screams until she wears herself out and then will finally fall asleep.  NO, I don't just let her cry herself to sleep yet.  Still too young I think for that.  Not sure why she fights it and it's different everyday as to how I can get her to finally sleep. Sometimes a car ride, sometimes her swing, sometimes rocking her, sometimes just laying her down and leaving her alone.  She definitely gives me a run for my money.  Guessing game everyday.  I don't get frustrated with her, it just makes me sad for her and makes me second guess what kind of mom I am and if I am really good at this newborn thing or not.  I don't like the not knowing.  Brayden was a really rough newborn too.  Cried and cried and cried... we got past it and I know we will with Ashlynn too.  I still love her to death though and feel so blessed with the children I have.  This love thing for your own children is actually pretty amazing!  It's so instant and so abundant!  I had a friend of mine come over one day before I had Ashlynn and talking about how do you love another child as much as you love your first.  She is a mother of 4 kids.  I just couldn't wrap my mind around the thought of loving another baby as much as I love Brayden already.  She said you just do.  There is no work in it.  It just happens and it's natural.  She was right.  I don't have to work at it.  I just do love her and I love her just as much as I love Brayden.  

Boy did I miss Brayden though, while I was in the hospital.  My emotions (hormones) really got to me.  I remember on my last day in the hospital one of the nurses came in to say goodbye and I was crying because I missed him so much and was ready to be home with him. (Which by the way, my nurses were so awesome!  I would totally go back to Avista any day!!)  I worried and still worry and did cry a few times about making sure Brayden wasn't feeling left out with having his new baby sister home.  I didn't want to lose my connection with him.  We have an amazing mother/son bond and I didn't want that affected in anyway.  Of course there are changes at home and of course my time is now split a little differently.  But I feel like I am managing it pretty good.  He is doing so well with his sister and is so helpful.  He is so loving and always giving her kisses and wanting to hold her.  I never force the issue, I always let him do his thing and in his own time.  I can see them becoming good friends one day!  He will totally protect her I'm sure.

I really do feel blessed.  I know when she is crying so much I sometimes ask God if He is sure He knows I can handle it, and somehow I make it through it and another day comes.  I am grateful everyday for these kids that I have been given the gift of raising here on earth! I feel a tremendous amount of love from my Heavenly Father that He trusted me enough to send these 2 beautiful children for me to watch over them and protect them,  to teach them and to love them.  I know I'm in no way perfect at it.  But I do try really hard to do my best.  

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Baby Shower

This past Saturday we had my baby shower!  So fun!  My mom and sister did an amazing job with decorations and set up!  We had such yummy food too!  I'm so blessed!  Thank you to you everyone who came and celebrated with me and those that sent gifts from afar!  I love you all!!  I'm so excited to dress up another baby!  Lots of cute cute clothes!!

Spring is here!

Easter has come and gone!  The weekend was so busy I didn't take one picture with my camera!  Now I'm regretting it!

Last year we started a new tradition with Gary's family and did a glow in the dark Easter egg hunt.  This year was an even bigger hit.  The kids love it and I think the adults love it even more!  I wish I had pictures to show how cool the set up looks!  We had glow in the dark Easter eggs and glow in the dark balloons and glow sticks tied to everything that didn't fit in eggs.  It was so much fun!  The kids dyed Easter eggs while some of the adults set it all up in the back yard!

Saturday morning was another Easter egg hunt at Gary's moms house that she does annually for all the grand-kids.  Which of course always has my father-n-laws yummy cooking!!

Easter Sunday was nice and relaxing.  We had church in the morning and a delicious Easter dinner at my moms house.  Very low key and soooo good!  It was actually nice to celebrate Easter for what it truly is.  Some times I feel like things just get so commercialized and I know I'm guilty of getting to involved in all the hub bub of it.  I really want my children to understand the true meaning of why we celebrate the holidays we do.  I'm not going to take the magic out of it for them but I will always teach them the true meaning.  I'm okay with them knowing that the Easter bunny is not real.  Brayden said it himself this time too... after having his picture taken with the bunny this year he told me that there was a person inside.  I was totally okay with him knowing that and honestly felt good about it!

