Family Pictures

We've been at my parents house in California for Christmas and it has been so nice! I'm loving the warmer temperatures, pretty sure Pete isn't though. 

Hazel has learned to roll from back to tummy, but has forgotten how to roll tummy to back so she gets very frustrated after a few minutes. 

She has also discovered her toes and ears and has started making some new sounds. She still is such a happy baby and is loving all the attention from her aunts and uncles. 

My parents can't get enough of her! My dad doesn't get much time since he works all day and usually gets in around her bedtime, but my mom has been trying so hard to get Hazel to cuddle with her every day. It's quite entertaining.

We were able to take family pictures this year since we were all home. First time in 6 years! We've added 4 new members to the group since then and trying to get a good picture with all of us smiling was rough.

We had a family friend (@mimisnowphotography) take the pictures Christmas Eve in her parents yard and it went pretty well considering how many there were of us.

Pete, Hazel and I showed up a few minutes early so we could take our own family photos and these are my favorite!

Hazel couldn't keep her fingers out of her mouth! But her faces are hilarious.

Disregard my receding hairline. Right before we flew I somehow lost a big section of hair and it's so sad.

She wasn't so sure about us switching sides or giving her kisses.

She's already such a daddy's girl

This was the last one of our individual family photos and I thought it fitting that she's giving the bird to the photographer! In her defense it was nap time.

Mi familia.

Travis suggested we do a fighting picture and this is what happened haha!

My dad loves baby Hazelnut, but he hates her bows and always takes them off.

All the grandkids.

My mom wanted a picture with Hazel and I love that crooked smile. Plus she's waving at the camera. So cute!

I love being home! We've been able to go on walks almost everyday, we heard one of the worst choir numbers ever, we helped my dad move and vaccinate cows, we went fishing, Pete helped my brother Travis work on our 4-wheeler and Pete has unlocked almost all of our Mario Kart prizes on the Wii. i love being home!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and that the New Year will bring you joy. :)

Hazel's Birth Story

08/23/2016: I went into my OB's office for a stress test and fluids test to make sure Hazel and I would be okay staying pregnant for another 6 days. Everything looked great! So my doctor scheduled me to go into the hospital Sunday evening to start being induced.

08/28/2016: Pete and I went to church and a on a walk that evening to kill some time before we needed to go to the hospital. We headed to Orem Community at about 6:30 and when we arrived all the nurses were confused because my OB forgot to schedule my induction. They eventually figured it out and got me a room. At about 8 o'clock my nurse, Tammy, started me on Cervadil. Pete and I got settled and then Jann came to visit for a few minutes before heading to our apartment. We ended up watching some Harry Potter before turning in for the night.

08/29/2016: I woke up at 6:20 by my new nurse, Debbie who was training a new girl named Carly. They were super nice and I really enjoyed them! They removed the Cervadil and at 6:50 they started me on Petocin. The first two rounds were a piece of cake and then my OB came in at 8 to break my water since I was still only dilated to 1 cm. That third round was not fun, so I asked for my epidural since ya know, why not? By the time the anesthesiologist arrived I was dilated to 4 cm. Once he was done I took about a 45 minute nap. When I woke up I felt as if I were leaking (TMI?) so I called the nurses and apparently I was dilated to a 10!
They quickly called my OB to let him know I was ready to start pushing. Debbie had me start pushing at about 12:20 and my OB arrived at roughly 12:30. Hazel made her debut at 12:45 screaming her little heart out since she came flying out. She had inhaled a lot of amniotic fluid and since she had a bowel movement while in utero the respiratory doctor quickly started sucking out as much fluid as he could. Her poor little nose was stuffed up for a few days and she gagged a lot which was terrifying!
She weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 21in long. :)
Once her and I were mostly cleaned up we cuddled for about an hour, hour and thirty minutes. The nursing staff just let Pete and I hangout with her for awhile before taking her to the nursery.
That evening we were visited by my brother Travis, my mother-in-law Jann and sister-in-law Laura. They brought me In-N-Out since I was starving! We shared Hazel with them, especially Jann since it was her birthday. :)
Once they left we hunkered down to figure out her name. Pete liked the name Alice and I liked Juliet, but she just didn't seem like either. I had a list of baby names on my phone so we went through that and decided upon Hazel. Pete wanted a one syllable middle name, he was routing for Rae, but it didn't quite flow. He googled middle name ideas and we both liked Paige and decided to use the spelling of my father-in-law David's middle name which is also Grandma Johnson's maiden name of Page.

