The many faces of Aubrie

This post is full of pictures to remember all the funny things Aubrie says and does. She is growing so quickly now at 2 1/2 years old. She says the funniest things to us and is such as smarty pants.

Aubrie loves playing with Lokie "Yoki" at grandma's house on Fridays.

She is finally brave enough to drive her "Corbette" around the circle with her friends.

This little monkey LOVES rice and noodles at the Chinese restaurant.

In February and for Valentines day, we went to the Monster Truck show. Aubs loved the purple one.

Grandma started taking Aubrie to get a pedicure every Friday....she loves getting them and holds so still. All of the Asian ladies love her.

She also loves to visit Grandpa Matt at the Firestation

 And see the fishys and sharks at the Aquarium with Grandma Susie and Papa P

This girl absolutely loves playing in the water and going to '"swimmy lessons" with daddy.

Aubrie also has become addicted to Slurpees and everytime we pass by a 7-11 she will ask for one, but it must have a pink or purple straw.

 Grandma and Grandpa Evans had 3 baby chicks born this Spring. Aubrie loves seeing them.

Happy New Years!!!

Welcome 2015!

Here's to a new year filled with new adventures and fun.

 Little Aubrie loves any Disney Princess and loves posing for pictures. This girl has such thick and beautiful naturally curly hair! This was the back of her hair when she woke up this morning!

 She loves her princesses and dress-ups.

                                                    Looking back at the year 2014:

- Both Jeff and I started new jobs this year. I started at RPT as an outpatient PT and Jeff worked for Fondell Woodwork until July when he started with Ivory Homes as as warranty supervisor.

-We took lots of fun vacations including a weekend in Moab, Hatch and Disneyland and trips to the zoo.

-We had pictures of 5 generations of girls on the Evans side taken.

-Shannon graduated from Riverton High School and started attending Snow College.

- Aubrie enjoyed the summer with her first swimming lessons, parades, fireworks, and demolition derbys.

-We celebrated Aubrie's 2nd birthday party with a Little Mermaid theme.

-I went through months of IUIs and attempting to have another child, only to find we would have to do IVF. In October we were pleased to find out we were pregnant on our own! What a miracle!

- In July, Jeff underwent back surgery for his herniated disc.

-In the fall, we played at Cornbelly's and the Wee Witches festival (with Grandma P and Susie as witches). Aubrie loved trick or treating as Cinderelli.

Merry Christmas 2014

 We took Aubrie to see Santa at the mall....she was so excited to meet him and knew exactly what she was going to ask for...a tablet. When the time came, she became really nervous and hugged him, but would not talk or smile for any pictures.

 Making Christmas sugar cookies with lots of sprinkles.

 Christmas morning at our house!

December Fun

 To kick off the Christmas season, we took Aubrie to Thanksgiving Point to see Santa's reindeer and drive through the lights. She loved looking at all the 'yites' and seeing Rudolf.

 We also celebrated with the 2nd annual Evans Christmas Ugly Sweater and Gingerbread house party.

 We had good intentions to make a log cabin house, but the roof ended up sliding off multiple times.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with the Bath side of the family and Aubrie and Jeff got to participate in the nativity with Aubs as Mary. 

 Such a cute Mary!

The miracle we have been waiting for

I am still in shock (even at 14 weeks along) that I can say I am pregnant again, and even better- naturally! It's quite a long journey we have experienced to get this far.... so here goes a brief outline to this point:

We decided last year that we would attempt to have another child again, knowing that it might take some time. Months and months past with no success and I was starting to become depressed. I decided in May to take action and try the medicated cycle of IUI and figured since we had success with Aubrie, it would surely work quickly. Boy was I wrong! 3 IUI cycles later and growing frustration we still had no pregnancy, despite having excellent response each cycle with lots of eggs.

After 3 attempts, Dr. Johnstone suggested we consider IVF. I never thought I would even have to go this route since we had success with Aubrie and we were diagnosed with "unexplained infertility". So Jeff and I decided we would start saving money and realized it was going to cost more than we could afford out of pocket. It would cost us at least $20,000 without all the extra pre-testing required! I got all of the information ready to take out a home equity loan as this would be the only way we could come up this money.

I also decided to sign Jeff and I up for a study called the Fazst study that was looking at couples with infertility and if the man has improved success with a study drug that is a daily vitamin with zinc and folic acid. I figured, what the heck, it only lasts 6 months and we get paid every month for participating which would help with the IVF cost. 2 months into the study, Jeff's numbers and results were skyrocketing and I truly feel whatever this medication he is on was the secret to our success.

I am now 14 weeks along and it has been quite the experience. I have been quite sick from 3 weeks, mostly just feeling nauseated and tired. I have also had major protein cravings that hit randomly. I have been working 60-70 hr weeks, which doesn't help with the fatigue, and have to take zofran to function. I really didn't want to take medication, but I wouldn't survive without it.

At 6 weeks we had our first u/s and heard a healthy heartbeat. We got to see our growing baby again at 12 weeks at Fetal Foto. At that appointment the baby was measuring 2 weeks bigger, so in a few weeks we will find out the gender.

We both are so greatful that we are able to raise another child, as we weren't sure it would ever happen again!

Thanksgiving memories

This Thanksgiving we celebrated it 2 times back to back, once with the Evans and again with the Baths. Needless to say, we were tired of eating Thanksgiving food even before the actual holiday.

One of my favorite things to have at Thanksgiving time is Grandma P's pumpkin pie. I think Jeff and Aubrie both enjoy it as well.

Thanksgiving evening we joined in with the crazies at Walmart for our Black Friday shopping. We did quite well this year and got everything and more on our list, most of it was of course for Aubs.

Jeff was excited for fall and of course pumpkin cookies and made just a few.

Happy Halloween

Aubrie was very excited this year for Halloween. We spent a lot of time talking to her about the trick or treat process and she would go around our house knocking on doors saying 'trick or treat'.

For Halloween I had purchased a witch costume for Aubrie, but of course she found a Cinderella (or Cinderrrrelllla/Cinderelli) dress at Costco, which she had to have. She was able to dress up for Gardner Village Witch's Night Out in her witch dress. Both Grandma P and my mom were witches this year in the Wee Witches Land.

On Halloween night, Jeff and I took Aubrie out for about an hour and though she would be satisfied with that. Boy were we wrong! Jeff ended up taking her out for another few hours around our block. She was in love with trick or treating after she found out she got candy at every house. Her favorite treats were suckers....she would try to eat every one she got.  Afterwards we had our traditional chili and breadsticks at home and enjoyed watching Aubs hand out treats to the "kids" at the door.