Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! We took Ty to Santa last Saturday... and of course he spit up all over himself like three minutes before he was to get his picture taken. He was so good though...he didn't even squirm. He just sat there like it was grandpa holding him.
Drew and I are headed to Cali for the Holidays...we leave next Monday and will be gone until after the new year....so Happy New Years also! I can't wait to see so many friends and family when I get there. And...good bye snow...hello beach!

28 Years Old!!

Well...today I turned 28...can you believe it! I'm so old!! So instead of being depressed about gray hair and saggy boobs...just kidding...I'm not that old...yet. I fished through some old photo albums and found some great photos with some of my favorite memories of the last 28 years...wish I could post them all. It counts down.

Little Ty coming into my life and making me happier than I ever knew I could be.

Marrying Drew in 2003. He's the greatest husband a girl could ask for and I'm still so in love with him. All our trips to Hawaii. Flying to upstate NY and bringing our camping gear cause we we had no money to pay for a hotel..ku fling yu's fortune cookies..one little..two little..teaching my how to drive a stick..and statistics..The women's rest room at the U..the Saturn commercials..wake boarding..boating..camping..I could go on..

My mission to St. Louis where I gained a greater testimony..fell in love with the people..bonded with the "tightest" group of missionaries...found my best friend..Mur (You cut those watermelon so cute...I like those blue eyes...let's get back to woods body)......and found my soul mate...Elder Pearson.

BYU-Hawaii!!! Erin..playing on the beach..hitch hiking.. trips to the swap meet..your bachlorett party...and a few years later being neighbors.. serving in YW together and becoming best friends. Sylvie-Anne..longboarding..snorkeling..hiking.. swimming.. playing.. to much fun. Later in life..trips to Bear Lake and hanging out as much as possible. Sky Diving..Hawaii was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Tara's house in Provo...acoustic nights..the after party parties..long boarding...Sarah teaching us how to do the worm...the Bob Marley poster on the wall..shopping trips to Banana. The funnest trip to Cali I have ever taken...squishing 8 people in a 6 person car for a 13 hour road trip.

Skinny dipping in the Cortlandridge hot tub with Nicki,Tara, Becca and Aubrey...Nicki baring ALL when trying to hop the fence via the coke machine..then getting caught by the cops... "We CAN'T get out of the hot tub to open the gate for you officer." ..."Oh...well..ah...when I leave you girls need to get out and go home."

Cortlandridge days...Kelly..Kristan..Sabrina..Tiffany..Debbie..and Jessica. There is not enough room here to write all the fun memories. Midnight workouts to Cindy Crawford..dancing to the Backstreet Boys and Tootsie Roll (to the left)..trying on Tiffany's wedding dress when she wasn't home (we never told you about that:) ..Debbie coming to my birthday party thinking we all were quiet girls and found herself shocked when she walked in and there was a DJ..making smores as an everyday midnight snack..Belgium waffles..sneaking out with Sabrina to soap boys cars...Kristan getting her room ransaked with flour and broccoli by Scott..coming home to Kelly rearranging the furniture in her bedroom while completely naked.. our neighbor boys Ryan..Pete.. Travis..Brain..Kurt.

Nicki...two words..Danny..Jamie..the Y look out point and then laughing so hard in the elevator ride back up to our dorm room that we had to take it back down to the lobby and finish laughing. Our trip to Canada. Several months later TPing there house and peeing on their lawn.

Moving to Utah after high school with Kelly and Tasha..the boys..Tom and Shad..Dave..Dustin..Jake...what's his name Jackson...and Craig of course. Budget rent-a-car..pulling all our mattresses into the front room for a week..WWF..late night clubbing..weekly snowboarding trips..UVSC dances...getting our belly buttons pierced.

The best group of friends a girl could ask for..Arcata ward Temple trips..stealing road side cones..the flag pole and roof top at HSU..Mike's pool..Denny's..and Dancing.

Girls camp with Sarah and Laurel...I feel a tan coming on..teaching me how to walk like super model and make out with poles.

Mud football in our back yard. A fun game turned into a major mud bash.

My family...our summer vacations..the big red van..our old house..our new house.

Cheer leading with my best friend Amy..yaaaa..taaaaa..sneaking into my parents house when we were 5 years old to eat yogurt..sneaking boys into the house and then hiding them in my closet when my dad got home...I could go on..and there was always a lot of sneaking.

All my memories with you Anna..our awesome bangs..campfire kids..singing to Aerosmith..sneaking out to egg the school..smearing Crisco all over our selves hoping to get a better tan..and the endless sleep overs.

I can't wait for future memories to start.

The Bumbo

Ty's new favorite thing is chill'n in the bumbo. He's finally strong enough to hold up his head steady and loves to sit in his little chair and check out everything going on around him. He looked so cute sitting there in his velor sweat suit...sipping on a beverage....we really don't let him chew on soda can's for fun...this was strictly for a photo.
He is is getting so darn chuby. Fat rolls are forming on his legs and a double chin with a beer belly to go with it. He was cooing at my 5 year old niece who turned to me and said,
"I understand baby talk you know."
"Oh really...what did he just say?"
"He said 'I'm a big chubby baby.'"

