Almost 6 Months!

Next Monday will mark 6 months with this gorgeous girl! She is truly the sweetest thing. Just last week she rolled over from back to tummy and now she does it all the time. She likes to scoot while laying on her back and she can move across the room in a blink of an eye! I have no idea how she does it because, to my knowledge, she doesn't army crawl or anything. Before we know it she will be running and we will be...trying to catch up!

It looks like she will be getting some teeth here pretty soon! The last few days have been a little rough as Timber has been sad and cranky and ALWAYS wanting something in her mouth. She usually like to chew on things, particularly her fingers and toes, but lately it has been a necessity! Poor girl. But I think these new teeth will help with her eating endeavors. Boy does she like to eat! We catch her trying to eat anything she can get her hands on - especially what we are eating! If you're not careful, she will snatch up whatever is in your hands and quickly put it in her mouth! So far she has liked everything I have given her except for this blend of Sweet Potatoes, Corn, and Apples. She was not having it! But she does like apples and sweet potatoes by themselves. Haven't tried corn yet by itself but we will have to see how she reacts to that.

Our house has been filled with many wonderful noises as Timber experiments more with her voice. She doesn't always talk, but when she does she tends to do it all at one time. Usually, after a long period of talking she conks out and takes a long nap - it must be exhausting! We are both anxious for when she laughs more frequently. She has only laughed twice that I'm aware of and it is hard to get giggles out of her! Hopefully she will laugh more as she begins to understand a bit more when we tease and tickle her.

Well that's it for now! Hopefully the next post will about about new teeth, crawling, and more new food! Until we "meet" again. <3 br="">

Timber Rylan

As requested by Timber's MeeMee, I have put together a timeline of Timber's life so far (she will be 4 months old this week!) I have excluded many wonderful things, but thought these pictures captured some wonderful moments! Hope you enjoy!

1 Day before Show Day

Grand Appearance 5lbs 14.9oz

First night with Mom! (and Dad)

1 Day Old

Going Home

1 Week Old

2 Weeks Old

 

No More Stump!

3 Weeks 2 Days

1 Month Old

                                        

First Family Photo 

                 

  

Almost 6 Weeks

  

6 Weeks

Purple Medicine! (6 weeks)

             

8 Weeks

2 Months

                          

2 Months 2 Days

First 3-6 Month Outfit (2 Months 3 Days!)

                 

Christmas Dress (Almost 10 weeks)

New Years Day (Almost 11 weeks)

2 1/2 Months! 

Cutest Dress & Best Double Chin Ever!

Trying on Daddy's Hat!

 3 Months Old

Playing with a Toy! (3 1/2 Months Old)

Being a mom is really the best thing ever. I am always blown away by how much love and joy exudes out of this sweet little girl. I am so blessed to have her in my life! Love you sweet Timer! xoxo

Changes!

From here to there, silly things are everywhere....

These last few weeks...well I guess it's months now...things have been absolutely crazy! Just a lot of changes in such a short amount of time. 

In January, I saw this job posting while at work and just looked into it a little bit. I hadn't been looking for a job, but sometimes I just like looking at what is available. The job intrigued me and I thought, "Why not? If I don't get it, no biggy. If I do it will be a nice change and some great money to start saving a bit more seriously." Well when I looked a little closer I realized the job closed the very next day. But I still felt convinced that I needed to at least try. This required a lot of work in a very little amount of time. I had to update my resume, create a great cover letter, and provide work references. Most of these things aren't a big deal, but when you only have a few extra hours on hand it's quite crazy to do all of these things professionally in such a short amount of time. To top that off, I also had to complete an online application that took about 35 minutes (and it was all basically submitting my resume in a different way): very frustrating! Anyway I got the application and all necessary papers in 30 minutes before the job closed! 

