Rand & Madison Sargent

Lula Birthday

2011-12-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

This little stinker turned One on December, 8th. Boy how the times flies. We had a fun party with family and friends. Lula got some great gifts, all of which were so nice for them to give her. Some aren't pictured but she made out like a bandit (not pictured: building blocks, darling book, a teddy bear, a fun button game.... and I hope that is all).

She got this activity center... which she loves. Notice her 'cheese' smile.

Miss Lula and her Uncle Taige.

Her puppy. It teaches her to clap and dance... both of which she has down thanks to him.

Below is a play by play of her getting her first baby doll. She was so excited!

She also got her first soccer ball. She loved it. Still doesn't get the concept of kicking the ball.

At her party I (along with her Aunt Amy) made these darling sugar cookies with polka dots on them. I had all my money betting that she would destroy them. I lost. She was completely dainty about it. Funny girl.

Over all the party was a hit. I forgot to take pictures of the set up..... ugh. It was all polka dots. So happy that its over. She isn't walking yet, which I can't figure out if that is good or bad. Either way she is close to doing it but just a little reserved. We love out little Lula-mon as Papa calls her. So happy that we have her in our lives. We cannot believe its already been a year since she entered our family. We can't imagine life without her. Happy Birthday Little Lula!!!

! year ago...

2011-12-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

One whole year ago Rand and I were blessed to become parents to the most beautiful baby girl! Boy how the times flies.... (I am already teary eyed writing this post, really Madison?! I know I am a total emotional mother.) Really though it makes me so bitter sweet to look back on those precious moments with our little girl. How sweet those first moments are when you see your child for the time. The spirit that feels the room.... words cannot describe. When two people who love each other, become a family of three... it is incredible and surreal. I am so grateful to have such an amazing husband who is always supportive, caring, sweet, thoughtful and such an amazing father. I still remember their first moments together, the tender look on his face. I will never forget that. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to be a mother. Some days are hard and some are easy, but regardless I try to focus on being the best mom I can to my little Lu. She is constantly making me laugh, and be creative with her. She is super expressive, talkative, and a social butterfly. Sounds nothing like me, I know. Little Lula still isn't walking, which is okay for now.... she loves the stairs, her blankie, getting into my measuring cups and spoons, opening and closing EVERYTHING, dancing, talking, steal cut oats, and her Daddy. (I am sure I forgot many but that is the basics.) We love you little bean!

Surviving the wind...

2011-12-07T12:26:00.001-08:00

As I am sure most of you are aware. Our area in which we live... (being discrete) had a terrible wind storm come through late Wednesday night and on to Thursday morning. Our small little family seemed to barely sleep at all. Then sometime between 5am and 7am the power went out (this I know cause I went to the gym). I found myself thinking how grateful I am for what I have. We have been incredibly blessed here in the Sargent household, especially this last year.

Since all throughout the night we were constantly up and checking on our house, when it came time for Rand to go to work I hated the thought of being alone in a storm like this without power. So, Rand dropped Lula and I off at his sisters home. On our way we were amazing at what was going on. Trampolines on the highway, completely demolished. Huge hundred year old trees ripped from the ground, on with they stood. Shingles and anything else not tied down was gone. We happened to get tagged by a white picket fence on our way over.....

Once there we found we had to be a bit more creative with the kiddos. Keeping them entertained at first wasn't terribly hard. It was later in the evening that things got a little harder. It was fun to be able to enjoy each other's company. Whether that was driving in the car to charge our phones, or eating dinner by candlelight. Overall it was nice to not have the distractions of life staring you in the face.

Here are some pictures of the carnage once we could leave!

Yep that is my Nephew going to jump on the the tramp....

This was our live savor!!! Oh gas fire places!

11-11-11 at 11:11

2011-11-16T15:32:00.001-08:00

Pictures from my iPhone

That's right folks I remembered to take a picture of where I was on November 11th at 11:11am. Well... okay my friend Katie was there with me and it was all her idea so I can't really stake the claims on that.

We were both crazy people and decided that it would be fun to go to the grand opening of H&M and Crate & Barrel at the new "IT" mall of Utah, Fashion Place. We were able to shop around for awhile before the store opened to kill some time and to get some Christmas shopping done. I was excited for the store since all my friends have been to the one in Vegas or Cali and I hadn't ever been able to experience it. Even Rand has been to one with out me..... I sent him there but he didn't come back with much.....

Needless to say it was..... alright. It was so crazy, and there were so many mom's with strollers (we ditched the kiddos back at home.) that kept on hitting into me.... ugh. By the 7th time I was starting to get annoyed. Let just say Lula got some pretty sweet new outfits for the holidays. Oh and Tate walked away with some darling stuff as well. We on the other hand, bought some items but are planning on taking them back. Lets just say I will most likely stick to my Jcrew, its my love.

Here is a video courtesy of Katie Oborn

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katieoborn/6343549154/

a Straw....

2011-11-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

Miss Lula has now conquered the Straw. She is so proud of herself. Good job baby girl!

A Sargent Halloween....

2011-11-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

Well lets just say this day was one of the longest of my life....Literally. 10 months old + trick or treating = long day for mama.

Miss Lula started the night off as a sweet butterfly. I was so excited to take her around and show her off. I made sure to get some paint on her nose just because I thought it was fun. After about two minute's of having it on, black was in a array of places. Hands, cheeks, hair, ears, etc... you get the idea. Bad idea. So the first stop was around the neighborhood with her BFF Drew. These two ladies know how to start a party. We decided to leave the girls in their strollers, because getting them out over and over appeared to not be the choice as we witnessed other moms struggling to get them back in. So after hitting the houses, and seeing many of the little's friends ( Nixon the monkey, and Ross as yoda) we went to hit up family.

Lula and Drew play-by-play....

Lula thinks she likes Drew's Candy better than hers

Looking at mom like what the heck.....

This is GREAT MOM! Drew is still caught up on the candy she just got.

Lula sees it and try's to steal it.....

Lula finally thinking her candy is alright.... its what my mom wanted anyway.....

Cute little monkey

Little Yoda....

First stop aunt Amy's house. This is always a treat for Lu. She is most offend than not, greeted by her little cousin Ike rubbing on her cheeks saying, " Hi baby Lula!". Then up next is surely Miss Meg. She always can get a smile on Miss's face, if not, giggles seem to always fill the air. Then its Aunt Amy's turn. Hugs, kisses, and telling Miss how cute she is, while she just seems to take it all in, beaming with confidence. We had some yummy soup and bread. Then it was off to trick or treat around her neighborhood (we happen to know a lot of her neighbor's). On our way we saw some pretty cute costumes. The best I have to say was father and son Kick Buttowski's. If you don't know who he is... lets just say he is a cartoon dare devil on nickelodeon. They were hilarious! Their neighborhood is so cute and does hot cocoa, scones and a blazing fire in the street for all trick or treat- ers. Props on the great idea!

Next up stop off at the Grandparents. First the Sargent's. Lula got to trick-or-treat with her cousin Ike here. She thinks she is pretty neat to hang out with him.

She has discovered that the stairs are quite possibly her favorite new toy. I am not even kidding. I go up and down the stairs at least 20 times a day with her just at home. So of course when it comes to someone else's house its even funnier. So she got to climb on the stairs.

Caught in the act.... look at her face

We also had to change Miss Lula's diaper while we were there. Now this is even becoming a chore with a mobile little girl. Good thing face time on the iPhone was invented. It keeps her entertained for the most part. Otherwise we turn on the front facing camera... which is what happened here. She LOVES to look at her self in it. She could jabber to herself all night on it if I would let her. She isn't vain I swear. ha ha.

Next up Papa and Grandma Nelson's. She loves the stairs at their house. Pretty much she tries to sneak away to climb them. Any set of stairs that has open railing like this she goes crazy over. She tries to go up them sideways, while standing.... yes we are thinking of entering her in the circus.

By this time of the night she was shot. We had many more families to hit and missed. We felt so bad but it was a lot of work to get her in and out of the car, with no afternoon nap.... it was a disaster. So sorry to the following; Christensen's, Sargents, Dailybread the food storage company I used to work for, Ralph's, Young's, Child's, Gold's, Whitaker's, Oborn's, Martineau's, William's, and anyone else I had on my list that I lost. We love you all!! Happy Halloween.

Glitter anyone?!

2011-10-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

Lula and I cooked us up some of these classy pumpkins today. They are sure going to look fab on the porch. More pictures to come.......

10 months.....

2011-10-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

Miss Lula Jane is 10 months old already. Boy how the times flies by. I swear it was just yesterday when Rand and I were driving our newest bundle home from the hospital. I still remember my nerves, and emotions were all over the place. How would I take care of just a sweet innocent little baby? Would I know how to do everything completely right? Would I be a good mother? These and many more were flooding my mind. I remember the sleepless nights, the worries I had, and how grateful I was to become a mother to the sweetest little baby I had ever seen.

Now, 10 months later I still have those thoughts only before I can formulate the thought in my mind something stops me.... its like this, "will I be able...." (end thought) Lula Jane... where did you go? Oh there you are already up the stairs. or hiding in the pantry or playing in the toilet water. You get the idea. Somehow you cant even formulate a thought because they get so busy! That I can say, I am grateful for. Sometimes I have to remind myself a little extra.

......Currently Miss Lula is a total chatterbox. She can sit and play with her toys all by herself, while talking for the entire time. I have a feeling when she hits kindergarten her report card is going to look similar to mine, which read always in the teacher comments how I was an excellent of a student I was, but how I had issues excessively talking.... Cant wait for those.

