peru, entry 1

I have made it to Peru. It was a long day of flying...and I was on standby on both flights. I have never flown standby before and I thought there would be like 4 or 5 other people also flying standby. But just to Atlanda there were 43 people that were listed before me. I couldn't believe it. I was a nervous wreck. I boarded the plane with 2 minutes until take off, my seat was next to two missionaries on their way to Charlotte, NC.

Once I made it to Atlanta I had 5 hours before my flight to peru took off. I tried to rexlax but was still a little stressed out from flying standby. The time slowly passed and finally it was ready to see if my name got called. I was honestly one of the last people and there were a lot again. But...When I did get called my ticket was on buisness class and let me tell you, there started some of the best 6 hours in my life. It was awesome...I was waited on hand and foot. The food was endless and delish. My seat reclined all the way back and I couldn't reach the seat in front of me with my toes all the way extended. It was amazing. I have pictures and such and I will post later today when I see if my dad has a card reader or a cord to connect my camera. I was so excited about my buisniess class flying I never wanted the flight to end. I didn't even sleep a wink because I didn't want to miss anything. hahaa.

Once we started landing...it hit me I was about to land in Peru. A place that is so influential in my life...but a place I haven't been back to in 19 years. Weird. I got off the plane and hurried through customs and ran out to find my parents only to see a sea (and I mean sea) of peruvians. I kept walking and saw up ahead a little white haired lady walking into the airport quickly. Sure enough there were my parents...a sight for sore eyes. I was SO HAPPY. I couldn't even believe it. They look great (my dad is skinnier then I have ever seen him in my life). We were all pretty giddy to see eachother. (I landed at 11:00 pm Peru time)

The next day bright and early we headed out to a hospital in Peru for my dad to have shoulder surgery. THAT MAN IS CRAZY...if you ask me...for having surgery here in Peru. He kept saying he trusts in the Lord and I guess you can't argue with that. Anyways, we checked in and I thought it was going to be a long hard day but the three of us sat and talked and laughed in his hotel room for most of the day. He was taken a way for surgery around 3 pm and then it was pretty stressfull. Mom and I waited in a little room with a big statue of the Mother Mary while the surgery took place. My mom looked very worried...to say the least, although she wouldn't admit that to you herself. When the doctor came out and took mom to see dad you could visibly see her worry lift a little. We stayed untill 10:30 p.m. It was a long day but his hospital room had two beds so I laid in one and read and talked to my mom all day. It went by fast.

Mom also took me to the store for lunch. I can't believe how much better the markets have gotten since we lived here. Wow. I had to buy every single kind of candy I loved when I was little. (I guess that is one of the things you REALLY remember when you live in a country as a child) Everything here is a lot the same as I remember. Everything smells exactly the same...tastes the same (so far) and although things look a little different (as in now there are more buildings and more Mcdonalds) I still recognized A LOT of things and even knew we right where we were yesterday without anyone telling me. I have a really good memory. (of course all of those who really know me know this) I am so thankful for that.


Anyways. Long post...no pictures but mom is getting dad from the hospital right now and if I don't write it down it will get too long for me to type later. I have some pictures...coming soon?

peru...

I am on my way first thing tomorrow morning to see my parents in Peru.  I can't wait.  I will post maybe once I get there.  Getting there is going to be an adventure all in itself.  I have never flown so far away all by myself.  Yikes.  I keep telling myself I am a strong woman and I can do it.  We will see.  hahaa.

boring

We haven't taken any pictures in forever so I feel like I have nothing to post about.  I feel really boring.  

Oliver finishes school in two days.  

I think I might be going to Peru tomorrow.  I am not sure but I might.  Which is weird.  If I do go...at least I'll have something to post about.  

It's a.....

So today was my ultrasound.  I had talked to Cortney a couple of different times this week about when it was...but about an hour before my appointment I realized I hadn't really told him what time it was at.  I started to panic when I called him a couple of times and he didn't answer.  Then 12 phone calls later and after getting a hold of Darrin, a coworker and finding out that Cortney wasn't at the office....I just knew....he was going to miss the ultrasound.    

