Late night rambling

Richard is working nights right now, and it's always hard for me to adjust to him being gone for the first few nights, and I end up staying up waaay too late! And of course I get online and decide to ramble on the blog for a bit. 
 We all just got over being sick, which was no fun. I should say Aubry got over being sick, because Richard & I are still feeling kind of crappy. Must be because we are getting old! ;) Aubry got sick first, and it must have been a 24 hour bug, because she was up puking all of Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning, and then all better by Thursday. Thursday is when we got it. YUCK! As long as Aubry feels better, I don't mind feeling a little crappy. Seeing her sick is the worst! 
 There really isn't anything all that interesting going on right now. Our lives are boring! Richard switched plants at work, so me & Aubry can't go see him anymore, which kind of stinks. Especially when he is on nights. I guess we were spoiled while he was at Central. It was just always nice to take Aubry to see him before she had to go to bed. She still gets to call him and tell him good night, though. <3 Hunting season over at the end of this month! THANK GOODNESS!!! Well, it's over for now, anyway..but still...THANK GOODNESS!! I am kind of bummed for him that he didn't get anything, but I am super happy I will be seeing more of my husband on his days off! We went on a date night on his last set of days off. It was nice, it had been way too long. I got a new dress right before we left for Safford, so I could wear it on our date. It was so nice & fun to get so dressed up for him! Or just in general, really. When you are a stay at home mom, you kind of lose than "getting dressed up every day" thing...half the time I don't even leave the house, so I end up looking like a bum most of the time! We had his mom watch Aubry while we went to dinner at the steak house in Safford, which was delish! Then we went to the movies and saw Contraband. It was a really good movie! It's always nice to do things alone, as much as we LOVE doing family things, it is important for us to get our alone time, too.
 My grandparents are coming out to visit next month which I am SUPER excited about! I can't wait for them to see how much Aubry has grown just since we were in Iowa. They haven't been to Arizona in a long time. It will be nice to have them here. I'm sure my mom is excited, too. We are planning a trip to go see my fantastic sister & her beautiful family in October this year, which I mentioned before. I am SO excited about that!! It has been way, way, WAAAYYYY too long since I have seen my nephews! The last time I saw them they were my little cuddle buddies, and now they are all grown up! It's so crazy to me! Time really flies. I used to go see them every summer, and then I lived there for a year after I graduated high school. Then life happened, and things changed, and now I have this amazing little family of my own! I can not wait for Aubry to meet Brandon & Seth! Of course I am excited to see EVERYONE, I just haven't seen them in the longest. Eve and Layla came out when Aubry was born, and then again for our wedding. I just can't wait to see everyone!
 Anyway, now I am seriously just rambling on & on. So off to bed I go!.....Hopefully!

Small progress

We went to Safford for a few days so that Richard could work on his truck & get it running for hunting. Yes, in case you were wondering, I am sick of hunting! Haha! Whatever makes the hubby happy, though. It would be more fun if I was going with, but we don't have anyone to watch Aubry up here, and taking a 2 year old hiking so you can bow hunt doesn't sound like much fun to me. Plus, she would scare away all the deer. :) Anyway, we stayed at Richard's parents the first night, and they are awesome! I have been trying to keep to eating healthy, which is more of a challenge when you're not at home, if you ask me. You can't exactly ask people to cook healthy just to suit your lifestyle. But Richard's mom was awesome & made healthy food anyway! :) They also have an elliptical that they let me use so I wouldn't feel like I was slacking on my work out schedule. I didn't think I would sweat so much from that thing! It was crazy. But also felt amazing. The second day I went grocery shopping with my friend Elicia. We were going to do a 2 day fruit & veggies cleanse, so we were stocking up on fruits & veggies. I wont lie, I didn't pull through on the cleanse. It's really hard to do something like that when you are not home! But, I did succeed in buying lots of healthy stuff. Step 1, right? Anyway, that night Lee Ann made chicken for the guys & was nice enough to also make fish so me & her could eat that. It was delish! Then I got on the elliptical again. This time I put it on the fat burning setting, and it totally kicked my butt!! In a good way, yes..but I was so sore the next day I didn't get to go on the walk her & I planned. Then we headed over to Matt & Elicia's for the night. It was hard not to eat the yummy nachos everyone was snacking on, but I stuck to my guns & ate a few Special K chip things. They're not bad. Though they have the texture of a rice cake! ha! The next day I was even more proud when Richard had me get him Burger King & I didn't eat any of it!! Okay, that's a lie, I took a baby bite from one of the burgers E was eating, but that was it! And it didn't even taste that good, I felt like I was eating garbage! I was more proud that I didn't eat the fries. Those are my weakness. Also, I didn't have any soda! Usually when we go to Safford I eat nothing but fast food. The only "fast food" I had was Subway!
 When we got home I had to jump on the scale because I wanted to see if I made any progress from eating right & kicking my own ass on the elliptical....and I DID! I lost 3 pound over the weekend! I know, I know...3 pounds is nothing, but it IS a start! And I proved to myself that even when I'm not at home I can still make healthy choices. I'm kind of proud of myself. I probably shouldn't be bragging, because I'm sure I could easily put those 3 pounds back on, but I look at it as more motivation to keep losing!

