Life with Nick and Carol

Life Update

2011-12-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

Life is so different with Kohen around. He is such a joy for us and everyone who's around him! My days are full of smiles, giggles, and baby chatter. Although it's hard to have Nick gone so long everyday, Kohen and I try our best to keep busy! We read books and dance, play tickle games and sing. Sometimes we visit Dad at work and I eat lunch while Nick takes Kohen around and shows him off;) After being with me all day, Kohen LOVES to see his Daddy and Nick LOVES to play with his boy. Oh ya, and Kohen just started a new trick..he rolls over on his side when he plays on his toy mat. I was so proud of him when I first saw that. He is getting so big so fast..it's crazy.

Yeah, so we are all doing pretty well. Not too much else new to talk about. Looking to buy a house here soon hopefully. We have one picked out in Cedar Hills that we reallly want. Just have to see if they'll meet our offer:)

Christmas morning at grandma and grandpa's house! Kohen got spoiled a little bit. Here he is in his new hat, slippers, and pj's.(cousin Liam in the background in matching pj's..so cute!) We all had a fun Christmas. Spent the night at Nick's parents and had Christmas Eve dinner with them and part of the extended family.

He can sit in his bumbo chair now!

Loves his little activity mat..

Family pictures

My Birthing Experience and Our New Little Baby Bum: Kohen Jared

2011-10-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm about a month late with this post I guess, but things have been a bit hectic. And just to warn, this one may be a little emotional and lengthy and honest. So if you want, you can just scan through the pictures!

I won't lie...it has been pretty difficult for me to adjust to having a new baby! I absolutely love it and him, but I honestly didn't think it would be this hard. I've been ridiculously emotional about things. I don't feel depressed at all thank goodness, but more overwhelmed I guess. Mostly it's the lack of sleep I think, but recovering from the whole process has been one of the hardest things I've had to do as well. Most people must be much tougher than me.lol. I still can't believe it's all over. It was crazy and amazing at the same time and looking back at some of these hospital pictures makes me cry.

THE BEGINNING

So I went into the hospital on September 23 at 4pm to get just a routine NST test and some bloodwork done to determine if I would need to be induced a little early. The doctor had been watching my protein levels closely to make sure I didn't become preeclamptic. But up to this point, everything had been looking fine. I really didn't think anything would come of this test that day. Boy was I mistaken! The nurse walked into the room with the results and informed us that I was being admitted and induced right away.(Luckily I had Nick with me just in case) I was utterly unprepared. For one, I hadn't eaten anything since a bowl of cereal at breakfast and I was starving! Also, I hadn't brought any of my pre-packed bags with me and they wouldn't let me go home. I was not about to let Nick leave me and thankfully he had no intention of doing so:) We had my amazing sister, Katie, bring our things from home. Honestly Katie has been freaking awesome throughout my whole pregnancy. I would have been miserable if it weren't for her. She was always there for whatever I needed. Love you so much KK!!!!

Anyways, everything seemed very surreal from that point on. By about 6:30pm, After getting a room, robe, and IV, it was slow going. I was already dilated to a 3 and about 80% effaced when I was admitted, but that didnt seem to make things go faster. They started the Pitocin drip pretty low so contractions didn't start right away. Since I was so hungry, I took advantage of all the things they offered--popcicles, jello, ice chips, etc. Also a funny sidenote, I had to pee sooo much when they were filling me with fluids and I couldn't hold it! Katie and Nick had the special duty of helping me unhook and carry all the 80 wires and tubes with me to the bathroom several times. Poor Katie I'm sure got flashed a few times thanks to the lovely hospital gowns;)

The doctor (who was so awesome and I LOVE) came in around 7:30 pm and broke my water. Gross. Thankfully it wasn't painful, but yuck. That is all. A little later, and after turning up the pitocin drip quite a bit, I was in mucho paino. Even after talking to several moms and taking the birthing class, I was not prepared for that pain. Nick was great at being there and supporting me...even though the movie "Sahara" was on our tv and he is in love with Matthew McConahey;)FYI: I'll never be able to watch that movie without flashbacks now.ha.

LABOR

At about 9pm they checked me and I had dilated to a 5! I thought I was doing so well and working nicely through my contractions, but felt I should be more dilated than that. They asked if I would want an epidural soon and I kinda shrugged it off thinking, "Ya this is pretty painful but I can hold off longer." So they sent the anesthesiologist home. Big mistake on my part. A few minutes later, I guess they had turned up the Pitocin or something because my contractions became HORRIBLE. And that was bad enough, but to add to it, I wasn't getting a break between them. My pain would lessen, but not stop and I was having a really tough time breathing through them. The nurse that had been monitoring me from outside came in and said "wow, you're contracting quite a bit,huh? I guess we had that up a little too high..." Ya, you think? I couldn't imagine staying in this much pain and more for the rest of my labor, so I finally asked for the epidural at about 9:50pm. (I was watching the clock closely to help breathe through contractions) I was too tired and not getting any relief from the pain. Sadly, the guy had gone home, so they called him and it seemed FOREVER until he showed up. In reality he got there at about 10:30pm, but I was sure I was dying by then. When he got to my room, I was vigorously throwing up anything and everything I had eaten. I was crying and contracting and puking and moaning and just overall in pretty bad shape. It was probably good that I was so miserable so I didn't dread the epidural so much though. It was heaven sent and barely hurt whatsoever! That was a huge relief to me since I had been sooo scared to get one.

PROGRESSION?