.......Lula loves anything with buttons. Remotes, cell phones, fake cell phones... she has some of those.

.......She loves stuffed animals. Mostly she scratches out their eyes, and picks at their fur. You get the idea....

.......Miss loves textures of things. You will see her feeling anything that has a great texture. Carpet, Walls, stoves, doors, furry animals, decorations, food....

.......She tends to be a little aggressive when it comes to toys and her Daddy's face.

.......She LOVES animals. My parents have a cat and she thinks its great to chase her around the house. She also got to play with some puppies recently and laughed hysterically when they licked her hands.

......She loves her blankets. Specifically Aden + Anais. She will not go to sleep without one. She loves to rub her little face with it while falling asleep.

.......She thinks every time I make a call that someone is there on the screen like face time. We do that with 'Papa' a lot and she now thinks someone is on the screen for her to look at. So funny.

......She loves to make a face at her if you tell her 'no no' or 'stop' where its almost a fake cry face.... totally a hit on anyone who doesn't know her very well.

.....She isn't quite walking by herself yet, but she will stand by herself for 10 seconds as long as her focus is on something else.

......She has 4 teeth. Two upper and Two lower. She loves to give kisses... and occasionally bite you with them.

They're is Miss Lula in a nut shell....

Love you baby girl!

Just around the corner....

2011-09-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

Here is Miss Lula Jane in her latest celebratory Jammies....

With October here on Saturday Lula wanted to remind everyone to get their 'PJ Part-ay' on for the Halloween festivities! I know Rand and I will be happy to join in! More Rand and than I if you know what I mean.......

Husband also in celebratory Jammies......

Like mother..... Like daughter....

2011-09-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well what can i say......

We like things a little messy here at the Sargent household....

Lula Jane

Mama Jane

Update....

2011-09-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

(so funny.... thanks pinterest)

As summer is coming to a close we have been trying to squeeze in some last minute get aways. Whether that be to Bear Lake, St. George, or the zoo. I am so nervous for winter to come around this year. Being inside with a little mobile one is going to drive me crazy! I need some good idea's mom's if you have any.

Little Lula is growing so fast. I remember everyone telling me "they grow up so fast.". Did I ever really believe them....honestly no. Now I look back and think where has the last 9 Months gone?! My little girl is getting much bigger, much more independent, and such a funny personality, which is bitter sweet as a mom. (now I get why people keep having more and more kids.) Her personality is such a great mix of Rand's and mine. She really likes to sit back and chill with large groups of people, or be more reserved, which is so Rand. Then she is really aggressive and chatting all day long. Which Rand says I have to claim. She is also really sweet and sensitive, especially if someone else is crying or hurt. I tend to think this comes from both of us. She can also be incredibly stubborn, which is me as well. Its been great to see the little things that she loves. She is loving her stuffed animals, reading books, and puzzles. She is so expressive, almost too much sometimes. ha ha.

We seem to never get enough of her though. She makes the world so much brighter in so many ways. I really cant seem to imagine life without her. She just makes Rand and I make so much more sense. We constantly find ourselves just watching her play with her toys. She is saying 'Da da" "Ma ma' 'Pa pa' and "Wow wow wow." She also loves making a cherio face (as we call it in the Sargent household..). Overall parenthood is simply amazing. Now dont get me wrong there are many days where nothing gets accomplished, and Lula has a meltdown every 10 seconds. Those days are hard. They are the days where when Rand walks through the door I am ready for a break. I find this healthy for me at least. I also love to run and workout. This also helps out. So please if you are reading this and you think my life is always peaches and creme, please know I have many days where being a mom is hard. There are also days where I am loving every minute and cannot seem to get enough. I call all of that 'Parenthood'.

Here are some of the latest pictures from my phone. Please forgive me that pretty much all of them are of Lula. She is all I take pictures and videos of these days. Sorry!

After Church.....

Loving the tubby

Hanging with 'Da da'

Oh she HAD to have this Elephant from the Zoo....

Her and 'Pa pa'

Grandma Cece

This cheeta totally kept her entertained all through the store.

Helping me fold and un-fold the laundry

Playing Cheese with the camera

Latest Last Minute Project

2011-08-20T22:26:00.001-07:00

I was sitting in a training at work the other day and I was bored to death scouring the KSL classifieds. I've been keeping my eye out for a while for a bookshelf made of real wood instead of the cheap stuff that most places sell these days. I found this little guy for $20 and couldn't pass it up. So on Wednesday I went and bought some paint on a whim, went and got the bookshelf and started painting. Most of my painting has been done in the wee hours of the late night since Madison and Lula are up at Bear Lake with some of her family. I don't know that I've been to bed before 2 a.m. the whole time she's been gone due to this or Seinfeld or porch chats with my neighbor. It's taken a few more coats than I was hoping and I'm not sure if I'll have it done in time to surprise Madi when she comes home, but we're going to try! And we're also hoping that she likes the color or else this might be up for sale soon cause I'm not repainting it....

Took me an additional week to finish this project and this post. I ended up doing four coats of paint and two coats of Polycrylic to protect it. Finally got it moved into the office where it definitely brightens the room. I think it turned out great and it was a fun little project!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Grounded.....

2011-08-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right! Only 8 1/2 months old and got grounded today.

It was my last resort as a mother....

She is getting to be so naughty during the day.

I feel terrible telling her "no no" all day long.

So I simply said your grounded.... no playing with your BFF....(she wasn't home anyway...but this made me feel better somehow.)

I hate telling Miss Lu 'no'

breaks my heart, but I want her to understand.

Somethings will hurt her..... like electrical sockets and hot flat irons.

I still LOVE you more than anything in the whole world Baby girl!

Summertime Fun....

2011-08-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

We have been able to enjoy our summer thus far. Lula especially loves being out and about, whether its running with 'ma ma', swimming with her BFF Drew, or simply playing in the grass. She is absolutely crazy for summer. I cant really say that I blame her though.

Lucky for us we have been able to do so many fun things all summer. We have gone to Cherry Hill too many times to count, had a family vacation or two at bear lake with both sides of our family, been on tons of running ventures around our home and loads more. We are grateful to have the opportunity to enjoy our summer as a family. This summer has been the most amazing since Rand and I have Lula. She keeps us super busy these days with crawling and pulling her self up to just about anything, but its a joy to watch her learn new things. We are still working on understanding what 'no no' means and waving bye bye. She just started wanting her binkie back in the night. Which is nice but also not so nice. I guess I better start thinking of stories for the "binkie fairy". Well anyway here are some pictures and videos of our summer!

Summer time hats....

Painted toes...

Sunglasses.....

and mom's running shorts.....

And dont forget good chocolate brownie's from Uncle Chad.

Lula Jane....

2011-08-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

Little Miss Lula and I were able to go and visit Daddy at his new job. For those of you who dont know he is now working at Zions Bank as a personal banker. We love his new schedule. It feels as though we are a normal family......finally. So Lula and I went to visit, right on Daddy's desk was a sucker.... so I thought 'sure let her have at it!'. Boy did she! (fyi these are off my phone...)

Look who got two chompers....... Boy does she know how to use them....

Family Pictures.....

2011-08-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Recently I successfully won a session with the amazing Ciara Richardson. Of course Mr. Sargent himself was totally not excited about getting his picture taken.....but then again he never likes it. So I made him suck it up for the best of needing to get some printed and framed for the new abode. I am in love with how they turned out... the Sargent clan will have a cute Christmas card this year! So here are a few of the ones we love... (we love majority of them, but according to Rand had to narrow it down. Go to her link on her name to see the rest. :) )

World Cup...

2011-07-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

Alright I think I can now start to talk about this without exploding. (seriously.....)
How amazing are all these women?!

Strong. Independent. Beautiful. Athletic. Just to name a few......
I cant tell you how fun it was to get all into the games with our neighbors, friends and families.
Each game Rand was positive that our closest neighbors would surely hear me yelling at my television.
Lula seemed to enjoy them as well.
Especially when I would start to yell out where to put the ball..... funny I know.
I have this little, tiny passion for soccer.
I am sure it has something to do with the fact that I played the sport for 18 years.
Regardless of my experience I felt as though I was in their position.
I felt the world weighting on my shoulders.
The pressure of the moment....
Seriously.
I am so happy that they did the best they could.
Honestly I still dont feel right about Japan winning.
Did they deserve it..... I cant really honestly give a nice answer to that.
Yes I know their country has been through a horrible disaster.
I get that.
But I dont really see why that played into them deserving to win anymore than the next team.
Our US women's team could have clenched the win multiple times.
That I am sure of.
They just couldn't finish.
Maybe it wasn't their time.
But maybe they needed to feel the sweetness of making it to the Finals since '99.
I feel in times of disappointment I become more motivated then ever to achieve that goal.
I know they feel similar.
They were so close to tasting that sweet victory once again.
Only to have it slip through their fingers on a "stupid" goal.
The motivation on the younger generation watching those moments is now prominent.
Those girls who saw these amazing women compete, who want to emulate them in anyway possible.
That motivation to achieve is unstoppable.
I cant wait for the summer Olympics in London 2012.
We will be stronger, we are stronger having gone through this.
We will come back fighting. Its the American way.
Ladies thank you for your example to girls all over the world.
Thank you for your efforts, sweat, blood and tears shed.
You will get there. And when you do we will all be supporting you in every moment of bliss.

Remember how you felt in this moment. Its your motivation to get there, to clench the thirst for the victory.

Growing Pains....

2011-07-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

Since when did my little tiny.... (tiny is an understatement you were 8 lbs at birth) baby girl decide to make time fly on by? I miss the constant cuddles, the sounds, the sweetness of your little self, the newborn clothes, the smallness of your little hands and feet, and mostly just the fact that you were my little baby.

