Life in Mesa

We have been living in Mesa for over three months now and life is great...

Oakley started preschool. She absolutely loves it and is doing very well. I am amazed with how much she has already learned. She knows her months and season and the days of the week. She can count to twenty by her self and pretty much to thirty but she gets nervous and thinks she can't do it. She recognizes all of her letters and knows their sounds. She is starting to spell short words like Mom and Dad and can spell her name (when she feels confident). I know I say this a lot and if you know Oakley, then you completely agree... that I am already raising a teenager. She talks and acts like a 13 year old. She thinks she knows EVERYTHING... and will argue just to argue. She often forgets that I gave birth to her so that makes me the Mom, and not her... You laugh but I am serious! She tries to boss me around. For a while I have been feeling like a bad mom because she can be quite the... well, snot. It doesn't matter how strict I am with her or how i discipline her, she is smart and has a mind of her own, she knows what she wants and does everything she can to get it... she is ONE of a KIND. So I have decided to use her powers for good, and have been giving her responsibility. I have her help me with meals, setting the table, changing diapers, getting the boys dressed, cleaning the house... pretty much everything I do, she helps with. AND IT WORKS! She she has been so much sweeter and we get along so much better. A lot of people have said to me, "the smart ones are harder to raise" and I am finding it to be true. I sure so do love her though.

Easton is probably the sweetest little boy I have ever come across. He really just melts our hearts. Easton is talking so good... I dare say he talks better than Oakley did at this age. He isn't even two yet and talks in clear complete sentences. And he says the sweetest things. ALl through out the day I get a big hug and kiss and "I LOVE YOU MOM" from him. Every morning when Oakley and Easton wake up, I hear this conversation; "Hi Oakley" "Hi Easton" "How are you?" "GOOD! How are you?" They are best friends and I LOVE IT!!!! I could listen to them talk to each other all day. Easton also has learned his colors and his favorite color is blue. Every time he sees something blue he says "my blue one." He also HAS to have the blue plate or bowl and cup at meal time. He is learning to count. He has ONE TWO THREE down very well. probably because I give a ONE TWO THREE warning... ALL the time. But I have heard him count to ten a few times. Easton is definitely going through the terrible twos and can throw quite the tantrum. He also has melt down hour pretty much every night before and after dinner (when he is hungry and tired). Overall, he is a great kid and such a joy in our lives. I LOVE MY EASTON MAN!

Eric, Porter and I went to the UTAH ASU game here in AZ. It was SOOOOOO hot and crowded and Utah got their butts kicked... oh well.. it was fun to be at a game.

Porter is 4 months old already!! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Porter is such a sweet blessing in our lives and we are so in love with him. He is caught up developmentally to his age and is doing very well. He is still a tiny little guy but is rolling over, giggling, playing with toys, loves to stand on his feet, and will be sitting up on his own real soon. His big brother and sister just love him so much and he loves them. When ever he hears one of their voices he immediately starts smiling and looking for them. I love to watch the three of them interact and love each other.

Easton climbs, jumps, falls, run and crashes in to, throws... EVERYTHING! His face and body are covered in scratches and bruises. I am really surprised we haven't been to the ER yet. HE IS VERY MUCH BOY... and you can see he likes to do the dishes.

WE LOVE TO BOWL and bowling is SO much cheaper here than it was in Cedar

Eric and I have been working really hard to lose weight and be healthy. We started running and love it. We both ran a 5k in October and did real well. Eric is signed up for another 5k on Thanksgiving day and I am signed up for a 10k... but I have stress fracture and don't know if I will be able to run it. I am going to do everything in my power to be ready for it though.

Eric's parents came to visit and while Eric was at school and his Dad, Mitch was in meetings, Eric's Mom, Sherilee, and I took the kids to the Phoenix Children's museum, which is like KID LAND! It was so awesome and the kids LOVED it.

