June

For the first two weeks of June the kids and I went to Utah.  I was so homesick for Utah after a tough springtime. I wanted to go home so badly to Utah and just hang out with family and cook and shop with my mom. So I just decided to buy tickets and hope that Casey could make it.  He ended up not being able to come out to Utah at all, but we still had an awesome time!

Even though Casey wasn't there for my birthday, he still surprised me with a ginormous cake and flowers. 

 

The BYU planetarium with cousins

 Hit up Cafe Rio many times

Gave Aunt Brooke's dog a bath (the kids LOVED it)

Saw Cinderella at the Scera Shell. It was so much fun. 

  

 Had a sleepover at Aunt Brooke's house

Holland got her FIRST haircut! Before:

After

The kids had so much fun with cousin Ashley who Rainbow Loomed for them and painted their nails.

Went to a splash pad

The last weekend of our trip in Utah we went to Bear Lake with Casey's sister Maryn and her family. I had never been to Bear Lake and we had so much fun!

Hit up many shaved ice places with my mom.

Did a lot of my most favorite thing: hanging out with my sweet mom and dad. 

Saw one of our best Wisconsin friends, Katie!

Saw Wymount getting demolished!

2 weeks flew by! Oh how I adore Utah and my sweet family! 

Home Sweet Home

 We've been here in Cleveland a little over 3 weeks. We were really lucky to land the house that we're currently in. We had two options that were in the areas we wanted to live and were big enough and liveable. There wasn't much at all to choose from rental wise. One of the houses ended up not being an option because the owner decided to sell it and we didn't want to buy it! So thankfully we had another house that came to us through our friends who used to live in it which is less than a mile from our old house! I love the area our "new" house is in. It's a really nice neighborhood with big houses and a few small houses (our house). The thing I'm most excited about is that our neighborhood has a nice, big HOA pool, and park just a few block away.  We're already planning on going swimming everyday this summer which makes me so happy :)

While the neighborhood and the amenities are awesome the interior of the house has taken some getting used to.  I know I have nothing to complain about but it was hard moving into an 80s house! (that hasn't been updated). There are no overhead lights in any of the rooms except the bathrooms and the kitchen. So we had to buy a ton of floor lamps right when we moved in. The upstairs of our house is decent but the downstairs looked like an Easter egg. All the walls in our kitchen and family room were pink and the carpet was pink too.  It drove me nuts so I decided to paint it, and thankfully the owner of the house was fine with it! Here's the before and after pics.

 Before: (who paints the actual light switches???)

 The kitchen was really dark. I thought of a bunch of different things I could do to brighten it up. There was a random outlet on the ceiling and I tried hanging swag lights, but it looked dumb so my dad helped me (over Facetime) to wire this ceiling light.  It adds so much light and makes the kitchen look so much better and not feel like a dungeon.

 After:

 Our living room:

Next project is taking down the wallpaper in all the bathrooms.  I know we're just renting but it bugs me seeing things that could be changed easily (and cheap) that would make the house look a lot better and updated that aren't changed!

These past two months...