My super handsome boys on Easter Sunday

Now spring finally feels like it is here.  We are getting some much needed moisture and trees and flowers are starting to bud and the grass is turning green!  It's beautiful!

We are able to play outside more and not have to be so bundled up!  Last week my mom bought Brayden a new bike and he did so good for his first time out on it!  He loves getting outside and playing.  And now that he has something new and fun to do I'm sure we will be out in the nice weather a lot more!

We have 7 more weeks left until baby Ashlynn is here!  I'm getting pretty anxious but not anxious enough that I want it to happen any sooner!

Catch up again...

Since I use this somewhat as a journal I better be keeping up a whole lot better with this!  Here is my quick rundown of all that has gone on for the past 4 months.

December -
    #1- My sister and I and the kiddos took the train to Chicago to visit the folks!  Brayden and I caught the train here in Denver and met up with my sister in Nebraska and then on our way to Chicago.  Brayden loved the idea of the train ride but after being delayed almost 3 1/2 hours and ended up on the train for 18 hours,  he asked me if we could fly home.  And I will just say this... there are very interesting people on the train!  We did have fun though and I'm glad we got to experience it!  We had lots of fun in Chicago and got to celebrate our dads birthday while we were there!  The family got to meet Madalynn for the first time too!
   #2 - Dad, Lynn, Ang, Rick and the baby all came out to Denver for Christmas so we could celebrate Madalynn's first Christmas together!  So much fun having lots of family here!
   #3 - My Brayden turned 4 years old!!!  He is just becoming such a big boy!  He amazes me every day with the things he says and does!

January -
     We found out Brayden is having a baby SISTER!  This is exactly what he wanted.  He was so excited!  Gary and I are very excited also to be adding a baby girl to our family!  We have chosen the name Ashlynn Margaret.

February -
     #1 - Gary and I celebrated our 5 year Anniversary!  (WOW!) We spent a weekend up in Estes Park at a beautiful condo on the river.  It was a very relaxing and much needed get away!
     #2 - My best friend moved away to Texas!  SAD DAY!!!!!  But we have still managed to talk nearly every day still!

March -
     Brayden started back up in swim lessons.  He did 3 sessions and the teacher told him he could move up in the classes.  So he is now in the Jellyfish class.  He loves it.  A little nervous at first. But now he is a pro at being able to go under water and jumping in with no fear.  Gearing up for some summer fun in the pool!

These past few months just feel like they have zoomed by!  We have been organizing our little home to fit in our new little one!  She will be in our room at first and then sharing a room with Brayden for a bit.  We are hoping within the next 2 years we will be able to buy our first home!  That is our goal anyway!

I am feeling pretty good.  Ashlynn is doing well so far.  (Doc thinks it's another big baby!)  We are so looking forward to meeting her!

Fall, Halloween, Catch up...

Winter has certainly arrived here along with the holiday season!  I love this time of year so much!  I don't like the freezing weather but I do love the snow and I love what it brings with it.  Hot chocolate, family time, holidays, parades, lights, music.  So much going on, it's a busy time of year and I absolutely love it!

We had a great Halloween this year too!  It feels like this was the first one Brayden really got into.  He chose to be Jake from Neverland Pirates.  We shopped around for costumes but for the price of them all they looked awful so I decided we would just make his costume this year.  My hubby actually did the sewing and putting together of the costume.  It turned out amazing!  LOVED IT actually!  So did Brayden!  We went to trunk or treat at church on the Saturday before Halloween.  He had so much fun playing all the carnival games and trick or treating afterwards.  On Halloween we met up with his cousins and they took off in the neighborhood for a freezing fun night of trick or treating.  Brayden lasted a lot longer than I even wanted him to!  LOL... I thought we would only go out for about 30 mins or so.. but 2 and half hours later we finished up.  He had so much fun and got lots and lots of candy!  Braydens baby cousin Madalynn even got to be here for Halloween so we got a few pics with her before we went out.

Brayden is still loving preschool!  His teacher loves him and tells me that he is her buddy and is just a sweet sweet little boy.  I think he would rather hang out with adults sometimes and is still a little shy with the other kids.  He always comes home with cute crafts though.

