Guess who is turning 3?

So today I decided to have a party for Keagan on Saturday! His birthday is not until the 18th but we have our anniversary, Christmas and Keagans birthday in the same week and it gets crazy so we are going to celebrate a little early! I am going to try to get all the invites out but if you live near us and can come email me, we would love to have you! OK now to make a cars cake....I'm clueless! Maybe Net can help me! I love little parties, how fun! Let me know if any of you have any ideas for a cars party!

Thanksgiving Pics.....

Husbands are defiantly at their cutest in the kitchen cooking for Thanksgiving dinner!

We went and saw Planet 51 on Thanksgiving while our food digested.

It was Keagans first movie at the theater and his eyes were glued, he loved it!

Keagan and my brother Brian.

Newly weds:)

Cute happy matching cousins!

I loved having 3 of my siblings and parents here for Thanksgiving! Family + Food + Fun = Fabulous holiday!

Roughing it....

This week we went to Jeremy's parents ranch in Nevada. No internet. No service on my phone. Real roughing it:) It is so nice to get away every once in a while and relax and live the simple life. After 2 days I am ready to come back though. Keagan and Jeremy are in Heaven out there. Here are a few pictures......

 

Keagan with a few of his cousins

The other night I went in to put Keagans covers on before I went to bed and I found him asleep like this....he was pretty much standing up...how could you sleep like this? haha love this kid!

GiViNg My ThAnKs.....

Lately I have been especially grateful for.....

Answered Prayers

Jeremy's Job

The mormon pioneers.

My new computer (I opened my Christmas Present a little early:)

Great insurance.

The temple.

My Family, siblings, parents.

A design business that I LOVE and the $$ is great too.

Fertility drugs.

A nice place to live.

FINALLY having my degree.

My mission and memories that pop in my head daily.

Family traditions.

Small acts of kindness

Diligent visiting teachers

Pictures/ memories.

Christmas time.

The Atonement.

Cuddling.

Uplifting music.

My health.

My callings in Relief Society & the stake.

His plan. Not mine.

Great friends.

Jeremy's days off.

A living Prophet.

Technology.

Music.

My favorite jeans...even if they have 2 holes in the knees! They'll never die!

My miracle: Keagan.

Summertime.

A clean house.

The Ensign & Scriptures.

My to do lists.

My new fall Scentsy scents. yum

This is turning into more than just a few things. I guess I could have just said:

my family, the gospel, and life's little happy makers and that would about sum it up!

I am so grateful for everything the Lord has given me.

Checking it twice....

Why does the one coat I love have to be $238? Crossing that off the Christmas list. Maybe I can find a cute cheap version? Today I am making lists for the 3 of us for Christmas ideas. I have to start planning December early because we have Keagans birthday, our anniversary, and Christmas in the same week.....ahhh! Crazy! I cannot think of one thing we NEED, some wants but what a blessing. I remember when I was in YW's someone told how their family got some of their Christmas money the month before and they were to use it to bless someone else who was in need. Then on Christmas morning they would tell who they gave it to and why and how it made them feel. I think I want to start this as a tradition for our family. I am getting so excited for Christmas and the holiday season. Just a special spirit of love and giving all around. Speaking of Christmas, I am the enrichment leader in my ward or relief society activities coordinator or whatever it is called. We have a large activity once a month but 4 of them are the large activities. I had a group coming to sing and they give a Christmas program, well I had it all planned and they called me on Saturday and canceled?!? HELP! I need ideas. What is your ward doing?

Oh my silly faces:)

We got our family pictures taken a couple weeks ago. It always makes me a little nervous because sometimes Keagan wants nothing to do with the camera and will not stay still, probably like most almost 3 year old kids. We got our pictures done by Christina at Humphrey's Photography! I was so impressed, she has a 3 year old and a one year old so she really knew how to make Keagan smile for the camera! You can go to her blog HERE . Christina is having a special right now! You get a 90 minute session with image cd for only $45 (limited time only). That is a screaming deal! If you live in Cedar City email her at HumphreysPhotography@gmail.com to set up an appointment but hurry because the special won't last much longer. Ok well here are just a few  of the pictures she took and edited....... {beware, picture overload}...