I was feelin pretty great after that. I may have even dozed off a little bit. Around midnight they came and checked me again and I was sadly still at a 5. Baby was showing signs of distress, but not real bad. They rolled me on my side and gave me oxygen and that seemed to help a little. But as time went on, Kohen dropped further into the birth canal and his heart rate dropped along with it. His heart rate would drop with contactions and not come back up. Dr. Allen kept coming in and checking me and puttin things up there...a scalp monitor thing to keep track of his heart rate, a thing to measure contractions, and he tried to turn the baby b/c he was facing up instead of down. I could tell he and the nurses were getting pretty worried even though they were trying to act calm. They had started making preperations just in case I had to have surgery. Dr. Allen had mentioned that we may have to, but didn't sound like it was for sure at all. I told him that Kohen and I could do it. Afterall, by then I was 100% effaced and dilated to a 7! So close!! But I was getting scared. Nurses kept coming in and out and Dr. Allen just stayed in the room and we were all silent listening to the slowing beeps that represented Kohen's heart rate. They would slow down so much sometimes that Dr allen would go up there and touch kohen's head to stimulate him and the heart rate would go up for a minute. Finally he said that we really needed to get him out. He was so nice and compassionate though. He had tried everything and kept apologizing and knew that I really didn't want to have a C section, but said baby wasn't tolerating these last stages of labor well and just really needed to be taken out.

THE DELIVERY

After that, things sped up so fast everything was a blur almost. Tons of people were in my room hooking me up and unhooking me and shoving medicine down my throat. I just remember shaking, crying and stopping to look at Nick standing in the corner with a robe and booties in his hands staring down at me with this shocked, lost, scared look on his face. I had never seen him like that before. So serious and scared and worried for the both of us. It just made me cry harder as they wheeled me out of the room toward the O.R. all by myself. I can't even express how scared I was. I've never had surgery or even been in the hospital for anything before and my sweet baby was in trouble and everyone was rushing and not talking to me and Nick was gone and I just wasn't prepared to deal with it all. After they put the sheet up so I couldn't see and strapped my arms out to both sides, Dr. allen started poking my stomach asking if i could feel it still. I could. But the anesthesiologist said its ok if i could feel it as long as it's not a sharp pain. It wasn't, but I was still worried b/c I thought I wasn't supposed to feel anything when they start to cut!! And if i could feel them poke me, then surely I'd feel a knife cut me open! So I was just hysterical and shaking uncontrollably when they said, "Well, we are just gonna get started." So they did. Nick finally got there and I felt Dr Allen cut into me but it wasn't super painful so I'm sure the anesthetic was fine. I was still worried though that I could feel it at all. When I felt a rush of warm liquid spill all up my back I really freaked and started hyperventillating knowing it was blood. I felt a ton of pressure and yanking and pulling and they had to reach way down into the birth canal to dig him out since he had dropped so much. It really hurt actually. It turned out that the cord was wrapped around his neck and arm causing his heart rate to drop the further he descended into the birth canal. I'm not sure if I ever really calmed down, but the whole thing from about the time they rolled me into the OR took about ten minutes.

NEW BABY

At 2:56AM on Sept. 24th I heard my precious little boy cry for the first time and everything that had happened to that point was water under the bridge. Everything was Ok and I was crying for a completely different reason. He was alive and out safe and healthy and had the cutest cry I had ever heard. It seemed forever until they brought him over all bundled up to show me and let me kiss his tiny nose and pink cheeks. I couldn't believe how much I loved him already. It was and is honestly one of the purest, sweetest, emotional, and even empowering moments of my entire life. I had done it. 9 pregnant months, 8 hours of labor, and a c section. It was such a hard, long, scary, amazing and sometimes awful journey. But I had done it and had a perfect adorable loveable baby boy:)

In the meantime, Nick had almost fainted and had to drink some juice and put his head between his legs.(Which he told me later had been a bad idea since when he looked down at the floor he saw my blood all over it. haha. )Gotta love him. Poor guy.

AFTER DELIVERY

Dr. Allen stitched me all up which took about a half hour or so. I was so anxious to go see my boy and hold him. But they had to roll me to recovery and said they weren't allowed to bring me my baby while I was in there. An hour or so later though, in rolls little Kohen! The nurses were so sweet and knew how much I needed him so they brought him to me anyway!! I couldn' t believe how perfect he was! And how happy I was! The whole next day I probably got about 3 hours of sleep and was more exhausted than I can remember being ever. But I had my baby and we were both healthy. I couldn't have asked for more! 4 days later we went home and my mom flew in to help out. Recovery from the surgery has been slow and painful but is getting soooo much better. Feeling more like normal everyday. And more good news is that I've lost 30 of the 40lbs I gained during pregnancy! Woo hoo! haha. Hopefully soon Kohen will sleep better at night and my emotions will return to normal. But we are all doing wonderful and Nick has adjusted quickly and awesomely. He is a HUGE help and loves his little boy more than anything. Kohen is the perfect addition to our family and has definitely brought Nick and I closer together:) We are just all so dang HAPPY!!

Our first family picture. Kohen's Birthday!

Grandma lovin up on Kohen.

Kohen's first bath at home:)

Just Snoozin'...

Chillin' on his Boppy Pillow...

Kohen and Ammon in a staring contest. They get along well!

3rd Trimester Troubles..Advice?

2011-07-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Keeps gettin' bigger! haha. It has been a little bit of a rough ride for me these last few weeks. I guess it serves me right for thinking that pregnancy is such a piece of cake! I mean sure it was weird getting big, but it was going awesome for a nice long time, and I couldn't really complain...

Then came the pain.haha. I'm still not really sure what it is or how to get rid of it, but I'm pretty sure it's not just the round ligament pain the doctor seems to think it is. Sometimes it hurts so bad and radiates out to my hip and down my inner thigh that I can barely walk. It's only on my left side and the doctor said if I lay on that side for 10-15 minutes it should ease or go away. Well I sleep on that side all night with a big pillow in between my legs and that certainly hasn't helped. I've tried laying on the other side and different stretches as well, but nothing seems to ease it. The pain gets especially bad after I walk a lot or exercise. That's a real bummer. So I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem and if so, how did you solve it? Or can it be solved? Would a Chiropractor help? I'm pretty sure it's not Sciatica b/c I think that goes down the lower back and leg and my pain is more frontal. Maybe I should just deal with it because it's just part of pregnancy?? Anyway, I'm open for suggestions!!

