I'm A Medical Mystery

In my life, I've always been really healthy. Perfect vision, able bodied, nothing really has held me back from doing much. Every once and a while though, things happen and I have to go to the doctor. When I was around 20 years old, I had three separate occurrences of this excruciating pain in my belly that lasted for no longer than 30 minutes. When the pain was gone, I was able to continue as if it never happened. When you experience such a debilitating pain though, no matter how short lived, it's pretty concerning, so I went to the doctor expecting to be told what it was and how to make it never happen again. Well... That wasn't what happened. The doctor sent me to get an ultrasound and they never found a thing out of the ordinary. To this day, I still have no idea what it was. I'm just glad it doesn't happen anymore.

Fast forward a few years. I'm expecting my second child. I spent the whole first trimester in bed and completely useless because I was so incredibly sick. At least I knew why I was sick though. This second pregnancy seemed to be an improvement compared to my first go around though. I never really got a break from the nausea during my first pregnancy. With this second pregnancy, I started feeling better than I ever did the first time around at 16-17 weeks. It was a miracle! Prayers were being answered and my life had become a living testament to Divine Intervention.

Then last week on Tuesday, my body started doing things that it shouldn't do when pregnant. I waited it out until Wednesday morning to see if it would regulate, but it seemed to get worse, so I called the doctor and was told to go to the hospital. My husband and I spent all day Wednesday in a monitoring room. I was hooked up to all kinds of machines to watch the baby and me. The doctors thought that maybe my water had broken and was slowly leaking and if that was the case, I could have an infection. I was being told all sorts of scary things. If they confirmed my water broke, I was stuck in the hospital until I delivered. If they confirmed infection, I could be delivering the baby within the next couple days... at 24 weeks. Not ideal...

I was taken to get an ultrasound to check fluid levels and all the rest of the stuff they needed to know. Everything looked completely normal though, so here I was again, stumping the doctors. Something was obviously not right, but the doctors just couldn't pinpoint what it was. To their credit, they ran a whole bunch of tests to rule out all the scary stuff. Those tests just weren't all that pleasant. One of them involved sticking a needle in my belly and taking some amniotic fluid out and injecting a blue dye in. They wanted to run a culture on the fluid to rule out infection and they wanted to inject the dye to see if it was leaking at all. There was no leaking and the cultures would take a few days to process. They also tested my blood, which showed an elevated white blood cell count, which is an indicator of infection. Once they found that, they wasted no time hooking me up to an IV and admitting me into the hospital for the next two days at least. I was pumped full of some really nasty drugs for those two days. I was given antibiotics as a precaution in case there really was an infection and some other crazy concoction that was supposed to help speed up the baby's brain development in case delivery was unavoidable. I also got some steroid shots to boost the baby's lung development. All those drugs acted like a muscle relaxant so I literally could not get out of bed for those two days. The drugs were giving me awful hot flashes and my face felt like it was constantly on fire. I had to keep telling myself that all this was for the good of the baby. Preparing for the worst, and hoping for the best type of thing.

Finally I was able to be taken off the IV drugs that were making me feel so awful and I was transferred out of the Labor and Delivery Unit and into the Women's Pavilion for observation. The doctors told me that only one of the three cultures they're running was complete and it was totally negative, so that was a good sign. I just had to stay put in the hospital until the other two were done and if they were also negative, I would be free to go home.

Apparently that was all too good to be true though, because if it wasn't one thing, it was another. Totally out of the blue, I started bleeding a good amount on Saturday night and was given the news on Sunday that because of the bleeding, even though it mostly stopped by the morning, that I would have to stay in the hospital for another week. They need to keep me under close watch, so they monitor the baby twice a day and check for contractions to make sure I'm not going into pre-term labor. As long as the bleeding doesn't start up again, I should hopefully be able to go home in six days...

So I'm going to have been in the hospital for a minimum of a week and a half and I don't really have any concrete answers as to why. I'm still trying to decide if that's a good thing or not. I at least have the assurance of the nurses when they monitor the baby that he doesn't act like a sick baby. They all say how healthy he looks on the monitor, and if we were going strictly by that, it's pretty clear that everything is gonna be okay.

