The Doans

New Blog

2011-11-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

We have moved! Check us out at a new location. amandajdoan.blogspot.com.

Changes

2011-01-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

Well the time has come in my life to make some changes. The first of these changes for me is to get a new job! My last day at my current job is this Saturday. I will be now working at a bank full time and I think this change is going to be fantastic!! My new job will allow for me to be around people more and my days will be much busier now. This job however will put me without internet for awhile so probably no new posts from me for a bit.
Other changes for me include: a calling in the nursery, getting cable TV, getting healthier, and a few other little things. Life changes are in the works for me this year. I use to run from change but this year I am welcoming it. Needless to say life is good and life is very busy!!

Christmas and a New Year

2011-01-08T08:40:00.002-08:00

Well another year has come and gone again! We had such a great holiday season this year. On Christmas Eve we went bowling and had some good food then went and saw some lights around town. That was a lot of fun for me (even if I lost in bowling). Then Christmas morning was so much fun!! Talon really loved opening his presents and playing with all of his new toys. Then we had some carmel french toast that I made. Yum!! The rest of our Christmas day we spent relaxing and playing with our new toys. So nice to have such a relaxing day for a change.
New Years was spent in Salt Lake with family and friends. This was not my best trip there. It was cold and snowy and most of us that went ended up sick for half the time we were there so we weren't able to enjoy our festivities as we wanted to. I rang in the New Years by going to bed with Talon at 10:30! But I still managed to sneak in a little shopping and good times while we were there. Now onto 2011 and making it a better year than last year!

So Good Looking!!

2010-12-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a few pictures of my handsome boy in his Christmas church clothes.

Shoes

2010-12-15T08:42:00.000-08:00

Talon loves to try on shoes! Anytime we are at the store and see shoes he insists on trying them on. So it goes without saying that at home he is always trying to put my shoes on or dads or his or really whatever shoes he can lay his little hands on. But anytime I bust out the camera to photograph it it seems he is always half naked. So I apologize for that! I really do dress my child. You will also have to pardon the messes. These pictures were too good to pass up on. Pretty sure someday he will hate me for all the blackmail pictures I have of him. :)

Talon

2010-11-30T14:12:00.000-08:00

I am going to start off by saying that the motto that I have chosen for Talon in life is: He definitely always knows what he wants! That applies for everything. Lately he has decided that he doesn't like to sleep in his bed at night and only mine will do and he would probably scream and throw a fit the whole night unless he gets what he wants. Same goes for just about everything else in his life. From the movie we pick to watch to what he eats. Last night however I did find something he very much likes to eat! Fettucine.

Needless to say it was definitely off to the bath after this. But it was worth it. He loved it.

Even though the cougars lost he still proudly sport his cougar gear.

Visisting Santa is not one of those things that Talon wanted to do. So he was that boy that cried for Santa while his mom was trying to snap pictures and making her boy suffer for that photo. Santa looks so baffled and confused in this picture.

Something else Talon does that I find absolutely adorable is he will line up his toy cars in a long row and say choo choo. The cars have to be all facing the same way and in a straight row. A little OCD. This started a few months ago and has turned into not just his cars but several other things. Like canned goods from my pantry and bath soaps and just about anything that there are multiples of.

Oh I love this boy and all of his many different personality traits. Can't wait to see what else he has up his sleeves.

A Wedding and Halloween

2010-11-17T16:16:00.000-08:00

At the end of October we took a trip to Salt Lake for a wedding and some fun Halloween celebrations. We had our customary family Halloween party that turned out to be so much fun. Talon this year went as a baseball player and I think he was darling. We also took him trick-or-treating with his cousin Zack and the two of them had such a great time. The rain didn't slow them down one bit. They got a lot of candy and Talon still likes to trick-or-treat around the house. We also went to a wedding for my cousin and the Talon and his cousin Zack were having so much fun just running around and dancing. Zack has picked up this darling "break dancing" that he kept busting out and Talon thought that looked pretty cool so he was doing his own version of this. Needless to say they were entertainment for a crowd there. We had so much fun on our trip and loved the much needed getaway. Now I am ready for another one this time maybe farther away and a little tropical with just the girls. Who is joining me???