Halloween was a lot of fun this year with having two kids that LOVE to dress up, LOVE candy, and LOVE to run around begging for candy. We also went to the pumpkin patch while Uncle Sam and Aunt Heather were in Mesa visiting us. Pictures from that are on the camera which I haven't downloaded to the computer yet. But, it was so much fun having them with us and the pumpkin patch in Mesa is really awesome and fun. An

Well that is all for now. As you can see, we are having so much fun in Arizona and everything is going very well for us. Oh! Eric got put in as an 11 year old scout leader and primary teacher. He is so excited for this calling and I know he will do great. School is going well for him and he is almost done with his first semester. I am so proud of him and how hard he works.

Catching up on Pictures from the last 6 months and update on the kids

Oakley Sage- Turned three On July 30, and like I always say, she never seizes to amaze me. She is smart and with that, comes lots of trouble, attitude,drama, and of course; cuteness. Some of her favorite things to do are; swim, color, "school", play at the park, play with her babies, help Mommy in the kitchen, hold Porter, play with Easton, and give Mommy as much sas as possible. She is a very good negotiator already and doesn't give in easy when she wants something she can't have. Oakley weighs about 25 pounds right now and I'm assuming is still pretty small on the chart. We will do her Well child visit soon. Oakley is such a sweet little girl and we love her so much! I really mean it when I say, I don't know what I would do with out her. Easton Mitchell- Is 20 1/2 months and is very very busy so he keeps us busy. He is also very very smart. He is talking like CRAZY! He is speaking in sentences more and more and can say pretty much everything clearly. He has been walking up and down the stairs with out holding on to anything for quite a few months, and now likes to jump off of them. He can put some of his clothes and shoes on by him self (depending on what it is, and rarely the right way, but he tires), he loves to sing twinkle twinkle, ABCs, I am a Child Of GOd, and tries to count to ten. Easton is taking after Oakley in the attitude department. He is feisty and stubborn and is very much in the "terrible twos" stage but he is stinkin cute as well. Easton weighs 21 pounds and is doing awesome! We are so blessed to have him in our family, and love him very much. Porter Thomas- is seven weeks old and is so freaking cute! I absolutely love the newborn stage and with him being so small it lasts longer for me :). I can't believe he is almost two months old though. I feel so sad thinking about him growing up. I want him to be a baby for a long long time. Porter has been such a blessing in our lives. He is such a sweet baby and Oakley and Easton ADORE him... we all do! He is starting to fill out and get some rolls. His New born clothes actually fit perfect right now... which again makes me sad since it means he wont fit in them much longer. Porter weighs about 7.5 pounds now and I'm guessing is somewhere around 20-21 inches. OHHH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! I really can't explain the love I feel for my babies. After Oakley was born I remember feeling so overwhelmed (in a good way) with the love I felt for her and I couldn't imagine being able to love more than that. Each child doubles that overwhelming love feeling and now I have never felt so close to heaven. To me, there is NOTHING better than being a mom. I am not perfect at it, I make A LOT of mistakes, I get grumpy, I get impatient, sometimes I feel like I am going to lose my mind, and sometimes I do lose my mind. BUT I try to be perfect at it, I try to fix my mistakes and do better next time, I enjoy my kids and smile more than not, I pray for patients every day, and after I take a time out or twenty, we are all okay. Motherhood is hard, I knew it wasn't going to be easy... especially having three in less than three years. I am probably one of the busiest women I know, and I hardly leave my house... BUT I LOVE IT! I WANTED THIS! and I would NEVER trade it or have it any other way. To me, my life is great and I love it. Mesa- We have been here almost a month and we are loving it!! I unloaded the last box less than a week after we moved in which was awesome, and we are settling in great. We have made some friends and are loving our ward. Eric loves school, and is doing really good. He is doing what he loves again, and is really happy. I am so excited about this step in our lives. I am so proud of Eric and am excited for his career to start. Our family really hasn't been happier.

Hogel zoo and 6.5 months pregnant

Easter in Idaho

fell asleep on the lake

Porter is coming

the latest of the cute boy

A lot of excitement in just two days!

