Fall is Here!

I love Fall! It is by far my favorite season of the year. This year, Utah sure showed off and gave me a beautiful Fall. The colors were spectacular and so was the weather. John and I spent a lot of time outside and going on walks. I am trying to soak it all in before the snow hits. This month was filled with a lot of good days. I love months where I look back and can think of several happy memories that were made.

One of which was going to my good friend's baby blessing. Some friends are only your friends for a time and others are life-long friends and she is definitely going to be a life long friend. She now was two cute boys and John is right between them in age.

Another friend and I took advantage of the nice weather and hiked to Stewart Falls. I had never been and it was so beautiful! There is something about nature and hiking that just does the soul good.

I love watching John discover new things. He played in the leaves for the first time and also found my flower pots. He has a love for dirt. Haha. I guess next summer I need to put in a sand box. :)

Zac ran his first marathon this month too! He ran the St. George marathon and got under 4 hours which was his goal. It is inspiring to see him set his goals and complete them. Aunt Linda and her family were so nice to let us stay with them for the weekend. It definitely made it easier than trying to get a hotel and figure out transportation.

John Turns One

This past year went by way too quickly. My boy is no longer my tiny little baby but a curious, crawling boy. The last year has had many ups and downs. There were a few months that were really hard when John wasn't sleeping well but for the most part it was been amazing.
Being a mom is way different than I imagined but in a good way. This little boy has my whole heart. I feel like each day he is learning, growing, and changing.
At each stage I want him to stay at that stage and am afraid that I will be sad when he grows out of it but it has been the opposite. Each stage is exciting and different.
John now weighs 22lb 14oz (51%), 29in long (33%), and his head is in the 94th percentile! He finally figured out crawling instead of army crawling a few days before is first birthday. He has eight teeth and loves to jabber away. He can say 'mama' and has his own little language.
His little cheeks are kissed constantly. My absolute favorite time is right before nap or bedtime. We spend a few minutes in the rocking chair. He puts his little hands around my neck and snuggles his head on my shoulder. It is pure heaven. Those moments are the moments that I dreamed about for years and sometimes it seems too good to be true. Those are the moments that I want life to freeze.
John's birthday was on a Sunday so we decided to do most of the celebrating in Saturday. We started off by running a 5K for Footsteps for Fertility which is a non-profit that funds local fertility grants. By running the race, we were put into a drawing for a fertility grant. We didn't win but it was an amazing experience to watch other couples win a grant to get a shot at growing their families.
That afternoon, we threw John a birthday party! So many wonderful friends and family came out to celebrate with us. One of the best parts was that two of my good friends from Seattle that now live in Utah were able to come. In Seattle, these two girls were my support. Their friendship was and is priceless. We didn't speak about our struggles with infertility that often but we all knew. We knew that we could hang out together and understand what it was like to be in each other's shoes. Fast forward, three years later and we all have our little miracle babies, all boys! It is a proof to me that miracles do happen. There wasn't a better time for us to be reunited than at John's birthday.

Halloween 2016

October was a busy but fun month for us. We had something almost every weekend. This year for Halloween, we decided to retire our tradition "Jack and Jill after they fell down the hill" costume. We figured five years with the same costume was long enough. Haha. We themed our costumes off of the newest member of our family, John. We were Robinhood, Maid Marien and Little John. Haha. I think our costumes turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.
At the beginning of the month, we traveled to Idaho for my cousin's wedding. It was so beautiful! And John did wonderful. I am not nearly as scared to travel home for Christmas as I was before. haha.
I officially quit my job to be a full time stay at home mom. But they invited me to the Halloween party so John and I went had such a good time seeing old co-workers and friends. It was definitely bittersweet saying goodbye to my job. It was a good a one. But being a stay at home mom has been wonderful so far! I love spending so much time with my cute baby.
Zac ran the Haunted Half the week before Halloween so John dressed up as a pumpkin (Thanks Krisitin) and we headed downtown to watch him finish the race.
After that, we went out to Daybreak to watch the Giant Pumpkin Races! It was quite hillarious. Everyone racing pumpkins was dressed up so it was pretty fun to watch. The largest pumpkin weighed over 800lbs! It is crazy to think that pumpkins grow that big!
As for actual Halloween, it was pretty low key. After a weekend full of Halloween parties and pumpkin carving, I was ready just to hang out and hand out candy to the Trick-or-Treaters. We actually had quite a few.
It is so much fun have a baby to dress up for Halloween! I think this holiday is growing on me. ;)

Left: Ward Halloween Party. Right: Work Halloween Party

Kyla's Wedding in Idaho

Picking pumpkins with my little pumpkin

The finishline at the Haunted Half. You can't see my whole sign but it says "On a scale of 1 to 10 you are a 13.1" haha. 

