Tidbits from birth to 6 weeks!

(Started writing this post two weeks ago...Elise is acutally 8 weeks now, but I better just post what I have now before I get further behind!!)

What they say is true: time flies by and your baby grows up too quickly!  I will admit, there where times (like 3 in the morning) where I wished for time to pass quickly because of some tough moments, but really I can't believe how much she has already grown and rather than anticipate what's ahead, I'm enjoying every moment and stage she is in now!  I'm amazed at how quickly Elise has started picking new things up.

Here are a few things I want to remember about her first 6 weeks:

-She has a gorgeous smile! Now at week 6, she greets us with smiles each time she sees us!  She LOVES her daddy, and he can always get the biggest smiles our of her. I'm slightly jealous ;) She loves when he says to her, "Woah Dude!" in the cheesiest voice ever.  Her favorite is when you're changing her diaper and she poops on you...she really smiles big then!

-Speaking of poop, this babe can poop!!  I honestly lost count of the number of times she's pooped on Dan or me while we change her diaper!  She's sneaky too...I swear she waits until we've taken of the diaper and gone in with a wipe before she lets out her last remainder of poop.  She's gotten it on the wall even.  But then she flashes that smile of hers and I just melt.  Poop on me all you want little girl.

-She's very alert, and has been since birth.  She loves to observe her surroundings and her big blue (at least for now) eyes just follow Dan and I across the room.  She also loves starting into family and friends eyes.

-She loves her jungle gym and staring at toys.  She swats at them, and as each day goes by she does it with intention rather than just random arm movements. She also loves  to lay flat on her back and stretch out!  If she's fussy and it's not due to hunger/messy diaper, chances are she just wants you to set her down under her jungle gym and let her go to town.  She will lay under that thing for almost an hour, content as can be. Another toy she loves is "Glowy" her glowing seahorse.  We turn on glowy each night before bed and she loves to listen to the music and stare at the glowing light in the dark.

-We had a bit of a scare with Elise's hearing the first week of her life!  Elise failed her first two hearing tests.  The nurse who delivered the news could have definitely done a better job at explaining the details, especially to first time parents!  But instead she came in the room and told us they'd tested her twice and shed'd failed both times so we'd need to get a third test redone in about a week, then she left the room.  Upon hearing that news I broke into tears.  I didn't know what they meant or what questions to ask, even if the nurse had stuck around long enough for me to ask them.  Once I started crying I couldn't stop lol, it was embarrassing.

Once we got home, Dan started doing some research and we learned it is very common for babies to fail their first few hearing tests, and does not mean there is any problems with their hearing; they may simply have amniotic fluid in their ears that hasn't fully drained.  We felt slightly reassured, but I wasn't fully relieved, and was anxious for that third test!  In the meantime, while we waited, we could tell she was "hard of hearing" to say the least!  During the first 5-8 days of her life she really did not respond to much noise.  Yuki's bark, a door slamming, yelling...no response.  On day 5 when I would breastfeed her I started making a high pitched smacking noise with my lips and she would blink her eyes, and if Dan made a loud noise she would again blink her eyes.  We took that as a good sign.  On day 8 she had her third hearing test.  This time we were able to go into the testing room with her.  I wasn't even breathing while they put the earbuds in and started the test. We watched the computer screen, and saw a "FAIL" message come up.  The doctor said to try a smaller ear piece and try again.  This time the results came back "PASS" on both ears!!!  We were so relieved.  As they days went on she started responding to more and more sounds, and she is definitely not deaf or hard of hearing now!

Her smiling at me seriously makes my day!

Grandparents Love

I wish I could have seen Elise with my Grandpa Malan and Grandma Twitchell and Dan's grandma Jensen (although I'm sure she had plenty of time with them before she came to earth lol).  They were all wonderful people and she is sure missing out by not getting to grow up with them in her life!

Fortunately, she still has many awesome great-grandparents! I hope they are still around long enough for Elise to really get to know and love them,!  I am glad I have some pictures of them with her as a baby.

