What I am grateful for this year.....

My new little baby boy
My amazing husband
My Job
Family (both sides of it)
Sisters and Sisters-in-law
Good, abundant, easily accessible Food.
The gospel in my life.
Our new calling in the ward.
Pictures
My baby boy's happy, friendly personality.
Modern Medicine.
Technology.
Sup-pumps, fans, insurance, and people willing to lend a helping hand.
Cell phones....
The internet
Blogging
My Health
My patient, smart, loving, positive husband
An awesome washer and dryer
My days off
All the modern baby supplies like: breast pumps, diapers, bottles, binkies, bumbos, bouncers, swings, carseats, toys, etc.
Baby Showers
Health Insurance
My Mom and Dad
My Mother in law and Father in law
Grandparents
Our new home
My glasses
Friends
I could go on but those are the few that come immediately to mind.
This has been a really hard but at the same time a really good year for Tj and I and the best part about it was our new sweet baby boy who we love so much... for him we are most grateful... he is our biggest joy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we had Thanksgiving with Tj's Family. Thanksgiving morning Tj went and played football with all of his cousins. (This is a tradition they do it almost every year.) Then after that we all met at Tj's Mom's house for yummy Thanksgiving Dinner! It was so good! Lots of Cousins, Lots of Babies, Lots of really yummy food, and Lots of Fun!! That weekend Tj and I debated about taking part in Black Friday but decided that we could use the money in more "responsible" ways. All in all it was a fun Thanksgiving! I have worked the last few so it was awesome for me to enjoy homemade food and family!

Birthday Surprise!

The night of my birthday we had a little surprise or unexpected adventure as you might say..... we went to Tj's Aunts house to pick up some baby stuff.

When we got there they invited us to go with them on a little adventure? They were headed out to the Pah Tempe Mineral Hot Springs in the Virgin River Canyon in Laverkin.

It was so fun! I had never been there although I had heard about these hot springs my whole life. The water was so warm it felt like a hot tub.... but it also was full of minerals and smelt very strongly of Sulpher?
It was so fun we climbed down into the canyon in the dark and crossed the river and climbed up into these huge warm pools of hot mineral water. It was so relaxing and we just hung out and talked for awhile.
Thanks Tyler and Natalie for inviting us on your little adventure, especially since it was my birthday! Oh and Thanks Shauna and Brad for watching Orvil!

Happy Birthday to Me!! (and Ani)

That's right Happy Birthday to Me!!!

And for those of you who don't know also Happy Birthday to Ani!!
That's right I am a twin and so I have always shared my Birthday!!!

Our Birthday is November 9th this year we turned 24 years old!
I had a pretty fun day... we just did a ton of things that I wanted to do: I had a long bubble bath, Tj made yummy breakfast, we played tennis, went to lunch, and that night we went to dinner with my family to Texas Roadhouse and then we went back home and had fabulous Better than Sex cake again. Yes it was so good again!

Included are pictures of my big present from TJ.... he asked the gift wrappers at Christensen's if they could put a big heart on it! Cute huh!

Time Out For Women!!

So my mom invited all the girls in our family to this awesome women's conference done by Desert Book. The conference is called Time Out for Women. It was so good! We were able to take two days out of our hectic lives and get together (without kids) and enjoy much needed spritually uplifting music and spoken word! I throughly enjoyed it and I think we should do it again next year (in Vegas)! Thanks for taking us MOM it was really good!




Only picture I took....Aunt Lisha with Bailey and Orvil!!

Happy Halloween !!!!

So this was our first Halloween with a kid.... and boy was it fun! Having a kid just makes the holidays that much better. Orvil was a lion.... my plan orginally was that I was going to be Dorothy, Tj was going to be a scarecrow, and Orvil a lion but as you can see from these pictures we just didn't get it together. It was still way fun!

Our Little Lion




Orvil had so much fun in his lion costume he loved it!!!



Orvil with his new cousin Ian who was a Monkey!



So Cute!!

Tj's Birthday......

