Dungeys take Vegas by storm!

As most of you know I was lucky enough to meet Clare and Andy Dungey for a fun night out in Vegas! Kate and I picked them up at their hotel and we headed off to the Cheesecake Factory in the Caesar's Forum Shops. I think I scared Clare and Andy to death with my driving but in my defense that speed bump came out of nowhere! Not only that but it was the BIGGEST speed bump I have ever seen! But like I said... out of nowhere! Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures while at dinner. Dinner was delicious and I think that Andy really enjoyed his peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake! After dinner we walked down The Strip to see the sights and watched the fountains at the Bellagio. I took a couple of pictures but my camera is awful so please forgive the bad quality.

Andy & Clare in front of the NY NY

The never ending tunnel to the Bellagio... only in Vegas!

A fun trip on the Escalator

Enjoying the Fountains at the Bellagio

The three of us! I look awful but it was 100 degrees outside at midnight ... sooo hot!

Kate and I at the fountains

We picked Clare and Andy up the next day for lunch. We decided that we would go to The Hard Rock for lunch and some site (or guitar) seeing. Andy seems to be a fan of guitars so he really enjoyed all the displays throughout the hotel and even the cafe. Lunch was delicious and we took some pictures with the big guitar.

I wish I had gotten more pictures. I know Clare got a few good ones so hopefully she will share. I know that they should be home any day and I really hope they had a great time here in the U.S. It was really hard to say goodbye knowing that it may be a long time before we see each other again. To Andy & Clare, it was amazing meeting you. I feel so honored that I had the opportunity and I look forward to the day we meet again... hopefully it will be in your neighborhood!

Nothing new

I know I don't post very often anymore. I have been studying hard and trying to get through summer semester so that I can take 2 weeks off before Fall semester starts. I have 2 finals to do before the end of next week and then I am free until August 25. My application for the radiology program at Weber State is due on January 10 so I am trying to get as many classes done as possible before then. I am hoping to have all the general ed requirements done so I will be able to just jump right into the radiology classes next fall.

I do have something exciting to look forward too in the next couple of weeks!! I will be spending the night in Las Vegas and meeting up with some very special friends. Andy & Clare will be visiting in a couple of weeks and I am fortunate enough to be able to meet up with them for dinner and maybe a little site seeing while they are in town. Andy & Clare have a beautiful baby boy angel, Theo, who was born on October 10th. 3 days before Avery. I felt a special bond with Clare from day one and am so thrilled that I have the opportunity to meet her in person seeing that they live in England!

Some more good news... our lawn is IN! We finished up on Tuesday and you would not believe how much grass we have! 4,000 square feet of beautiful, green, heaven! I can hardly wait to get out there and start turning cartwheels... I wonder if I can still do a cartwheel! We are giving it a couple of weeks to grow roots before we start to really enjoy it but I will post pictures soon! I can't believe it is done, I have wanted grass back there for 4 years now. We still have a lot of landscaping to do, I have big plans for the space that isn't grass (which there really isn't a lot of) but that will all have to wait until next year as we have depleted our landscaping budget for the year. A special thanks to my Dad, none of it would have been possible without his help. He did probably more than 50% of the work and we will owe him forever! Also we need to thank my brothers, Skeet's brothers and Skeet's dad and mom. My mom too, she was always there to give her support even if she couldn't participate a lot of the time. I can't wait to have a big BBQ and a game of volleyball or football on our new field!
Our next project is cleaning the carpets and painting the interior walls of the house. All of which I hope to have done by the time school starts up. No rest for me I guess!

It is coming up on Avery's 10 month birthday and I can't believe how the time has flown. There still isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her and miss her. I still wonder what our lives would be like if she were still with us. I still see pregnant women all around me and yearn to have that special blessing again. I know it is all in God's time but deep in my heart I know I was meant to be a mother and to hold my babies in my arms. I just hope that it is in this lifetime. I pray for the opportunity to raise a child on a daily basis and hope that someday my prayers will be answered. Until then I will hold on to the memories of the few moments I had with my sweet little girl and try to have faith that He has a plan for me.

Pictures from the Mountain

Let us in!!

Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaasessssseeeeee






Jacie giving Ayden hugs

Skeet being a good uncle!

Hmmm ....do I want juice or milk?

Ewww it's pink- boys don't like pink


Me and some of my favorite kids

another favorite



There they are again

Ayden had a tool and decided that Callie's tail needed to be fixed


What a good dog... she just puts up with it!


I am so sad, Charise and Ayden are leaving on Sunday to go back to Philly. I really can't believe the month has gone by so fast. I am going to miss them so much. I may not see them again until December, so it is going to be really hard to let them go.