Grandpa Jensen came to the hospital to meet her.  He brought her a cute onsie and blanket set.  It was very sweet of him and he spent some time visiting with us!  He also took our first family picture for us!

Here she is with my Grandma Malan.  She was 4 weeks old.  She was asleep most of the visit, and Dan and I enjoyed visiting with Grandma while she held Elise.

She also got to spend time with Grandma Moore who came to visit from Missouri!  Elise was 5-6 weeks old.  Gma Moore was here for about 2 weeks, and got some quality cuddling time in with Elise! We don't see her very often, and she had a close call with death earlier this year, so it was very special to get to visit with her and to see how much she loves her newest great-grandaughter!

My Grandpa Twitchell and Mary came over to eat dinner and spend some time with her as well.  She was 6.5 weeks, and full of smiles for him.  She is more alert now and just stared at him in awe for most of the night.  He is so good with babies, and full of funny noises she loved!

Elise's Newborn Photos

Most of you have probably seen these pictures on facebook, but I wanted to blog and share them here as well!

After Elise was born I knew I wanted to get some professional newborn pics taken.  I googled newborn photography then compared reviews, pictures, and prices of a few local photographers that came up.  I decided to book with "Poppies and Posies Newborn Photography" because I liked their portfolio. I called up Janine, the owner, and scheduled my appointment.  She was super professional and gave me some basic information and tips for the day of.

In the meantime, my sister in law, Whitney, and I decided to do our own newborn shoot just for fun.  I'd seen all the ridiculously cute poses on pinterest  and thought to myself, "how hard can it be?"  Before the shoot I'd fed Elise as much as she'd eat, hoping to put her into a milk coma and she'd be easy to work with!  Let me just say this: newborn photography is dang hard!!!  She was wide awake the entire time, and she would not hold any of the poses we tried to put her in.  She wasn't fussy, but we simply had no idea what we were doing, so we were unable to get any cute pictures.  After this epic fail I was so nervous for our professional photography appointment!  What if she was fussy, or what if I paid a fortune and still didn't get any great pictures back??

The morning of the shoot Elise woke up at 6:30 am and I forced her to stay awake the entire morning until we left for our appointment at 10! I knew she'd fall asleep on the car ride there (we drove from our house in Payson to Lehi) and I hoped she'd be tired enough to sleep during the pictures! I also fed her right before we left.  My plans worked and she slept the ENTIRE time!  She was an angel!

The photographers were SOOO good with her and it was obvious they had so much experience working with newborns.  They knew just how to handle her, they were so patient and it was so much fun to just sit back and watch them with her!  They were so creative and I loved all the ideas and props they had chosen to use on her.  I couldn't wait to get the pictures back and when I did they were even better than I could have imagined!

I could not chose a favorite if I had to try.  Here are her pictures!

7.01.2015, The Day Life As We Knew It Changed Forever

            

It definitely changed for the better.  Although, we did expect that change to occur a little sooner...

My due date was June 24th, which came and went.  I was discouraged, impatient, uncomfortable, and so ready to meet our baby! She was pretty cozy in the womb and wasn't going to come out until we made her!  At 41 weeks I felt I would be pregnant for the rest of my life, so I opted to be induced, and on the evening of June 30th I was admitted to the hospital to start the process. (Side note: this was also the day we closed on our house. It was an eventful week!)   I was dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced (which had been the case for 4 weeks).  Most of you are probably familiar with the process of inducement, but I'll record my experience for memory's sake.

-June 30th, 9:30 pm: They started by giving me Cytotec, a pill they insert in the cervix that is supposed to soften the cervix which should hopefully cause it to efface and dilate.  They came to check my progress every three hours.  They also set me up with an IV and the contraction and fetal heart monitors. I tried to sleep on and off throughout the night but my anticipation and nerves kept me awake!

-12:30 am: still dilated at a 2...poop!  And so they gave me another dose of Cytotec.

-3:30 am:. dilated to a 2 "plus" (which felt like they were saying, "you haven't progressed but we don't have the heart to tell you that" LOL). Last dose of cytotec, then we waited four hours.

