USC!!!

I am proud to say that I got into the University of Southern California for my Masters of Social Work. It has always been a goal of mine to accomplish. After applying to BYU, getting in, then moving to Hawaii...applying to Univ. of Hawaii, getting in, and then moving to CA, I finally found a program that will work wherever we move. The program is online, which includes 1 1.2 hours of a live online class for each class and then a 20 hour a week internship during the whole year and a half. The school helps find me an internship which is awesome and I will start that in April. I begin March 1st and will graduate in December of 2012. I am excited to do this program since USC is ranked #3 in the country for their MSW program. I am so lucky to have a great husband who supports me and encourages me to do this and reach my goals. I have 6 classes the first semester...it's the make it or break it semester..and then it tappers off to about 3 classes per semester. Wish me luck...I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

I know it has been a very long time....

I finally feel up to blogging tonight. I am not sure why but hey, it's a start. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and The New Year have all come and gone. We had a great Thanksgiving with the Rupps. Brooks and AmyAnn and Lizzie all came. We had a fun time. We celebrated Christmas with our little family. We visited the Rupp's that morning and then we had Jason's family over for dinner that night. New Years, it was the kids and I since Jason had a scout camp out. That's ok...I was happy to go to bed and sleep through the fireworks and ball drop. It seems that January flew by and now February is almost gone! We are still trying to work out Brayden's sleep issues...it seems to be a never ending process. London is in the full swing of the "2's" including full on tantrums and on demand crying with real tears. She might have a promising future as an actress...who knows. We have also been busy adding another bedroom to our house. Even though we are renting, the owners are deducting all the materials from our rent and we do the labor. So far, the floor has been installed, 2 walk-in closets, and a linen closet. The drywall is up and we just painted the room last night. We are getting close! It will be really nice to have the extra room which will turn into our office and the dinning room will become the play room which will make the family room less crowded! That's what we have been up to...

Recent pictures...

Here are some recent pictures we have taken in the past month...just thought i would share some of the cuteness..well i think so. This picture goes out to aunt Lizzie who gave London this coat when she was born. She can finally fit into it but it is still a size 12-18 months...yes she still has some 12 month clothes because she is an ity-bity.

I love shoes!!! I take after my Grandma Rupp!!!

Strike a pose...Vogue...

Brayden with his hole in the backyard he has dug even though he has a sand box too. He drives his cars through it, sits in it, rolls around in it, and then fills it back in all to do it all over again the next day or even an hour later.

I have begun calling London "fluffy". Her hair has curl to it and then when she sleeps on it it gets super frizzy in the back. No amount of combing will contain it after it has gone frizzy except a bath. Her hair is just at the length that it goes everywhere but isn't long enough to do a whole bunch...i love my fluffy, lolly dolly, dolly, baby, and my hey you (all her nicknames)

The other big event, elegance by emily did, in october was our town festivel. We had a both and sold cupcakes. The kids came by to visit and Grandpa and Grandma Rupp took Brayden on the pony ride.

Girls Night Out event...

Elegance by Emily, my bakery, recently did an event called "Girls night Out". We did the event last year and got a lot of business from it and they asked us to do it again and so we did. It is a plastic surgery firm in Atlanta that hosts this huge party/event. It includes vendors like Kate Spade, Dior, and Macy's, and a lot of alcohol vendors. They did free samples of botox and other skin stuff. The caterer was awesome though! We gave away samples and showed off cakes. I brought over 500 samples, even though they had over 1000 people RSVP (i just didn't have the room to store it all as i had another big event 2 days later) and they were gone within 1 hour and 20 minutes of the event starting. A lot of people were mad they were gone and i felt really bad...It turned out really well and i was happy with how the cake, the firm ordered, turned out (the zebra print one) since they ordered it 2 days before the event and i was already super stressed out about all my events that week. It's always nice to go sell and advertise your product to really rich people who don't bat an eye when they are willing to shell out $500 for a cake for a little get togeather ...anyway...just something we have been up to also in the month of October...

couponing...

 

one long, unexpected, full of blessings month...

i have been horrible at updating once again...sorry. This past month has been a weird one as we have had a little bit of everything going on at our house.