One Year Ago

One year ago today I got out of bed and put on my cutest maternity outfit I had at the time. It was a blue and black stretchy shirt (to show my growing bump) and some stretchy (very comfy) pants. I grabbed my VHS and CD and headed to work, knowing that in a couple of hours Skeet and I would possibly find out the sex of our first child. I wanted to look my best and I was in a great mood.

One year ago today I was lying on the ultrasound table giggling and watching my baby on the screen when I heard the words "there is something wrong".

One year ago today I heard the words "Lethal Skeletal Dysplasia" for the first time.

One year ago today my world came crashing down around me.

New pictures

Here are some pictures from our family BBQ last Sunday. I have tons more pictures but I will spread them out a little bit. I hope everyone had a great 4th... I did, but I got really -and I mean REALLY- burnt. OUCH!


Ayden and his Papa. He won't let Papa leave him alone for a second.



Dragging Great-Papa Jay around


Jacie and her watermelon face!


Ayden taking a nap... what a sweetie





What a good helper


Messy face!

They are on their way!!

As I type this my parents are driving back from Las Vegas with my sister and nephew. They drove to Vegas this morning to pick them up and bring them home for their 2 week visit. I am so very excited to see them!! It has only been a couple of months but it feels like it has been a year. Ayden is talking so good now and I am sure he has gotten so big! I can't wait to see him and to plant some big, sloppy, Auntie Candi kisses on him. That kid will probably be extremely sick of me by the time they leave.

This next week is going to be great! Not only do I have the opportunity to spend some much needed time with my sister and my favorite little guy, Tuesday is my final day in my psychology class. I cannot tell you how relieved I am to finally have this class over with. Plus, if I do well on the final... it is a good possibility that I will come out of it with a big fat "A". Now, for the next 5 weeks I get to try to catch up on my other 2 online classes that were put on the back burner so that I could achieve that "A". It also means that I will be able to start taking some much needed lunch breaks at work. I have been working through lunch to make up for the time I have been spending in class. It will be so nice to get in some power naps at lunch time.

I will try to remember to take some pictures of my little buddy and post them. Here are some older pictures but you can see how stinkin' cute this kid is!!

His birthday October 2006, it was a scary day... we almost lost him.

He was a flirt from day one!

He loved his first pool.

Halloween 2007

What a cute family...

Father's Day

I know I am a week late on my Father's Day post. I have been so busy with school, work and our back yard that I haven't even been able to think about anything else! Let me just say my world is full of amazing fathers. My dad is the best, his faith is so strong and so inspiring, how could I not aspire to be like him? He has worked hard my whole life just to make sure that me and my siblings never went without. I have great memories of my dad teaching me to solemn ski, play catch, snow ski, along with so many other things. He is an amazing grandfather as well, he loves his grand kids so much and I love how he thinks of and mentions Avery when no one else does.
Skeet's dad reminds me a lot of my father. He too is hard working and would do anything for his kids and grand kids. He always has a smile and a hug for you and he tells the best jokes! He raised a great man who I know has made and will make a great dad.
I could go on and on about my grandfathers and my brother and brothers-in-law, but I can't put off mentioning the man that is the father of my child.
I married an amazing man. He has been nothing but supportive to me and to what I feel is best for us. He agreed to the In Vitro after undergoing all of the many tests and I believe it was as much because he wanted to make me happy as it was that he wanted a child too. Getting Skeet to go through with all the tests couldn't have been all that easy on him because he is scared to death of needles. He will actually pass out, which has always been a little funny to me because he is such a big tough guy!! There is only one other situation where the tough guy disappears and the big teddy bear takes over and that is when he plays with his nieces and nephews. I see him with them and I just know that he is meant to be a father.
One of the most difficult things I had to overcome when I said goodbye to my little girl was knowing that she would have had Skeet wrapped around her finger. He is such a softy when it comes to little girls and I saw that in his face when he held her for the first time. What a proud and heartbreaking moment that was. She looked so tiny in his strong arms and the heartbroken look on his face tore me apart. As we held her and prepared to say goodbye he said to me that he wished he could have seen her eyes. I don't know why but that moment, those words, will stick with me forever. He was the last to see her as he offered to walk her down to the nursery. It made me feel so much better to know that I didn't have to hand her over to a stranger, that he would do that for me. What an amazing man! He has been such a source of strength for me and has been so incredibly understanding. I know that his heart was broken as well but he made sure to take good care of me. I can never thank him enough for that.
We spent the weekend of Father's Day on the mountain enjoying the beautiful property that has been in our family for years and years. I decided to share some pictures of our trip! You'll notice my obsession with quaking aspen.











































Skeet doing what he loves, cutting down trees.














Callie learning to swim, she caught on fast and we couldn't get her out of the water.











Here is some video of Callie swimming. She did get a lot better at it and wasn't splashing around as much but I am bad at taking video and all the other videos I had made me sick because they were so shaky.