Thriller

2010-10-27T08:25:00.001-07:00

My sister surprised me with tickets to Thriller a couple of weeks ago and last night was the big night. I had such a great time!! This could possibly be my favorite Halloween activity I have done for a long time. The dancing was incredible. It really made me miss dancing. I am so glad I got to go to an outdoor performance of this show because it really added to the effect of the whole thing. I cannot wait to go back again next year!

Pumpkins

2010-10-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last night we went and picked out our pumpkins and decided instead of carving this year we would try painting them. We had so much fun doing this especially Talon. I don't know which he liked better though painting the pumpkin or himself! I got plenty of pictures during the process of decorating but of course did not get a picture of the end results. Mine was a spider, Josh did a mummy and Talon just make pretty designs. We love all these Halloween activities and have a whole bunch lined up for this week. Please excuse the mostly naked child in the pictures below. We don't usually have him walk around this way.

Talon loves to try on everyones shoes so when I pulled out some of my boots he just had to try those too.

18 months old

2010-10-07T08:37:00.001-07:00

Today my baby boy is 18 months old! Where is time going? Talon is the kind of boy that knows what he wants and when he wants it. He will grab my hand and take me to whatever it is he wants at the time and if he does not get that he will throw a major fit! His favorite things right now are: Toy Story (Buzz), Shoes, Candy, Charlie, and his family. Talon has been so much fun and so easygoing from day 1. He loves to laugh and wrestle and he definitely loves spending time with his daddy! Happy half birthday!! Now, I will only ask him this probably 1,000 times more in his life, Will you please stop growing up so fast???

Cabo Trip

2010-09-28T09:05:00.001-07:00

Cabo was so amazing!! We were so glad that we picked to come here for our trip and to enjoy an all inclusive resort for a full week. Child free! By the way a HUGE thanks to my mom and sister for watching Talon for us. On our trip we enjoyed hanging out by the pools and the ocean, going into Cabo San Lucas and waverunning and shopping, taking a beach hopping tour and going snorkeling, more shopping, meeting new people, watching shows, and soooo much more!! My top three favorite things were: going snorkeling, we saw dolphins and a lot of really cool fish. Visiting the flea market and doing shopping there. You could really barter what price you wanted to pay so we ended up getting some great deals on a lot of things. The food and drinks were another favorite of mine. Since all the food and drinks were included with our stay we definitely enjoyed our share. We tried a lot of new foods and enjoyed all the free drinks (virgin, of course) we wanted! Josh's three favorite things were: waverunning. He loved watching me and how much fun I was having and he loved it because it reminded him of riding a motorcycle on water. He liked the night shows the hotel offered. They put on a singing dancing show and they were fun entertainment. His third favorite was that we got to celebrate a Mexican holiday while we were there. It was their independence day so the day was full of activities and food and games. One of both of our favorite things was the last night we were there we took a walk on the beach and saw a giant sea turtle sitting right there on the beach. It was so cool!! There were so many wonderful memories made here and I miss everything about it. We would love to come back here someday and would recommend this kind of trip to anybody looking to relax and have a fun time!!!

This was the view from our room

This is the view from one of the 6 restraunts at the hotel

This kind of thing was pretty common there

This family played and sang and danced in the middle of the shopping center.

Inside one of the flea markets

A mariachi band walked around playing at the hotel on Independence Day

This donkey wearing a sombrero was another part of the holiday festivities.

This was right before our snorkeling adventures.

The ever famous arch at Cabo.

This is a colony of sea otters that just chill here all day

Josh loved playing in the ocean. I loved to watch him. The ocean was a little rough here for me.

This is the sea turtle that was outside our hotel by the beach.

An amazing sunrise on our last day there.

***Since we have been home there has been nothing but craziness for a week straight. Talon had surgery on his belly button hernia. The surgery went very well and he is healing up just great. We have all taken a turn getting the flu which has been no fun! So now I am looking forward to getting back to normal life again.

Just For Fun

2010-09-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

We have been having so much fun and have been so busy lately. Just a few of those things we have been doing include: a demolition derby, camping, swimming, a couple of birthday's, a girl's trip to Vegas, family moving into town, Josh and Becky both starting school, and finally getting ready for our trip to Cabo in just TWO days!! Whew! So much in so little time. It would of been fun to blog about each one of these things but I have a hard time doing that when I don't have pictures to include with it. Luckily my sister is letting me borrow her camera for our trip coming up so I will have loads of pictures to share when we return.