Amazingly, well i think it is super awesome, in October, i had my hysterectomy surgery. I wasn't supposed to have it until after the new year. But once again i decided, on a Sunday morning as always, to start having problems that led to an immediate visit to the er. According to the doctors, the problem was not related to needing to have the surgery but after losing blood for 48 hours constantly, i need a transfusion anyway so the doctor went ahead and did it. I may have begged the doctors too...anyway, they did the surgery, i woke up to amazing amounts of pain, went through a lot of pain killers, and two blood transfusions later i was good to go. I feel great and am so excited to begin a life without these problems and pain and all that mess!!! note-i feel good in the healing sense and not the doped up on narcotics sense thank you...

On another happy note, Jason got his scholarship reinstated! yay! UGA gave him a scholarship when he applied and got into their MBA program but then took it away because they claimed we were not ga residents. We appealed but they didn't care. Since he started his second and last year of the program, we appealed again and were granted ga residency this time...sadly on the basis that our child is buried in ga...but every little bit of money saved helps! Jason has also been busy with work and his scouts. He has been cracking the whip on his scouts to get their acts together and do their stuff.

All I can say is that, if it is even possible, Brayden fell even more in love with dirt and trucks. The kid can't put two words together but he can tell you the name of every kind of truck and piece of construction equipment. He also loves my in-laws dog max and always asks to go see it. He loves to get down and wrestle with the dog and chase it all around. But no we are not getting a dog!!

London has all of a sudden just taken off. We have left the baby stage behind and are full swing into toddlerdom. She is a talker and has tons of new words everyday. She is working on holding her own against Brayden which causes lots more drama but we are working on it. London also traded her crib for a big girl bed and will finally go down the stairs on her own..most of the time. That has been a long time coming.

Besides that stuff and the normal day to day of life I have also become more obsessed with couponing. I will write a blog about it another time. It is my mormon form of crack. I have also been addicted to crafting this past month and done a ton of stuff. I came to the realization that I do crafts and make things as a way to deal with grief. These past few weeks have been really hard for me as it was Madison's due date. Not that we ever expected her to be born on her due date but it more made me think that maybe, finally, she would be able to be coming home from the hospital and be with our family. Thanks to everyone who gave me support especially Mealina when i called her to vent because i was so angry that the hospital had sent me a "thinking of you on your due date" card.

We are excited for the holidays and i have been scoping out black friday deals...My sister and I have big black friday plans! pictures to come...

Where has the time gone?

These past few weeks have been so incredibly busy at our house! Of course 99% of it all was self inflicted...so what have we been doing? Since I got back from Utah, we have been working on opening up a location for my bakery, Elegance by Emily. We scouted out locations, meet with vendors, wrote an extensive business plan including all the numbers you need..let me clarify...I didn't do any of the number because Math and I don't get along (even worse than spelling and I get along)...Jason did them all! Thanks hon! I had a photo shoot and am working on creating a new website...we drew blueprints, scouted out equiptment, and designed the interior. Needless to say...we have been working on it full time for several weeks with lots and lots of late nights...more so Jason and I (I don't do so well without sleep). We had an appointment set up with the bank to go today and apply for a business loan. However, last night, in trying to wrap everything up we needed for the bank...all the paperwork came to about 75-100 pages!...we came to the realization that in the end...now was not the best time to start this up on such a big scale. We had lots of reasons for it but in the end it came down to the fact that we just didn't feel 100% good about it and to take on such a huge operation we needed to feel that. We would be married to it and decided that our kids need us more right now. So in the end, we cancelled the meeting with the bank this morning and have begun working on a smaller scale plan to just expand the bakery out of our house. Jason will keep looking for jobs with companies and we will keep having faith that things will work out for the best.

Besides all that...we have keep busy with the kids! They have both grown-up so much in the past few weeks. London looks so big to me now and Brayden looks more and more like a little boy and not a toddler. London started nursery which is awesome but not so awesome that for some reason now Brayden is not doing well with nursery. He has never had a problem before. Luckily our ward has two nurseries and so we are going to try having them in separate ones to see how it goes. I have no idea why Brayden all of a sudden decided he doesn't like it anymore but hopefully we get it fixed so we can enjoy church once more.

