2010 Utah Trip...

This year our trip to Utah consisted of spending time with my family, visiting friends, and a WEDDING.  My younger brother, Karl, married a beautiful girl named Kiersten.  They are so perfect together.  I never had the chance to meet Kiersten until the Saturday before the wedding.  However, we would always talk on Facebook, text, and sometimes talk on the phone.  I felt like I knew her before I ever met her.  So for me to say I didn't know Kiersten, would be false.  I not only knew her, but I fell in love with her before ever actually meeting her.  It was kinda funny because she had multiple dreams about meeting me and how I would respond.  

The pictures I have are taken by Dana, my SIL, or her son Jacob.  I have to give him some credit because he is an amazing photographer.  I let him take my camera and I got some awesome pictures.

Karl and Kiersten coming out of the Bountiful Temple where they were sealed for time and all eternity.  It was such an amazing sealing.
They were so funny because Karl would always go in for this long passionate kiss and Kiersten would pull away.  It was so funny.
Walking up the hill for family pictures...
My cute little family.  I love this picture.  However, I would love it more if I were a little smaller. :)  (Just a side note...I am off my steroid...HOORAY!!!!!)
The most handsome bestman EVER!!!  My cute little nephew, ZAC!  Isn't he a little stud?!?!?!
There is a long story about why we didn't capture many pictures, but I won't go in to that...Groom and Bestman....at their best!
This is one tired little bestman!  Still a little doll...
The gift takers...really good ones at that.  Kia (on the right) came up to me and told me that he had asked someone if he could take a gift and the guy wouldn't let him take it.  Kia thought it was pretty funny since that is what they were supposed to be doing.
My two best friends from High School came to the reception.  It was so good to see them.  (I will post more pictures soon of our little get together away from the reception.)
Beautiful Bride, Handsome Groom, Happy Father of the Groom.
Proud Parents of the Bride...they really know how to plan a wedding.  I know who I am calling if I ever have a girl.
Ryan and Jason, my friend Tiffany's husband, both have a love for sports, so they talked for quite a while.  Jason also helped decorate the car.
My beautiful neice, Sarah!  She is the sweetest little thing.
AND then there is BABY KEITH...I love those cheeks.  He and Sarah were born in different hospitals, different states on the same day last year.  So we had a little birthday party for them.
Here are the Heavenly twins...They both liked the dirt and/or cake...

Anyway, I will post the pictures from my camera really soon...maybe!  I haven't been very good at posting lately.

Kayden, Kayden, Kayden

While I don't really have any new pictures of Kayden (I know I am bad...)he is talking up a storm and making us laugh more and more every day.  Here are a couple of things he does or says that we just love:

1. A couple of weeks ago Ryan's parents were out of the country and Ryan was running his dad's business so I got a babysitter for Kayden.  (Well, my sister would watch him until she went to work and then a girl in our ward would come over and stay with him until we got home.)  My sister went and got the babysitter the first day and the whole way home Kayden said, "I not going to talk to her!"  Needless to say that didn't last long and by the end of the week, Kayden was in love with her.

2.  Kayden has had a problem with hitting...I think most parents go through this, but it has been really frustrating.  Lately, if he thinks I am made at him at all he immediately apologizes.  I usually tell him that I am not mad at him and he just smiles at me.  I make sure to praise him when he (for example) doesn't hit or get mad when someone takes a toy away from him.

3.  I love laying by Kayden, because right before he drifts off to sleep...he touches my face and says, "I love you so much!" and I say it back to him and he will roll over and go to sleep.

4.  Kayden loves drinking water...he drinks a ton of water, but it has to be cold.  Every night after he lays down he will yell to Ryan..."DADDY, WILL YOU BRING ME MY WATER!"  After Ryan responds Kayden will say, "I WANT COLD WATER, K!"  Ryan loves it.

5.  Kayden has been stuttering.  It really bothers Ryan and I, but it is so cute.  It is really sad though because he will be talking and he can't spit the word out so he will just stop talking.  So I took him to get screened for a program put on by Mesa Public Schools.  We went in and did the whole screening and he did very well.  In all the catagories, the max you could score was 16 and Kayden was scoring 20-25 in each one so they said to not worry.  When I was talking to the speech pathologist she said that he talks so well for his age.  Because of his language developing so fast she said to think of his brain as a filing cabinet.  He has so many words to go through and as adults we use 'like' and 'um' as fillers.  Kayden doesn't do that yet so he prolongs the first letter of the word.  Makes total sense now, but it still is really hard to not try to help him, but you are supposed to let them finish and encourage them to finish if they aren't.