I had no idea when they were planning on interviewing or anything, but about a week later, I got a call from the University of Wyoming Foundation that they were very interested in meeting me at an interview for the job! I was ecstatic. And a little freaked out. I hadn't told any of my bosses that I had even looked an another job, let alone applied, and I wasn't sure how I would tell them if I got the job. We set up an interview for the following week. Gaaaaa. What kinds of questions are you supposed to ask at interview again?!?! It felt so long since the last real interview I had and I was quite nervous about it. 

The day of the interview came and the interview itself went great! It sounded like a great job, with great benefits, and great people. I was worried that I wouldn't be considered though, because they wanted someone who could start right away and I told them I had obligations to nanny in the afternoons and that I wouldn't be able to start until mid May. They told me they would know by the next week and would give me a call. 

Surprisingly enough, I got a call the very next day asking if I would be able to start part-time until I could work full-time in May!! It was the best news I'd heard all day. I said that I would be able to work all mornings until May and they said they were "unofficially" giving me the job until my new supervisor had returned from her vacation. I got a new job!! It was crazy!! The only explanation is that the Spirit lead me to read that job listing. Clearly I was either needed for this job, or I needed the job. I'm still not quite sure which one is the case, most-likely both.

I started the week after they officially offered me the job, which would make my first day February 9th. So far I love my job and the people I work with. A lot of things are new that I'm learning, but I love that I am learning new things. Most of the things I catch on fairly quickly, and the people I work with make it even better.

This isn't the only change that's happened in the last few month! Only a few weeks (or maybe even one week, I can't remember exactly) I started at my new job, Kevin and I found out that we were expecting! Kevin was absolutely thrilled that we were going to have a baby - almost more thrilled than I was! This came as a shock to me, but a very good shock. I hadn't expected this response and quite frankly neither did he. We've talked about it and apparently he was shocked at his own response. Either way we were completely excited, though I was a bit skeptical for a while. Last year we had two miscarriages and it completely crushed me, so I didn't want to get my hopes too high.

Two of my sisters got married within two weekends of each other and that was absolutely wonderful! Kevin was only able to go to Elizabeth's wedding since we knew about it beforehand, but I was luckily able to attend both. In between the trips and after them, I got my taste of morning sickness (which I think was also attributed to the bladder infection antibiotics that I was on). Other than those two-three weeks, I have been feeling great! Kevin has been able to make it to all doctor's appointments except one and it has been exciting for sure!

We will find out in exactly two weeks if we are having a boy or a girl and the closer we get to it the more excited I get. Initially I did not want to find out the gender until we had the baby, but I was willing to find out since Kevin thought it was better for us to find out ahead of time so we could start planning. I agreed (a little hesitantly) and now I cannot wait to find out. A month or so ago I randomly started referring to the baby as "he" even though there wasn't any particular reason to do so, and ever since then both Kevin and I have been kind of hoping for a boy. It wasn't a hope at first, just "oh it would be nice to have a boy first, I guess" but the more we talked about it the more we both wanted a boy. However, we would be absolutely ecstatic to have a girl first too! When we were engaged, both Kevin and I had dreams about a baby girl, so it definitely wouldn't surprise me if we have a girl first!

Anyway, onto more changes! Kevin quit his job at the Cathedral Home for Children and we have received immediate blessings ever since! It is so crazy how the Lord will bless you when you do what He wants. Kevin was not able to attend church and had asked to get Sundays off but was rejected. Not only was his job getting more stressful, but he was also getting more depressed because of work so not being able to go to church, and almost never being able to attend the temple because of his work schedule, made it incredibly hard. Now Kevin and I are actively involved in church every week and it is wonderful! We are now primary teachers and are loving it so far. Kevin and I have also been able to spend more time with each other, which has also been such a wonderful blessing. Regularly reading scriptures together and praying together, along with just getting to know each other better. I'm very grateful that we are able to take the time now while we're still the only ones in the house. ;)

Time to wrap up before this post gets too long! God is good and He is so willing and anxious to POUR BLESSINGS onto you! Just keep the faith, work hard, and trust in HIM. 