Christmas & Such

Christmas was wonderful! We spent Christmas Eve at Richard's parent's, and his grandma & grandpa got to be there, they came down for about a week, so it was great to have so much family around. We had a blast there, like we always do. Aubry thought everything was about her. Which really it was! ;) Christmas was so fun with her this year. As she was opening her presents she would get SO excited, before she could even see what it was! She would be saying "oh wow!!!". She's a crack up. A few days before Christmas was Jeff's(Richard's step-dad) birthday, so we went down for that as well. THAT was a blast too! He turned 50, so we all poked fun at him a little. He was a good sport. Aubry thought it was her birthday. We gave Aubry her power wheels jeep a few days before Christmas as well (I'm kind of going backwards here), since we were going ot be in Safford we didn't think we would have room to bring it back with all of the other stuff, but since it was her biggest gift we didn't want to give it to her late. She was SUPER excited about that! She loves it. Which makes me & Richard both very happy.

Christmas Day we spent at my mom's. Me & Aubry were the first ones up, so we had to wake up Richard & mom so she could open gifts. I love Christmas! And it is so much fun now with a little one! Todd called to tell us Merry Christmas I guess around 10 or 11, and he also told me, and only me, that they were going to be heading to mom's in about an hour! I haven't spent a Christmas with Todd, Jess & the boys in SO long! I almost cried when he told me!! Then I called my wonderful sister, Eve to tell her merry Christmas & she put my niece Layla on the phone so she could tell me all of the things Santa brought her. When she was getting off the phone she told me she loved me & Merry Christmas, then she said "wait wait wait...I love Aubry too!!!" & needless to say...I LOST IT!!! I started bawling like a little kid!! I don't even know what happened. I'm almost crying writting about it. I miss them SO much, and I can't believe how big my niece & nephews are getting & I never get to see them. We are planning a trip out there in October, though. =D Well, then we headed over to my dad's which is always awkward. Not because I don't love them more than anything, but because things are complicated with our relationship & the relationship I have with Evan & Kathryn. They were there, of course. But Christmas is about family, so we all got along really well. Aubry had a blast playing with her cousins, and it was a good time. Then it was back to mom's because Todd & Jess were there!!! I was really nervous about how the whole thing would play out, because Evan & Kathryn said they would be right behind us, & none of them have seen or talked to each other in quite a while. It went really really good though. It actually really made my heart hurt that day just knowing that our family will only be together like that on holidays, and only because we have to deal with each other. I don't like it. But things happen, and people do & say really stupid things...and well, relationships get ruined. Anyway, over all it was a wonderful holiday! I am extremely blessed to have my family! I love them all!
 I got to go have dinner with my best friend from high school, Stephanie, while we were down! I can't even tell you how amazing it was to see her!!! I don't think I have seen her since my wedding! So over a freakin' year!! How does that happen!? It was so great to just get together like old times & gossip, of course! ;) Seeing her also really inspired me to get into shape this year & get fit. Of course I was already planning to make that my new years resolution, and I was really, really set on it. But seeing her kicked it up a notch. She's such an awesome person. I know, I say that a lot. It must be true!!! So, fir the passed 4 days I have not had any soda, I have been drinking lots & lots of water, eating more healthy, and working out at home every night. We went & signed up for the gym today, but since it's free & through Richard's work, you have to do an hour long walk through & all this stupid stuff. So we go back Friday to do that. Then we will be good to go! I can't wait to get back in the gym! It was been WAY too long! They even have a childcare center there where they will watch your kids for up to 2 hours while you work out. FREE!!! How awesome is that?! I can't wait! I have never, ever been this motivated to get in shape! That's part of the reason why I know 2012 will be an amazing year, and it will be the year I get in the best shape of my life!

