Beveridge Blab

Snow Bound

2012-01-22T17:10:00.000-08:00

Wow have we had an exciting week. Being from Utah we are used to the snow but apparently the Northwest can't take it. It started snowing on Monday of last week and it didn't stop until Wednesday, then we had freezing rain and then just plain rain. In total we got 1 foot of snow here at our house and who knows how many inches of rain. But on Wednesday the base shut down and everyone but emergency personnel got the day off. Cam would of had Thursday off as well but he had staff duty and he had to be there and its a 24 hr shift. The power had been flickering since the big snow storm hit Tuesday night and but it stayed on on Wednesday but when we woke up Thursday morning to the freezing rain it really started to go in and out. I was terrified. If it were just Jesse and me then I could of handled not having power but having a new baby, and a dramatic one at that, really terrified me. So I got everything out that I could use, our Coleman stove, hurricane lamps, candles, I filled all our pitchers with water, I hung sheets up on the big windows to keep the warm air in longer, and I prayed, boy did I pray. We never lost power! I couldn't believe it, there were probably close to half a million people without power from the storm but ours managed to stay on. But we did all right being snow bound. When Cam had the day off we went outside and played in it and had a good time and got some good exercise walking through a foot of snow and pulling a 35 pound kid on a sled. Jesse LOVES his sled. He just lays in it while we are in the house. It just makes me smile.

Helping Dad with his new combat gear

Sledding!

Carolina has been doing a little better. She is still a pretty fussy baby but I have found that she feeds off my mood, so if I talk softly and try not to yell or get upset then she is much better. And if I can keep her from really crying then she seems to not cry and fuss as much as she would otherwise. But that leaves me with hardly anytime during the day to get things done. She takes cat naps mostly during the day so I really have to hustle to get things done when she does sleep. She has managed to melt my heart when I can get her to smile. She has a very big toothless grin and it makes the bad seem not so hard. She is doing much better after I stopped breast feeding her. I know breast is best, but when we are both crying and yelling and not happy it was a no brainier. She still gets a little fussy when she is eating but it is tolerable. I know it will get better once she gets a little older so I just have to wait it out.

Jesse is doing really well, he has been off his medicine for a little longer than a month now and he seems to be doing really great. We are still waiting for his appointment but so far he is doing really great! He is wanting to help me with Carolina and he loves playing with his little kitchen. He brings me all kinds of things to eat and drink.

Carolina and Christmas

2011-12-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

There is so much to update. I am feeling a little overwhelmed by all the info I need to put on the blog. I guess that is what I get for going 4 months without posting anything. Well here goes.

We have been settling in nicely here in Washington. We haven't seemed to mind the rain and gray skies too much. I do prefer sun and bright blue skies but I figure we are going to be here for a few years why hate something I have no control over? Jesse has done well with moving, he does really miss his friends from Cincinnati however. When ever we get in the car he lists off all his friends that he would play with there and I have to be the mean mom and tell him that we can't play with them today. He is doing really well health wise too. He is now totally off the medicine and so far so good. We had a little bit of a worry just this last week because he caught and awful cold and his x-ray wasn't very clear but now that he is over the cold he is back to being crystal clear in his lungs and his x-rays look great. He loves nursery, as soon as its time to go he runs into the room without so much as a look back to me or Cameron. But I am not complaining one bit. I am glad he likes spending time on his own with other kids his age. Its good for all of us.

Cameron is really liking his job, he is totally busy 24-7 as they are getting ready for deployment but he liking what he is doing and he likes the men he works with.

We would like to introduce our newest member of our family. Carolina Beveridge was born on December 6th weighing in at 8lbs 14oz. She came out screaming and wanting to eat and some days that seems like all she does, not really but it feels like that when you can't figure out what she wants or its the 10th time you have tried to put her down to sleep and she keeps waking up. We are getting used to each other and trying to figure out how to make each other happy. Jesse really doesn't seem to mind that there is another human being in the house. I think that only thing that he cared about was that his mom and dad left for 3 days. He sure did not like that, but we are all getting adjusted figuring out how to have a new baby again.

A few weeks later it was Christmas and we traveled down to Utah to visit our family. We drove all day and made it there safe and sound. We had a few days with each family and enjoyed Christmas with everyone. Jesse loves his new toys. He got a Woody and Bullseye and some Legos and a play kitchen which he loves to cook us food with. Its so awesome to see his little imagination take off. I can't believe how smart he is, I find myself looking at him and thinking you are only 2 what happens when you are 5 and 8 and 12 and 16? He is so much fun to be around, his grandma said while we were down there, "How can you be depressed/sad with that kid around?" AMEN. He lights up my days and helps me to be a better mom.

Jesse playing with his new sister

Cam reading to the kids at bed time

Cute little Christmas dress

Carolina's Blessing day

All the grand kids on my side of the family with great grandparents and grandparents

Carolina on her blessing day in the dress I was blessed in. My great grandmother made

All the siblings on my side of the family
Shawna, me, Cameron, Kristen, Jake, Hannah, Daniel and Raygan

All of Cameron's family
Jon, Rachel, him, Jesse, me, Carolina, his mom Nancy, his Dad Ken and Katie

We blessed Carolina while we were with all our family and everyone was there! All the brothers and sisters and grandmas and grandpas. It was such a special day. My mom saved my blessing dress and Carolina was able to wear it. Looking at my little family I am so blessed. They love me unconditionally and we try and help each other to be better and we love each other. I am so blessed!

While we were there Cameron celebrated his 30th birthday! We had two celebrations. One with my family the day before, our sister-in-law, Hannah makes the best homemade tortillas and we had a big tortilla buffet and my brother made non-alcoholic mint mojitos. Everything was sooo yummy and the company was great. Thank you to Hannah and Jake for the yummy food drinks. I love food.

On his actual birthday we spent the day with his family. We had a good day of just hanging out and playing with new Christmas toys. We went to his favorite place to eat for lunch, The Purple Turtle and got all the good stuff there, then for dinner we went to the Brick Oven and had oh so good pizza and homemade root beer. Vacations are never long enough and we had to go home the next day but we are so glad that we live closer to home this year and that we were able to spend Christmas with our families.

October Already!

2011-10-16T16:06:00.001-07:00

Jesse and his cousin Peyton splashing at Grandma's and Grandpa's house

Time sure does fly by. I swear it was just summer time and we were outside sitting around the fire pit. But that kind of weather has come and gone. We are now into Fall here in the northwest. Which to me means cold and damp. But it hasn't been all that bad, we do still get to see the sun even if for a brief moment, but I am counting it. Things have been rather busy in our house since that last post. Cameron had to do some training and was gone for two weeks, so Raygan came up and visited Jesse and me, we took her and did a little sight seeing in Seattle and then to the beach. We then made the 900 mile trek down to my parents house to drop her back home and say a quick hi and goodbye to the family. The trip back home went amazingly fast! I couldn't really believe it when we hit the OR-WA border and it was still daylight. Jesse is the best little guy, I don't think one tear was shed the whole time we were in the car.

Pike's Place Market

Cameron's sister Katie came to visit us for a week and so we got to do some more sight seeing. We went up to Seattle again and did Pike's Market and walked all over. I really earned the pizza that we ate for dinner that night. We all wanted to take a ferry ride so we went to a nearby island called Bainbridge Island. It was so much fun, really windy and a little cold but way fun. It was my first boat ride on open waters like that. I could sit there and ride them all day but we still had things to do and places to see. We had some great seafood for lunch at Ivar's and then had some of the best pizza at a little alley pizzeria. Super good food that day!

Ferry Ride!

Yummy seafood at the market

Craziness at the market

We wanted to go to Mt St. Helen's on Columbus Day but the weather just wasn't that great. We wouldn't have been able to even see the volcano so we decided to just stay local. We went out to breakfast and then we went to a hands on children's museum in Olympia. Jesse really loved it. We would try and get him to go look at different things but he would just get mad because he was loving what he was doing. We could have spent the whole day there and that would have been A OK with Jesse.

Jesse and Dad wearing hardhats and playing at the museum

There is a park that we love here. It is called Falls Creek Park. It's in Tumwater and there are 3 waterfalls along this portion of the river. It has had a wood mill and a couple distilleries on this part of the river but now they have put ladders on the river to encourage the salmon to come up the river and spawn there. We were able to take Jesse there while the salmon were running and it was the coolest thing ever. I have never seen the salmon going up the river but it is pretty amazing. Jesse loves this park because there are bridges and water and water falls.

Falls Creek Park

This is his "cheese" face

It is pumpkin time! There is a local farm near our house that sells pumpkins from their field and so we thought that we would take Jesse and let him pick his first pumpkin. He really didn't care too much about the pumpkin all he cared about was the wheel barrow. He loved being pushed all around and being able to look around at everything. He especially thought it cool when we started to put the pumpkins in it and he got to sit on top of them. There were rides and food and home local produce but our favorite thing was the caramel apples and the fresh apple cider. It tasted almost as good as Cam's family makes it, almost not quite but it was good. We are excited to carve up the pumpkins and see how Jesse does with all the goo, he isn't really into getting his hands yucky.

So many choices!

Things are well here with us. There are just about 5.5 weeks left til we add another member to our household. I can't believe that this pregnancy has gone by this fast. I am so excited to meet our new little daughter and to see who the person that she will become. And to see how Jesse is as a big brother. He seems to do ok with other girls but we will see when its his sister.

Getting into the Swing of Things

2011-09-19T11:12:00.001-07:00

Well we officially moved in and settled in our new place. We have gotten pretty well adjusted to the area here and we are loving being here. Up to this point in our military career it has been relatively easy but that is all about to change. Cam's brigade is getting ready to deploy sometime next year and he has a lot of training between now and then. So that means a lot of alone time for me and Jesse but I hope that we can adjust and make friends to make the time go by faster. But that is what military life is all about, so I am not complaining I am just saying it will take some getting used to.

We have been exploring a little since being here and before Cam had to really buckle down with work. We have been out the Mt. Rainer a couple times and we absolutely love it there. It really makes me feel at home, like we are back in Utah hiking through the mountains and enjoying the cool weather. Jesse is even starting to like hiking, he didn't really like it at first, mostly because we wouldn't hold him and made him walk. But he is liking it more and more every time we go. Cam had about a week off of work and we wanted to get out to the Olympic Peninsula before it got too cold to go camping and explore it. We went to Quinault Lake for the first night and camped there and went to the beach before it got dark. I thought that the beaches out here were all rocks, but the first beaches that we went to were perfect. It was a little chilly but it made me want to move to beach and live there. I could have sat there all day and just watched the waves roll up onto the nice sandy beach. Jesse really enjoyed it too, running around and running from the waves was really fun to see. The water was absolutely freezing but we still had a lot of fun. Cameron really enjoyed Ruby beach. There were tide pools and big outcroppings of rocks out in the ocean. We had to bid the beaches farewell for the day and head back to get some dinner going and get camp set up. We were a little worried about how well Jesse would do because we had only been camping one time before but he did great. He slept the whole night and woke up when we did. Camping in the West is definitely better than camping in the East.

The view from the road to the beach

Yummy camping face!

First steps ever on the beach!

The next day we went into the Olympic National Park. It was the most amazing thing to see these huge trees and to see how old they are. I just couldn't get over their size! I haven't been to the redwoods but these are amazing. We did a little hike and Jesse did better than I did, I had to take more breaks than I would have liked but being 6 months pregnant I didn't want to push it. We then camped just outside of Forks, WA. Yes, it is the same Forks that are in the Twilight books. It was really quite cool there though. We went out the beach there too, at La Push and it was not my favorite. It was all rock and almost impossible to walk on. The waves really were crashing there but all the rocks made it really hard to explore the beach. We did find a hamburger place to rival that of the one Cam grew up with. He wanted to just eat there the rest of the trip.

The rival hamburger joint

The start of the hike in the Olympic National Park

We had to head back home the next day but we went the rest of the way around the peninsula and we like the part that we had explored much better. We wished that we had moved here a little bit sooner so we could go back there and go camping more.

We are doing really well and things are all on track for my pregnancy. I still haven't decided if I am going to try and go natural or go with a c-section again. I guess I will mostly just wait and see. But we are so excited for our new little girl to join our family in December. Jesse is growing like a weed and is getting more and more independent every day. He loves to help with the chores. When we bought our lawn mower he knew what to do with things before we did. Good thing I grew up with handy boys. I have to keep him incredibly entertained and I am always finding things for him to do so he doesn't take some thing apart or open something that shouldn't be opened. I can't believe how far he has come, sometimes when I look back I think was that real, did we really go through all that? It feels like a dream now most days. He is an absolute miracle and I am so thankful to be him mother, I feel inadequate but the Lord knows things I don't so I will trust him and hope for the best. Cam is liking his job here and is getting the hang of being back in a non recruiting unit. The base is big but we are liking being by one again. And thankful to be back closer to our family.

Getting Settled

2011-08-23T21:02:00.003-07:00

We are officially all moved in here in Washington. Well there are still a ton of boxes around but what we need is unpacked, except one of my cook books which I have yet to find. But we are loving living here so far. There are a ton of people here, not as bad as LA but pretty close. We have been unpacking and exploring since we got here around the 10th. We have been to Mt. Rainier twice and can't get enough and we have been to the beach and want to go back as soon as we can. Here are just a few pictures of what we have been up to.

Jesse's Birthday

2011-07-15T15:45:00.004-07:00

Here are the pictures from Jesse's Birthday. We had a really good day. We opened his presents in the morning so he would have all day to play with them. We ran last minute errands to get the final things for his party that we were having later in the day. He loves all of his new toys, but his favorite is his Brio train set. He loves the magnets and the little men that came with it.

We had a water party for him later in that afternoon at the park. It has a splash park but he didn't really enjoy it. He doesn't like water in his face so we didn't stay there long. But the weather was perfect not too hot or humid. We had hot dogs and watermelon and chips and cake. He loves Curious George so we got him a cake with George on it. I forgot the candle at home but we sang and he dived right in. It was a really great day with our friends who we are going to really miss when we move in a couple weeks.

On another happier note, we had the mid-pregnancy ultra sound this week and we found out that we are having a GIRL! We are so excited. She is due on December 5th.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jesse!

2011-07-08T06:37:00.002-07:00

Has it been 2 years already? I can't believe that our little guy is going to be 2 tomorrow at 12:27 pm. I was writing in my journal about everything that has happened these last two years and most of seems like a blur. I remember this day 2 years ago. My parents had just gotten into town and I went to pick Cam up from the airport. I still remember the look on his face when he saw me. It was like "Holy Cow! She is heavy laden with child!" I was huge so his reaction was what I had expected. But we went our to dinner that night and we went home to get ready to have a baby. I had to have a c-section with him and I was really nervous, I had never had any surgery of any kind so I had no idea what to expect. But the next day came and we were off to the hospital. I felt surprisingly calm while we were there and before we knew it we were being taken into the operating room to have Jesse. The birth was very quick, I remember them having to push a little more than I thought but out came Jesse and our hearts were easily won. He was a good baby right from the start, hardly ever crying and he just slept while we packed up the house to make our move to AZ.

