Action Packed Friday!

Yesterday was full of up's and down's and very busy. No it has nothing to do with the Royal Wedding. Which p.s. my wedding was much more pretty and so was my dress. Also my prince was much more handsome :) Just sayin'. So anyhow on to the news of our day. I was camera happy so I took pictures of like everything! First after I got off work Sean and I went to Burger King for a delicious hamburger. I crave hamburgers and veggies all the time lately. Then we made our way out to the farmers market. Let me tell you a secret: I AM IN LOVE WITH THE FARMERS MARKET! Its true. Every time we go there I am amazed at all we get for such a low price. This time as we walked out of the store to our car I said "Man I feel like we just stole all of this!" That's how cheap everything was. (Random note you should all know, Noah loves blogging. How can I tell? He is doing flips in my belly right now haha)We got all this stuff below for only..... wait for it...... $19.01

This is our amazing steal of a buy. Banana's, Strawberries, Carrots, Oranges, Apples, Grapes, Brocclii, Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, and Snow Peas.

 Then after the market we were going to go to Fry's for our other grocery shopping needs but my Mom called and invited us to her ward party that was starting in the next couple of minutes. Free food and family! Of course we accepted. She also told me that Gpa Roland, her daddy, is in the hospital again. He was admitted that morning for pneumonia. That is the third time in two months. Sean decided to cut his hair before going to the party so he could look all man pretty. Lol those are naturally my words not his. I even got to help get the back of his head for him which was a first for me. I've always been afraid to cut a guys hair because I didn't want to mess it up. This cut was quite easy though. He basically shaved all of his hair off, which isn't that much to begin with haha.

My Sexy Husband Man

Me doing his neckline

All the hair that used to be on his head

Right before Sean finished with his new hair cut mom called again and informed us of more bad news. She said that dad had been in a car accident and was being brought to the hospital. She was already at the party and dad told her to stay there and he would call her if he needed her to come to him. He was all the way out in Phoenix. Mom said she really needed someone to be with her right now so Sean and I rushed to her. We got there and comforted her. Soon the rest of the family showed up as well. Amanda, Corey, Cortney, Andrea. Justin was already there with mom. Mom said that she thinks dad was ok and that he said to just stay at the party and have fun. We could all tell that she was still worried. We all stayed and enjoyed ourselves. Dad ended up coming towards the end of the party. He was shook up and has swollen wrist which might be broken or sprained. He truck is totaled. Here is how the accident happened: He was going straight and the light has just turned yellow as he was in the intersection and another car made a left turn right into his truck. He air bag deployed and hit his right hand.

Here are some pictures of the party

Myrna & Will one of our favorite married couple friends

Sitting and watching the show

Dad showed up and first thing he wanted was to hold Cortney girl

Amanda helping Cortney to learn to dance like a Tongan

After the party mom took Corey and Sean to the hospital to give Gpa a blessing. We all went back to my parents house. Then when they got home Corey and Sean have dad a blessing. I think this may be a recurring theme but let me just say again how much I love the priesthood. Our family has been having a lot of trials come at us and I know the only way we make it through it all is the love of family and our Heavenly Father and his wonderful power on earth, the Priesthood.
Our next adventure for the night was the rest of the grocery shopping. Andrea Sean and I went to Walmart and got the rest of the food for the month. We originally wanted to go to Fry's but by the time we had a chance to go it was already closed. I just wanted to get the shopping out of the way plus we really needed milk so we had to go that night. It was a complete success and we got more than what was on our list and even better news we stayed within our budget!! I feel so blessed lately. I know Heavenly Father is always eager to bless us but it seems this past month I have recognized it more in my life.  We are by no means rich with money but we are rich with blessings. We have been able to some how pay our bills and have money left over for savings and lots of fun things. Plus even with all the crazyness with Cortney going to the hospital, gpa going in and out of the hospital, dad's accident, Andrea's car dying I know that it will all work out for the best. We will pull together as a family and get through it.

