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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Random Picture of the Day

Anybody else see the comedy in this picture? Fresh must be a relative term inside of this convenience store....


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Christmas Letter 2010


Rand    Madison    Lula



This year was a very exciting one for us!  It’s been a stressful year going through it day by day, but we wouldn’t change a thing.  We have learned quite a bit and had some really great experiences.  


We went on a cruise back in March with our friends, Jace & Jenna Welk.  Our cruise took us to the Western Caribbean with stops in Cozumel, Costa Rica, and Panama.  It was an absolute blast and we would do another cruise in a heartbeat!  It was so much fun for us to leave everything behind and not have to worry about food and lodging arrangements.  I seriously enjoyed the ice cream cones and 
midnight pizza runs...and don’t get me started on the cheeseburgers...


We moved out of our apartment back in late May and into my parent’s house while we looked for a house.  We were so grateful for their hospitality and kindness in letting us shack up with them for a few months.  We casually looked for a house and when we found one we liked, we jumped on it.  We just moved into our town home at the first of December and we’re still trying to get settled in fully, but we love it!

Madison has been working for the Utah Jazz for the past few seasons at home games.  She is a hostess at the “Sponsors Room” and she loves her job and all the people she works with.  She’s also been working full time (up until a month ago) at Daily Bread, a food storage company located here in Kaysville, Utah.  She has been a really good sport about working and taking care of things around the house.  Madi can’t wait to get back into working out and doing triathlons.  She also really enjoys interior decorating. I’m so grateful for her help with everything!  

I have been working at AT&T now for two years.  It’s been a great job for me and I also love who I work with.  This past summer I enjoyed golfing once again, although now it’s not paid for, so I’m rethinking how often I play.  I try to play basketball now and then, but don’t get to as often as I would like.    

On December 8th, we welcomed the newest member of our family into the world: Lula Jane.  She was born at 11:05 p.m. and weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 2 oz.  She was 20 1/2 inches long and has some good looking hair and little tiny eyelashes that we just love to look at!  We haven’t given her cheeks much of a break from our kisses, but we can’t stand to put her down.  She has been so much fun and we really look forward to our new lives with her being a part of them.  She’s amazing!  We are so grateful that she is healthy and that all has gone well so far.  We feel so fortunate to have her in our lives!

We are also so grateful for this time of year and the tendency it gives us to reflect on the Savior.  We are so grateful to live where we do and to know what we know.  The gospel is so amazing and we often talk about the wonderful blessings it brings.  We express our love and gratitude to all those who have been part of our lives and for the help we have received with moving and with our new baby girl.  We can’t wait for what this next year brings, and we look forward to our continued relationships with great people like you!



Love, 
The Sargents (Rand, Madison, and Lula)

Saturday, December 11, 2010

LULA!!!

What a week!  Madi and I have been so blessed to be able to have a healthy little girl:)  This past week, Madi had an appointment to go in and get checked.  On Tuesday when we went in, the doctor told us that there was protein in the urine sample and that her blood pressure was high.  He also said that because of Madi's swollen feet and legs, that we was going to do a medical induction the following day.  He told us to be at McKay-Dee Hospital at 7 a.m.  Later that day, the hospital called us and asked us that we come in at 8:30 instead.  It appears that our Doctor didn't get that memo because we were still waiting for a room when her doctor came to break her water!

Madi was started on an IV and was given pitocen to induce labor.  Her contractions began and she got an epidural when she was dilated to a 4.  I actually got lightheaded during the epidural and had to sit down.  I thought for sure this meant I wasn't going to last 5 minutes during the actual delivery!  The doctor finally made it back to the hospital from his busy day to break her water at 6 p.m., so all day she waited for what could have happened early that morning...she was amazing throughout the whole process though.  My wife is a tough one!  After breaking her water, Madi went from a 4 to a 9 in about an hour!  She started pushing at 9:30 and by 11:05, we had our bundle of joy in our arms!  She didn't want to come out though, as the doctor had to use both the vacuum and forceps to get her out.  Considering all of this, her head turned out pretty normally shaped.


Little Lula Jane was born at 11:05 on December 8th.  She weighed in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long (and she was a week early to boot).  She has been such a blessing in our lives in the four days she's been with us.  We are so lucky to be trusted with her from our Heavenly Father.  It's amazing to both of us how much we can suddenly love a little human we just barely met!  I have started crying on multiple occasions just holding her and looking at her.  I am already tied around her little fingers!