My other scare this last week was quite an unhappy ordeal for me. I went in for the normal Glucose test and blood draw (which if any of you know me, is awful in itself because of my extreme needle phobia). But it turned out that the test came back and my blood sugar level was too high and I am also slightly anemic. Therefore, they put me on an iron pill for the anemia and told me I needed to come back later and do the 3 hour fasting Glucose test to check for Gestational Diabetes. This involved me fasting for 12 hours, going in to get my blood taken while fasting, then drinking a double dose of that disgusting syrup drink, and getting my blood drawn 3 MORE times in hour increments. Pretty much my worst nightmare... Until I discovered what I had in store if my tests came back high AGAIN. If I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes, I would have the joy of pricking myself at least FOUR TIMES a DAY!!! And also would have to go to a weekly Diabetes management class, have more frequent doctors appointments, and basically need to completely cut sugar from my diet. Not to mention all the lovely extra medical bills we would get to pay. So needless to say, I was kinda freaking out. My poor husband was at work when I heard this news and when I called him (bawling and thinking that this was the end of the world) he of course thought something much more serious was wrong. I didn't think to explain what it all meant. Instead I just told him how scared and worried I was about it. I didn't know until he got home that day and chewed me out for making such a huge ordeal of it, that he thought I and our baby were in serious danger and may very well die from Gestational Diabetes and Anemia. When he got home he gave me a big hug and told me that if, later that day, someone at work (who was much more in their right mind than I was at the time)hadn't explained to him that anemia just means I have low iron and can take a pill for it, and that Gestational Diabetes is fairly common and can be treated with diet alterations and exercise, he may have had a heart attack. He said he was so worried about me and baby all day because he didn't really know what any of that meant. He just knew how freaked out I was about it and that made him freak out. Ha. Poor little Nick. But I'll admit I was kinda touched when he pulled me into that big hug and told me how worried he had been all day;) I just love him.

Anyways, so I went in for the test with my mom who was thankfully in town at the time. It was kinda awful and I know I'm ridiculous about all of it but I think i'm slowly getting a little better with the whole needles and blood thing. Mom was a huge help and comfort to have there:) After tons of worrying and stressing and praying, it turns out that I do NOT have G.D. Yay!! I sincerely sympathize (or empathize?) with those who do though and admire their strength and courage, even if they don't have the fear of needles that I do. I think that would be such a difficult thing to deal with in pregnancy and in normal life and am so so so thankful that I don't have to. I really have had a pretty normal and healthy pregnancy so far with so few problems and worries. I'm incredibly grateful for that as well. I know people have much more serious and bigger complications with their pregnancies and it makes me count my blessings every day that I've been so fortunate!

Nick always gets his way...It's A Boy!!

2011-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Yay!! We found out we're having a baby boy! He's so cute too...at least on the ultrasound:) ha. That was the coolest experience yet though. I couldn't believe how much he was moving around and how he looks like a real baby! He's completely healthy and normal from the looks of things and is growing right on time for his due date.

And yes, Nick ALWAYS gets his way!! Our whole marriage he has wanted a boy first and here we are. Don't get me wrong, I'm crazy excited too, but I was kinda hoping for a girl as most of you probably know;) I already had some girl clothes and what not.haha. I guess that adorable little blanket you got me,mom, will have to be saved for a while! I doubt Nick will let me take home our little boy bundle in a pink ballet blanket....I can't wait for Nick to be able to play with his little mini-me though. He is SOOOOO excited to have a boy to take fishing, and golfing and hunting and to teach how to play basketball.

He's plannin the kid's whole life already and I love it. I think one of the most entertaining parts of this pregnancy for me is watching Nick and his reactions to things. He's hilarious and the most excited Dad-to-be ever. When I walk by, he stares at my stomach. When we sit down, he just rubs my belly and tries to listen to it, (which i tell him is pointless.) and feel it move (which he has prob only really felt 2 or 3 times). The other day he made me feel a little better when I needed a boost. Because lately I have just been feeling so unattractive and chubby...not just in my stomach but just all over big. Anyways, I walked by and he says enthusiastically "Babe, I just LOVE your little belly like that!! It's so cute and I just love it! You can stay pregnant forever because I just think you look so adorable with that belly!" haha. After I got done laughing at his outburst I felt a lot better about myself. So thanks Nick for always cheering me up!

Overall, I've really been enjoying this pregnancy though. I've been feeling great and everyday seems to bring some new excitement or movement. Lately I've felt him kicking me a lot more. I think he likes Shakira b/c he was goin crazy when I was listening and singing along with "My Hips Don't Lie":) Anyways, so thats my newest news about baby boy brown!

Oh and here is a picture of the Belly at 20 wks for you Natalie! I wish you were here so so badly!

It's Hard to Believe, but...

2011-04-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

#1 It has only been 2 years that we've been married! Yup, March 24th was our anniversary. This year we didn't do anything spectacular like going on a cruise (like last year:( ) but we still celebrated a little. Nick surprised me and took me to a fancy expensive restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building called "The Roof" that overlooks the Salt Lake Temple.

It was really really nice..my favorite part was that they played live piano music. The girl playing was amazing and played some of my favorite songs to hear on the piano (like the theme from The Man from Snowy River). It was pretty romantic;) The food was fine, but I didn't enjoy it all that much...partially due to this next fact that is hard to believe.......

#2 I'm PREGNANT!! And we are so so excited to be having a little baby!! Most of you followers of my blog probably already know this news, but I figured I should post a picture of my continuously growing midsection.

This is one I took at about 16 or 17 weeks I believe. We will soon be discovering the sex of little Brown and I could not be more impatient to know what it is!

Our Newest Happenings

2011-02-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas, and this year was no exception! Although it was my first white Christmas and first one away from home. I could really do without all the snow and cold for sure. But my in-laws made it really fun and I didn't get too homesick:)

Hallie, Maddi, and Derk all ready to open presents!