-7:30 am: I am a 2 and 1/2.  Exciting stuff.

-9:30 am: Still sitting at 2 1/2 so we started Pitocin and they checked my progress about every two hours.

-11:30: I was "almost a 3".

-1:30 The doctor came in and broke my water. They found meconium in the amniotic fluid, so the doctor explained there was a chance Elise could have swallowed it and they would need to suction out her lungs after she was born. Now they started checking my cervix hourly. No progress until 4 pm.

-4pm: I was a 4 and 1/2! My contractions were not super intense but I was very uncomfortable and I had planned on getting an epidural, so I decided to go ahead and get it now in case I started progressing faster...yeah right.  I had been pretty nervous about the epidural but it was not bad at all!  However, only the left side of my body was numb.  The right side was tingly but I could still feel contractions and so the anesthesiologist came back in and readjusted my epidural which seemed to do the trick!

-7pm: I was a 5 1/2!  It had taken three more hours,and in my head I was figuring I had another four or five hours left until I finally reached that sacred 10 cm.  During this entire time, my contractions were not following the "regular" pattern of peeking and then giving my body and the baby a rest.  Mine were consistent.  Elise didn't seem to mind though and she was doing so well throughout this long process, nothing was more reassuring than having the fetal heartbeat monitor right next to me at all times.  My evening nurse, Emma, (she was so awesome) put a big medicine ball thing (can't remember what she called it) between my legs because she said it would cause the baby to put more pressure on the cervix.

-8pm:  The doctor came in, and I am fully preparing myself for the news that nothing has changed.  He checks and says, "your a full 10, you're ready to start pushing."  I look at him and say, "you're joking right??"  "Nope, I don't joke about these things" he says.  WOW.  The feeling that overcame me was unexpected.  It was a mixture of pure excitement and fear. I felt unprepared.  The moment we'd been waiting so long for was almost here. I had felt prepared up until this point, and suddenly my nerves kicked in and I started shaking uncontrollably.  After the nurse had prepared everything and we were ready to get going, we asked for a quick moment alone.  Dan looked at me and told me he'd been in the bathroom down on his knees praying his heart out that everything would be okay and that things would work out and Elise would be with us soon.  I believe that his prayers were what sped things along :)  So we said another prayer and then began the pushing!


 Experiencing that part of labor was surreal.  I wasn't in pain due to the epidural, and all I felt was pressure, but it was still tiring and obviously laborious!  Dan was AMAZING.  He was so tender, patient, encouraging, and I felt so much love for him during that experience.  Even though he had not realized before hand that he would be taking such an active role in the labor process he did so well!! (This is a man who vomits at the sight of spit lol)!!

I pushed for an hour and half. I was so thankful for having the epidural because I was able to focus on really pushing and not be in so much pain that I was not able to appreciate the experience.

-July 1st, 9:30 pm: Elise made her debut!  There are no words that can truly express the feeling that overcame me when I pushed the final push and saw the doctor lift up my baby..  I'm actually getting teary eyed thinking about it.  You moms can relate :)  Dan had wanted to cut the cord, but due to the meconium in her lungs the doctor had to hurry and do it.

It was about 15 minutes before I could actually hold Elise.  That was the most frustrating part of the whole experience, even though I knew it was for good reasons.  The NICU team was in the room suctioning out the meconium from her lungs.  After they were done they handed her to me and I finally got to hold my baby girl for the first time.  That moment was the single most joyous moment of my life, and I had never felt so much love for anything in my life.  She was perfect.  She was beautiful.  And she was ours.

We took our time after the delivery savoring our little girl and spending our first moments as a family.  Then we moved down to the mother and baby unit where the cleaned off Elise and I recovered...but that's a post for another day.  This one's already too long!!!

All in all, even though it took a little longer than I would have liked, Elise and I were healthy and had no major complications, which is all I wanted in the first place!                          

8 lbs, 19.5 inches long. Looking all newborn alien like :)                

She smelled like heaven             

So precious!