Cali drove me down to the hospital.  I was still trying to call Cortney (was he hurt somewhere??). I was mostly sad because I knew Cortney wanted to be there.  As I sat in the waiting room I almost started crying...I couldn't believe I was going to go through this all alone.  1 minute after my appointment was supposed to start Cortney called.  He had just gotten done playing racquetball and saw he missed all my calls. He ran to get to me as fast as could and the lovely people at the hospital waited for him to come.   When he walked in I was SOO relieved.  Although because he came straight from the gym he was covered in SWEAT and he was wearing a sleeveless shirt and gym shorts.  He looked hilarious.  

The ultra sound was awesome.  I love seeing my babies.  Ohhh.  It is so cool.  I can't believe how amazing it is.  It really makes the pregnancy so real.  Makes the baby a real child.  I was worried about the health of the baby...just because this pregnancy I am talking a really low dose of steroids.  It isn't ideal to have to be on but it is hard for me to function without it.  To see that the baby was healthy, man it is beyond words.  And you should see its little legs they were kicking like crazy.  

And without further ado....

The baby is a...

Boy.

Sigh...

I really thought it might be a girl.  But hey...I guess I am meant to be a mother of boys.  I am so happy...but just a little shocked.   He is going to be adorable...and I can't wait.  I just don't want to have to name this baby.  I don't have any boy names left in my brain.  

But hey...so far we've made some pretty handsome boys. 

today is the day

I can't wait to find out what I am having.  I will post as soon as I know.  Oh man I am so excited.  

Cortney felt the baby kick for the first time on tuesday...awesome. 

rob too

So Rob started with the throw up and diarrhea at 3 this morning.  He was up every hour like clock work.  Poor baby.  It was his first time throwing up in the toilet but he made it in every time...not even once in the bed.  This alone is a huge feat because our bathroom is FAR away from our rooms.  He was screaming at the top of his lungs in between throw ups.  His face looks so skinny this morning.  

I stole (oops) this picture from my friend Sarah's blog.  We went with the ward playgroup on Tuesday to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. 
Rob's face is to die for in this picture such a cute smile.  Sarah kept trying to get him to smile for the camera but he wouldn't even look.  We had a fun time. 

long hair

For a long time Rob has been telling me that he wants long hair like mommy's. Weird I know. I always tell him that boys have short hair and that he looks good with short hair. But he loves my long hair and anytime I wear it down he wants to run his fingers through it all day long. Today while we were having a "sick day" we all watched The Princess Bride together.  When Fezzik (Andre the Giant) came onto the set Rob said excitedly...

"see mom boys do have long hair, I want hair like that"

MOM: "are you sure you want that hair that hair looks crazy?"

Oh he was sure alright.  He liked all of the boys with long hair in this movie.  Boy am I in trouble.

I don't know he looks pretty good...what do you think?  Hahaaa

He is throwing a major tantrum right now.  Is it bad that I am counting down the minutes until it is my boys bedtime??

sick

Oliver woke up this morning with diarrhea and throwing up.  YUCK.  Cortney is going out of town tonight on a scout camp out so that means I am going it solo.  Poor Oli.  Poor me.  It is never fun to clean up after someone.  

What's more...I lost my phone somewhere and it is out of batteries. I have had the worst phone luck these past few months.  It is crazy.

dr's appt.

Today I had a doctor's appointment to make up for one I missed while I was at disneyland.  It seriously took the doctor like 40 seconds (and what felt like five minutes) to find the heartbeat.  Oh man that freaked me out.  The baby was just super duper down low and not where he thought it would be.  That has never happened to me.  It was really scary.  It ended up being no big deal, but in my head at the time I was making all sorts of plans for what I needed to do.  Ahhhh.  Being pregnant is scary.  It gets scarier and scarier the older I get.  I will be 18 weeks on Monday.  I weighed in at 132...I know that is a weird thing to put on your blog but when I used to keep a paper journal I wrote what I weighed at every appointment.  I love to go back and read that.  I also love to see how much I gain and so forth.  

