I'm feelin' twenty twooooo

Well, it was my birthday today. And if you know me, you know I love birthdays (mostly mine) more than anythinggggg! 

My poor husband has been saving and preparing basically since my last birthday haha! But I had the best day:)

A couple weeks ago, Brandon asked me if I wanted one of my gifts early, and of course I didn't hesitate! He pulls out a little envelope with a LARGE sum of cash in it. He had been saving on the side (or selling drugs)  to give me a post-baby shopping spree! 

I still haven't got back to where I want to be after having Archer and I literally only fit into two pairs of my old jeans so this present was not only very wanted, it was needed ;). 

The past couple weeks have been super fun getting new clothes that help make me feel more normal. 

Then over the weekend Brandon came home with my other present! Side note: if you haven't noticed already, we can't keep secrets, presents are always shown or told before they are supposed to haha. 

So he knocks on our front door and I answer, he is sitting there with a painting of our family!! The cutest most amazing painting and totally my husbands style:) I love it! It's seriously perfect, I mean it even has sharky in it! 

So my actually birthday today was just as awesome as the last couple weeks building up to it. 

I met my older sister and mom at the outlets at traverse mountain and we did a little shopping:) then we ate lunch at kneaders! 

I love kneaders:) it has a place in my heart, Brandon proposed to Me there! 

After lunch I colored bre's hair because we have family pictures coming up and who wants roots?!

For dinner me and my hubs went to salt lake to endulge in the best steak ever! Ruth's Chris is highly recommended if you like pretending you're extremely fancy and rich, I know we had fun! 

The food was to die for and I got a cheese cake for free since It was my birthday! 

It was a great birthday and I couldn't have asked for more! I am super spoiled and have the best family! 

Plus my husband is about the best thing ever.

My boys

Nothing makes me happier then seeing archer smiling up at his daddy. 

And Brandon can ALWAYS make him smile! ( I'm still working on it, he just stares at me.)

I love capturing these moments! I go back through my pictures all the time to look at them. Melts my heart <3

Yesterday archer bear was 7 weeks old! It really has gone by so fast but I love it. Every day he is more and more aware, and I can finally see a light at the end on the tunnel with his colic-it's far away, but I see it! 

Some of Archers favorite things are:

•boobs

•bottles

•facing outward while being held

•listening to piano music 

•the blow dryer  

•laying on his changing table 

•baths 

•sleeping in funny positions

•being outside 

Some of the things Archer doesn't like:

•having a wet diaper 

•being inside

•being cold after the bath 

•lotion 

•his bouncy chair

•his swing

•sleeping on his back 

•the fact that he doesn't have control of his arms and scratches his eyes the second his gloves come off

Blessing Day.

Yesterday our little Archer bear was blessed by his dad. 

It was such amazing day for our family!...but it was one wild day. 

A couple weeks ago I contacted our ward bishop and told him we wanted to bless our baby on a Saturday,not Sunday; We wanted just our closest family and friends there, a small, simple blessing.

Our bishop was totally fine with that! And said someone would be there from the bishopric.

Yesterday morning I had Brandon text the secretary to make sure someone would be there and the doors would be unlocked at the church, oh of course they had totally spaced it but he said someone would be there a little late. 

'A little late' turned into 45 minutes late! We legitly had 40 people waiting that whole time for this counseler. 

Finally one of Brandon's uncles who is a former bishop, told us that we actually didn't need the bishopric there! 

So we started! 

Opening song, prayer, and the blessing happened before he got there haha. 

The blessing was the most amazing thing to experience as a mother and wife! Archer cried his little heart out the whole time (I just say he was emotional because of the words his father was saying to him)  it was perfect. 

After the blessing we sang a closing song and during that, the bishopric counseler came in haha... Brandon told him what had happened and I guess he was at our house!!

Miss communication I guess. But that's okay because our little baby got blessed and we had all our family and friends by our side. 

Sappy sappy.

I want to share a poem that my older sister shared with me earlier today. It's super long but take the time to read it if you are a mother! 

