Boy, Oh Boy!

We will be blessed with a little boy in October! So excited for all thats to come. Enjoy the pictures!

Finally

Its about time I updated! I'm a slacker, what can I say.

I have lots to share, so lets get to it.

First off, the most exciting news of all....I'm pregnant! I'm 18 weeks along and feeling so great. Most everyone already knows this, but its still fun to announce. We will find out next week what we are having. Grey is positive its a little sister...and she wants her name to be Grey just like her. Sigh...We'll have to convince her another name will work better.

The other happening in my life, was the fashion show I had May 16th. It turned out so cute and all the girls did such a great job. We only had one cryer. haha...and it was not Grey! Phew! I tried uploading all the pictures, but it was taking way too long. Here is the link to the Bloom Album. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150299329684942.417047.524929941

We have done so many fun things so far this year. We made a trip to Denver to see Brooke's family. I have made 2 trips to AZ, we've had company come visit and then just with all our everyday things, we sure keep busy. We planted grass a couple months ago and it's already in. It's awesome. We also planted a garden about a month ago and everything is coming up. I think we have super powered soil here in Los Alamos! We'll see what happens when we eat our veggies from the garden. Haha!

I'd like to share some pictures of things we've done. In no particular order.

Hope you are all well! Love ya!

Trip to Denver and AZ

Baseball game. Grey's new friend "Peanut"

Easter 2011

Grand Canyon Trip/My birthday weekend

Pool party at Bryans

Bryan and I's Birthday dinner

Bandalier with Ryan's Brother Jason and his girlfriend Natalie

These ladders are so tall and a lil scary. Grey loved all of it!

Sorry for the crooked pictures.

Pictures

Lots of pictures from 2010. Enjoy!

New Year

Hello everyone. Man, it's been a while since i've updated. I had these big plans to write a 2010 year review, but instead I thought I'd just share some of our favorite memories of 2010. I know, it's a little late, so bear with me.

In April we went to Idaho for Kurtis and Grace's wedding. We were so grateful to have been able to share their special day with them. It was so good to see all our family as well. It was a quick trip, but it was fun!

We moved to Los Alamos in June and we absolutely love it. We have made many friends here and we feel right at home. It's a beautiful town, the people are great, we couldn't be happier here.

Grey was potty trained in September. I still remember her asking where the train was. hahaha!

We started a little preschool group in September as well. Grey has loved it and she's getting very good at learning her ABC's and numbers. She also knows the pledge of allegiance.

We went on a Hammon family vacation to California in July. That was a blast. Ryan and I have decided that every year we will make a trip to see the ocean. It's good therapy for anything! We had fun with his family and it was great to see Mike and Jamia before they left for Germany.

Grey and I made a trip home for 3 weeks in June/July. We always have fun in Idaho. I could go on and on about what made that trip fun, but it was mainly because we got to spend so much time with our family! The only thing that could have been better, was if Ryan had been there. (and if I would've remembered to eat at Fong's...ugh, next time!) haha

All the trips we made to Arizona! We love going there to visit Erin, Mark, Lindsey and Austin. Grey has gotten to know and love them all so much more! And now that Bryan is there, hopefully she'll get to know him better too!

Kara came to visit in October. (i think it was October) We had a blast with her! I love, love, LOVE spending time with my family. Thanks Kara for coming here!

I started my booth in November. It has been a fun and rewarding experience for me. I've made a few more friends because of it and let's be honest...a few more dollars because of it too!

We had a great Christmas and Thanksgiving as well. Holidays are always memorable! We brought in the New Year with Ryan's parents, who came to visit us. That was soooo nice! Nothing like seeing a familiar face walk into our home!

What do we hope for the year 2011?

Our plans for this year are to pay off bills, save money, get into shape.....all that boring stuff....and the things that get said every year. But, really, what we want for this year is just to keep bettering who we are today. We don't need drastic changes, or huge amounts of money, we just want to be happy and healthy. And we want to have another great year.

What we have learned and hope to grow from, from 201o?