We just found out today, however, that she has mild jaundice.  It is so hard to have to have her on her little billy bed under the fluorescent light and not be able to take her off except to feed and to change her...we just want to snuggle her!  If all goes well, it will only be a day or two and then we'll get to have our daughter to ourselves to snuggle all day long.

We are so grateful to our many friends and family who have paid visits, brought dinners, and showed their support for our new little family.  We could not be happier than we are!   Here are some pictures of her for you to enjoy!




 Lula with Grandma Melissa


 Lula and Grandpa Scott


 Madi, Lula, and Dr. Naisbitt


 Lula and Uncle Garrett


 Lula and Uncle Colter


 Lula and Uncle Taige


 Mom and daughter:)


 Look at those cheeks!


 Lula and Grandma Sargent


 Lula and G & G Sargent


 Hangin' out


 Lula and Jentrie


 Jake and Jentrie Williams and Lula


 Katie and Lula


 Cousin Erinn, Ike, Amy, and Lula


 Connie, Diane, and Jinii


 Mom and daughter


 Dad and daughter...I loved this!


 She's the best!


 Cousin Megan and Sam with Lula


Madi, Meg, Amy, and Lula

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Project Completed!

Madi and I have been preparing for parenthood for the past few months.  The other thing we've been preparing for is our town home!  We are very excited and should everything go as planned with the loan (cross your fingers) we should be closing on it at the end of November.  We can't wait to have our own place again, but we are extremely grateful to my parents for letting us live with them for the past few months.  They've been patient with us as we have created messes, taken over the laundry room, and made a mess with my latest project: the Lula board.  As many of you may already know, Madi and I have chosen to name our little girl Lula, after my dad's mother.  I have been working on a project for her future room for about a month now, and I'm proud to say I am finally done with it.  We plan on hanging it on the wall in the nursery.

I first got the idea for the project from our friends Mike and Lindsey Martineau.  They have some projects in their home that they have done themselves.  We really liked their decorations and I came up with this idea for our own a little while back.  I started out by going to Home Depot and purchasing a laminated pine board that was 3/4" thick, 2' tall, and 4' wide.



Once I got the board, I had to find a way to transfer the name "Lula" from the font on a paper to full size on the board.  I ended up drawing a grid on the font and proportionately drawing that grid on the board.  Once I had the board with the grid on it, I had to do my best art imitation and draw the name onto the board.  I'm pretty proud of my work:)




Once the name was on the board, I was trying to figure out the best way to achieve the effect I wanted.  I was debating whether to rough up the background and leave the name standing out (which is what we chose) or to etch out the lettering and leave the background intact.  I used a dremel (rotary tool) with a high speed cutting attachment to achieve the look on the board.  This was a painstakingly long process.  I underestimated how long it would take to do this.  Doing the background wasn't too bad, but it took time.  The hardest part was getting precise cuts right up to the edge of the lettering.  After doing the big uppercase L, I figured out how best to use the dremel and the rest of it started to go faster (just not as fast as I would have liked).











After about 20 hours of using the dremel tool, it was finally done.  We love the way it turned out!  At this step, my dad (the Bob Vila of Fruit Heights) began to offer the suggestion of whether we leave it in a rectangular shape or do something with the corners.  Madi really wanted to do the corners like our kitchen table.  I wasn't sold on it at first, but now that it's done, I really like it.  I designed the corner shape in Adobe Illustrator on the computer, then printed it out and traced it onto the back of the board.  Once the design was traced on, I let my dad take the jigsaw to it and cut it out.  Here's how it turned out!


Once it was cut, we sanded the corners and I primed the board.  After letting it dry, I put on the first coat of white paint.  I added a second coat the next morning.



Once the white paint was dried up, I used a small foam brush with the gray paint to get right up to the edges of the lettering.  This step took about two hours to paint all the lettering.  I added a second coat to the lettering the next morning as well.




After the paint was all done, I used polycrilic to coat the whole project with a protective layer.  This is the finished product!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Thoughts....

So its official: our little peanut is more stubborn than both of us.