'From the moment you hold your baby in your arms you will never be the same

You might long for the person you were before 
When you had freedom and time
And nothing in particular to worry about

You will know tiredness like you never knew it before
Days will run into days that are exactly the same
Full of feedings and burping
Nappy changes and crying
Whining and fighting
Naps or a lack of naps
It might seem like a never-ending cycle

But don’t forget…

There is a last time for everything
There will come a time when you will feed your baby for the very last time
They will fall asleep on you after a long day
And it will be the last time you ever hold your sleeping child

One day you will carry them on your hip then set them down 
And never pick them up that way again
You will scrub their hair in the bath for one last time 
And from that day on they will want to bathe alone

They will hold your hand to cross the road 
Then will never reach for it again
They will creep into your room at midnight for cuddles
And it will be the last night you ever wake to this

One afternoon you will sing “the wheels on the bus” and do all the actions
Then never sing them that song again

They will kiss you goodbye at the school gate 
The next day they will ask to walk to the gate alone

You will read a final bedtime story and wipe your last dirty face
They will run to you with arms raised for the very last time.

The thing is, you won’t even know it’s the last time 
Until there are no more times. And even then, it will take you a while to realise.

So while you are living in these times, remember there are only so many of them and when they are gone, you will yearn for just one more day of them.
For one last time.'

I know it's crazy long but that'll pull at your heart strings!! 

It's 5:30 in the morning and I just finished feeding archer for the second time tonight. He is fast asleep but I don't want to put him down. 

As some of you know, Archer has been a very hard baby and it's tested me in every way. I sure do love him but parenthood is hard. 

I always find myself wishing for the next day, month and even year. Wishing for him to hold his head up, roll over, crawl, walk, and talk. 

Bre read this poem to me and we both had tears in our eyes. Ugh. 

Who knows when I will get up in the night to feed my little monkey, burp him and put him back down..

When he is older, who knows when I will hold his hand for the last time, or when he decides he is too old for my mommy kisses. 

We shouldn't take parenthood for granted, (easier said then done) especially being a mom. I feel we tend to push for the next day and forget the important things. 

I'm blabbing I know but it's just crazy. CRAZY! 

Geez.  us mothers are lucky..

The gift to be pregnant, have children, and have that special bond with them. 

It's definitely time for me to slow down and appreciate my baby, because he might grow out of that baby baby stage.. But then he will won't snuggle me. That's the best thing in the whole world...baby snuggles. 

Okay sappy rant over. 

P.s. My babe started smiling the other day! I sure hope that never has it's lasts:) 

Remember that one time?

So to clear up my crazy purple hair, you have to know the whole story:).

For a few months now I have been showing Brandon pictures of that awesome grey/lavender hair and I just love it! I kept telling him I wanted to do it and of course, he was all for it! Brandon loves funky stuff like that. 

Thursday morning I decided to surprise him and do it. I texted my friend who I work with and she had an opening that morning!! 

I ran (drove) to salon centric; a store where licensed cosmetologists can buy color, tools etc...

I asked them where their provana color was and told them what I wanted to do. One mean worker girl who was so sassy told me they were out of lavender. BUT. If I mixed the vibrant purple with some clear color to dilute it, it would be the exact same. 

Once I get in my head something I want, I have a REALLY hard time waiting for it. I WANT IT NOW. So even though I had a bad feeling in the back of my head, I bought the clear and vibrant purple haha. 

I went back to the salon and Kimber mixed it up. Legit p u r p l e. Like the brightest crazy purple haha. We slapped it on my hair anyway.. Goodbye perfect blonde. 

So then I was purple. HAHAHA.

The girl at salon centric is a liar.

I actually liked it at first! But once I got home and the more I looked at it I kind of wanted to die. 

Only white trash people have their whole head bright purple (sorry if you're not white trash and have this hair). 

Luckily the next day another girl I work with had time to do a bleach wash on it. A bleach wash is just bleach diluted with warm water. We wags it over my hair for a few minutes and it pulls the purple right out. 

Now I have that awesome grey/violet I wanted all along! And a cool story and pictures to go with. 

I don't have any good pictures of my hair now so enjoy this crappy one, except my bath bear is the cutest thing ever:).

At least I have a funny story to tell later on, right?! 'Remember that one time I had purple hair...'

Call us crazy.

Guess what.

Yep. We couldn't stay away. 

We were literally counting down the days till I had Archer because that meant we could get cats again! As some of you know, we had to baby kitties in December that we loved! But unfortunately allergies got the best of us; they were long haired cats. Also having cats while being pregnant supposedly isn't good...so we had to give mowgli and peanut away :(

BUT!