The best part of today's appointment...aside from finally hearing the heartbeat was that I got to schedule my ultrasound.  It is next friday!  I can't wait to find out what this little baby is going to be.  Along with that I have to have a consult with the high risk pregnancy doctor...because of the medications that I am on and because of my RA.  That is scary but strictly precautionary.  

Sorry boring post but this is the kind of thing I like to read back on. 

mom's

So I know I am late with my mother's day post. My two mom's know I love them...and I do. I am so grateful for them and the friends they are to me in my life.

As I sat outside yesterday watching my children jump on the trampoline and eating popsicles...I couldn't stop thinking how grateful I am to be a mom.

All my life I wanted to be a stay at home mom. People kind of thought it was weird that that was all I aspired to be. It is kind of weird...even now, I honestly don't know what I would do in my life if being a mom was suddenly not an option. I struggled with the idea of going back to work when Cortney was laid off. It was the logical answer to our problems. Cortney couldn't really work much and collect unemployment, but I could work as much as I wanted. Cortney and I decided I would still stay home. (it helped that I was puking my guts up for a big portion of the time he was unemployed.) We were blessed during that time, and still are. I love more then anything getting to be a mom.

I don't know if this makes sense or not. I am NEVER EVER up this early (it is 8:19 as we speak). Lazy...I know but I have old kids and a husband who takes Oli to school (and gets him dressed and feeds him).

Oli...the boy who made me a mom.  First children, there is nothing like them.  He is a wonderful boy.  

Rob, rob...what can I say about this boy?  Let me start it off with how broke down he looks in this picture.  The poor boy had one of those key chains that is on a retractable string (so you can hook it to your belt and still use your keys) and he pulled back the string, let it go and it hit him in the eye.  OUCH.  We are also in the process of removing the wart on his forehead...and he was eating at the time the biggest cheese puffs I have ever seen. 

This boy...is the apple of my eye.  I can't get enough of him.  Yet he is just so naughty.  So naughty that Cortney and I can't help but sit and laugh.  Yesterday he helped himself to 6 popsicles.  There is nothing I can do to stop him, that boy will climb to any heights to get food.  

what my kids do when the are supposed to be sleeping

The kids always mess around when they are supposed to be trying to sleep. A couple of days ago when they woke up in the morning they were both covered in pen. Man the things kids do.

I especially love the backwards BYU on Rob's forehead. 

I also thought the pen beard was awesome and I can't believe that Rob actually let Oliver write on his eyelids.   Both of their legs and tummies were also covered in scribbles. 

oh...p.s..

i can feel the baby moving.  It is amazing being pregnant again now that I am out of the yucky stuff.  Pretty dang awesome, if you ask me. 

venice beach and hollywood

I love Disneyland.  I mean I really love it.  I was so happy the whole time we were there.  It was a great trip and one that I won't forget.  My kids loved it and Rob hasn't stopped talking about it since.  After 3 magical days in both parks we packed up and spent the night at our friends Timmy and Mandy's house.  Timmy and Cortney have been friends for years.  They met us our first day at Disneyland and we had a great time seeing them. 

Thursday morning we headed up towards venice beach to meet Cort's brother griffin, who lives in hollywood.  It was so great to see him and we had a great lunch and a fun time watching all of the people that hang out there.  The boys (all three of them) loved loved the beach.  

I was freezing at the beach.  I don't know how the kids do it. 

These are all pretty self explanatory...

Rob slowly got wetter and wetter...he went all the way under.  It was seriously freezing but he didn't care. 

then uncle griffin came...yay!

Cortney being the awesome dad that he is washed the kids off in the freezing cold showers

lunch

Oliver's hair went crazy from being wet and then under a hat.  he looked awesome. 

Rob was so exhausted he fell asleep in the car on our way to Hollywood to see Griff's wife Katrina.  (whom I have no pictures off...sigh...)

He slept for a while. 

