Christmas Adventures Week 2

Our second week in Utah we headed to American Fork to be with Andrew's family. It was sweet to be back in Utah County. Our first night there we went to the BYU vs. Gonzaga basketball game. Some things never change because we were back in the student section sitting on the tenth row. Also, while in Utah County we got to see lots of family and friends thanks to a few baby showers that were held for our sweet little girl. Things started to feel real with all the wonderful gifts that were given to us.

The week was packed with movies, football, and fun games. We even got a personal tour of the new doTerra building from Andrew's dad. One highlight was getting to see/meet our newest nieces Sidney & Sarah. It was weird looking at them and realizing that we're not too far behind with our own little girl. Unfortunately, towards the end of the week I started to not feel super great but quickly got over it. Andrew on the other hand got VERY sick New Year's Day. He caught some flu bug and just could not keep anything down. We looked into changing our flight for the next day but that would have cost us an arm and a leg. So we pulled through and headed home to North Carolina the next day. It was pretty funny to watch us in the airport...a pregnant lady and her sick husband. We made it through thanks to a lot of prayers!!

Even when we got home to NC Andrew felt a little better but his throat was killing him. We put him on all these cold medicines and those didn't seem to work. Finally we went to an urgent care here and they found out he had ulcers in his mouth. One lesson that we have learned the last few weeks is how grateful we are for health and our bodies. They really are incredible things and we're blessed to have them. One lesson for me that I learned over the past two weeks is that it is not fun watching your spouse go through so much physical pain and not being able to do anything about it. I've been teasing Andrew about how he won't be able to handle me going through labor but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong about that. When you see someone you love going through so much pain you don't want to leave their side but help them in anyway possible. I now will have so much empathy for Andrew in a few weeks when I have to go through some pretty intense pain. I'm so grateful for him and the rock that he is for me!

 Even though our vacation didn't turn out how we had planned it, it was a nice break from our normal schedule. You really can't beat hanging out with family and being back in Utah.

Christmas Adventures Week 1

Where to start....

Our Christmas break was so interesting this year that it needed two blog posts. We wanted to take advantage that this would be Andrew's last Christmas as a student and have a long break. So we headed to Utah for two weeks.  We flew into Las Vegas and went to St. George to spend time with my family first. We were so excited to be back in Utah! The first thing we did was go eat at Costa Vida and then  In-N-Out for dinner. Once we got home from eating our cravings we had been having...Andrew started to get a pain in his right side. We just thought it was from eating so much food and that he could just sleep it off. Apparently, he was up all night and this pain would not go away. My dad was at the USU bowl game and we just kept telling Andrew to wait till he got home and my dad would help him out. Around 2 pm Andrew turned to me and told me he just couldn't take the pain anymore. So we headed to the Emergency Room. We got there and they basically told us that he had the classic story for appendicitis. We got all ready to go for surgery and gave him some medicine to help with the pain. They kept telling us that he would be going into surgery shortly and then all of a sudden they were checking him into the hospital. So we waited 8 hours before he headed into surgery. It was a long and scary 8 hours. I had never seen Andrew in so much pain before. He also almost passed out as they were moving him into a different room which then made him get chills pretty bad. It also didn't help being pregnant and crying about every two seconds. As they were wheeling him away to surgery I balled like a baby! The nurse was so sweet and kept telling me he was in the best hands. Andrew refused that I stay in the hospital with him so my awesome brother, Cameron stayed the night. It was super hard leaving him there and going home. Around midnight the doctor called me to tell me that he was out of surgery and that everything had gone well. Luckily, his appendix had not ruptured so it was a quick snip and remove job. Unfortunately, we learned though that Andrew does not take general anesthesia very well. He was throwing up most of the night. I headed back to the hospital around 7 am and we finally checked out and left at 4pm. So it was a long 24 hours in the hospital.

Andrew was such a good sport through all the recovery and trying to be apart of the Christmas fun. The only problem was that he couldn't laugh without it hurting...so my brothers took advantage of that. We even went to a fun dinner theater show and Andrew was DYING of laughter and in a lot of pain while doing it. :) It was great to just be with family and talk in person instead of over the phone. We did so many things thanks to my mom for planning such a fun week. We decorated sugar cookies (that my dad baked), made gingerbread houses, looked at Christmas lights, had lots of hot chocolate, made waffle cones, watched movies, and played some fun minute to win it Christmas games.  We also got to meet our new nephew Cooper. He is pretty cute and large. He is 7 months old and weighs 22 pounds. Let's just say he has some pretty good rolls ALL over his body.

It was such a fun week and a great reminder of what the Christmas season is all about. We're so grateful for our Savior and all that He does for us. We definitely felt His love for us and our Heavenly Father's love for us through all the craziness with Andrew. We're especially grateful for Priesthood blessings and those around us who are worthy to hold the Priesthood. This was the first year that Christmas just felt different to me. I really didn't worry about what was going to be under the Christmas tree. I was just so grateful to have my husband healthy and getting to spend time with family and I know that that is all made possible because of our Savior. So I was excited to get to focus on Him that Christmas and how grateful I am that he was born so long ago. The scripture John 3:16 was always going through my head this year and I'm so grateful for the joy and comfort that it brings.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16