Okay, so I'm finally blogging again. I always wait too long and then my posts are huge, so bear with me. I need to get better at keeping up.
The summer has been great. We started it by going up north the weekend after school got out. We spent some time with Tim's side of the family as we celebrated our nephew's high school graduation. We also had a family reunion with my side of the family to say goodbye to my mom. She entered the MTC on May 31st. She's serving as an employment specialist in Vancouver, Canada. Then on my Birthday we went to Lagoon with my sister Kristine and her family and my sister Camille. It was a blast. What a great day!
The following weekend Tim, Ashlee, Taylor and I had a great time at our ward's Youth Conference. We went to a cabin in Pine Valley and enjoyed great food and fun activities. Tim and I don't currently work with the youth, but we went so that Taylor could go. Tim worked really hard helping will all of the amazing dutch oven food. I was a leader of one of the groups. We were "Moroni's Army". We had challenges against the three other groups, and we all wrote and performed skits about our Book of Mormon hero. It was a great couple of days. Lindsey and Breanna had fun playing with their cousins while we were gone.
We've gone to Zion National Park several times this summer. We hiked the River Walk, Weeping Rock, and Emerald Pools. No matter how many times we go, I'm always completely blown away by the amazing beauty of the red canyon walls. We've enjoyed cookouts up Cedar Canyon as well. We feel very blessed to live with so much beauty around us.
Tim was able to hike The Narrows in Zion Canyon. He went with my brother-in-law Brad and two of his boys and a few others from their ward (it was a scout hike). It was a two-day hike through a river. He had fun and took some amazingly beautiful pictures.
Ashlee attended her first Girl's Camp this summer. She had a blast. It was hard to have her gone for four days. She's growing up way too fast!
At the end of June my new little great-niece was born. (Wow. That makes me sound really, really OLD!) My niece Shaelynn and her husband Jason had their first baby. They named her Kyrie Noel. She is absolutely adorable and we can't get enough of her! Good thing she lives down the street and is in our ward!
Ashlee attended summer band for about a month after school got out. She plays the clarinet. Their concert at the end was amazing. Hard to believe they are Middle School students! She got to march in the 4th and 24th of July parades with the band. Breanna and Lindsey were in the 24th of July parade as well. They were dressed as pioneers and rode on our ward's "handcart" float. They had a lot of fun.
We've had a few visitors this summer as well. Tim's parents came from Nebraska in May. They stayed for several days. We had a great time visiting with them, and of course we took them to Zion National Park and then had dinner at the In and Out in St. George. Last month Tim's brother stopped by for an hour or so on his way home from business in St. George. It was fun get to visit with him for a little bit. Then one morning we got a surprise phone call from Ashlee's kindergarten teacher who was in our ward in Blythe. She was in town and wanted to stop by and say hi. It was so fun to see her for the first time in 4 years and to catch up on how our friends are doing in Blythe. This weekend we also had my friend Michal and her sister Sarajan here. They came down to see plays at the Shakespeare festival. It was fun to visit with them here and there in between their plays. Michal will be coming back next weekend as well. We're going to see the play "Pride and Prejudice" as well as a performance of Broadway songs by some of the Shakespeare Festival actors. She's generously taking me as a belated birthday gift. I can hardly wait!
The rest of the summer was spent mostly here at home, enjoying our time together as a family. We went to some of the PTA-sponsored movies, enjoyed free movies in the park, went to the Green Show for the Shakespeare festival, played at the new little lake here in town, went to Discovery park, and had barbeques with the neighbors and my sister's family. The kids also played with friends and had a few sleepovers with their cousins. They saved up their money and the pooled it together to buy the new Harry Potter Lego game for the WII. They've had a great time playing it the last few weeks.