My mother-in-law is the queen of decorating for every holiday. She makes everything so beautiful and festive!! Here was one of 2 trees in the house.

The last week or so in January I got the chance to go visit my sister,Natalie in Florida. She just recently had her third child...a little GIRL this time!! I was so so so excited to go meet her and spend time with my big sister and her boys. It was a great week and felt amazing to get away from the biting misery of cold here in Utah, but the trip was much too short!!

I held little Brinley every chance I got. The boys are so cute with her. It was fun to watch.

A change

2010-11-10T15:33:00.000-08:00

My hair! I've been wanting to go dark for a while. But finally got the nerve to to it. Maybe I'll go even darker, who knows? ha. But as I said in my previous blog, I like it!

This is the little kitten we were going to adopt. A friend of ours let us borrow him for the weekend to see how he would interact with our large cat. It didn't go so well for Ammon. He was very depressed and ornery. We were pretty sure if we left them together Ammon would eat the little guy..and nick hated that Fido(or as nick called him,Frito) had claws. So sadly..we had to give him back:(

We did have some good times with him tho! Nick said he didn't like the kitten...but as you can see, I found that hard to believe. This is him chillin, watchin tv as I snapped a quick shot of him lovin the cats together. I think I can officially call him a cat person.

Lately...

2010-11-03T19:43:00.001-07:00

Our crazy friend Dunker came to stay with us from St.G while he attended "Drill"(military stuff) for the weekend and we had some people over and played Fluffy Bunny...

I had a birthday!! And Nick threw me a party...

While Jacob,Tirsa, Abe, and their newest addition, Arizalea were here visiting...

And we celebrated Halloween of course...at Nick's parents annual party!

Everyone had costumes except Nick and I, so we hurried and stole some costumes from their basement so we could be in the family pictures;)

I thought nick was stinkin hilarious in his clown getup. And Derk's costume was really original. He spray painted all his clothes green and then put pantyhose over his head so he could be a soldier from Toy Story!

So, yes. That is what is new for the Browns. Nick is still workin the sales floor at the dealership hoping to get thrown into finance. I am still the service cashier there as well. I've been going to a new class at the gym (to which I got a free 3 month membership and am loving it) called hip hop hustle. I just love it! The instructor is so funny and really good at what she does. Never thought I'd be any good at hip hop...and I'm probably not, but it's so crazy fun and an amazing workout! I love getting good exercise and having fun in the process. Def makes it a lot easier. So anyways, I'd recommend it.

I need to take more pictures of life. I'm so excited for my mom to come up for Thanksgiving this month! I plan on taking as much tme as possible off work so we and Katie can just play! I miss you like crazy mommy:( One day my family all needs to live much closer together. It's hard to go so long without seeing everyone. Oh, one more thing,I dyed my hair today! That is exciting for me. It's really dark and I like it. I'll have to take some new pictures so I can show everyone:) Thanks for recommending your old stylist Natalie..I really like her a lot!

What a Blast!

2010-07-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

...pun intended...

Independance Day is a great time of year. Not only because of what it represents, but because it is celebrated in such a fun way! Fireworks are awesome, and spending time with friends and family is even more awesome:) What with BBQ's, concerts, games, sun, and fireworks, I look forward to July 4th all year long!!

To kick off our celebrations, we got free tickets (compliments of Brent Brown) to the one and only Stadium of FIRE!! Starring none other than....CARRIE UNDERWOOD! She was ammmaaazing!! We were so lucky to be able to go see her live. It is crazy to me how unbelievably gorgeous some people's voices are.
It was pretty cool...we had field passes:)
The fireworks were pretty crazy too!

On monday, Richfield celebrated, so we drove down there after we drove a big truck in the Provo parade.(That was our price for gettin the tickets to stadium of fire)

And apparently it was a looonnng day for poor Grandpa Brown;) So he got a good snooze while watching Nick's cousins tear up a volleyball tournament.
Later that day we joined the Henries for root beer floats and fireworks!
So needless to say, the day ended with a BANG!
So thank you, founding fathers and all those who have fought and still work hard to keep our country free and fun!! God sure does Bless the USA:)

Baby Kai Fun!

2010-06-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love the adorable offspring of Kasey and Garrett. She is such a fun little thing! I don't think Kasey knows how much Nick and I enjoyed taking Kailyn to Bridal Veil Falls last week. To her I think we were just babysitting for a few hours, but we really loved spending time with this little girl! I'm sure she is a handful sometimes, but she was an angel the whole time she was with us. We walked around the falls, nick dipped her foot in the water (which was much too cold for her taste), played with flowers, and ended with a taste of jamba juice and a nap:)

I'm pretty sure she was more interested in wanting to eat the flower than smell it..

The mini, pink version of Gilligan

Anyways, thanks Kasey and Garrett for letting us play with you daughter for a little while! You guys have definately been blessed with a wonderful baby girl. And she is lucky to have such loving and great parents! She makes us realize what we're missing in life at the moment;) We look forward to when the time comes for us to have a little bundle of our own! ...and no, this is not any sort of baby announcement on my part. Sorry mom and Natalie! haha!

Little bit 'o family time

2010-05-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

After our trip, Nick had to go back to Utah. I stayed at my Dad's place in Miami for another day and spent some time with my Daddy, step mom, sister, and nephews:) We went on walks, played around with water guns, and took a quick trip to the beach. I get so sad being so far away from all of them, so I was really glad to be able to spend some fun times together.

Natalie got the gorgeous blue eyes in the family.. ha..could we look any more different?

Luke got a nice blue tongue from his superman ice cream...

and then decided to rip off his shirt and show us all his huge tan muscles!!

hahaa..and then there's little Jordan...I don't think he ever stops making me laugh!

And the day ended eating subway on the beach while Luke and Jordan played in the water.

OH YA! I also decided to add these pictures of my little sis, Katie;) I took her to get her wisdom teeth out this month..and couldn't pass up the opportunity to take pictures of her while she was drugged up!

