ABC's of ME

ABC's of ME : Ashley had this on her blog and I thought it would be fun to do.
A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Travis, my mom, my sister Annie, grandma Kaye, and Sarah.
C-Cake or Pie: Cake- I love sheet cake
D-Day: Friday- Start of the weekend
E- Essential Item: Ice water, Ranch, and lotion i hate feeling dry. Also since having kids I can't live without Mountain Dew, when they don't sleep at night that's the only thing that helps you make it through the day.
F- Favorite Color: Pink or Yellow
G-Gummi Bears or Worms: Sour worms
H-Home town: Fruit Heights, Liberty, and Morgan: Each play a good role of where I grew up.
UTI- Indulgences: Chocolate's from See's Candies - AMAZING
J- January or July?: July- My birthday is July 30, 1982. Also I love the 4th of July.
K-Kids: Two - Brock Stephen (3) Zachary John (8 months)
L-Life is incomplete without: family: I have an older brother, younger brother and 3 younger sisters.
M- Marriage Date: December 5, 2003
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples: I have never likes oranges. especially orange juice.
P- Phobias or Fears: I have a major phobia of elbows, i can't touch or someone touch my elbows it makes me want to freak out. I have a serious fear of bears- when we drive to the cabin I have to close my eyes when we pass bear world outside of Rexburg Idaho, and I can't watch bears on TV-but I grew up camping and loving the mountains but for some reason I have a major fear of bears.
Q- Quote(s): Years ago I went through a really hard time in my life where I just didn't think things could get worse and then I heard this and it helped me so much with what I was going through and has stayed with me since then.
EVERYONE COMES INTO YOUR LIFE FOR A REASON, A SEASON, OR A LIFETIME!!
R- Reason to Smile: Having two boy's everything makes you smile, also I smile because I'm still alive.
S- Season: Spring time, and the end of Summer almost Fall because you can smell Fall coming.
T- Three places you want to visit:
1. Mackinac Island in Michigan - where Somewhere In Time was filmed.
2. Prince Edward Island
3. Alaska
Unknown Fact About Me: I am a major germ freak- I even take Clorox wipes with me everywhere and wipe of shopping carts and tables at restaurants you just never know who was there before you. Another unknown fact about me is that I love Donny Osmond, my mom even bought me a book about him for Christmas, I was so excited when I opened it. Donny Osmond came to concert on August 22 for the first time in years and I was literally in tears because I had only been out of the hospital a few days and wanted to go and couldn't.
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Oppressor- nothing better then a good hamburger. Pacies Dairy Ann in Layton makes wonderful hamburgers.
W- Worst Habit: Some think that my being a germ freak is a bad habit.
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I've had many x-rays, but many many more ultrasounds- both babies were so high risk that I had ultrasounds sometimes 2 an 3 times a week.
Y-Your favorite food: It was Fettuccine Alfredo from Olive Garden, but since being sick I can't eat it anymore, so I don't really have a favorite food.
Z: Zodiac Sign: Leo

UPDATE

(these flowers we received from Travis work - aren't they beautiful)

So I finally did what I swore I wouldn't due again and that is cut my hair short, but with two little boys there just seemed to not be enough time in all the day to day craziness to get ready, so I chopped of all my hair. I really do like it short and so does Travis which surprised me because he's always liked long hair, but now he likes it better short then long. Isn't it funny how just a little thing like a hair cut can make you feel like a new person. Zachary isn't to sure about it, he can't figure out why there isn't any hair to pull.
Sad news is that last week Travis's grandpa Barker passed away at the age of 87, I always enjoyed talking with him, and just like me he always had a story to tell. He will be missed.
I guess the latest thing is that Zachary turned 8 months old on the 16th and now he thinks he can walk on his own, which he can't but he tries. He can take a few steps around the coffee table, but then ends up back on the floor, he doesn't seem to mind he just climbs back up until he falls again. I got him a walker and he's a crazy man in it, he goes and goes as fast as he can all day long, sure is fun to watch him, and Brock just loves being a big brother. Now that Zachary has his walker Brock rides his bike around the house while Zachary follows oh, an even at 8 months and 3 years old they have the biggest laughs playing bumper cars together. I think that's a sure sign I'm in for it. I sure do love my wild boys.

SNOW CAVE

These pictures were taken at my parents house in Liberty on 02-03-2008.

Front and back door.....

SURPRISE FOR DAD

Last weekend we had a surprise birthday party for my dad's 60th birthday. Dad had no clue and was surprised which makes all that hard work planning a surprise even better. We ate at Prairie Scooner in Ogden, the food was awesome. I was in charge of getting decorations and putting everything together. As I was decorating my sister- in-law emily laughed and said "you are just like your mom when it comes to special occasions you decorate it all". We all had such a great time.
Mom came up with this idea for everyone to write their 10 favorite things why they love my dad and put it into a book. So in total because their are 6 kids there was 60 things to love for dad's 60th birthday. In all it was a great day. LOVE YOU DAD!!!!

Crawling at 7 months

Zachary crawled for the first time on January 20, 2008.