Below are some pictures of Talon my sister took a little while back and I thought I would share some. You will notice in some of the picutres his bottom lip is a little bit swollen. He fell of a camp chair and bit through his bottom lip. Poor guy! I love these pictures because his personality come out in them so much. He is definitely a cheese ball for the camera but he also has an attitude. We sure love that boy!!

We Love Summer!!

2010-08-09T11:34:00.001-07:00

We love summer around here! Despite the scorching heat here, most days we still find things to do that make summer so much fun. We go swimming in our little blow up pool as often as we can. And just recently we went to Gunlock reservoir and had a campfire by the water. This is one of my favorite summer traditions to do. We just sit by the fire and talk and laugh and eat those delicious roasted marshmallows and other roasted goodies. Talon loved playing in the rocks and dirt and kept wanting to jump right into the water. Hopefully we will make it back there before Summer is gone. And hopefully I will find a working camera to take many more pictures too.

1 year photo shoot (a little late)

2010-07-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

My very talented and kind sister, Allie, offered to take pictures of Talon for his 1 year photos. I realize it is a couple months late but better late than never. She did a great job! I just wish we had more time. We did this in less than an hour. It helps that the subject is so dang cute and cheesy! I am certain he will be a heart breaker someday!

And there is even more where these came from!

July

2010-07-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well July has been fun and busy for us. We have taken a mini trip to Salt Lake and filled our time with fun things like Lagoon, the Zoo, swimming, and 4th of July festivities. Unfortunately my camera picks and chooses when it like to work and it hasn't been for a while now. So I have a few pictures thanks to my sisters camera. Other things we have been doing this month: We play in the water in our backyard, we have been doing fireworks, and eating lots of popsicles to try and keep up with the St. George heat!

Las Vegas

2010-06-30T09:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday for our company party we got to go to Vegas for dinner and a show called Tournament of Kings. This show plays at the Excalibur. What a great show it was. I have never been to anything like it with the jousting and sword fights. It was so much fun! My favorite part was to see how Talon was reacting. He kept clapping and laughing and pointing at the knights on their horses. This is something we would definitely go back and do again.

3 years plus more

2010-06-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

Josh and I just celebrated our 3 year anniversary. We went to Texas Roadhouse and to see Killers (the movie was pretty good). We had a lot of fun and we can't wait to go on our trip in September. We decided to go to Cabo for a week in September. So something fun to look forward to. In other things going on around here, we love Summer and all the fun things to do. Talon is getting bigger and more independent by the day! He wants to feed himself all the time which usually ends in a huge mess, he doesn't want to hold my hand when we walk he has to do it himself, he loves to get into things he shouldn't and I frequently come into the kitchen to see him sitting on a dining chair at the table trying to be a big boy. He makes me laugh so much I can't even imagine what he will be doing when he can talk. We love having our roommie Becky with us too. We don't ever want her to leave! That has been life for us lately.

Happy "Birthday"

2010-06-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

This year for Josh we decided to celebrate his half birthday instead of on his actual birthday because it is so close to Christmas and because he has always wanted a Summer birthday. Unfortunately this year it fell on a Sunday so we weren't able to do much but we still had so much fun. We had delicious food and presents and a cake. So Happy "Birthday" Josh we love you!

What we have been up to lately...

2010-06-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

We have been sick at our house for almost two weeks now! Everyone in our household has taken turns being sick for the last two weeks and all of us at the same time for a short time. It is ranging from ear infections, to sinus infections, to flu symptoms. It has been a very long two weeks!! When everyone is feeling better I think I will Lysol the whole house down. Before all this sickness came, we had such a fabulous Memorial Day weekend. I had most of my family here to visit us and we had so much fun. We went swimming and shopping and played games and laughed and cried and had a grand old time. So thanks for coming to visit! In the meantime we will all just work on getting better now.

Tis The Season

2010-05-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

I love baseball season! I just can't think of anything much better than a summer night spent at a baseball game. Right now though I can think of one thing better........spending the night at a baseball game and meeting a super cute celebrity! I met James Denton from Desperate Housewives, he plays Mike Delfino. It was a pretty great night.

Talon loved the game. He kept trying to climb the fence so he could get a better view. He must get my love for this game. And the best part of this all is the tickets were super cheap. We all got in for $6. We will most definitely be doing this more often.