Pregnancy is good so far!  I still can't believe that Brayden is going to be a big brother!  He has no doubt in his mind that he is having a baby sister.  UH... hope he isn't to disappointed if it goes the other way!  We had our first doc appointment last Monday.  Everything is good so far.  I am now 10 weeks and definitely feeling the effects.  No vomiting, but had lots of nauseousness.

We are just gearing up for the holidays.  My sister is coming out for Thanksgiving, a week later her and I and the kids are taking a train out to Chicago to see our folks there and then a week later from returning they are coming here for Christmas.  Will be a very fun month!!!

Hope you all have a very fun, loving, family filled holiday season!!! 

The day has come...

Well I always told myself I wouldn't be like all those other moms who cried on the first day of their children starting school.  BIG FAT LIE!  I totally cried, and this was just preschool!!!  My handsome, smart little boy started preschool today!  He was totally excited as we were getting ready this morning.  Easy peasy getting him ready to go.  Of course once we got there and his teachers were asking him what his name was he froze up and hid behind me.  That lasted all of 2 minutes once he began looking around the room and seeing all the fun things they had.  He was off playing and I left the room.  As I walked out to the car I totally felt the tears headin right down on my cheeks.  SERIOUSLY??  I'm crying?  Oh GEEZ!  But I'm so proud of my little man.  He is so adaptable to so many different situations.  He had so much fun today.  They did some painting, and had a parade, and he said he even held one little girls hand and he thinks she is his friend.  Ha Ha.  He is very excited to go back on Thursday!

Couple of pictures from this morning...

He wanted a picture with his bear before we left! Silly kid!

Pictures from Hospital

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One of the most beautiful moments in life...

As most of you know (if any one is even reading this).  My sister finally, FINALLY had her baby!!!  Madalynn Nicole Mott, born 9/1/13 at 7:08pm .  She was 6 lbs & 13oz and 19.5 inches long.  She has a full head of hair and she is absolutely beautiful!  I LOVE HER!  I didn't know I could love another baby like I do her.  I would do anything for her like I would my own child.  She is amazing and special and so damn lovable!

This whole experience has been amazing.  Honestly we or I didn't know if my sister would ever  be able to have children.  So this little girl was quite the miracle baby!  I will always remember talks with my sister of our dreams of having children and them growing up together and how close they will be because she and I are so close.  We have longed for this day!  We have waited for this day!  This day is finally here!

I drove out to Nebraska on Friday before labor day because the doc finally told her they would induce her that following Tuesday if she doesn't go into labor over the weekend.  Well she did.  She started having contractions late Saturday night, early Sunday morning.  We took off for the hospital about 4:30am.  Her contractions started slowing down at one point and the doctor asked if she wanted to go ahead and induce.  (UH, YA!)  

At first it seemed like things were progressing so slowly.  Brayden and I slept in the family waiting for another 3 or 4 hours I think. Then we got up and were able to go check on my sister.

This was such an amazing experience to me.  Watching my own sister go through this whole birthing process.  I learned more about my sister in one day it seemed than I have my whole life.  First of all my sister is beautiful and kind and I knew she would be this amazing mother.  But what I didn't know was how strong she was and is.  The first STRONG contraction she had and started to cry, I started crying right with her.  I was hurting for her.  I didn't feel like it was fair that she was going through so much pain.  Every contraction she had and I could see she was in pain the harder it was for me to hold back the tears.  But she dealt with it.  She would get through one contraction and catch her breath and gear up for the next one. (This is all with no pain meds mind you!)  Finally at about 5 centimeters they offered the epidural.  Hallelujah! (I WANTED ONE TOO!)  She was now being heard through the halls and it was awful!  I wanted the pain to just stop for her.  By the time they had given her the epidural she was already 8 centimeters.  What she or anybody else for that matter didn't know, it was now to late and she was about to feel EVERYTHING anyway!

My sister was AMAZING!!!  She pushed and pushed and pushed and suffered and suffered and suffered in so much pain.  BUT she kept on going and at the point of thinking she could not do this anymore, she would say okay, here comes another one and she would push some more!  I don't know how to describe this well, but it was truly amazing to see her strength in those moments of total fear.  Like you feel like you are dying and not sure if you are going to even make it to see your baby.  And yet you will do everything in your power to push this beautiful baby out into the world.  My sister did such a good job and she tried with all her might!  The baby started to have a little distress so the doctor thought it would be best for a C-Section.