She didn't swell too awful much, but we had some interesting conversations while she was coming out of the drug coma. She liked to repeat the same questions over and over...and over. And then laugh hysterically when I said something to her..even if it wasn't funny. The nurse described to her what all was in her take home package. It included some chapstick to which katie's response was, "oooo I love chapstick!" That night I asked katie if she had used her chapstick yet..."They gave me chapstick?!?" haha. So yeah, she was a fun patient and I'm glad I got to be there for her!

A Second Honeymoon:)

2010-05-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

We got to go on another cruise!! It was totally last minute, and we were so excited! This time we visited the western Caribbean which included the beautiful Jamaica and Cayman Islands. We had some unforgettable experiences and an amazing time! Got a nice tan/sunburn and probably gained a few pounds...but it's ok, since we agree that tan chunk looks way better than pale chub! haha. I accomplished one of the things i've always wanted to do too: horseback riding on the beach! Nick enjoyed it too, but admitted later he would have rather spent more time at the waterfalls in Jamaica instead. Anyways, I'll let the pictures tell most of our vacation fun! (captions are under the pictures)

In Grand Cayman, the apparently famous 7-mile beach

They made towel animals every night on our bed and I took pics with them..this one is a pig

A pirate ship! In the Caribbean!

Jamaica

Dunns falls in Jamaica. This is only a section..they are huge! And you can hike all the way up them!

We only had an hour to spend at the falls after horseback riding, so we just played around a little bit.

Little did we know that the native jamaicans weren't just offering to take our picture to be nice..they expect to get paid afterward of course!

A really pretty part of the Island.

My horse, Ivan, and I

We even got to ride bareback a little bit in the ocean!

Nick and his horse, Spiff

Another towel animal..the elephant

All the ladies on the ship got a carnation for mother's day:) Nick thought it smelled really bad. This is his favorite picture from the whole cruise.. go figure

The mini golf course on the very top of the ship. It was pretty cool, and suuperr windy!!

So that pretty much sums it up! It was great fun, but the only thing that I would have changed is how much time we were able to spend on the islands. I think next time we do a big vacation, we will go to a resort and stay. You can't do everything you want to on an island when you only have a few hours!! But we still think cruises are at the top of the list when vacationing.

On another note, while we were gone, we got some very sad news that one of Nick's cousins, Jared, passed away. He was only 21 and drowned in Piute reservoir. We found out on our second day out and needless to say were devastated. Luckily Nick made it home for the funeral. But I just wanted to say we are so sorry we weren't there to help look for him or to spend time with and comfort the family. We will miss you Jared. Even though I personally only knew him for a few years, I'll always remember how kind and great he was to me and how supportive and brave he was on my first deer hunt when we all got lost:) We love you Jared.

Eye Wrinkles

2010-04-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

Recently, (March 24th) was Nick's 25th Birthday!! Yes, he is getting so old. I always tease him about the wrinkles he has around his eyes that are most visible when he wakes up in the morning and how that shows that he is certainly aging. He isn't so fond of them, but I just love them! I think he will age well:) So anyways, to celebrate his special day I invited some friends over the weekend before to play games and eat junk food and brownies and such. Because Nick isn't a big fan of cake. It was a semi-surprise and we all had fun. On his actual birthday, a bunch of us went out to Chili's-our favoritest restaurant-and then went bowling. My idea was to do skittles bowling where each color skittle represents how you have to bowl (granny, backwards, opposite hand,etc) because I thought that may be a little more fun. However, all the guys were much too competitive for that and insisted on bowling seriously. So they did...and they're scores weren't much higher than we who skittled it;)

So excited...about to blow out his candles

Some of the friends we invited..Kasey, Garrett, Eric, Debbie, Elizabeth, and Chad who you can't see. But yay for birthday fun! Thanks to everyone who came that night and the actual night of his birthday!!

Post-Grad Life...What now??

2010-02-13T12:12:00.001-08:00

The other day, Elizabeth, Kasey and I got to have a little craft day with a borrowed "Cricut". Elizabeth picked up some wood and we all got creative and painted our own slat, looked up some fun phrases we could use, and this is my finished product! Eventually it will be put up in my bathroom.

However, I got to thinking about how this kinda sums up my life right now. Since I've been done with school I haven't exactly known what to do with myself...and it was making me feel pretty down for a while. It still does sometimes, but I watched this movie called "PostGrad" and the girl in it was feelin' kinda like me. But the message at the end of the movie made me feel a little better. It was summed up to be, It's not so much HOW you spend your life after graduating, but WHO you spend it with. That's what is most important to figure out. And since I already have that part down, it cheered me up quite a bit!! I found my Nicholas who I adore and am more than comepletely satisfied to spend my life with! And I couldn't be happier about that.

But I am still going to have to vent a little bit. I mean, ya I have a job but it's pretty part time. Although I love it, it pays barely above minimum wage and shouldn't I be making much more than that now??? FOUR STINKING YEARS OF COLLEGE!!! I can't be completely negative about it..I had a great college experience, met lots of awesome people, learned tons of cool and useful junk, and learned to live on my own. But really, are bachelor's degrees even useful nowdays?? It seems to me the answer is more of a no than a yes. They are almost too common place in today's society. Or maybe at least here in Utah. And I feel like even though a lot of employers may appreciate having college educated employees, they don't want to pay them a decent college-graduate salary. Because even though we may be more qualified, they could hire on an average Joe and pay him lots less. College was hard! It was a lot of money, and required a ton of time and work!! I just feel like after all of that I deserve to earn a decent living. I suppose I could look into a different field of work and make a little more, but I really do enjoy what I'm doing now.(Physical Therapy assisting, for those of you who don't know;) ) And that is more important to me than making bank I suppose.haha. I think now I am forced to agree with the common adage that to get on top in life, a lot of times "It's not about WHAT you know, but all about WHO you know".