08/30/2016: My friend and old roommate Lexi came and visited us and brought some delicious kolaches for breakfast. Hazel however spent most of the morning in the nursery so I could sleep and start making my comeback into health.
Pete ended up leaving that afternoon to help Jann and Laura clean and move things out of our apartment. I don't recommend moving and having a baby at the same time. It was not fun for anyone involved.
My hormones went a little crazy that afternoon, but Debbie my nurse was super helpful and took Hazel back to the nursery so I could sleep.
Once Pete came back we had dinner. Then Jann and Laura came to visit and brought chocolate cake to celebrate Hazel and Jann's birthday. It was so cute!
Later that night I got a text from my mom saying my Grandma McCulloch had fallen and dislocated/broken her hip. She was in the hospital and hopefully wouldn't need extensive surgery.

08/31/2016: I ended up being discharged from the hospital at about 2 o'clock since my OB was running behind and so was the pharmacy with my prescriptions. Pete dropped me off at my cousin Michelle's apartment so Hazel and I wouldn't be in the way during the last little bit of moving and cleaning.
We were with Michelle and her little boy Miles for about an hour before we were asked to evacuate do to an electrical fire in the apartment next to hers. We quickly grabbed kids and keys and went outside. I called Pete to come get me since I knew I'd be needing to feed Hazel very soon, but poor Michelle forgot to grab Miles's carseat and shoes for herself. So I left her my flip flops and gave her some water to hold her over till one of her sister-in-laws could bring a carseat.
Pete took me to our old apartment so I could change and feed Hazel. However the carpet cleaners showed up about 30 minutes early so I was trying to find a place where I could nurse Hazel. We ended up in our car and it was super hot! It was almost 100 degrees that day and there were two lovely construction workers parked behind me in our parking lot. It was all very awkward.
Pete ended up calling one of our friends/neighbors in the ward to get the code to their apartment so I could finish nursing and burping Hazel and not have to sit in our car. Thank you Jaxson and Lacey! Lifesavers you are!
After our bed was moved to our new place we went there to find Lexi cleaning and putting all my kitchen gear away. It was super nice of her! However the previous tenants definitely did not clean before they left and it still slightly smelled of paint from the maintenance workers earlier in the week.
Lexi made dinner for Pete, Jann and I and we had a little picnic on our living room floor since we didn't have a couch yet.
I ended up calling my mom to see how things were going with my Grandma and apparently she needed a full hip replacement and was just coming out of surgery. The nurse had told her and my aunt Ruth that it went very well and that my Grandma should make a fun recovery. I also found out more about how my little sister Monica's car was broken into and how my sister Kirstie had past out and had a seizure at school the previous day. As you can probably guess my mom and the rest of my family were pretty frazzled by this weeks events.
This being the first night at home for us I woke up to every single noise that Hazel made during the night. She was still pretty gaggy and congested from all the amniotic fluid she ingested, so I kept thinking she was choking. It was awful.

09/01/2016: Jann went grocery shopping and cleaned our bathroom before heading back to Rexburg and the boys. Thank you for coming and for all of your help! And later that evening my family showed up and my mom stayed with us the next few days.

09/02/2016: Hazel had her first pediatrician appointment with Dr. Adams. He is super nice and she did awesome! She gained the 10oz she lost in the hospital back and was eating and sleeping like a champ. (Still is to this day!)

