What We're Up To

I have had some people ask what we are doing now that the summer is over. Well.... we are back in Rexburg! We weren't planning on coming back, but our renters fell through last minute and it gave us somewhere to live along with the opportunity to refinance our town home which will save us a lot of money. I am back working at APX, and Brennen will be watching Avalynn the few hours a day that I work. We are happy to be back!

And for you Rexburg/Idaho Falls locals check this out!

5 Years

In 5 years we have

spent 1,825 days together

owned 3 homes

been to Cancun 2 times

taken 1 cruise

had 8 different cars

moved 12 times

lived in 8 states

had 2 miscarriages

been blessed with 1 beautiful little girl

and are still as happy as ever!

Ringing in the New Year

We didn't do a whole lot for New Year's eve, but we were together as our little family so it was fun. Brennen and I worked on some projects during the evening, went to Burger King for dinner, I took a little snooze with Avalynn until 11:30ish and then we celebrated at midnight with some Martinelli's and Popcorn! Brennen said he kissed the two most beautiful girls at midnight...doesn't get much better than that!

New Years Eve 2010

Brennen thought this was funny

2009 in Review

January-

APX trip to Cancun

Brennen's sister got married

February-

Went through our 2nd miscarriage

St. George for Valentine's Day and the Parade of homes

March-

Hosted Carly's Baby Shower

April-

Found out we were pregnant!

Moved to Nashville

May-

Trip home to California

Trip to Utah for my cousin Shandee's wedding

June-

Shantay visits Nashville

July-

Family comes to Nashville/Nauvoo Trip

August-

Drove 28 straight hours back to Rexburg

September-

Sold our house

Brennen worked in Kentucky all month

Cami came home from her mission

October-

My dad had a heart attack

Saw Wicked in Denver

Baby Shower

November-

Ready for baby to arrive!

December-

Avalynn is born!

Christmas with Brennen's Family

Avalynn's Blessing

4 Years!

Yesterday Brennen and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary! I can't believe how fast time flies. Looking back on the past 4 years we have already experienced so much together, and I am thrilled to see what the coming years have in store for us!

Zaylie Jade

Oh, how we just love this little girl to pieces! We are so sad to be gone for 5 months from her, but hopefully Shantay and I can get Skype working. Here are some pictures from our last weekend in Rexburg.

Life's Trials

I have debated about posting about this or not, but this is my form of journaling so I figured I would, and I feel like I need to vent! It is in no way a pitty party for me. 

I have been very blessed in my life with little adversity or trials. I have often looked at friends my age who have been through so much more than I have at this point in our lives and thought how I knew my time must come to face some trials. Last April Brennen and I decided that we would start trying to get pregnant. In August I got pregnant and we were really excited about the thought of becoming parents. A couple weeks later at 6 1/2 weeks I miscarried. It was sad and hard but we got through it.

Two days before Christmas I found out again that I was pregnant, and was so excited to give Brennen an early Christmas gift. This time I was even more excited than the first. The first time it didn't really seem real, and after miscarrying I really wanted to have a baby. We went to the doctor at what I thought was 9 weeks, but the baby was measuring at 6 weeks but there was a beating heart! I was really nervous going to the appointment but after seeing the heart beat, and hearing the doctor say once there is an established heart beat the chances of miscarriage are 2%, I felt a lot of relief. Well for some reason I fell into the 2% category. On Friday night I was cramping really bad and went into the doctor on Saturday to find out that I had miscarried again. 

These two experiences have been the hardest thing I have gone through, but I am thankful for a wonderful husband, family, and friends who have been there and offered their love and support.  I have heard people say how you shouldn't really be sad because you didn't really have an attachment to the baby, but after being pregnant and going through a miscarriage, I feel like you automatically become connected to the thought of having that baby.I am glad that I have a knowledge of a Heavenly Father who loves me and has a plan for me. Right now it is kind of hard to accept his plan but I know that in the end it will all work out.

Baby # 2

Out With the Old, In With the New

Well another year down, and another to go! 2008 was a great year with many accomplishments and highlights. Here are some quick things from 2008 in the Ames Castle:

-We both graduated from BYU-Idaho. Brennen in April and me in December

-We bought a new house in January

-Caribbean Cruise with APX in February

- I started my business Madison Envy

-I helped with the Miss Rexburg Pageant

-Went to the Rexburg Temple dedication in Feb.

-Several trips to St. George and Denver to see Family

-Brennen had another great summer with APX

-My sister Cami went on a church mission to Nauvoo, IL

-Hosting Thanksgiving at our house

-We survived having a long distance relationship for 4 months (would never do it again!)

-Brennen had lots of time to work on his Camaro

Things we look forward to in 2009-

-Traveling somewhere this summer for APX

-Cancun in January

-Draper Temple Open House and Phe's mission farewell in Feb

-Celebrating our 4 year anniversary

-Judging the Miss Folsom Pageant in May

-Spending time with family

What are you looking forward to in 2009?

Christmas Card

Here is our Christmas card for this year! Cathy at Simply Happy Designs did an amazing job, I LOVE them. I then had them printed as postcards at Overnight Prints.com. My sister Cami always sends postcards so I thought I would try it out, and the best thing about it is saved .15 cents per card which was about a $13 savings. Where ever you can save money in this economy I am all for it!

Halloween Review

We had a great Halloween this year. Brennen's parents were in town so we had a family party at our house Halloween night. It was lots of fun with great food, lots of laughs, and entertainment by Zaylie. I wasn't planning on dressing up because I didn't have 5 seconds to think about what we could be, but last minuet Brennen decided that there was no way we weren't dressing up for Halloween so we went to DI to figure something out. We passed some scouting badges and I said "we could be boy scouts", so that we did. I guess I was more of a Brownie, equipped with my authentic Brownie sash from when I was in girl scouts! 

Eye Candy

While in St. George my mom gave us our birthday present...a photo shoot with my favorite photographer. I have been in love with his work ever since I saw it and have wanted pictures done of us forever. Jimmy at Gideon Photography does amazing and such fun photos. He brought the CD over after I had left St. George so I have to wait until Friday to see all of them, until then Brennen sent a few to hold me over. So here are a few for your viewing pleasure until I can put more up.