I've received several blessings since all this started, and they have all have left me with a really overwhelming feeling that all truly will be okay. I don't know why I have to experience all this stuff, but I know that Heavenly Father has it under control and I need to trust that feeling. My husband reminds me of that often. He's doing surprisingly well under the circumstances, and he credits his feelings of peace to what the Spirit is telling him. His confidence helps me be confident in a great outcome. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for everything and we never experience things without a purpose. Heavenly Father obviously knows something that the doctors don't. It's been a theme of my life, and I think as long as I use this time to come closer to Him and not get upset or mad, that I'm doing my part to make sure Heavenly Father can ensure the best outcome.

What a life I lead... At least my family is being taken care of. Ray is doing his best playing the temporary single Dad role. I'm not a very public person when it comes to stuff like this. I don't like to announce that I'm sick or that I'm in the hospital, especially when I can't give answers as to why. When Ray went to Church yesterday, naturally people asked where I was, and by that point there's really no avoiding telling people. Apparently people get upset with me for keeping all this to myself for so long. I just don't like the attention it brings me, so I prefer to keep it more private. At this point though, there's no point being secretive about it. Enough people know, and enough people are asking why that my friends and family deserve an explanation. I appreciate prayers and good vibes sent my way. That's really all people can do for me, personally. I'm more concerned about my husband and son, so if you're in a position to help watch Warren, bring my family a meal, anything like that, it would mean the most to me. Knowing that they are okay is the greatest relief to me.

That's all the information I have. Here's hoping the next few months of my life are quiet and that my body decides to stop giving the doctors mysteries they can't solve. :)

Where are you Green Card?

I moved from Canada to Colorado almost three years ago. When I first arrived in the USA, I was admitted into the country as a "Conditional Permanent Resident". That means that I married an American and we hadn't been married long enough for the US Government to believe that I didn't just marry him for the green card. The "conditional" status of my permanent residency could be lifted after two years once I provided proof on paper that we were still married, living together and sharing assets.

Time was approaching for me to start submitting the paperwork to have the "conditional" status removed. I gathered every single piece of paper I could think of. When I finally had it all together, there was probably a good 50 pages worth of "proof" my marriage was legitimate. The only thing that I was worried about was the fact that the application required a copy of my green card. I never received that first green card...

See, when I first entered the USA, I gave them all my address information on my declaration papers. It was the correct address. I have copies of those pages to prove it. However, the person that entered my address in the USCIS system mixed up two numbers in my zip code. I received a letter from USCIS shortly after arriving in Colorado, which is when I discovered the error, and I called to correct it immediately. Two months passed, and I still hadn't received the card. I called to let them know and they said they would flag it as a "non-delivery" and to expect the card soon. As each month passed and I still hadn't received the card, I would call and the same thing would happen. After six months I started pushing harder on the phone. Only then was I told that there was a tracking number. That was when I figured out that when I received that first letter shortly after arriving in Colorado, the card had already been produced and was sent in the mail. I didn't even have a chance to correct the zip code error before it was too late. The incorrect zip code had the card being sent to a completely different city. Why I got the letters with the wrong zip code and not the card with the wrong zip code, is beyond me. USCIS said that it wasn't returned to sender, so I spent the next year trying to get the card replaced. In the end, it was just a bunch of wasted time. It didn't matter what I sent to them, or who I talked to. I just had to submit the $450 application to replace my lost card, which I was never willing to do considering I didn't receive the card due to an error I did not make. At that point, I was six months away from having to renew my card anyway, so when I asked about that, I was told that I might as well just wait the six months until my card needed renewal.

So there I was, papers all in order to submit for the removal of my "conditional" status. I was freaking out so bad about not having a green card to copy that I went to an immigration lawyer to see if it would be a problem. The lawyer helped me a lot. She told me that it's not an issue, and to just submit an explanation for why I don't have a copy of the card to submit because it obviously wasn't my fault. Done.

The wait time for that paperwork was about four months. Finally, on February 26/14, I received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security, US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The subject was "Notice of Removal of Conditional Basis of Lawful Permanent Residence". What a huge relief! They accepted all my paperwork, they believe that I actually married my husband because I love him and the letter said my new green card will be coming in the mail within 60 days. They had the correct address this time, I had been getting all the mail they were sending me, so there was no way I wouldn't be getting this green card this time.