Photo below by Katie Oborn

Now your 7 months old and getting so big, and into everything. You love your blankie, your kitty and bunny. You love to read, be tickled, play with Dad and Mom and if your tired enough to slow down you give us snuggles. You have the cutest giggle, and love looking at yourself in the mirror. You give kisses, both on our faces by biting our cheek, and doing an eskimo kiss if your not distracted. You love putting anything and everything in your mouth. You say "Da da" although you dont know yet what that means. You gibber jabber all the time. You love to twist your tongue and bite it. You love your bath's and anything dealing with water. You love to go on runs and walks with mom, and most of the time just observe whats going on around you. Your curiosity always gets the best of you. You are always giving big smiles to anyone you see. You love to swing, and sit in the grass. Your little chunky feet are super ticklish, and Dad loves to munch on them. Compared to all the other littler girls your age you are almost a head taller than them, which is so funny to Mom. You got your first tooth at the end of June and now have a second one coming in. Mom and Dad love your little thighs, thick feet and dimpled hands. We are loving this stage you are in Miss Lu. You are so sweet, and you seem to be a little tender hearted at times. You hate being left alone, and would rather be Mom's constant buddy. You love when Daddy gets home and get all excited and happy to see him. You love to scream and hear your own voice, especially during church. You are so close to crawling, although its great to see you grow and change, we miss how little you once were. It seems like a distant memory to us. You love water bottles, and pulling hair. You think sponge bob is entertaining. You love to touch anything with buttons. Finally you love playing peek-a-boo with your blankie or hats.

Miss Lula we love you so much. You bring such a light into our lives that nothing else but your little spirt could. We are loving being your parents, and are grateful that you are our's for eternity. Thank you for the smart, intellectual little girl you already are. We love you, Sis!

Photos below by April Lupus

July 4th

2011-07-03T23:34:00.001-07:00

Grateful to live in such a wonderful country. Grateful for so many things. Loved singing the National Anthem in church today as it makes me think of our forefathers and our servicemen and women who sacrifice so much for the freedoms we altogether take for granted. May God bless us for another year!

So Flippin' Cute

2011-07-03T23:19:00.001-07:00

Madi was about to take Lu to Cherry Hill the other day when she put her hat on Lula. She thought it was so funny and was totally posing for pictures. Lu, we love you!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The story of Licorice

2011-07-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Licorice; adored by my father Scott.
Introduced to us, his off spring at a young age of 5 months.
So of course his granddaughter would be no different.
Miss Lula loved his more than anything.
I am sure she got the Nelson bug and now is addicted to these delicious strings of sugar.
So without further ado here she is.... totally caught in the moment.

Look at that guilty face.... Or rather the evidence.

Birthday.....

2011-06-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

Just a little shout out to my little brother Colter, who just so happened to turn 16 today.
Watch out if you see him on the road....
Actually dont he drives like a grandpa, which I think is hilarious.
On a side note he is also taller than me.....
Looks like I will be the shortest in the Nelson clan.... big bummer..
Yet somehow I always knew this was going to be the verdict.

A Race....

2011-06-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

Alright I am pretty behind on this blog update. Still though, I wanted to make sure that I get a little snip-it on this wonderful occasion.
Lula and I ran the race for the first time. It was exciting and wonderful to see all the support this race gets. It also was my first race since I had my "partner in crime".
So happy that we had the chance to be apart of such a big event, while also supporting a great cause.

Bee's Game

2011-06-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

Alright this was a little bit ago.... Like mid may-ish.... don't judge.
We took Lula to her first professional game... it just so happened to be a bees game.
She was a little nervous at first until her man Tatum showed up.
Then she was all smiles for this little handsome dude.
They ended up getting balloons made from the clown/lady that was making them for the kiddies.
What a fun night to share with the Oborn family!
Thanks guys for all the fun.

Auntie Katie and Lula

Lula loved to eat Tate's hair. It was pretty funny!

The future "Oborn's" Tatum and Lula

Cute Oborn Clan

Yes that bearded man is my husband.

The Handsome Oborn clan

Eating...

2011-06-03T23:23:00.000-07:00

This is Rand. I just had to post this video cause it cracks me up every time I watch it. I love our little Lula!

Rand's new on-the-side Adventure...

2011-06-02T01:11:00.000-07:00

Just to let everybody know what we are up to, Rand is now helping a local artist to sell his art online. Rand has been helping him to get accounts set up on different sites and to post, market, sell, and ship his art. It's really cool stuff, extremely unique, and I highly recommend checking out their blog or going to their ETSY shop. You can also help them out by following their Twitter account (@GoodEarthArts) and by "liking" their Facebook page (you can do both of these from the bottom of their blog). Follow their blog, sign up for the email updates if you feel so inclined...he's excited about this new venture:)

Here's a little sneak peek at one of the pieces:

Lovable....

2011-05-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

Seriously..... could any face be cuter?!

She is loving solid foods as you can see.

She pretty much loves everything except cereal.

She tends to gag that down still.

Poor girl.

Easter....

2011-05-25T09:00:00.001-07:00

Well better late than never. Lula's first easter was fantastic. She was able to enjoy the Nelson family Easter egg hunt.

Then we went back to Grandpa and Grandma Nelson's to dye easter eggs.

This is our family done in eggs.... Notice Lula is the one with poop, or wait is that Rand?!

3 years....

2011-05-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

Three years ago today I married my best friend.
Boy how the time has flown right by.
Here's a small recap of our married lives.
We first moved into Rand's sisters home, which we loved.
Then off to an apartment in K-Town.
Where we found out we were going to be parents.
Next we lived with Rand's parents for a bit.
Oh how we treasured being with them.
They are honestly so cute.
I hope our marriage can be just like theirs.
Then we moved to Farmington.
Had our first little bean, Lula Jane.
Wow how the time flew.
Looking at all that I feel so blessed.
So blessed to be a mom, and a wife.
Love you Babe and Bebe.

First things First

2011-05-21T22:44:00.000-07:00

Well let me start by saying sorry blogging world for my absence.
Second I have so many updates.
I am going to spread them out in different posts.
Don't get too overwhelmed by this.
Just enjoy!

My darling beloved cousin Scottie came home from his LDS mission in Finland.
We of course had to go to the airport to watch this dramatic event.
It was grand, wonderful and hilarious.
First his plane was delayed.
So we all sat around and talked.
Next we knew a lonely straggler came walking.
Oh don't you worry we all were still chatting.
Finally we noticed and everyone started scrambling.
Pretty funny entrance back to the US.
We love ya Scottie.

The Darling Thatcher Clan (minus Britt)

Aunt La la (Leeann)

Aunt Diane

Sisters Courtney and Jinii

Mom and Son meet again!

That's the back of my head....

Grandma and Grandpa Thatcher

Miss L with La La and CeCe

It was a little late for her, but my Aunt looks darling!

This starts a series of pictures where we are getting a family shot with Scottie. Except he had no idea....

Until now.....

Miss L loved her Finland Flag

Sophie the Giraffe....

2011-05-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

Meet Sophie.

This is Miss Lula's favorite toy.

and has been for the past 2 months.

You can bet this little toy is HUGE in Europe.

We are pretty much right with the European treads in the Sargent household.

My darling friend Brooke gave this to me when little L was still in the womb.

She must have known then that she would love this cute giraffe.

Many family and friends ask where we got this fabulous toy.

I found it online at amazon.

So here I am passing on the word.

I may have to buy a 2nd Sophie as a back up.

{Happy Easter}

2011-04-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! We finally got her on camera giggling. Ignore my voice. Enjoy Miss L and her cute giggle.

BBQ {with friends...}

2011-04-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason this whole month of April has been the hardest for all our cute little friends to get together. There were many scheduled appearances on all our behalf's and many of us bailed. Either due to conflicts that night or just plain out tired from all we had going on. So finally April 15th we all made it for a friendly BBQ.

The night started off with lots of trying to see what all our dear friends had been up to. Some.... we wont name names. Had some strange and interesting things they had been working on. Others were just the same as we had left them. Pretty much all in all whenever all of us cant get together its like we had never parted ways. That is one thing I always have liked about our group. We can all not see each other for a bit but then come back together and just fall right back into the "groove" of our friendships.

The men cooking the grub....

The "rhonda's" all chatting

Rand and L

Mike and his AMAZING steak that him and Jake cooked...

Linds eating her yummy food

Jake and his fine steak

Jen eating her popcorn. She already ate her chicken...

Katie and her burger

This is Mr. Milo

He loved Miss L's toy Sofie. They were both addicted to her.

So we all had brought our own meat, which we cooked. (when I say we, I mean Rand.... I dont cook.) Then ate while watch some fabulous American Idol. When that was all done we were able to lay Miss L and Mr. Milo down to get to know one another. Who am I kidding we wanted to see how big one was to the other. There may have been some match making going on while Miss L's other man Tate was sleeping for the night... Shhh.... dont tell him.

Mr and Miss

Jen and I with out Bebe's

A little video of the sweet babies

It was a nice night to enjoy our friends that we love so much. We hope we can do this a little more frequently now that the weather is short of shaping up to be summer.

Rice Cereal....

2011-04-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

Miss L had her 4 month appointment on April 7th. Naturally I am just now blogging about this. L is doing great and weighed in at a whopping 14 lbs 3 oz, she was 25 1/2 inches long. Our little girl is tall and skinny according to the stats they gave us. She was so lucky to receive more shots, that she loved....not really. This time did go better than last times, for the sake of my heart and tears.