He traveled well and when we got to AZ we quickly got into a routine and began to fall in love with AZ. Our time was cut short when Jesse got sick in January of 2010. That is another story all in itself but I am so thankful for being able to come to Cincinnati and for the doctors here. They gave us our little guy back and this last year has been more than I ever expected. We were able to have a great Christmas in Utah with our families and the winter was wonderfully low key. We have had a great time living here and couldn't have asked for a better time Jesse. He has become his own person and he has the best personality. He can talk like you wouldn't believe and he is as independent as they come. He loves being outside and gets more and more adventurous every day. I am so thankful to be his mom and to be able to see him learn and grow and develop into the little man that he is. He is the apple of Cameron's and mine eyes and can't wait to see who he will become. Probably a musician or and engineer or maybe a doctor of some kind or maybe a swimmer or who knows he has a world of possibilities. Here is to Jesse on his 2nd Birthday!

Get Ready! Get Set! Go! SUMMER!

2011-06-01T05:44:00.004-07:00

Well I don't know about you but Memorial Day weekend is like the official start to Summer. I love this holiday. I grew up being with my family on every Memorial Day and we always went and decorated our family and friend's graves. There were always stories being told and sometimes there were tears but it was most often a very happy day to celebrate them being apart of our lives. I am thankful to all those who have gone before me and taught me so many things whether from themselves or others. I would also like the say a big thank you to all those who serve or have served in the military. What an honor it is the be apart of this small tight community. We are so blessed for the sacrifices that they make to protect us and the way we live.

We had a really great weekend, probably the best one in a really long time. This winter dragged on for so long it seemed like it was never going to end. But we started the weekend out by going to King's Island. (For those of you not familiar with that it's like Lagoon or a smaller version of Six Flags.) Cam got in free and then I was half off so we knew we would never get another chance so we went. I am not much a roller coaster rider and Jesse is too small to ride most of the rides but Cam can ride any ride without getting sick so I knew that we would enjoy it. It was a Friday and so we knew that it wouldn't be too busy and thankfully it wasn't. It wasn't very warm either but we got to ride the rides that we wanted to ride and we attempted the water park but quickly left because it was just a little too cold to be swimming.

On Saturday we did chores in the morning and then we went to the lake nearby to throw the ball for the dog, she loves swimming as much as we do. I brought Jesse's swimming stuff because I knew that he would want to go swimming but as soon as we got close to water he just took off and charged straight for the water! I had to drop everything to chase him to make sure he didn't drown. He was soaking wet by them time I got to him so I just left him in his clothes and let him play. He really isn't content to sit and play in the water he loves to be in it and swimming around so I hiked up my shorts and got in as far as they would let me. He didn't want to leave but we weren't planning on being there for too long. On our way home we drove past the Drive-in movie theater and saw that they were playing two great movies that we hadn't seen yet so that night we went to the Drive-in. The Drive-in is another fond memory that I have of growing up and I am glad that we are trying to make it one for our family too. I took Cam to his first Drive-in and I am so happy that he likes them just as much as I do. We got to see the new Pirates movie and Thor. Jesse crashed about half way through Pirates and he was out the whole night. I was glad that we took the air mattress for him, he slept so well that way. I haven't been out that late in who knows how long but it was so much fun!

We had a church picnic on Monday and that was fun to hang out with our friends and eat some good food. Jesse got very hot and over heated there running around with all his little friends so we came home and got him a cold drink and then sent him to his nap. We really wanted to go swimming and the pool is only open til 5:30 so got him up after a couple hour nap and headed to pool. Jesse didn't mind getting woke up at all because we were going swimming. He loves jumping into the pool from the side so that is what we did the whole time we were there. We went and had some really good pizza after that and that was the end to a very fun filled weekend.

On a side note I am now done with my first trimester and am very glad too. I think that this pregnancy has been harder so far than Jesse's was. But I am hoping that now that I am in the second trimester that it will be better. We find out what we are having in July right after Jesse's birthday. We are so excited!

Easter and Lots of Mud

2011-04-29T06:12:00.005-07:00

Wow time flies when it has rained everyday but 4 days this month. Yes I think that my feet have become webbed to adapt to all the rain and flooding we have had. Not us personally with the flooding but all the rivers and streams around us are. But I guess that is what the wettest month on record will do. But back to the fun things.I love holidays, give me a reason to celebrate and I will. I made a really great Easter dinner for us to try and start some our own traditions. We had a ham and frog eye salad and some ham salad because its so good and then for dessert I made a lemon cake with strawberry middle and lemon frosting and then I put glazed strawberries on top. It was by far on the best cakes that I have made and eaten. I think that Cameron and I had two pieces that day and more other days.

Cameron had a work party and egg hunt so we set out Saturday morning in the what we thought was nice weather and got to park were it was held. We soon found all the mud that the title talks about. Because of all the rain and flooding the pavilion we were eating at was covered in mud! But that didn't stop us, well me a little but not Jesse. He just ran around the whole place climbing over everything and getting dirty and loving every minute of it. We helped him with the Easter egg hunt and he just went right out and started picking up all the eggs. He wanted to open them all right then but we some how got him to wait till we got back to the tables. We got rained on some more while we were there but we had a good time with Cameron's co-workers.

Easter morning came and I was so excited to see Jesse's reaction to all the loot that he received. He is always bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning so it makes taking pictures really nice. He came right over to the table and was so excited to see all the goodies and booty. He climbed right up into his chair and started going through it all and examining everything he got. Cam and I got him a new dog movie called "Balto" one of my favorites, and he got a chocolate bunny and some Easter gummies, we also got him a new toy from "Toy Story" its RC the remote control car and Woody but its a wind up toy. And he loves it. He loves to watch it drive away after you pull back on the wheels. Big hugs and kisses to Grandma and Grandpa Stevens. They got him some great stuff too. She knows how he loves stickers and sent him two packages and she sent him 4 books because he is a little book worm. She also got him this funny ball and he doesn't like the texture but he does like it because it looks like a frog and we make it rib-bit and he laughs really hard. He will only hold it by the little hook that it has though because it feels so strange. I think that he likes holidays just as much as I do and I am looking forward to more to come.

On a side note we would also like to announce that we are expecting our second child in December. We are so excited and can't wait to meet the new little one. I just wish that the morning sickness would go away. At first it wasn't as bad as it was when I was pregnant with Jesse but it soon turned in it. Why do they call it morning sickness when it happens all day and night long, yuck! But thankfully it won't last the rest of my life just a blessed nine months.

Birthday Fun!

2011-03-29T08:57:00.008-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday. I am now 27. I know to some that that is not old but for some reason I feel kind of old. But I don't feel any different than I did before I turned 27.

Okay, so yesterday Cameron took the day off and what an awesome husband he is! We got up extra early, Jesse thought that because it was my birthday we should wake up 2 hours before the normal time. So we just hung out until it was a rather decent hour and then Cameron gave me my birthday present. He got me a new tent for us to use. I have been wanting on for so long now. Cameron's parents gave us one when we firs got married but it is meant more for back packing as it is a snug two man. But he got me six man tent which is great because they way that Jesse sleeps he takes up enough room for 2 adults, and then there is Dixie so we are like a 4-5 man tent size family already. We decided to see how big it was and set it up in our living room. Jesse couldn't get enough of it. He LOVED every second that the tent was up. Which makes us very excited when we can go camping because we are hoping he will like it as much as he likes the tent. When we started to take it down he just started crying and crying and wouldn't stop til I distracted him with getting dressed. He loves to cry now when he doesn't get his way.

Once we were all ready and dressed we left for the Newport Aquarium. We haven't been and we have lived here for almost a year now so we got there early because it can get really packed, especially because they just opened the new penguin exhibit. But Jesse loved looking at all the fish for about the first 30 minutes and then when he had seen those he had seen them all so he just wanted to run around and climb on all the benches he could see. But we didn't mind because he is able to do those things. After we got done at the aquarium we went to this really great Irish Pub & Restaurant. They have the world's best fish and chips that I have tasted. And is was wondedrfully good. Since we had been up so early we all decided to go home and take a nap. Which felt great. We had a little birthday cake and that was the day but it was so much fun. I had many birthday wishes from a lot of my family and friends and thank you all so much. Here are some pics of our day and if you see strange people in them, that is who they are, just random people that got in the shot.

Spring Has Sprung!

2011-03-21T15:46:00.005-07:00

I am so excited for the warmer weather! I have been getting really tired of all the rain and all the grey days. But we have had a couple days in a row now that have been wonderful weather. We have taken advantage of them too. We have got to the park on all the days that its been good weather. Jesse really is starting to like the kiddie playground and he loves! the slides. He is still a little wobbly on his feet when it come to the all terrain stuff but he is getting better and better. One of his favorite things is when I run with our stroller and he is riding in it. He laughs so hard. It really makes running not so terrible when you can hear him laughing so much. Cameron has really liked the good weather too. He had bought a motorcycle and really likes the days that are nice so he can go out and ride it to and from work and on all the fun little roads that are around our house.

Jesse is doing really well. He had a little battle with the diarrhea bug but he is over that and back to eating us out of house and home. On Saturday he ate a whole bowl of oatmeal and then when Cam and I ate he ate a whole egg and a whole slice of ham. Needless to say that he a great nap that day. He is growing like a weed. And he is learning so much. For being in a hospital bed for almost 6 months there are no signs of delay. He loves nursery at church. If I ask him if he wants to go before sacrament meeting is over he gets really upset because we aren't going there yet. He has started on the terrible two's. If you tell him to not play with something or if you have to move him away because he won't listen he starts crying and gets mad. So we have had a lot of crying in our house lately. Funny story, one day I asked Jesse if he wanted to watch a movie and he went over to the shelf and sat in front of it and started looking at all the movies and then said, "Let's see," and then he chose one, it was so funny all the little sayings that he hears us say and then he repeats them as if he has been using them all his life. He is for the most part always happy and when ever we go to any store we get stopped all the time because everyone tells me how cute he, or they want to rub his hair. I am sure in a few years he will beg me not to take him to the store.

This is our Sunday after church, Jesse really likes the stickers.

No News Is Good News

2011-02-28T14:54:00.003-08:00

Sorry about the lack of writing lately. February didn't start out very well and it didn't end very well either. Jesse got sick the first part of the month and then I caught it too. We usually go to the gym every morning and he plays with the other kids and I get to work off my excess weight and chat with the other mom's. But last month I was hard pressed to get there at all. But with the help of antibiotics and a lot of medicine we are doing better.

Jesse is doing absolutely great! He is walking everywhere and he is beginning to walk up and stairs and run, well try to anyways. He is such a smart little guy. He has become our little parrot here at home and so we are trying to be very kid friendly with our words and volumes. He is getting more and more brave and he loves to play with his dog. I think that she is his best friend besides his Dad. He loves it when Daddy comes home and when he takes him to the park with the dog. It is so amazing to watch him grow I can't believe that we are only 4 months away form him being 2! He is getting so big. He loves to help me do anything around the house. Especially dishes and cooking and preparing food. I just bring a chair over and he is right there to get his little hands in the mess. Which makes me laugh and cringe at the same time because the mess is doubled but it helps him to learn so I suck it up. As for an update about is health he is doing really great. His doctors tell us every time we are there how much of a miracle he really is. They have started to wean him form his medicine and they will continue to do that for the next 5 months until he is completely off and we see how well he does with being off. His spine is doing good and the doctors don't really have any concerns at this point for it but we are still very cautious with him.

This is Jesse's new game with Dixie.
He is throwing her dog food for her to go and get.

Cam and I are doing well and just hanging in there. I am working on losing weight so that is why we are at the gym every morning. Cam is working and we are both looking forward to the warmer weather.

February already?

2011-02-07T07:33:00.003-08:00

February hasn't started out so well. I guess nothing too bad but Jesse has a very bad cold. I remember getting sick like this when I was in elementary school but not this little. He coughs all day long and he has a constant runny nose. He always seems to be crying or whining about something and I wish there was a way to make him feel better. Why can't little be able to take medicine. Do doctors not realize the amount of stress and torture that parents go through when they have a sick child? I haven't had this little amount of sleep since Jesse was brand new just home from the hospital. Oh well, this too shall pass right?

Other than that there hasn't been much going on. I can't remember the last time that I saw the sun and I think that I am in need of some serious vitamin D. Maybe I will buy a sun lamp. Oh well we did do something fun, well fun to us. When we were in Utah for Christmas my brother and sister-on-law bought their boys a chair from IKEA and Jesse just loved it so Cam and I wanted to get Jesse one, I finally went and got one and he loves it! He sits in it when watching his cartoons or when he is reading a book, I am so glad that he likes it and that its getting put to good use. Here are some random pictures that we took.

Jesse sleeping on Dad, not feeling good.

Lovin' my new chair

Getting a bit loopy

Our cute dog, Jesse likes to use her as a chair sometimes

Winter Time Fun

2011-01-22T16:31:00.007-08:00

Well not much has been going on in the Beveridge home lately. We had a really bad snow storm this week and so we thought that we would get a sled and get some good sledding in while we have such good snow. The first times that we have taken Jesse out in the snow he hasn't really enjoyed it but today he had a blast!

Here is his first ride at the park

Daddy and Jesse at the park getting ready to go sledding

Daddy and Jesse on the set-up of the first ride down the hill

The first successful ride! Dixie had a great time chasing them too

That is one cold and cute kid!

Mommy and Jesse are riding too

Jesse loved sledding so much he even wanted to do it in the house

when we got back from sledding

A Good Ending to 2010

2011-01-09T15:46:00.009-08:00

To start this blog off right I thought that I would post something that is truly remarkable to me. Jesse is now walking! He is a miracle all by himself but he is walking and doing fabulous! Cam and I are truly so blessed to have this little guy in our life! We don't know what we would do without him. He brings us such joy with everything that he learning and overcoming.

I guess to get everyone caught up I will start where I left off. October came and went and then it was on to November. We had a pretty mellow month until the end when we all got the flu and boy was it bad. But we did have a good Thanksgiving with just us at home which was wonderful. I made a huge turkey and tried out a new way to baste it and it turned out so yummy. Jesse had another CT scan done to see what his insides were doing from being on his medicine. And things are doing well. The doctors are very pleased with the progress he is making and they hope that every patient they have responds how he has. They will start to wean him from his medication starting in February and so we will see how everything goes with that. December has come and gone and with it, it brought a vacation back to Utah. Jesse and I left on the 13th and flew out to visit with our family. We left Louisville early Monday morning and made it in and out of Chicago without any delay. And the best part of that was that Jesse slept the whole way form Chicago to Salt Lake City.

We had a great time with the family and Jesse got to know his cousins better. He has three cousins one a year older, Kaleb, one the same age, Alexander, and one a year younger, Peyton. He wasn't sure what to do with them at first but he soon realized that he could play with them. They just ended up taking toys form each other but there were a few good moments that they played nicely with each other. Give them a few years and then they will be good friends that are going to get into so much trouble together. Jesse and Kaleb are the master minds and Alexander is the daredevil. It will be fun to watch them over the years.

We had a great Christmas with our family. Cameron flew in on the 24th and we spent that night and Christmas morning with his family. We had an awesome dinner and good breakfast with them. And Jesse LOVED opening up all the presents. He even started opening the presents that weren't his. We then went up and spent the rest of the day with my family. We had a great dinner with the whole family and then we had present time where the kids went crazy but only because it was nap time. So the adults finished unwrapping all the gifts and then we had a good rest of the day together. Cam and I got to go to a movie that night and it was so good.