Everything after that is kind of a blur. I can't remember what days we did things with my family other than we blessed Hazel on September 4th while our families were in town. Pete gave Hazel a beautiful blessing and it was so nice to have our families here to celebrate her coming into this world.

We're still getting the hang of things, but we have a pretty good routine that Hazel usually abides by. She is gaining weight beautifully and only wakes up once in the night. She is still getting use to her baths; sometimes she likes them and sometimes she just screams. She loves to go on walks and usually likes her carseat unless she's really tired and wants to be held. She loves tummy time and occasionally being read too. She often chuckles as she's falling asleep and has the best farts. She loves to be swaddled, but you have to keep her legs loose or else she hates it.

I feel like Pete has started desensitizing her to being pestered. She just takes whatever he is dishes out on her, but I know that she loves him too.

Overall she's been an awesome baby and I can't wait to she what her cute little personality will be like! :)

For Posterities Sake

I woke up this morning around 5, like I've been doing the past 2+ weeks, unable to fall back asleep and I started thinking about how Pete and I became friends, our first date, the awkward phase of our friendship afterwards, to being engaged and married almost a year to the day we met.

So I thought why not write it down? I'm sure somewhere down the road one of our children or grandchildren will ask us the inevitable question, "how'd you and dad/grandpa meet?" and being able to remember the little details would be spectacular! Well, here goes nothing...

It was the first week of Spring semester in April 2013 and our stake was VERY into making us date each other and those in our stake. We even had a dating committee! Anyway, we had a dating activity with another ward and they were giving us free dinner, so why not go. The guys were suppose to sit at a table with girls from the other ward. Pete's roommates had already planted themselves down at a table and Pete turned and realized that he didn't know my roommates and I and we were in his ward, so he sat with us and he was hilarious! My little sister Monica was visiting for her Spring Break and we couldn't stop laughing at Pete and now looking back I don't think any of us girls paid any attention to the guys from the other ward at our table, oops.

Side note: A few months before this my roommate Lexi went on a blind date with Austin, Pete's roommate, and she ended up having a slight crush on him.

After that night whenever Lexi saw Pete she'd call him and his roommates, Austin, Jared and occasionally Keelan, over and we'd end up hanging out and just talking. We had a stake water activity a few weeks later, they had free food so naturally we went, and that's basically when the friendship blossomed. They wouldn't leave us alone ha. By the end of the activity we were throwing this orange back and forth between Lexi and Jared's cars and then I threw it and squashed it on Jared's windshield, it was a beautiful shot over a fence. Sadly, Lexi left for the summer after this and Pete, Jared and Austin kept coming over almost every night asking what we were going to do or what was for dinner. That's when I figured one of them liked me.

Throughout the summer we went to seven peaks, the Spanish Fork carnival, Mona rope swing, the Pioneer Day fireworks in Mapleton and many nights just sitting outside on the grass between our apartments. Pete often put grass up my nose or handfuls up Jared and Austin's shorts, I thought it was funny and often still laugh about it today. However, July 24th was the night Pete asked me on our first date, he kinda followed me home after the Pioneer Day fireworks to ask ha.

Our first date was as awkward as they come. We went mini golfing at Trafalga and then got ice cream at the Malt Shop. I still think the most awkward part was the end when Pete made me give him 3 different hugs because the first one was bad. I quickly went into my apartment and stayed there the rest of the night. The next day was Sunday and we sat next to each other in sacrament meeting and one of the guys, Justin Smith to be exact, asked us if there was going to be a second date and we both just sat there saying, "Uhhhh..." because there wasn't going to be.

Side note: I was going on dates with a few other gentlemen at the time and I thought Pete and I were better as just friends ha. Also both places we went on our first date are now closed. Bad sign?

When my roommate Lexi came back for the fall her and her little brother Jake would always say, "why don't you like Pete!" and then my sisters started saying the same thing. They'd even ask where he was when they'd come to visit.