Anyways, so yes, this little plaque sums up what I do much of the time now. I have a lot of relaxation time since I only work about 20 hours a week. Nick works ALLLLL the time, so not much of my time is spent with him. I suppose I should enjoy my down time while I can though becuase i know it won't always be this way. I'm trying to find hobbies since i'm just not sure what to do with myself.haha. I've started working out a lot more. I'm actually training for a sprint Triathalon at the gym I work at. It includes a 10 min. swim in a pool that pushes you with jets and gets set at a certain speed, a 13 mile bike, and 5k run. It's in March and I still don't feel prepared for it at all, but my goal is pretty much to finish:) So I should at least achieve that! ha. Other than that though, I'm really not sure what to do next. I suppose many postgrads feel the same way. But well, I guess for now I will just try to 'enjoy' my 'relaxation' time:)

Random, Kinda Recent Happenings

2009-11-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

Once again, I've been gettin complaints about never updating my blog! ha..imagine that. Well, it's not that we haven't been doing anything, it's just that I never take pictures! Halloween was pretty fun. Jodie, my mother-in-law, threw a great party the week before. Lots of yummy food, scary decorations, and fun costumes! She made costumes for the whole family:) We were all a different holiday. We had a father time (new-years), father christmas, cupid (Derk..ha so funny), lepruchan, a witch, uncle sam, a pilgrim, and an easter bunny. They all turned out really well..sorry i didn't get pictures. On Halloween we went over to Beau and Steph's place for another party. It was super fun too! Again, lots of good food and good company!

Last week, Kasey had her beautiful baby girl, Kailyn. I was able to go and visit her in the hospital, so that was a great experience. Kasey looked beautiful as well, and made it seem like giving birth was no problem! I'm so happy for their little family:)

Ok, so here are a few things that I have taken pictures of in the last few months that may be of interest!

So Ammon sometimes likes to pee on his tail and it makes him rather stinky. Nick loves it. He has lotsa fun watchin Ammon struggle and meow all weird while he washes his tail off.

His tail smelled fruity fresh afterward:)

This was what I woke up to find on my birthday! Nicholas decided to decorate the whole kitchen and got me a gorgeous bouquet! I especially liked how he taped the balloons in random places on the cabinets and tv;)

Nick got himself a deer on the hunt this year..I's so proud of my lil guy;)

Most recently, a few of us got together and went to a Jazz game up in salt lake. Nick's cousin does a lot of the marketing or advertising for the Jazz so he gets tix all the time. He gave us 4 in the lower bowl, so it was pretty cool! I could actually see the players faces without lookin on the big screen!

Preston just had to wear the wig...apparently he wanted to get put on the big screen, but sadly it didn't draw enough attention.

Graduation!!

2009-09-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

My announcements: courtesy of wonderful elizabeth:)

My amazing husband. Man, I just love him!

Ok, so i don't actually graduate until december...but I walked early. And it felt like I was really graduating! Until I started school again this semester..haha. Anyways, it was nice. My mom and dad came in town. Katie,natalie, kasey and her hubby, and nick were all there for me as well so it was good times:) We had a big BBQ/pool party afterward at our place. Casey came for that, along with a lot of nick's family! It turned out wonderful and the food was delicious! (Thanks daddy!)

Me and the Kaseys (missed you Elizabeth:( )

Most of the fam

Ha..funny story behind this picture. Summary: Katie got pissed at Natalie during graduation, and Natalie of course kept harrassing her about it afterward-hence katie burning a hole in nat's head and mom trying to make natalie stop sayin junk. haah..man

Crazy Kitty

2009-07-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me tell you...I freaking love my cat. He is the fluffiest, cutest lil thing and he provides Nick and I with so much entertainment! Nick hates cats, and is slightly allergic. But our fuzzy, loving, sheds-like-crazy, bear-of-a-cat, Ammon has seemingly warmed his heart and now, Nick is pretty much his biggest fan;) It's actually somewhat annoying how much nick plays around with Ammon (also called Buddah b/c of the way he sits). He spoils him like crazy..came home with a cat bed he bought for him one day,lets him cuddle up on his favorite blanket, and always makes sure the blinds on the sliding door are open in the morning before he leaves for work so that Ammon can sit there and look outside (because apparently according to nick, that is something that ammon loves to do). So Anyways, here are a few funny situations we have caught this unique animal in recently.

We could not find him anywhere one day...looked all under the beds, in closets,etc. Finally we pull down the blanket we keep over the guest bed so that he doesnt shed all over the nice comforter...and this is what we see. He had crawled under the blanket and then under the pillow and fell asleep there. ha..we couldn't stop laughing.

View from the top of the pillow..

A few days before, we caught him snuggled on the same bed, yet again under the top blanket. Had his little head resting on the pillow and the blanket pulled up to his chin.

I caught nicholas the other day spoon feeding ammon the rest of his clam chowder. He freaking loved it!

Haha..it just cracks me up to see some of the things i catch nick doin for the lil guy;)

Also, he always likes to lay in the sun when it's coming through the windows. He gets all nice and warm with his black fur absorbing all the heat.

Fourth of July Weekend!!

2009-07-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun Fourth weekend! We drove down to Richfield Friday and went boating Saturday day with parts of the Henrie family and Nick's sisters. Was a beautiful day to go. AFter, we went to a BBQ, spent some time with the Brown clan, and watched fireworks put on by the city...which were actually pretty impressive. The next day Nick and I joined his family for an EARLY morning fishing trip up at Blind Lake. It was a great hike up there and we caught 8 fishies!! I must admit I was a little grossed out when, unlike I'm used to, we kept the fish and Nick's dad cleaned and gutted 'em right on the spot. Ugh...what a stinky mess. I do not understand what people find appealing about the smell of fish cooking, much less the taste! ha. Anyways, it was good times. Afterward, his family took me over to see Capitol Reef which was pretty awesome. We hiked a little up around there and took some fun pictures. The views were amaaaazzing!! I'd like to go back there sometime and hike some more when it's not so scorching hot.haha.