After four months of waiting and stressing about getting in to grad school, finally, on June 21 we got the news of being accepted to A.T Still University in Mesa Arizona!! I am so proud of Eric and excited for this chapter in our lives. Though this is very exciting news and we couldn't be more ready and happy about this, life became very stressful when we found out they need him there a month earlier than we were thinking and planning to move. A lot of plans are now being changed and we are trying to figure out how we are going to get everything ready and done before moving day.We have quite the to do list: Eric is not able to work for the two years of being in the program so we have to start applying for financial aid and figure out how we are going to survive the next two years...gotta love big fat harry student loans. We also have to apartment hunt from Cedar and get a deposit sent in real soon so we are not homeless. The last and major thing on our list was to have our baby who was due July 22 the day before Eric starts school. We were worried about the possibility of him not coming before we had to leave and Eric going with out me and missing his birth. We were also worried about him coming days before the move and the baby and I not being ready for that kind of stress. I also wanted to bless the baby in Cedar before we left. Well, I guess all of this must have gotten to me, and Heavenly Father wanted to help out a little bit because at 1 am on July 23 I was woken up by painful contractions. First I didn't think much of it and tried to go back to sleep but they were very regular and uncomfortable so I gave up on sleeping and decided to get up. I wasn't convinced that this was the real thing yet but wasn't sure so I paced around the house for a little bit until they started to get worse. At that point it was almost 3am so I woke up Eric and we started packing for the hospital. We usually wake up at 3:30 every morning to do our paper route so we loaded the car and went a head and started on papers. Not even half way into the route I decided we should probably go get checked out in Cedar and find out how things were progressing, and if I was going to have enough time to get to St. George where I deliver. I was dilated to a 2 plus - 3 and 80% effaced and they told me if I wanted to deliver in St. George than we needed to leave right then. I was planning to go VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) and they needed to be monitoring me all through out my labor to make sure my uterus wasn't going to rupture. We found someone to finish the papers and we headed to St. George. When we got to St. George I was a good three and 100% effaced. Being only 35 wks and 6 days pregnant they didn't want to break my water and let things progress if they didn't have to. They let me labor for another hour to see if my labor would continue or stall out before they would admit me. The next time they checked me I was almost a five and it was official that he would be born that morning. I hadn't received the strep B test yet in this pregnancy but I tested positive for it in my previous two pregnancies so they immediately started me on the antibiotics. You are supposed to receive two doses before you deliver and it takes around four hours for it to drip in through the IV. When they last checked me the baby's head was not yet lodged in to my pelvis so they couldn't yet break my water. With that, they were able to pour in the first dose in pretty quick. We wanted to at least get the first dose which would take the risk of the virus affecting the baby down quite a bit. They checked me again, I was almost a seven, baby's head well engaged, and they were surprised my water hadn't already broken on its own its own. After they broke my water I had about three really bad close contractions and felt like I needed to push, they checked me again I was very close to complete, but I was having bad back labor from the baby being posterior. They had me labor and breathe through the contractions on my side constantly telling me not to push so he could turn. A couple terrible contractions later they told me he was turned and I could start pushing. I pushed once and he was here, 10:04 am!! PORTER THOMAS 6-23-2012 5 lbs 8 oz 18 inches long! ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL... AND BLONDE! *fun thing- All three kids have a 3 in there bday- 7-30-09, 12-03-2010, 6-23-2012* This labor was very different than my other two. I was expecting to be in labor, have them break my water and have him within the hour. Though it was still rather quick, through the labor I felt bored and anxious. My contractions weren't all that terrible and I had a nice break between each one. I was thinking this is so pointless, I'm never going to progress, lets just get this going! I was very surprised that I progressed that well and quick with my water still intact. They checked me ever 40 to 60 minutes and each time there was pretty big progress. Now that I look back I feel so lucky that I had less than an hour of the really bad labor. I walked away with my second success of a med free birth, a successful VBAC, and not one tear or stitch. I honestly have never felt so good after having a baby. I have close to no pain and am up and about taking care of my three beautiful kids, just like every other day. I am BLESSED! There is nothing better than bringing a new baby into the world and into the family. Oakley and Easton are absolutely in LOVE! They both love to hold him and kiss him, they talk to him and are very concerned when he cries. I truly believe that my life is perfect, and I have never felt so blessed. I wouldn't trade it for anything. There is NOTHING more amazing, heavenly, and beautiful than being a Mother!