Then it was Cameron's birthday and we went to an art exhibit at BYU and then it was off the the Brick Oven for some of the yummiest pizza in Utah. And the most wonderful root beer. Jesse loves it too. Then we spent the rest of our vacation just hanging out with both our families. We did have a great experience while we were there. Cameron's sister Rachel went through he temple and it was amazing because the whole family was there. His parents and his two sisters. We were so glad to be able to have gone out and spent so much time with our family.

Halloween & Mischief

2010-11-03T10:56:00.008-07:00

There isn't much to report about on life but Halloween has just come and went so I thought I would post these pictures before I forget. He is the cutest elephant ever! Also there are some mischievous pictures. I went to the bathroom and when I came out I couldn't see Jesse so I went to the only other place he could be and sure enough he was in the kitchen and he found my flour bucket. He figured out how to open it and was having a good time in the mess he was making until I came in and foiled his plans.

Oh Canada!

2010-10-26T06:14:00.021-07:00

There are a lot of pictures so brace yourself.

Life has been ordinary and so I haven't wanted to post anything. Cameron's parents came out to visit with us and they want to go up to Niagara Falls and they asked if we wanted to go. This is the first real vacation that we have been on in a while so we were so excited to go. We left Thursday night and drove as far as we could and then pulled over for a rest. We got to Niagara Falls, NY early Friday morning and we ate some breakfast and then went to the American side of the Falls. HOLY COW and WOW is all I can say, it made me have a loss for words.

We walked around the park and took lots of pictures of the American and Horse Shoe Falls. All I kept saying was how badly I wanted to go over the falls. I love going down rivers on tubes and if I could go down this river and then go over the falls that would be so much fun, only if I wouldn't die doing it. Like having a big huge deep pool to fall into. But I really wanted to jump in even though it was absolutley freezing outside. Anyways, we walked around the park and looked at all the beautiful trees. It was so pretty. We had a reservation to stay the night in Canada and so we left the park to head over the border to Canada. We got to the Canada side and everything was fine except until they saw that we had a dog. We brought our dog Dixie with us. Then the man in Canada started asking us for her papers and everything but we had no idea that she needed them. He was not a very nice man; I think that he just wanted to make us feel stupid because we are American citizens and we didn't bother to find out what we needed to take a dog across the border. He eventually let us in and we got all settled in the hotel, we were all really tired from the long drive the night before but we got ourselves ready and went to dinner. The next morning we went to the Canada side of the falls. It was even more amazing than the American side. I think because you could get a full view of both falls. But it was awesome! There is a boat ride that you can take that takes you right up to falls and we all wanted to do that. So we got on our ponchos and bordered the boat. We went first to the American Falls and then we went right up to the Horse Shoe Falls. We got so wet! But is was incredible to see it from there. We loved every minute of it. Jesse hated it but he was okay as soon as we got away from the falls. We walked around some more and took more pictures of the falls and you can get right up to Horse Shoe Falls it was so cool.
We got ourselves ready and then we made our way back into the United States. We thought that we were going to have some trouble getting Dixie back in becasue the Canada guy gave us such a hard time but they looked at our passports and said welcome back that that was it. Good to be back is all I can say.
Palmyra, NY, is only about 2 hours from Niagara Falls and we have never been to any of these church history sites so we made the quick little drive over there and it was so neat to actually see the places that Joseph Smith and his family lived; and to see the place where he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We loved being there. It made us want to go back and spend more time there. We then started our trip back home.

Blah Blah Blah

2010-09-16T09:56:00.003-07:00

Things are much the same around our house. Cameron is getting busier and busier at work with all the events and things that he goes out for. But we have found some time to get out and see more of what Cincinnati has to offer. Cameron's sister, Katie came to visit us over the Labor Day holiday and we were able to go out and see a couple of places that we had been looking at one the map. I have really been missing hiking. There are no mountains here in Ohio so I had been trying to substitute walking a long ways for hiking but I am really getting a little home sick for Utah and the mountains and hiking. We did go on a little hike, that was by a lake so there were some hills and Dixie has a great time. She is the fastest dog I have ever seen when you take her into the great outdoors she just runs and runs and runs. Jesse loves to watch her run around he laughs his head off watching her run so much. This picture is of us on one of our little hikes where Jesse is laughing at Dixie being silly.

Jesse went to the orthopedic doctor on Tuesday to see how is spine has been doing since being out the hospital. They had talked about before if there was little or no healing than they were going to have to put a brace on him and start him on some medicine to help strengthen his bones. We did an x-ray hoping that everything was okay and the doctor came in with good news. His spine has quite a bit of healing and not only that but his bones are growing in density. So he said that he won't need a brace and no medicine to strengthen the bones. He just wants us to give him good diet of calcium and that he will see us in a year. That is such great news. Because since Jesse has been crawling he has had many bumps and bruises so its good to hear that he is doing good. This is a really short on but we are all doing good.

Fun Times

2010-09-02T14:26:00.006-07:00

Sorry that it has been so long since we have posted anything, there really hasn't been too much exciting going on around here. So for the month of August here is the shake down. Cameron and I celebrated our 5th year of marriage and I can't believe that it has been 5 years. This year has been a real doozy but we are getting through it all. Things are pretty much back to normal now with Jesse. Except for having to give him medicine everyday, religiously, he is a normal typical 14 month old. He got the feeding tube out about a month ago and has been doing well. He has been maintaining and slowly gaining the weight that he needs. He still needs to drink pediasure to make sure that he gets enough calories in a day but he doesn't seem to mind one bit. It makes it easier giving him medicine anyway. It masks the flavor of them so he drinks them right down. He also got the PIC line removed that was in his arm. The doctors said that they only wanted to do lab work twice a month and once a month get the necessary medicine, so after discussing it with them we decided that getting poked twice a month is better than having the PIC line in so we took it out. And he has been a real super hero when he does get his blood taken. He doesn't cry just a little whimper when they stick in the needle but that is it. He is such a tough little boy. It has been really nice to be able to put him right into the bathtub if need be and not have to worry about the dressing getting wet or cutting off circulation when I wrap his arm too tight. Jesse also started swimming lessons at the YMCA once a week. He loves the water so we thought that is would a good idea to get him oriented to it early to make sure he never develops a fear of it like some kids do. He has started crawling too! I just took off one day and hasn't looked back. I think its because we were at a friend's house one night for dinner and their daughter is crawling and he was like I so can do this. So that is what I do all day is try and keep him out of everything, especially the bathroom and the dog's food. Which he doesn't seem to bothered by the flavor.

We went to the Zoo last weekend and had a really good day. The weather was really perfect for going to the zoo because it wasn't too hot and not too cool. The zoo is pretty big and it took us a good chunk of the day to see everything. But we are all doing well and enjoying being here in Cincinnati.

Everyday

2010-08-11T12:02:00.006-07:00

Its nice that I can say that things have gotten back to "normal". Well its in quotations because its our new normal. Jesse is doing good. He has had the feeding tube out for maybe a week now and its still a struggle to get him to eat and drink enough. There is no rhyme or reason to him and as much as I wish he would eat and drink and as much as we threaten to put the tube back he just does what he wants. Which I am very thankful for because that determination and plain stubbornness is what helped him to survive I really wish that he would just do the things that he needs to do. Oh the life of a parent, isn't that what its going to be like from now on? At least he sleeps through the night. He still brings us joy and laughter when he sits in the living room babbling and screeching his little screech to try and tell us what he wants or that he is just happy and talking to himself. We try and get out as much as we can but the weather has been really horrible here. They have issued weather warnings because its just too hot to do anything outside, but we have enrolled him in swimming lessons which we are all really excited for him to start. He loves the water and I think he would stay in it all day if he could. He still isn't crawling or walking but I think that he is going to walk before he crawls, he just likes it better. He will take lots of steps with us helping him but he really hates to be on all fours.

Cam and I got a new much needed new bed. I love this bed. We got a new bed frame and new mattress. I wish that I could just stay in it all day sometimes , but things need to get done so I will sleep and rest when I am dead right. Cam is liking his job more and more. We just had a company party last Friday up in Columbus, it was a fun day but I really hate that drive. I am doing all the regular mom things, like house work and tyring to get in shape. Nothing too exciting is going on around here, but that is the way we like.

Funny Story

2010-07-20T18:48:00.004-07:00

CHEEEEESE!

So last Friday when we were at Cameron's work party one of his co-workers sons came up to us and was asking us questions about Jesse like his feeding tube and why he needs it. Then he asked the funniest question ever! He said" Why does he have cheese eyes?" We all looked at each other and mouthed, "cheese eyes?" So we asked him what are "cheese eyes"? Then he said "you know when you get your picture taken and you says cheese." As he said that he made his eyes really big when he said cheese. We all started laughing and understood, he was commenting on when Jesse is looking around with his really big eyes. We are still laughing about that.

Baseball and Airplanes

2010-07-20T08:22:00.009-07:00

We had a very fun filled weekend last weekend, so here it comes. On Friday Cameron had a his work party on Friday and we went and watched all the guys play softball and eat hot dogs and hamburgers in the heat and humidity, but then had a water balloon fight which cooled us all off afterwards. We had a good time there meeting everyone that he works with and meeting the wives was nice too. Its different living off post, I feel like we aren't apart of his job like we were when we lived in Arizona, but oh well this won't be forever and we are hoping to get back to a military base one day.

We went home to cool down and change before our first Cincinnati Reds baseball game. It was still a really hot day but we were so excited to go, we love baseball at our house and they were playing the Colorado Rockies so it was like a little piece of home. Jesse was really tired though, he didn't nap very well so when we got to the game all he wanted to do was sleep. Once the sun went down he went to sleep amidst the screams and the cheering. the Reds won so it was a great night. And there were also fireworks that night.

The next day we got tickets to go to the Dayton Airshow. We love planes and things that go fast so we were so excited to go. We were a little better prepared for the heat with our Camelbaks and umbrellas and hats and sunscreen and we got Jesse UV 50+ shirt and shorts but we were not prepared for how loud it was. Jesse HATED every minute of it and I don't blame him at all but it would have been nice to have stayed to watch the Blue Angels but what can you do, when you have kids all the fun things that you did before kind of go out the window. But we had a fun weekend despite Jesse not enjoying the things we did.

Jesse is doing really well. He is starting to be more adventurous with his food. He likes peanut butter and jelly and he like meat now too. We had ribs for dinner and he really liked the meat and the BBQ sauce he wouldn't stop eating it. And we had chicken for dinner last night and he really like that too. He is slowly starting to use a straw but he prefers it when you pipe it into his mouth but he likes milk and pea pods. He is doing really well, what a blessing he is!

WE LOVE YOU DAD!!!!!!!!!

First Haircut

2010-07-13T14:36:00.007-07:00

BEFORE...........

DURING...............

AFTER....................

So Jesse's hair has been getting kind of long, well really uneven because parts have rubbed off and other are like inches long so we decided that we would even everything out and then let it all grow. He really did well for his first haircut, he didn't even seem to mind, maybe it was becuase he was in the bath tub his favorite place in the whole world. He is the cutest! but I am not biased at all.

One Year Old

2010-07-11T12:18:00.030-07:00

I can't believe that we now have a one year old. This year has been really fast and really slow at the same time. Jesse is such a blessing in our life and we thank our Heavenly Father everyday for blessing us with him. He makes us laugh all the time and he seems to be all the we talk about. He had a very mellow birthday. Rachel is out to visit us and we are glad she is here to help us celebrate. We went to the park near the river down town and walked around for a little bit. We then came home to try and get an already tried baby happy about having a birthday party. But he was not having it, we gave him a toy to try and coax him into having a good time and that helped but when we took it away to sing happy birthday he got really upset with us and didn't even enjoy his cake. So we put him to bed and then the adults enjoyed the birthday feast of home made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and chocolate cake and ice cream, mmm-mmmmm.

The next day we a had a little party at the park for him with some of our friends. It was small and just right. He was enjoying his presents and being around everyone. He is much the same as any other one year old. He wiggles and squirms around when he is being held and he is starting to get up on his hands and knees. He is getting more and more adventurous in his food and is trying new things everyday. He is starting to drink from a straw, YEAH! We are hoping that this will mean the end to the NG tube once he can drink enough and eat enough calories. He is doing great and we are so blessed to be his parents. Happy Birthday Jesse!

This was his most recent stay at the day hospital, he wanted out so bad!

Getting Back to Normal

2010-06-22T13:14:00.014-07:00

Here goes my attempted to tell you the events that have taken place in the last month and a half. Let's start with Jesse being out of the hospital which from my last post you already knew. It took me and probably Jesse a couple of weeks to get into a routine. I think that first week was maybe worse than being in the hospital. Not really but it sure felt like that at the time. I felt like I had to relearn how to be a mother. There were some things that were still that same but I felt like a new mom with a 10 month old, plus all the medical things that I had to do for him. But I got over feeling sorry for myself and just got to work. I began to figure things out and how to make my life easier with little medical tricks here and there. Jesse did great the whole time, well with all the throwing up that he was doing maybe he didn't think so but we got that all figured out too. We got things together and got ourselves a pretty good system down.

We got the date when we could move out to Cincinnati, so I called my parents to see if they would be willing to help us while we were moving. My mom flew out to Cincinnati to come and stay with Jesse because I was flying back to Arizona to get us packed up and moved out to Cincinnati. I flew back to Arizona and met my dad at the airport because he was flying down to help us pack and move. We met Cameron there at he airport and then went home to get the packing started. We managed to get everything moved out on Tuesday just as the final inspection on our home was about to take place. We made it the outskirts of Albuquerque that night and then got an early start that next morning to almost make it St. Louis that night. By the next night we were in Cincinnati with Jesse again. When my dad drives some where he has two speeds get there fast and get there faster. But we didn't mind one bit because we wanted to get there fast too. Mom did a great job with Jesse while I was gone. I had never left Jesse like that before and so if it wasn't for me being even busier moving than I was with him I would have been going a little crazy.

The block got stuck, he couldn't get it out

We got all moved in to our town house that next day and then all the unpacking began. it didn't take too long, the part that took the longest was the third bedroom. It is where all my sewing stuff is and all the camping stuff and anything else you could think of that didn't have a place right away. We got that room organized too and so besides a few boxes here and there we are pretty much all done.

Cameron got some time off and so we were able to just spend time together and be a family again. That was the best part out of everything. It was the best seeing Cameron and Jesse play together. While we were gone Mom had Jesse sitting any time he could so by the time that we got back he was sitting independently really well. He likes playing with his toys better that way and he has a really weird way of getting down onto his tummy again. He bends in half and then swings one leg at a time till he is on his tummy completely. I will try and get a video of it. There is a program in Ohio called help me grow, that helps children with any kind of developmental delay, and they came out to evaluate him to see just what he needs help with. They were very surprised. They thought that he was going to be a lot more delayed that he is. He is doing so well with everything that we are teaching him and most of it he is doing on his own. Which is what I thought. I knew that if we left him alone for a little bit an let him figure it out he would. He has a humongous knowledge bump on his head so he has tons of brains that are always working and thinking about something.