My first fish i caught! I didn't wanna hold it...so nick did the honors;)

On the way to the lake.we were sooo tired that early in the morning..obviously!

Blind Lake. The whole shoreline was rocky like this..kinda weird

On the hike back..nice view!

Capitol Reef. Nick is really good at acting..can't you tell?

Ha..oh ya, we got a flat tire on his dad's truck on the drive back. The road up to the lake was INCREDIBLY rocky and bumpy. But yes. luckily we had 2 big strong men there to yank off that flat tire and throw on the new one. They was pros let me tell ya!

Lake Powell Pictures

2009-06-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

So here's some of the pictures from Powell. Sadly, most of the wakeboarding pictures and junk are on other people's cameras. I didn't take very many b/c my camera kinda sucks..but i'll have to see if i can get the pictures from someone:)

Our campsite..and nick. NOTE: So little did we know, as we were taking down the tents, Dunker found a baby rattle snake underneath the side of one! Talk about scary..that coulda been a pretty bad situation. So of course, Dunker went and put on some gloves, came back and tried to pick up the snake and play w/him. We all kept yelling at him to leave it alone. After a while he did..and fortunately has no injuries to show for it.

Nick and Preston, debating whether to jump or not....they did. In the car on the way. Me, nick, Maddi, and Hallie

The other half of our campsite

One of the canyons we drove through on the boat. It's so pretty!

Lately...

2009-06-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

So life since the honeymoon has been pretty good..I mean, it's no honeymoon, but its good.haha. It's difficult a lot of the time just because I feel like we don't get to see each other nearly as much as I thought we would. I'm going to school, doing my internship at elevate fitness (still), and working. Nick works FULL time. Although he usually is supposed to go into work at about 9 and get off around 5, he often goes in around 8:30 or 9 and gets home around 9:30 (on a good day). Other times he has stayed at work till almost 11pm. Needless to say, I get a tad upset on those days. I know i shouldn't..but it's difficult. I'm sure he likes it less than i do, so I really have no room to complain:) The time we do get to spend together is wonderful though. We try to have at least one date night a week...which more often than not, includes Chili's!! Even though we've only been married 3 months (the 21st), it feels as if we've been together much longer! I feel like an old married couple a lot of times..haha, it's fun. I think it's just that we know each other so well so it feels like that. It's great to know that we still have our whole lives and lots of good times in front of us though:)

So this last weekend (Thurs-sun) I had my only 3 days off school for the summer. We took advantage of that and got a group of people together and headed off to Lake Powell. Preston, Dunker, Maddi, Hallie, Riley, Nick and I spent a few days campin on the beach, wake-boarding, tubing, and driving the boat through the huge gorgeous canals and cliffs of lake Powell. Nick and Preston went cliff jumping..the rest of us were too wimpy.ha Yikes. I did take a few pictures and will add them shortly. But it was a great get-away.

We are both back to work now and i've started the summer semester at school. Just taking 2 classes though, so not too heavy a load for the summer term. Graduation is soo soon!! August 13th and 14th I think. I'm so excited for that. I'll actually graduate in december b/c i have fall semester still. Nick is still doing well at Brent BRown Chev. He is successful in whatever he does:) Although car sales is slow for him, finance and accessories are picking up the slack for the most part. He's gettin really antsy though...he wants to move into a house so so badly. I love our condo (besides the paper thin walls and the constant barking of the freaking dog downstairs). And i really don't want to move somewhere in Ut valley if we're gonna move. When we do, I want to go to St. George b/c Nick will never ever move outta Ut and St. G is the only place i would want to live in Ut if i have to for the rest of my life! ha.

Honeymoon!

2009-04-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

Our honeymoon was so perfect! A cruise,for me, turned out to be my ideal vacation. Nick agreed. We went on a 5 day carnival cruise in the Eastern Caribbean-the Bahamas. Our ship stopped in Nassau, Half-moon Cay, and Grand Turk. We thought it was so great because you can be completely lazy and have a total blast with all the millions of things there are to do. Room service any time of day or night,people not only making your bed, but turning down the sheets and everything at night too! No cleaning up the dishes or food after you eat. Its just wonderful. Anyways, the best parts though were off the ship. We went snorkeling, jet skiing, on some weird pirate tour (nick's choice), swam in the crystal clear beautiful water, and laid out in the sun on the silky white sand beaches. The food was our only dissappointment. Unfortunately, the food on our carnival cruise left a lot to be desired. Sure they served some good stuff for dinner, but it all seemed really bland and plain. Not to mention I had some really rancid choc milk...It was weird. Nick and I ended up eatin at the pizza bar pretty much everyday for lunch.ha. But even that wasn't fantastic. Oh well, hopefully the next cruise (oh yes! there will def. be a next!!) the food won't suck. Anyways, here are some of the many pictures we took. The ones from our favorite island (half moon cay) aren't developed yet, so i'll prob add some more later. But here's some fun ones anyway!

The pretty part of Nassau(i think)

Yes, we took down a pirate. This was the climactic end of our walk through the pirate museum.

We took a tour of the island in a VW van. It was crazy..i swear they have no traffic laws in Nassau! You can see Atlantis Resort in the background. Its so cool!

This was from our balcony(which i'm so so glad we got upgraded to!) just leavin the miami port.

Nicholas...officially on vacation. Kickin back with a cold one. Little did we know, every can of coke we drank from our room costed $2!!

Snorkeling in Grand Turk

I dont' know why, but i had a really hard time stayin under the water...

Stingray!

Cute Nickely:)

Of course, nick had to get a picture. Such a cute frog i make...