Last night the kids convinced Tim and I to play "sardines". We turned off the lights in the house and wore glow-in-the-dark bracelets Michal had given the kids. One person would hide and then the rest of us would try to find him or her. Once we found the hidden person we would hide with them until everyone was all hiding together. The last one to find everyone would be "it" for the next round. There was a major lightening storm going on outside, which made it more interesting and maybe a little more scary. We searched in teams of 2 for the most part so the younger ones wouldn't be scared. (I have to admit I preferred the team method as well!) It was a lot of fun. Then we sat out on the front porch and watched Mother Nature's light show. It was pretty amazing. Even Taylor sat there with us and watched it, which is a miracle because thunder and lightning usually scare him.
So, there is the summer in a nutshell. I can't believe how fast it flew by! Now with very mixed feelings we are getting ready for school to start in just a week and a half.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Summertime Pictures
Lagoon
Zion National Park
Tim hiking The Narrows
Cedar Canyon
Youth Conference
Youth Conference
Tim and his friend Byron at the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay race. Their team ran 190 miles, from Logan to Park City. Tuesday, February 23, 2010
February 2010
I'm going to get better about updating my blog! I think I assume it has to be a huge project to post something, but I know I could just make it short and sweet. (Then again, this is ME we are talking about....)
The last few weeks have been busy, but good. My friend Michal came for a visit President's Day weekend. We spent a fun-filled day in St. George touring houses for the parade of homes. Then on Monday Tim and I took the kids to St. George and took turns going through some of the homes Michal and I didn't get to. It was a fun day, and Tim and the girls got to see a couple of humongous homes.
Later that week Tim's brother Ken was here on business. He had stayed a night with us. It was great to see him.
Other than that, we've just stayed busy with work, school, Ashlee's basketball games, and my Relief Society meetings. I was called as 1st councelor in the Relief Society presidency a month or so ago. It's been very humbling so far! My biggest goal is just to get to know the names of the women in our ward. I've been in Primary almost the whole time we've lived here, so I'm mostly only familiar with those who have young kids. I'm working on it, though.
I'll have to add some pictures later. Right now the laundry and dishes are unfortunately calling!
The last few weeks have been busy, but good. My friend Michal came for a visit President's Day weekend. We spent a fun-filled day in St. George touring houses for the parade of homes. Then on Monday Tim and I took the kids to St. George and took turns going through some of the homes Michal and I didn't get to. It was a fun day, and Tim and the girls got to see a couple of humongous homes.
Later that week Tim's brother Ken was here on business. He had stayed a night with us. It was great to see him.
Other than that, we've just stayed busy with work, school, Ashlee's basketball games, and my Relief Society meetings. I was called as 1st councelor in the Relief Society presidency a month or so ago. It's been very humbling so far! My biggest goal is just to get to know the names of the women in our ward. I've been in Primary almost the whole time we've lived here, so I'm mostly only familiar with those who have young kids. I'm working on it, though.
I'll have to add some pictures later. Right now the laundry and dishes are unfortunately calling!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Tender Mercies
This isn't going to be easy, but I've got to blog my feelings about recent events now for several reasons. First, because the experiences are fresh and I don't want to forget how the Lord has watched over us. Second, because talking about difficult things helps me to heal, and writing about them has the same healing affects. Third, because if I have to look at the picture and post about the ultrasound everytime I open my blog it's going to kill me, but I don't want to erase it either because it's part of our family's history. So here goes..
This past Friday morning, on New Year's Day, Tim woke up with a desire to go up north to visit his siblings and their families for the weekend. Being a Langford, I have an inbred ability to pick up and go on a trip on short notice, having run off to California for family vacations on numerous occasions at a moment's notice. :) So, we spent the morning packing and headed up to Tami and Darren's house in Lehi. We spent Friday afternoon and evening hanging out with family and eating way too much yummy food.