Well I was wrong.

Three weeks after receiving that letter, I thought I should check on the status of this card. I went to the USCIS website, put in my case number, and there was a tracking number... but it said it had already been delivered on March 3. I checked the tracking number on the USPS website and again, it was apparently delivered on March 3, 2014 at 12:29 PM. Well that didn't make any sense because it was way past March 3 now and my husband and I check the mail regularly. Our mail box is even locked. Only my husband and I have the key. So how could the green card have been delivered? It was never in our mailbox! Our neighbors didn't receive it accidentally either. We live in a building with four apartments and our mailboxes are inside in the foyer of our building. If our neighbors didn't get it. there's not really any other place that it could have gone.

I called USPS, and they "investigated". That resulted in getting a letter five days later saying that according to the tracking number, it was delivered, but if I say I didn't receive it then it must have been lost in the mail and they can't find it.

Thanks...

I learned from my first experience with my lost green card, that once you have a tracking number, USCIS doesn't help you. They tell you that this is the tracking number, USCIS sent it out so they did their job, now take it up with the Post Office if you didn't get it.

Now I'm backed into a corner. I'm not getting anywhere with USPS or USCIS. My only option left is to submit the $450 application to have the card replaced. I already paid $600 to renew my card! I'm not rich. I can't just pay my way out of problems. Replacing the card means that I would also have to get my fingerprints redone, pictures retaken (in another city where the official office is) and waiting another six months, with no guarantee that it will actually make it to my mailbox again.

I did a quick google search:

"Green card lost in the mail" 149,000,000 results.
"Green card lost by USPS" 291,000,000 results.

This is obviously a huge problem. So if it's such a common problem, then why is the Government sending such an important card through the regular mail? More importantly, why are these cards being sent without requiring a signature for delivery?! Especially, if not receiving it means forking up $450 to replace it. Not everyone has that much money at their disposal at all times. I want to know what happened to my card. How can USPS enter in their system that something has been delivered, when it never actually was? Who is in charge of that?

Awareness is the first step to change. My purpose in sharing my story about Immigration is to find others who have had this happen to them. There is so much focus on what illegal immigrants can or cannot do. What about those of us who took the time and spent the money to do things the right and legal way? We are here too, and we are simply being bullied into a corner, forced to keep paying more and more money to fix a problem that we didn't cause. Somewhere out there is a card with my picture and my fingerprint on it and nobody seems to know where it is. That's a major security issue! We need to be protected from that possibility! Send the card and don't deliver it unless you have that person physically present to sign for it and accept it.

Please share my story. Comment below. Let those who this has happened to come forward. Send me your contact information so I can keep track of my supporters. Together we can at least try to make a difference. If I can gain enough support and have enough people to back me, I plan on taking this to the Senators of Colorado and other States if necessary. I'm serious when I say I want to try to make a change happen.

The Most Important Work

I had a rough day. My poor boy is sick with this awful cough and fever, so we literally spent all day in my bed. Cuddling is nice, but getting coughed on for how ever many hours straight is kind of brutal. He was watching his shows, and I was keeping myself occupied on my phone. Facebook. Twitter. More Facebook. Instagram. Twitter again.

There was post after post about the tragic loss of an actor who was found dead with a needle in his arm. How many times does this has to happen before the general public realizes that Hollywood is not full of heros to be idolized? Hollywood is full of egocentric celebrities who believe they are above the law. Their reality is not a legitimate one. Yet somehow that unrealistic reality is something we should envy and aspire to? Yeah right. All I'm seeing in Hollywood is a drug infested society of unhappy people because they think money is the cure all answer. They spend more because they think it'll make them happier. But guess what? It doesn't. So they find new things to spend their money on, until they finally turn to drugs. Hollywood is NOT full of people to look up to. It is full of people who need help. They need to know that they are nothing in comparison to the God who gave them life.