This was the first pitch of the game thrown by James

Talon wasn't so sure about the mascot

I realize I look awful in this picture but I only posted this as proof and I am hoping people aren't even looking at me!

Tell me this isn't the cutest thing ever!

Good News and even Better News!!

2010-05-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well good things are happening for us lately. Josh just got a new job doing Web Design and he loves it. That has been a blessing for us. But I have some good news! Talon is finally walking!! It is the cutest little thing I have ever seen. I know with walking comes a whole new terror phase, but bring it on! His whole face lights up when he knows that he just walked from mom to dad and then to mom again. Love that boy!

And in even better news.......we won $2500 to put towards a trip of our choice from Applebees. I have NEVER won a thing before in my life so this was quite a shock to me. So we are so excited to take a dream vacation soon. I would love some suggestions as to where we should go because I have not traveled much. I am thinking something tropical so suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

The Many Faces of Talon

2010-05-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love most about Talon is that he is very expressive. He doesn't leave a lot of room for question about how he feels about something. I have tried to capture some of his many faces. There are just too many to get but I feel like this gives a good idea.

Happy Birthday Talon (again) and a trip to Salt Lake

2010-04-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

For Talons Birthday this year we decided to go celebrate with some family in Salt Lake. We took off the day after his actual Birthday and partied until it was time to come home on Sunday! On Friday it was my brother-in-law Jareds 30th surprise Birthday party. Then on Saturday we went to another party before it was time for Talons party that night. We had such a nice time with our family and friends that were able to make it. Talon dug right into his cake and loved every minute of it. He got some great gifts as well. What a great time we had as usual!! Thanks everyone!

Happy Easter (a little late)

2010-04-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

Even though this was technically Talons second Easter with us, I still want to count it as his first because he actually got to participate this time. Although his idea of coloring eggs was eating them, he still had a lot of fun finding the ones that mom and dad colored for the Easter Bunny. We had a very nice day just relaxing and listening to Conference and celebrating Easter.

Happy Birthday Talon!!

2010-04-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

I just want to say Happy Birthday to my baby boy! He will be 1 year old tomorrow. Time has flown right by. A few fun things about Talon right now:

He has 5 teeth

In this last year he has already had 6 haircuts

He is still not walking on his own but loves to hold my hand to walk

His favorite toys right now are balls of any kind and his little 4-wheeler

His best friend is Charlie

He is a mommy's boy all the way

He loves to wrestle with his dad and lights up whenever dad is around

I sure love this boy and I can't wait to see what he has in store for us next.

Happy 24th Birthday

2010-03-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

Sunday was my 24th Birthday. For those that know me, my birthday is a big deal to me so I was a little bit weary that it was on a Sunday this year and I didn't have any family around. But to my surprise my birthday was fantastic. My boys sure know how to take care of me. Josh had decorated the whole house with streamers and balloons and a banner and they made me a delicious breakfast. Then I got to enjoy a leisurely bath before church started. We had a bbq and cake and presents and all around a good time. Thanks everyone for the Birthday wishes! Can't believe I am already 24 though.

Weekend Getaway to SLC

2010-03-23T15:04:00.001-07:00

A couple of weekends ago Talon, Charlie, and I headed off to Salt Lake for the weekend for a visit with family. It was so nice to see them all again. We had a great time as usual! While we were there we: celebrated my birthday at Leatherby's, went to a friends wedding, went shopping, hung out, played games and had a great time. Thanks!!

Has anyone seen my baby??

2010-03-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

I seem to be missing a baby. Now in his place is a little boy, I feel like more and more he is getting so big! It seems to me when he was just a tiny baby and didn't do much I kept thinking I can't wait until he can be more independent and we can interact with him more. Now that he is there I find myself missing my tiny baby sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love love where he is now I love the interaction and the laughs. I just find myself wondering where the time has gone? If a year passes this quickly then it will be no time before he starts school and graduates and goes on a mission and gets married, etc. So I find myself giving me a pep talk today as I write this that I will stop and enjoy more of the little moments with him and stop worrying so much about the things that don't matter. Life is too short!