Last weekend we drove down to lake that is really close to the house. We weren't sure what you could do there exactly and so we just brought the usual walking stuff and stuff to throw for the dog. But when we got there, it is this huge lake, like Lake Powell but surrounded by trees and green. We found a part of the beach that we could take Dixie too but when it came time for here it get in the water she was afraid of the waves. So Cameron said that he would get in with her. I got Jesse in just his diaper and waded out to wear my shorts line was and then dipped him in the warm water. He absolutely loved it. He was trying to wiggle all he could to get out of my arms so he could go swimming. I told Cameron that we are going to have to find one of those floaty rings that we can put him in, he would float around all day if we got one of those. We are going to go there a lot because we both love the water and it is so close to where we live.Here are a ton of pictures from the last month and a half. Sorry this is such a long post but a lot has happened. Thank you so much for all your continued prayers and everything that you have done. We love you all so much.

Good to be Back!

2010-05-08T14:51:00.012-07:00

Hello again. Since the last post Jesse has been doing well and has been making real progress. He is so much stronger than he ever was and he is catching up pretty quickly. I think that all that time that he was intibated and under sedation that it just put his life on pause and so when he was able to be awake he might have been a 9 month old but he was still only 7 months old. But he is doing very well. He is more and more intersted in food, especially with what I am eating. I have found that he loves chocolate cake and soup. He is kind of past the whole baby puree food and wants big kid food. He likes to try and feed himself and gets very upset with me when I take the spoon away from him. I am so thankful for his stuborness and how much fight he has in him. I can't imagine where he got it from? Ha Ha Ha, just kidding.

Mmmmmmm, Choc-o-late cake!

The doctors have been saying that once we get his feeds on a good schedule than its probably time to start talking about discharging him. That kind of talk went back and forth for about 2 weeks and then finally his doctor said, I don't think there are any more excuses for keeping him him at the hospital any longer. So we began the discharge process. Getting a home nursing company and getting all his medicine and getting signed off on how to do everything for him that the nurses did while in the hospital. I think there needs to be an honorary nurse degree or something for all of those parents that have to take care of their children with medical needs. Anyway, so the week came that the doctor said he would be able to come to the Ronald McDonald House with me. And on Friday, June 7th, just one day shy of being in the hospital for 4 months, I got to bring Jesse to the Ronald McDonald House. We are so blessed. I can't believe that its May already, it feels like this year has been so very long already but so fast at the same time. Jesse has come so far. He is such a fighter and a happy little boy. He is so curious about the world and loves to watch what everyone is doing around him. He is developed this new thing because he had to be on his back for so long, he reaches with his feet to pick things up that is hand can't reach and then brings them up to meet his hands. He is getting better and better at rolling over and at tummy time and sitting up. I think now that he can just play all day he will make more progress.

With everything that has been going on with Jesse, we have been waiting to find out about Cam's next station. We are moving to Cincinnati, OH. They want us to be as close to the hospital as we can so Jesse can get his treatments and stay with the same doctors. It is really a blessing in disguise, I have to say, I was not happy with staying here, I don't enjoy cities and how busy they are but this is such a good thing.

Yeah! Discharge Day!

Mother's Day was a good one. A good friend invited Jesse and me over for an afternoon with her and her family and then had a really good dinner. I can't believe how much more stuff I have to take with me for Jesse. He had a lot but now I have to remember his feeding pump and formula and emergency kits and then there is all the regular things like diapers and etc, etc. But we are doing really good here. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for all the blessing amid all the trials. He really is there for us and is really listening when we pray. I am so thankful for everyone for everything that they have done for my family and me. We love you so much, thankyou so much.

Shaving Cream Fun!

Jesse and My Birthday

2010-04-11T18:59:00.010-07:00

It has been a little while since I have given an update about Jesse and how he is doing. Well here we go. Since the last update Jesse has been doing really well. Cameron came out to visit us and to celebrate my birthday. I wasn't too excited about having to celebrate my birthday here away from Cam and home but it turned out to be a great birthday. Cam got here really early the Saturday before my birthday and we spent some much needed time together. Jesse was so excited to see his daddy, he greeted him with a giant smile and a big hug. Cam didn't want to leave the hospital but he needed to get some sleep after his long trip. We spent the majority of my birthday at the hospital playing with Jesse and enjoying our family time together. Later that evening Operation Home Front, here in Cincinnati, sent a limo for Cam and me to take us to dinner at Outback Steakhouse where we had a gift certificate from them too. We got there and there were some roses on our table from an unknown person. We had a great dinner and dessert and when we went to pay Outback said that is was on them, so we were able to keep our gift certificate for another time. We then went on a site seeing tour of Cincinnati. We saw their fountain downtown and then we got a great site of downtown from a hill near by. We saw the river at night overlooking the city. Its really pretty when its all lite up at night. It was such a fun night and a huge thank you to Operation Home Front and Marilyn Stevens for every thing that she has done.

We then spent the rest of our time hanging out with Jesse and just having fun together. Cam and I wanted to go to a music club to hear some jazz music. We have never been but always wanted to go to some thing like that. It was fun for a little bit, but after a couple hours we were ready to leave. We had such a good time together, neither Cam or me wanted him to go but he had to go back to work.

Look at my teeth!

Jesse has been doing really well. He still has one chest tube in and the feeding tube in but he is off the TPN and lipids and is on full feeds going through the feeding tube. We are still working on feeding him by mouth but he just hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet, again. We are trying to get him to drink out of a cup because he really doesn't like the bottle. He is getting stronger and stronger every day and hopefully soon he will be able to sit on his own. His spine is stable and not getting any worse. We are hoping that the medicine will help to heal not only his lymphatic system but also his bones and we are giving him extra vitamin D to help strengthen his bones even more. That is all the updates that I have but I have tons of picks so you can see how well he is doing.

Jack Jack! my mo-hawk

Keep On Goin'

2010-03-21T13:56:00.012-07:00

Our way of life is different now that is for sure. I keep thinking that I will wake up one morning and I will be at home and Jesse is crying in his crib because he is hungry, so I will get up to feed him and then go about the rest of my day. But instead we are still living at the hospital doing the same things every day. Jesse is doing well though. He is responding to the medicine that they are giving him and he has so much energy. He wiggles and squirms all over his bed, it drives the nurses crazy sometimes because they can never get a pressure from unless he is asleep. This last week we were moved out the ICU and brought back to the Oncology floor. They took out one of his chest tubes but that left two more still in. But the drainage has gone down significantly. He plays all day until he wears himself out and then he falls asleep with all his toy around him. I am hoping that one day we will get him back on a schedule. There is no big grand plan yet with Jesse, we just have to wait until the doctors think that the fluid has slowed down enough to remove the other chest tubes. But I guess there is a plan of sorts in place. He will have to be on this medicine for about 2 years. But there is still a lot that they don't know about Lymphatic Malformations.

I just try and play with him as much as I can and try to make him happy. The hardest part now is that we are trying to get him to eat but he isn't very interested. We are probably going to have to put another feeding tube down his nose to try and get his tummy used to having food and then maybe once he gets to feeling hungry again he will be able to eat again. But just like to Tortoise and the Hare, "slow and steady wins the race."

Chugging Away

2010-03-14T15:58:00.005-07:00

Jesse is still in the hospital here in Cincinnati, my home away form home right now. Since the last post there have been good days and bad days. But that is what is to be expected being in the hospital. Jesse got better and we were released from the ICU and moved to the oncology floor but he had a hard time breathing and so it was back to the ICU. We did manage to stay out of it for the entire weekend though. There were a couple things wrong, he got a virus called HMV, which I am not sure what it stands for again, all I know is that it isn't as bad as RSV, its more like the normal cold but its a virus so there is no treating it. Then he got an infection in one of his iv lines and his right chest tube was coming out of his chest. They fixed all those things right away but they had to but the breathing tube back in so he was on the ventilator for a couple days. Those days were really rough, just having to go back to the ICU made me really down and everything that was wrong with Jesse made me even more stressed and tired of being here. The doctors here are great and they did everything right away and Jesse is doing great now. They took out the breathing tube and he was weaned from the oxygen and his now breathing totally on his own now. They did have to put another chest tube in his left chest because of the surgeries that he had in Tucson it created scar tissue which caused there to be pockets of fluid. The original chest tube drained everything that was in there but there was still another pocket of fluid so they had to put another one in. Since then he has been breathing great and doing really well.
We were released again from the ICU today and we are back on the oncology floor. He is doing so well. He is playing and talking every one's ears off. Who would have thought that one of my kids would be a blabber mouth? He has lost some of his neck strength and we are working with physical therapy to regain his strength and he is tolerating being on his stomach more and more. So hopefully by the time we get out of the hospital he will be almost caught up to where he should be physically.

Cam and Dixie are doing well, he finished with his training started his new assignment. He is liking it so far. He is coming out to visit us for a little while in a couple of weeks and I am so excited. You would think that with all the time that we have had to spend apart that we would be used to it, right? Wrong! I am just glad that he gets to visit and this is not permanent. I am doing good, I am really tired of being here but I am dealing with it. As long as Jesse is getting the care he needs I will tough it out. Thank you so much to everyone for everything that you do. Your prayers and thoughts keep us going. We love you all.

Staying Positive

2010-02-24T08:38:00.002-08:00

Since the last post things have been going better with Jesse. There have been a few set backs but that is typical with situations like ours. We are still in the ICU at Cincinnati Children's Hospital but we are really in the very best care here. People come from around the world to have these doctors help them. There hasn't been too many things that have changed. The doctors felt that Jesse was breathing well enough on the ventilator, he had the very minimal settings and he was doing really good with them. They also went down on his sedation levels and he is a lot more awake and playing. On Sunday the doctors felt confident that he could be extibaited, taking the breathing tube out, so after I got back form church they took out the tube and put him on some oxygen. He was doing pretty well but he just seemed pretty irritable and I couldn't really get him to calm down very well. His breathing was doing ok but as the day progressed it got a little worse and worse. I was very tired form the busy day and so when the nurses changed I left to go the RMH to sleep. I ate some dinner and got ready for bed and then the doctors called me to tell me that Jesse wasn't breathing very well and his blood gas levels were not very good. They said that they would try a few things to see if he would improve but not more than 20 minutes later they called again to tell me that they were putting the tube back in. It went really smooth and he became comfortable again and was wanting to play again.

During rounds the next morning the doctors were kind of puzzled as to why he failed extibaition. They thought that it was because the fluid was building back up in his chest or maybe because the lymph vessels were pushing up on his diaphragm making it harder to breath. They decided to do another CT scan to see if they could figure out why he failed because he is so comfortable on the ventilator that he should be ok off it. The CT scan looked good but nothing to get our hopes up about. I am through doing that until we are on our way home and Jesse is doing a lot better. The doctors are going to do a scope of his airway and lungs to see if there is any problems there that would be preventing him from breathing well on his own. His doctor said that sometimes kids like Jesse can have floppy airways and that they just need a little bit of help like putting some stints in his airway to keep it open. OR he might have a lot of mucus and secretions in his lungs and that could have made him not breath very well. So in Thursday they are going to do the scope down his throat to see what they can see and if everything looks good and they see no need to put a tracea in then they will try to extibaite him again.

Sorry if there is a lot of medical terms in this post. I have really gotten used to all their terms and the doctors even think that I have a medical background because I can understand the things that they are telling. I think that its the Lord helping me to understand everything and to be comfortable with everything that is going on. Kind of like a gift of tongues thing. I am just able to understand the medical lingo that they have. I am sorry that there are no pictures this week. I have my camera but i forgot my cord to download them to the computer. I will keep updating as things keep progressing. We Love you all so much and are so thankful for all the prayers and thoughts that you have done for us.

World Wind

2010-02-15T10:32:00.008-08:00

Well as most of you know Jesse is in the hospital. Sorry to be blunt. He was admitted into the hospital on January 8th. To start at the beginning, I had noticed that he was grunting a lot and I just thought that he was trying to poop, but then he started throwing up when I would breast feed him and he was sleeping more and more. I took him to the doctor and told her all this and they ordered a chest x-ray and some blood work. As soon as we go back to the doctors office they put an oxygen meter on him and his levels were really low, they put oxygen on him and another doctor came in to try and put an IV in him because he was so dehydrated, but they couldn't get one in. They called the ambulance and told me that they are going to transport us to the hospital in Tucson because he has pneumonia. OK, so that is a little scary, I call Cam and tell him that to get over to the clinic and bring Jesse's car seat. Cam gets there and they take Jesse and me in the ambulance and Cam follows us in the car.

We get to the hospital and they do all their own labs and x-rays and the doctor came in a told us that there is some fluid in his chest cavity and that they will probably have to put a chest tube in to drain all the fluid out. The put in the chest tube and did cultures but nothing came back to say why he had pneumonia. They did some other tests on the fluid and they came back that the fluid was really fatty and that is called chyle(said like kyle). They couldn't figure out why he was putting out all this chyle and so they were doing lots of research and trying to figure things out. There were a lot of diagnoses put out but none of them were right. One of his doctors said that they needed to send all of his labs and films to Boston Children's Hospital to see what they think, because they are kind of the leaders on diagnosing kids when no one knows what it wrong. They said that they believe that he has something wrong with his lymph nodes. And what that is they weren't sure. So the surgeons at Tucson tried to close off any leaks that they could see but they were all unsuccessful. The doctors told us that there was nothing that they could do for him in Tucson and the doctors in Cincinnati were thinking that they could really help him. So we left Tucson last Friday evening to come out to Cincinnati. There was a team of one nurse, one doctor and one respiratory therapist that came out to move Jesse to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. We got into Cincinnati around midnight and the doctors were waiting for us.

Dr. Adams is his doctor here and she is wonderful. She is one of he only lymph node specialists in the world. They are doing a study here with a drug called rappromysin or sirolimus and it to slow the growth of his lymph nodes down because they are over active. And that is why he is leaking out so much fluid into his body. They did a CT scan yesterday and they found that he from his chest to his pelvis has the malformed lymph nodes. Some of his bones are affected and his spleen is affected. The spleen is a giant lymph node so they said that is normal when some one has lymph node malformation. He has been on a ventilator for almost two weeks now because of all the surgeries that he had done, but we are trying to wean him from that to see if he could handle breathing on his own.

He seems to be doing okay here and I am so impressed with the doctors here. They are so knowledgeable and willing to help. I wish we could have come here first, but I am just glad that we are here now. I know that this is a lot of reading but I wanted to be able to let everyone know what is going on and how we are doing. I am here with Jesse in Cincinnati and I am staying at the Ronald McDonald House. Cam had to stay at home to finish up some training hopefully when he is finished he will be able to come out and be with us for a little while.

There have been so many people that have been so willing to help us and pray for Jesse and us. I will never be able to thank everyone. Those are the little miracles that are keeping me going. Maybe next week I will tell about all the miracles that have happened and make myself and probably everyone else cry because it is truly amazing at everything that has been happening. We love you all and are so thankful for all your thoughts, prayers and anything else that you have done for me and my family.

Christmas and Birthdays and New Year's, Oh My!

2010-01-03T13:58:00.012-08:00

Wow are the holidays really over? I can't believe that they have come and gone already. We have a really great year this year, busy and challenging but great.