I also saw a post by a humor page targeting my Church, misinterpreting a doctrine and exploiting it to their 1.2 million followers. I will never understand why my Church seems to be the only one it's okay to make fun of. I don't expect people to believe the same things as me, but I do expect people to be good and kind and the only reason I believe people become otherwise is because they were simply taught not to be good and kind.

I know I'm supposed to be strong and not let stuff like this get to me, but I have a son who has to grow up surrounded by this. Everything he has to go through will be so much worse than what I ever had to deal with. He's going to be targeted as he grows up and tells people he's Mormon. I want him to grow up and feel the good that comes from the Church. I want to set a good example for him so he can see why our religion is important. I want so bad for him to recognize that all good things are of God, and I want that realization to blossom into a testimony of Christ. I want him to use that testimony to stand up to those people who are going to try to bully him. I want my son to have confidence in who he is and what he stands for.

If every single person in this world had the privilege to grow up in a home with GOOD AND KIND parents who love each other no matter what, every single problem in the world would cease to exist. If every child knew they were loved, they wouldn't be seeking to find it from places that will only end up hurting them, and they wouldn't be seeking to hurt others either. There wouldn't be celebrities who think they only need themselves, their entourage, their money and their drugs to be happy. There wouldn't be so many children born to celebrity parents who break up at the first sign of trouble. Those poor babies don't get to grow up in the home they deserve. They never get to know what it's like to be raised in a home with a mommy and daddy who love each other. Instead, they get a nanny who excuses the parents of all parental responsibility. Those innocent little children should be taught love over luxury. If only every child got to grow up in a home with loving parents...

President Harold B. Lee shared one of the most important truths when he said this.

"The most important of the Lord's work you will ever do will be the work you do within the walls of your own home."

I want everyone who has a child to know how special that child is and how important the responsibility of a parent is. Being a good parent is the only way to make a significant difference in this world. When you become a parent, you give up the right to be selfish because your responsibility to raise a good child is more important. The best thing anyone can possibly to do raise a child who won't add to any of the problems in the world is to show them how much you love them every single day.

My Son Turned Two!

Life with a two year old is... different than life with an infant.

Personality.

Independence

Love of Attention

Good thing the kid is still so cute.

My two year old keeps every single day interesting. Take this for example. I call it the Target Tantrum.

Yes. I was THAT mom. My toddler having a full on melt down in the middle of the kids clothing section of Target. What was I doing to stop it? Nothing. I just took pictures.

Cry it out kid. Cry it out.

Eventually, after no sign of it slowing down, I scooped him up like a football and promptly left the store. Clearly it wasn't the right time to be running errands.

Yep... THAT mom...








However challenging those moments may be, having my son say "Night Night Momma. Wuuuuv you." every night, kinda melts my heart. A lot.

Yes he may have opinions. Yes he may test my limits. But in the end there is nothing but unconditional love coming from this little man. He fills my heart with joy. Being a mom isn't glamourous and it isn't high profile. It is just exactly what I need to be.

Oh and PS. I dressed him up as Clark Kent for Halloween. That makes this whole mommy of a toddler thing even more awesome.

The BEST Story EVER

In need for a pick me up today? Well... So am I. So I'm going to tell you the story of Ray's stolen moped/mini motorbike with pedals.

Ray gets a lot of stuff for free. That's not even a joke. Pretty much everything we own was gotten for free from somebody Ray knew. He just has a talent for that I guess.

He went out to help his brother and Uncle clear out some property and in the process was given an old moped that didn't run and had a giant list of things that were wrong with it. Why he thought it was a good find is beyond me.

Anyways...

So he takes it home but keeps it in the back of his truck overnight. In the morning, the thing was gone. I didn't even know any of this happened until three days later when he was telling his brother on the phone that it was gone. Thankfully Ray wasn't too bent out of shape about it, and I was just relieved I never had to deal with the thing. haha.

A couple days after that, Ray's Uncle calls him to ask him why the moped he gave him was listed on craigslist for $300 and throughout the day the asking price progressively lowered to around $150. Ray was just as much in the dark as his Uncle so he did some investigating because it was obvious that it was the same bike.