6.  Kayden is now warning me when he is going to be shy.  So we will be walking in to a place and he warns me, "Mom, I going to be shy in there!"

7.   If we only had a barn and the animals for Kayden...he would be a perfectly happy child.  He loves to play with all his animals and when I put them away he will be in there within minutes and getting them out to play with them.  Most times I come home from work and he has them lined up by animal.  So all 10 cows are together all 5 Zebras are together...so on...so on...so on!

Well, for now that is all I needed to put down in writing.  As I think of more things I am going to need to write them down.

Help...I need suggestions!

The past year I am thankful for the many tender mercies I have had. However, I haven't been the best at noticing them and being thankful for them. The past couple weeks have been really hard on me and I have had to sit back and be thankful for all that I have and sometimes that is really hard to do. I get to feeling sorry for myself and I can't get out of the funk. I have to say that as much as I dislike what has been dealt to me health wise...I am really thankful for it. That is really hard for me to say, but it has made me slow down and realize what is really important.

While I have been on the trail to 'remission' every doctors appointment I have had I have gotten progressivley better. Ultimately I just want to get better and that is what I tell my doctors. At my last visit my doctor informed me that he was at the end of his residency and would be moving back to Ohio. I was really sad because he has been with me from almost the very beginning of this whole ordeal. Yesterday was my last appointment with him and it was a really good one. I have been on Prednisone (steroid) since the end of September and have slowly been having more and more side effects show up. I really do feel bad for Ryan because he usually gets the brunt of everything I deal with and he is great! So they are reducing the steroid more steadily so that I can get back to normal...HOORAY! Also, they have just figured that I had permanent nerve damage in my hands because I haven't had all my strength. I am proud to say that I have my strength back in my hands and my thumb was the weakest last time and it is now the strongest. My reflexes were really strong yesterday too. Let me just say how wonderful it is to have reflexes after a year of not having them. Now I just need to focus on my fatigue. Any suggestions are gladly welcome!

Then...if anyone follows me on Facebook you know that I have been working overtime since February at work. Our system that was rolled out in February has had some issues and when it can't figure out how to solve them on its own...it just shuts down. They are expecting it to take about 2 years to recover. Not only do we have the new system, but we are merging with Wachovia and converting them to the Wells Fargo platform. Work has been really frustrating for me. I am so grateful that I have the job I have because I really do love it. HOWEVER, (you knew that was coming, RIGHT?) I am so sick of people speaking negatively at work. But what bothers me even more is that I don't have the courage to say anything to them about it. I need help, everyone! I need to be able to have the courage to tell people that I don't want to hear the negativity because it not only brings me down, but it brings them down too. I have resorted to putting my earphones in all day and ignoring everyone, but I want to build up courage to tell people what I think in the long run will make everyone better people. Any suggestions are very welcome with this matter as well!

Anyway, I think that is all I have for now. I may be all over the place but I hope my point is clear.

Wildlife World Zoo...

So, I have been off of work since Thursday and let me just say...IT HAS BEEN WONDERFUL. I love spending time with my little Rugrat. He is a blast and keeps me laughing always. He can be a little handful, but nontheless a very cute one at that. On Friday, we took Kayden out to the Wildlife World Zoo. It was so amazing and Kayden was in heaven. We went with Deena, Landon, Dama Gayle, and Ryan. Landon and Kayden (well mainly Kayden...Landon stayed by us most of the time!) would run ahead of us and prepare us for what we were about to approach. Before even getting there Kayden was telling us how badly he wanted to see Melman (the giraffe on Madagascar). The first animal we went to was the giraffe. I didn't get many pictures because I really don't need pictures of animals and have you ever tried to get a picture of an active two year old...IMPOSSIBLE! However, I did manage to get a picture of Kayden with Melman and you can see how close these giraffes are. They let you feed them and all. It was AWESOME! So of the few pictures I did get I don't think I did too bad. It was really fun and most importantly. Kayden had a blast.
And I just think these things are hilarious. Although they too are on Madagascar and so Kayden refers to them as King Julian! HAHA!
On a different subject now...Kayden loves DOGS. Everytime someone is walking a dog past our house he thinks he can go pet them. There is a very dear, sweet lady in our ward that is in nursery and Kayden has fallen in love with her. She calls herself Sister Annette. We love her and she adores Kayden (or any child for that matter)! Anyway, she also loves animals and has 2 dogs. She has a very friendly dog named Cocoa and recently doctored and decided to keep this cute little dog that she named Matilda. She lives on the same street as us and so we see her walking her dogs frequently.
The other night Kayden wanted out of the house so I took him on a walk in his stroller. We were just strolling along and we see Sister Annette walking with her two dogs. Kayden was thrilled. So we stopped and played with Cocoa and Matilda and I called Ryan to bring the camera out so I could snap a couple of pictures. Kayden was so cute with little Matilda and when we were walking Sister Annette home Matilda rode on Kaydens lap in the stroller and thought that was pretty darn cool!
Not only is Kayden so darn cute in these pictures...that dog is so cute!
Someday, when we have a house of our own...and a yard of our own...I would love to get Kayden a dog.