For Christmas we went to Utah to be with our family and we had a great time. We did our own Christmas here with each other first and it was so awesome to see Jesse's face with the new toys and books and clothes that he got. He mostly just wanted to eat them but he liked them all the same.

We spent Christmas Eve with Cameron's family and ate the yummiest prime rib ever! And then we opened presents and talked and enjoyed being with each other. We had Christmas with my family and woke up early but with Jesse there is no sleeping in. But we had a good Christmas Day and we got to see grandma and grandpa McEntire. Jesse made out like a bandit. He got lots of new toys and a much needed highchair and he got a jumperoo, which is basically a jumper but with toys around it. I think one of the funniest and most entertaining parts was when we brought our new dog Dixie into meet Tucker and he thought that we brought him a present. He went crazy. She wasn't too sure at first but by the time that we had to leave she was running circles around him and stealing his bones, and they were really good pals by then.

Then it was Cameron's birthday the Sunday after Christmas but he got to spend it driving home. Well not the whole day, we left Utah Saturday afternoon and made it home by Sunday morning. it was a really quick trip but we had a good time. My parents came home with us to deliver their present to us, a new recliner. They spent a day or two with us and then it was off to California to deliver Christmas to my brother and sister-in-law.

We rang in the new year the old fashion way, sleeping soundly in our beds. Lame I know but when Jesse gets up so early its not worth it to go to bed late. We had a good New Year's Day. We did a little shopping and then went and ate Greek food. It was really good, we have never had Greek food but the gyro was so good, I could have eaten it all day. That is defiantly a new favorite. We have had a great year and we look forward to another great year!

What Patience?

2009-12-17T10:16:00.005-08:00

Well things have been going pretty well, up until Sunday. We woke like normal and Jesse was playing just fine and then when it came time for naptime he flipped out! He has never done that before, so I tired all the things they say, swaddle him, shush him,binki and finally try to feed him, none of that worked. So I just sat in his room and was holding him and singing to him and he finally fell asleep and it took another 15 minutes to make sure he was asleep enough to put him in his crib. Well that worked for maybe an our and then he woke up and was back to the same old screaming and screeching thing that he does. I was getting pretty worried because he has never cried for this long, so I made an appointment for the dr. She basically told me everything that I already knew, Jesse is teething. So he isn't the happy all the time now, and he is way more clingy to me now. So I told Cam the other day that I think its time for a trade. No I am just kidding but it does really try the little patience that I have. But when I hear him gabbering on or when I can make him laugh and when he smiles up at me, it makes it all worth the headaches and the sleepless nights. He is mine and I would never want it any other way. But other than that life is good at our house. We have our tree up and we are all ready for Christmas. Its a new one for me because its not cold here so its not very Christmasy, but I am enjoying the warmer weather.

When Jesse is happy and feeling good, he is talking your ear off! He is a major chatter box. I wonder the things that he is trying to tell me?

We have been having fun trying to train our new puppy. She is really smart and she is already pretty good at sit and down. Now if we could only get her to stay there when we tell her to do one of those commands. But she is still really young, only 10 weeks. But we are having fun with her and she is pretty good at fetch too. She is a very timid and shy. Which is not a bad thing in my book. She loves to sleep on Jesse's blankets though, I am trying to break her of that habit though.

That is pretty much what our lives consist of now, Jesse and the new puppy. Well Cam has work so its what my life consists of now. Oh and trying to feed Jesse baby food. He is not very interested in eating it and I wonder if its even worth it. I don't even know how much of it even ends up in his stomach, but I will keep trying. In the mean time of all of that I am trying to work off the pregnancy weight and it is a lot tougher than I thought, especially when I don't get much time to work out. But maybe one day I will be able to get into the clothes that I wore when we were very first married. Well that is it for now, I have laundry and other loads of house work that need to be done, so until next time.

Thanksgiving & Blessings

2009-11-30T08:14:00.020-08:00

There are going to be a lot of pictures on this post, I hope I can get them all on here. Wow I can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone already. We had such a good time with our family this year. We drove up the night before because Jesse will sleep most of the night and it is so much easier when he is asleep. We got there really early Thanksgiving morning and got a few hours of sleep, then it was off to Thanksgiving dinner with the Cam's side of the family. This year it was the whole Beveridge side so we got to see all of them and they got to meet Jesse for the first time. Everybody agreed that he looks just like Cam did when he was little. We ate good food and visited with the family, it was so good to see everyone.

Then the next day we spent it with my family. Have to rotate when there is more than one family. So we spent the day with them and Cam got to meet Hannah and his two nephews, Kaleb and Xander. It was a lot of fun seeing them and playing with them. We did a family photo of all the Stevens' that day too so now we have an updated one until someone either gets married or has another baby. It was so cold while taking the pictures but worth it to have them. We played a lot with the babies and I drove my dad's really fast Evo! Oh man that is a fast car! We also got a new puppy that day too. We gave our other one back to the pound a little while ago and wanted another little puppy. We got Dixy that night, she is a chocolate lab and is 7 weeks old. She is so cute.

On Saturday we blessed Jesse and Xander. It was so awesome to be able to do that with all the family and I am so thankful for Cameron and being worthy to hold the priesthood to be able to bless Jesse. We had a luncheon afterwards for all the family and friends and got to catch up with all of them.

We then had a family photo of the Beveridge side and I was so happy to get one done. I love having pictures of my family up to show how awesome they all are. We then got the famous Purple Turtle for dinner on our way out of town. Yep holiday over now its time for the long 14 hour drive. Again we drove at night to keep Jesse asleep. That was probably the most eventful drive home I have ever had. First we forgot some things but to late now so then we get to a part of the trip where there are a lot of wildlife and the roads are windy and they were snowy this time too. So I am driving to give Cam a break and we drive into a snow storm, OK I can handle that. Then there is a herd of elk on the side of the road, maneuvered around them, then there is a herd of deer got around them too. But then there is this lone deer who jumps out of now where and I slam on the brakes and lock up the wheels and I hit my first deer! Yep, that's right. I was so scared, but we couldn't find the deer so I must not have killed it. And I wasn't going that fast either but I still managed to hit it head on. But we had someone watching over us because all the damage that happened was a small little dent in the hood near the front and that is it. Nothing broke and we were able to drive the rest of the way home. We got to Flagstaff and had to rest, so we slept for a couple hours and then got back on the road. We got maybe 15 or 20 miles down the road when we got stopped on the freeway for about an hour due to an overturned semi. But then it was smooth sailing from then on. We made it home and got unpacked. I was sad to be leaving our family but excited that we will be able to see them at Christmas this year.

4 Months and Then Some

2009-11-21T09:26:00.008-08:00

Well I guess I should write something huh? Just kidding. So Jesse had his 4 month check up about 2 weeks ago and he his a healthy little baby. He is almost 13 pounds now and is over 2 feet tall. He got some more shots and took it like a man already, he barely even cried. I can't believe that this much time has passed already. He is growing more and more. His hair is starting to come in I can start to spike it now. He has discovered his feet and loves to blab and talk to me all day. We tried to feed him some rice cereal on his 4 month mark but didn't want anything to do with it, so I waited another week and he ate some of it but after a week of eating it I think that he has had enough rice so we are going to move on to either oatmeal or barley cereal. He started taking forever to put to bed at night and so I started to just make sure that he was calm and then I put him in his crib and he goes right to sleep.

He still loves to just play on the floor with his stuffed animals Elliot and Elfonzo, or Fonzie as we call him, but he is starting to want to chew on everything! If we are holding him he wants our thumb or fingers in his mouth to chew and believe me as soon as there are some teeth in there that will be the end of that, he can already bite really hard! He has also discovered his feet. He is always trying to grab them and when he does he takes a roll to which ever foot he has grabbed. It makes for a more supervised bath time as he does it during then and then he gets a face full of water. You would think that after multiple times of doing that, that he would learn not to? Oh well, maybe one day. He has started laughing too. But every time that we try to get it on camera he just looks at the camera, like a deer caught in the headlights. We are trying to be sneaky when we do it now so hopefully one day soon.

Cameron's sister Katie came to visit us for a week this month and we had fun. We went to Old Bisbee and looked in all the old shops and bought a cookie jar that is having a siesta. Cameron and Katie hiked the three kings here one day and got some good pictures. We are so excited to be going home for Thanksgiving. We haven't all been together as a family since we moved to Knoxville. And we are excited to be blessing Jesse while we are up in Utah too. Can't wait to see everyone!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T17:06:00.010-08:00

I was so excited to get Jesse dressed up into his costume. He didn't even mind it, he is a pretty easy going baby. He only gets cranky when he is hungry or tired, he is pretty much over the screaming his head off when he has a wet diaper. He is starting to play with other kids, well as much as he can while he is on his back. He is rolling over really well too. He can go back to front and front to back. He is even getting better about being on his stomach too. I am excited to start him on baby food. He is getting really interested in regular food. When ever Cam or I have any food around him he will follow you until you are finished or get up from where you are. He is so good at holding his head up and with sitting up too. I can't believe that he is almost 4 months now. He is the size of a lot of 6 month babies. Which is awesome, he is over 2 week long now and he is gaining weight really well. He is doing really well and he is making more and more noise every day. He is getting hard to take a bath now, he likes to flip over in the tub but he won't sit up very well so we have to watch him so close. He has drowned himself a couple times by rolling over in the tub. At least he really likes the water. We had a few trick or treaters not very much though. But we had some awesome potato, broccoli, cauliflower cheese soup, it was perfect for the night. When we walked down to our neighbor's it smelled just like fall. It was such a nice night not too cold and not too hot, just right. I don't think that I have ever had a Halloween where I didn't need to layer under my costume. I am so a warm weather person. Well that is all I can think of that is going on with us. Until next week.

Too Cute!

2009-10-26T12:48:00.002-07:00

So I was cleaning out Jesse's drawers and I found all these cute clothes that I forgot about. When I first put his clothes away he was too little to wear a lot of them, but now he is just the right size for them. This outfit is too cute for me not to post this picture. It was his Sunday clothes yesterday. I love little outfits like these!

Where Does TIme Go?

2009-10-25T08:02:00.014-07:00

Wow, it's been so long since we have posted anything. I was up in Utah visiting with the family while Cam was gone doing more training, but we are together again and now I can give you updates on everything that is going on.

So visiting the family was fun and it was a good because they helped me out and gave me a break when I needed it. Jesse and I drove up in one day! We left our house at 6 am and we made it to my parent's house around 10 pm that night. The whole state of AZ wasn't too bad but going almost the whole state of UT was another story. By the time that Jesse and I got off the freeway to go to Mom and Dad's we were both crying. But Raygan, Hannah and Daniel were there to take Jesse and help me decompress from the long day of driving. Jesse was so tired that he got his bath and went right to bed until 7 am the next morning.

The next day I went with my sister-in-law Katie to the Mt. Timpanoges temple to take her endowments out. It was so good to go to the temple, it had been a while since I went last. And I was so happy to be there with Katie. Then after that there was just a lot of hanging out and being with the family. Jesse got to meet a lot of his family but not all of them, Thanksgiving is almost here and then he will. I was able to go the the Relief Society Broadcast and listen to their messages.

I also got to go and see the new Harry Potter! I was so excited to go and see it. When it came out I had just had Jesse so I wasn't able to go, but Mom watched him and I got to go to the movies. It was so funny! I wanted to laugh out loud so many times, I can't wait till it comes out on video!

Mom, Raygan, Hannah and Jesse and me went to Gardener Village to see the witches that they put out every year. It was a lot of fun to wander around and see all the funny witches that they came up with this year. Jesse didn't mind so much he slept for most of the time.

Cam's sister Rachel used to work at the Stein Erickson Lodge in Park City and while working there she got a lot of free Sunday brunches at their restaurant there and so Jesse and I went with her and the family on Conference Sunday. The food was fancy gourmet but good. I couldn't believe it, while we were there it actually snowed! I called Cam and told him that I am not ready to move back to Utah yet. Sorry to the family, but I like the warm weather to much.
I was so happy that Rachel was able to come home with me. She had her fall break and so she drove down with us and stayed for the week and then flew home on Saturday. We had a lot of fun and were able to take Jesse on his first swimming trip! He loved it! I even got in the colder pool first and he didn't even care. But then I went into the warmer pool and he just laid there and loved every minute of it.

Cam came home on Friday and we are both so happy that he is home! We have just been hanging out and having fun playing with Jesse. He is getting more and more alert everyday. He loves to have all the attention. If I leave the room for too long he starts to fuss and lets me know that I am not paying enough attention to him. I think that is why he doesn't like to ride in the car very much, because he can't see us and there is no one to play with back there all by himself. Hopefully he grows out that.

Been Too Long!

2009-09-25T15:47:00.007-07:00

Wow I can't believe that it has really been that long since I have last updated the blog. It is mostly just the same old same old. Jesse is getting so big. I finally got some pictures of him smiling. He is so much like Cam when a camera comes out he doesn't do anything that I want him to.

Jesse and I took a trip up to Utah to visit with our family and so they can see Jesse and how he is growing up. He is getting so good at holding up his head. He still hates being placed on his stomach though. I wonder if its because he is always spitting up? He seems to have a sour tummy all the time. But we are working on it one day at a time. He is starting to play with toys now. When you dangle them in front of him he tries to swing and bat at them. I found one that makes music when you tug on it, he hasn't quite figured that one out but he likes to hear the music.
He had his two month check up about 2 weeks ago and he is almost 12 pounds. That is pretty good considering he on;y weighed 9 lbs 11 oz a month before that. So he is growing and doing well. He had his two month shots too and that is the most horrible thing to do. I am thankful for all the vaccines now a days but there has to be an easier way to give them to babies, shots are just cruel. He did pretty well though, only cried once they gave them to him and then not much after that. He is so fun fun to play with and to make smile and to try and make him laugh.

Our New Addition

2009-09-02T08:46:00.010-07:00

No I am not pregnant again, if that is what any of you are thinking when reading this post. Cam and I have been wanting a dog for a long time, probably the whole time that we have been married. But we have lived in apartments until now and we have both worked and that isn't ideal for having a puppy or dog. But we both thought that it would be a good idea to get one, now that we are in a house and I am at home all day. We went to the animal shelter and looked at all the dogs. We were really wanting a puppy and there were two that we liked. But because of breed restrictions we couldn't have the other one and so we chose Henry. Yep, Henry, kind of a strange name for a dog but he was already called that and so we thought it would be easier if we just stuck to the name he already has. He is a Lab mix and he has all the colors of Labs, black, brown and white-ish. He is about 5 months old and has a lot of energy. I go for "jerks" in the morning now instead of walks, but we are having fun so far. Jesse doesn't seem to mind the occasional sniff of the head or nose in the face and Henry doesn't seem to mind Jesse's crying. The first night was a little rough but we are adjusting to each other ok. I am sure that you will see much more of Henry on our future posts.