Another Long Blog

Life has been crazy these last few months and it feels a little bit as if we have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Everyone is doing well though and its good to be busy so we really can't complain.
Eric has turned in some grad school applications and we are anxiously waiting to hear back from those. We are praying hard for a school in Mesa Arizona to work out. I love the idea of only being a drive away from family instead of a plane ride. Also I would gladly give up snow and cold winters for a couple years even if the alternative is extreme heat. Anyways he turned in his applications a little bit late so Ive been trying to prepare myself for the realization that we may not get to leave this fall for grad school, which isn't going over well in my head so Ive been praying very hard... please join in!!

Kids are doing great and growing up way too fast. We just put Oakley in a tumbling class which she absolutely LOVES! I remember doing tumbling when I was little and always wished I could have stayed in it. Eric and I can see her excelling in this to the point of high school and college if she continues to really like it. May sound dumb that we think about that now when she is only two and has just started the class but I have always thought this for her. She has the short petite body and has been "tumbling" around the house since she was a baby. She is full of energy and can just go go go. Just like all toddlers I guess you could say... but really, when we go on walks and let her walk... well run; she seriously will run the entire 3 or whatever miles of the walk. The girl is NUTS!
Oakley still continues to amaze us, keep us laughing,and also make us want to pull our hair out once in a while. Her spunky personality only continues to get spunkier, her attitude more dramatic, and her emotions well... Eric calls her hormonal.
She has officially reached the girly girly I'm a princess, I have to wear a princess dress every day, I love barbies and pink and jewelry and makeup and anything GIRL stage! She is really funny. Everything is "so beautiful," and she compliments everyone. "Grandma you look so cute," "Mommy, that is a beautiful necklace, I want to wear a beautiful necklace too," "Daddy (or Easton), you look so handsome," "look at my beautiful dress, or shirt, or pink bowl, or shoes, or panties, or doll, or socks.." you get the point :)
She has become very imaginative as well. She talks to her dolls like they are friends playing house. She pretends to go to store or school, makes dinner for us, and cleans the house. It is really fun to watch her learn and grown in these ways.

I don't know about other peoples kids or if it seemed like this to anyone else. But I swear as soon as a baby turns one they turn into a toddler. Every month they grow up and change so much, it really is crazy to me. Easton is 15 months old now and these last three months my baby has disappeared and I now have another crazy toddler running around. He is so cute and funny to me and its fun to watch his personality develop. He is talking so much! At least it seems that way. He is picking up and saying words all day long. He has gotten really good at communicating with us through signing and speech, and for the most part we know what he wants. His words are starting to connect and turn in to small two to three word sentences. He is smart and crazy just like his sister. He is running, climbing, making messes, and keeping us on our toes. Easton's new favorite hobby is to make Oakley as mad as possible. He will take her favorite doll or whatever she is playing with at the moment and run away as fast as he can laughing while she chases him screaming at the top of her lungs. He thinks it is so funny and she does not!
Oh these kids keep us very busy but we wouldn't change a thing. We love them so much and feel so blessed to be their parents.