Brayden is 110% pure boy! He loves animals and dogs! My in-laws recently got a dog, named Max, and Brayden loves the thing. Despite all of this, I still have not cracked and we will not have animals. I have enough to clean up after and spend money on! Brayden loves his sand-box that we made in the backyard. I love it to for the fact that it occupies him so well..the best out of anything probably...but I hate it for the fact that it always comes inside and there is always sand on the floor no matter how hard I clean!!! I told him, he better know how much I love him to put up with all the constant cleaning of sand in my house. Brayden has been doing speech therapy and I think it finally may be helping. He is starting to put two words togeather which is something we have worked really hard at. He had another sleep study done and still has sleep apnea but we don't have many options left to fix it so we will have to keep waiting till he gets bigger to do more about it.

Some funny things that Brayden has said or done recently:
-we have had a little frog living in our wagon in the backyard. Brayden thinks its the greatest thing! He always goes outside and opens the seats and plays with it. I don't know why it likes to live in our wagon...about 2 weeks ago, Brayden is outside screaming while I am doing other things. I go to see what the problem is and find that he has brought the frog in the house...only to then decide he is scared of it and I end up having to catch the thing. I really don't like animals! A few days after that, we think Jason scared it off with the lawnmower and now it is gone. Brayden still looks for it everyday and walks around the yard calling for it..."frog", "frog"...almost cute enough that I considered going to the pet store to get another one to live in the wagon..but I don't want to have to catch it again. so nope...
-I am learning that toddlers really mimic what you say...I was in the kitchen the other day...Brayden is standing on his step stool next to me. I spilled something and said, "oh freak". Immediately Brayden says "oh f-w-e-e-k"." It sounded more like a not so good other f-word". Realizing that my toddler now copies what I say, I then said, in response to that thought, "oh crap." of course Brayden goes "oh crap." Alright...note to self..you have children around that repeat what you say.

London is also doing great! The kid tries so hard to keep up with Brayden and is a little mover and shaker. She has begun standing up for herself which is good but means a lot more fighting between Brayden and her. She is still adorable and I have a lot of fun dressing her up and doing her hair. She doesn't like me doing her hair so much and always pulls it out...but oh well...that does not stop me from doing it. Her bow collection has grown a ton and Jason doesn't understand why I make her more when she just pulls them out...because she looks so cute! Just wait till her hair gets longer and I can do braids and curl it and oh my!!! London also is not fond of Max or animals...another reason not to get one!She has begun saying more words and now everything is "uh-oh". So pretty much between the two kids everything, all day long, is "uh-oh"

Sorry for the longest post ever but now you are caught up on our family!

Trip to Utah

In the middle of September, London and I took a trip out to Utah. I needed a change and so I used part of my "cruise fund" and bought a ticket and went. (I have been saving for about a year for Jason and I to go on a cruise when he graduates) London was amazing on the plane ride out. I was so nervous about it, I slept about 2 hours the night before. (No one likes a crying or screaming child on a plane and your stress level as a parent while trying to calm them down is at max panic level). We had such a packed trip but it was so fun. We were able to see so many friends and lots of family. On Friday night, we had a Hershey friends reunion which was really fun! Of all nights, London decided to start really walking on her own. She just took off. off course she kept trying to crawl or walk into the hot BBQ but there was no injuries so it was ok in the end. We had a fun visit with my old roommate Courtney and her cute little boys, had a fun shopping trip to the outlets with Tia and lots more! Thanks to everyone for letting us come visit! We had a great time! Note: the plane ride home was not as great...i learned my lesson had took the red eye home which had a four hour layover in Denver. London would not go to sleep! I think we walked about 10 miles around that airport. By the time we got home, the kid was black and filthy from crawling and walking around the great airport floors. We won't be taking that route home again if we can avoid it...but oh well...you gotta do what you gotta do!