I seriously stared at her 24/7 in disbelief she was ours

Daddy's girl from thev very start!    

First picture as a family.

*Hopefully this becomes a habit again*

Blogging sort of lost it's appeal years ago.  Not that I don't enjoy reading other's blogs, but I was sick of keeping up on my own lol.

Now that Elise is here, I am making it a goal to keep blogging so I can document her growth and our family adventures, and keep a journal that our family can look back on for years to come!  She brings so much happiness into our life!!!

It's going to take some effort on my part to get started ...but here goes nothing!

To come:

-labor and delivery

-newborn pics

-update on the first six weeks

Then hopefully I'll keep up to date :)

Yes, It's a new post. BABY Jensen News.

It's only been about 20 months since my last post...

Sort of got burned out of the whole blogging thing, and felt like it was always the same old things I was writing about.  I took a nice long break.

Lately, I've been feeling like the recent changes in our lives are so important to write down so I do not forget (or if I forget I have them written down somewhere to go back and read and remember)!

So I'm back.  Hopefully you will enjoy reading this post.  It's super long, so if you cut out half way through, that's okay :)

It would be absolutely pointless and impossible to try and update the last 20 months.  So let's just start fresh with the important stuff currently happening.  I'm pregnant!  Almost 15 weeks!!!  Dan and I are so excited and I want to share the details of how it happened, and share a quick update on the first 14 weeks.

Let's go back for a minute...Dan and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on July 28th.  7 years people!!! I was mind blown to think it had already been 7 years.

To be completely honest, pregnancy and being a mom was never really at the forefront of my mind. It wasn't a goal of mine.  I never felt good enough or ready to be a mom, so I put it off. That makes me sound horribly selfish, horribly worldly, I know.

Maybe it was because of how I was raised.  I practically was a mom from the time I was 6.  I raised my 6 brothers and sisters while my parents needed to work full time to make ends meet.  I also went through some very intense trials from a very young age.  I never had confidence in my ability to be a good mother.  I was very afraid of turning into my parents.  Now, let me say that my parents are good people.  They have made mistakes, but have truly repented, and bettered themselves.   But I was determined to learn from their mistakes.  I also wholeheartedly believe I needed this extra time to fully overcome my fears and learn about myself before I could be the mom I want to be.  I would not change the way Dan and I have done things even if I could.  

After 7 years (7 years of taking a lot of "crap" from people who did not understand that Dan and I were doing the right thing for our family), Dan and I both knew it was time.  It was special.  It is a conversation and experience I will hold dear and cherish forever.  We decided to try and start our family.  We knew there was a special spirit in heaven who had been patiently waiting for us to bring him/her to Earth.

We were so blessed to get pregnant easily.  We personally know so many couples who struggle with infertility, and we feel so deeply for them.  Each person has their own trials to face.  I hold dear a comment one of my friends made to me when I was talking to her about how I was scared to share the news of our pregnancy with those I knew were struggling to get pregnant themselves.  She told me that I had been through enough trials of which I had no control, that I deserved to finally get something when I wanted it.

I found out I was pregnant on October 19th!  I had been late, and since we were trying I was hopeful that meant what I thought it meant :)  So Dan and I both went to Wal-Mart to buy some tests.  We got home and I took a test.  Let me just say...when you are in such a state of anxiety, those tests can be confusing to read!!!  I saw one dark blue line, and one faint blue line.  The test said two blue lines was a positive, but I was skeptical because the second line was so faint!  So I took another test.  This time, two lines about the same "darkness."  I was instantly ecstatic, but equally skeptical.  It felt too good to be true.  I called to Dan down the hall, "you are not going to believe this!"  He came into the bathroom and I showed him the tests.  We stared at each other in excitement and disbelief!  Could we really be pregnant?

The next morning I called Valley Obgyn, expecting to go in for a blood test or something to confirm my pregnancy.  The receptionist very kindly told me they don't normally see you until at least 8 weeks.  WTF.  8 weeks.  Now, I get it, but at the time it seemed like crazy amount of time to wait.