Saturday morning at 4 I woke up and notice I was bleeding a little bit. Having had two previous miscarriages, I completely flipped out. I spent the day ocillating between weak hope, grief, devastation, fear, comfort from the Holy Ghost, and back to grief and fear again. By that night I was certain I was losing this baby. I was completely devastated. Taylor had also started having intense stomach flu symptoms, vomitting every 15 minutes or so. This was more than I could bear, and thank heavens for our wonderful angel Aunt Tami who took care of him. I was lying on the bed with him, but if he woke up to vomit and Tami wasn't there, he'd look at me and ask, "Where Tami?" then start calling, "Aunt Tami, Aunt Tami!" She would of course drop everything to run up and help him. What a huge blessing and help to me!
The next morning around 4 the cramping got really intense and I ran to the bathroom and bled and bled like I've never bled before. By some miracle Tim heard me calling his name from the bathroom upstairs all the way in the basement where he was sleeping. The only explanation for this is that the Spirit woke him up. It's a good thing, too, because fairly soon after he got there I started feeling like I was going to pass out. I'll skip the gory details, but he got me to the hospital and my blood pressure was scary low-- the triage nurse said it was the lowest she'd seen. So that was another blessing-- because we were at Tami's we were able to leave the kids sleeping and in her care while Darren showed us the way to the American Fork hospital. And Darren was absolutely AMAZING through all this! I suggested he drive his own car and we'd follow him. I thought he'd get us there and rush home, as far away from the incredibly gross bleeding woman as fast as he could, like any man would. But, he didn't. He helped Tim get me inside, he stayed outside my room the whole time I was in the ER, he helped Tim give me a priesthood blessing, he stayed with Tim in the waiting room during my emergency d and c, and he even (this one still astounds me...) helped Tim clean up the mess I'd left when they got back to his house. Wow. And Tami was of course wonderful, too, taking care of the kids and then Tim when he got the stomach flu and them me when I got back to their house that night. She ended up with the flu the next day (poor Tami!). What a saint. And Tim's brother Ken had come over to help give me a blessing at 5 a.m. the morning I'd started bleeding, then he and his wife Nancy went and got a bunch of groceries for our puking, tired family Monday morning, completely going above and beyond the grocery list! My in-laws are all amazing and I love them so much!!
I also felt the prayers and support of my side of the family. My mom had called my siblings and asked them to fast for me Sunday morning. I absolutely felt the strength of those prayers!! While I was in the hospital all day Sunday, by myself after the surgery because Tim was sick, I felt so much peace and comfort. It was amazing!! I actually didn't feel alone at all, and I never usually like being by myself, but I was so exhausted that this turned out to be a blessing as well. I had lost so much blood that I had to have a transfusion. I was given 2 units of blood. I'm also very grateful to whoever donated that blood! It's taken about 2 weeks (I started this blog shortly after the ordeal, but didn't finish it until now....), but I'm finally getting my strength back and feeling so much better. It's amazing how much iron is essential for our bodies to function! I'm almost out of anemia-land and hope I never have to go back there again!
I've found through the experiences of my other miscarriages as well as the experience of my dad passing away that when we are first in a major crisis, the Holy Ghost steps in (if we let him) and sustains us. I think if I didn't have that comfort I would lose my mind. I've also found, however, that the level of comfort lessens a bit with time, if that makes sense. In some ways the loss of this baby is more difficult to deal with now than it was a few weeks ago. Not that the comfort is completely gone or anything-- it's there when I seek it. But my heart is broken. It's healing, but it's broken, and I suppose I need to let myself feel that and give myself time to heal. I'm also full of hope, because they found that I have a gene mutation that could be causing blood clots in my uterus and therefore miscarriages. So, next time I'm pregnant I can take medications that may be able to prevent this from happening again. But I'm also scared. I don't know if I can take this kind of heartbreak yet again. If I knew it would get this baby here, though, I'd do and go through anything! I guess this is where faith, prayer, and a whole lot of trust in the Lord come in. We'll have to fast and pray to know His will, and then go forward with faith.