We really can't get enough of our kids and I guess that is why we decided it was time to add another one to the craziness. We found out in November 2011 that we are expecting again in July. We are all ecstatic!! This was our first actually planned pregnancy. I know crazy right... considering Easton won't quite be two yet, and Oakley will be turning three that same month. Originally we were going to try for a September baby, well then it hit us that we usually have our babies close to a month early and that would be August which is when we are hoping to move for grad school. I honestly didn't want to pack up a house and move across the states either 8 months pregnant or find a new OB a week before we have the baby, or anything else that could possibly happen. So our options were either to wait another couple months, which I didn't want another middle of winter baby, or to wait longer than that, or to get pregnant that very month or the next. 3.5 weeks later we found out we were expecting. We may be crazy, and things will be even busier than they are now but I am honestly ok with that. Easton and his little BROTHER will be about 20 months apart, depending on when our little boy decides to come.
This pregnancy has been my hardest, most eventful, scary, and stressful. Ive had quite a bit of bleeding and at our first doc appointment at 8 weeks the doctor told me I had a higher chance of having a miscarriage. The next 4 weeks dragged on and on until we went back and got to hear his heart beat once again. That appointment was very relieving but the doc still acted a little bit unsure about things. 4 weeks later we went back and did an ultra sound because I had more bleeding and was really sick having kidney problems. The baby looked great and we got to find out he was a boy. 2 weeks later I started to have major pain and cramping in my uterus with painful contractions that would last 5 to 10 minutes long. My bleeding really picked up so we knew that we needed to get in. They sent us right over to the ER in Cedar (I see an OB specialist in St. George for my pregnancies), where they did blood work and an ultra sound. They told us that I had a partial placental abruption and I needed to be on strict bed rest. A week later I went back to the ER having preterm labor, they got the contractions to stop and sent me back home still on bed rest. Another week passed and I went back to my doc in St. George where we did another ultra sound and saw that my placenta was looking better and he let me off strict bed rest with strict instructions to be careful and that I still needed to take it easy. So here I am now going into my sixth month, and I finally can breathe a little bit feeling like things will be ok and this baby will make it. We waited to announce this pregnancy and were planning to wait a little bit longer until I was put on bed rest and it all spilled out. I am so thankful for all the love, help, and support we have received from family, friends and ward members. This would have been nearly impossible for me to handle if I didn't have such an amazing support system. My mom came down for a week so the kids could be home with me and she could do all the work while I stayed down. That was such a huge blessing to me and meant more to me than anything!!! I hated having to let my kids go every day and feeling like I couldn't even be their Mom. Though I was very thankful for my amazing sister in law Diane for keeping them happy, safe, fed, and loved for me while Eric was at work.

Though pregnancy can be rough and scary at times, I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to take part in God's greatest miracle. I am so thankful that Eric and i are able to bring children into the world and we cannot be happier to be having another baby at this time. We love having our kids close together and honestly wouldn't have it any other way. We want this, we know what we have gotten our selves into, and we are very excited for the adventure of having three.

Update

Well I just finished my last semester for my associates degree! I feel a little bit lame that most of my friends my age are finished or finishing with their bachelors and it took me 3.5 years to get my associates haha...but most of my friends don't have a husband and two kids at home so I guess I can just feel happy and accomplished that I have completed this amount of college and was able to start, have, and enjoy my family in the mean time. I can't believe how crazy life has been while I tried to get through school though; Between a wedding, hospitalizations, baby, surgeries, sickness, another baby, more hospital,another surgery, sick kids and everything else I wonder a little bit how I even got through this much school. Oh well I don't regret ANY of it and am so blessed and thankful to be done and for all the support my sweet husband, family, and friends gave to me. I am done with school for now... MAYBE, one day I will go back and get a bachelors, but for me, I am good with an AS. I don't plan on working out side the home, unless some crazy thing happens and its an absolute necessity. I really just want to be home with my babies and be a mommy. At home is where I feel the most accomplished and happy, and for me, that's all I want and need.
I do have a dream to become a Douala which is a labor coach for women who do not want to have a medicated labor and delivery. I don't need a degree for this, I will just take a class and test to certify and do it more as a hobby and make a little bit of money on the side. Some day!

Eric will take the GRE this month and then we start applying for grad school. This is a very scary stressful time for us, but we are also very excited to move on.

