First trip to Disneyland!

I think the greatest perk about living in Southern California is it is a common place for family vacations...so we get to see a lot of family and friends. This week Darin's brother and his family came down to go to Disneyland. We met up with them on Friday and spent the day with them there. It was Nash's first time at the "happiest place on earth" and he was so good.

This is Nash during the Haunted House Ride. He quietly looked around at everything. I kept the binky close by just in case he had a sudden urge to SCREAM...he never did...thank goodness!

He really liked the Winnie the Pooh ride because of all the bright lights and colors. It is good he liked it so well since he went on it 2 or 3 times while the adults took turns riding Splash Mountain.

The machine said "measure your sex appeal on this love meter" Trevor earned a "Blah" score! HAHA

It's so fun being a parent!

All tuckered out!

Rolling Over!

I thought the Grandma's would enjoy this story: Saturday, I was in the kitchen cleaning when I heard a loud scream and then a hard cry. I ran into the living room where I had left Nash playing under his Gymboree toy....to find him on his tummy helplessly crying. This was his first time rolling over all by himself (we sometimes help him) and it scared the heck out of the kid....sad:( Of course I snapped a quick picture of him before giving him some lovin'! He hasn't really rolled over since...I hope he isn't traumatized!

Happy Birthday Granny!

We want to wish my mom a very happy birthday today! My mom is a wonderful women, and we are grateful to have her in our lives. She loves her grand kids (I wish I had a picture of her and Sadie.) and they love her. We talk to her now on the computer and when she says "GOOD MORNING!" to Nash he gets a BIG smile on his face. Thanks mom for taking care of us and we are excited to come home again to Blanding soon. We love you and wish you a happy day!

4 month shots!

Nash is 4 months old! Darin and I took him to the doctor for his 4 month check-up and shots. It was nice having Darin there to hold down his legs. (I hate that part!) Nash loves to smile and he spent the whole exam smiling at the Dr....haha....until she tried to look in his mouth and it was all down hill from there. When the nurse poked him with the needles he started a high pitch scream that we had never heard before and I am sure every dog could hear for miles! He was really worn out today and slept for most of the day, and went to bed early. Nash's new stats are 12 pounds (10th %ile), 24 1/4 inches long (15th %ile), and his head is 16 inches (25th %ile). It is such a blessing to know your child is healthy and growing strong!

I love my Doctor!

It is so nice to have Darin home! Nash and I are loving it! I am so proud of all that Darin has accomplished. He has worked really hard the last couple of years to get through medical school and it is all paying off. He did really well on his boards (YEAH!!!) and is preparing for his residency interviews, which I am sure he will do great! I am so thankful for him and all that he is doing for our family!

Lindy-Girl!

I love our dog! Coming back to California has been a big adjustment for Lindy, in fact I think she is in a big depression right now...she misses our parents big yards where she was able to roam around independently....our dads willingness to feed her anything and everything...and she no longer has her little sidekick Bug-Bug to wrestle with. She has been extra clingy and little mopey lately...hopefully she will snap out of it soon. I try to take her on a walk everyday to help with the cabin fever as well as give her a lot of lovin'. I love that she will cuddle up to me during naps! I love our Lindy-girl!

The Willardson Clan!

We were able to bless Nash on September 14th in Orem. (I will post more pictures of this event later.) Darin's whole family was in town for the occasion. This was the first time we have all been together. In fact I had never met David's family until Nash's blessing. So my cousin Kara and my Grandpa Hurst snapped some great pictures of all us. However, at the time of the picture one person was missing. Thank goodness for Photoshop and we were able to get this person in the picture. Who do you think it is?

#1 Shea, #2 Ashlyn, #3 David, #4 Travis, #5 Sasha, #6 Trevor

***IF YOU WERE THERE YOU CAN NOT ANSWER!***

Home Sweet Home!