One thing that really sticks out in my mind is, that everything happens for a reason. Everyone that crosses our paths, whether it be for a short or long amounts of time, they are significant. I have learned to open my heart more to people around me. I don't know if they were brought into my life for a reason, or if I was brought into theirs, but I do know that we can learn so much from one another, if we open our hearts to them. I've never been one to make friends very easily, especially with all of our moving around. I knew I had my family and I thought that was all I needed. One instance inparticular, was my miscarriage. I've had a lot of time to ponder on this and this is what i've learned; I found it a coincidence that it all started on the day we moved to Los Alamos. I always thought of that as a bad thing, because I thought it was the move that did it to me. But, then I looked at it in a different way. Now, I find it significant that it happened when we moved. Had we not been in Los Alamos, we wouldn't have had our friends on our doorstep in an instant, we wouldn't have had the miracle of Ryan seeing the missionaries down our street and asking them to come and give me a blessing, and then the missionaries contacting our ward for us. Had it not been for that move, we may have been more alone during that rough time, and as much as I wanted to be alone, I never was. Our Heavenly Father knows our plan and I believe that He made sure we were where we needed to be during that time. And for that, I am so grateful.

Fun things we want to do in 2011?

go to the beach

go to Carlsbad caverns

get Grey a big girls bike

get pregnant

make a trip to Idaho and Arizona

pretty much just have a blast

We have so many things to be thankful for in our lives. We love all of you and we hope the best for all of you in your new year as well.

I'm In

The store opens this Friday! I'm so excited. I'v had a lot of positive feedback!

Here is my booth. We built the table out of old wood pallets and a futon frame someone was throwing away. Awesome! I love how it turned out! I also added shutters to the sides of it!

So, here's the top half. I've got 12 more dresses to fit in there! We'll see if they'll fit.

the flower clips hanging on the shutters.

and, the bottom half. I have more things to add, but this is what it is so far.

Here are my tags! Aren't they cute?

My sign will be up Wednesday and then with a few last minute changes, I will be ready! I'm anxious and excited to see how I do. It's been a busy month and I'm ready for it to pay off. I'll keep you all updated!

Halloween

We had a great Hallow-weekend! Friday night we went downtown to trick or treat all the local businesses. That was crazy busy! But still fun. Afterwards we went out to dinner with our good friends, the Nelsons. When we got home, Ryan hid Grey's candy bag from me. Grrr! I searched all over....I would randomly see him eating a butterfinger or some other treat. Not fair! No worries though, I finally found it.

Saturday we skipped out on the Halloween party in Abq and just stayed home and watched scary movies and did our own thing. That always seem to be more fun anyways!

Halloween night we went trick or treating to some of our friends here in Los Alamos and then headed to White Rock to trick or treat with the Nelsons. It was so fun going door to door. Grey just loved it! She said "trick or treat" so cute. She asked if we could go again today!

We got WAY to much candy. It should last us through this week....HA!!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween too!

Enjoy....

Our night started out like this. She was a little tired, but her mood changed once we started to get candy!

Her friend Brian, the policeman

She loved bein a Giraffe. We asked her what Giraffe's say...she said....RAAARR!

Stopping to graze....haha!

and do giraffe things.

New family picture? I think so!

The Grey Owl

So, incase you haven't already heard, I'm opening up my very own booth at the new store here in Los Alamos. "The Crop Around the Corner" will be opening it's doors the first week of November. I am so excited to be a part of this, much needed, craft store up here. I will be selling a few dresses, mostly skirts, home decor crafts and seasonal crafts. I will also be trying something new and making flower clips to sell, along with crochet hats. That sounds like a lot of work, huh?! I hope I know what I'm doing and what I'm getting myself into. I will have a great support system, Ryan! And he will be right there to help me through this! (I've already made sure he knows that.)

My booth name is "the Grey Owl." Cute, eh? I think so. My inspiration for all my little girly stuff has always been Grey and my recent obsession is owls, so I couldn't have picked a better name.

I will try to keep this blog updated, I'm already behind on that. I can't promise anything though. I've got my work cut out for me this month. I've already told Grey she will be watching a lot of movies this month! I'm very excited for this new adventure. So, wish me luck!

It's about to get crazy up in here!

Trust me...this isn't all of it!

Here I go!

School

Grey is obsessed with school!

We recently started an at home preschool group with some other moms and their kids in the community. It has been really fun. We meet twice a week, Wednesdays for the school lesson and Friday's for the review and field trip. For the letter "A" we went on a tour to the Los Alamos Airport. So cool! For the letter "B" we went to the Bakery. That was really fun and yummy! It has been really good for Grey to have the interaction with adults and kids and, of course, learning her ABC's.