A Boring Life?!?! What?!?!

Kevin and I were talking the other day about how I don't send out "update" emails to family members about how we were doing and I told it him it was because nothing had changed in our life since the last time I did an email (which was SEVERAL months ago). He then decided to point out every detail of change that has happened in our life just within the past week...yes, that's my husband for ya :) 

SOOOOooooo, I suppose I will talk about some of the things going on in the Bodily home. 

School has been....hmmm *trying to thinking of positive word*....demanding. Every semester I forget how much school work I will need to do. It always starts out so easy, which means I start very bad habits early on (like doing homework 5 minutes before class because I can get a 95% on it....). Yeah, I can't do that anymore and it's such a pain in my butt! But that's my own darn fault. I am taking Latin this fall, which has turned out to be so intriguing! I love it! None of the other classes I'm taking are worth talking about so that will be the end of my school update :) Just kidding, I thought of something else. I am taking an online class this fall, and my teacher is absolutely hilarious!!! He posts videos for every week to watch before doing the homework. He is so entertaining that Kevin will stop what he's doing and watch his lectures with me! It is quite a nice change from the boring, normal lectures! Unfortunately I do not need to take any of the other classes he teaches (nor am I interesting in just taking them for fun). 

Kevin was just called to be the Young Men's Secretary in our ward, which means we will both be working with the youth and will be able to sit next to each other every fast Sunday during the third hour of church!!! (Yes, I am getting excited about that). He is very excited since he has been callingless since...May?...and since we both had thought he would be working with the Young Men. Speaking of the youth, I am so very blessed to have the calling I do! Our young women teach me new things every day and it is so wonderful to see them grow and blossom! Since I am the 2nd counselor, I am over the Beehive class (12-13 year-olds) and it is so great to see the changes that they make in such a short amount of time! I am so proud of my young women and their wonderful hearts! For Christmas, they decided to make baskets for 5 families in need. Things in the basket would include: toys, pictures of Christ, fun holiday food, and a few other things. They came up with this idea on their very own and it just warmed my heart! 

...please bear with me and the choppy paragraphs....

I am still teaching piano, but my students have changed a bit since the last time! I have been teaching a family of three but will no longer be teaching them due to certain circumstances, and I added a brand new student just a few weeks ago! We only work in 15 minute intervals because she is....4!!!! It is so very different to teach a four-year-old....even though I have taught several five-year-olds!!! Isn't it crazy how much one year can do!! 

....and my little four-year-old just woke up so it looks like that's all for today! More updates soon to come! 

...don't ask me what the definition of "soon" is because I don't know ;) 

Happy Holidays!!! 