Since Darin is home now I am not too excited about always updating the blog...however I did promise the grandma's that I would make an effort so that they can see Nash. This isn't a picture of Nash but I thought I would show you how we were able to get home this time from Utah. I wasn't expecting Darin to be coming home in the same car, so I over packed (had to pack for 2 months!)....okay, okay we all know I always over pack, but I am the best at making everything fit into our car...not this time. Since plans changed and Darin left his car in Pennsylvania we had to get this AWESOME cargo box to get all of our STUFF home! Our car looks so aerodynamic...haha! I can't believe the space we had after using this thing!

All is well here in our home in California, and Nash gets to sleep in his own crib for the very first time tonight. It feels good to be home and have our family together. Although, we do miss you all back in Utah, and are very grateful to have spent time with you. Thanks for accomodating us!

By the way Shawna and Heather it feels so wierd to look out our window and see total strangers milling around in your old apartments! WE MISS YOU GUYS!!!!

HE'S HOME!

Darin arrived home on Saturday afternoon. Nash and I were so excited to see him. His plane came in early so I am glad that we left a little bit earlier. It feels so good to have our little family back together, even though it is only for a short month.

Nash really didn't know who the heck "daddy" was!

Nash had a shocked/blank stare for most of the airport welcome.

It didn't take long for him to warm up. Now it's all smiles for Darin!

I know most of these pictures look the same....

I love my boys!

Growing Up!

3 days to 3 months. This child is turning into an ox!

Nothing Ever Changes Back Home!

I have spent the last 2 month in my home town of Blanding with my family. I was a little apprehensive about going home and being with out all my STUFF in California. However, I have come to realize joy doesn't come from STUFF it comes from being with the people you love. I often sang a Sarah Buxton song: "Nothing ever changes back home" in my mind while I was in Blanding...I love it there! You could find my dad and brothers working night and day on the trucks in the shop, Cody on the computer, Kedrick bossing everyone around, my mom in her sewing room busily making a California King Sized Quilt in 5 minutes (hehe), Ashley cutting hair (she cut my hair back to the messy spiky look!), Koen on his four wheeler, Sadie following Koen, Colorado shopping, 2-4 hour car rides to the nearest anything, Brooke snapping pictures, the phone constantly ringing, dogs barking...etc! I love it all! It is great being in a place where everyone knows your name and cares about who you are. Sorry to say Darin my roots run deep in San Juan County!
Doesn't this picture make you want to start singing "Blue Mountain your azure deep, Blue Mountain with side so steep, Blue Mountain with horse head on your side, you have one my love to keep..." (who knows if I got the words right!) I am sure Darin was sad to miss our tribute to the Stan Bronson songs of San Juan County on our way out of town...IT IS TRADITION! Anyone that knows me knows I love the sky. This is looking out towards the bears ears, west of Blanding. I swear Blanding has the most beautiful skies! I wish I could take a picture of the night sky with all the stars.
California just does not have clouds like these! I love them! Blanding is gorgeous and I am so happy I was able to go home for a while and remember how much I love my family and my home town. I am so happy that "Nothing ever changes back home!"

Don Jose the Burrito Baby!

Swaddling! What a crazy concept. Can you imagine sleeping like this! My mom can't stand it, she always loosens him until he busts out.
I never swaddled Nash until his arms became a sleeping problem. His hands are seriously his best friends and my worst nightmare. He will play with them for hours. Even in the night time I can hear him trying to break them free. He used to grunt and stretch all the time, now the only time he grunts is when he is trying to free those dang hands. If I go to see what he is doing, his legs will be straight in the air! haha He has to have the strongest abs.
The traditional swaddle just wasn't strong enough for Nash, my mom had to make me extra large blankets, and I had to come up with a new swaddle design to keep the child under control. When he wakes up from a nap, the first thing I do is unwrap him, the minute he is unbound his arms shoot up in the air into a HUGE stretch! Then he is all smiles.
My brother Cody thinks he looks like his Don Jose Burritos. Ashley my sister-in-law thinks he should be strapped to an Indian cradle board....haha!
It will be nice when those hands are under control and he doesn't have to be swaddled so tight anymore!