We also got some great news. Miss L can now slowly start on solids. I know this is different for every baby and every doctor varies about it. We have been doing rice cereal and pears. I mix the two together for texture reasons L will only touch either this way. I thought I would include these beauties to share so you can all enjoy her chowing down....

Project Completed!

2011-04-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

For the past two months or so, Madi and I have been working on a project in our house. It started out as a "should we do this? This could be really cool" type of thing. Little did we know how much time and effort we would invest in doing this project, but looking back now that it's done, it was totally worth it and we love it! This picture shows our entryway, which looks kind of blah....we wanted to do something unique and cheap....

We first ran across the idea on the blog All Things Thrifty (linked from another blog called Jones Design). They had seen a design on a curtain that they liked, and they created a template of the design. Once the template was made, it was a matter of tracing the template on the wall over and OVER and OVER and OVER. It took so long to trace it and get the design on the wall, but that part finally got finished. It was more depressing when we realized that the actual painting would take even longer than the tracing. We started out really well, getting large portions of the wall done relatively quickly. After the initial excitement started to wear off, it started becoming a project we worked on when all other things in the house were done (which was very rare). Madi was so good to work on it during the days when I was at work (this was done as Lula was willing....also happens to be that Lula never wanted Madi to put her down). Madi did do a ton of the painting though and I'd have gone crazy if I had to do it all by myself. The parts she painted were way better than the parts I had done. Thanks for your help babe! The best part of this project is that it cost us $10 for the paint.

We are so glad we did this and now we are thinking about what we can do next....we have some ideas up our sleeves, so stay tuned!

Sometimes

2011-04-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Okay so what I love Diet Coke.... It's my saving grace. Especially on days where I feel like I just may not make it through. Or days where Lula is more demanding than most. It is seriously amazing.

The first sip is my favorite. That little fizz that burns your throat...ahhhh. Mouth watering.

This current obsession didn't start until I was pregnant. Now it's a once a week necessity.

There are times where I think the Mr. wonders about whether I would choose him or this slice of heaven.

This sums it up perfectly.

Rand, I love you more than diet coke, it's true.

I know you are surprised.... but I do.

There, I said it. End of story.

In other Sargent news.....

Nothing much to report.

Miss L is just a little stinker and pooped up her back today.

Sometimes I just don't know where to start on the clean up crew for those.

Best part, L just giggled at me the whole time.

Makes it all better once I see those gummies.

Oh and the Mr. decided to run 2 miles.

This is a miracle. He hates running.

So my applause to him on this accomplishment.

I ran 6 miles saturday, and then did 3 today along with a class at the gym.

I am starting to feel like I am getting back into runner's shape.

Only issue... I need new running shoes. Any suggestions?

I am thinking of hitting up striders this week. I don't know how much of these shin splints I can take.

Lastly, I miss L being this tiny.... I miss her cuddly body on my chest mostly.

Not so much the crazy sleep schedule that comes with it though.

Bebe....

2011-03-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

Three words.... We love her! Little Miss Lula Jane is just growing like a weed and keeping us, especially me, extremely busy. Rand and I can't seem to get enough of her cute face, and of course being her parents, we think she is just the most beautiful baby girl out there. She is out of the sleep-all-day-long newborn stage, which is sad to let go, but am loving her personality and watching it develop. She sleeps through the night here and there, but not really consistently yet. She coo's and babbles all day long, smiles, giggles and wiggles all over. She is trying to sit, and loves to watch TV, especially golf (daddy is happy about that!). She loves her bath, and always wakes up in the morning so happy and just talks to herself. We love this!

She is fascinated by her hands, and by fascinated I mean nothing in the world exists when her hand is within her line of vision. It is always being examined by her little cute face or in her mouth. It's seriously the cutest thing watching her chew on it. Next would be her feet/toes. I don't think she really knows they are hers yet, which is so cute to me. You can kiss them in front of her and watch the reaction on her face. She can't seem to figure out if they are really hers or not.

Since the weather has been crazy, with some warmer days I decided to take miss L for a walk. She did really well, and seemed to be as happy as a clam with all new surroundings to look at. I loved being able to take her outside FINALLY! I don't know why but I am so sick of my house. I am sure that has to do with it being winter and having to stay in so she doesn't get sick. I am sure that she loves being able to be out and about. Currently though, she hates her car seat. Pretty much anytime I get her ready to go out the door she freaks out. Hopefully soon she gets better about it.

Rand and I recently had to go to the dentist for our 6 month cleanings, and L was able to tag along. They were so cute to her in the office, and the little stinker pouted if someone else had her. I think she knows when it's not Mom or Dad that has her. They were so cute to her, and gave her a little gummy toothbrush. She makes the funniest faces when she has it in her hand. I have to laugh.

Last but not least, L's cute cousin Meg painted her toe nails. It was hilarious because L doesn't hold her little feet still long enough for it to happen. So the first foot, Meg did perfectly while I held L's foot. The second foot wasn't as fortunate. L moved and threw Meg off so she just painted her toes to be funny. Well, we took that off and Meg started over. She did a perfect job! Thanks cousin Meg for the cute toes!

L finally had her first little giggle on Tuesday. I was playing with her and out it popped. I was dying it was so cute! Sure enough, as we tried to whip out the camera she stopped. Hopefully we get it on camera soon. I will make sure to put it up when we get it.

So that is why no posts. I will do better this week. Here are some other darling photos of our little L. Enjoy!

Blessing Day

2011-03-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

Our sweet little Lula Jane was blessed this last sunday, March 6th 2011. I cannot express how bitter sweet this day was. Bitter because my little baby is growing up so fast. Honestly, I feel like I have blinked and all of a sudden she is 3 months!! Sweet because of the spiritual moment that she was given a name and blessing from both her father on earth and her father in heaven. She is such a sweet blessing in our home, and we try to make sure to take in each moment we have while she is still so small. I cannot express how grateful I am for the opportunity to be a mother, to raise her in the faith that families can be together forever. She will always be my little Lula Jane.

We are also so grateful to the family and friends who came and took part in this special day with us. We are so lucky to have so many people who not only love us, but our little girl. We love you guys!

Sargent Family

The Grandparents

Little L

Love her little tights I found!!

Lula,

Your Father and I want you to know how happy we are to have you in our lives. You bring so much joy into our lives and home. We are so happy that we were able to bless you. Your daddy gave you a special blessing, in which he blessed you to have a special kindness toward others, among many other great blessings. We hope that you will grow up to be a sweet tender hearted girl who cares about those people that surround her. Honey, we love you with all our hearts! Today was a special day and one day we will be able to tell you all about it. Until then, we will just enjoy the days we have while you are so small.

Love,

Mom and Dad

My Valentine

2011-02-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

I think I may have the sweetest Valentine's this year.....

My sweet, and newest Valentine this year Little Lula.

My one and only Valentine, Rand.

How sweet it is this year to have two people to be your valentines.

I love them both so much!

Happy Valentines my loves!

Valentines....

2011-02-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Love this video. So sweet.

2 months

2011-02-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

Our little Lula is just about two months old. Technically not until tomorrow, but hey. We had her Doctor appointment on the 2nd of this month. I have been dreading this appointment ever since she was born. I knew what was coming, Lula... not so much. If she is anything like me, I cringe the second I know that I'm getting one. (a little side note: my mom used to trick me to get me to the doctor's office. Once there I would start to panic.... pretty much run around the room in tears until I was pined down by my mom and younger brother. This literally happened until I was 16.)

So the thought of taking my sweet baby girl just about killed me. Once I saw the nurse come in with the shots I just about fell apart at the seams. She then asked ever so nicely, "please hold her arms down so she doesn't accidentally get poked." At that moment I had all my memories flash through my own mind. So of course I held her arms and looked away. Good thing she just stared at the nurse!! Poor thing jumped when the first one went in, and immediately started to screaming. Now this scream was no ordinary cry, it was the worst, heart wrenching cry you can hear as a mom. So of course I start to cry. I just wanted to scoop her up and run out of the building. Being a "good" mom (this is what I have to tell myself) I let the nurse finish, and gingerly picked her up and cradled her. Both of us crying. I know pretty pathetic. But I couldn't do anything about it, nor did I really care how it looked.

Lula's Two Month Stats:

Weight: 11 lbs 5 oz 80%

Length: 23 1/4 inches 95%

Head: 15 cm 50%

Lula, right now you are starting to 'coo' more and more. You smile so much these days, and maybe we can get a little giggle if we're lucky. You have started to sleep about 5 hours at night, which is great! Your little thighs and cheeks just keep getting more and more chubby. You love snuggling with daddy at night. You always love your nightly baths. Plain and simple we love you so much and are so happy you are healthy and a happy little girl!

Recent Happenings

2011-01-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

My little lady has started to 'coo' and giggle. We are having fun talking to her, and watching her try to talk back to us. Its the cutest thing. I love seeing her darling little smile. I have to wonder though if she thinks we are crazy for the tones we use when talking with her. I swore I would try and not do the high pitched voice most of us tend to do when we talk to a baby. I am sure you all know what I am talking about. Yet, I seem to have forgotten that I spoke those very words, and frankly I cant help it. Oh well, she wont remember I did it anyway! Here are a couple pictures of her recently that I took on my phone.

Ouch!

2011-01-25T12:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, cutting little tiny finger nails is not easy. To be honest it terrifies me to death. The first attempt I thought I did pretty good. Second attempt... not so good. I cut her thumb... poor thing screamed. I then started to get all teared up as I snuggled her in my remorse. I am happy to say that it was the last finger I had to do. Next time I am going to have to make Rand do it.