Ray sent a message in response to the ad and got a reply from a strange phone number that he figured came from one of those texting apps for iPods. The message told Ray to contact that person's Mom to schedule a time and get the address to check the moped out. Ray did just that.

Ray and I were planning on how to approach this. It was obvious that the person who "owned" the moped was a kid, and we were almost banking on the address that we would soon be given to be located within a block of us. Sure enough, the address was down the street! haha! At that time I needed to go to school, so I told Ray that it would be hilarious if he played it up with the kid like he was genuinely interested instead of going over there accusing the kid of stealing.

He packed up Warren to go with him and walked over to this address. As he was walking up the driveway he decided to voice record the entire thing. He set it up on his phone, put it in his front pocket of his flannel shirt and rang the doorbell.

Pretty awesome story so far, right?

Well, the kid answers the door. He's probably about 13 years old, and really small. There's no way he lugged that bike out of the back of Ray's truck alone. The poor kid was clearly lead on by someone that was bigger than him. The kid saw Warren on Ray's back and asks him if he walked there. Poor kid was getting suspicious. Ray kind of avoided the question and just said that he was out for a walk, which seemed to satisfy the kid's curiosity.

The kid takes Ray to the back yard where the moped is sitting and Ray pretends to be so excited about it. I listened to the recording and this is pretty much what happened.

Ray: That bike is sweet! How long have you had it?
Kid: Uhhhh... A couple weeks.
Ray: How much are you asking for it?
Kid: Well... I was asking $180, but I'll take $150 for it.
Ray: That sounds great! Can you go grab your Mom so that we can finalize the deal?
Kid: Yeah! I'll be right back!
*kid goes to get his mom and comes back with both his mom and his dad.*
Mom: So you're interested in this bike are you?
Ray: Yeah! I just have a couple questions about it though.
Mom: Sure.
Ray: How long has he had this bike?
Mom: Ummm... Probably about a week or two.
Ray: Huh. And where did he say he got it from?
Mom: I'm not really sure. He just brought it home one day.
Ray: Well that's interesting. I live about a block down the street and about a week ago I was given a bike just like this from my Uncle and it got stolen out of the back of my truck.
Mom: Huh. Stolen...
Ray: Yeah it had the same mileage, same missing seat, same broken fender...
*the mom and dad both give a death stare to the kid*
Mom: Where did you say you got this from again???
Kid: I found it!!!! It was on the sidewalk on the way home from school!!! I swear! I found it!!!
Mom: Uh huh..
Dad: It sounds like that bike is yours, man.
Kid: Mom! I swear!!! It was just there! I found it!!!
Mom: Yeah... Well... *looks at Ray* Wow well I think you just got your bike back for free.

This whole conversation. Recorded. Priceless!!!

The kid kept trying to convince his parents that he really did just find the bike on the sidewalk. Props for his conviction to the story. The Mom then asked Ray if he needed the kid to help walk the bike back home, but Ray said he had it under control and took it back home.

An hour or so later, there's a knock on our door. Ray went to answer it and it was the kid, with his two parents standing right behind him.

The kid handed Ray a note that said he was sorry and that he would never do it again and if he needed to pay him back, he would. HAHA!!! The parents were livid with the poor guy.

So because of this whole experience, Ray has taught the kid to never steal EVER AGAIN!!! Seriously. This poor kid will be telling this story for the rest of his life.

Moral of the story: Don't fall in to peer pressure (remember the bike was too big for the kid to take out the truck by himself), and don't steal!!!

I hope this story made your day a little bit brighter :)

My Best Friend's Wedding

I feel like I have gone to a lot of weddings in my life. This one though, was probably THE best wedding I have ever had the privilege of attending.

Allison and I became friends when we were 16 years old. At the time I was the ONLY girl my age at Church and it was a lonely place for me. One day out of the blue, this new girl and her family moved in and I wasn't alone anymore! We called ourselves Alison Squared. We are kind of awesome like that... We grew up and did our own things in life, but it didn't matter how long it had been since we'd seen each other. We would always just pick right back up where we left off. I served my mission, and she left for hers before I came home. I found an American boy, got married, and got pregnant. When I was stuck in Canada and my husband was stuck in Colorado waiting for immigration to come through. Allison and I picked up where we left off. She was fresh off her mission, back in University, and trying to figure life out again. I was just lonely again and she was there to save me once more.