Blessing Sneak Peek!

Next week Nash will finally receive his baby blessing. It was either do it when he was 3 weeks old or 3 months. We decided to do the 3 months, and not rush the fun. Our bishop in California told us to just get it done before he turned 8! haha. So I finally talked my mom into making him a little tux rather than buying him one (more sentimental)! So anyway I tried it on this morning when he was in a good mood to see if it fit. DOESN'T HE LOOK SO CUTE! (Seriously...You can't tell I am a new mother...can you! Everything my child does is soooooo cute!) Anyway Darin enjoy the sneak peek. Hopefully he won't scream at you next week during the blessing. Cause yes he has learned how to scream, it just started yesterday when he was startled in the bathtub. GREAT...

By the way to all our California neighbors that are interested our utility bill for the time we have been gone is $25.88! Can you believe the difference. Now I know it is definitely the air conditioner! Big difference from $198.00 to $25.88!

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

Darin said we need MORE pictures soooooo Nasher boy and I had little photo shoot today! He is such a stud....

ONLY 13 MORE DAYS UNTIL DARIN COMES HOME!!!! YEAH!!!! ....but whose counting!

Thanks Darin!

Darin's blog was a nice birthday surprise! Although I think we could have done without the pictures...now you all know what he has to look at everyday on the webcam!

I can't believe I am 27 years old...only 3 more years and I am 30!!! CRAZY! Yesterday was a fun day, I am glad that I got to spend my birthday with my family. I wish Darin could have been there too. I started the day bright and early by attending the temple. (thanks mom for tending Nash) I was lucky enough to ride over to Monticello with Michelle, Jay and George Jones. They were so nice, the minute I stepped into the car (at 5am) they started singing happy birthday, and presented me with brownies and breakfast! What great friends! I haven't been to the temple since before I was pregnant....TOO LONG! It was nice to sit in the temple and look around and see so many familiar faces. I love living in a small town! Too bad everyone in the room was asleep because it was a 6 am session.

I think I seriously ate all day long yesterday. After the temple, I went to breakfast with my parents, some friends from Arizona and my Grandma and Grandpa Cosby. Later we went out for dinner with my brother Kedrick, my parents and friends. Needless to say I LOVE to eat so it was a great day. For this purpose I am so grateful for Michelle for running every night with me!

Yesterday was a big day for Nash too...he turned 3 months old! I think he gave me and himself the best birthday present ever...he has finally learned how to fall asleep with out screaming or being rocked. I give the credit for this accomplishment to the advice of my friend Stacy as well as the aide of the book "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer." I have read several other books, but this one seemed to fit my mothering style. I have decided that knowledge really is power. Let's face it I have no clue what I am doing as a mother and it is a blessing to have some help from others. My family continues to make fun of me for reading a book to learn how to be a mother. But hey if it will help build my confidence I am all for it!

Thanks to all the comments, emails and phone calls to wish me a happy birthday! I love you all...especially you Darin you made my day! Keep up the hard work, it will all pay off in the end!

Happy Birthday Christina

Well It's official. After all the poking and prodding, I broke down and will add to the family blog. Christina's not one to toot her own horn, and I think now is a good time to toot it for her. It's her birthday!!! She has been such a support to me while I am away and such a wonderful mother. It has been hard being away from her and Nash. He'll be driving when I see him next. I'm really glad we have the web cam though. Itss not much, but better than just the phone. I feel terrible for not being around when we lost our little Bug. I loved that dog so much. I hope that the sacrifice of being away pays off in the end. In talking to those involved in the selection of residents at the last two programs I've been at, almost all of the residents they selected have been from those that rotated with them, making the away rotations a necessary evil of being away from family.