My little MIRACLE.......

{Picture taken by Christina Humphrey's}

Keagan is my little miracle. Literally. How did I get him? It was so easy. I got married, went on the pill, and got prego a couple months later. easy. simple. wonderful. I thought I would pop them out like crazy! Yes but I never knew what a miracle he really was til this past Monday. I had an appointment with the doctor to check if my cyst was still there and my blood clot. He looked and they were both gone so we are going to do clomid, shots, IUI, again this month! I was really excited! Then he got quiet and started marking things on the ultrasound and talking to the nurse in another "language". Then he said...I'm not sure how we missed this but you have pcos (polycystic ovary-syndrome). I was so shocked because my original family doctor helped us with our fertility the first year. I had read about pcos and thought that I might have it because I have some of the symptoms. I asked my Dr. to see if this was my problem. He said because I  was regular that I didn't haveit and we moved on to other testing and option. My next Dr. I went to had us take ovulation test for 4 months. They read that I did each month. What i didn't know was that you can have a period every month and still not ovulate or function properly and have pcos. Then I have been going to the specialist Dr since August and we talked about it and he ruled it out again. I wish we could have caught it a 2 years ago and not thousands of dollars later but I am sure I needed that time to learn a few things.

OK so what is pcos? Doctors are not sure if a person has it right at birth but usually it shows its ugly face around puberty time with weight gain, painful periods, etc.. Pcos is genetic, my sister who has 2 sets of twins (fertility stuff) also has pcos. My daughters will have 50% chance of also having it. When you have pcos, your hormones are out of balance. Your body produces too much androgens. which can lead to yucky side effects of which I am grateful do not have all of them:) Most women who have pcos have a problem with their body using insulin, called insulin resistance. When the body doesn't use insulin well, blood sugar levels go up. This is why 70% of women who have pcos are obese when they are diagnosed. The hormones being out of wack cause cysts to form on your ovaries. Here are some of the side effects....
1. mood swings, hormonal changes rapidly.
2. depression
3. Weight gain or upper body obesity (more around the abdomen than the hips).Very hard to lose weight.
4. thinning hair
5. Repeat miscarriages. The cause for this is not known.
6.Inability to become pregnant
7.Causes too much insulin in the blood
8. Facial hair growth
9. Acne
10 Infertility
etc.
I am so glad I skipped out on the facial hair growth one:) I do have thinning hair and have had weight problems most of my life, had a miscarriage, infertility struggles, not really acne. Polycystic ovary syndrome cannot be prevented. But early diagnosis and treatment of it helps prevent long-term complications, such as infertility, metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease and more but will not be cured just helped.
In reading there are a couple options I have....
1. The pcos diet which I have been following since Monday. Very low carb, no bread, crackers, etc, high lean protein and veggies. When a normal person eats a carbohydrate, insulin levels rise to break down the resulting sugar in the blood. But women with PCOS are insulin-resistant, meaning they have defective cells that hamper this metabolism and increase the risk of diabetes. To try to compensate for the defect, their bodies produce more and more insulin, which can damage the insulin-producing system and make you gain weight which makes it harder to get prego. Vicious cycle huh?

2. Many women also take Metphormin  to help lower their blood sugar and help them lose weight making it easier to get pregnant.

3. Clomid will force ovulation but changes are much higher of miscarrying.

4. some women go on the pill because  it helps regulate their hormones and that is how I got pregnant with keagan....on the pill:) What a little miracle he is to me and I am so grateful for him.

I will go in to the doctors next week and find out more. The diagnoses is bitter sweet. I am glad I know what it is now so we can work on fertility more effectively than wondering in the dark but it is bitter knowing I will always have this, at least in this life and that infertility could be a long hard road.

Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward if we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! All is well!

We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away, in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring, Shout praises to our god and king;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again to see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell-
All is well! All is well!

Trick-or-Treat.....