It is crazy how many times I've sat down to write this post and then changed my mind and decided not to write. I finally feel like I'm ready to start moving on.  This week we are moving back to Cleveland and leaving our sweet southern home that we've lived in for the past 9 months. This week will bring new beginnings, and it's bittersweet.
The past 2 months have been the hardest of my life! On New Year's Eve I found out I was pregnant. Casey and I were so excited because we'd been trying for a while and it was an exciting start to a New Year. At the end of January I started getting really sick. I wasn't sick at all when I was pregnant with Carly and Holland and this pregnancy totally threw me off.  I didn't just feel sick I was bleeding off and on and even though multiple ultrasounds showed no issues I was constantly worried. At this same time we got a surprise call from Casey's boss saying that we needed to move in a month back to Ohio. We weren't expecting to move until at least the summer and this threw all my plans off.  Marion, Arkansas was my home now and I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave my friends, Carly's preschool, our nice house, and the warm weather. I started having panic attacks on top of all my pregnancy sickness, and I felt like I didn't have control over anything. We couldn't even find a decent house in Cleveland!  My weight dropped 16 pounds in 3 weeks, which may be a good thing but not if you're pregnant. I told my Dr. and she wasn't worried, she said I'd feel better after the first trimester, and since the baby was measuring exactly on track at 12 weeks everything was normal. I was still a stressed out mess. I even passed out at my Dr.'s office when they tried to draw my blood because my blood sugar was so low. At the end of February Casey went out of town for 3 days to look for places to live in Cleveland. Those were the longest, hardest days of my life! And my sweet friend Jessie was an angel and got me through those hard days even though she doesn't even know it! The morning after Casey got home I woke up and was bleeding pretty heavy. I knew I was having a miscarriage. I called my Dr. and she said to come in and get an ultrasound. Little Holland came with me and sat quietly and perfectly on the chair beside me not knowing one bit what was going on. She was my angel there taking care of me. The Dr. and a student just stared at the screen. It was obvious there wasn't a heart beat. I was devastated. I thought I had caused this. Whenever I heard that someone had had a miscarriage before I felt really bad for them but I figured that since miscarriages happened so often it couldn't be that sad, right? Wrong, it stinks big time! I was pregnant for 12 weeks, and that sweet little baby helped me get through each day that I felt stressed and sick. When I found out that my baby had died I wondered why on earth did I have to deal with all this right now!? When it rains it pours. I scheduled a D&C and the day after it I felt an overwhelming amount of peace. I knew that I wasn't supposed to have a baby on September 10th.
During this hard time Casey and I have had so much love and support from family and friends. Whenever I would start feeling extra bad for myself it seemed like someone would call to talk. I have been so grateful for all of you who have just listened and commiserated with me. During this time I have also learned how important it is to be positive and optimistic. Sure we all know that, but I have really noticed how much better I feel when I realize all the I've been blessed with. There is so much power in having hope. Heavenly Father has blessed me with so much, and I know he answers my prayers. I have never looked forward to going to church each Sunday as much as I have these past 2 months. Whenever I walk in the doors I feel like I enter into a sanctuary of peace! Every talk and lesson that has been given has seemed like it has been for me. I know that Heavenly Father knows us and is there waiting for us to come to him! I am so grateful for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the knowledge that I have that I can be with my family forever.

Casey is 32!

For Casey’s birthday this year we went out to eat and then had a little family party.  Casey is very low maintenance and continually said that he only wanted garments for his birthday and to not get him anything else because it would just cost more money. I never listen to him when he says he just wants something boring, so this year I bought him tickets to a Grizzlies game and set up a babysitter and we went out. 

Last year having Rainbow Chip cake and frosting. It’s Casey’s favorite and Better Crocker discontinued the frosting!!! I found some of that frosting at Big Lots and stocked up.

We love you Casey Garth! Thanks for being such a great daddy and husband!

Mom and Dad Come to Arkansas!

My parents came to visit the week after Christmas and we had so much fun! We explored Memphis, went to Graceland, went shopping, and ate delicious BBQ. When we’ve asked people what to do in Memphis they always say Memphis is known for Graceland, BBQ and MLK’s death place.  So we hit up all those things. My parents and I aren’t fans of Elvis whatsoever but we still wanted to experience Graceland. I am so glad we went. It was so interesting to see everything and it was actually fun. You wear a headset around and there’s a lot of cool info you learn and a lot of it is Elvis talking about stuff, and you don’t just see his house you get to see his estate. There are like 5 little homes behind his house; One was his office, one his racquetball court, and there are others I just don’t remember what they are… There’s also a museum with all of his awards in it. It is soo crazy. I also realized that he was a good guy and actually pretty handsome before he grew those sideburns out and started doing drugs.

Handsome:

Drugs and sideburns:

A few pics of the dining room and kitchen. Everything in the house is original.

His first Grammy, IN THE FLESH! (I got a little excited)

Walls and walls of all his awards

On New Years Eve we went and got some BBQ at Central BBQ. Everyone has their favorite BBQ joint here and we’ve tried all the popular ones, and Central is our favorite. It’s AMAZING.

Thank you so much Mom and Dad for coming to visit. We had so much fun!