This past Friday morning, on New Year's Day, Tim woke up with a desire to go up north to visit his siblings and their families for the weekend. Being a Langford, I have an inbred ability to pick up and go on a trip on short notice, having run off to California for family vacations on numerous occasions at a moment's notice. :) So, we spent the morning packing and headed up to Tami and Darren's house in Lehi. We spent Friday afternoon and evening hanging out with family and eating way too much yummy food.
Saturday morning at 4 I woke up and notice I was bleeding a little bit. Having had two previous miscarriages, I completely flipped out. I spent the day ocillating between weak hope, grief, devastation, fear, comfort from the Holy Ghost, and back to grief and fear again. By that night I was certain I was losing this baby. I was completely devastated. Taylor had also started having intense stomach flu symptoms, vomitting every 15 minutes or so. This was more than I could bear, and thank heavens for our wonderful angel Aunt Tami who took care of him. I was lying on the bed with him, but if he woke up to vomit and Tami wasn't there, he'd look at me and ask, "Where Tami?" then start calling, "Aunt Tami, Aunt Tami!" She would of course drop everything to run up and help him. What a huge blessing and help to me!
The next morning around 4 the cramping got really intense and I ran to the bathroom and bled and bled like I've never bled before. By some miracle Tim heard me calling his name from the bathroom upstairs all the way in the basement where he was sleeping. The only explanation for this is that the Spirit woke him up. It's a good thing, too, because fairly soon after he got there I started feeling like I was going to pass out. I'll skip the gory details, but he got me to the hospital and my blood pressure was scary low-- the triage nurse said it was the lowest she'd seen. So that was another blessing-- because we were at Tami's we were able to leave the kids sleeping and in her care while Darren showed us the way to the American Fork hospital. And Darren was absolutely AMAZING through all this! I suggested he drive his own car and we'd follow him. I thought he'd get us there and rush home, as far away from the incredibly gross bleeding woman as fast as he could, like any man would. But, he didn't. He helped Tim get me inside, he stayed outside my room the whole time I was in the ER, he helped Tim give me a priesthood blessing, he stayed with Tim in the waiting room during my emergency d and c, and he even (this one still astounds me...) helped Tim clean up the mess I'd left when they got back to his house. Wow. And Tami was of course wonderful, too, taking care of the kids and then Tim when he got the stomach flu and them me when I got back to their house that night. She ended up with the flu the next day (poor Tami!). What a saint. And Tim's brother Ken had come over to help give me a blessing at 5 a.m. the morning I'd started bleeding, then he and his wife Nancy went and got a bunch of groceries for our puking, tired family Monday morning, completely going above and beyond the grocery list! My in-laws are all amazing and I love them so much!!
I also felt the prayers and support of my side of the family. My mom had called my siblings and asked them to fast for me Sunday morning. I absolutely felt the strength of those prayers!! While I was in the hospital all day Sunday, by myself after the surgery because Tim was sick, I felt so much peace and comfort. It was amazing!! I actually didn't feel alone at all, and I never usually like being by myself, but I was so exhausted that this turned out to be a blessing as well. I had lost so much blood that I had to have a transfusion. I was given 2 units of blood. I'm also very grateful to whoever donated that blood! It's taken about 2 weeks (I started this blog shortly after the ordeal, but didn't finish it until now....), but I'm finally getting my strength back and feeling so much better. It's amazing how much iron is essential for our bodies to function! I'm almost out of anemia-land and hope I never have to go back there again!
I've found through the experiences of my other miscarriages as well as the experience of my dad passing away that when we are first in a major crisis, the Holy Ghost steps in (if we let him) and sustains us. I think if I didn't have that comfort I would lose my mind. I've also found, however, that the level of comfort lessens a bit with time, if that makes sense. In some ways the loss of this baby is more difficult to deal with now than it was a few weeks ago. Not that the comfort is completely gone or anything-- it's there when I seek it. But my heart is broken. It's healing, but it's broken, and I suppose I need to let myself feel that and give myself time to heal. I'm also full of hope, because they found that I have a gene mutation that could be causing blood clots in my uterus and therefore miscarriages. So, next time I'm pregnant I can take medications that may be able to prevent this from happening again. But I'm also scared. I don't know if I can take this kind of heartbreak yet again. If I knew it would get this baby here, though, I'd do and go through anything! I guess this is where faith, prayer, and a whole lot of trust in the Lord come in. We'll have to fast and pray to know His will, and then go forward with faith.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
It's a............ baby!!!