1 Month

2011-01-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

(Photos taken by the lovely Katie Oborn along with header photo)

Lula Jane is already one month old. Wow, really? Saying that feels like we should get an award for surviving that long! Have we had our little girl that long already? Is it weird that we can't imagine life before her? That every moment spent staring at her, we simply can't imagine doing anything else?! And that when we have left her all we think about is her?

lack of sleep... check
waking up every three hours...... you bet
changing more diapers then we ever imagined possible for a little human..... check
checking to make sure she is breathing every now and then... check
still amazed that she is ours.... check
loving her sweet little face... check
dealing with blow outs (were talking up the back, front, down to her thigh).... check
taking her on car rides just so she will fall asleep... check
loving every minute of her little body getting chunkier.... check
feeling like we are starting to get a handle on things she likes/ dislikes..... sort of check
staring at her just to watch the faces she makes.... check
amazed at her tiny little features.... check
still trying to decide who she looks like... check
constantly thinking how cute she is.... check
never imagined we could love a little human more... check

Motherhood... (wow that word still terrifies me) has been the greatest blessing of my life. Yes, it's hard at times, but looking at her sweet face makes everything better (even the lack of sleep!). Motherhood is much of the unexpected for me. So most of the time I have spent guessing what each cry means, or what she needs from me. That can be hard at times. Yes, I have cried when she was crying. Yes, my heart still breaks every time I hear her sweet little cry. Yes, I have caught myself having conversations with her. Yes, I kiss her cheeks like crazy. Yes, I am the crazy mom who has you wash your hands or use hand sanitizer. Yes, I am the mom who can't wait for her to recognize me visually and smile. Finally, yes I still cant believe she is ours.

I cannot say how blessed this whole experience has made me feel. From the moment they laid her on my chest, as we looked at each other eye to eye, we bonded. It was one of my most sacred experiences. I will forever remember those first moments, the first time we were a family of three instead of two. How amazingly blessed we are! To have the opportunity to be a mother is one of the most rewarding jobs in the world. I feel so blessed to be able to have gone through pregnancy, feeling every movement, every hiccup. Then to have this little human come into the world and know you created them, and they are yours..... forever. It honestly makes me cry. So before I actually start to cry about this for the millionth time, here is some of her stats from two weeks ago.

Lula Jane's two week stats:
Weight: 8 lbs 12 oz (90%)
Length: 21 1/2 inches (95%)
Head: 13 inches (50%)

Dear Miss Lula,
Life with you makes so much more sense. We cannot imagine anything more perfect than you. You complete our small family more than you will ever know. We are grateful for the spirit that you have brought in our home. We love you so much! Each day you grow up, we look at you and wonder how on earth we are so lucky. Your little smile and your little cry make us smile and cry with you. We often talk about you when you're asleep and when you are eating. Sometimes we laugh. Sometimes we cry. We never imagined you would be so perfect, so much fun, and bring us so much joy. You're the best!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Random Picture of the Day

2010-12-23T10:38:00.001-08:00

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

Christmas Letter 2010

2010-12-18T22:02:00.001-08:00

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)

LULA!!!

2010-12-11T22:01:00.000-08:00

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

Project Completed!

2010-11-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

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!

Thoughts....

2010-10-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

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....

Lil Ute

2010-10-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

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

Dr Appointment

2010-10-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

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.....

29 Weeks...

2010-09-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

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)

Going, Going, Gone!

2010-09-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Double Digits baby! Finally I am under the triple digit count down, I cant say how crazy that is. Time just has seemed to fly by thus far in my pregnancy(which I am grateful for). She moves like crazy these days, and although some times its not the most convenient I have loved feeling her get stronger. What a miracle the whole experience is. Third Trimester here I am, the final countdown, the last inning of the game... What a thrill it is.

Lately every person I run into tells me that I need to post pictures of myself again on here. I have taken pictures, its just hard seeing yourself look like a blimp. I have taken them though, so don't you worry! Once I get Rand to take them off the camera for me I will make sure to get some up. But in the mean time I hope the following will suffice. As you can clearly see my feet are going, going, gone.

28 weeks and 2 day (today)

Last but not least we went to the doctor again on the 9th. This was the "BIG APPOINTMENT" or so they say. They take all the measurements of the bones, head and torso, while looking to make sure developmentally everything looks good. They checked her heart, brain and various organs. Everything was in perfect condition, of which we both were grateful to hear. She has a strong heartbeat which somehow always brings me to tears when I listen to it over and over again. We already have so much love for this little girl, and I know that will only grow. Here are some sweet pictures of little L.

Her little foot!

Lula Jane.... I cant wait to kiss her.

Old Friends...

2010-09-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

I was able to meet up with my girlfriends from high school at the beginning of the month. Its so fun to see them all and talk with them about what is going on in their lives. Each one of them I have a special memory of, and I am reminded of the great times we had together back in the day! Here are some pictures I stole from my friend Cass, she loves her camera and you always have to smile "the best" for hers.... haha. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of me with the girls. Cass moved to Oregon and I meant to get one of us and apparently spaced it (I blame the pregnancy brain for it). So I guess next time I will be better about it with every one of them!

Katte and her Daughter Ruby

Katie (aka Shelby) her girls Tori and Shelby

Shay and Brooklyn

Katie (aka Jorgie) and Newest crew member Lucy

Kelli and Brynn

Cass and Shay

Katie and Cass

All the kiddos playing

This is the only one I have of me, and apparently I was mid sentence and Shay just loved to glare at the camera... don't judge! (the UTES had there first game this day... the reason for the attire)

Who does she look like?!

2010-08-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

We recently were able to go to Fetal Foto's in Salt Lake City last week due to my amzing cousin! She is amazing, plus super talented and if any of you are thinking of going there make sure you get her, her name is Haley. She is the beautiful blonde. :)

Rand and I cant figure out who she looks like. We have been staring at these photos for a while. I know you really cant tell much I guess until they get here but seriously! Rand seems to think she has my lips... I dont see it. Regardless I just wanted to share them for journaling purposes. So without further to do.... Meet little L.

Free...

2010-08-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

A new website called http://www.diamondearrings.org/ has an innovative promotion going on. They’re not selling anything yet, but are spreading the word about their site by giving away free pairs of simulated diamond earrings set in sterling silver, and will ship them anywhere in the continental U.S. It works like this:

1) Mention the site DiamondEarrings.org on twitter, facebook, myspace, or your own blog.
2) Go to DiamondEarrings.org and click on “Order Now” on the top right of the page.
3) Fill out the required information and pay for shipping, only $3.77.
4) Wait for your earrings to arrive!

I just got mine in the mail the other day. So excited to get free stuff :)

24 Weeks....

2010-08-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

So we were able to go the doctor again this week!

I cant say how emotionally excited I get to see her every so often.

She changes so much each time, it amazes us.

I cant wait to see more of her little features and movements.

We cannot wait for our official meeting! Only a 112 days left!

Our big appointment is on September 9th... I cannot wait to see more of her.

(this was for 8/17/2010)

Latest Purchase

2010-08-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Thought I would share our first "big" purchase for little girl.

I am in love with the kiwi color!

Now moving on to the other stuff.... like strollers.

I have no idea where to start, but I really like the bob strollers.

Anyone have any recommendations on one?

Paris....

2010-08-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

Little girls are so much more fun to purchase for....

This being the case, I have refrained from really buying anything for this little girl.

Confession... this line will have to be a part of her closet.

That's right... I pretty much want everything.

This outfit below especially.

End of story....

Purely Inspiration...

2010-08-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Nielson.... a woman of pure love, courage and a sweet wonderful mother to her children.

I cannot describe to you how much this woman inspires me daily, with thoughts of motherhood, and how I want to be so much like her. I do not know her personally, but I do read her blog daily. Her sweet words to her dear husband and children constantly bring me to tears (not only because I am pregnant, but she truly is a miraculous person). If you have never watched the movie above please take the time to do so. Her sweet story will inspire you each day to be a little better than you were yesterday. Enjoy...

Bliss...

2010-08-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

Why does Anthropologie get me every time?

maybe its the simple fact that everything there is bliss-fully amazing!

One day I would love to live there....

Sometimes...

2010-08-09T14:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson,or to help you figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be, but when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment they will affect your life in some profound way. And sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, willpower, or heart.

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of good luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness, and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without these small tests, whatever they may be, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere. It would be safe and comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless.

The people you meet who affect your life, and the success and downfalls you experience, help to create who you are and who you become. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are probably the most poignant and important ones.

If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart forgive them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to when you open your heart. If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because in a way, they are teaching you to love and how to open your heart and eyes to things.

Make every day count...

Appreciate every moment and take from those moments everything that you possibly can for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people that you have never talked to before, and actually listen. Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have every right to. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself, for if you don't believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you. You can make of your life anything you wish.

Create your own life and then go out and live it with absolutely no regrets.

Most importantly, if you love someone tell them, for you never know what tomorrow may have in store. And learn a lesson in life each day you live.

by Unknown

As of late I feel like I have been more susceptible to the fact that this life is so tender, so sweet, and so incredibly precious. I feel as though there are days where I am completely clueless to the daily gifts our Heavenly Father gives us. Looking at this with more light, I can say that I am so grateful for the many opportunities I've had in my life to know some amazing and wonderful people. All of which have touched my heart in one way or another, leaving some small imprint of them behind.

I am so grateful for the opportunity that Rand and I have of becoming parents. That gift alone has really helped me to understand this in a better light. How tiny and precious each person starts, and how incredible it is to watch them grow and develop. I have loved feeling her movements increase day by day, and dreaming of the day when I get to kiss her sweet face.