THey left lovely towel animals on our bed every night.And chocolates..which i always ate. Here's a seal. Nick...he's such an animal lover;)

WEDDING DAY

2009-04-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yay! So we are officially Mr.&Mrs. Brown! And I couldn't be happier:) On one hand, i can't believe all the wedding hoopla is over...i mean, I've dreamt of my wedding day for forever and I'll never be able to go back and live that special day again. But on the other hand, I never want to get married again and have to go through the months of stress and craziness a second time! ha. Married life is starting off wonderfully. Nicholas is an amazing husband and although he says he's the lucky one, I think it's the other way around. There's no one else in the world I'd rather be with forever or who is better suited for me. Although the wedding day was incredibly stressful, I enjoyed it a ton. Looking back, I wish I wouldn't have stressed about things so much, but it was kinda hard not to with my hair appointment lady running 25 min late and arriving at the temple 45 min late!! It was crazy..i felt so bad for holding everything up. I'm so sorry for everyone that was there waiting!! But other than that, and making everything else run behind b/c of that..ha..it was a perfect day. Hey, we got to go into the the tower sealing room b/c of it! lol. The temple ceremony was beautiful and I'll never forget the overwhelming feeling of love that was present in that little crowded room. All our wedding party looked wonderful..the boys dashing in their lil vests and the girls in their pretty dresses. Thank you everyone who helped out with everything that day and made things run smoothly! It's definately a day I'll never forget:)

Ok, so here are some pictures that Katie just added online, so i'll steal some fun ones to post!

First kiss outside the temple..we could barely stop smiling to accomplih this task...;)

Feeding each other cake...we WERE gonna be nice, but it was a failed effort.

Nick cleaning up his mess..

The weather was beautiful, but the wind was crazy!
Bridezilla!

First dance: Keith Urban's "My Everything"
:) Happy day!

Daddy..haha..he looks as tired as i felt!

The cake! ...and nick

Florida Christmas

2009-02-06T07:07:00.000-08:00

Ya, these pictures are old news, but I get a little behind with posting things. For christmas, I got to go home! It was a lot of fun and good times with family...not to mention warm sunny days on the beach! Oh, how i miss it:( Sadly nicholas didn't get to come with us. He's keeping pretty busy with work. He's now doing finance part time, accessories manager, AND selling cars! Ambitious little man of mine;) We're way excited though, because at the end of this month, we are takin a trip to Florida together. I can't wait to show him what he's been missin out here in dry,freezing Utah!haha. We will be sure to take pictures while we're there so we can make you all jealous..so don't worry;)

Abie was a doll the whole break. Jacob and Tirsa did so good with the cute lil guy!Sad Nick couldn't be there with us:( I had to let him know he was missed!

Daddy and Baby

Our Sandcastle masterpiece!

Wedding Plans

2008-12-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

We got bridesmaid dresses now too! They are a beautiful plum. Well done Natalie and Katie! Oh, and my wedding colors are officially plum and silver:) I think things will look lovely with those colors. Would you all like to know who is going to be in the wedding party? Of course! Bridesmaids: Natalie,Katie,Kasey,Elizabeth, and nicks sisters:Maddie and Hallie. The Groomsmen: Preston,Derk,Jacob,Beau,Wade,and Carter. It'll be a good-lookin party to have in our pictures!

Nicholas and my wedding date is set for March 21st in the Manti temple. We have changed the date a few times, but i'm pretty sure it will stay at this one. As for the reception...there are still many complications (well not too many, but some big ones). And we aren't sure what or where to have it yet, sadly. We booked Liberty Hall in Manti to host the reception, but have many disagreements over the subject. However, it is beautiful and perfect. You can go to the site and look at it. But maybe don't. Because then everyone will be as disappointed as I if it turns out not to be there...

Wedding Dress Madness!!

2008-11-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

So yesterday Natalie, Katie, Kasey and I went wedding dress shopping. It was really fun going out with the girls:) We had a great time joking around, laughing, and just being all excited in each others company. We all drove up to salt lake to check out a few stores. We went to Latter-Day Bride first. That place wasn't so great. They only have one or 2 sizes of each dress and the dresses are only try-on ones. So you have to order the dress you want...which takes SIXTEEN WEEKS!! What if the size you order doesn't even fit when it comes in? And seriously, we live in UT...people don't plan their weddings very far in advance here. Anyways, we found 2 dresses we really liked, but they were ridiculously priced (Like $850), and would take forever to get in. Even the rush order takes 10 weeks but costs at least $80 extra! And all the bridesmaid dresses were ugly and overpriced. Needless to say, we went elsewhere.

We went to David's Bridal which only had a selection on 4 modest dresses. And one modest bridesmaid dress. ha. I tried on 2 of them and the girls tried on the bridesmaid dress..which was ok looking. Surprisingly, one of the wedding gowns looked really good! AND was on sale for a really reasonable price! So after prancing around in it for like 1/2 hour trying to decide if it was the one, it really grew on me and we bought it (after calling mommy and getting the credit card number;) Thanks mom!)! I HAVE A WEDDING DRESS NOW!! So now, we really need to be looking for bridesmaid dresses. We need 6 of them..and apparently shipping them in takes a while, so i'm a tad worried about that. Not to mention, i haven't even decided on my colors!! So if anyone has suggestions or input on wedding stuff/dresses..i'm more than open for it:-)

Halloween!

2008-11-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

Nick's Mom had a big halloween party at her house and Nat and the kids came along:)

Luke is scaring the camera..as if he could. Cutest vampire ever! Nick and I are Julius Cesar and Cleopatra in case you couldn't tell.

The Beginning..Jazz Games

2008-11-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

These were from sometime last year when we kinda first started going on dates..ha. Nick took me to my first NBA games, and still brags about it:)

Nick's Family Reunion Last Summer: Bear Lake and Minnetonka Cave

2008-11-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

Bear Lake was so gorgeous! We went boating earlier in the day.

His mom wanted to take some pictures because the scenery was so pretty there.

Haha..he's gonna kill me for posting this! Each family at the reunion was supposed to put on a skit for the Grandpa's 80th birthday..Nick's family decided to go Hawaiian.

We took a guided tour of the cave with his family the next day.