Hillary, Trump and the Little Mermaid battle it out at the Giant Pumpkin Races 

Our carved pumpkins. I think our carving skills get better every year. ;) 

Baby Party!!!

Life is full of moments that you never want to forget and that is why I blog and journal because I want to remember those feelings forever. Last week was definitely one of those moments. Elise and Mom threw me the most beautiful baby shower. I cannot thank them enough for their hard work and what it meant to me. Thanks to Lindsey for coming down for it too. :)

Baby showers have always been one of those things that I have wanted to have, wanted to be part of, wanted to be able to enjoy. I cannot count the number of showers I have gone too where I am genuinely happy for my friend but leave early and cry all the way home because I never knew if I would ever have the opportunity to experience pregnancy or motherhood.

This shower, I definitely cried but not tears of sadness but tears of joy! I couldn't hold back my emotions anymore as I opened so many gifts from wonderful friends and family, knowing that they were all for my little baby! For my little baby boy!

Thank you to all who came or sent words of congratulations. Each of you mean the world to me.

Photo Cred: Lindsey LeFevre :)

Top 15 of 2015

I can't believe that 2015 is coming to an end and 2016 is already here. This past year has been a crazy and adventurous one! Here are my top 15 moments from 2015.

15. In January, Zac was offered a job in Utah so we packed everything up and moved from Seattle to Salt Lake.

14. Witnessed a miracle. Before we moved, we were able to witness my nephew, Mason, be sealed to my sister, Kristin and Alan and Spencer for time and all eternity.

13. Grandma LeFevre passed away. It was bittersweet. It also provided an opportunity for my whole immediate family to be together for the first time in years.

12. Celebrated my 25th birthday with lots of family around to make it extra special.

11. I hiked the Grand Canyon with my Dad and Lindsey.

10. Started a new job at 1800Contacts as a personal trainer/wellness coach. I absolutely love it!

9. Visited home for the 24th of July and spent a lot of time with family.

8. Successfully grew my first patio garden!


7. We discovered that besides Endometriosis, we were also dealing with male factor infertility which explains a lot.

6. Celebrated 6 wonderful years of marriage!

5. Went to Yellowstone, knocking something off my lifelong bucket list.

4. Ran two half marathons!

3. Went on many great adventures with Zac. Lots of hiking, backpacking and discovering.

2. We decided to give IVF a try. I thought I would die giving myself shots, but I survived.

1. And for the best news of all of 2015...........IT WORKED! Our little miracle is expected early September of 2016. So it is still pretty early which means that we are not out of the woods yet. Thank you for all of your support and prayers. I am completely overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude. I wanted the IVF treatments to work so so bad but was so afraid that I would be disappointed again like I have been so many times over the last four years. I am still a little reserved and having a hard time feeling like it is real. I have spent the last four years guarding myself and my emotions from the painful reality of infertility. Just thinking about the fact that we are really going to have a baby in 2016, is enough to get me misty eyed with pure happiness.

We decided to have the blood test done over Christmas vacation. It took us a while to find an open lab and when we finally had the blood work finished, because of the time difference between Utah and Washington, we had to wait to get the results the next day. Talk about the longest day ever. The next morning Zac and I were just laying in bed half awake when my phone rang. I knew exactly what phone call it was. I jumped out of bed, answered the phone and put it on speaker phone so Zac could hear. Those few moments seemed to go in slow motion. When I heard the IVF nurse say, "Congratulations! You are pregnant!" I completely lost it. There are moments in life that change everything and you will never forget. This was definitely one of those moments. I will never forget how I felt hearing those words for the first time. Such a tender moment. 

Like I said earlier, it is still quite early. So there is still a lot of risk. However, I have decided that because I have let you all in on my IVF journey, I need to let you in on the rest, no matter what happens. 

2015 was a crazy year that brought a lot of change. Here is to an even crazier 2016!