Rand has been so amazing throughout this whole process. I know I can be extremely difficult at times (mid-night pickle cravings... ), but I know, no matter what we go through in life he will always be there by my side. That is truly another gift. I am grateful to share this upcoming birth of our daughter with him. Without him I would be lost. I don't know that I would be able to do this alone. To look at her and not think of what he's missing out on. Thankfully I know he will be there (recent events have brought me to this thought, thank you Cort).

I am grateful to know where I came from, and what my purpose is. I love knowing that above all things I have my Heavenly Father there to comfort and bless me. I know that he understands my struggles, my pains, my laughter, my tears, my joys. He understands it all. He is my brother, my friend, and my savior. I am so happy to have the gospel in my life and to have a wonderful husband who has the priesthood. I am so happy that He has entrusted such a special gift to me (little Lula), a gift I know I will treasure.

To all of this I find myself such a grateful person. I know whatever comes mine and Rand's way we can make it through, and weather the storm. That is what makes life exciting, and an incredible adventure. I am so happy to have my heart so full (sorry to all those who had to listen to that... I needed to get it off my chest).

Friends have always been a huge part of my life as well. I feel so grateful to call many of you my friends, while the rest I am not so sure... ha ha. Jk! Each of you are in a special place in my heart, and I will always treasure our friendships.

To sum this all up, I am so happy for the reflection, and aha! moments that have recently hit me. I am sorry for those wonderful people that we have recently lost. Their presence will be missed. I will however treasure my moments in life, and live life a little fuller each and every day. Thank you for that reminder that has so greatly impacted my life. It's always in the small things that the greater picture is discovered.

Lula Jane

2010-07-28T23:27:00.000-07:00

Yes we think we have a name decided on for our little girl. Obviously its the title of this post but I will mention it again, Lula Jane Sargent.

Background/ Orgin:
Initially I had about 50 names that I really liked, of course girls names are always easier than boys to come up with for some reason. The problem was finding one that Rand liked as well. Going back to when we first started dating and the first time I was ever at Rand's parents house, they have this huge genealogy tree with pictures on their wall. Rand's mom is really into genealogy, which made looking back into his history extremely easy. So of course this caught my attention and I stared at it over and over again just looking at all the generations of Sargent's and Marsh's. It was then that I stumbled upon Rands grandma Lula. Immediately I loved the name, and thought how classic and different it was. So of course I added this to my stock pile of future names for my kids (not knowing that Rand would be my husband at that time... )

Over the span of dating I learned a lot about Lula, and Rand's Family tree. Lula was Rands grandma whom he never has met (being the last of seven... makes sense). I started asking questions about what she was like, and that's when we got to hear some really fun stories about her from Rands Dad. She had a twin sister Lola, and they were the cutest little girls. If I ever get the change to get some pictures I will post them. They had blonde hair and dark brown eyes... which is what Rand was like as a kid.

Jane originated from my families side. Jane is my middle name, as well as my mothers, and her mothers and so on. So its a tradition that is passed down and I thought I would continue that trend.

The appointment:
We recently went to the Doctor on the 20th, and had the privilege of seeing our little girl again. Boy how much they change in-between appointments!

She is measuring a whole week early so I am scheduled to be induced on the 9th, of December. She looks beautiful and healthy, which is all I need to hear to know that everything is going good. I cant wait until my next appointment to see her again. My doctor suggested that we do the "BIG" ultrasound and measuring around my 27th week. So it will be at the first part of September. I cannot tell you how fun and exciting that will be, I hope to see her facial features a little better then or at my next appointment. I have included a video of our last appointment for blogging purposes and to show our family and friends who we don't get to see very often.

Okay so I have to admit that I am always wanting people to post pictures of their bellies. Now that its my turn, I am so not fond of it. Rand took this picture the other day and I somehow got talked into putting it up for you all to see... I feel huge I will admit it, and here I am 21 weeks. So don't judge... ha ha.

I might put more up depending on if I can handle the world seeing my prego self... :)

The Manual

2010-07-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

eriously babies now come with manuals..... SWEET! Okay not really, I randomly found this book and laughed about it for hours. Apparently its a "mens" guide for how to fix certain parts of a baby if they are crying. Wow.... do I need to say anymore?!

Okay men a little quiz a baby starts to cry and you have just fed them, burped them, and they are still upset... where to check next?!

I am hoping Rand knows some answers to these questions... or else we are definatly in over our head! I am thinking of purchasing this for good 'ole Randall so he can read up. Heavens knows he is going to have to be home alone with her at one point... lets just make sure all the bases are covered. ha ha.

Seriously?!....

2010-07-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

his comic describes me perfectly right now. I constantly am going to the bathroom, I may as well have a bed, water, and a good book in there.

Sleeping...

2010-07-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

never thought I would be saying that lately I haven't slept great, (coming from the person who can pretty much sleep anywhere at anytime.) but I have to admit the last week or so I have found this much harder to accomplish. I toss and turn all night, thanks to my growing belly I have lost my most coveted position of sleep... the stomach. I have tried many times to reinvent this position but none are ending up quite like it.

Second thing to keep me from sleeping is this summer heat. I can honestly say that I never really believed women when they said, "being pregnant during the summer is the worst!". Yeah never believed it until now. I think its mother natures funny little way of saying, "I told you so."

So of course both these factors come into play when trying to figure out what to do to solve the situation. So we ordered one of these prego body pillows.... it may not solve the heat, but it does solve the lack of sleep I am hoping!! Let me know what you guys did to solve these issues I would love to hear.

Cant resist...

2010-07-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

hese cute sale items from Gap. I am already such a sucker for all things girly! Hopefully these will be darling on her little chunky-ness next spring/summer.

Our Bean....

2010-07-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

ean (noun):
1.the edible nutritious seed of various plants of the legume family, esp. of the genus Phaseolus.
2. a plant producing such seeds.
3. the pod of such a plant, esp. when immature and eaten as a vegetable.
–interjection
1. beans, (used to express disbelief, annoyance, etc.).
-Idioms
spill the beans, Informal . to disclose a secret, either accidentally or imprudently, thereby ruining a surprise or plan: He spilled the beans, and she knew all about the party in advance.

Of course we don't want to eat our little "bean", but that has always been what "it" has been called. I hate calling "it" an "it". I feel like it should be something... maybe our human, our mini me...?!

So Rand and I were able to go to the doctor on the 22nd of June, and were told what "it" is. So without further to do our little human, mini me and "it" is going to be a little GIRL! We couldn't be happier and more excited to become parents to a little sweet baby girl. We feel so blessed to be able to have the opportunity to have children, and enjoy their sweet presence in our home. We honestly have never felt more blessed!

Gleek...

2010-06-30T14:26:00.001-07:00

Okay yes I was one of those people who made fun of glee. You know the ones who said that show cant be any good they just sing.... who would want to be a "gleek", better yet why do they call them selves "gleeks". Yep you can be assured that was me. Who knew that after make fun of all you "gleeks" that I would now be admitting that I am one.

Thanks to Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth who really inspired me to watch the show. I can still remember the summer in New York going to see some unknown play, "Wicked". When I was first exposed to the Broadway scene I cant say it was love at first sight but who could after seeing Mama Mia with a whole bunch of old ladies (including my own mother... no mom your not old.) dancing like they were at some Britney Spears concert. So of course I went into Wicked with the lowest expectations, you know hoping this would finally be worth anything... Well the first five minutes I remember turning to my mom and saying how amazing this play was and hoping it would never end. Anyway where this whole story is leading is that I fell madly, and deeply in love with these two fine ladies. Their voices are indescribable to say the least. So to see them both on Glee you can bet I had my doubts about turning on glee in the first place, but in my heart I knew I needed to hear their voices again.

Of course once you watch it you get sucked right into it. So yes to all of you who never thought I would ever be a fan... I a GLEEK!!

This is Idina Menzel

Kristen Chenoweth

On wicked set...

Cravings....

2010-06-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

Oh how I have to confess..... I LOVE pickles!

My husband thinks I am crazy, but lately i have been craving pickles! Pretty much anything to do with them, the juice the smell the pickle... ah bliss. I will admit that I pretty much eat two a day and thoroughly enjoy each bite. As for my husband he thinks I disgusting.... but oh well...

As of Recent.....

2010-06-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

Well.... all I can say is that we had a short break for a very good reason! We have been busy with the usual things, a trip to St.George, mothers day, moving out of our apartment, working, races, and tournaments, oh and this little tiny bug that has been bringing us so much excitement as of late..

Yes that is right folks Rand and I are expecting a little mini human version of us in December. We are so excited! We feel very blessed to have the opportunity of becoming parents, while the thought still scares the crap out of us. ha ha. None the less its going to be an exciting time in our lives and we honestly couldn't be happier. Of course though, Rand and I are on opposing sides with what the sex of the baby will be. He would like a little man to accompany him, while I have my fingers crossed on a girl. I guess time will tell soon enough and the on going disagreement will be settled. :) (Baby Sargent is due December 16th 2010)

We told our families on Mothers Day. What better gift can you get a mom then to tell her she will be a grandma for the first time or for the 26th time. I devised a plan, and a unique way to tell them so we just went with it. We blew out the yoke of some eggs and then colored them and rolled up little tiny pieces of paper with the picture of our little one on them. I then put them in small boxes and wrote on the top lid "CRACK ME".

It was fun to do something that was fun for our moms and a unique way to tell them our little surprise. We are so excited!! Below i put some pictures of when we first found out, as well as pictures of the eggs.