Oakley is almost 2 and a half! WOW she is quite the little girl! She has an attitude of a 13 year old and has gotten really good at testing my patience. I have to be careful on what i say to her, because I usually get it right back or Easton gets the same lecture from her later.
Ex-
"Oakley, please don't talk to Mommy like that."
later on Easton squealed at her and told her no over something and she said (in a not as nice voice as I used with her..)
"EASTON! DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!"
Another time came up to me tattle telling on Easton, "Mommy, Easton's not being nice!" I asked, "Oh yeah, why isn't he being nice?"
She said... "He is being a big turd!!"
haha I died laughing and then realized I should probably not call my kids turds so much.
Eric and I constantly remind each other to stay patient, and try to remember how cute she is when one of us is about to pull our hair out and put her up for sale.
We really do love her so much and there are more cute, sweet, and funny moments than naughty moments and we are very thankful for that because that is what keeps us all alive. Oakley is so much fun, I love being able to have a conversation with her and that she actually understands and cares about the things I tell her. I love that she enjoys a lot of the same things I do. She is so girly and it really just melts my heart.

Easton turned 1!!!!! HOLY COW! His first year flew by way faster than Oakley's its not even fair. Easton has been such a blessing to our family. I love him so much he is just the sweetest little thing ever.... LIKE really he is! He is such a cuddle bug and is so sweet and lovey to everyone. He has these bright big beautiful blue eyes with long flirty lashes and he can't smile at you with out your heart melting. He is so talkative these days... takes after sissy. He says quite a few little words... mostly the not so nice ones like no, don't, and stop it.. hmm wonder where he hears that from constantly, all day long... No not me! his bossy big sister!
He is learning to stick up for him self though, and they are actually starting to have little battles where I have to intervene and make them apologize and give loves... really thought I had another year before I had to start dealing with that, but apparently not with my kiddos. Easton is so funny when it comes to walking. At nine months old he was RUNNING around the furniture and standing on his own... I was like wow he is going to walk before Oakley did (10 months). NOOOOPPPE!! He is so stubborn! At ten months he started taking steps... but still not "Walking". At eleven months he was thinking it might be kind of cool to walk and would walk more with out us coaxing him. Right before his birthday he started walking ALL over our living room!! We were like YAYYYYY hes walking! yeah... well the living room is the only place he really feels comfortable enough to walk, and he still only does it if he feels like it. WOW this kid really does do things on his own time and always seems to do them a little bit differently than "normal". I should have believed the doctor... When Easton decided to go breech at 36.5 weeks when he was previously head down, and then refused to turn for us. The doctor said... "Good luck with this one... He likes to do thing his own way, He flipped himself into a breech position on his own!" haha and its true, but we love him for that and are very thankful that he is so strong willed.

Well that is about it for us. We are going to be spending the rest of the month getting ready for and celebrating Christmas together here in Cedar City. I love this time of year and couldn't be happier with our life right now!

A few hard things and A LOT of good...

