One Day at a Time: November 2015

Halloween 2015

Halloween was yesterday. It was a day full of fun for kids. I, on the other hand got a horrible migraine, that kind of stunk. Aaron had to work too, so that was kind of another blow to the day for me. I love doing this kind of stuff with Aaron. We carried on though and our kids didn't seem to mind. They were on a mission for candy and they achieved that mission. We have way to much candy. We have pretty much just been eating it all day, but I think tomorrow the bulk of it is going in the trash.

This year Daisy wanted to be a witch, a good one, and Rockwell picked out a Power Ranger. He made me so happy every time he told some one, "I a Power Ranger!" and he would stick out his chest. It was so cute.

I snapped a picture with Dad before he left for work.

We hit up the ward trunk or treat and then headed over to trick or treat with our Joncas cousins.

I took more pictures, but it was too dark, so they didn't really turn out.

Our kids had fun though, and I think that is the only goal of Halloween, have fun and get candy! Both were achieved. Kids do make it fun. :)

Back and Forth

I have sat down multiple times to write this post. And for one reason or another I decide not to write it. But I probably should. I usually use this blog to record our day to day life. I tend to leave off the messier parts because who wants to remember those? But sometimes the hard needs to be remembered just as much as the easy...

It's been about twelve weeks since I had my D&C. I feel like enough time has passed that I should probably stop thinking about it, but I still do. Not obsessively, but it's kind of like it's always just hanging outside of my daily thoughts. I don't think that will go away until I am pregnant again. There are just too many little reminders. I don't want to keep talking about it, and I don't think I do for the most part, but it's just what I am thinking about. However, I have felt at peace since we lost the pregnancy and I am thankful for that and for the children I have.

I don't think I really need to point out that I have had better summers. This pregnancy, even though it was only a few months long, was rough. I get sick with my pregnancies, but I think my body was trying twice as hard to keep things going because I was so sick. We found out right before we went to South Carolina that I was pregnant and thankfully my sickness waited until the end of the trip before it showed its horrible self.

I spent the rest of the summer in a morning sickness daze. However, I noticed that I was starting to feel like I actually had energy, but weeks before I knew I should. I was still nauseous, but I could tell something was off.

When we got home from Pinetop, I went into the Doctor's because I knew. I wasn't even surprised when they couldn't find a heartbeat. That still didn't stop my eyes from stinging though. I know that millions of pregnancies end in miscarriage. I can literally name five other women I know who miscarried the same time I did. It still doesn't make it seem okay though. I have never felt forlorn or blamed myself or anyone. I know the Lord's plan, but sometimes I still feel empty.

I don't know how it all works. I know this little bean was ours and maybe this body was just not the body this little person needed, so he/she hit the eject button.

I popped out pretty fast...I was a little nervous for the future size of that tummy.

The truly hard part though, for me, was that Daisy knew. She drew this the day before I found out. That was hard, but she knows that Heavenly Father needed that little baby to go back home.

And now we're here. It's been almost long enough that we can start trying again. But I don't want to pretend that this little person never was here, even if it was only for a short while.

I also have felt the love from family and from a family in heaven through out this whole experience. I have also felt the empathy from other women who know. And I am thankful that someday when this happens to someone else, that I can truly know what it feels like and be there for that person. Life goes on and (hopefully) new babies come, but a miscarriage is a unique loss that is hard to explain.

I am thankful for my family and for my Savior. I know that hard things happen to help us grow. I am thankful for that knowledge and hope that when the next hurdle of life comes I can remember that my Savior is there and that he knows.

Gymnastics or "Sticks"

We signed our kids up for a small gymnastics class through the city. It has been the best! My kids love it! I would recommend gymnastics to everybody. It's so funny to watch these little kids roll and fall. Rocky calls it "sticks".

Pure fun.

We originally only signed Daisy up at first, but then quickly realized that this was right up this kids alley. He loves it.

We have also been doing it with Piper. I am glad that we have cousins our age that live so close. I hope they will be friends for life.

I snapped this one of Finley last week. Just because she is cute.

The Fall Festival

The last weekend of September we made our way up to the Fall Festival in Pinetop. I have, for the last seven years, wanted Aaron to come up for the car show. It has never worked out for one reason or another, but this year we got to go! It was a good little get-a-way before Aaron started working nights for the outage.

We went to the parade, got a spot right at the start, got some candy, and were out of there in about an hour. That is my kind of parade.

It's fun to have cousins up in the mountains now. It is an added bonus for sure.

We finally made it to the car show, and I think Aaron was pleased with the showing. We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out and eating good food. We also got to see a lunar eclipse. My kids weren't much impressed, but it was still fun to stand out in the street with my parent's neighbors watching the moon.

We did make it up the cabin to see Grandma Rena, (who since we see all the time, I don't think to take pictures of! and I need to!) and we finally got our family picture on the step. Too bad the sun was at the worst angle, but we did it!

Aaron likes to go home though Globe. Most of the time we stop to get El Rey. But this time we stopped to stretch our legs and walk around Miami instead. I always wonder what it would be like if it had never tanked and lost all of its money. The old buildings and streets are quite neat. Our kids are good little travelers, but sometimes it's just fun to get out of the car and explore a bit.

We had a good weekend, and hopefully, it won't be another seven years before we get to up to the Fall Festival as a family again.

The Pumpkin Farm - Year 3

This is the third time we have gone to this fun farm. I can't ever remember how to pronounce or spell it, so we will just call it the pumpkin farm. Rocky got to tag along too.

Just a side story... I had picked out a cute outfit for Daisy to wear, but she threw a fit and wanted to wear this outfit that is over a year old and very worn by lots of "love." Since, we were in a hurry I just let her wear it. Later that night though, I was looking at last years pictures and she wore the same outfit. She totally wanted to wear it again. I know she did it on purpose because I remember doing the same type of things about clothes when I was little. It made me laugh.

Daisy and Rocky... and Jaylyn from preschool... :)

Daisy was a little funny this trip. I think she had really high expectations and maybe she had really built this little trip up into something in her head. She had a few little melt downs as you can see from her expression in this picture. Maybe it wasn't quite how she remembered it? But, I do think she got over it and had a great time. She kept saying, "next year I am gonna..." But then I realized next year she probably won't go because she will be in school! Sad!

We had a good time and I was glad that we got to go for a third year in a row.

On our way home we almost got caught in a massive storm, but we had to, in true Arizonian form, take pictures of water! It was good day.

The Mountains

We went up to Pinetop with Heidi to pick up her kids from Grandma and Grandpa's a few weeks ago. It was a quick trip, but one of the best we've had in a long time. It has been almost six years since I have gone up into the mountains in the fall. It is truly one of my favorite places to be. We would go up every year on my birthday and that has been one of the things I have missed most about moving to the valley, my mountains, especially in the fall.

It was the best day. Cloudy, but not cold. Sweater weather!

We attempted to take some good photos, but we were very unsuccessful.

It was so crisp and perfect.

Someone had tied up a stick to a tree and what else do you do? But swing on it of course!

I was afraid it would snap, it didn't.

We stayed in the mountains all day and at one point every one fell asleep in the car, but Daisy... :)

And a rainbow.

We finished off the day by helping my Dad get a cord of wood. I have actually never done that. I was always the stacker of the wood. I remember coming home from school in the fall and there would be a giant pile of wood in the front yard just waiting for us to spend all of Saturday morning taking it to the back yard for winter.