Dexter's 1!

The kids are way excited about all the boxes that are laying around the house in preparation for our move.  I had to take a few pictures.

I can't believe my little baby just turned 1.  He got two different parties.  One in Pocatello, and one in Salt lake City.  So he had one with the Brooks and one with the Giomettas.  We like to keep it low key.  We figure when the kids are older and have more friends then they can have a well planned birthday bash, and of course if they deserve it.  
Dexter wasn't really allowed to dig into his cake because we didn't want him to get frosting all over his wrapped up hand.  But he's doing better.  Now just has to wear a band-aid, as long as he doesn't pull it off.  He's obsessed with sticking his wound into his mouth any chance he can get.

Dexter was excited for all the commotion!

Cake didn't turn out exactly how I wanted.

Dexter didn't seem to mind that the cake didn't look perfect. 

Cousin Jack was there.

Max painted a picture for Dexter's birthday. 

curtains for sale (This is just so I can show pictures in the classified ad of our housing complex)

$8.00 each.

Graduation & an Amputation

The past few months have been a bit hectic.  First, Jacob graduated.  Finally.  It was a good feeling and his timing to receive his degree was fairly on schedule, considering he transferred.  So the big question is what is next?  I feel like we've been planning for the next year for a while.  Applying to schools and taking the GRE were so exhausting for all of us.  Finding a place to live wasn't too difficult, it just took the right timing.  Now we are preparing for the big move, which I am not looking forward to, but it's inevitable.

My little baby turned 1 year old yesterday.  He's not going to be my little baby too much longer.  He's really trying to walk, I think he's just looking for an alternative way to keep up with his big bro even though he crawls fairly quickly.  Unfortunately, we were all tested when we had to take Dexter to the emergency room 2 1/2 weeks ago.  The tip of Dexter's finger was cut off in the hinge side of the door.  Max didn't know his finger was in it and he shut the door completely and it came right off.  They sewed it back on, so now we are just trying to avoid infection.  He had to take antibiotics because the bone fractured.  I have moments were I feel confident that his finger will be fine, but then I have doubts, so the whole situation has been stressful all over the tip of a little baby finger.  
 
A lot will be changing soon.  I'm sad to leave our dear friends we've made over the period of our time spent in Salt Lake. Leaving my Mother will be hard too, I'm comforted knowing that my other siblings live here but nobody can replace having a Grandma close by, but I think Max will miss her balcony more where he can watch all the construction going on outside of her townhouse.   Although the past 5 years has had some huge adjustments for Jacob and I, I think moving to Logan will be the biggest change we've experienced thus far.

Baby's First Haircut

Dex needed a haircut.  He looked cute with his long hair, but it was getting in his eyes, and since we started approaching the summer heat we decided to cut it.  He wasn't thrilled but the hair stylist went really fast.  Every time I look at him I hardly recognize him.  

He was excited to be in the chair.

But then everything started and he was less than thrilled. 

When we got home he was his happy-self again.

Here's another photo just because he's so cute.

Dinosaur Pajamas

I caught this picture the other day.  The boys woke up and just started playing toys.  Max is very territorial with his stuff, but he's getting better little by little. 
 Dexter is already trying to stand up on things!  I can't believe it. 

I love the pajama tops, no bottoms.

Wrestling with Daddy.

Epstein Barr/Hepatitis A/ Cytomegalovirus

Last month I wasn't feeling well.  I was getting these awful headaches constantly, I was extremely tired, and some days I just felt off.  My first inclination was depression.....I've never had it, but because I wasn't feeling well I was getting frustrated and started to feel sorry for myself a lot.  I kept putting off going to the doctor because I thought it was all in my head and that my mind was making me my body feel icky.  I was raised that you shouldn't go to the doctor unless something is broken!

I finally just went to the Madsen clinic by my house.  You can usually get an appointment there the day you call, unlike my family practitioner who told me that we couldn't get an appointment for a few months since it didn't sound like an emergency, so we are currently looking for a new doctor.  When I talked about my symptoms, I felt dumb the whole time just because I was tired doesn't mean something is wrong?  At least that's what I though. I had a bunch of tests done over 2 weeks and they determined that I had a friendly virus called Epstein Barr, also known to many as Mono.  It sucks to know there is a virus in you that you can easily pass on to your children, but I also felt a little bit of satisfaction knowing it wasn't all in my head.  There was a little concern that maybe I had liver damage.  For about a week I was having the same symptoms I have when I'm Pregnant that cause my liver to make my body itch and raise my bilirubin levels, but then it just went away.

But in the process they also determined that I had Hepatitis A at one point in my life.  Hmm I wonder where I got that, I'm sure it was from living in a third world country for 16 months.  And that I also had CMV virus.  What that actually is I don't know, I haven't bothered to research it too much.  All I know is that many people have it and do not show symptoms, but that it is bad to have when you are pregnant.  So I have to brag that my immune system is pretty amazing.  I have had multiple parasites including skin bugs and roundworms, dengue fever, and Hepatitis A that all went untreated. Except for the roundworms, who knows how long they were in my body before the internal medicine expert at the University of Utah I visited 5 months post my mission treated them.

So you can have Mono for like 3 months.  But I think I licked it in 1 1/2.  I had to stop working out because it was sucking the life out of me for the rest of the day and some evenings I was ready for bed at 6 30.  So I started walking instead of running and I had to say goodbye to Jillian Micheals for a few months, I'm sure she would call me a pussy.  I was going at a really good pace of losing a 1 lb a week until I got sick, unfortunately I didn't lose any weight since I contracted the virus, so those people who have lost 20 lbs because they had mono and didn't eat anything the whole time because they were too tired to walk to the kitchen I wish to tell you that "you suck".  I had to deal with the symptoms and still had to do my normal day to day routine, except for maybe some dinners that I skipped and Jake took over.  Did I not say I have the best husband ever?  Well I do.  When your sick it's nice to have someone to take care of you and change a poopy diaper without making a bid deal out of it.

Honduran Templo!

I was serving my mission in La Ceiba, Honduras when ground was broken for the Tegucigalpa, Honduras temple.  After so much time the temple was finally dedicated today.  This is such a huge blessing for the Honduran members of the church who would have to travel to Guatemala, El Salvador, or even Nicaragua so that they could attend the temple and do everlasting ordinances for themselves and their families. So many people would save their money for years so that they could afford to leave the country and stay near the temple for a few days to a week so that they could serve there.  

I'm so excited for "Mis Catrachos"!  It's amazing to me to see the progress that has happened since my departure.  In one branch I was in they met in an apartment building and now they have their own chapel.  I knew a group of boys whom I taught early morning seminary to (ughhhh) who are now serving their missions.  It's so awesome to witness the church growing and to know that the gospel will continue to be taught and testified until the work is done.

Cheque!