Libby Meeting Santa

We took Libby to see Santa tonight. She was great, no fuss and no muss. We were in and out within 30 minutes which made Dustin a happy camper, so he treated us to dinner at Bandidos, our favorite little Mexican spot.

Giving Thanks on Turkey Day

I love Thanksgiving, it embodies everything that it is good in this world; family, giving thanks and food. Lately I’ve been very “un-Emily” like and not wanted to fuss with the mess. The last two years we’ve ditched the kitchen for eating out at Salt Lake’s, Little America Hotel, which has been great. I don’t think we’ll always do this, but for now it’s the tradition. We were joined again this year by Dustin’s family, which we loved having with us. After dinner we spent the night at Barberland hanging out and playing games. It was great day.

Happy Halloween

Libby’s initial costume didn’t work so we had to improvise by making her tutu her costume, which ended up being just fine. We went over to my Mom’s to say hi and my cousin’s stopped by with their kids so we snagged a few photos. Then finished the night over at our neighbors house for the annual Halloween “soup off”.

Go Aggies!

My little brother Tim works for Utah State University with the admissions department. Every year they do a traveling recruiting trip at the Davis Conference Center (which is in Layton where we live). We decided to meet up with him at the event and of course get our picture taken with ‘Big-Blue’.

Viva Las Vegas

Dustin decided he was a little burned out from work and wanted to get away for the weekend. So we packed up and headed to Vegas to see Brent, Sarah and the girls. It’s our favorite little get-a-way, we love spending time with them while basking in the Vegas sun.

The State Fair

The Utah State Fair usually takes place right around my Birthday in early September. We were excited to go and take Libby but she of course slept the entire time. So Dustin and I enjoyed eating our way through it. We also had some company too. Dustin’s Brother Brandon, his wife Kelly, and their four kids came with us and we had a great time.

Libby’s Newborn Photo’s

We found an amazing photographer, Paige Davis, and had a great Saturday taking these amazing photo’s of Libby. Paige was amazing and I highly recommend her to any of my local friends.

Barber Family “Barbie-Que”

Luckily – the Barber family annual 4^th of July party was later than normal and I was able to go. This is by far my favorite holiday and my favorite family party and I would have hated to miss it. But I didn’t because Libby came early and the party was late.

The day that changed our lives forever…

On Sunday July 3^rd – I had what I thought was flu like symptoms, that got progressively worse as the day went on. By late Sunday night I couldn’t bare the pain anymore and Dustin took me up to the hospital to get checked out. What I thought was the flu – was actually preeclampsia and that had escalated to what’s called HELLP syndrome. Needles to say our “well just got to the hospital to get checked out” turned into calling our families at midnight letting them know the baby was coming via emergency c-section. As the prepped me for the c-section both of our Moms, my Brother Tim and Dustin’s Sister Megan all came up to the hospital just in time to see me off for surgery. They all anxiously waited around for Miss Libby to make her arrival which was at 2:19 AM on July 4^th.

What an amazing day – and what an amazing experience. Despite not going as planned (Libby came 3 weeks early) I would not change anything about that day, it was perfect. She was perfect… I’ll never forget the afternoon of the 4^th. After Our families had come and gone. The 3 of us just sat in the hospital room and hung out. All I have and all I need in life were in that room — my new little family. There was such a tender peace about Libby that just filled our room. You couldn’t help but feel the joy and be happy.  It was an amazing feeling & an amazing experience that Dustin and I will cherish forever.

Checketts Family Baby Shower

Dustin’s Mom, Dad and Sister were kind enough to throw  us a Checketts Family shower. This was supper nice and much appreciated on our part. I was teasing Dustin in the picture that he looks more pregnant than I did, which – he did. Overall we had a great night with good food and family.