I had archer, life got *somewhat* settled and today on Facebook I saw that best friends animal shelter was having a promotion on baby kitties because they had too many. I asked Brandon what he thought (like I even had to ask, I knew the answer) and he jumped right on that! 

So we packed up baby and headed to salt lake to pick up two more children. It took a while of playing with all the kitties to feel a connection (yes we are those weird people who have to connect with their animals) but finally we found Forrest and Dyson! 

It was seriously the cutest thing. Dyson walked right up to me meowing and I was instantly in love. 

And Forrest was being held by a lady when we first got there, but her daughter wanted another cat. She was telling us how she visits several times a week just to play with the cats and loved little Forrest. So we played with him and he is such a little cuddle ball. 

Ugh we are so in love, and I don't even care that everyone hates cats. WE LOVE CATS AND WE ARE PROUD-spongebob reference.... Ya know? Where he thinks he is ugly but it's really just his breath?-

Anyway we are happy and now we have four kids!

Sharky, Forrest, Dyson and Archer! 

^ Dyson; he is seriously so so tiny it's adorable.

^ Forrest; not the best picture but he is such a calm little kitty!

^ and duh. Can't forget baby Archer. I can't get enough of him. Plus he is ONE MONTH on Wednesday. Wow.

^and sharky boy. He is a punk. He killed his five siblings. 

Summer 2014

to say 'this summer has been stressful' would be the understatement of FOREVER.
As some of you know, Brandon was the ceramics teacher at Pleasant Grove High School. his students absolutely l o v e d him! He made amazing friend-ships and helped out many kids with drug addiction, attendance problems, and was just someone all his kids could go to to talk and get things off their chest. he did great things at that school. he raised thousands of dollars to get clay, throwing wheels and supplies...but unfortunately not everyone saw what brandon was doing, and also brandon didn't exactly jump through all the 'hoops' the people wanted him to. Brandon is a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of guy and it just wasn't what they wanted.
Teachers don't work during the summer, obviously, so Brandon applied at DoTerra and got a job in the call center just to make a little extra cash over the summer to put towards baby diapers(those things are so blasted expensive!).  he started training for DoTerra last may, while school was still in, and then started in the call center the first of June. just a week after school ended we got a lovely letter in the mail basically saying Brandon would not be a teacher at PGHS anymore.
it might not have been a big deal if i wasnt pregnant and going on maternity leave the middle of july, or if we didn't have a mortgage, or car payments, or if we wanted to starve..haha! it wasn't good at all.
Brandon would continue to get paid from alpine school district through august and he had his call center job.. but that job was hardly enough to cover half out bills. He frantically started searching for a job because once august hit we would be SOL.
Many schools called Brandon to interview him but we were always a step behind, every school he applied to, they would interview him, having someone else in mind for the job. we were so stressed and my job at the salon had hit a slow couple weeks so i wasn't making what i normally do.
that was seriously the longest couple months of my life!
DoTerra was hiring a few positions and only offering them to employees already with the company. Brandon applied to two of them, and got called in for an interview in mid july. the lady who interview him said she was very interested in hiring him for a new position that hadn't even been made yet. when i heard that i was so worried that it would end up not working out because that how our summer had been, literally brandon went to probably ten interviews just in that month and a half and didn't score one of the jobs.
anyway, two weeks passed and we heard nothing. it was the end of july and i was done working and waiting for our baby to come. just a few days before Archer was born, Brandon got a call offering him a corporate job up in DoTerra as a Training Coordinator for DoTerra International.
i swear that is what put me into labor; the stress being lifted from our shoulders haha. it was such a blessing! He started his first day the next week and has been there three weeks now!
i am so beyond grateful for my amazing husband and all his hard work. he was so determined to give us all that we need, he was willing to work several jobs to cover our bills. this job came just in time and he loves it.
it was a stressful summer and we didn't know if we would have to sell our condo or baby (kidding) but it worked out and i start back to work the first of september! we are counting our blessings for sure.

in honor of all the kids starting back to school today, and my husband not starting  back to school (which he is so grateful for now, he loves his new job!) i took this cute picture of him and his new haircut and cheetah bow tie. i love love love him so much. my sexy business man.