Then for keepsake purposes I need to jot down a couple of things that Kayden has been saying lately so I never forget them...

1. I cut my finger while I was doing dishes and I wanted sympathy and Ryan wasn't home so I went to Kayden. I told him I had an owie that was bleeding and he came over to the sink and looked at it and said, "Well, put it under the water." I did and it still kept bleeding. I showed him that it was still bleeding and he said, "We need to fix this!" So I asked him how and he replied, "I don't know!"

2. We have an IPOD Touch and it has a couple of games on it and the other night I was playing one and Kayden came up and said, "Can I see that for a second?!?!" I let him and he starts touching the screen and says, "Now, let's see how this works!"

3. I was laying by Kayden the other night waiting for him to drift off to sleep and I could tell by his breathing that he was really close to being asleep. He rolled over and touched my face and said, "I love you so much, Mom!" and drifted off to sleep.

4. My sister, Aunt Kuku, was watching Kayden the other day and said something to him and I guess her voice was a little raised and he siad back to her, "Stop yelling at me!"

5. Kayden walked in to my room today while I was getting ready for church and said, "You better watch out mom!" I asked why and he said, "There is a fire!" I asked where the fire was at and he said, "In here," pointing to the diaper pale, "You better run!"

I love this little guy so much! He may drive me crazy with his very active personality, but I could not live without him. He has been such a blessing and a joy in mine and Ryan's life. Where would we be without him? I am so thankful that we had him when we did! With how things have taken a turn in our life, if we hadn't had him when we did we would be waiting a very long time for a child to join our family. We love the little guy!

Multi Purpose Post

This is what I am calling a multi-purpose post for obvious reasons. I haven't updated my blog in a while and while time has passed extremely fast...I have no good excuse other than I don't know where time has gone. My life is pretty busy for the most part and I think I want to keep it there...I am going to do a breakdown of what has been going on...hopefully I don't bore you to death. I need to write everything down so I don't forget.
1. My younger brother Karl has found his eternal companion. They are going to be getting married in the Bountiful UT temple on August 10th. I have yet to meet Kiersten, but I have talked to her on webcam and on the phone and we love her. Kayden is very excited to get a new aunt and if you ask him who his new aunt is going to be he can tell you.

2. Ryan did the Pat Tillman run. He said it was an amazing experience. It is a 4.2 mile run and you end the run on the 42 yard line at ASU. Unfortunetly there was over 30,000 people that did it this year so I didn't get a picture of Ryan running because I didn't want to be in the stampede of people.

3. The one year marked passed for my diagnosis. I was diagnosed on March 27th, 2009. In a way it was the best day, but also one that was very sad. I found out a lot that day and over the past year I have done research and found out a lot more. My life changed very drastically over the year. Our plans to expand our family have been put on hold until I am medically released to have another child. I have gained weight and hate it...I mean HATE it. I know what it is like to be completely helpless. BUT, I am still thankful to my Lord that has given me the faith to get through this. Without the gospel in my life and good friends placed in my life and a great husband who loves and cares about me so much...there is no way I would have been able to make it through everything. Although I still have treatments every other week and am still on a heavy dose of medication, life it good! Because of this...
4. Kayden...where do I start...He is growing way too fast! He talks up a storm. He is the sweetest little guy when he wants to be, but we have struggled with the terrible twos. I sure hope the threes are better to us. He has gone through a biting, hitting, pinching, kicking...you name it stage. It is almost through...I hope and he seems to be doing better. I sure do love the little guy though! He says the funniest things and does the funniest things. He keeps us laughing. Life would be so boring without him. I don't remember what life was like without him. He likes to 'hold me', he likes to go play on the swings at Dama and Papa Workmans, he knows his name is Kayden Workman and will correct you if you call him anything else, he loves to play baseball (Tball) and catch with his dad, he is an outside boy, he loves his cousins, he has very good aim and can throw a ball very well, he likes to wrestle and most of all he likes to make people happy. If he knows I am sad...he does everything to make me happy!