Rand and I finding out we were pregnant. As you can see I took four tests (really i took 6) I didnt believe them and I thought it was defective... but i kept getting the same answer.

2 Years....

2010-06-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

Two years ago I can still remember waking up super early, getting my hair, and makeup done. Driving to the glorious Salt Lake City Temple where I married the love of my life. The details of the day I cant say are what I remember. Being with Rand and surrounded by family and friends that loved us was so amazing! I have never in my life felt so loved, and so grateful that we both have such sweet and caring families and friends.

Rand I cannot tell you how happy you have made me in these 3 years we have know each other. You bring so much happiness to my life. I still remember the look on your face the first time you saw me in my wedding dress. It was one look in which I will always cherish. Thanks for the best 2 years babe, I cant wait for the rest of eternity.

Graduation...

2010-05-05T19:52:00.001-07:00

This is better late than never. Rand graduated from Weber State University at the end of April. We are so proud of him for all his accomplishments! First and for most he graduated at the top 10 percent of his class, graduated with high honors and just simply got great grades his whole life... (unlike me... ) We hope our children have his brains.

I just wanted to say a little shout out to my wonderful husband for being so great and accomplishing his goals he set for himself. What a wonderful achievement!

Race Day...

2010-04-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

I loved the Salt Lake City Marathon. It has honestly been one of the best races I have done to date. There was eager fans cheering everyone on the whole way, which was really nice to see as a runner the support along the way.

Of course the preparation wasn't where I would have liked to be. All in all tough the race went really smooth. I ran the whole 13.1 miles never stopping unless for a potty break which I thought was great, since I only had run up to 10 miles in training. I had long decided that this race was more or less going to be just something to enjoy. I went in with that idea only because I felt I was extremely under prepared and knowing myself(I am an extremely competitive person) I would have been really disappointed if I didn't do as great as I though I could have. So most of you would have found in running trying to keep others motivated and getting to know other runners. It was fun to feel like I had plenty of energy for myself and for others. Towards the last stretch of the race I found plenty of ladies that packed together and all helped one another make it to the finish line.

Over all I can say it wont be the best time I will ever run a race in, but it will be one of the most memorable. Thanks for all of you who came and supported me, I cant tell you how much that meant to have you there. Below are a couple pictures.

The finish line

The final stretch of the race

Almost to the finish.

Rand was there to support! He was so great!

Well..

2010-04-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

It looks as though I will be doing this 1/2 marathon on Saturday.... Ask me if I am ready and I will tell you absolutely not.. the longest I have ran is 10 miles. But for the sake of friends and the $70.00 it was to enter I will run/ walk or run really slowly!! ha ha. So wish me luck, and I hope I survive.

Creation & Inspiration....

2010-04-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ahh... One day I am telling you all I will be creative and design beautiful things. Until then I will just drool over somone elses crafty designs.

Just in case...

2010-04-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

Just in case any of you were wondering where Rand is putting his blog posts... Apparently my dear sweet husband started his own. He is too good for our blog together (although I am the primary publisher on here regardless) ha ha.. So without further to do here is where you call can find Rand when he decides to do a post or two.

http://www.sargessnippets.blogspot.com

Happy Easter...

2010-04-02T08:19:00.000-07:00

A little craft you can make if you are one of those amazing creative types.... I on the other hand would break the egg in the process of removing the yoke first.... probably multiple times. So if you are crafty and have many talents, go to town doing it perfect and amazing each time. If you are looking for me I will be in the kitchen trying to master this skill.....

Cruisin...

2010-03-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

So we are officially checked back in from our amazing vacation.... physically at least. To be honest we weren't ready to leave but I am positive they would have kicked us off anyway. The cruise was amazing and for anyone thinking of doing one I am here to tell you we loved it. There was so much to do each night and thanks to the Welk's we were always entertained playing cards, getting some watermelons, ice cream cones, reading, laughing and just plain having a great time. Our Cruise was eight luxurious days, and porting in some of the most beautiful places (Cozumel, Costa Rica, and Panama).

Our Vacation got off to a rough start, at many points I found myself wondering if we would even make the cruise at all. To explain this a little further, we checked our fight right before leaving on our way to the airport ( this is Friday afternoon) and it told us that our first flight to California was delayed by an hour and a half. Well due to that first inconvenience we missed our connecting flight which took us to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. So immediately we all start to stress... Rand and Jace Welk get on the phone with Delta to solve the issue. Delta fed us a load of crap over the phone and said there was no way to get us there and we should have left a day early.. okay first of all we were leaving a day early, and second its not our fault your plane is delayed!! Delta's phone service people were no help (NEVER FLY DELTA), so we went into the airport after Jace and Rand being on the phone each for 1 hour a piece. We finally got talking to Deltas most valuable employee .... who helped us significantly. Lets just say we talked with her for 2 hours trying some way to get us to Florida to make our cruise. She tried through Seattle, Kansas, Atlanta and I am sure many others. Nothing came through for us, that is when reality started to set in that we really might not make the boat. Finally she came up with a solution, it was tight but we didn't have much time. She suggested that we take a flight from SLC airport to long beach, jump off the plane grab a taxi and then drive to LAX to make our original connecting flight; mind you we only had 55 minutes to make our plane. So we go for it, she sends our bags straight to fort lauderdale. We take off booking it through SLC airport (since we were already late for the flight to long beach she called ahead and told them to hold the plane for us) finally jump on the plane. Relieved we start talking to the stewardess about how fast she thinks we can get there with traffic. She thinks about 30 minutes or so. As the plane pulls in to the long beach airport the stewardess gets on the intercom, "for those of you who don't have to make a tight connecting flight, we have a couple of passengers who need to make one if you all wouldn't mind letting them get off the plane first that would be appreciated." We were all so thankful to people for being considerate for us. A lot of people on the flight wished us luck as passed them getting off. So of course the running game begins, we grab the nearest taxi pay $60.00 (a rip off) to get us to LAX asap. We arrive at LAX after 25-30 minutes of driving like crazy people weaving through traffic. Run through security which honestly had to be hilarious! We were throwing things in bins, rummaging out pockets beforehand and jumping through the scanners. Don't worry we made the plane thankfully... ha ha... longest night thus far in my life.

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida around 6:00 am or 3:00 am Utah time. We were told when we checked our bags they would most likely beat us there. Once off the plane we took a little nap (nothing like the hard concrete airport floor for comfort!) before grabbing the bags. Around 9:00 am we went to pick up the bags. Of course they weren't there yet, the lovely( I mean this in the nicest way... cough cough) Delta airlines lost baggage lady told us they are on the 11:30 am flight from Atlanta. So of course we wait and pass time by wandering around playing on the Internet and thank heavens for iPhone people! So that flight from Atlanta arrives... no luggage. They tell us the next flight then the next one after that. We waited until 2:30pm (mind you we have to check in on the boat by 3pm) this was the last flight we could wait for until we absolutely had to leave to make the boat. Finally Jace's bag shows, then mine, then.. wait that's it?! Where are the other two bags?! Oh don't worry they didn't make their appearance. So we let the LOVELY Delta luggage lady know we have to leave to make our boat that leaves at 4pm. They need to have our bags there or else they have to ship them to our first port. Lets just say some tears and frustrations were shared and we hopped in a taxi checked in and went straight to the room to detox a little before the safety speech began. We of course attended the safety meeting, since I found it necessary to know what to do in case of an emergency, I really thought our ship would end up like Titanic. We headed back to the room and magically guess what was there?! Rand and Jenna's Luggage!! Its a miracle...

The rest of the trip I have to say was as smooth as a babies bum after all that. Here are some of the adventures!

Jenna and Jace on the flight from SLC to Long Beach airport

Rand and I on the same flight

Us booking it to find our taxi that would make us make our next flight on time.

Nothing like sleeping on the concrete floor in Florida at 3 in the morning!

First day on deck, and our first time laying out in the nice sun at sea

First stop Cozumel! Loved the white beaches and the blue water!!

Cute Jenna and Jace on the beach

Jenna and her snorkel gear

First night in our formal wear

The boys all dressed up.

The girls!

These are the scooters that we drove around the whole island!

Getting ready for the zip line in Costa Rica

Jenna and Jace on the bus

Rand and I outside our ship

The stairway up to the first platform. This first tree we were in was about 300 ft from the ground once you got up there. Pretty scary!

The boys all cute in their "plastic" helmets

Jen and I all ready to go!

This is how excited we all are... my excitement is through the roof.

Jenna with all her excitement!

Jace was a little nervous, but he did great!

Rand is such a nerd!

Me no the zip line... I was feeling pretty confidant if you can see only one hand!

A Church a in Costa Rica!! I felt like i was at home for one minute while we drove past.

This is at the cruise ship that night, it was a beautiful sunset!

This is a church in panama, Where Jace served his mission

This is where Jace's last apartment was I believe, all cinderblocks can you believe it?

Jace at his old apartment door.... ahh the memories
These were two of the guys that Jace baptized in his last area

This is the whole clan. I can only remember Jason the one Jace is standing next to and David the one holding the darling little girl. Jace worked out with Jason when they lived in this area and they tried to teach him the gospel a couple times. I dont think he was ever really interested in the church so they just kept working out with him for friends and I believe to keep the "seed" that was planted so he was still in contact with the missionaries. When we went back he had joined the church and was now the elders quorum president. It was really neat for Jace to go back and see all these amazing guys and how they are all doing with the church and other aspects of their lives.

This is at the Panama Canal

Our Taxi driver took us to his friends house where he had a bunch of animals. We were able to feed them crakers which was really funny. We got creative by putting them on our hats or in our pockets and they would dig for it.