Today our plans consist of: Sean being at work til 3pm or 7pm, just depends on when they let him leave. I'm going to clean the house, go to the library with Justin and Kirby. We are going to make it a regular activity every other Saturday. It will be a good time for Justin and I to bond more and help him get back into the hobby of reading. Then I have a massage at 4pm (I know I said no more massages til Noah is born but this is for a client/friend I've been massaging for 2 years now and he is moving to LA in a couple weeks) and then when Sean gets off work we will go to Target to buy a pantry hutch so we can organize our food storage we will be starting soon. Then who knows what the rest of the evening will bring us. Til next time. Have a great day!  :)

Controlling or Highly Productive? I'm going to go with the latter

So I have this thing, lets call it a cute quirk, where I have to be in control of something or planning something to feel at ease. Some may say its controlling but my loving husband says its a trait of mine he loves because I get things done and put order in his life. I like his perspective best. Sweetest husband ever? Yes I agree. Well I just wanted to have a "yay for me" moment. Everyone is entitled to have these moments every once in a while. (Its good for ones self esteem)
Here are my accomplishments as of yesterday:

1) My sister Andrea, she lives with Sean and I, has been using my old bunk bed I bought from a friend. She wanted just a regular bed. I found her a gently used free bed and it was exactly the one she wanted from Ikea.

2) I sold the old bunk bed within 24 hours of getting the new bed.
3) Andrea's car died yesterday, I found a place to buy her car from her for $310 which is great considering it doesn't run anymore and she paid $500 for it 2 years ago.
4) My house is clean! (this is one of my favorite things because I hate clutter and mess)
5) I prepared a delicious meal for Sean, Me, Andrea, Britt L and Kirby last night. Spaghetti, Salad, Garlic bread. My favorite meal because it is Simple, Classic, and Delectable!

Well there you have it. My "yay for me" Now your turn. Go ahead, you know you want to do it. It feels good to give yourself a pat on the back and recognize your own awesomeness.

Also in other news. Sean and I have been doing considerably better with having Family Home Evenings. I am quite happy about that because I know we will be blessed from it and I already see the blessings taking part in our life. It brings the family together and we learn a lot. Also its good to know we are following council given to us from the Lord through his Prophets to have regular FHE. Our lesson last week was on goals. We read some scriptures related to the subject and then had a discussion on it, then the best part. We made lists! I love lists! I make on average 2 or 3 lists a day. So I quite enjoyed this part and Sean liked it as well. We each wrote down a couple long term and short term goals. Then we talked about how we would accomplished said goals and how we would support and help out the other with their goals. It was a very lovely lesson. We are happy to have things to work for. It will feel really good when we have them accomplished and can make new ones. Then we put the lists on our dresser so we would see them everyday and be reminded of them. Some of our goals were: Sean - Work out 3 times a week, pass my classes, get the car paid off, do home teaching, get accepted into med school and some others I can't remember right now. Deana- Go on long walk 2 times a week, get food storage set up, start a veggie garden in back yard, have emergency money fund in place, finish my Bradley method book, read scriptures every day and read bible front to cover.

A great quote to end this post is in order. It kind of is related to the subject. Mostly I just like it.
"Never forget that you came to earth as a child of the divine Father, with something of divinity in your very makeup. The Lord did not send you here to fail. He did not give you life to waste it. He bestowed upon you the gift of mortality that you might gain experience—positive, wonderful, purposeful experience—that will lead to life eternal." -Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

Noah loves his Daddy

I was reading online about the development of Noah in my belly and how things are going with the little guy. I read a paragraph about how his senses are getting stronger and he can hear more clearly now. Also that he has recognition of what those noise are, like voices and who they belong to. I told Sean that I really wanted Noah to already know him when he was born. Noah is of course going to recognise my voice. I talk all day anyway and I spend a lot of time just talking to my belly when I'm home. Sean agreed that he wanted Noah to know daddy so he has recently began talking to my belly more often. He had done so a handful of times before but now he is making a point to do it every day. Last night Brittney Haynes was over and she wanted to feel Mr Noah kick but he was asleep or something because there was absolutely no movement going on. Sean came and laid his head on my belly and started talking to Noah and immediately the wiggling began :) It excited Brittney to feel him move (this was the first time she felt him) and it excited me because that meant he was recognizing his daddy! Sean was super excited for the reaction as well. I love the moments listening to Sean talk to our little baby man. He is just so sweet and cute and funny with Noah. He asks him if he is having fun swimming in mommy's belly, asks him if he enjoyed the food mommy supplies for him, tells him how much he loves him, tells him of all the plans we have for him when he comes, how happy and anxious we all are to finally meet him. Its just precious time I will always cherish. I know Sean will be such a loving and wonderful daddy. He already is <3

Daddy talks :)

I'll be 26 weeks in 2 days. Its going by so fast. I can't wait to have little Noah here.