Our 8 week appointment finally arrived!  I was nervous and excited.  After getting the uncomfortable "doctor" stuff out of the way, I got my first ultrasound, and we got to see our little baby for the first time!!!  Up until that point I was half certain the doctor was going to tell me I had never been pregnant and was just a crazy lady hallucinating the whole deal.  Nope.  Really pregnant, phew!

Even though our baby was teeny-tiny, and there was not much to see, it was AMAZING.  So special.

Week 9 we had a little bit of a scare.  I woke up bleeding.  I called my nurse, and she asked me a few questions then looked up my chart.  She let me know I was A- blood type.  Dan is O+. She explained that since we do not know the blood type of the baby yet, she wanted me to get a Rhogam shot to prevent my body from making antibodies.  Rhogam-what?? Anti-what???  I was clueless up to this point about blood types, antibodies, and the whole nine-yards.  Dan and I started researching the topic, and I became frightened that it was already too late and I was going to miscarry.  We went to the doctor's office, and they did another ultrasound to check on the baby.  Our little one was okay!!!  I felt a little better, but the nurse still wanted me to run over to the hospital and get the tested to make sure my body had not created any antibodies yet and then get the Rhogam shot.  It was a stressful day, but after all was said and done I got the shot, and everything was fine!  I later learned my bio-mom is A- too.

Week 12 we went back for our second appointment.  Or should I say we *thought* it was week 12.  We get there, the doctor comes in and tells me "so you're 11 weeks, huh?"  "Nope.  I'm 12 weeks."  I replied.  She gets our her chart, and sure enough, confirms that I am only 11 weeks.  Apparently, when we booked at our 8 week appointment the receptionist scheduled us 3 weeks out instead of 4, and I somehow skipped a whole week.  Wishful thinking I guess.  ALSO, It was news to me that I don't get an ultrasound at every appointment.  Dan and I were totally expecting to see our little baby again, only to be told nope.  Ha ha, new mom here.  But we did get to listen to the HEART BEAT for the first time.  It was so cool!!!  175 beats per minute.  I wish we could have listened to it all day.  It was so special.

Wanna know what is not so special?  Morning sickness.  Or should I say all freaking day sickness.  The name is so misleading.  Despite knowing that morning sickness is a good thing, it still sucked.  I started feeling sick around week 6 and still at week 14 have my moments, but it is definitely SO much better already! Second trimester seems to be living up the "hype" so far :)

I have gained more weight than I care to admit, and have little muscle.  I was so judgmental of you pregnant moms out there before I got pregnant, and thought for sure I would be one of those woman who worked out the same as I had prior to pregnancy.  Ha!  So much for that philosophy!  I have learned there is more to life.

I give in to my cravings..."baby wants..." Is a common phrase these days lol!  Unbuttoning my jeans was no longer cutting it, so I finally gave in and bought maternity pants.  Gotta say, they are sooo much more comfortable!  I feel like my boobs cannot possibly get any bigger, even though I know this is only the beginning.  TMI.  I'll stop.

So that's the journey so far.  I was planning to write about telling our families, but this post is already so long that I will make that story a separate post of it's own!

We are so grateful for the opportunity to be parents, and we are so excited for this next chapter in our lives to continue!!!

14 weeks

First Ultrasound pic

April Events

It's been a while since I updated, so I figured I better blog before I get too far behind.  Not that any thing super blog worthy has happened, but still.

Some April Highlights :

I got to hang out with my sister and niece, Marzia, this past weekend.  We took a walk down the Provo Canyon Trail and visited.  She is such a cutie and getting so big!!! I don't see her often, and my sister didn't want me posting these pictures on facebook (crazy husband drama) but he doesn't check my blog, so I am posting them here!

 At the beginning of the month I got together with some zumba friends that I hadn't seen for a while.  We went to Ruby River for Dinner, then visited and took some pics.