Healthy and Happy

When I was a little girl, I never thought much about what I looked like and what others thought of me. I would wear stretchy pants with crazy flower patterns with a striped shirt with no matching colors whatsoever. My hair was hardly ever combed, always knotted, with who knows what stuck in it. (A mother can only do so much for a wild child). But this crazy lifestyle of mine didn't last long. And what I mean by that is the outlook I had on myself changed. Sure I still wore crazy clothes and never did my hair, but I began to realize that people had opinions of me: negative opinions of me. I began to realize that I wasn't the smallest in my class, the prettiest in my class, or the skinniest in my class. I thought of myself as the thick girl that was more like a boy (because apparently girls can't scrape their knees while climbing trees and trying to catch weird-looking insects). When I hit my chubby years, like most girls do, all I would see in the mirror was the extra fat on my cheeks and the extra curves on my thighs, hips, and stomach. Without even realizing it, all I wanted was to lose weight and be considered beautiful by those around me. The saddest part of this story is I was never unhealthy during any point and definitely not considered overweight at any level in terms of BMI and other measurements. But I felt like I was overweight, that I wasn't small enough, or pretty enough. During my junior year of high school I finally began losing weight. But not by choice. At first I was ecstatic! This was exactly what I wanted. People started noticing and commenting on how good I looked and how much healthier I looked. They had the nerve to tell me I looked healthier when I was perfectly healthy before! But, I believed every word. I was healthier and prettier! Boys started noticing me as a women and not just a friend. It was incredible to finally have positive feedback from people. But it didn't stop there. I kept losing weight. And I started getting sick. At the end of my junior year, and after visiting doctors and having blood tests, I was put on antibiotics. The pain went away for a short time, but after about a month into my senior year I was missing nearly one day of school per week on average (to top that off our school only met four times a week). My grades started dropping, and the pain became more frequent and less tolerable. I saw three doctors and had three procedures with minuscule results. They knew everything it wasn't, but they found a stomach infection while they were at it, so why not put me on antibiotics anyways right?! Fortunately for me, the pain decreased and it seemed as though the majority of the problem was fixed. Like any good story, it couldn't end here! A year later I struggled again. The doctors still don't know what's wrong. But why am I telling you this? I was skinny. And I also became unhealthy. Although I was not the one to chose this, I know many of you out there look in the mirror and see something distorted and try to change the way you look by making unwise decisions. Don't do it. There is a difference being being healthy and being skinny. Societies view might not change as quickly as yours does, but yours needs to change! I lost 45 pounds within about a year and I have struggled for nearly four years now just to gain back ten of those pounds. And every pound I gain I shout for joy. Not only because it's closer to where I was before, but because it means I'm gaining strength and becoming healthier. It has not been fun, and the body wasn't even worth it. Even after I had lost all that weight I would find myself unsatisfied: I still was too big, not skinny enough! It took several of my dear family and friends to help me see the ribs that were showing. It was then that I realized I didn't want to be skinny. I wanted to be healthy. Girls (and boys), please, PLEASE, stop thinking that you need to be skinny. Skinny is not what you need to be. Healthy is what you be. I know it's too much to ask you to be like the little girl I was and not give a darn about what people thought because I know I'm not like that anymore, but please, please see the beauty in yourselves. Being skinny will not make you happy, but being healthy will, no matter what size you are.

A Time for Change

The past month and a half Kevin and I have experienced some of the most difficult hardships and trials but it has also been some of the most enriching experiences at the same time. Just a few weeks into the month Kevin was told he would not be able to sign up for classes this spring. What a bummer it was to hear that! We had waited last fall for Kevin to enroll in classes this spring, and had even turned down a full-time job because of it! LCCC was working so well with him until they put him in a position that led to him being unable to sign up for classes. I knew it could only mean one thing: the Lord's hand was very definitely involved in this and college this semester was not what Kevin needed to be doing. Although Kevin has been working a part-time job it's back to searching for a full-time job! (what fun…)

Shortly after this "bad" news, we found out we were expecting! How exciting! I have never been so excited in my entire life. In fact, just thinking about it made me over-zealous for this little one to enter our home. I started looking into bigger apartments, baby clothes, the whole works. It was so hard for me not to just shout out to the world that I was going to bring a little baby into this world! We were excited to say the least. Wherever I was, whether it be in class, at work, or with friends, I was always relating our conversations to the future and to babies (in my head, of course. I didn't want anyone to catch on!) ;) Unfortunately this excitement would not last long. Only after a few weeks of knowing we were pregnant I started having excruciating cramps and the next day lost the baby that had brought me so much excitement and anticipation for the future. I was heartbroken and felt lost. And to top that off the miscarriage made me so sick that I had missed two exams and class for almost a whole week. :( Everything was starting to fall apart. What was I to do now? I have never in my life felt so worthless and alone. Poor Kevin. I feel bad that I had these feelings even when he was so very good to me! We grew so close after this hard time. We began focusing more on each other's needs and not just our own. I started to rely more on my Savior and what He can do for me and what His plan for us is.