Our Miracle

I have yet to write the story of how our little Ty became our little Ty...so here it goes.
Labor day weekend Drew and I found out that a procedure that we had done for the 4th time...trying to get pregnant...had failed. I can't even explain the depression that comes from this. Feeling crushed and lacking the faith and hope I had previously had, I felt like throwing the towel in. Three days later we received an email from Madison...Ty's birth mom...saying she wanted us to be the parents of her baby. She was due in two days! As you can imagine...this pulled me out of a dark hole.
Honestly, it took a while for it all to sink in. "Is this really happening" is all I kept thinking. And after a mad rush to Babies-r-us to fill our home with baby necessities we got a call on September 13th at 6:00 in the evening saying she had gone into labor. He was born at 11:31 that night. We found tickets that would get us there at noon the following day. We were up all night...not just packing but we couldn't sleep because we were both filled with so much anticipation and excitement. We were so excited yet kept telling ourselves not to get to excited because there was a chance this might not happen for us... Madison would have 5 days after he was born to change her mind.
Madison's father met us at the New Orleans airport so we wouldn't get lost trying to find the small town of Hammond, LA. As we were walking up to the hospital entrance Justin...Ty's birth father...came out to meet us. He was really nice and seemed a little nervous...so were we. When we walked into the hospital room Madison was sitting in bed holding Ty with nine people filling the room...Madison and Justin's parents and some siblings... and all eyes were on us. All we could do was smile. But I don't remember breathing. Madison smiled and without hesitation lifted Ty up and placed him in my arms. He was just as bright eyed and alert as I had ever seen a new born baby. I know babies can't see when they're that young but he was looking right at me. Drew held him and feed him...I had to fight him to hold him again. We stayed with Justin and Madison until about 9:00 that evening just talking and getting to know each other. Justin let us know how hard this decision was for them, but told us that he knew it was the right thing to do and that he knew we would take care of him. Saturday morning we met them at the hospital again as Ty and Madison were both discharged from the hospital.
When they handed Ty to us to take for the remainder of of the five day wait...Justin just lost it and sobbed. Hugging us both and kissing Ty on the forehead over and over again. I can't even tell you the feelings I had inside...I felt so terrible..like I was the bad guy for taking him.
Later that night we went over to Madison's parents house for dinner and met more family members. Her family is amazing...such great people. We were there for several hours. Madison never desired to hold Ty...it was her way of not getting to attached...But at one point Justin placed him in her arms. She held him for about an hour and then I noticed her quietly slip away with him into another room. After about 20 minutes Madison's mom and I went to find her. We found her holding Ty in the dinning room... in tears. Seeing her in this state is a moment embedded in my soul. I had to leave the room because I couldn't hold it in. Madison's dad came and took Ty from her and told me to take him. He then asked Drew to help give her a blessing of comfort.
We left that night with Ty in our arms and after a very emotional day we went to our hotel room and looked at our little guy and fell in love.
I don't think I slept all week. I kept wanting to feel his chest in the middle of the night to make sure he was breathing. We had so much fun staying in our hotel room for a week just the three of us. Drew and I both learning together how to be parents. Both of us wanting to hold him ALL the time. One time I fell asleep on the same pillow Ty was lying on and woke up to him sucking on my nose thinking it was his bottle....so cute!!
So...we were there for nine days in order for them to get all the paper work done. And we spent everyday with Justin and Madison and their families. We grew so close with all of them and felt like we got to know them. They both have such amazing families and this was so hard for them...yet they were so warm to us and wanted us to come over for dinner...lunch...all the time.
This experience was awesome. I was so hesitant of getting so close to Justin and Madison and their families. I'm grateful now because if Ty ever wonders about them I can tell him what they are like and what great people they are.
Now that it has been almost three months since this experience we still keep in touch with Justin and Madison through occasional emails.
But...I almost have forgotten that I wasn't the one who gave birth to him...he's mine...he's ours. And he is so darn cute!! I can't get enough of him. He's our little miracle.

Ty slept through the night!!

So...last night was the third night in a row that Ty slept through the night. He rocks!! We just hope he keeps this up. Drew's jealous because in the past the few times he's slept through the night it was my night to get up with him...including these last three nights (Drew gets up with him 3 nights a week...on the days that I have to work...he's a great husband).

...But...I only have three weeks left until I'm done working for good!! Dec. 21st will be my last day of work. It's the last day before the Christmas break and I thought that would be a good transition for the kids....oh I love my kids and I love my job...I'm going to miss them both...but I love Ty much much more and I can't wait to be home with him all the time. I'm going to need some advice on what to do as a stay at home mom!!