Christmas 2007

TODAY COULD BE YOUR LAST

(Kristina in ICU) - Zachary was only a month old when this happened.
This is the worst picture ever, i got so swollen from all the IV fluid and drugs. I don't even remember it being taken. Mom took this to show me later just how sick I was.

On July 23, 2007 I was admitted to Ogden Regional Hospital with severe pain in my stomach. I was to have my gallbladder taken out but that I would home in the morning. One of the last things I remember was waking up in so much pain and then being rushed to ICU. I later found out that my heart had raced so high from the pain that it caused my body to give out and start to shutdown. Reason for being in such pain was that after I had the gallstones removed two of the stones moved into my bile duct and was touching my pancreas which gave me pancreatitis.-(the doctors said there was only a 4 percent chance this would happen). The pancreatitis was so severe that the doctors said that if I had been any older that I wouldn’t have even made it to ICU. When I was rushed to ICU they try to put a breathing tube in and found that my stomach was full of blood, so they pumped my stomach and gave me 3 almost 4 blood transfusions. My family was told that I would spend at least a month in ICU, but only after a week I was moved off ICU.So in total I spent about 25 days in the hospital, and then another 5 weeks staying with my parents and Travis’s parents because I was unable to take care of the boys. When the doctor's tell you they can’t explain why I’m still here is a lot to take in, but the worst part of all was being away from my boys, it’s hard enough to explain it to a 2 1/2year old, but a newborn doesn’t understand why one minute moms there and the next she isn’t. When I was in ICU I had some really neat spiritual experiences, I guess you could say an outer body experience that at first I wasn't sure if I was dead or not, there were some things that happened that I've shared with some and things that I've only kept to myself, one reason for keeping them to myself is i'm honestly not sure what was reality and what wasn't.Somethings had such deep meaning and thought that I haven't brought myself yet to think much about it and remember to much of what really happened, some things that intense are best left alone. I do remember waking up from time to time but thought it was a dream.How grateful I am to still be alive. ( It's true that you just never know that maybe today could be your last)When I was in the hospital the boys and Travis stayed at my parents and Travis parents. I still can’t believe how kind everyone was, people that I didn’t even know sent cards to my parents and Travis's parents, brought meals, sent e-mails, flowers. Everyone went above and beyond. One day my mom went to the bank where they gave my mom a card wishing me well, that they couldn’t believe what all we had gone through. What kindness, love and support so many people showed. I can never say thank you enough. This is one of those things that you think only happens to someone else. No longer do I think that way, because you just never know. So those nights when my boys don't sleep I stop and think well at least I am the one that still get's to stay up with them all night and not someone else. Love your family a little more, kiss them a little more because it doesn't happen to someone else.

EXCITED--to be a BIG brother

OH BOY....AGAIN......

After I had Brock my doctor thought that I would have a hard time getting pregnant again and had opted to doing shots and all that fun stuff. So in November of 2006 when I came for a check up I told him I thought that I was pregnant again. He was shocked when test results showed that yes, indeed, I was pregnant again. From about 16 weeks on I saw my doctor once every two weeks. Then when things got scary, I started seeing him sometimes 2 or 3 times a week. I felt like I lived at the doctor's office. Six weeks early, on June 16, 2007, baby boy number two was born weighing in at 5 pounds and 17 3/4 inches long. Zachary only had to spend 8 days in the NICU.

FIRST COMES BABY!!

I was working as a personal nursing assistant and had been flying a lot and just figured I was sick because I was traveling so much and not sleeping. It was a Thursday evening and I finally told Travis that I thought I could be pregnant. We went off to the store to buy a test. Travis said nothing all the way there and all the way home. At the time we were living with Travis's parents so we huddled into the bathroom and waited for what seemed like the longest 3 mintues ever. And, sure enough, there were two lines. People always ask what was your first reaction. The first thing Travis said was. "Let me pee on the other one and see if they really work." Together our reaction was SHOCK - no other way to put it but shock.After a very hard and scary pregancy I was admitted to the hospital on November 3, 2004. After a long week my doctor decided that it was best to deliver. So 9 weeks early at 12:15 p.m on November 9, 2004, Brock was born. After 63 days in the NICU we were finally able to bring Brock home. Due to Brock being so small he had to remain on a heart monitor and oxygen for another 5 months. It didn't matter - we're just glad to have him here.

HOW WE MET

Travis and I met in 1998 when my cousin and I decided to set my friends up with his friends. During the date my cousin and Travis decided that they didn't like their dates an left. So after that my opinion of him wasn't that great.In the late summer of 2001, Travis and a friend came into Meier and Frank where I was working, and even after 3 years you don't forget the face of the guy that left your best friend on a date. I later found out that Travis left Meier and Frank that night and went straight to my aunt to get my number.Travis called a few weeks later and on November 30, 2001 we had our first date. After two dates I told Travis that I couldn't go out with him because I had a promise ring and was waiting for a missionary and nothing was stopping me from waiting for him. I did tell Travis that if I was the one for him that he would wait for me even if it took 2 years. On December 5, 2003, five months after the missionary came home Travis and I were married. (Who would have thought I would marry the guy that ditched my best friend on a date, the same date that I was on with his best friend???)

This was Travis's first time to Oregon