So Tj's birthday was October 30th! He turned twenty-five. It was a fun day. We both had the day off so we just enjoyed hanging out together all day. That evening we enjoyed dinner with a bunch of our friends at The Brick Oven. Then we went back to our house and enjoyed the Stout's family version of Better than Sex cake. Then that evening Grandma Shauna watched Orvil and Tj and I went to the Michael Jackson Movie. It was really interesting.... Michael Jackson (as weird as he got at the end) was a pretty amazing guy? Yeah so all in all it turned out to be a pretty fun day! Happy Birthday Tj! Love your Babe!!

Orvil Laughing His Head Off !!

So this is a little bit of footage of Orvil laughing his little heart out. The first part of this is on TJ's phone so if you really want it text TJ and he can forward it to you. But I caught the tail end of this laughing moment on my camera so yeah enjoy! The funny part is that Tj is barely even touching Orvil, all that TJ is doing is scratching the couch, which Orvil thinks it is just hilarious!!!

Changes....

So lately I have been having some really bad headaches. I couldn't figure it out. I am not much of a caffeine drinker. I usually get pretty good sleep, etc. So I have been talking to my mom and my sister's about my symptoms, and after talking to them I think I figured it out. My symptoms like bad headaches, blurred vision, pain right behind my eyes, etc all seemed to have gotten alot worse since I had orvil.

Also I noticed that I was having a really hard time especially on the days that I work..... So I made an appointment for an eye exam. In the back of my mind I was thinking oh well if this is negative then I will go to a neurologist. Ha, ha...boy was I wrong.

In my eye exam the doctor put the 20/20 screen up on the wall and I couldn't make out any of the letters. Yeah it was somewhat humiliating. I was totally thinking that my whole headache problem was not my eyes.....

So after they did this to my eyes and I was blind and helpless for the rest of the day....(dilation)



I came back later with TJ.....who was telling everyone that he quote unquote "Had to go help Ang get her Nerd on" and I picked out a pair of these...

Road Trip...

Tj wanted to go on a little road trip. So we went to Salt Lake for the weekend. We went to a family baptism and we stayed at my brother Clint's House in Taylorsville. It was a fun little get away for Tj and I since we haven't really traveled to much because we had such a busy summer. We hung-out with the Wardenburgs, we slept over at Clint and Emma's, had Donuts from some awesome bakery in the morning, went to Abby and Jeter's soccer games, went to Tj's step Dad's, daughters-in-laws baptism, ate lunch with there family.... and drove home. Oh yeah and on the way home we stopped at Ikea and got a couple of things for our new house! (: All in all it was a pretty fun trip and it was fun to see family that we don't get to see that often.

Introducing.....

Our newest little nephew on my side of the family...

Ryder Zanger Tebbs

He weighed in at 8lb. 3 oz and was 21 in. long born at 10:27 p.m.

We are so excited for Erika and Ricky and the arrival of there new little boy. He is so stinkin cute. Erika you are one amazing mom and I am so proud of you and all you do! Congrats you guys on your new little arrival! We are excited that Orvil has another little boy cousin to hang out with when he gets big!!!

First attempt at Rice Cereal....

Yeah I am excited to try something besides milk? What mom isn't? This next phase, the whole baby food phase, kinda excites me I am not going to lie. I think that it is really entertaining....the whole shove gobs of weird tasting stuff into your babys mouth to see there reaction.

Included are some pictures of Orvil's first attempt at baby food (Rice Cereal) ... I think it is extremely funny and very cute as well.

Orvil Check-up.

Orvil had a doctors appointment today. Here are the details, he is now four and a half months old. He weighs in at 16 pounds 14 ounces and almost 26 inches long. This puts him about the 70% percentile.... so yeah he is not as fat as he once was. He is now starting to thin out a bit as he grows taller.

Introducing......

Our brand new little nephew....

Ian David Herd

Born September 23, 2009 and weighing in at 8lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long. Yeah we are so excited that Tj's sister Bree and Husband Shawn had there baby boy! He is so stinkin cute. We are so excited that Orvil will have a boy cousin that will be this close to his age!!! In a year these two are going to be trouble!!!