Update

I told everyone I would give them an update when I got my results back, & this is the easier way to do it rather than text & call everyone. Plu sit gives me a chance to write/type a little.
  Aubry & I were off to Safford again today. She thinks it was just so she could go spend time with grandma, but really it was because I had my follow up appointment. I didn't expect my biopsy results to be back quite yet, since they took almost 2 weeks for my pap results, and the holidays just passed. But, they were in! They came back negitive, which is awesome! I was all worried for nothing at all. What can I say? I'm a little crazy. I go back in 6 months to make sure everything still looks good.
 As for my pains, he did another ultrasound, & this time he could see a functional cyst on my right ovary. Which is what I thought I had from the begining. It is something that will go away on it's own, and really isn't that big of a deal. He gave me some IBU 800 for the pain, and sent me on my way. I wish he would have been able to see the cyst on the first ultrasound he did, so that I would have known back then what was happening with my body. But I really can not complain. Things turned out great today, and I was very happy leaving that office! I had a total attitude change from when I walked it. Usually it's the opposite. So it was nice. I am just relieved & happy to finally know what is causing all this pain I've been having. Hopefully the cyst goes away soon, and I can go back to feeling fine, and doing what I want! I feel like I was stressing out about nothing. But it is always scary when something is going on with your body that you can not explain. I had no idea what was going on, now that I do, I feel better. The pain is obviously still there, but now at least I know what it is from. I was scared about the biopsy because I have seen my best friend go through some pretty scary stuff, and while I would take all of her pain & problems & have them for my own if I could, it was scary to know what some of the bad results could come back as. Like I said in my last post, she is amazing! I love her!
 Richard seems relieved to know what is going on now, too. He is also amazing. I am just blessed with awesome people in my life! 

I know I am blessed

So in my last post I was talking about the pains I have been having. I went to the doctor for an ultrasound & he said everything looked great, my IUD had not moved at all since he put it in 2 years ago, and everything else looked completely normal. What he said was "Well the good news is I don't see anything wrong, but the bad news is I don't see anything wrong" pretty much because the pain has to be coming from some where, right? During my exam my bladder was a littler tender, so he gave me an antibiotic in case I was getting a bladder infection.
 Well then we headed up to Phoenix to my amazing brother's house. I can't tell you how much I love him & his little family. His wife is awesome, and his boys amaze me. I LOVE those kids!!! They are growing up way, way too fast, which only makes me realize Aubry will be that age before I know it. We took Richard's jeep up to trade with a guy, well that fell through, so then we had another guy who seemed SO interested & like he really, really wanted it, he said he just didn't get to the bank it time that day so he would call first thing in the morning. Well needless to say, he never called. Richard didn't want to drive that thing all the way home, it's completely open, no doors, no top..nothing. And we might live in Arizona, but it is flippin cold riding around in that thing in the winter! So, Todd & Jess got in touch with a friend & he let us keep it at his house. Of course, that didn't last too long before Richard found someone to trade with. So now we have ANOTHER 79 Ford pick up sitting outside our house. Whatever makes him happy. Plus, he looks pretty sexy driving those old trucks around. ;) While we were still at Todd's our neighbor called to tell us our small chihuahua got in our back yard with our dogo argentino & our mastiff. Well, the mastiff attacked him. Splinter(the chihuahua) is about the size of Jack's head, as you probably guessed, he's the mastiff. He tore him up pretty good, and thank God for good neighbors, because if ours hadn't jumped the fence & stopped it, Jack would have killed him. He was in pretty rough shape. He is looking a whole lot better today, but he has a really big gash on his side, and lots of puncture wounds from Jack's teeth. So of course we were bummed out that we couldn't be here to be with him. But soo thankful for our neighbor. He took him in for us, & even drove him to the vet the next morning. Where a friend of ours works, and we are also extremely thankful for that, because she was able to help us out with the bill & letting me know how he was doing the entire time. And now we have to get rid of Jack. He has never been agressive at all, so it's hard for me to even picture him doing that, but we can't have him around Aubry if he is going to act that way. The good news about that whole trip, besides the fact that we got to spend time with some of our favorite people, is that we took Aubry for a check up on her hips, and everything looks GREAT!!! We don't have to take her back for another six months! We couldn't be more happy!!! After her appointment we took her to Bass Pro to meet Santa for the first time. She did pretty good. She was pretty nervous when Richard went to hand her to him, but then he pulled out a little candy cane & she went right to him! Haha! The Santa there looked the part perfectly, but he didn't play it very well. He didn't talk or anything, just sat there smiling. It was rather awkward. Aubry liked it, and we got a pretty good picture to show her in the future, so that's all that matters. Plus she loves Bass Pro, so she had a blast for the rest of the time we were in there.

