It's Official

We sold our first home! Since both Steve and I are working in Salt Lake now, we decided that it would be a good idea to move a little further north. After much deliberating, we decided to list our home with a realtor. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that after only three and a half weeks on the market (keep in mind we are in a recession) we would sign the papers to sell our home! Not only that, we have only a week and a half to move! We didn't have anywhere to go, so my amazing sister and her husband are going to take us in until we find a place, or figure out what to do. Don't get me wrong I feel so blessed that we sold so quickly, but I feel like we just finally got things the way we wanted. Here are some pictures of my cute little house.

The living room....Steve put in this beautiful wood floor.

Dining room

Kitchen.....we glazed the cabinets, added the black accents, tiled the floor and counters, and put in the new back splash.

I love how the office turned out.

Our bedroom.

I am really going to miss our first home, but I know that it is time to move on. We have made some really great memories here, and I can't wait for the adventures that lie ahead for us!

Firefighter Smith

So my husband is amazing! He is now officially a Salt Lake City firefighter. He was sworn in on January 9th and is at station 13. It is kind of difficult getting use to his schedule, but I love it when his days off and my days off line up! It is awesome to think that he is helping people everyday. I love him so much and am so proud of him! Here are some pictures of him in uniform.

These are the guys he trained with for 12 weeks.

The helmets

Aren't we so cute!

Us again...he looks so good in uniform!

Firefighter Smith.....my hero!

Our Trial

I know I have been a horrible blogger lately.....life has been crazy! We had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year. My parents came out from Indiana and it was so nice to have them here. It was nice to have some time off work to spend with them! For family home evening right before Christmas we had a special visitor........

It was so much fun to see the kids faces when Santa walked through the front door! They were so cute....they all sat on Santa's lap and told him what they wanted him to bring them for Christmas. I even had a chance to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what I wanted most of all for Christmas.......

I asked for a baby! For those of you who know me, I am a very open person. That is putting it VERY lightly. If you want to know something......all you have to do is ask me. So here it goes. I am very open about how badly Steve and I want to have children. Here is our story, or as I like to say.....our trial.

Steve and I decided in January 2006 that we were ready to make your family a little bigger. We started trying in March. I found out I was pregnant in June 2006, but miscarried at 6 weeks. Then it took us almost a full year to get pregnant again. I found out this time in May 2007, and miscarried again at 6 weeks. Since then I switched doctors and have been diagnosed with Poly cystic ovarian disease (PCOS). I have been taking chlomid, a fertility drug, along with metformin (for my PCOS)for the last 3 months with no luck! It is rather exhausting physically and emotionally! No matter what we do, every month we are devastated to not be pregnant. I cry every month. I feel like we are on the right track with doctors who seem to know what they are doing. Every month I take chlomid on days 5-9 of my cycle, I go in for an ultrasound to check my ovaries(follicle study) on day 13 and then they give me two shots of the HCG hormone to make me ovulate! Then we get to wait for about 2 weeks to find out if I'm pregnant! Sounds fun huh?!?!

Anyway, this trial has helped me to become stronger and has made mine and Steve's relationship better! I just can't wait to be a mom someday! Hopefully soon! I hope that by sharing our struggle, we are able to help someone who may be having a similar trial in their life. Having faith in our Heavenly Fathers plan helps me when I am feeling hopeless. It helps to realize that everyone has trials......this is mine.

Christmas Here We Come.....

November was a busy month. I was getting used to a new work schedule, and Steve was SO exhausted from going through another fire academy! It made the month fly by! For Thanksgiving, we went to Steve's parents house and had a great day of food and naps! I'm not one of the crazy's that is willing to get up early and go shopping on Black Friday...I need my sleep. Instead my wonderful husband, who didn't think that we should put our tree up so early, decided to make me so happy and take me to pick out our tree.

Growing up in small town Indiana had it's perks around Christmas time. Every year we would drive for 5 minutes to the next town over and go to this Christmas Tree farm. They had a pony that we could ride and a tractor that would take us on a hayride to go pick out and cut down our own tree for only $10! That is a little harder to do here, but the tree we did get is really nice. I just love the way a real tree makes your house smell! We brought it home and immediately got out the tree stand and started decorating. This is the finished result.........

I bought most of these decorations the winter that Steve and I were married (3 years on the 16th of this month!). I figured that if I didn't buy most of my Christmas decorations then, it would be harder in the future. If you can't tell, the ribbon and the tree skirt match! My favorite new addition to the tree is a picture of my mom when she was 3 and my uncle when he was 2 sitting on Santa's lap. Mom and dad are coming out for Christmas this year, and I can't wait! I miss them so much! There is nothing that can compare to having your family here for the holidays!

California

Last weekend we were able to fly to California to be with Steve's sister Jamie and her husband when they were sealed in the San Diego temple. It was so beautiful and it was so nice to get away. With Steve in the academy again, we feel like we never get to spend any time together. We just started riding to work together, not only to save gas, but so that we could spend another hour and a half together. We were able to spend lots of time with family and my sister-in-law Amy was kind enough to take some great pictures of us, here are some from her and some from me! Enjoy.

At the beach

Steve 'Putting out the vibe'

At the temple

The Smith Family

Brothers

Bonfire at the beach

Amy the photographer took this of Steve and I....I love it! Thanks Amy!

Halloween

Here are some of our pictures from Halloween! We went to our ward party for chili, and then went to hang out with some friends. It was a blast to be able to relax and hang out with friends.


Steve as Michael Myers and I was a Firefighter

Steve being scary

The group

Isn't he cute!

To Spokane We Go!

So when my amazing husband found out that he would be starting with SLC Fire Department on Oct. 20th, his first thought wasn't 'lets go on vacation'......it was 'lets go to Spokane and finish a basement'! Steve's sister and her family live there and he loves helping his family, which I LOVE! Did I mention that my husband is amazing?!?! We were there for about a week and a half, and we had so much fun hanging out with Paula, Ben and kids. It was really fun getting to know our nieces and nephews, and seeing their little personalities! We didn't get very many pictures of the boys because they were at school.....Paula I need to get those pics from you.......but because the girls were home during the day we have a few of them. We made so many trips to Home Depot that I lost track, but we had a blast!

Steve unloading drywall! I helped too!

Hard at work.

One of my cute nieces ;)

She wanted to take a picture of Auntie Crystal

Me and the baby......no! If you have met this little one

you know what that means!

If you haven't met her, this should explain a little.........I think her favorite word in her vocabulary so far is NO!

[video to come]

This was a highlight of the trip! I still watch this video and crack up! Sorry about the shaking....I couldn't keep from laughing.