Now, all she wants to do is play school. It's really fun though. I like being the teacher. Grey's favorite games now are "learning games." I can't complain about that.

Grey is very upset that she can't ride the school bus. She asks everyday when it is coming and she tells my goodbye. I asked her what she would do if I really put her on the bus and it drove away. She thought for a moment and then said, "you can come with me!"

We had a funny conversation one day:

Mommy, get your backpack on. The school bus is coming

Me: Well, I don't have a backpack.

Do you have a purse?

Yes.

Get it! Daddy, get your backpack!

Ryan: I don't have a backpack either.

Do you have a purse?

Ryan: No.

.........(Grey's thinking).........

Well, what do you have?.......come on mom, lets go on the school bus.

Too bad for Ryan, he didn't get to go on the school bus, because he didn't have a bag. :(

I'm so glad Grey has a while before she actually rides away on the school bus. What a sad and exciting day that will be though. For now, we will just pretend.

I'm Back

Hi all!

So, it's been a while since my last post.

Oops!

We've just had a busy/fun summer and I've tried numerous times to upload some photos and it's not working. Ugh. So I just thought I'd let you all know that I am still here and we are doing fine.

Keep watching for those pictures!

We are so glad that fall is in the air. As much as I love Summer, Fall is, by far, my favorite season. I especially love all the decorating and crafts that come along with this beautiful season. I'm trying to hold out until the end of September to get out my fall decor. We'll see if that works.

So in recent news:

we got the ok to paint our house. We started painting the next day!

That's how anxious we were.

(or maybe it was just me.)

I love the color we chose and it makes such a huge difference to have some color on the walls. I think for our first time, we did a pretty good job. Now I just need to figure out how not to hurt my back. I could barely move the next morning.

Yikes!

Not good.

Ugh. I'm getting old.

Not really, but I felt old the other day when my new friends in the ward came over and we were all asking each other's ages.

I was the oldest.

Nice!....

Thats ok.

I'll be the big sister of the group.

They were so surprised at how old I was.

I didn't know if that was good or bad.......?

Does it mean they think I'm immature, or do I look young?

hmmmm

Oh well.

So Grey is potty trained!

She asked me where the train was....LOL!

I thought that was cute.

It was the rewards that finally worked for her.

She got a princess purse out of it and many other things.

But, it worked.

Now she likes to tell us what her poop looks like.

Too much information?

Sorry, but she does.

I hope that doesn't last long.

I'd like to be able to eat bananas again...

We got a kitten.

Calico

Female

We haven't named her yet

Grey can't decide between cocoa, cracker, and zoe

What would you choose?

We love Los Alamos!

We are comfortable here for now.

Come visit us and see our cute town!

I hope you are all doing well. I will post pictures as soon as my computer allows me too. Happy Fall!

Something I'd like to share

~Job 1:21 'the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'


As most of you know, I was 12 weeks pregnant just last week. I was just about in the "safe zone" as far as miscarriages go, but that did not end up being the case for me. I lost my precious 12 week, unborn baby.


It all started Friday, June 4th. The day we moved to Los Alamos. Coincidence? I don't know. We don't have any answers as to why this happened, except that this baby was just not meant to be here with us, in this life. Not an easy thing to comprehend. June 5th, I saw my tiny baby on the ultrasound screen, with a beating heart. A strong beating heart. I felt relieved, but at the same time I still felt sadness. Somehow I knew, in my heart, what was going to happen with this baby. I had 4 days to prepare myself for the news. A long, painful, emotional 4 days. June 9th...no heartbeat. Sadness fell upon me again. And it fell on Ryan as well. All the emotions hit me one by one. Anger, jealousy, sadness, asking "why me," or what if I did this instead of that. It's something that is so hard to understand, but I know that someday I will.


As I sat there last week dealing with my emotions and all the pain as well, (there was quite a bit of physical pain) I was hit pretty hard with one realization....I have one beautiful baby right in front of me. One little miracle named Grey..... That I was ignoring, because I was dwelling on something I couldn't have. I know it will take time for me to deal with this loss, but I will NOT let it get in the way of me being a great mother to Grey. She is here now and she needs me.


We will have more babies. We can't wait for the day when we do. It will just be a longer road for us. That's ok.


I am so grateful for my family and friends that kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We are so blessed to have so many people that love us. We love you all!