Rand feeding the Spider Monkey

He then drove us to his favorite restarraunt where we were served real Panamaian food. It was delicious, I loved the plantains!!

This picture pretty much sums up how poor it is in Panama. I cannot tell you how many times I found myself saying how grateful I am to have been born in the USA first and foremost. Second I would have to say how grateful I am to have the opportunity to have been born in the church. The gospel is the one thing in my life that has always been there for me, and will always be. I looked at some of these people who had no idea where thier lives were going, with emptiness in their eyes. I hope they one day are able to know of the love our Father in Heaven has for each and every one of them.

This is Jenna and I learning how to dance '60's style'

Jenna with the towel turtle

Me with the towel monkey, Jen and I loved these things

The final night with our waiters Joseph and.... oh I forgot his name.

The whole table together for a picture.

Overall this trip was our biggest adventure yet. We were able to see places we most likely wouldn't have had the opportunity to visit. We all came back with a better appreication for what we do have. It may not be much, but to them it would mean the world. We are grateful to all those whom we met on our journey, and their unfailing kindness to watch out for our saftey and for their lovely hospitality.

I loved seeing the church in a reality of the world. It was great to see churches and members along our journey. The church is so amazing and so wide spread. I am grateful that i have the knowledge and the testimony that I have developed. I am grateful that we
are members of this church and our families have the opporunity to be together forever because of this. This trip was such a testimony bulider for us all.

Small updates...

2010-03-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

So we are alive yes, and back from our cruise. I will be posting all the crazy story once I can get all the pictures uploaded. So beware for a post overload!! I am hoping to get this done tonight, so stay tuned..... (for now though you can enjoy this bright front door... )

Winter...

2010-03-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Winter,

I cannot tell you how much I love and anticipate your arrival each year. I love seeing the city dusted, and freshly painted white. Each year I get excited for you to come, you always seem to bring a lot of the unexpected with you but I sometimes like that about you. But for some reason you always stay to long and make spring late each and every year. I feel like you tricked me when I looked outside and saw a nice clear sunny day and instead I walk outside to find the "bitter" cold waiting for me. I would really appreciate if you could let go and let spring arrive. Spring brings a lot of color back into my life after being "frosted" all winter long. The flowers start to grow, grass turns green, trees come back to life, and last but not least I finally don't have to scrape my car. So please winter go back home and we'll see you LATE this year.

-Madison

Real quick, I just wanted to wish you all a happy and safe weekend. I have alot of nerves for this trip, and I cant help but think of Titantic.... But I know everything will be okay. ahh.. okay I am just telling myself that last part for now. hopefully I survive!!

First things First...

2010-03-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

This leading lady is my very favorite actress. She is classy, bright, elegant, gorgeous and hilarious! I was so happy for her to win an Oscar this last Sunday for her performance in "The Blindside". For those of you who haven't see this movie you should, its one of those tear jerkers, and heart felt movies that you just love! Besides her winning for her first time being nominated for an Oscar, her speech was by far the most heartfelt. So Sandra I have a question..... "can we... 'like' be friends?"

Moving forward I thought I would give you all a little taste of where I will be next week...

That's right we are going to be in true paradise in t-minus 2 days!! Ah... I cant wait. I have been so looking forward to a little vacation and nice get away from this crazy weather. Plus I get to spend time with the Husband. Our schedules have been so crazy lately I don't even know where to begin. Rand is busy trying to finish his last semester of school at the moment and once that is over for him I know he will be a lot less stressed and feel like he has more time to do what he loves... GOLF (its that time of year again boys and girls... boy oh boy I LOVE it). I on the other hand work all day then I have to hit up the training schedule for my races this year. So since Rand works a lot of the closing shifts I have in turn become a gym rat. I was there yesterday thinking how much time I spend there and wow its a little bit much, but you have to do what you have to do I guess. It seems to have become a big habit of mine to exercise, WARNING: its really addicting. Sacrifice in our lives right now is the biggest thing. Its been hard but I cant wait for our little get-away with some great friends. I promised myself I will be taking pictures so beware for the next post! I wish you all a happy weekend (even though its only Wednesday) and a great next week!!

Ugh...

2010-03-03T07:33:00.000-08:00

Okay I have a confession.... I watch the Bachelor. I know you are all SUPER surprised right?! That is what I thought.
Moving on, Let just say I think Tenley was WAY to good for him. She deserves someone who doesn't think Vienna is cute in anyway, shape or form!! Someone who loves her awkward dances she does for them, Someone who loves that she "fell out of a fairytale" or "dreams in cartoons". Regardless of what they all say I honestly think she is better off without him. We all wish the best for you.
Come on girls who didn't already think that he would choose Vienna? I know I deep down I wanted Tenley but knew he would choose.... well you all know "Horse teeth Vienna." that is what Rand calls her.
How does everyone feel about Allie being the next Bachelorette?! I personally liked her only because she always gave Vienna crap and was willing to tell it to her face! I think she has a lot of balls to do so. Wait can a girl have balls? Anyway you all know what I am getting at. Let me know what you thought if you watched any of it... ha ha..

FLash Back....

2010-02-27T11:46:00.001-08:00

Don't worry we are alive.

Life as always is keeping us extremely busy.

I was looking though our pictures today and I had to laugh at what I looked like as a little kid. I am sure I was a wild child but seriously I must have just been all over the place. Rand was the little angel child, sweet always did what he was told to do. I on the other hand am more rebellious or as I call it more "free spirited". I am sure we are due for kids like me..... I am doomed if so...

Ha ha.. Rand is such a cutie!!

New addition to the family....

2010-02-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

Meet Grover.... Our Bovier Des Flandres (its Belgian)! Okay I am only kidding but seriously one day when i have a nice yard this little lovable face will be there! My cousins had a couple of these when I was really little and I remember being so scared of them(their parents actually gave my parents one when they got married 'Conrad' was his name, and sadly we never met). They are about the size of a great dane but their fur makes them look a lot thicker. As I grew up I learned how sweet they really are. My cousin Parker had his last one named Bear and he honestly was so sweet and lovable. I know you all will love my little Grover when I get him. Until then I can just stare at this cutie in the picture and just dream of a fun running companion.

Love....

2010-02-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines to everyone!!! We started off early this week with being able to see a pre-screening of Valentines Day. We both enjoyed it and had some very friendly guys next to us! It was fun to start off the week doing something that we most often aren't able to do. Thanks Katie!!

These are the books and flowers Rand got me!! So sweet of him!

Rand and I were able to celebrate V-day on Friday the 12th, since Rand had that day off from work. First we had a lovely meal at Macaroni Grill in Salt Lake. I can't tell you how yummy everything was!! After dinner we hit up Juicy Berry.. Rand thinks this is the greatest discovery of all time...(I am really not kidding). I would have to disagree and say that I love Spoon Me. Can't get better than that! Then we wandered around the Gateway for a bit... of course I had to stop along the way at Anthropologie and J. Crew.... One of my many favorite places! Then we came home and made sugar cookies together which was a blast...we have both been craving them.

Saturday rolled around and my darling little brother Taige was off to the sweethearts dance. I of course had to go and take some pictures of him. I have to say Taige is so handsome and getting to be such a great young man. I have really enjoyed watching him over the years. He is one special kid. Taige is extremely intelligent, and a very very loving guy. I know when he gets married his wife will be treated like a queen. Taige has always been such a sweet young boy even from an early age. I would have to say out of all the kids in our family he is the one always worrying about everyone else, and always just looking out for us. I am happy that he was able to attend!! Love this guy!

Cute Grandma with Taige

Love it....

2010-02-04T07:34:00.001-08:00

So as most of you know I love Interior Design (shocker!). It just so happens to be a very big consumption of my day to day time. Currently I am in love with many designs of wallpaper, fun/bright colors, fun furnirture, flooring, arcticure, and mixing up a bedroom to incoorporate your personality. I love looking closely at pictures and finding the little details that your eye doesnt always catch the first time you see it. Its those little details that make a great artist no matter what style of art you are creating. I hope to one day be able to create these types of spaces for myself if not for anyone else. Thanks to all of you that inspire me in so many ways, I never would have found my passion if it wasnt for you! So here is a little taste of what one day I may be able to accomplish.....

I love the arciticure, the brick floors, and the contrast. This room offers.

This room isnt as daring as most, but I love the contemporary pieces

One day you will all walk into my house and see this.... this for me is a must have in my dream house. A fireplace is always the attention grabber of the room. The contrast here draws you eyes right to it. I picture us snuggling up by the fire.

This room is a little more contemperary. I love the idea for the shelves above the fire place. This I picture in a house in the avenues, just adds to the overall feel of the room.

I love the tall ceilings and the bulit in cabniets. The way these are shaped gives the room a little more character.

The couch... ahh need I say more. This just reminds me of the 1920's-1950's. The art on the walls is also an attention grabber from the get go.

This wallpaper in the background is amazing! I know everyone shyed away from wallpaper for a while, but to be honest its making a huge comback!!

This is just simply unique. I think it works perfectly in this room and I love just the simplicity of it, yet I have never seen anything like it before.

This staircase draws me in....

Again wallpaper, but what can I say I am loving it!

First the bed is one of my absoulte favorite pieces. I love the sleigh bed look. Second I love the mint green paired with shades of blue. Its just very domino looking.

I love the lighting in this room. Again alot of contrast, but the coffee table has alot of great details.

This just makes me think history. The lace and linins give this room a old fashioned feeling. My favorite is the detailing on the wall.

Now this is such a beachy quaint room. I really love all the patterns from the beds to the flooring. The walls are more plain because of all the details.

I really love the blues that are used in this room...