Here he or she is!! Our fuzzy little bundle of joy. Baby #5 is on its way to the Roberts family and we are all SO excited! If you look closely (and perhaps use a little imagination) you can see a tiny head on the left of the picture, and little arms and legs on the right. This was at my first appointment, about 3 weeks ago, and I was about 10 weeks along. My OB/GYN has been so great-- he says he'll do ultrasounds frequently to put our minds at ease after having two previous miscarriages. What a blessing to see the heartbeat and the baby moving around!! We are so grateful for our future new little one!!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Feeling Grateful
Today I had a million places to be at once. I had choir practice for the community's Handel's Messiah this morning from 9-12. I had forgotten to get Ashlee's shirt for her basketball game and needed to get it before I went home after the practice. Lindsey had a basketball clinic at 12 and Ashlee's game started on the other side of town at 1. As I was contemplating how in the world I was going to be several places at once, a thought struck me. With the pregnancy before last, I had lost the baby at this point. With the last pregnancy, I had injured my back at this point and was completely down in bed, then lost the baby 3 months later. Wow. Suddenly I was filled with gratitude that I had a million places to go and that I COULD go to them!! And that I am 11 weeks pregnant and everything is well! (I guess this would be my first official announcement on my blog-- I'm pregnant!)
With Tim's help we were able to get everyone where they needed to be and everything turned out great. This was the first practice of the "Messiah" with all of the solos and the orchestra. I cried from the very beginning as the orchestra played because it was so beautiful. Then I cried again when I heard for the first time one of the soloist sing, "I Know that My Redeemer Liveth". The Spirit was very strong the entire time, and bore witness to me again of Christ's divinity. I am so grateful that He is my Saviour! It is so amazing to be able to shout, "Wonderful, Councelor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!" and feel the power of those true words. Handel was truly inspired! I am grateful for people with amazing God-given musical talent who are willing to share with the rest of us! (And I'm hoping that I got all of my crying out so that I can keep it together for the performances tomorrow and Monday nights!)
It was fun to cheer Ashlee on in her first ever basketball game of the season, too. She is a go-getter! Ever time she is out on the court she gives it her best effort. I am very proud of her!
It was a great day overall. After a hectic morning, I came home and took a nap. :) I'm also grateful for a family who will let me do that and has been super patient with Mom's nausia, mood swings, and exhaustion. Not that I'm complaining about those symptoms, in fact, I'm thrilled at every reminder that I'm pregnant and that the pregnancy is viable. I had my first doctor's appointment this past Thursday. With my history of miscarriage, my wonderful doctor went ahead and just did and ultrasound. There was my precious baby, its heart beating like crazy and its body wiggly wonderfully! Tears ran down my face, and the nurse wiped at her eyes. The doctor was excited about how great things looked as well, and he had a hard time taking measurements because the baby wouldn't stop moving! Hooray! He was finally able to get the measurements, though, and baby is right on track. What a huge miracle and blessing! I'm like a giddy first-time mom with this pregnancy, showing anyone who will indulge me the fuzzy ultrasound pictures that barely even look like a human. Funny how much you can love a fuzzy little sorta-human looking blob!! I even tried to scan the ultrasound pics to post here, but couldn't get the scanner to work for some reason. I'll have to try again later, since I'm sure you're all very anxious to see the fuzzy little thing as well! :)
With Tim's help we were able to get everyone where they needed to be and everything turned out great. This was the first practice of the "Messiah" with all of the solos and the orchestra. I cried from the very beginning as the orchestra played because it was so beautiful. Then I cried again when I heard for the first time one of the soloist sing, "I Know that My Redeemer Liveth". The Spirit was very strong the entire time, and bore witness to me again of Christ's divinity. I am so grateful that He is my Saviour! It is so amazing to be able to shout, "Wonderful, Councelor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!" and feel the power of those true words. Handel was truly inspired! I am grateful for people with amazing God-given musical talent who are willing to share with the rest of us! (And I'm hoping that I got all of my crying out so that I can keep it together for the performances tomorrow and Monday nights!)