So we went on a little adventure last weekend but didn't take any pictures really because there wasn't much to see. I have heard that Nogales is a really cool place to go and since we are so close we thought that we would go visit and see what there is to see. We get there and we aren't really sure where to go so we go the visitors center to ask about it and see where it is best to go, but they were closed for the weekend. So we just followed the main road and we were right at the border. You could see it up on the hill and how people in Mexico have built their homes right up next to it. We parked the car and walked around and holy cow were Cam and I both out of our comfort zone. I am glad that I had Cam with me and that other people could see that because if I would have been by myself I would have been a lot more scared. We didn't find anything that we wanted I think that we needed to go to Nogales, Mexico instead of Arizona. Maybe one day. But we did find a really good place to eat on the way home that we were excited about. We also got some cool pictures of the wineries that are around us. I love the look of he grapes. That is about all of our excited news. Except for, my brother Jake and his wife Kristen are having their new baby boy today! I am so excited! Jesse will have two cousins that are close to his age and we live pretty close that we will actually be able to see each other more often than if we were to live in Knoxville still. Good luck, Jake and Kristen, hope all goes well today, we re praying for you. We hope to see some pictures soon of what the little guy looks like. We love! So here are some more pictures of Jesse and how he is growing. He is getting pretty good at smiling now but whenever I go to take a picture of him he won't smile, so we are still working on getting one of those. This picture was so funny. I came in the room and he had his arms out like he wanted a hug, while he was sleeping.

Happy Anniversary & More

2009-08-24T07:06:00.011-07:00

Cam and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary this last week. We exchanged gifts and had a quite dinner at home. Jesse makes it a little hard to go out, he is always really cranky when we go to a restaurant. Cam got me some new pans. YEAH! Our old ones weren't non stick any more and it made me mad to cook in them because nothing looked pretty when it was done, just some mangled piece of meat or nasty looking eggs. Cam knew just what I wanted. My smile is so cheesy in this picture but oh well.

Cam has been wanting to read all the Harry Potter books and the new paper back set had just come out so I thought what a better gift than all the books. There was another gift that I wanted to get him but there is still more research that needs to be done, thanks to my brother Jake and his knowledge of the said area. Maybe for Christmas. I can't believe that its been 4 years already. Time flies. This year has been quite a year. I can't believe all the things that have happened. New job, new baby, new place to live, and the its only August.

I feel like I am a grown up now. For some reason I still felt like a young kid but now that we have Jesse and we are living in a house and we are getting some much needed new furniture I feel like a grown up. Yep we got some new couches this week too. I guess that was a gift to both of us. When we got to Arizona, we looked at all out furniture and we realized that we don't really have any, and the things that we do have were given to us or hand-me-downs. We are very thankful for all the hand-me-downs and what people have given us but we thought it was high time for something brand new. We looked all afternoon and evening on Friday and finally found the one that we could agree on. They have been so nice, we have already had multiple naps on them and its been movie night for a couple days now.

Jesse is growing so fast I can't believe it. Everyone always says that they grow up too fast and its the truth. He is awake more now during the day and is moving and making noises and different sounds all more and more. He loves to kick his legs, it doesn't matter if he's eating or just laying around but his legs are always moving. He likes to move his arms and hands but he always ends up doing a "Mister Universe" with his arms, we just think that he is showing his guns off. He is a lot of fun and we are so thankful for him.

Everyday Life

2009-08-16T08:48:00.009-07:00

So its Sunday again and you know what that means, more pictures of what we have been up to this last week. We had a good and busy week. Cameron's sister and mom came down to visit with us and to meet Jesse for the first time on Sunday. We visited and chatted, ooohhed and aweed over Jesse and how cute he is. We have been needing to get a crib for the little guy and were finally able to get it this last week. Cam's mom went with me up to Tucson to get it and we drove it home with some of it hanging out the back because the seats didn't fold down. We had to tie it with some twine they gave us to keep it from falling out of the trunk but we made it and it was still in one piece. Cam and Rachel set it up in a jiffy and Jesse was able to take his afternoon nap in it.

Jesse had his one month check up that I wrote about last and he is doing well. We got him a swimsuit so we are going to see if he likes swimming; he loves bath time. I have been doing well going for walks and Jesse loves being outside. He hasn't really been fussy or anything when we go for our walk, well, except for when I am a bad driver and run the tire into something and totally jar him awake, even then he isn't fussy but his little face looks at me and it says "Mom, why did you do that?!" He is very animated. He has so many faces that I could probably post one a day for a month and it still wouldn't cover them all.

We went on a weekend outting to a place called Presidio Santa Cruz De Terrenate. What a mouthful, but it was really pretty. It was a three and a half mile round trip hike to the ruins of an old fort that the Spanish had built. The Apache Indians killed and eventually drove off the Spanish but the foundations of many of the buildings were still there. It wasn't very big but it was in a good spot right next to the San Pedro River. It was amazingly green for being in the middle of August in the southern Arizona desert. We also went to Tombstone and saw the Boot Hill Cemetary and then the town. Its mostly a tourist trap but we had just watched a movie about it and wanted to see where all the history took place. So we sauntered down the dusty streets and looked in some of the shops and swiss cheese (because of all the bullet holes!) buildings. It was a nice day out.

1 Month Already!

2009-08-11T16:43:00.014-07:00

Well another week has come and gone, and I can't believe that Jesse is already a month old already! He went to his one month check up today and he has grown almost 2 inches since birth and he is just above his birth weight, which is normal for bigger babies, at least that is what the doctor said and all the books that I have read.He is in the 83 percentile for his height so we are thinking that he will be tall and he is in the 23 percentile for weight so we have a very long and lean baby. He is doing really well I think he is eating pretty well and he is sleeping pretty good. He is more and more alert all the time and he is starting to make more noises to to make cute little noises too. We are still getting the hang of each other but we are doing well. I am feeling really good I think that I mostly all recovered from having a c section, the scar looks hideous but oh well no one will see it. We got him his crib and he likes it I think or he might not even know the difference fom his play pen and his crib. But I am sure glad to have it and not have to bend down so far to pick him up or put him down. We also got our stroller on Friday. I love it! I wanted to use it that night but we couldn't find our tire pump, but we use it the next day. We went for a hike to Parker Canyon Lake and hiked around the lake. It was a nice five mile trail that went through all the coves and who would have thought that there is a lake in Southern Arizona? It was really pretty and they use it as a bird perserve as well. Jesse seemed to like it ok but he got a little angry towards the end because he was hot, tired and hungry. But we had a good time, it was a easier hike to help me get back into shape.

There isn't much else going on with us. We are just trying to get into a routine to help us all out. And let me tell you, if Jesse doesn't get his bath at night we definately know it. He sleeps and eats much better when he gets his bath time. I took a picture of Jesse in his stoller and I came across one of his cousin Kaleb in his stroller and you can tell they are realated a little.Jesse is in the red stroller and Kaleb is in the tan one.

Arizona Fun in the Sun

2009-08-02T07:29:00.005-07:00

Well here is another post as to what we have been up to in the last 2 days. We have just really been getting settled here in Arizona and getting used to our new surroundings. We have been unpacking a little each day, its amazing the things that you can and can't get done when you have a baby. I get about a 2 hour window to get things done and then I have to feed Jesse again and it is really amazing how fast those 2 hours go by. I think that we are finally kind of in a routine that we can stick to as long as Jesse doesn't through us for a loop. He is a pretty good baby, but right now we are battling a diaper rash that makes it impossible to change his diaper without him going berserk. We are trying our hardest though to rinse him off without using wipes and then letting it air dry and we are using a lot of bum cream to help it to heal. But I think other than that we are all doing pretty good.

We went on our first adventure while being here in Arizona yesterday. We went and visited Coronado National Monument and did a little family hike while we were there. It was really interesting to learn about the Spaniards and the Conquistadors who came to explore our country. The hike wasn't too intense, I am still on the mend from the c section I had, but it felt good to get out and go hiking with Cam and Jesse. We went early in the morning so it wasn't too hot and there was a really nice breeze that blew the whole time. I think the craziest part of the hike was being able to see the border of the U.S. and Mexico. I just thought that it was border like our states, no line that says, "this is the U.S. and this is Mexico", but there is. We could see this line as far as the eye could see in both directions and sure enough that was the border. There were a lot of border patrol driving around where we were hiking, its kind of bizarre but I think that I will get used to it. That is really all the fun and exciting things that we have been up to, I guess the funniest thing that has happened was Cam went to change the roll of toilet paper and when he grabbed the new roll he felt something tickling his hand and look down and saw a cockroach on his hand. He handled it WAY better than I would have. He just flung his hand towards the tub and then proceeded to smash the nasty creature with our shampoo bottle. All I can say is thank heavens he was the one that changed the roll because if it had been me there would have been a lot more damage done to me and the bathroom. Me as in I wouldn't be able to change the roll of toilet paper and I don't think I would be able to use our bathroom again.

More to Love

2009-07-31T13:01:00.006-07:00

We took more pictures of Jesse last night and thought that we should post them on the blog. There are some really good faces of him. Like this one, I bet he is thinking "why is she taking my picture again?" He is a very annimated baby. He has so many faces I feel like I need to have my camera built into my head so every time I see one I can just blink and capture his awesome face. He is really good at distinguishing smells too, if there i sany kind of bad smell around his face will sure let you know it. He is getting more and more active everyday. He is very alert when he is awake and he is always happy unless he is hungry or getting his diaper changed or has a upset tummy. He sleeps a lot during the day still but it is nice because then I can still get things done around the house. He is usually always awake from about 5 till about bedtime which is 9, which makes Cam really happy because gets to play with him as soon as he gets home from work. He loves bath time and we got some more pictures of him enjoying his bath last night.

New About Life

2009-07-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

Well we are all moved in for the most part here in Arizona. There are still boxes around the house but we are getting them put away a few at a time. I can't lift too much still so I mostly just go through the box until its empty or I find empty boxes to add the I am not sure where this goes stuff. We are adapting pretty well to having Jesse around and I think that he is getting used to seeing us every time his eyes are open, which is more and more everyday. We are trying to figure out the whole schedule thing and how to best do that. Thank you to Mom for the Dr. Spock book, it really has helped me to not freak out if I he just wants to cry and to not get too frustrated if he doesn't want to eat and instead sleeps all day. We went to church for his first time yesterday and all through sacrement I was so worried about the little kids behind us that they were going to poke him or cough on him or something like that, I know totally paranoid. But I can't help it. Maybe in a few months I will have calmed down but for now I still so over protective and cautious of everything. We did get the world's best baby sitter, well that is while we are home. Jesse loves to swing when Cam is holding him and so we got him a swing and has seemed to like it so far.

Our move from Tennessee to Arizona went smoothly. Jesse was really good in the car and I did ok too. We made some stops along the way and made it into a sort of vacation. We stopped at the U.S. only diamond mine and saw what that was all about in Arkansas and then when we were in Texas we drove up to New Mexico and went through the Carlsbad Caverns, they were really cool to see how huge it was. All I kept thinking was I would hate to be the one to first discover them because I would have been scared out of my whits to get stuck down there in the dark. Anyways so here are some picks of what the caverns look like and us while we are down there.

Jesse

2009-07-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

The day Jesse was born was the best day ever. He weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 8oz and 20 1/2 inches long. That day was such an awesome day, I will never forget how it all happened and how our little boy became ours. Cam go home from Arizona the day before and so we got ourselves ready to go to the hospital the next morning. I had to have a c section so we got there at 10 am to get me prep and ready to go. Cam held my hand the whole time, I was really pretty nervous because I have never had surgery before and so I had no idea how these types of things work. But they wheeled me into the delievery room and gave me a spinal block which is pretty horrible all by itself. Then they put up a curtain and Cam came in all dressed up like a doctor in a gown and hat and shoe covers. He sat by my head and held my hand, when they started cutting he wanted to watch so they let him see what was going on. He said that there was a lot of blood and that as soon as they got into the placenta it totally gushed water everywhere. He said it was pretty cool to watch. He said that as soon as they were in the uterus the baby's head came out and they were pulling him out. Cam went over and helped the nurse cut the rest of the cord and got to touch him and then when they had him mostly clean he brought him over to me so I could see him. What a rush of emotions! I wanted to cry and laugh and hold him and hug and kiss Cam, it was amazing. They finished me up and wheeled me into my room where they cleaned Jesse off some more and then our family go to come in and see him. My parents and sister where there and my grandpa Stevens came too. They all held the baby and ooohed and awed over him and we decided that he looks like me from the chin to the mouth and from the nose up he looks like Cam. His eyes are blue they remind me of blueberries. We spent two days in the hospital and came home Saturday afternoon. We are having so much fun getting to see him change and grow already and to see more and more of his personality develop. There will be plenty of more pictures to come becaue I can't stop looking at him or holding his little hand touching his little feet. I will document it all.

Trip Out West

2009-06-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how time flies! It seems like it was only mother's day last week but I guess that is what happens when life happens. Raygan and I took a trip out west to Utah. We had a lot of family that was coming into town and so we thought it would be good to go and see them. We were there over Memorial Day and can I just say, that is one of my favorite holidays. My family always visits the family graves and I love doing that. I like being able to listen to the stories and to learn about my family members that have passed on. I also love to go the cemeteries and to see the appreciation to those that have served for our country. My grandpa Stevens served in the Navy during WWII on the PT Boats and my grandpa McEntire served in the Korean War in the Air Force. I have many other relatives who have served and I am so thankful to them and their sacrifice for our freedom.

My brother and his wife Kristen and their son Kaleb came out from California for the week too. I was so excited to see them and to get to play with my nephew. He is getting so big and crawling all over and almost getting ready to walk. I got a few pictures but not too many, I know I need to do better. We are trying to start a new tradition with my brothers and sisters and that is to get together at least once a year and go camping or something all together. This was our first year doing it and we had a lot of fun. It was so hot, but fun. We went camping at Sand Hallow Reservoir down by St. George, UT. I was really glad there was a lake to go swimming in because being 8 months pregnant and hot wasn't the best but the lake helped to keep me cool. My brother Daniel and sister-in-law Hannah and Raygan and I swam all over that lake. We went cliff jumping into the water- I only jumped about 3 feet up so no worries- ans just enjoyed the day. Later on the wind picked up and it blew us out the camp. Well we decided to leave and go stay the night with our grandparents that live in St. George.

My cousin Blake got home from his mission form Costa Rica and we went to the homecoming while we were there. It was good to see him and to see how he has changed and matured while on his mission. My sisters and Mom threw me a baby shower while I was home too. I got lots of great stuff and lots of hats for the baby. My sister-in-law Kristen made me the cutest gift ever! I didn't want to take it apart to get it home but I took a pic of it. It was a diaper cake in the theme of "The Cow Jumped Over the Moon". I love it! And my mom made me a quilt for the baby, i found this fabric that was nursery rhymes and she pieced it all together and then quilted it. I love it so much I am not sure I want the baby to use it. Just kidding but its a keep sake so we will see. But I got everything home and now I just need to organize and figure out what else I will need besides the big things. I still haven't got a car seat or a crib or a stroller but I still have a month.

I also got to go the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. It is the new temple in the Salt Lake Valley up on the west side. It is so beautiful and I am so amazed every time I go into the temple and how peaceful it really is. There was a cultural celebration for the opening of the two temples and my parents were in charge of their stakes. I can't wait to see it and to see how awesome all their hard work went into getting the youth of their stake to dance and celebrate the heritage of the temple.