We remained friends, we weren't as close as we were that summer but Pete always sat next to Lexi and I in church it seems like. One night before finals Pete showed up at our apartment because he couldn't study anymore and that was the night I finally admitted to myself that I liked him and he was one of my closest friends. He came over a few more times before the break started and I just remember realizing my feelings for him and talking to Kirstie the whole drive to California for Christmas. I'm sure she hated me by the end of those 11 hours ha.

While I was at home I remember sitting at the kitchen table joking with my mom that I was going to be married by the next Christmas, she laughed and asked to who and I replied Pete. I think she was taken off guard but knew we had been talking/snapchatting during the few days I was home.

I had to return to Provo to work for New Year's Eve and the days to come but Pete came down with Rory one night so Rory could do some research or something on campus. Pete came over that night and we just sat there and talked and then watched The Rescuer's Down Under. I put my head on his shoulder because I was to scared to hold his hand and Pete was going to chalk that up as a success.

I had also been planning to tell him that I liked him and that we should date, but I chickened out. I ended up just texting him that ha. He agreed and told me that the next time I needed to say it in person. He went back to Rexburg the next day and I was freaking out those 5 days till he came back!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw him again or what exactly was going to happen, but after he returned that night we haven't spent a day apart.

He started coming over every night after his internship and I'd have dinner made and we'd just sit on my couch talking and hanging out with Lexi. Her and her brother Jake definitely thought they're the reason we are together ha.

That first 3 day weekend I met Pete's family and I basically fell in love with them but mainly Sam ;) That next weekend Pete and I said I love you for the first time. Exciting I know. He made hot chocolate and we went star gazing up the canyon. It was freezing and we didn't stay very long since I couldn't feel my toes but there's only so long that you can say I like you, a lot a lot a lot.

Sunday was two days later and were sitting on my couch when one of my roommates walked in and Pete asked how long her and her boyfriend had been dating, it had almost been 2 years. We exchanged some words and then I said, "well we're suppose to date to get married" Pete asked, "so we're getting married?" and I said "Yep!" We then realized that the other was being serious and that's what we both wanted.

We called our families the next day to see what they thought and to get there blessings. They were excited and that next weekend Pete went ring shopping with Lexi.

For Valentine's day Pete thought it'd be funny to fake propose to me since all I'd ask is that he not do it on Valentine's day. So there we were on top to the Smith Fieldhouse roof and I turned around and he was on one knee but started laughing because he didn't have the ring nor was actually going to propose. Little stinker! We still thinking it's pretty funny whenever we see the Fieldhouse.

As date night the next week we went to Five Guys for dinner and then registered for the wedding at Target, Pete basically hated it ha. Before we went back home we stopped at a park. We swang for a little bit and then walked around to the slides on the other side of the park. There was this one that was covered and curvy. He went down first and then when I went down there he was at the bottom on one knee with my ring! He asked and I said yes, obviously.

Wedding planning wasn't nearly as stressful as I thought it'd be but then again my Mom and Monica did most of it ha. Plus Jann planned the luncheon.

April 19th quickly came and it was a beautiful day with all the blossoms around the Timpangoes temple. I wish I would've gotten more pictures with a few people that left to help set up the luncheon but now I know you make a list of the photos you want and give it to the photographer.

I'm not sure what else to say or what Pete would add if he was here, but here's the first picture that was ever taken of us and a few more. We don't take very many since Pete doesn't make normal faces haha, but we sure do have fun!

This was taken at the water activity in June of 2013. We look so little and skinny! I also loved this dog.

This was on our honeymoon on the coast. Look! He smiled for real!

I think we were snapping Jared and I just thought this was really funny and kept it :)

Riding the dinosaur at my Grandpa Dixon's 80th birthday last May

While we were in LA last summer waiting for Austin to be done with school so we could go on a cruise!