Rodeo Parade.....

So when I was a kid Rodeo weekend was the best. We usually were in the childrens parade, then we went to the Rodeo Parade the next day, and then that night we went to Grandma Hafens for tacos and then we went to the Rodeo. This was always a weekend that I looked forward to as a kid. This was my first experience this year with a kid and it was fun. Orvil was so good first he rode in the childrens parade with some of his cousins on a float. He was a little cowboy and he rode on a little brown rocking horse and we found him a little brown cowboy hat, he looked adorable and he did so good. Then I also took Orvil to the parade and loved it and then we all went to the Rodeo and loved it. He was such a good boy the whole weekend. We sure enjoyed the rodeo this year as always...thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hafen for getting us tickets!!!! Picture overload....sorry he was just so stinkin cute!!!

Colorado River Rafting Trip

This week Tj had a fun opportunity to go on a river rafting trip on the Colorado River. He went for three days and rode in a raft down the Colorado River. It was a pretty awesome invitation because the guys who organized the trip had been waiting for a permit to do this part of the river for a really long time. ( I think like almost 20 years?) Anyways he was gone for a couple of days.. but he was able to take his friend Randy Paul with him and they had alot of fun. Included I have a short video clip and a picture. Tj said the bottom of the Colorado River is just amazing and incredibly beautiful!!!

Orvil 4 Months Old !

These pictures I took just happen to land exactly on Orvil's four month mark. The first few pictures are of Orvil enjoying one of the new features of our new house. Mom's jacuzzi tube Orvil love's it, I just put a few inches of water in there and he has the time of his life, screaming, scooting, and kickin his legs.

Some of the things I want to remember about Orvil at this stage:

Tj's nickname for him right now is Monkey Head.
My nickname for him right now is Sweet Boy.
He plays so hard he falls asleep while in the bouncer or under his swingin toys.
He loves to have your full attention and if he doesn't get it he screams.
How his head is to heavy so he has a bobble head look when he is sitting or standing.
He loves to scream hence I think for Halloween I think he is going to be Tarzan, a lion, a tiger, or some other such animal that screams.
He loves the Bath.
He has big beautiful Blue Eyes...hence the picture in the towel..(above)
He loves his Dad.
He gives awesome dead fish kisses.
He also loves any kind of music like the radio, the hymns at church, any toy that makes music, etc.
When ever he is sad or having a "moment" all I have to do is sing him a song.
One of our favorite songs is an Ang Original its called "Orvil Wade Stout on the Apricot Tree." He totally loves it when I sing this to him.

Happy Labor Day Weekend to Us.....

So Labor Day this year was fun.... well not really I got home from work on Sunday Sept 6th to find Tj, and his brother Devin and girlfriend Emily mopping and sucking water out of our basement. That's right mopping up alot of water out of the basement of our brand new house. The shop vac was in full suck mode and there was water everywhere.

Some of you may know that about a year ago our old house completely flooded..... So yeah to come home from work to find another flood was really discouraging. Our insurance ended up covering most of it.... but it was still not very fun.
Needless to say Tj and I are the flood experts, every year of our marriage so far we have had a major flood. Hopefully we have met our quota and we will not have anymore for awhile.

To sum it up a sprinkler line broke above our window well and water filled the window well, came through the window and flooded two bedrooms and Tj's office. Don't worry for insurnace purposes we had to take pictures... so yes pictures are included with this lovely little story. p.s. neither one of us was home all day so the water continued to flow all day long..(:

Another Happy Reunion....

This is another good picture Tj took of us after work one night. Wow look at the bags under my eyes...wow... also notice the pasty whiteness of my face and how tired I look. But I wanted Tj to take this picture because of the little bug who is asleep on my chest he is so sweet. This little newborn stage is so special when they love to snuggle and sleep on your chest. Thanks Dad so much for taking care of me all day.... Love Baby Orvil!!

Our new house.....