(by the way daddy was quite supportive through all of this!

I will never forget this day, and all the emotions and the pain I could only imagine (wait, I don't have to imagine, I know because my epidural wore off and I felt EVERYTHING!) that my sister felt!  She is stronger then I ever knew her to be and I totally admire her for that!

Now baby Maddy is here and it is such an awesome experience to see mommy and daddy being, mommy and daddy.  They are both doing so great at this.  They are both so exhausted and again, emotions are flyin high with all that is new here.  But it is a beautiful family and Madalynn is so lucky to have the mommy & daddy that she has!  UH, and lucky to have me for her Aunt!  And yes I am a ZIA now too!  YAY!!!

(Pictures coming soon!)

Camping Trip and Park

We took Brayden back up to our spot we went camping at last time.  He is such a good camper and loves the outdoors and nature!  Gary took the day off on Friday and we headed up early.  Although the campground was almost empty, I think most people are done for the year since school is starting.  It was beautiful weather the whole time.  We just hung around camp and did some hiking and fishing.  The first few days were a bit rough with Brayden and his potty training.  He has been in big boy underwear for a few weeks with little to no accidents.  We got up there and I felt like we were starting all over.  I think it was just all to new and he didn't like not having a toilet with running water. LOL... by  the last day he was good to go!  Oh well.  On Saturday Gary's folks and sister came up for dinner and we went on a little hike with them also.  On our hike we ran into 2 HUGE bull moose.  It was pretty amazing and almost frightening at the same time. We were pretty much right up on them.  AmAzing!

We had a great time and headed home Sunday.  Gary took a detour on the way home and we got to see some beautiful sides of the mountains that we have never seen before.  We found a new campground that we may go try out next time!  Another successful weekend in the mountains!

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On Monday night we enjoyed an evening at the park!

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My 3 1/2 year old!!!

Each day I am in such amazement of Brayden.  He is growing and learning so so much!  We have had such a busy fun summer!  And he is seriously one of the funniest kids I know!  He has quite the personality!  He makes funny faces to make you laugh and loves to joke around with you!  He is also very very stubborn, and is always wanting to be first in everything he does. (I mean like even walking down our stairs to go somewhere or walking into the kitchen to get his milk.) He always has to be in front of you.  Never behind.  He yells out, "I want to be the leader!!!" (Sometimes it gets a little annoying LOL)

His favorites:

DINO Dan - I really want to shoot myself in the foot every time I have to watch this, but hey it makes him happy!

Mike the Knight

Jake and the Neverland Pirates - This is what he wants to be for Halloween, guess I better get this costume figured out!

Cars

Trains

Horses

Dinosaurs - He knows pretty much every single dino's name, it amazes me that he can pronounce half of them!

Swimming

He is now about 41.5 inches tall and weighs just the same!  Crazy!  

OH AND FINALLY, FINALLY... he is potty training.  We have had a very hard and trying time with this.  But we now have him in big boy underwear and I would say we are 90% of the way there.  He still will have a few days where he will have accidents.  But we are completely out of diapers!  YAY!!!

This fall he will be going to preschool (yes I said it!)  Just a couple days a week for only couple hours at the rec center!  I think it will be good for him to make some friends!  He is so excited!  

We have taken it pretty easy these last few weeks after all the fam went home and now the baby shower fun is over.  We are now anxiously awaiting the phone call letting us know the baby is coming!

In the past few weeks we did the Museum and went to the Adams County Fair!  Brayden as usual, had a great time!

My first Moose in Colorado!

Last weekend Gary and I went on a camping trip while Brayden stayed home with Grammy and camped out in the backyard.

I had seen pictures, of a friend of mine on Facebook, of her camping trip and the area looked absolutely beautiful.   I told Gary about it and we were totally up for the adventure.  All we knew from what she told me was she camped on the west side of Chambers Lake.  No campground.  So we took off Friday morning looking for our spot to camp.  Unfortunately you can't have open fires so we packed no firewood! :(  It took us about 3 hours.  We first drove past Chambers lake a ways looking for a road that would even take us on the west side of Chambers Lake.  Couldn't find and just kept driving ...