I don't think I can properly describe how much her friendship means to me.

Anyways...

After I moved to Colorado, she contacted me and told me she wanted to Skype. I was super excited to talk to her!! Our conversation was nothing like any conversation I had ever had with her before though. She told me she tried online dating, and it worked. She found herself an American boy in California. Never had I seen her so excited about a boy. I was so happy for her!!! It was new for her, and she wanted to talk to me to get my perspective on long distance dating. I gave her all the advise I could. Later on she had decided to go visit him and see how things would go in person. She told me when she was planning on leaving and it turned out that I would be in Canada at that time. I was the lucky one to see her off at the airport as she began her international dating adventure.

A few months go by and we Skype again. "Are you engaged???" I ask her. "Uhhhh.... Well... Here's the thing..." She proceeded to tell me that technically they were engaged and they were currently sorting through their own immigration stuff to figure out how to make it all work as quickly and as smoothly as possible. They got an awesome immigration lawyer and that guy made it happen. She told me that they were planning on getting married on March 2 and that I should plan on being in Salt Lake City for it. I was ecstatic!!!

The weekend finally arrived, and Ray and I packed up our car with Warren and embarked on an all night drive to Utah. We wanted Warren to sleep as much as possible for the drive, hence the all nighter.

The sun was rising as we drove the final stretch and I was pretty impressed at the scenery. I don't remember Utah being so pretty. haha. We had wonderful friends open their home to us and when we got there at 9:00am, we both slept while they entertained our son.

That night, I attended Allison's bridal shower. It was a Canada reunion! So many people from home that I grew so close to as a Young Single Adult were there. It was so refreshing to see so many familiar faces from home.

During the shower I offered my help to the bridesmaid in charge of Allison's hair and makeup. That meant that I needed to be there to help bright and early the next morning.

Allison was probably the most calm bride I have ever seen. She was just sitting down while her hair was being curled, talking to people as they came in and out of her hotel room. We laughed and joked and went over final details. It was incredible. I was super impressed with her composure.

The sealing ceremony itself was so wonderful. There was such a sense of joy and happiness for Allison and her soon to be husband, Curtis. Both sides of the family were filled with so much love and excitement. I felt so privileged to be able to be in the midst of that pure, all encompassing love. I looked around the sealing room, seeing my husband smile at me in the mirror, and taking in all the small and intricate details of that room. I was so content. This is what we live for. Joy, family, and knowing that Heavenly Father is near.

After the ceremony we got out of the temple and waited around Temple Square for the big reveal. Ray and I  passed the time by talking with this awesome Sister missionary from France. Outside of the Temple the realization of how chaotic weddings in the Salt Lake City Temple are set in. There are SOOO many people there for so many different weddings that they have to have an intercom system to announce when each couple is exiting the Temple. haha. When they finally announced the "George Wedding" we rushed over to the doors and more happiness ensued.

They are such an adorable couple!!! I'm so happy for them!!!! The photographer was right on it and started taking all the family and friend pictures immediately. I snuck some of my own pictures in too.

Allison's big brother and his family had a pretty intense emergency just before they were planning on leaving Canada for the wedding. Last minute were not able to make it. Allison and her sister-in-law, Chelsea are super close so it was really hard on both of them to not be able to share this day together. We made sure we documented the bridal shower, wedding and reception as much as we could via Instagram so that Chelsea could be as much a part of that day as possible.

The reception itself was incredible. I really appreciated that it was shortly after the wedding. It's always awkward trying to figure out what to do when there are several hours between the wedding and reception. Anyways... It was in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and there was quite the view.

The Salt Lake City Temple is such a beautiful place. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that it took 40 years to build with bare hands and no big machinery. It was finished in 1893. Every detail was carved into granite by people with incredible talent and a chisel. This Temple stands as a testament to the faith of those who built it. Every time I go there, I am filled with awe and a deep sense of gratitude for the sacrifice that it took to make this Temple a reality. Temples that are built today are still beautiful and still full of intricate details, but the fact that this one was done completely by hand, makes it a bit more special for me.