Honestly, we went three different times to visit my darling cousin Haley (she works at Fetal Fotos), and to no avail.  My child does not want to cooperate for the life of us (I even ate a lot of sugar to get her movin').  We got some little snapshots here and there, but nothing worth the hassle of putting on here.  Everything looks great, and apparently she might have more hair than either Rand or I expected which is great (both of us were more baldies). She also has beautifully long lashes, it runs in the family.  Needless to say, we are more thrilled now than ever for our little bundle to come.

We also had another doctor's appointment, at which point in time the machine measured her at 6lbs 10 oz, although he told us that she is more like 5 1/2 - 6 lbs. Holy moly thanks to Rand we will have GIANT children. Thank you for that gene babe.

So pretty much she is way ahead still.... which keeps me wondering... does this mean that she will come before December?! Oh I hope if all is well that she does. If it were up to my dad he is putting money on his birthday, which just so happens to be on the 26th, then the BYU vs UTAH game is on that Saturday and he seems to think she will somehow end up wearing blue... umm..... no comment.

In the meantime, Rand and I have been talking about a lot of things.  First and foremost how crazy excited we are, and yet how nervous we are to become parents.  Do we look like capable people to you?  I mean seriously babies in general = a lot of work.  Never has that reality become more clear to us both.  So then after a couple days of enjoying this new little human we are sent home with her?  Are they sure?..... I mean I know we won't be sure, taking her home.  It's going to be a whirlwind... one that I hope we are at least semi-prepared for.

On the flip side, the anticipation is killing us....well at least for me.  I am the person who secretly opens their presents under the tree each Christmas.  I have mastered the skill of not tearing the paper so no one can tell.  I also go on the hunt pretty much the whole month for anything I can sniff out... I know, pathetic.  So this whole waiting game of seeing her face and finally knowing what she looks like is slowly killing me ha ha... I will find out soon enough I guess.....

Another little event as of late has been having baby showers. I had my first one yesterday with all of Rand's family, and mine.  It was so fun to get together and see everyone.  Sadly, we all forgot to take pictures.  So I decided I will take some pictures of the loot little "L" received.  Thank you to all who came! You all were sweet to give us gifts for her. We feel so blessed with amazing family and friends! More to come on that next time....

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Lil Ute

So the other day we are registering for baby stuff and of course Rand stumbles across something Miss "L" just had to have...


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Dr Appointment

So yesterday we had our appointment to check up on little "L". Everything looked great, she is a healthy baby that is for sure. The doctor told us she is currently at 4 1/2 pounds.. and a week ahead of schedule already. Her estimated delivery date is November 30th. As soon as he said those words I started to panic. I mean its great she is doing so well and is ready to come earlier I for one don't mind that, just as long as she is healthy. Its the fact that we most likely wont be in our house yet, therefore a lot of her things wont be ready for her. That is the part that makes me a little nervous. I haven't really had the time to really "nest" yet. We don't have a crib, which I tell myself is okay since she will be with us in our room for a while. But its all the little things that I am sure come with time. I guess as long as we have diapers, a bassinet, food and a roof over our heads all will work out. For now though I feel like I don't have a lot of time.....

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

29 Weeks...

Twenty-Nine Weeks already?! I cant believe how fast the time is flying on by. Of course this post is a little behind, but I thought I would still post it for journal purposes.

29 weeks and 2 days (ignore the background)


We were able to go to the doctor again this week on the 28th. This time I had to take the Glucose test.... yummy. All I have to say is that drink is seriously an over dose of sugar (therefore the reason they call it the "sugar" test). I was sick to my stomach almost immediately. We were able to see little "L" again but she was extremely un-cooperative this time and we weren't able to get a good look at her (really I wonder whose child she is...). We have a cute little profile picture which is the only way she would allow us to see her sweet little cheeks again. Little "L" is right on schedule for December 9th. She is currently weighing in at 3lbs, and certainly loosing some free space. We are so excited to meet this little girl come the holidays. Lets just cross our fingers that the holidays make these last 10 weeks go by faster. I cant believe that we only have 10 weeks left...

Next item of business, Rand and I have purchased a new townhouse in East Farmington area. We are so excited about it. We were able to pick out everything we wanted which makes it nice. I will keep you all posted on pictures, as of right now this is what it looks like. Should be done before Thanksgiving if you can believe it.
Morning of 9/29/2010 (footings, cement poured later today)