Since then, we have bought a trailer home of our very own! Even though we won't be needing that extra bedroom for a while, it is still nice to call somewhere home! While buying the trailer Kevin was relayed a full-time job opening here in Laramie that would be great work and pay the bills. He is excited to see if this is what the Lord has in mind for him right now, and I am anxious to see if it is too! I finally feel comfortable in our ward and feel more like my outgoing self again! (It's taken nearly two years now to feel that way). I have started becoming more active with the people around me and am looking forward to the new things headed our way. I am so thankful and blessed to know that the Lord is in charge. He knows what is best for Kevin and me and He will not settle to give us any less than that! Who knows where I would be without that knowledge.

2013

As the year comes to an end I look back with awe and am proud of the decisions I made, many life-changing experiences and one of the best years yet.

At the start of the year I knew there were many things I didn't like about my life. Who I was, how I was spending my time, and most importantly the lack of my Savior. I had spent much of 2012 relying only on myself, which lead to nothing but bad choices, bitterness, and heartache. So I made the decision to try and stop all of this. In fact I didn't realize how much one choice would influence everything else that would happen this year. What was that choice? It was my resolution to read and study the Relief Society Lesson before church…and not just the day before or the day of, but for the whole week to reflect upon the things I had read and then to read them again. I never thought this one simple thing would lead me to pray more diligently, read my scriptures, and truly rely on the Lord. I did one of the hardest things I have ever done before in February after much prayer and fasting and with the help of a great friend. I am most grateful to this friend as he continued to help me trust in my Savior through what seemed like such a difficult time for me. We talked nearly every day and only a few weeks later we were able to see each other for the first time in 2 1/2 years. From that moment on all I could think about was making myself the best person I could be. The most honest, trustworthy, and loving person.

It was after this that I made another big decision this year. No, it wasn't a part of my resolutions at the start of the year, but it was a decision that would last me for eternity. I most happily agreed to marry and be sealed to my best friend. For the next 5 or so months I was so anxious! Living 10 hours apart was so tough to do, but very wise for Heavenly Father to have made possible. When August 22nd came along everything worked out perfectly (even though my mother may have had several "heart attacks" that I was unaware of at the time haha). The temple was beautiful and I had no cares in the world. I was promising my life, energy, and talents to God and to the man I knew I wanted to share eternity with. Marriage is beautiful and I am so happy I have made this choice, no matter who thinks I was too young, or too mature, or whatever they might think. I love my husband and have no doubts that we will make it through this life and on to the next together.

Afterward there were many things we experienced and many choices we made. I went to school full-time and realized how hard it was to be in school while your spouse isn't. Kevin worked for a while and then experienced the bitterness of being without a job. Though we learned that everything is in the Lord's time and not ours. And that doesn't mean that our efforts mean nothing either. We also learned that when we decide things without consulting the Lord it usually means we learn the hard way. But all is well because the Lord is so loving! I started teaching piano, which is something I love so dearly and am so glad I have the opportunity to do. I also became a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. Who would've thunk! (I definitely wouldn't have). Kevin and I are ward missionaries in the Overland Trail Ward in the Laramie, Wyoming Stake and we have enjoyed visiting less actives in our ward, even though we will know them better than everyone else in the ward by the time we're done ;) Kevin has a job with Tough Guys and is excited for his first day tomorrow! (bright and early 4:30am!) But we are so blessed that Kevin has a job and that all is going well with that thus far. Kevin has also signed up to take classes at the LCCC outreach program here in Laramie. We are excited that they are very willing to work with him and once he takes a few courses there the university will be much more willing to work with him. Unfortunately the process of getting everything figured out with the university the last few months was frustrating and quite frankly not worth it, so we are moving on to the next best thing :) I am thankful that we have the opportunity to both be a part of LCCC as I have enjoyed every class I have taken, even when they are classes I am not particularly good at.

We are excited to see what the new year has in store as there will be lots of new things to experience! I hope you've had a happy new year and that you realize all of the good that came out of the year 2013.