While we were at Todd's I also got a call from my doctor about my pap results.Well, I missed the call actually. I've been really worried since I've been having these pains. And I knew as soon as I saw I had a missed call from them that they were going to say it was abnormal. So I waited until after their lunch break was over & called back.The results came back abnormal, and the doctor wanted me to go in for a colposcopy. I had never had one of those done before, so I asked the girl on the phone about it, and she did really well at explaining it. Of course I was scared for them to tell me something was abnormal, so I went to tell Richard. Let me tell you, I have always known that I married the perfect person for me. He is my best friend, and he is always there for me, and I have no clue what I would do without him. All I had to do was tell him what they said & without another word he took me in his arms & just let me cry. I know, I probably seem like a drama queen at this point, but I was scared, so be it. So yesterday was the day for the colposcopy. I drove down to Safford, took Aubry to spend some time with her awesome aunties Katie & Kyla, and off I went. It was pretty awkward. And it only hurt a little when he took the samples for biopsies. However, I am STILL having these stupid pains, they are actually just getting worse. So now I have to go back in a week for yet another ultrasound. Blah! When I text Richard to let him know I was all done with the appointment (he was at work or he would have been there with me) he called me right away to ask me how I was feeling & what the doctor said etc. He is amazing. I seriously do not know what I would do without him. After having a some what emotionally draining day, it was wonderful to go pick up my beautiful little girl & have her come running to me yelling "mama! mama! mama!" & giving me the biggest hug ever!! Followed with an "I luuuuuuuhhhhh you!!!!" <3

Through this whole thing of me having pains, and feeling scared, my best friend Stephanie has been there for me to talk to about things and vent to, and also explain things because she has been through it all before. She is also amazing. Not only is she always there for me no matter what, and always has been, she is going through some pretty major stuff herself, and she is so strong & just....well, awesome!! She is an absolutely amazing person & I am so thankful to have her in my life. Of course my family has been there for me to talk to as well, and I couldn't ask for more awesome people in my life. I just feel extremely blessed to have these people in my life. Each and every one of them. Especially Richard and Aubry. They are my everything, and I absolutely could not imagine life without them. Richard has been there for me for so many different things, I have always known I could turn to him, even before we were dating. He has such a huge heart, and while I always knew it belonged to me, and so did he, it took us a while to get there. But it was so worth it. I am so blessed to get to spend the rest of my life with this amazing man who understands me in a way that no one else does. And we created this amazing little person who has changed our lives forever, and brought us closer in so many ways. I may have had a few rough days, and I know I will have more to come, but I am so thankful I have these amazing people to go through life with.

Sometimes being a girl stinks!