5. My sister, Annette, had her second child the day after my birthday...April 19th! Welcome to the world Gage Kimball Barney. He is the cutest little guy. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. To me he doesn't look anything like his older brother, but equally as cute! My sister looks amazing for just having a baby! That was so not me!

6. Ryan has finals this week and will be done with school for the summer! HOORAY!

So that is all I guess...I thought there was more, but I can't think of anything else. If you are wondering about the background and why I would choose it...It is for Kayden. He loves Zebra and get so excited when he sees anything zebra print.

St. Louis

So the pictures will really explain our trip. It was so wonderful to see my family. My brother and his wife just moved to St. Louis and were very wonderful hosts. We stayed busy with them and there 3 beautiful girls. I was able to see my brother and his family (he has 4 boys) and his wife, Dana. Then my sister, Doris, came with her adorable little baby! It was a blast. I hadn't seem my brothers family since January of 2009 and my other brothers family since November of 2009. I saw my sister in April of 2009, but that visit was long overdue and much too short.

My neices...Esther and Portia (St. Louis) and Baby Sarah (Washington)! Aren't they all so beautiful!
The bridge going from Missouri to Illinois...
The Arch from the bottom of the hill.
Kind of an odd place for a statue doncha think!
My cute sister and baby Sarah in front of the arch.
Ryan and I and half of Kayden...don't know what happened to this picture when I uploaded it...weird
LOVE THIS PICTURE OF THE ARCH...
I took this picture myself...I am so chubby and you can totally tell in this picture...
My hot husband...I love this picture too.
My brother Richard pushed Kayden up the wall. Kayden thought it was funny!
Precious little Bekah! She is the sweetest thing. Everytime Ryan would hold his hands out to her she would shake her head. It was so funny.
Ryan and Richard spent a day doing sports stuff. They went to a hockey game, on a tour of Busch Stadium and out to eat. They had a blast. This is the view in Busch Stadium.
Ryan took this Harry Potter picture just for me. Thanks babe!

At the hockey arena two of the St. Louis Blues players were on the olympic team and they had the medals there.
Ryan in the hockey arena.
Beautiful girl on the way to the arch again so we can go up in it this time.
Esther on a weight a measure thing they had waiting to go up in to the arch.
Baby Bekah...couldn't get enough of her.
And my little man, Kayden! He thought it was so cool.
Up in the arch...630 feet. It was pretty cool!
Kayden riding in the 'Alligator'...I had told Kayden that it was a train ride, but it was more like an elevator ride. So my brother was explaining that to him and Kayden says, "I am in an alligator!" It was so cute!
He was so funny!
We were all putting our arms up to make it feel like a ride.
We went to the St. Louis Zoo and this was the only picture we got of Kayden. All the other ones were of the animals...He loved it though and was so good.
Ryan and I in front of the St. Louis Temple. If I had remembered to take my recommend then we would have done a session, but I had left it in my temple bag.
My favorite statue at Nauvoo. It is so sweet.
The horses that took us around Old Nauvoo on a carriage ride.
This statue of Hyrum and Joseph sits in front of the temple. It is amazing.
Ryan and I in front of the temple.
Ryan took this picture of the temple and I thought it was awesome.
Carthage Jail...the best part of going to Nauvoo.
Statue of Joseph and Hyrum at Carthage.
The window from the inside that Joseph fell out of.
The window from the outside.
The bullet holes in the door the mob shot through. If you haven't been to Carthage Jail it is a must. It was so amazing and the Spirit was so strong.
My cute little Portia and I. I'm not wearing any make up and I look super chubby. It was a great time and Kayden is still missing Portia like crazy and asks for her all the time. He talks about Esther to people that ask about his trip and at least once a day he tells me about poking Bekah in the eyes so as you can tell he had a very memorable time as well. We hope to go back sooner than later sometime.