Birthdays Last Month

Houston and I both celebrated birthdays last month, Houston's being the BIG 30!! Luckily, we both got to celebrate a few times. I started off my birthday at breakfast with my family and a few friends. Then we spent most of the 4th up in Prescott walking in the downtown area...and then finished off the day with my mom, cousin Nicole and Houston watching fireworks in Peoria. Definitely had a great birthday, hard to believe I'm another year older. Seems like I'm approaching 30 way too fast. At least I know I will always be a few years younger than my husband :) Houston then surprised me with a birthday dinner with my family and a bunch of our friends, which was awesome! I was completely surprised. Thank you to all of you who shared it with me. For Houston's birthday, I took him to the Bass Pro Shop for dinner. The food was amazing and the restaurant was so cool inside, it reminds me of how I want my cabin in the woods built! Then I surprised him with a big group of us going down to the Diamondbacks game sitting up on the balcony of the TGI Fridays for dinner and to watch the game. Good times! I would highly recommend this if you've never done it. We also went out to Tempe for dinner at the Four Peaks Brewing Co and a comedy show with our friends Dan and Ellie. Comedy shows are so much fun to go to and I always leave there saying that I wasn't expecting it to be as funny as it was. Thanks Dan and Ellie! We love you guys!

Oh the Beauty of Colorado...

My mom and I were able to sneak away to visit my uncle and aunt up in Chimney Rock, Colorado last weekend for about 5 days and we had such a great time! The first day we got there, they took us on a beautiful 20 mile ATV ride up the mountains. When we got to the top, you could see valley after valley of mountain ranges and it was just gorgeous. We were so dirty from the ride but we didn't care because the scenery was breathtaking and the fresh air felt so nice. The next day we headed through Durango into Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Rico, Dolores, etc and it was amazing. All of the mountains were snow capped and everything was so green...we took lots of pictures! We brought our lunch and ate at a cute little park in Silverton, then we spent some time in Telluride riding the gondola up to Mountain Village and walked around taking in the beauty. It was such a fun day and very relaxing. I was amazed at all of the handcraft beer Colorado has...every town we visited has there own brewery and new beers to try. That was a lot of fun! The next day, my mom and I went into the Pagosa Springs area in the Weminuche Valley to Williams Creek Lake. We have been going up there since I was a kid with all of our uncles, aunts and cousins and have so many wonderful memories there. So we just relaxed at the lake all day and remembered that it was 115 degrees back home. It was so nice to be there, just wished that the rest of my family could have been there too. The next day, we went to First Fork and fished for a few hours...I did catch one fish :) If Houston had been there with me, I'm sure I could have caught more. The only thing that would have made this trip even better was if he had been with us. I can't wait to show him this part of Colorado...it is just absolutely beautiful. One day, I truly hope that we can retire up there on a ranch with horses.

Dinner at Dillon's on Lake Pleasant

We decided to check out Dillon's on Scorpion Bay at Lake Pleasant for dinner the other night. We got there right at sunset and man was it beautiful out. Not too warm outside and the light reflecting off of the water was just gorgeous. Eating dinner right on the water was a perfect ending to a long busy day. Great food in a great location!

Getaway to Sedona

This past weekend, I planned a trip to take Houston to Sedona. We just really needed to getaway from everything and just relax and enjoy each other's company. We left on Saturday night when I got off of work and headed up to our hotel. Once we got there, we went to the Cowboy Saloon in the downtown area of Sedona and had drinks and appetizers. If you've never had cactus fries with prickly pear dipping sauce there before...you have to go because they are unbelievably good! We had a great night on Saturday and continued the relaxing vacation on Sunday with beer tasting at Oak Creek Brewing Co, wine tasting, walking around town, playing pool, eating amazing food and watching the Suns win! I don't know what it is up there but something comes over you and gives you such a feeling of being at peace when you are there. You kind of put all worries aside and take in the cool fresh air and breathtaking scenery. A true sense of contentment comes over you while in Sedona and I absolutely love that about that place. Even though we have been there so many times, every time I see the red rocks...it feels like it's more beautiful than the last time I saw them. We had a great time together and felt rejuvenated to head back home.

Rough Few Days

This past Monday was our 4 week follow up appointment with the Dr's to hear the baby's heartbeat. We had seen it at the last appointment and all was well. During those four weeks I was feeling great and didn't have any signs that would lead me to believe that everything wasn't ok with the baby. To our surprise, the Dr was having a very hard time trying to find the baby's heartbeat. She brought us into another room and tried two other different kinds of ultrasounds. We were then given the news that the baby's heart had stopped beating about 5 days after our last appointment. We thought that we were in the clear because in a few days I would have been 13 weeks along. As you could all imagine we were devastated and it was an emotional day on Tuesday and Wednesday for us but all in all we are doing ok.

I am glad that today is over and my procedure is done, now I feel like we can really get on with things. Our Dr suggested waiting a couple more months before beginning to start trying again. So we are going to definitely plan some sort of trip to get away this summer and just enjoy time with each other. We know that God has a plan for a family for us and that everything happens for a reason. After going through this experience you become so aware of how common this is and how many people we know that have gone through similar situations. We are just extremely grateful that we were even able to get pregnant and without any help; we are hoping and praying that it happens again for us in the near future.

During this difficult time, you truly find out the people who love and care for you. Without family and friends, it would have been much, much harder to get through. It has been amazing the love and support we have received. There is absolutely no doubt that Houston and I both have AMAZING families! That would include all parents, grandparents, godparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. We are so blessed to have such incredible friends as well...how lucky are we??? Not too many people get both sides of that.

Another very important thing I have been reminded of is how amazing my husband is...there is nothing better than to be loved and adored by the one you love and adore. Time and time again, I'm just reminded of the many reasons why I married him. You could never find a more honest, giving, caring, strong, brilliant, talented man. I am so lucky to be the one that he loves.

Thank you to all of you for the kind words and inspiration. We are going to be just fine and hopefully move on to have many happy and healthy children :)

Godfather Themed Party

We recently went to a 50th birthday party for a good friend of Houston's from the fire department. They did such a great job decorating for this and everyone really got into the spirit by dressing up in mobster and flapper costumes. We had a great time with our friends and missed the ones who weren't able to show up. Happy 50th birthday Gary! Kim, you did a great job planning! I believe the night was a huge success!