Griffin and Katrina have the cutest apartment ever.  I love it.  It was soooo great to see them.  I miss them living so far away but am so excited for their awesome and exciting life.  We had a great time seeing them...even though it was such a short visit. 

Some good news...

Man I feel so behind in blogging that I don't even know where to start.  Hmmmm.  I haven't really even been blogging about what has been going on for a while.  

I will start by saying that Cortney started his NEW JOB today.  Yes you read that right. After a lot of thought and prayer Cortney has decided it might not be the best time to be in the golf course industry.  It feels overwhelming for him to leave everything he has learned and loved these past five years but...there just aren't jobs out there.  He is starting a job working for the Company that Joey works for.  We are both excited for him to get started (and of course for the opportunity) and for us to be out of survival mode.  

To be totally honest...I am going to miss him desperately.  The boys and I tried really hard all day to keep our spirits up.  Oliver fought tears all day.  It is hard for him to understand it, why Cortney HAS to work.  He really is my best friend and it has been the best experience EVER having him around.  Even though it was stressful for him to be out of work...I enjoyed every moment of it...honestly.  

Because we knew Cortney was starting his NEW JOB this week (and because I was finally feeling better), last Saturday we decided to take a last minute trip to Disneyland.  We left early the next morning.  

I love disneyland.  Hmmmm....it makes me so happy.  Cortney not so much but he "likes" it and had a really fun time. 

The first night we got there (sunday night) Rob said a three minute (seriously I timed it) prayer all about disneyland.  He kept praying that Mickey Mouse wouldn't be like Chuck E. Cheese because "chuck e cheese is scary".

The first ride we went on was Mr. Toad's wild ride.  There was no line and I thought we should take advantage of that.  However...that ride is kinda scary.  I mean you hit a train and then you end up in Hell...what the???

when we were in the ride, I kept trying to tell Rob how awesome the ride was...he thought it was good...but wouldn't ride it again.  hahaa.  Oliver LOVED it. 

Then we went on to something a little less scary...Small world.  Both boys loved it and we probably rode it like 7 times.  

Rob was dead set on riding on the tea cups.  There was no way I was going to ride on that because while I was feeling pretty good, I wasn't feeling that good.  He loved it and wanted to ride it again and again.  

California Adventure.  Which Cortney really liked.  We took the kids on Tower of Terror.  Big mistake.  They hated it.  I felt like the worst parent.  Oliver really truely wanted the "I survived the tower of terror" shirt.  

Our hotel we got super cheap and it was right across the street.  We walked back and forth no problem.  It was awesome.  You can see the tower of terror there in the backround.  

The kids had no interest in meeting any characters.  They loved seeing them but didn't want to talk to them.  When we went to Mickey's house Rob went right up to Mickey and gave him five.  I couldn't believe it.  He thought meeting him was AWESOME.  Although he still looks pretty scared in the picture. 

Rob wouldn't get out of the stroller for the picture.  Too busy with Cotton candy.  

They boys and I. 

Ummm Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl.  My favorite thing.  I love this picture and how we are all devouring it. 

Oliver playing at Tarzan's tree house.  (yikes we climbed this like 6 times)

And here we are up in the tree house. 

Rob putting his hands up in the air on the "roller coaster" and by roller coaster I mean Winnie the pooh ride. 

yeah...its pretty crazy.

The classic disney picture.  

This is a truely happy Rob.  He hardly ever really smiles in pictures.  But here he is on the Bugs Life caterpillar ride. One of his favorite rides.  He loved when the watermelon sprays juice on you.  

Oli and I on the ride. 

The boys enjoying a turkey leg.  Oliver told me that is the best kind of meat in the world. 

Happy Oliver in line. 

The kids got pretty freaked out on the bugs life 3-d movie.  I thought it was awesome. 

Oliver in the O

Because I got Oli in the O, I wanted Rob in the R but he wasn't having it.  He wanted up in the hole in the R.  

That is all from Disney....I will post more tomorrow. 

back and better then ever...

I am finally (yay) feeling better. So get ready for some catch up posts. Tomorrow. Until then...