Madison's headstone

Happily, Madison's headstone came in and was installed. It came in about 2 weeks early. Of course the Lord blessed us once again...The day the cemetery called to tell me it had come in and was installed, Jason, the kids, and I were out running errands. I was saying to Jason that I wished the headstone would come in. It is [was] so sad to go and see an empty space with a patch off dirt and struggling grass. Not five minutes later, the cemetery called and said the headstone had come in really fast and they had gotten it put in that day. Off course, Jason had scouts in an hour and it was rush hour traffic, but he knew I wouldn't be able to relax until I saw it so we decided to go up and see it anyway. We didn't have many options when we chose it because of cemetery guidelines but we are happy the way it turned out. Jason and I's compromise on it was that he could have the vase. It is a VERY southern thing to do and I was against it at first. But, now I can't imagine it without her flowers. Thanks to my mom who basically did the arrangement since I have no knowledge of flower arranging...sadly I picked out the wrong type of flowers for outside weather but I just wanted her to have "real pretty looking flowers". No worries...in a month I get to change it for Christmas!

Sessions Family pictures 2010

The last time Jason's family was able to get a complete family picture was 3 years ago at Jason and I's wedding. Since everyone came for Madison's funeral, we decided to go ahead and take some pictures. Amie did a great job as always! The Sessions Family

Our little family

Brayden can be sweet when he wants too...

Lolly loves her daddy!

We had a hard time getting the kids to cooperate but that is ok. Better than nothing and i think they are cute anyway.

Some of my favorite pictures...

These are some of my favorite pictures. I was looking at them the other night and it reminded me truly how small and precious Madison was. (She still is precious too) Looking at other pictures when they don't have a frame of reference skews your vision of her. Yes, her feet and hands were that small...small enough to fit her foot in my wedding ring and two of her hands. My ring is a size 61/2...not that big!

A sweet daddy moment!

I love this picture! It reminds me of how wonderful it was to get to hold her even if it was for only 10 minutes. I remember a few days after she was born, I was crying on Jason's shoulder in the NICU about not being able to hold my baby yet. He said, "Well think of it this way, if you did get to hold her right now that would mean she wasn't going to make it. So be glad you are not holding her."

So long for now summer...

Here are some fun pictures from this past 2010 summer. It was hot and really humid, my hair was one big frizz ball all the time, and a lot of it was spent in the hospital or on bed rest but we had fun and made good memories. So long for now summer... Jason and Brayden playing the Wii togeather...well Jason is playing and Brayden thinks he is playing..shhh don't tell him Lolly and Aunt Lizzie riding the ski trainer tube

Brayden loved this new toy that grandma bought. He thought it was so cool that he got to be a big boy and ski too

Gotta add driving the boat with grandpa to Brayden's top 10 favorite things to do

What a stylish cutie!

Funny Froggie...Cute Care Bear

My little cheer bear aka: care bear

The frog in his pond:aka grandma and grandpa's tub

What a cutie pie!

On Sunday, we went to dinner at my parents house. I brought along the kids Halloween costumes to show grandma how cute they looked. Brayden loves his frog costume and London is adorable in care bear costume...also fitting she is "cheer bear"! Brayden keep trying to do a frog jump and he thought he was funny and London thought he was hilarious. Gotta love thrift stores and cute Halloween costumes!

Video of London Walking

At Aunt AmyAnn's request here is a short video of London walking. She is getting better everyday! Yay!

She doesn't seem to mind dad's smelly work hats...she's about the only one...but she sure looks cute!

My Big Girl!

London is looking more and more like a toddler all the time to me. She is a funny little thing packed with personality. She is almost 1 1/2! Yay for nursery time! We still have to get London to walk. She stands up in the middle of the room, cruises, and will walk if you hold her hand but nothing on her own yet. I secretly think she can walk and just doesn't. She has also started climbing stairs and loves going up them but cant figure out how to come down yet....so she climbs up and then sits at the top and cries until you come get her. London is out little fishy. She absolutely loves the water. When we go boating or anywhere with water she just wants to be in it all the time. London is happy little thing and we are glad that she is part of our family.

She looks like such a big girl with her hair in pigtails!