We finally finished our new house. Wow has it been a work in progress. Tj has been going to bed at 1 or 2 in the morning and waking up around 6 am for months now. And with the new baby we are both exhausted. We were finally able to move in on August 17th, 2009. We totally love our new house and are enjoying it, and we both feel totally spoiled living here. A big thanks to Mom and Dad Rogers, and Shauna and Brad Oliver for helping us every step of the way.... and also to Dan Hoopes and his construction crew they were great to work with. We finally get to slow down and just relax and make our house a home. (You will have to come over if you want to see the rest....)

Derrick and Kristi's Wedding

This was a special weekend. On Saturday August 8th 2009. Tj's brother Derrick got married to Kristi Esplin. Yeah I finally got another Sister-in-Law! It was a beautiful wedding, and it was fun to have an excuse to get Orvil some sweet church clothes. So at the end of the day I had a ton of pictures of Tj, Orvil, and I, but not a single picture of the Bride and Groom...whoops? So I will have to edit this later and add a picture of Derrick and Kristi. So for now all I have are some pictures of Tj, Orvil, and I. p.s. the colors were green and orange....it turned out really pretty and it was a really fun weekend.

Going Back To Work.....

For those of you who don't know I am a nurse. I work full time at the hospital. When I had Orvil I was allowed 12 weeks off. That lovely little break sadly came to an end today. I had to return to work ... and boy was it hard. I work 3 twelve hour shifts a week. For those of you who have ever worked 12 hour shifts, you know that 12 hours is a really long time and it can be really hard.... well add new baby, no sleep, and the new found aches and pains of a postpartum body to that, and you have one really tired person. Yeah those first couple of weeks back to work I was pretty much exhausted and somewhat zombie like. Included is a picture Tj or "Dad" took of Orvil and I after a long day at work. As you can see we really missed each other, and we were content to just snuggle up together and go to sleep. After our long days without eachother all I wanted to do when I got home was hold my little squirty (my current nick-name for Orvil.) I totally have so much more respect for working mom's now.

Orvil Update!!!

These pictures and video were taken July 25, 2009. When Orvil was about ten weeks old. One week before this he weighed in at 13 lbs 10 oz and 24 inches long, this put him in the 85% percentile...needless to say he was kinda fat. This was a good turning point for Orvil, he started to smile and coo a little bit and he started to sleep a little better. This is when he started to be really cute and fun for Tj and I. The video doesn't show much I just thought it would be fun to have to compare to later on. My favorite feature of Orvils would have to be all of his dark hair and his big chubby cheeks. At this point all he can really do is eat, poop, and sleep... although in the video clip you can sorta see his first little attempt at smiling. Sorry the video jumps around alot and I even turn it sideways oops...(:

24th of July Weekend.

This was my last weekend off well... on maternity leave before I had to go back to work and back to the real world. Kristi's wedding shower was the 24th and also that weekend Aunt Lisha was in town from Phoenix so we got to hang-out with her. This gave Tj and I another opportunity to attempt to take Orvil swimming... yeah right!!! It was still fun to see Lisha and her kids and to swim in the Hoopes's awesome salt water pool! Even though Orvil didn't enjoy it very much.

Coconut Cupcakes......mmmmm

So on July 24, 2009 I had to bring a yummy treat for my new sister-in-laws wedding shower. I saw these on a recipe blog they were so good. All you do is add coconut flavoring to a white cake batter and to white frosting, then bake the cupcakes. After you frost them you put coconut flakes on top. They were really yummy (I used the realy small cupcake pan that has the mini cupcakes and when they were done I refrigerated them so they were served cold).... yes they were yummy, and very pretty as well. The picture included is just one I found on the internet.

Hafen Reunion at Barclay Nevada.

So I thought it was only my family that spent time out in the desert and mountains talking about our heritage and ancestors.... guess I was wrong? On July 18th... Tj, Orvil, and I went to the Hafen family reunion out at Grandpa Hafen's Ranch in Barclay, Nevada. It was interesting and fun and we got to hear alot of old pioneers stories about the people that spent time out there near his ranch. One of the fun things about the ranch is there is a train that goes right by the few home out there. This is some pictures and footage that I took of the train while we were out there.