Back to the reception. Perfection. Delicious food. Classy cake and decorations. And butter balls for the rolls. haha.

As we ate, Allison's Mom did her final preparations for the Toast to the Bride.

Chelsea wrote the Toast. She was supposed to give it, but since she wasn't able to, Allison's Mom read it for her. She did such a good job. Before reading Chelsea's toast, she mentioned how she looked through Allison's baby book before they left for the wedding. She had written in it that if Allison were a  boy her middle name would have been George because it is a significant name in their family history. Now that Allison's married name is George, it's a great tender mercy and another testament to how perfect this marriage really is. I thought that was incredible.

As for Chelsea's toast. I can't even begin to sum that up. It had everyone in tears and was one of the most touching things I have ever heard. So you can read it.  Chelsea blogged it. 

Here's my favorite part, and what got everyone in the room misty eyed.

Life with Alli truly is full of her gift of excitement and enthusiasm 

But life isn't always a party. 

In fact, when I first began thinking about giving this toast the first phrase that came to mind was for Curtis---and it was "I'm sorry"

I'm sorry Curtis that you had to wait so long. I'm sorry you had to wait because The Lord just knew I needed her. 

Chelsea has a gift with words that I can only wish for. Even though I haven't really spent much time with her, I still really look up to her and appreciate her stories and her perspective that she so generously posts on her blog. No wonder why Allison loves her so much.

Another tear-filled toast for the groom, and it was time to cut the cake. Seriously I can't get over how cute this couple is.

Allison tossed the bouquet. The cutest bouquet toss ever, I might add. The way Allison looked behind her to see who would catch it was adorable. haha. Allison's joy translated into every move she made, and every word she said. I have seen her happy before, but this was just a new level of happy Allison. I loved it.

As things wound down, people were taking final pictures. This one cracks me up.

Allison was saying as this picture was being taken "Send this picture to my brothers on missions!!! HEHE!!!" I love her mischievous laugh. Really... I just love this girl. What a great day this was. Not just to be a part of the wedding, but it was also an amazing experience for Ray and I together. Weddings remind us of how awesome our marriage is and how thankful we are to be together. Ray enjoyed the wedding too. He didn't feel left out because it was my friend getting married. There was absolutely no flaw to this weekend. haha. And I had purple hair. haha.

So Allison, thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of my life. You have been there for me when I needed you and I hope I have done the same for you. I'm so glad you found Curtis and that your life together began with so much joy. You deserve this happiness. I love you so much!!!!!

Independence

Warren is OFFICIALLY 18 months old. That means two things to me.

1. We can no longer tag him along with us to things that WE want to do and expect our little man to just go along with it. We have to do things for HIM now.

2. He is old enough to go to Nursery at Church now so we can actually begin learning things there again. haha.

I spend a lot of time at home with Warren throughout the week, so I decided that I wanted to use our weekends as a family to get out of the house and go to new places and teach Warren new things. Attempt #1: The Denver Aquarium.

Okay so maybe I chose that because I wanted to go... But having a curious child makes adventures like that totally pass as something specifically for the kid right?

Saturday's are our only full day of the week to go out do things as a family. When we arrived at the Aquarium, I was reminded that we aren't the only family with just Saturday's to do fun things. There were SO MANY PEOPLE!!! When we got in and saw all the fish, or "doggies" as Warren likes to call them, all he wanted to do was get out of his stroller and explore on his own. We let him out and he was off! So many things for that brain of his to absorb!

The kid wouldn't stop! I couldn't get a clear picture of him if my life depended on it!

From my mommy perspective, I don't think I have ever been so stressed out trying to keep up with him through the crowds of other families. He would walk from one display to the other, seeing how far he could go, and what things he could touch. I tried to do my best at enjoying the moment though. There were, after all, some pretty spectacular things. Purple starfish, a one eyed giant white kind of fish (haha), Nemo in an Anemone, and sweet jellyfish!

I'm so thankful for how much of a help Ray was. He played with Warren and helped him see all sorts of things that were out of his little reach.

We all had tons of fun. Warren loved his freedom and I tried to accomodate that.

Family fun day was a success!!!