Ana, me, Karen, Mary

 We have taken advantage of this sunny weather and played outside whenever possible. Some activities we've recently done are: hiking, taking Yuki to the park almost daily, biking, golfing, etc .  Dan and the boys also busted out their RC monster trucks and had some fun racing those around.  We love spring!!!

Pics of our shenanigans:

Getting his car ready to race

Hiking Big Springs Hollow: Follow the leader

Enjoying the sunshine on  our hike

Yuki exploring the noises she was hearing from the bushes.  She looks like a fox in this pic!

Another April Event: Dan and I ran in a 5k with my family April 20th .  It wasn't anything competitive, but it was still fun to do and I have to to give props to my mom for doing it!  She is over 50 now and has lost over 40 pounds in the last few months! She looks amazing!  Here's a before and after pic:

Before, and after at the race

We had a nice date night and ate at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (for the life of me I can never say that name right.  I always want to say Ruth AND Chris'...it just makes grammatical sense!!!) courtesy of a gift-card I won at the Home Expo back in March.  Anyways, we had a $100 gift-card to put towards our meal, and still paid $51 bones out of pocket.  We both enjoyed some yummy steak and shrimp, potatoes, and asparagus.  Delicious meal, but very expensive!

This month I have been working really hard to meet my fitness goals, and it's paying off!  I wanted to be benching 95 and squatting 185 by June 1st as part of our 90 day challenge, and good news: I will have met both those goals before June!!! I can get 95 up 2x, and am currently squatting 175.  I'm pretty sure I will surpass my goals by June 1st which feels awesome!  I've also been helping some friends get started with a weight loss and weight training routine, which has been fun, but also challenging! Dan helps me figure out a good routine for them though!

That's April in a randomly organized nutshell!  Thanks for reading :)

"Dry Canyon" Hike

We went on a hike this afternoon after church to spend some time together and enjoy the sunshine.  It was a bit windier than we expected though! We came across a mutilated deer leg (from that point on I was certain we were being stalked by a cougar that was going to jump out of the bushes and attack at any second...I was even going through certain defensive moves in my mind lol).  Fortunately, we had no such encounter. The view at the top of one on the peaks was amazing! There is something about being on top of a mountain peak looking down on everything below you that is so exhilarating!  This is a trail we are definitely going to do again in the spring when everything is in bloom!

90 Day Challenge

The Jensen crew started a 90 day health/fitness challenge on March 1st.  Dan came up with the idea.  He is working on becoming a personal trainer through NASM.  He is studying to take the test, and trying out the things he is learning/reading about in real life.  Bridgette, Brent, Whitney, Chris, Sue, Dan and I are all doing the challenge together!  We all have different goals and reasons for why we are doing it.  Some want to lose weight, some want to build muscle, but we all want to be more fit and healthy!

We all got together March 1st and talked one on one with Dan about our fitness goals, and where we want to be in 90 days.  He came up with a plan for each person to help them meet their goals.  We had a starting weigh in that night; the final weigh in will be June 1st.

Diet is key, so Dan sat down with everyone and told them about myfitnesspal (we have been using it for a while now, and it was vital in our weight loss!)  Because we are all friends we can see each other's food diaries, and workout diaries.  It really makes you feel accountable and want to push yourself!

It is awesome to see his family be as committed as they are.  They have all been very diligent with myfitness pal, and have been working out each day, and many of them whose goal is to lose weight have started off strong, losing 6-7 lbs a week!

On top of individual workouts, each Saturday we have been meeting at Payson High football field and doing bleacher drills and different HIIT drills.  We start out with a warm up lap around the field.  We do multiple sets of lunges, hops, one legged hops, sprints, and other drills up the bleachers.  Then Dan switches it up each week with various high intensity cardio drills such as windsprints, jump-rope, ladders, gassers, burpees, etc.  nothing makes me feel like I have earned each calorie burnt like these drills.  I feel so accomplished when I am completely fatigued and spent at the end!