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the women in my life! This day has always been a special day I think because it celebrates our mothers but to me it celebrates all the women, mom, grandma, sister, aunt, friend. I am so thankful to my mother. We have had our struggles but what mother and daughter don't. I am so thankful for her and all that she has taught me. I know how to make bread from scratch, I can sew almost anything- it might not be perfect but I can, I can clean and keep my house in order, I can balance my check book, I can garden and have a love for the outdoors, I can cook-some things not as good as her, I am independent and can take care of myself if needs be. I have a testimony of the gospel that she has helped me to develop and strengthen over the years. She helped me ride my first three wheeler and landed on her butt because I gunned the gas. She has taught me so much and some of it I didn't learn until I was married and moved out, but she has taught me so much and I owe her so much. I wish I could remember everything that she has taught me. I think one of the major things that she has taught me is to have a testimony of Jesus Christ and of the gospel because it will be there when no one else is. Thank you mom for all that you have done for me, I love you. I love this picture of my mom, it shows her great smile.I am thankful for Cam's mom and how good of a man he is. She helped mold him into that man that I fell in love and who will be the best father ever to our children. I don't know all the things that you taught him personally but I do know that he treats me with respect and that he loves me. She has helped him and she has been a great mother to me in the almost four years that we have been married.

Well it has been one year since Cam and I have moved to Knoxville. I couldn't believe it when I realized it. We have had quite the year, there have been a lot of things learned and our relationship has definitely been strengthened. We have loved living here and making new friends and hope that we will always be friends. Cam and I got to spend mother's day together and we were glad to be with each other. We just hung out and watched movies and went for a walk and we have found our new favorite thing, strawberry daiquiris-virgin of course. There is this great Mexican restaurant right down from where we have been staying and they are so good! We have ordered one every time that we have gone there. Hm mm!

Raygan and I had fun on Cinco De Mayo. I love any reason to celebrate and so we had tacos and margaritas-also virgin- and watched Biggest Loser. We had lots of fun and enjoyed making then together. I am thankful for her and her putting up with me. She is a great sister and a great aunt. Our baby isn't here yet but she has helped him by helping me while Cam has been gone.

2009-04-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

A Visit with Cameron

2009-04-06T07:55:00.001-07:00

Yeah! Cam is finally finished with Basic Training or Bootcamp. I got to spend some much needed time for the both of us, this last week. I left on Tuesday and headed south for Ft. Benning, GA. It is basically located 100 miles south of Atlanta. It doesn't take too long to get there, about 5 or so hours but it felt really short. I think its because there is always something to see here in the south. Its so green right now I can't even describe how green. So i made it there by Tuesday evening and figured my way around town and where I would be meeting Cam the next day. He was in Sand Hill for basic and that is in another part of the base so I went to a check in station and they told me everything that I needed to know. Very helpful since you can't just jump online and google where you are trying to get to. The rain came with a vengeance while I was there but I didn't even care. I was getting to see Cameron. I got there to this barracks early, at least I thought I did but there were tons of people there already, so I found a seat and waited. His company did a little presentation before we got to see them. It was so crazy to see him all dresses up and his is nice uniform, or Class A, I am trying to get all the Army lingo down. I didn't get a picture of him in this one but he will wear it again when he graduates OCS and it will be even more decorated so you will see it then. Watching the soldiers come in in formation was really cool. I couldn't believe that it was really Cam doing all of that. They have to yell a lot and say all their creeds and motos and they sang the Army Infantry song too. Cam doesn't yell so it was different seeing him do all that. I am so proud of him. They really do take your men and make them soldiers. He is the same old Cam that I love he is just a solider now. The picture above is him in his ACU uniform. This is their every day or more casual one. They have one that is more casual but that is for when they are exercising. It was really amazing seeing all the different uniforms that they wear. He looks so good in his uniform! So the first day that we got to spend together was Family Day and we had to go to a little briefing about benefits and where to get information and things like that it was good and short so it was good. Then we went and got him some really good boots. The ones he had for basic were so heavy and clunky, I don't know how he did anything in them. We got some lunch and headed back to the hotel to eat it and to get to talk and be with each other. It was so nice to get him all to myself, and the baby really liked it too he hasn't stopped moving since he got to hang out with his dad. Cam would talk to him and rub my huge belly, yes there have been many people that have told me that I look way more pregnant than my 6 months. We spent the whole day together but I had to take him back to his barracks at night. When I dropped him off that night I stayed and watched them do their night formation and it was really awesome. I wasn't planning on staying and watching so I didn't get any of it on film but it was so neat.

The next day was graduation and I had a meeting that morning before graduation with some of the Army wives to answer any questions and to give us any of their information or advice. It was helpful and they gave me a lot of websites to get info from, they said do as much research as you can, so that is my job. Graduation was supposed to be outside but it was still raining and so we had it inside it was short and sweet so we then got that whole day together too.

There was a possibility that we might get the weekend together too but we didn't know for sure. So when I took him back that night I was such a wreck. I didn't cry very hard until I got to my car but I let it out then. He could have his cellphone now so the next morning he texted me and told me to go and get a pass to pick him up later that day. I was so excited! We would actually get more time together and I wouldn't have to take him back at night. I picked him up Friday evening and driving on base it pretty cool I think. I felt like I was a part of a movie. The houses are pretty nice and seeing all the old buildings and all the men running or walking around in their uniform is pretty cool.

Cam needed to get a lot of stuff for OCS and he needed to do laundry. So on Saturday we woke up and got all his laundry done and then went shopping for all the supplies he would need. It took a while but we were together so I didn't care at all. We got to talk with some other men that were in OCS right now and they gave us some heads ups and told us the best things to have and get. We shopped mostly on base and I am excited to be able to use all those nice stores. We found a baby stroller there for $100, it would be like $300 or so anywhere else so being in the military definitely has its perks. And the Commissary there is huge. You could find anything there. We got the majority of his things on Saturday but we still had to get a few on Sunday. So we woke up and hung out for a little while at the hotel and then checked out and got some breakfast and go the rest of the stuff he needed. We sat in the car and talked a lot and enjoyed being with each other. We both said how grateful we are for each other and how grateful we are for the gospel. Being a member of the church is such an amazing thing. It is so hard being away from each other like this but having the gospel makes it a little easier. We receive some comfort knowing that Heavenly Father is really watching over us and that I can pray and tell him all my worries and insecurities and he is really there listening to me. Cam told me that it helps him to not get caught up with all the crap that is going on around him. It helps him to stay focused on what he needs to focus on. He said that he will always worry about me but knowing there are people here to help me makes him feel a little better. He is doing really good. He is excited to start OCS and to be able to make is way through the army.

It was so good to be with him and to see him. It was just what I needed. It is so hard having to leave him again but it won't be as long to see again. He is my favoritest and I am so proud to be his wife and to be his for forever! I love you Cam!

Yes, I do Blog

2009-03-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. I know it has been like almost two months since I have written anything but life just seems a little dull. I guess there are a few things to blog about and I am sorry for not writting sooner. So lets see you all know that my sister Raygan is staying with me while Cam is away and thank heavens for her. I really would be so lonely and bored and probably crazy by now if she wasn't here, or I would have moved back to Utah to be with all my family while Cam is training and gone.

He is doing well. He likes it there and he has learned a lot. Especially about blowing up tanks with big rockets and shooting guns and he could do some pretty mean take downs with all the defensive training and hand to hand combat moves he is learning. Nobody mess with us! Ha ha ha. I was getting a phone call about once a week but he had his last reallybig training/survival thing that he was out in the woods for about a week and so I haven't heard from him since before he left but I am sure that he is doing great. He is home sick just like I am sick of having him not here but we get to see each other in 2 weeks, family day and graduation from bootcamp is the first and second of April and so I get to spend a couple of days with him down in Georgia. I am so excited, I don't think I have been this excited for anything in such a long time. He will probably think what have you done with my wife but that is just becausemy midsection is protruding a little more than it used to, no he will be so excited to see how big the baby is getting and that he can feel him moving.

Yep, I said him. It has been a while since we have known, we are having a BOY! I can't believe it, we both were so sure that it was a girl but we are so excited for a boy. Call me old fashioned but Cam is the only boy in his family and his dad is the only boy in his so I am so glad that the Beveridge name gets to live on for another generation. We haven't really come up with any names yet, we both have ideas but we haven't been able to talk to each other long enough to tell each other what we are thinking, but we still have 3 1/2 months to go so plenty of time. I can't believe that its gone by this fast already. I am gald in a way because that means that we get to meet him and because Cam will be home that much sooner.

I had another trip out to Utah a little while ago and it was so much fun to visit all my family again. Cam's sisters Rachel and Katie and his mom threw me a baby shower while I was out and I got so much stuff. I couldn't believe it. I still have to get most of it here to Knoxville because it wouldn't fit in my two suitcases that I took out there. But I got what I could home. I haven't been too busy with anything though since being home. I have been nesting though, or whatever they call it when pregnany women try and get their homes all clean all the time and organized. I am pretty clean but everyday I find something that needs cleaning or washing or something. But I won't complain because its ok to have a clean and organized house. I wish I could do more but when Cam gets done with Officer's Training we will most likely be moving so there isn't too much that I can do, but that won't be till after the baby is born. I hope that I filled everyone in on what has been happening since my last entry and I promise that I will be better about keeping everyone updated.

My Trip to Utah

2009-02-01T16:13:00.000-08:00

I finally got back out to Utah to visit my family. My brother, Daniel got married and so I got to go and visit for a while. My plane ride was a trial for me I got delayed and I missed a call from Cameron and I was mad because I won't get very many of those. But he got to call the next day so I wasn't too upset. Daniel and my new sister that I am so excited about Hannah got married on Thursday the 22nd and so I helped my mom get ready for the wedding. They had two receptions one in West Jordan and the other in Brigham City where she is from. So I helped get things ready.

Also when I got there my pants were having some trouble fitting and so I had to go and by maternity pants becasue I couldn't walk around with my zipper undone the whole time. I found what I am going to do the baby's room in too. We don't know what we are having yet but it can be for either a boy or a girl.

My brother, Jake, sister-in-law, Kristen and their baby, Kaleb came in on Tuesday night and I got to meet my nephew for the first time. He is so cute, I can't wait till my baby comes so I can squeeze him or her and watch them grow. Kaleb is starting to try and crawl, he is really good at reverse I think its only a little while until he discovers forward and then watch out mommy and daddy. Also Kristen, is pregnant too. I am so excited for them. I always wanted to have a cousin who was my same age and now our babies will be only about a month apart, I am so excited for them.!!!!!!!!
The wedding was amazing. Daniel and Hannah got married in the Timpanogoes Temple and it was a beautiful ceremony. Their wedding colors were kind of tourquies but a little lighter, I am not sure what the color is called exactly but it was really pretty. I am so happy for them and the decision that they have made. It is the first step into the big unknown, but so worth it. I was sad that Cam wasn't there. I thought of him often because we got married there, but I am so grateful for eternal marriages. How lucky we are to be able to be with our families forever. I am so attched and close to Cameron that if I didn't get to be with him always I don't know what I would do. But Hannah fits in with our family so well. She is the middle child like me and we bonded as soon as we started talking. I am so excited to have all the sisters that I do. I was talking with Kristen about how lucky we are in our family to get along with all the spouses. We have fun together and I hope to continue to have many more adventures with all of them.

After the wedding my sister Raygan and I got ourselves ready to make our great trek east to Knoxville. How thankful I am for her and that she was willing to come out and stay with me. I don't even like to think about how lonely I would be without her here. We had quite the adventure on our trip here. Everything was fine until we got to Oklahoma. They had had an ice storm on Monday and we got there on Wednesday and the roads were still a mess. We got stuck on the freeway for 5 hours. They don't plow the roads and so there was accident after accident and the semi trucks kept getting stuck. The roads were so icy and covered in snow and I was so scared. I have never been so scared and stressed and worried all at the same time. I came to probably my first end of my wits ever. We finally got going again nd we could only go about 10 miles per hour, we pulled off the freeway to find a hotel and they were all booked. I had been praying so hard that we would be ok and that we would make it safely. But then to hear that all the rooms were booked or they didn't have any heat or water I think everything almost collapsed inside. But there was this woman who was in our same situation and she made the man form the hotel call around and find us a hotel to stay in. I really don't know what I would have done without her. I had just heard a talk that was given on the conference talk about being angels, and she was my angel right then. They found a hotel that had two rooms and we got directions from where we were and I asked her if I could follow her becasue I didn't know if I would be able to find it. She lead us there, I was so mindful of how much our Heavenly Father loves us. He sent that woman when he knew I needed her. I hope that I can be that for someone one day.

The rest of the trip was really good. We made it here and got Raygan all settled in. She is still unsure of her surroundings but I think that she will be amazing here. There is so much for her to learn and to grow that I think that she will really come to find herself here and to see what she is made of. It will be a huge testimony builder but she is strong and she is totally up for it. I am so blessed to have such a great family. I love them all so much, I miss you all!

Christmas, New Year's and More

2009-01-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

Cam and I had a great Christmas. We went to our friend's house for Christmas Eve and had a great big dinner and sang songs and talked about our favorite christmaes and just got be around some of our favorite people here in Knoxville. I think the best part of the night was when their kids opened up their chirstmas eve gifts, they got pajamas and they went crazy. Their little son got Thomas the Train pjs and he ran all over the house saying "Thomas the Train". It made me so excited for when we have kids and how excited they get for christmas.

Christmas morning came and I got Cam up at 6:30 I think to open presents. He didn't want to, but I said its Christmas morning you have to get up early and open presents, no one else in my family would agree, I got them all up early too and they are 2,000 miles away. So we got up and opened our presents.

We got some great gifts form our family and friends. We are so thankful for our family and all their love and support. I have learned so much from them and all of their examples. We missed our family the most during this Christmas, we called and talked to them but it just wasn't the same. I am glad that there are telephones and webcams. They are the best inventions. We ate our big breakfast and then we went and skyped my family while they opened their presents. We weren't there but it was the next best thing. Thank heavens for skype!

After that we went out to a movie, it was our present to each other and we had so much fun. I haven't been to a movie with Cam in a long time I forgot how much fun we used to have when we were dating. We have fun now but it was like we were dating I loved it! We came home and called and talked to Cam's family and wished them all a Merry Christmas and that we loved them.

Then came Cameron's birthday. It's two days after christmas but we celebrate them both he gets lots of gifts during the month of December. We went out to dinner and had some really good mexican food, we love it,but I am no good at cooking it. We then went up to Melton Lake, it is one of our favorite places to visit and we love to skip rocks! I am really rusty but we had a blast and the day was so warm all the ducks were out and they were going crazy. It was so fun to spend so much time with Cam. He is the best husband! He is my best friend and he makes me feel so beautiful and like I am the best person in the world. This is my tribute to him. I am going to miss him so much when he is at boot camp and officer canadate school. But I know that he is going to be so awesome and that he will have fun. He has sacrificed so much for me and our family and I don't think he knows how much I look up to him. He honors his preisthood and he helps me when i am down. I know that he is going to be a great father and I can't wait till we ave a house full of kids. He cares about me so much and he wants the best for me. I love him so much and I want him to know that you are my favorite and I love you!