It was fun to cheer Ashlee on in her first ever basketball game of the season, too. She is a go-getter! Ever time she is out on the court she gives it her best effort. I am very proud of her!
It was a great day overall. After a hectic morning, I came home and took a nap. :) I'm also grateful for a family who will let me do that and has been super patient with Mom's nausia, mood swings, and exhaustion. Not that I'm complaining about those symptoms, in fact, I'm thrilled at every reminder that I'm pregnant and that the pregnancy is viable. I had my first doctor's appointment this past Thursday. With my history of miscarriage, my wonderful doctor went ahead and just did and ultrasound. There was my precious baby, its heart beating like crazy and its body wiggly wonderfully! Tears ran down my face, and the nurse wiped at her eyes. The doctor was excited about how great things looked as well, and he had a hard time taking measurements because the baby wouldn't stop moving! Hooray! He was finally able to get the measurements, though, and baby is right on track. What a huge miracle and blessing! I'm like a giddy first-time mom with this pregnancy, showing anyone who will indulge me the fuzzy ultrasound pictures that barely even look like a human. Funny how much you can love a fuzzy little sorta-human looking blob!! I even tried to scan the ultrasound pics to post here, but couldn't get the scanner to work for some reason. I'll have to try again later, since I'm sure you're all very anxious to see the fuzzy little thing as well! :)
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thanksgiving/ Lindsey's Birthday
We had lots of reasons to be thankful and celebrate yesterday! First, because it was Thanksgiving, of course, and second, because it was also Lindsey's 8th Birthday! This was the first time her Birthday has fallen on Thanksgiving Day, and I wasn't sure how it would work out, but it was great. She had her party last week. It was a flower-themed late-night party. Her friends came in their p.j.'s and they all played games, decorated candy bags, and destroyed a flower pinata. They even got to stay until 9 p.m. (Lindsey thought that was wonderfully late :)).
The cake was Lindsey's idea. The "grass" part is chocolate cake baked in a loaf pan and sliced in a half length-wise. The "stems" and "leaves" are licorice and candy fruit slices, and the flowers are cupcakes with marshmallow petals.
The cake was Lindsey's idea. The "grass" part is chocolate cake baked in a loaf pan and sliced in a half length-wise. The "stems" and "leaves" are licorice and candy fruit slices, and the flowers are cupcakes with marshmallow petals. Because her Birthday fell on Thanksgiving day, we had a cherry pie with candles in it instead of cake again. A wonderful part of Lindsey's Birthday is that Grandma Langford is here for a few weeks! Grandma made the cherry pie at Lindsey's request. :) The girls also enjoyed helping with the cherry, apple, and pumpkin pies. Thanks to my mom, Thanksgiving dinner was really wonderful and not stressful at all. We had most of the dinner ready the day before. Everything was delicious!! We thought a lot about all of the amazing things we have to be thankful for, including family, the gospel, our home, freedom, food to eat, and clothes to wear. (Taylor just kept saying he was thankful for basketball . :))
We look forward to the most important part of Lindsey turning 8- her baptism next week. It will be a wonderful day, with Grandma Langford, Aunt Kristine and her family, Grandma and Grandpa Roberts, Aunt Tami and her family, and Uncle Ken and his family all coming to celebrate Lindsey's special baptism day.
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