My personal goals are:

*I would like to lose about 7 more pounds. I am currently at 119 (I got down to 116 on our cruise).  My original goal weight was 115, but having been at 116 I still didn't quite look the way I want to, so my new goal weight is 112.  Most of that weight will come from my thighs.  This is definitely my stubborn area.  For some woman it's their abs, but for me it has always been my thighs.  I have built up a lot of muscle in my legs, and it's pretty solid, but it doesn't show as much as I would like because of the extra lbs still there.

*I would like to be able to see more definition with my muscles, specifically my legs and abs.  I am pretty impressed with my progress thus far.  I never thought I could get to where I am at now, but I know I can accomplish a lot more and look the way I want to. A way for me to measure this is by setting specific goals about the amount of weight I would like to lift come June 1st.  There are a couple of exercises I would specifically like to set goals for--bench and squats.

*Currently I bench 80 lbs about 6 times, 3 sets. By June 1st I would like to bench at least 95. Squatting I can do 155 now, so by June 1st I would like to be at 185. I would also like to be able to do pull-ups and dips with out assistance.  I am so close already!!!

Weightlifting for me has become a passion. I will admit, I love feeling like a badass.  I love when I get compliments on my correct form or the amount of weight I'm lifting. It's addicting. I love that I am helping (if in tiny, tiny way) to change the stereotype about girls and lifting. I love that it is something Dan and I can do together. Mostly, I love the way I feel about myself.

90 days is enough time to make some big changes if you really want to.  I encourage all of you to set some goals for yourself and work towards them! They may seem unreachable at first, but give it all you got and you will surprise yourself ;)

Pic taken today

Basketball Champs

Dan's basketball team, On Track, won the Nebo basketball tournament last night. It was intense.  There were some pretty rough fouls because both teams were playing very aggressively.  It was a fight to the end, but they ended up winning.  I don't remember the exact score, but our team won by about 20 pts I believe!  They had so many fans come out to support them, so the energy from the crowd also made it really fun and exciting! 

Dan said he enjoyed this season because he was not huffing and puffing 2 minutes into the game like last year lol.  He played great defense all year long, and had multiple games where he scored over 20 points. 

Here are the guys after the game with their new t-shirts :)

Champs

And the only pic I got of Dan that wasn't completely blurry

Kelee's Wedding Day

My little sister Kelee got married last Friday.  She doesn't seem near old enough to get married...she's only 19 years old.  Oh wait, I was 19 when I got married too...hmm. 

She was a gorgeous bride.   She had her hair and makeup professionally done by a friend of Alan's family.  She wore my dress, and it fit her beautifully!  Her colors were different shade of teal, yellow, and browns.

As she walked down the aisle and the ceremony started you could tell she was super nervous, but once she and Alan said "I do" and grabbed hands and exchanged rings she instantly looked the happiest I have ever seen her.  She had a glow about her the rest of the night.  I hadn't met Alan's family before that night, but they are very kind people, and very welcoming of her into their family.  Dan had fun talking to Alan's parents about Japan (their ancestors are from Japan and both the mom dad, and all their sons served missions there; Dan also served there ).  Alan's mom also has two sisters that live in Hilo Honolulu where Jake is currently serving his mission. Small world we live in.

It was a pretty intense day for me for many reasons which I won't get into, but throughout the day I kept thinking about how lucky I am to have Dan as my husband for all eternity.  I know Kelee is very happy to have found her "prince charming", and I hope Kelee and Alan can make it to the temple soon and be sealed for eternity as well.

The wedding ceremony, luncheon, and reception were all held at the same location--Belle Vista in Lindon.  Everything was decorated beautifully. The luncheon was delicious.  Alan's brother in law owns a catering company, so they catered the wedding lucheon and reception. We had top sirloin, asparagus, mashed potatoes, chicken marsala, and a salad.  At her reception she had a crepe bar.  I ate one to many for sure because they were so dang good!!!  Alan's sister has a photography business, so she took all the professional pictures throughout the day, and I am sure she took a lot better ones than mine, but below are some pics I snapped throughout the day.

Photo collage of the day

Quality Time

Dan and I spend a lot of time together.  Heck, we work together, we basically spend every minute together, but that doesn't mean we spend quality time together. 