Me in my ratty pj's showing my growing belly

Babies and Drugs don't mix!

It has been far too long since we have posted something on here. We have been preoccupied with a lot of things going on. Last night was a nice break. It was a lovely night filled with lazyness. We went to dinner and then just laid in bed watching netfilx. We quite enjoyed it though so I don't feel bad for the unproductiveness. So an update on what has been happening with the Howell's. We finally filled and sent our taxes in. It only took trying 3 times electronically and having it rejected and then just resorting to sending it via regular mail. We should get our refund in the next 2 weeks. I am of course incredibly  impatient and can not wait for it to come. We have a list of exactly what the money is going towards. We will have some put in savings, some to make an extra car payment, and the rest we are using to finish up Noah's room and baby proof the house.

Two weeks ago I went with my family to the zoo. Sadly Sean couldn't make it due to work. Lame! I know. The whole family went but we didn't get a picture with everyone. Its hard to get us all to stand still in one place for long, haha.

So the heading of the post has got to have you wondering....Well this is a very sad story to start out with but then it has a very happy ending so don't worry. On Wednesday the 20th I went to my mom's house to hang out while Sean went on a man date with Corey (my brother in law) to the hockey game. My mom was watching Cortney till Amanda got off work at 6:30pm. Mom and I decided to go to Costco and have Dad and Justin watch Cortney. While we were out Mom got the worst phone call. Dad told her to get home now and that Cortney had gotten to Justin's meds. Justin has Asperger’s Syndrome and has medication he has to take daily. We rushed home and saw a very scary scene. Amanda had rushed to the house and was in the middle of the street holding Cortney surrounded by the paramedics taking her vitals. Cortney was completely passed out. She was wide awake when Mom and I had left 20 min prior. Mom went into the house to count the pills in the pill box and see what was missing. Dad and Justin gave Cortney a priesthood blessing before putting her in the ambulance and going to the hospital. I stayed home with Justin to calm him down. The poor guy was beside himself saying it was his fault because it was his meds she got to. It was no ones fault. It was just something that happened that could have happened to anyone. It was a very scary next 2 days. We are very blessed and happy to say that Cortney is 100% better now and recovered. She got to leave the PICU Friday morning.  I had to let you know there was a happy ending first before just telling the story because when dealing with children and the possibility of death I like to get the good news out first.

Dad and Justin were in the living room and Cortney was going back and forth between the living room and the kitchen as she does every day. She tries to get into the dogs water and food and we say no she comes back in. It’s a cute little game for her. Well she didn’t come right back in like usual so dad told Justin to go get her. He found Cortney sitting on the floor with his med box beside her and the pills spread across the floor. He quickly grabbed out a pill that was still in her mouth and yelled for Dad. Then the other actions took place of calling mom and Amanda all of us coming home and rushing to the hospital. After counting the pills Mom discovered there were 5 pills missing. She had taken 2 Clonidine, 1 Zyprexa, and a vitamin E pill and Justin had grabbed out another Zyprexa. The vitamin E pill was nothing to worry about but the other two are very hard drugs. One is an anti-psychotic and the other is for ADD. We were told that common symptoms of overdose on those drugs were: Convulsions, Drowsiness, Coma, Decreased breathing, Cardiac Arrest, Loss of Life.  Cortney was admitted into Cardon’s Children Hospital in the PICU. She had a really low heartbeat, slow breathing and was unconscious for many hours. Then finally she started to wake up and would scream for a bit and then go back to sleep. This went on for the rest of that day. Thursday things started to look more positive. She pooped gross black stuff, (they gave her charcoal to bind everything up and prevent the drugs from absorbing anymore) , she woke up and stayed awake for an hour or two at a time, and she was eating and drinking. Her heartbeat got back up to normal and her breathing was normal too by the the end of the day. Needless to say it was a miracle and God watches over His little ones. Sean and I went to the hospital Thursday night and spent most of the night there with the family. Finally Friday morning Cortney was released from the hospital and got to go home. Amanda says that she is back to her normal smiling silly self. It was really tough for Amanda and Corey to see their little girl like that. Only 15 months old and going through all of that. Heavenly Father gave them the strength that they needed to get through. 