I feel terrible I can't celebrate Christina's Birthday with her, so I celebrated it the best way possible last night, alone with a staple bag of Costco trail mix, oreos, and my only movie on hand Nacho Libre. I've come to notice quite well that life just isn't much without being with the ones you love. I visited Nauvoo and Kirtland along with the floods in Iowa on my trip out here. It was interesting, but it is always better when you're sharing it. I'm not totally alone though. The house I'm in now has seven students in it. My room mate is LDS which is nice, although I don't see him much. He leaves when I'm awake and I arrive when he's asleep. I see him a few times in the ER when he comes down for Ortho patients. Three of my roommates are married also with kids, which is the first I've been others in the same situation.

Unfortunately I don't have the talent with pictures like Christina does, and I left my digital camera at home. I am adding some of my favorites now, but I have to run off to work so I'll add more later. Enjoy

Love you Sweet Heart.

Darin

THANK-YOU!

YEAH for Briana! Thanks for the help in getting my background back!

In July Briana, Addison and I had some fun taking pictures. They both are such beautiful people...it was so much fun! Here are a few that I love!

BLOG LAYOUT HELP!

Last night I was trying to change my blog background and some how deleted the "Page Elements" place on my layout screen. Does anyone know how to get that back? So if I wanted to put in a new background, I do not have a place to paste it because that link is gone. The only thing left is the "Gadget" link thing. HELP! If anyone knows how to fix it please HELP!

A Sad Goodbye to Bugonia Hancock Willardson...

Today was a VERY hard day for our family. We had to say goodbye to our sweet little Bug Bug. She always thought she was bigger than her 2 pound body really was and today it caused a horrifying accident and I had to make the decision to put her to sleep.

Bugonia joined our family in October 2007. We had just received Lindy from our friends the Knechts when we heard my cousin Kara was trying to find Bug a home. The minute we saw her we knew she was ours. She instantly became our little Princess and Lindy's little sidekick. She had so much energy and was constantly licking something (drove me nuts!). For such a small dog she was pretty smart and she learned how to fetch and wanted to play continuously. Darin would throw her toy in the hardest places and laughed as she tried to get it... she always did.

My favorite past time with BugBug was to take her to the beloved dog park. She was my little celebrity... people always wanted to know more about Bugonia...how old she was...how much did she weigh...etc. She was the little boss of the park, and the other dogs either had crushes on her (Elliot) or they tried to figure out if she was a dog or a rat. She thought she was BIG and always wanted to play with the big dogs. I had to watch her closely or I would soon find her in the big dog area stirring up some kind of mischief.

I always enjoyed watching Bug and Lindy play, Bug for the most part held her own by biting Lindy's cheeks or sitting on her head, and Lindy was gentle with her. At the park Lindy would run and run, Bug would be right at her heels until she would hit a bump which would send her rolling. However she would get right back up and run again...such determination!

Occasionally Darin and I would take both dogs running with us and I always assigned Bug to him...which he hated because Bug would try to attack every person and dog that passed...not to mention how funny Darin looked running with such a small dog. After I had Nash when I took the dogs running, Bug preferred riding in the stroller...such a PRINCESS! She had a hard time when Nash came along, she was no longer the center of attention and tried very hard to be.

I couldn't feed Nash without her wanting to curl up around his head, or I would often find her getting into his bassinet to sleep next to him. She thought everyone loved her...even baby Nash! She became more clingy and it didn't matter what I was doing she had to be sitting on my lap.

We loved Bug so much as well as many others around us. There is a huge hole in our hearts now without our little Princess BugBug, and we miss her so much already! Lindy is still searching the house for her little companion. Our home will not be the same with out her!

I am sorry for the tribute to our dog but it is helping me grieve our loss. If any of you know my family, you would know that our dogs are special members of our family. I have heard people say that if they are to be reincarnated they want to come back as my dad's dog. We love our furry friends. We will all miss our little BugBug!

Grandad's Cowboy Hats!