 

Work has been a little more hectic than usual for the past two months because our company recently bought another storage facility.  So Dan and I have been working at the new facility while our bosses are still in the process of hiring another set of managers. We realized one night that all we really do these days is work and go to the gym together.  We couldn't remember the last actual date we had been on!  So Dan told me he was going to plan a date for Saturday night after work. 

 

We went ice skating, which we hadn't done in years!  It was soooooo much fun.  We talked about fun things, reminisced about memories of us dating, and just enjoyed each other's company.  I loved holding his hand while skating round and round.  It was so refreshing to be out on a date with my hubby!!!

 

There was a BYU hockey game, so we watched the first 40 minutes of the game.  It was pretty pathetic on BYU's part. When we left BYU was down 0-6...but it was fun to do something we hadn't done in years.  We used to watch UVU hockey a lot back in the day, and even though BYU was less than impressive we had fun watching the fights that broke out! That is one thing you can always count on in hockey-- regardless of how many goals they score, there are bound to be some good fights!

 We realized just how important it is to make time to spend with each other outside of the usual routine. Quality, not Quantity!

 

It's my turn to plan the next date night, and I have such a fun idea...stay tuned :)

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2012

Another Christmas come and gone. 

I know I am a few weeks late, but it still feels like just yesterday.  It's crazy that it's already 2013!!!

We spent Christmas Eve with the Jensen's at the family party.  It was down in West Mtn this year.  Because of the distance between houses out there and the weather we didn't go caroling for the first time ever, but we did play some intense games of Bingo.  The coveted prize was a karaoke machine. I stole it a couple times, but it kept getting stolen right back.  In the end Dan and I walked away with a Monopoly game and some Christmas wash clothes--can never have too many of those!  The grand kids put on the nativity play, and then we got a visit from Ol' St. Nick himself.   After dinner and cleanup the boys started a game of elimination, and I decided to jump in for a few rounds.  We had a lot of fun visiting and catching up with all the family!

Our Bingo White Elephant Gifts

Chey, Bridge, and Brent playing Bingo

Chris and Whit playing Bingo

The cousins acting out the nativity, a yearly tradition

Santa brought us a Cinemark gift Card!

Dan going in for a lay up

Jensen kids with Santa

 Christmas morning came and for the first year ever we slept in until 9 o'clock.  Usually I am up by 6 or 7, but this year I figured the presents weren't going anywhere, so we enjoyed our sleep!  We spoiled each other as usual.  Dan got me a new phone, Samsung Galaxy 3, a purse, perfume (VS Seduction, yummy!), workout gear, and mtn biking shorts, snowboarding pants, and other stuff.  I love my new phone! My old phone had a cracked screen for about 6 months that I was just dealing with.  It was an "Under Armour" Christmas for Dan.  He got a hoodie, gym shorts, tank top, tee shirt--all under armour.  He also got new tennis shoes, a new watch, and a scheels gift card, among other things.


Due to the picture crisis with blogger I decided to make collages :)

Dan's gifts

Sav's gifts

Yuki got a toy duck for Christmas, and she hasn't put it down since. She loves it.

We spent the rest of the day in West Mtn.  We went sledding with Chey, Whit and Chris at Peteetneet.  We were amazed that it wasn't that crowded when we got there, and we had plenty of room to sled and have fun.  Well, that "room" only lasted for about 30 minutes when the whole town of Payson decided to join us, so we left because the people next to us were flying down the hill with no regard for anyone else around them, and we didn't want anyone to get hurt.   We also played lot of games including spoons and scattergories.  I way overindulged on Christmas candy/treats.  I gave myself the day off from healthy eating--   Lots of tootsie rolls, Hershey's kisses, and Reese's throughout the day, but it was worth it!!  The next couple days I just worked extra hard at the gym, and it's like it never even happened lol.

Spoons!

Present from Lorin and Sue.  I got a cute purse, Dan got some hunting stuff and tools

Sledding!