On the drive a deer ran across the road in front of the car in front of us.  So of course we all stopped to watch the deer.  He was gone up the hill.  My husband in the meantime was looking out over the meadow on the opposite side and spotted a big Moose.  I was so EXCITED!  Everyone keeps telling me how many moose they see here in Colorado.  And in my whole life of living here I have never seen them.  I love this animal and just think they are so fascinating so I was pretty happy that we got to see one.  Not just one there were 2 standing together!  Pretty cool!

After watching them for awhile we took off back toward Chambers Lake looking for a camp spot.  The lake campground was completely booked so we drove down the road that goes north of chambers and ran into this beautiful little campground that is pretty tucked away.  It is first come first serve and we got there early enough that we were able to get a great spot!  There was a river and pretty little hiking trail that runs right through the campground.

Our first night we just set up camp and walked around the river and the trail a bit.  OH and since we were in a campground we could have fires!  YAY!!  SMORE'S!! (I won't be able to have these for awhile so I was pretty happy!)  Saturday we wanted to go fishing but because we had driven so far the day before we needed to get gas.  According to our GPS it was only 17 miles to the closest station.  We started that way and kept going and going and going.  We ended up on this dirt road and the GPS kept reconverting to an even further point.  The drive was absolutely beautiful!  We ended up in Walden.  Ya I have never heard of it either.  Filled up on gas and took the highway back that we should have taken.  On our way back we stopped at the Moose Visitor Center.  They have a big board in there that all the rangers write on saying the last place they saw moose and what time.  Kind of cool I thought.  Although you don't really need to look at it. We learned that the area we were in is known as Moose capital of Colorado.  On our way to the lake to fish we saw a bunch of cars stopping.  MOOSE, AGAIN!  There were 3 this time.  They were in this area that had a bunch of hiking trails.  All 3 were down in this meadow below the trails.  So Gary and I thought we would go up behind them on the trails so I could get some pictures.  We walked back in but couldn't get any good shots and didn't see any of them.  On our way back though at one point I looked to my left and not maybe 30 feet away is one of the moose.  I got a few shots and he looked up but then started charging at us!  AHHHH!  Gary took off on the trail back and I just ran for the closest trees behind me.  He went right past me and of course I'm trying to snap shots as he is doing so!  I felt safe where I was at.  The shots were a bit blurry due to my shaking hands, and I couldn't stop laughing(that's what I do when I'm nervous), and trying to hold my bladder!  I seriously almost pee'd my pants!  LOVED IT!  I would do this all over again!

Needless to say we didn't get much fishing in.  We stopped at a little lake and there were way to many flies for me so I wanted to just pack it up and go back to camp!  We enjoyed a nice steak dinner back at camp and then went on a little hike.  After the hike it started sprinkling a little bit.  So we put up a tarp between the trees and took cover next to the fire!  It was nice and warm and cozy!

Sunday - RAIN.  We woke up to it, we had to pack up in it, and we had to drive home in it.  BUT, I didn't care.  We just had such a nice weekend and it was so pretty up there.  The only thing  missing was Brayden.  So we are going back to the same place in a couple weekends and bringing our boy with us this time!!  I hope we have the same luck with seeing all the moose!

Sisters Baby Shower

Last Saturday we finally celebrated my sisters baby shower!  I have been looking forward to it since my sister first told us she was pregnant!  My mom and I had a so much fun planning it!  We had lots of help getting it together and making the final day so beautiful!  Thank you to everyone who helped set up, clean up, and take home!  It was so much fun and SO HOT!  We had turned on the swamp cooler to the clubhouse but "someone"(my mom) forgot to turn on the air conditioner too!  We were all melting, but still had a great time!  I am so so excited for my sister and Rick.  This is something my sister has wanted since before I can even remember.  This is a dream come true for her.  I'm just so happy for her and for our family too!  We get to have another baby in our fam!  Yay!!  She has picked out a beautiful name, Madalynn Nicole Mott.  And I just love her so much already!

Here are the pics from the shower and some maternity pics I took of her also!

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