Then a couple days later we went with some fellow army people(for lack of a better word) to a resturant to watch the All American Bowl that the Army sponors and we ate food and got to talk to some retired generals and other leaders in the army. It was really neat to hear their stories and how much they love this country. Cam got an award there for totally smoking the other fellow soldiers in the PT test. Its the test they have to take to be eligible for the army and he smashed the record! I am so proud of him and all that he has done. We are so excited to be apart of such an important organization. We are so excited for all the traveling and all the new experience we will have.

Christmas Fun!

2008-12-03T09:38:00.001-08:00

Wow! I can't believe that it is Christmas time already. This year has totally flown by. It doesn't seem like Cam and I have been here in Knoxville for more than six months now. We thought that is got cold in Utah but I guess we brought it with us. I do that a lot. We have told a few people but I guess by now everyone should know. I am pregnant! Yup, you read right. I went to the doctor for my first visit and can I just say that if you like your privacy don't have a baby. It goes all out the window. But I will do anything for my new baby that is growing inside me. This is so new and can I say a little strange too. I love being pregnant, all the queasiness and the weird cravings or not being able to eat all the foods I love because they make me sick, but to see your baby on the monitor but not being able to feel it just seems weird. I am almost nine weeks along, and the baby is due in the middle of July. So I hope everyone in our ward is ready because we have a baby frenzy going on. Especially in the relief society presidency, first is Alice, then Katina and then me. Now we just need Divine and that could be our legacy, all pregnant at the same time! We are so excited and a little nervous but what first time parents aren't, right?!

We got a ginger bread house and thought that it was now Christmasy enough to make it. We had fun licking our fingers and eating all the little candies that come with it and we did manage to make the houes too.

In the Army Now!

2008-11-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

Wow things will really be changing for Cam and me. A while back Cam started talking about looking into the military as a new career. So he began doing research to see which one would fit him the best and we went with the Army. This is totally a shocker huh? But we are so excited about all of it. He is going to be an Officer so he won't be a grunt or anything and we are hoping that he can get into the Aviation department. They first teach you to fly helicopters and since he already can fly fixed wing that would be great. He got accepted into the Officer program and he leaves for Basic Training on January 15th. I am staying here and am going to keep working and my younger sister Raygan is going to come out and stay with me while Cam is gone. We are so excited for this new adventure. We are hoping to be able to go overseas and to meet tons of interesting people and to share the gospel. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for all the blessings that he has given to me. These past few months have been a time to really dig deep and really see just how strong I can be. I am thankful that He knows me and that He cares about me. He has helped Cam and me so much and we have so many wonderful people in our life that have helped us when we have needed it. Thank you to all, we love you so much!

Who knew I was a Marilyn?

2008-10-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

So I took the test that was on Jennifer's blog and I never in a million years would have guessed that I would be a Marilyn-- "I am affectionate and skeptical."

Marilyns are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.

How to Get Along with Me
* Be direct and clear
* Listen to me carefully
* Don't judge me for my anxiety
* Work things through with me
* Reassure me that everything is OK between us
* Laugh and make jokes with me
* Gently push me toward new experiences
* Try not to overreact to my overreacting.

What I Like About Being a Marilyn
* being committed and faithful to family and friends
* being responsible and hardworking
* being compassionate toward others
* having intellect and wit
* being a nonconformist
* confronting danger bravely
* being direct and assertive

What's Hard About Being a Marilyn
* the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind
* procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence in myself
* fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of
* exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger
* wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right
* being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations

Marilyns as Children Often
* are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and stubborn
* are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger
* form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent
* look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel
* are neglected or abused, come from unpredictable or alcoholic families, and/or take on the fearfulness of an overly anxious parent

Marilyns as Parents
* are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty
* are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence
* worry more than most that their children will get hurt
* sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries

I never knew about tagging

2008-10-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well I didn't know what it meant when i went to Katina's blog and saw that she had tagged me. I had to ask Alice what it meant, I am still new at this blogging thing. But here is the picture that I chose, the 4th floder in the my pictures and the 4th picture in that folder. This is me at our wedding breakfast being nervous and waiting for Cameron. It has my grandparents and my sister Shawna in it too. I guess I am tagging my sister Kristen.

Well things are the same old same old. We had a good week and I am really thankful to be able to have gone to church today. I didn't really realize that I needed it so badly. I have been so blessed in my life and I don't think that I can thank my Heavenly Father enough! I have been thinking a lot about being worthy and what that means exactly. I think that I have been thinking a lot about service and how I feel unworthy sometimes because I think that I don't serve enough. But I know that I am trying. I had this thought today. I know that people are really busy and we all get burnt out on serving and helping people, but when we die and go to heaven and we meet Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ face to face they are going to ask us why we didn't serve this person or why we didn't help this family, are we going to tell them that we got burnt out and to look at the times that I did serve. I just think that there is so much more for us to do. I am a lazy person and I have a hard time getting out of my comfort zone but I need to. Jesus didn't just give up when everyone was mocking him, the apostles don't call in sick or cancel becasue they have done enough. I know that I can do better and I want to be more Christ like and I know that means that I need to really endure to the end and give everything that I have in this life because I might not get another chance to do it. I want to serve more and show my Heavenly Father how thankful I am to him for what he has given me. I hope that I have inspired someone else who will read this. I know that we are all so busy but if we can take a little time out from all that we do and so our thanks to our Heavenly Father I think we would all be a little better and I think that it would inspire someone else we know.

Got the Twilight bug

2008-10-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

So thanks to my fellow bloggers I took the quiz to find out what chatacer I am most like. I am so excited for this movie to come out and I hope that it is kind of like the movie. I am hoping the Edward will grow on me, I don't think that the guy they chose is the best but we will have to plan a pre-Twilight party and then go and see the movie, so all my friends with kids get your husband to watch them, we have a date with some vampires!

How Cute

2008-10-14T19:14:00.001-07:00

2008-10-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Seed Spitting

2008-10-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Wow it has been a while since I have written anything. I seem to be writing that a lot lately. But we have been doing a little more now that the deathly hot summer months have passed. We go to the park almost every night to go walking and jogging and I am really liking this exercising thing. We were at the park walking one day when we were coming up this little hill and when i looked up there were hundreds of boys running towards us. I kind of felt like we were on Jurassic Park and some scary dinosaur is running towards us. I wish I would of had my camera with because my words can't really describe what was happening. Come to find out that they hold track meets there and there was about 200 or 300 young men running, it sounded like a herd of deer or gazelles running past us. i kind of had the deer caught in the head light look when I first saw them. It was really interesting to see them.

We had our ward fall party and we had a really good time, Cam was in the pumpkin seed spitting contest and he held the mark for a really long time I never knew he could spit that far, it was like 8 feet away. They might have to come up with new terminology like instead of a stones throw away, it will be a Cam's spit away. The party was in our bishop's backyard and they have a huge yard. I think our whole stake could have fit back there. But we had a good time talking to our friends and eating good food.

I have a new calling as of today. Our ward just got a new Relief Society Presidency and I am the secretary. It is kind of weird but as soon as they call and ask to meet with me I know exactly what calling I am getting. It just comes to me I think maybe this happens so its not so shocking when I am asked. But I am excited about this, there is a lot of work to do but I hope that I can do all that is asked of me. The women that I serve with are great and I think that we will get a lot accomplished.

We are doing good though, just working and now balancing callings and other commitments but we are having a good time and I am excited that Fall is finally here.

Sorry, I am lame

2008-09-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

Well so it has been over a month since I have updated our blog but there really hasn't that been anything exciting happening in our lives that I thought everyone should hear about. But I can't believe that its almost October and we all know that means? Well do you, there are several things that it means. The first one that I can think of is General Conference, it is one of my favorite times of the year because I need that apostolic boost, I guess we just had that here in Knoxville with Elder Bednar but I love the variety form all the Apostles and all the messages that they have to give us. I love all the music form the choir and how is uplifts me sometimes more than a good talk can. But I love it all. I am kind of homesick to be able to go to Temple Square during that time because its Fall and I love this time of year, it is my absolute favorite. Well the next one just that, it's FALL!!! I love being able to wear sweaters and long pants and jackets. I love the weather and it makes me always think of back to school and how it felt when I was in school. I am excited because they have rowing competitions here on the lakes and I am excited to go to them. Another one is that its Halloween. I love this holiday its kind of one of those weird ones that makes you think now why do we celebrate this again, why do I have to spend money on candy for the kids in the area to come and get free from me. But I really do love it, I love to see how creative people can get with their costumes and to see the parents and how dutifully they take their kids out. Another thing is that I get to cook really good food because its too hot during the summer but when Fall comes we get good home cookin' and we can drink hot chocolate and apple cider. One thing that I will miss is that my family goes to the sand dunes during the UEA weekend back in Utah and I love to ride four wheelers I think that if I could I would somehow make that into my job that would be awesome. But then again I am not that dare devilish. But there are so many things that I love about this time of year and I am so excited for it.

3 Years and Still Running!

2008-08-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Cam and I have been married for three years. It seems like a lot of people have gotten married in August, happy wedding or anniversary to you all. I think that this has been the best year so far. We have got to see our beautiful country and we live in a wonderful place that we love and we are together so that is all that matters. We are so excited for all the many more years to come and can't wait to see what is waiting fo us. We are both working hard and are so thankful that we are an eternal family. There is so much comfort in knowing that we will be together forever and that the Lord is always there for us. We are so thankful for our family and friends and the love and support that you give. I am so proud and thankful for Cameron. He is the best person that I know and I am thankful that I get to spend everyday with him. He works so hard and he will be such a great father to our children when we have them. We are excited for the future and hope to have many more wonderful years together. I love you Cam and always will. XOXO

A Family with Crazy Hair

2008-08-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

So I just looked at my sister-in-laws blog and there is this picture of my nephew with hair that looks a lot like my hair did when I was a baby, so I thought that I would show all of you. I am the one on the left of the screen, Kaleb has more than I did but we are definitely related

Random Updates

2008-08-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

So I was watching the news this morning and it was saying that we are experiencing an major epidemic of Jelly Fish. I guess that along most of the beaches there are tons of them and they having to close some of them because too many people are being attacked. Or rather stuck in their tenticles because they are really poor swimmers, but the ocean scares me enough with knowing that there are sharks in it, now we have sting thirsty Jelly Fish. Just thought I would share some of the random news that I heard.

Well things are much better this week. Sorry that I scared a lot of you last week. It was just everything coming at me at once and I had a hard time adjusting. But things are much better this week. So Cam got a new calling on Sunday, ya that was really fast, but he is now the Ward Mission Leader. He was going out with the missionaries a lot and they kept telling the bishop how good he was with the investigators and the bishop new that he was needed somewhere else. This is a big calling and so we had to really think about it but we realized that there was no way that we could turn it down because if the Lord wants to bless us then who are we to say no. But in his blessing for being set apart for the calling we were promised some pretty strong things and I new there was a reason why I didn't wear makeup that day to church, besides the fact that it would just run off my face. But we are really excited about his new calling and we had our first FHE with the missionaries and an investigator and we are glad that we can open our home for those that want need it. But it was a big learning experience because I have never been around an investigator and I really think that we were meant to be here in Knoxville. And the only way that it could have happened was for Cam to have a job with the airlines to bring us here. We are so thankful for all of our family and friends and all the love that you give us.

So we got to talk with my side of the family on Sunday and thank heavens for Skype. We got a surprise too that Kristen and Kaleb were visiting and it made me even more home sick but that is what happens when you move across the country. But is was so good to see everyone and to know that everyone is doing well. I can't wait till I can meet my new nephew for the first time, it will be great. Also I am so excited about the fourth and final book in the Twlight series by Stephenie Meyer, I can not wait to read it. It was all my Sunday school class could talk about. Well that is all for now but as soon as we have any fun and exciting news it will be on here.

This Too Shall Pass

2008-07-30T16:17:00.001-07:00

Hello to everyone. Well things seem to be the same. Cam is still looking for a job and we are trying every where that we can think of. We both know that the economy will eventually get better, right? Well we are just trying to be as positive as we can be and we are really trying to rely upon the Lord more. We know that when there is no where else to go we He will be there to help us. It hasn't been that long since we moved out here to Knoxville but it seems like forever. Things haven't been all bad but we are just having to learn patience and long suffering. I love having blogs and being able to keep in touch with family and friends but in hard times it makes me miss everyone. Every time a read my sister in-law's it makes me cry. I miss seeing our family and I miss being able to have family close. I know that things could be worse and they aren't really bad though, I am just in the mood to feel sorry for myself. I have a really good job and I am busy a lot so that is a really big blessing for Cam and I. We have an excellent ward and friends, really we were so blessed that we were able to move into our ward. I know that one day I am going to be able to look back on this time in our lives and say look how far we have come and look at all the blessings that we were given. We are learning and growing so much and we are so thankful for all our family and friends that support us and pray for us. I am thankful for my Savior that knows exactly what I am going through and I know that he can take my hurt and pain away. Hard times are hard I guess that is why they call them that, but we will make it through this, because this too shall pass.

Hot and Boring

2008-07-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

I am sorry that it has been so long since I have updated our blog, we just haven't done anything really fun. Until this weekend I mean. We spent Saturday afternoon with some friends at the pool. We love swimming and so we were really excited to go. Plus it was really hot so that made it a no brainer. We went to the pool and then over to our friends house to light up the grill and get some dinner going. We had all the best kinds of grilling food but we were just happy to be hanging out with friends.

So we have been really into our blogging and beign able to see what all our friends and family are up too. But last week my brother got a web cam and he found this free software that you can download. He is in LA and Cam's and my family are in Utah and so we don't get to see each other. So we found this really easy way to talk, we do it over the internet and every one gets to see and talk to each other. Its tons of fun and we are excited to be able to see my brother and his wife and their new baby. And we finally got to show our family where we live and what our apartment is like. Well that is all until anything else happens so I hope that we can do something really fun and show that we are that boring really.

"I am feeling very olympic today.."

2008-07-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

Cam and I went to something that we thought was a chance of a lifetime. We went to the US Diving trials that were held here in Knoxville, at the University of Tennessee. We both love swimming and we have been following the trials thus far on tv. When they annonced that the finals would be held here we jumped at the chance. The new facility was amazing it made me want to become a diver too so I could use it. And hey we thought that I might still have a chance becasue there is one of the divers that is going to olympics and she is in her early thirties, but I can barley jump off a diving board so I don't see olympic diving in my near future.

New Nephew

2008-07-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

I am so excited! I am an aunt. My sister-in-law just gave birth to my very first nephew. He is the cutest baby. I am so happy to see that our family is growing. I can't believe that we are old enough now to be having children and being aunts and uncles. It seems like only yesterday that we were all camping together or riding four wheelers down at the sand dunes. But now we get to do all those fun things with our children. We were so blessed with to have such wonderful parents that have helped us along the way.

Getting Settled

2008-06-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I think that this is like the third time that I have tired to get a blog started and either hated what it looked like or I forgot what it was called and couldn't get back to it. So I am writing everything down and hopefully we like this one. Cam and I are just trying to get settled here in Knoxville. We love it out here so far and can't wait for you all to come and visit. It sure isn't Utah that is for sure but we are glad that we are here.