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! What are you doing today? We are having a BBQ with friends! I'm making some cute mummy pizzas for the kids, witches hat cookies, witches fingers, and cemetary 7 layer dip w/ chips. Then it is off to go trick or treating! Keagan has been so excited all day asking me if we can go get treats yet! I love Holidays!

Carving Pumpkins.....

We carved pumpkins with a friends on Monday and had FHE about the Holy Ghost. It was funny to watch the kids get so messy getting the yucky stuff out of their pumpkins!

I helped him carve his.....just a little:)

Finally....

We have been fishing all summer and really have caught nothing:) still really fun though. Jeremy wanted to go one last time last week and I am glad he did because they caught 9 fish and it snowed this week. He went with my dad and his friend Hunter.

(In)Fertility Update.....

I have had quite a few people email me and send me messages on facebook asking about the baby making so I thought I would just update it on the blog instead of writing it over and over..... If you remember I had a little trip to the ER at the end of September and I went home not really knowing where the pain was coming from.
We started going to a Dr. August 2008 doing tests but never did any fertility drugs, just natural supplements. I just started doing all the shots, medications, 2 artificial inseminations, etc etc. at the end of August. I went to the Dr. 13 times in September. September was unsuccessful so I went in to start clomid again this month but when they did the ultrasound they found that I had a cyst burst (explains the ER trip) and another cyst that had not burst yet and a blood clot in my right ovary:( He said when I already ovulate and use fertility drugs it overstimulated my ovaries or something. I had 3 eggs on the right side and 2 on the left. I have never had any cysts before but just from the drugs I guess. He said he wanted us to wait for a while before trying to get prego again and do another ultrasound in a couple months and see if I am all healed up before doing anything else. ......a couple months of waiting was hard to hear when I want nothing more. I just prayed so hard that I could stop focusing on it so much and stop being so emotional about it. It has been such a nice lift and break not to think about it. I had to even look at the calender a few times this month to see what day it was. That usually never happens. Hopefully I will heal fast but I am not holding my breath. I think the Lord knows I need to learn patience:) Keagan helps me stay happy, so grateful for him. Yesterday we drove past a ghost in someones yard and he said...."mom, look its the Holy Ghost" :) I have lots to post about of things we have done but that will wait for another day......

p.s. I have 4/50 spots left for custom design Christmas cards so let me know. I will have 10 Christmas card templates on my design site up at the end of this week and don't have a limit to those. I had to limit the Christmas ones so I can have time to sleep some nights:)

Brian & Kelsey's wedding!

Last week my baby brother got married in the salt lake temple. It is so fun to have all 6 of us married now but it makes me feel old when the baby gets married. It was such a beautiful wedding and amazing sealing!

My 2 sisters and I. Missing 1 of the 4:(

 Brian right before the wedding. I thought it was funny because he seemed so calm and not a worry in the world and Kelsey was stressed. That was just like me and Jeremy. Just show up in your tux and you're good to go.


Jeremy got glasses a couple weeks ago. He doesn't need to wear them but does sometimes. I like him better without so you can see his big blue eyes.





Keagan had fun playing with his cousins Brody & Preston. I wish my family lived closer and not all over the country so they could play more!

Eating at chilies the night before....

Reading books to Preston. Preston was the only child my sister brought. she has 2 sets of twins so Preston was loving getting lots of attention to himself!



We had so much fun but didn't sleep much. The day after we got home Keagan slept from 8pm until 9:30am! That has never happened before! I'm so happy to have Kelsey as a part of our family. she is very sweet and loving. I got lucky in the bro/sis in-law area!

Blessings from Heaven!!!

Today was a cold windy day but Keagan and I went outside anyway to play in the backyard. While we were out there a gust of wind flew by and a pile of leaves landed in front of me. This was no ordinary pile of leaves. This pile of leaves had a 50$ bill in it!!!! What?!? I know crazy! Heavenly Father must have dropped it:) Malichi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a there blessing, that shall not be room enough to receive it.

The Pumpkin Patch....

This week we headed to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. Keagan wanted all of them...

Running to get the pumpkins...

Me and my pumpkin.....

I am not a huge lover of Halloween but do love carving pumpkins and the fall season.