Getaway

Shortly after the funeral was Emily's 25th birthday. She told me that she really wanted to do a getaway. (She's been telling me that for years, but I finally listened to her this time). We decided to go somewhere fun and new, so we decided to try Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (home of Dollywood). We weren't sure what to expect, but found a nice little hotel where we could relax and enjoy life. Grandma & Grandpa Rupp volunteered to watch the kids for the 2 nights we were gone, which I am very grateful for. We drove up Thursday night and enjoyed the sound of kid freedom all night. Friday we explored and found some great little shops. (They have a bunch of Christmas shops there open all year round, one even had a fancy hotel that we had to check out. It was a very nice place with Christmas themes and decorations up. If we ever make it back there, that's where we are staying.) We took advantage of our kid freedom and went and saw a movie, and then played some miniature golf. (I tried to let Emily win because I know how competitive she is, but she was too impatient for some of the obstacles, and from time to time I have to use some of my mad skills and remind her why she married me). On Saturday we got to have our favorite Golden Corral breakfast buffet with unlimited bacon, and then went for a little hike in the Smoky Mountains before coming back home. It was a great trip and I think she convinced me to do these getaways a little more often. A very Happy Birthday to my beautiful bride! What an amazing wife she is to me and wonderful mother she is to our children. I don't know how I got so lucky to have her as my eternal companion, but I'm very grateful I do. I don't know what I would do without her in my life. I love you Emily for all that you do and all that you are!

We tried to get a picture of the Pigeon Forge sign, while moving.

Showing off my mad putting and dressing skills.

The Christmas Story display at The Inn at Christmas Village.

I couldn't resist touching the lamp. It's a major award!

The hiking trail we took in the Smoky Mountains. Not too demanding, but definitely felt it afterwards.

I like to get out in nature.

The cute little waterfall at the end of the trail.

Sandbox Adventures

We decided that Brayden is getting big enough that he needs to have a way to burn off energy, be playing outdoors and be constructively destructive. So we figured the best way to accomplish all of that was to get him a sandbox. Since we are renting we didn't want anything permanent, so we went to the store and found a Little Tikes turtle sandbox. Luckily for frugal dad, there was a baby swimming pool on clearance right next to the turtles, and it was only $10 instead of $40, which meant we could get a few toys also. Gotta love summer clearance sales. We even got some extra sand since we're pretty sure it will somehow lose sand over time. We got it set up and use the regular swimming pool as a cover for it. Brayden got up from his nap and came out in the yard to see what Dad was doing. He picked up the upside down pool because he's curious like that and was super happy when he saw the sandbox and toys under it. He had so much fun that he got Jason to come play with him. Jason wanted satsified with only digging holes and building hills, so he added some water to make it more fun.

Brayden loved the idea of adding water to the mix and had to try it himself.


Of course by the end, Brayden was pretty much covered in sand, so he got bathed in the hose.

Madison's Funeral Service

We had an amazing memorial service for our little angel Madison. Emily & I could not have wished for anything better. We truly have felt the tender mercies of the Lord throughout this whole experience. Heavenly Father truly hears our prayers and knows how to comfort us. We are extremely grateful for all the love and support shown to us. We could not have made it through this without everyone else. We were very blessed to have all of the Rupps and Sessions come out and be with us for this special event. The talks, poems, and musical numbers performed at the memorial service were truly inspired and we felt the Spirit comfort our souls. A very special thank you to our friends, family, and great Bishop for your participation and loving support.

This is the special burial dress that Grandma Rupp made.

This is the special burial blanket that Grandma Sessions made.

Special flowers from family and friends.

Brayden & London seeing Madison for the first time.

Family gathered at the cemetery. We found the perfect

resting spot for our little angel in the Garden of Faith.
Very near to a friend of ours and some trees.

We decided we wanted to do a balloon launch in Madison's honor.

We let off 14 balloons, 1 for each day she lived.

All of her cousins got to participate, though there were some

who didn't want to let go of the balloon.

Emily and I saying our final goodbye.

We are so grateful for the exceptional service provided to us by the Byars Funeral Home and Sawnee View Cemetery for making this difficult process easier to handle and helping us create a special final memory tribute to our little angel.

We had a luncheon back at the church that was jointly put on by both Relief Societies. The food was incredible, and the love and support shown to us and our families was truly exemplary. Thank you so much Milton & Webb Bridge sisters.