Sometimes life is so hard. Sometimes trials come into our lives and I can't help but feel like we are the most picked on people in this world. I'm sure everyone has felt that way at some point. It really is hard to see the good in a trial when it first pops up.(I am actually not going to complain this whole post). BUT from my experience, and me feeling like I have overcome a decent amount so far in my life, I know that if we have faith and trust in the Lord, then everything really does always work out and that the outcomes are usually greater than the trial ever was.
This post I am going to get kind of deep in to our personal life and I hope that those who read this understand that the blog is my journal about our children and our life and I post it because I have confidence in those who read it that they love our family and are interested in our lives and that they will not judge us but only feel for us.I have been really feeling lately that I need to write down things that have happened in our lives these last few years and share them. I feel like we have a good story and it might bless someone else.
Keep in mind we have only been married three years..
Financially we have gone from being upside down on three vehicles, having no health insurance and owing at least $30,000 in medical bills. We went from having 4 jobs all together to one, and at one point not having a job at all. No we don't have any dumb debt that we could have all and all avoided like a house or a car we really couldn't pay off in two years or any toys we didn't need. But we had debt and a lot of it, because life happens.
Eric graduated in may 2010 and ended up taking a year off before graduate school because we could not afford to take the GRE or apply for schools.
Spiritually our faith has been tested. Eric has not been able to take the sacrament or go to the temple for over a year and a half now. I have been holding our family together making sure that all four of us attended church every week,I have been fulfilling my callings the best I could, and that our tithing was being paid along with everything else I needed to do to get Eric back where he wants to be and our family strong.
Health wise I have been in the hospital/Er too many times to count.
Easton has been sick most of his life and he is almost a year old.
I have only listed a few things but these are the things that have tried us,and at some point we didn't know if we would ever make it through.
AND WE DID AND WE ARE!
Financially we own both of our vehicles out right. We will be completely debt free INCLUDING medical bills in March.
Eric will most likely be reinstated in the church on Sunday and will be taking me to the temple next week.
We have had health insurance for almost a year and the doctors office that took out my tonsils ended up paying us $37 for the surgery.
Eric just got his fourth promotion at work and is doing very well there.
Eric is taking the GRE in November and we will be turning in application in February and leaving for grad school in August.
Things are not perfect.. we have a long way to go, but they are better and are SLOWLY getting better everyday. FINANCIALLY it was SOOOOO HARD! soo hard! It takes A LOT of discipline and tight budgeting to go from where we were to where we are now so QUICKLY.
Like I said... At times we thought we would never make it. At times the last thing we wanted to do was have faith and trust in the Lord. At times we felt like we were failing completely but I know now that the Lord NEVER EVER gives up on us.. He never leaves our side... He loves us and will do everything He can to help us through as long as we ask for the help and then ACT IN FAITH.
I know that our trials are far from over and we will see new trials come our way every day, but I can look at them with thankfulness, faith and an understanding that I will be a stronger, better person and our family will become closer because of them. We will continue to try our hardest in staying positive and doing our part to keep our family close together, happy, healthy, and strong.
I honestly look back at our trials and the trials we still have and I can't help but be thankful that we have these trials instead of things that other people are having to go through. I always feel like we have it SOOO easy compared to others and I would never want to trade. I really believe that Heavenly Father knows us and that our trials are very personal. He knows what we can handle and what we need to learn and will give us the strength and comfort for each particular trial.
Eric and I love each other more than we ever thought possible.
I am so proud of our little family. We have come so far and are stronger than ever. I cannot wait for the rest of our lives together.
We love our children and they bring us the most joy in our lives. A lot of people have looked down on us and our timing to have children. Children to us are a blessing from God. I love being a mother and I know the Lord is proud of me for my faith in bringing children into the world even when things were rough and we were not all the way financially stable. He promised us that He would provide a way... and THAT HE DID and DOES! We will continue to have children along with faith in the Lord and in his timing. My role in this life is to be a wife and a mother and that is all I want! I have and I will continue to give it %1000.

SHORT UPDATE ON THE KIDDOS--
Oakley turned two at the end of July and is so ridiculously smart.. haha at least we think so.
A few things...She can count to ten in English AND in German. She knows her ABCs', colors, and some body parts in German. She knows a lot of shapes and is still learning more. She can recognize letters and a few of their sounds.
She is very out going and loves to play with friends. The two year old attitude is very much in full force. She even bosses her babies around and will tell them they are being naughty. She LOVES LOVES LOVES to play with Easton. They will play for hours, it is really fun to watch them and watch Easton try to be big like her.
Easton is ten and a half months old. He is starting to say little words like, dog, hi, bye, yay, whats that and a few others.
He goes up and down the stairs and stands with out holding on to anything. He has taken a few steps here and there but isn't as determined as Oakley was so it will probably still be a little bit before he is officially walking. He is still a very little thing wearing anywhere from 3-6 month clothing and some 9-12. He is right around 16 lbs and in the 0%. He is very very sweet and happy and loves to do everything Oakley does.
WORDS CANNOT EXPLAIN THE LOVE I HAVE FOR THESE TWO KIDS! They really are my everything and I love every little thing about them.