This is her the first day knocked out still. 

happy mama to have her baby girl finally wake up

Healthy, Happy and Home!

The lesson: No one can watch a baby at all times and things like this sometimes happen. We don’t like it and do everything we can to prevent tragic things from happening but even to the best of parents things happen. All we can do it be the best we can and have faith in God that when things happen He will take care of us. I am so grateful for the Priesthood and for the power it has. Also I am grateful for family and friends. We all came together when Amanda, Corey and Cortney needed us and we helped each other cope through it. I just love love <3

Conference Weekend! and Working Mama

Conference was this past weekend and it was glorious! I always look forward to conference and the talks I know are going to feel like they were written just for me. I'm sure a lot of people feel the same. As if God helped the speaker know what to say just to help me out with the trials, situations, and decisions I personally have going on in my life. I know that our Heavenly Father has all of us each individually in mind as He inspires and prompts the chosen speakers in writing their talks. Its amazing how each person can take something different from one talk that will help them. Even one little line from a talk can be helpful in many different ways for each individual. I just love the Gospel and the love our Heavenly Father and His chosen leaders have for all of us! Sean and I and Andrea went to Elizabeth's house (Mama Howell) to watch the conference session on Saturday. Seth, Jimmy, Ondalynn and Elizabeth were all there as well and one of Onda's friends joined us for the morning session. We were provided with a delicious waffle, bacon, egg and potato breakfast which made our tummies very happy. This year there seemed to be a theme of paying attention to children and being like a child in a lot of the talks. Also I noticed a strong theme about the welfare program the Church has. Makes sense seeing that it is the 75 anniversary of the program this year. If you would like to listen or read any of the talks given here is the link  April 2011 General Conference 

I really enjoyed Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk. He talked about the importance of women in the Church and the role they have in families. The part that seemed like it was just for me was when he mentioned working mothers and stay at home mothers. He said that it was good to stay at home but also that we can't judge others because there are other situations that don't permit that. This isn't at all a direct quote. The text of the talk isn't available until Thursday. When it is I will be reading it again. It stuck out to me because I have been struggling with the idea of going back to work after my maternity leave is up. Sean and I have prayed about it and we both know that it is what we need to do so that he can go to school full time and get done sooner. Even so, its really difficult for me to think about leaving my baby for 8 hours a day Monday- Friday. I know that he will be safe and well taken care of by my mom while I am at work but still its not something I am looking forward to. In fact I feel guilty knowing that I will be at work while I really want more than anything to be home taking care of him but that due to lack of money I have to work. ***Sigh*** Alas it is what needs to happen at least for now, so that is the decision we have come to. I will work full time while Sean works part time and goes to school full time. My work schedule isn't as bad as some working mom's though so that I am very grateful for. I never work weekends and I tend to get off early most days. I just have to keep telling myself it won't be that bad and its only for a couple years at the most. Maybe we can figure something out so that I can be a stay at home mama sooner like Sean and I both want. We will see.

Sunday we watched conference with my family at my parents house. It was more loud there and therefore a bit harder to pay attention as intently as we did on Saturday. Tonight for FHE we are going to watch the talks we missed due to a rambunctious group, haha. One of the cute-est things ever happened last night. Cortney (my 15 month old niece) put her hand on my belly and felt Noah kick. It scared her so she didn't like it the first time. Amanda (her mom) kept pointing to my belly and saying "Noah is in there, your cousin Noah is in Auntie Deana's belly" And my mom and dad kept feeling Noah kick. He was very active that day. So then Cortney would poke my belly and say "Hi" very excitedly and then laugh. She was so adorable. She even would pull my shirt up throughout the night and kiss me belly and say "Noah". I loved it! She is already such a sweet older cousin. So that was our weekend. Full of learning and family fun. We are planning a girls night and a boys night for Friday. More details on that to come.