My nephew Koen was riding around the house today on his stick horse and felt that he, Sadie and Nash needed to be cowboys. So he climbed on top of my dad's desk and got down 3 cowboy hats. They all looked so cute!

Nash was already sooooo cranky! (lack of nap taking!) He tolerated the dress-up long enough to snap some pictures. My personal favorite is the one where he is screaming...he must get that from his father! hehe

Those of you interested in an update on Darin he arrived back in Michigan last night and will begin his last rotation there tomorrow! YEAH...only a few more weeks and he will be home for a month! (then back to Pennsylvania) He took the COMLEX exam last week and felt okay about it. Darin always feels "okay" about things and then he does amazing! We are very proud of his hard work! Thanks for everything Darin!

Trip to Colorado!

Nash and I were able to join my parents on a little day trip to Colorado to fix one of my dads trucks. Darin's brother lives there so we were able to have more Willardson cousin time. It was so fun visiting with their little family...thanks for letting us drop by!

Koen and Sadie!

My nephew Koen celebrated his 4th birthday this past week! It seems every time I come to visit Blanding it is around the time of Koen's birthday. He is so much fun and loves to be the center of attention (a lot like his father..in looks and actions!). I remember when he was born we all were so excited. He was the first grandchild. His Aunt Lindsay and I were roommates in Orem and we rushed down to Monticello to see him!

This year I had so much fun snapping pictures of Koen and Sadie while they ran around blowing bubbles, beating up uncle Cody and hot rodding on Koen's wheeler (his present from his 3rd b-day!). Sadie has grown up so much and loves to do everything that Koen does. It will be fun when Nash can run and play with his cousins.

I hope Ashley and Kedrick do not mind me posting these fun pictures and bragging about how beautiful my nephew and niece are! (I am sure Ked will!)

High School Friends!

Today I was able to join some old friends for a park play date. I am amazed at how many kids there were at the park just from the 5 of us. Each one of these girls has two or three kids! I am just a little behind in the kid department! It was fun catching up on each others lives. My mouth hurt so bad from smiling and laughing so much!

Ginger, Nicole and Michelle live in Blanding, Liz lives in South Carolina and is visiting for the week. I am glad we were all able to get together. It was fun seeing all of you and your kids!

So I know these pictures are basically all the same, but I thought they were all cute and couldn't decide which one to post.

L to R: Me, Ginger, Liz, Nicole, and Michelle

10 weeks old!

Nash is now 10 weeks old! I thought Darin would like to see all the fun pictures we took on Saturday.

So does anyone else think I have way too much time on my hands right now in Blanding! I think I do a blog every day! Life really does change when you have a baby!

By the way many of my friends in California suggested some baby books to read, but I can't remember any of them...could you guys please send me a comment or an email reminding me what they were! I have plenty of time to read them now!

I figure I better get some books and learn how to be a mother... do any of you mothers out there ever feel like you are ruining your children? Motherhood is one of the most rewarding jobs but also the hardest! I am so glad I am a mother but I wish there was an instruction manual or an easy button to help me along the way. I believe being a Special Ed teacher was a much easier job! I think my insecurities get the best of me and I doubt my abilities too much! I can't wait until Darin gets home to help with the baby decision making...being a single mom is hard work...I admire and respect all you single moms out there. (Bree you're amazing!) However I am grateful for Darin, even though he is so many miles away he is always there to listen to me, and tries to fix whatever I am complaining about.

The other day my mom was at the grocery store and there was a women holding a baby. The cashier asked her how old her baby was. The woman replied "less then 24 hours." In amazement my mom asked her what she was doing at the store and if she was tired. The woman replied"YES! But somebody has to do the grocery shopping!" WOW! I am so grateful for supportive family members. I bet that woman was soooo tired! I have never been too excited about the Visiting Teaching or the Relief Society program (I get that from my mother!) but I really can appreciate those programs after having a baby and being far from our families. There were so many people in California who were willing to help! I felt and feel so blessed to be apart of a wonderful church. Thanks to all!