For about the past week I have been having these pretty bad pains in my lower right abdomen. I've kind of had them on & off since I got an IUD after having Aubry, but nothing like this. I went for a little check up, you know, the ones all of us girls LOVE...NOT! It's always super awkward & extremely uncomfortable if you ask me. Anyway, that's when it started really hurting. I usually have some cramping after those kind of things, so I didn't think much of it..until it wouldn't go away. So of course, me being the smart person that I am(cough cough), decided to google it. I should never, ever, EVER do that. Because I some how always manage to find the worst answers out there. Anyway, after talking to my awesome best friend, Stephanie, I came to the conclusion that I have an ovarian cyst. They're pretty common with an IUD from what I understand, and the symptoms I have seem about right. All of this isn't really a big deal, the part I'm mad about is that I finally, after weeks of not having any motivation what so ever to work out, have that motivation I've been wanting...but every time I try to do it...I feel like some thing is stabbing me in the ovary! It's so annoying! Now, I know people have way bigger problems than this, my best friend, for instance. But I needed to vent, and that's what I'm doing. While Richard listens to me & talks to me about it, I am sure he is tired of hearing about it by now, so I decided to share with whoever will read this. Or maybe no one will read it, and I will just feel better for getting it off my chest. I made an appointment to go see my doctor on Friday, bright & early. So then I will know what is wrong for sure, and get some advice on what to do!

Montana

Let me just start this post by saying that I am SO thankful for Richard's awesome work schedule because it lets us have long family vacations, with him really only taking 7 days off of work. Giving us a total of 21 days of vacation! It's amazing!

Montana was awesome. We had so much fun. The drive there wasn't too exciting, we left pretty early & switched back & forth, we were on the road for 24 hours straight. It was worth it once we got there, but we were both really exhausted, & Aubry was more than ready to get out of that jeep! Of course we stopped a lot, and we let her get out & run around. We stopped in Utah & found a park & let her run around for about an hour or so. She loved that. We always felt awful when we had to put her back in the jeep. We spent the first part of our vacation in Forsyth with Gary & Cora (Richard's mom's dad & step-mom). Lee & Rose also live in Forsyth & so do Jay & his girlfriend Tracey. It was a lot of fun. We spent the first few days at Lee & Rose's house, & they are always a blast. Aubry loved Lee! She had so much fun playing with him. I think she had a little crush, haha! When we went to Gary & Cora's we went out looking at their property, mostly to scout for deer I think, but I had fun just looking at the beautiful scenery. It really is beautiful out there. I couldn't believe how much property they had. Richard  & I went out one morning with his bow & tried to get him a buck, but it was a no go. It seemed like we were always just missing them. So he ended up going & getting it with Lee's gun. I was bummed that I wasn't there when he shot it ( I stayed at the house with Aubry),  and then I had to help cut up all the meat. And when I say help I mean Jay & Tracey helped get it off the bone, & then Cora & I cut it all up. So I told Richard I had to be there when he shot the next one or I wasn't helping at all. haha! The fun part is being there for the kill, not cutting up all the meat! YUCK!  Anyway, we went to Margot & Don's next. That's Lee Ann's mom & step-dad. And of course we had a blast there, too. It was so cold for the week we were there! BUURRR!!! But we did go out & I got to be there when Richard shot his next buck, thank you Margot for watching Aubry for me. It was so exciting. I had never been hunting before, and I actually hate guns, but it was a rush, I can only imagine how Richard felt. It made me want to actually hunt next year, until he had to gut it, then I changed my mind, really quick! haha! It was still a lot of fun & I think I will enjoy going with him for years to come.  

The trip home was a little better than the trip up. We got a late start, so we ended up stopping & getting a hotel. Then we got on the road bright & early the next morning, it was nice because then by the time we got to Colorado it was like the middle of the day. It was dark through Colorado on the way up & I was bummed because I love Colorado. It's beautiful there! We stopped at a little fishing place there & let Aubry run around, then not to long after that we hit snow & it was WAY to cold to let her out, so sad to say, she had to stay in the car for most of the way from Colorado. When we got to New Mexico it was dark, and we saw a TON of Elk!! I had never seen a live elk before, so it was exciting just to see 1, but I don't even know how many we saw, well over 100. It was awesome. But also scary because they're huge, & it was dark & we were tired. But we made it home safe, so that's what matters. :) I'm still not very good at posting pictures on here at I write, so here are a few from our trip!