January and half of February 2010

2010-02-18T09:47:00.000-08:00

Well time flies when you are having fun! We are now settled in our new place in St. George and I love it here. I feel right at home and it really helps that there is no snow and the weather is so nice. We have been just working hard on getting settled, we love our new ward and have already made some great friends. Josh is playing Basketball with the guys and I am going to a play group with ladies in the ward. This last weekend some of my family came for a visit due to the Presidents Day holiday. We had a blast as usual. Some of the things we enjoyed doing were: Parade of Homes, going to the park, Girls Night, games, games, and more games!! Time flew by and they are gone already. I am looking forward to seeing all my family next month when we come for a visit. Now that I have my camera cord situation figured out I should be able to post pictures more often of all you fans of my baby boy, because lets face it that is really what the pictures are of. Speaking of Talon, he is turned into quite the charmer and a troublemaker. He knows how to work mom and dad to get what he wants. He is also finally getting some teeth. He decided to get 4 at once, two on the bottom and two on top. It is adorable! Anyway, I hope you had a great January and half of February!

Is that a bracelet in your ear??

Talon loves the park and cannot get enough of it.

I had to get a pic of the cousins in the bath. SO CUTE

He has turned into a full blown troublemaker

Who can resist this cute little smiling face??

Greetings from St. George, UT

2010-01-28T15:40:00.001-08:00

Hello all!! I have just a few minutes to update what has been going on here with us Doans. We have successfully moved to St. George with the help of some of our family. It was so nice to have them come and help us get settled because they did a lot of unpacking for us. So when they left I almost didn't know what to do. Almost. I decided to enjoy the weather here. It hasn't snowed once in the two weeks we have been here. Just a bunch of rain. We have gone to our new ward here and we think we are going to love it. Such nice people! Talon and even Charlie seem to really like it here. We feel so happy to be all back together and in our house. When I get a little more time I will post some fun pictures of what we have been up to here.

Really?!?!?!?

2010-01-09T15:54:00.000-08:00

The reason for this post is so that when I am having a bad day in the future I can look back and realize that maybe it's not so bad after all. My day on Thursday consisted of this:
Thursday morning I received an email from our mortgage lender basically telling me that the bank had a change of plans and they were pulling out of the deal on our house that we were supposed to close on in a weeks time or less. To say that I was shocked and absolutely devastated is an understatement. To put this into perspective a little bit, we have been working on this since the beginning of October. We moved in with my mom and at the beginning of December, Josh had to go to St. George for work. So we have not been together since the beginning of December. I had put so many hours into the paperwork and documents we needed to send to them only to find out we are not getting the house after all?!?!
I put myself together enough to realize that we needed a Plan B and quickly. So without a lot of thought I put together a bag for Talon and I and we headed down to St. George. We had a pleasant drive......until I was getting ready to turn into the parking lot of my destination. I was in the left hand turn lane and was waiting for traffic to clear when I was suddenly hit by another car from behind. That's right!! A car accident. Luckily everybody was fine but it was enough to make it so both cars were not drivable. When I finally got done with the police reports and such I wanted to do nothing but go back to the hotel and have a little dinner and go to bed.

This was the car of the girl that hit me.

This is the back of the Jeep. You can't see it very well but the gas tank and the tow hitch was all just hanging down practically ready to fall off.

I sent Josh out to get me some tacos and he comes back with the WRONG ones. It was the cherry on top of my day. I even ventured back out to try to get the right ones and came back and they were still wrong. This is about the point I was done trying. Now the taco thing really not a big deal but I thought I would throw it in just to really prove that my day was not meant to be a good one. So that was my horrible awful day!

On a bit of a better note we did find a place to rent down there and we should be able to move in next week sometime. So we will be back together but not in the house we have been dreaming about. I do know that everything happens for a reason and I am grateful that we are being watched out for. There were a lot of things that went wrong that day but there were still many things to be grateful for. The main one for me was that Talon was not hurt in the car accident. So now at this point we live and we learn. Can't wait to share our new place and our new adventures with you!

Time to Catch Things Up

2010-01-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

First of all let me just put a warning up, this is a long post with a lot of pictures!! We have been very busy with the holiday's. We did so many fun things to get ready for Christmas and my favorite was probably going to see the lights at Temple Square with our little family. Talon was so eager and excited to be there and we got outside and it was so cold but bless his heart he was still so good! It was so beautiful there and really helped me feel the spirit of Christmas.

Next we had Christmas Eve festivities with my mom and sisters and their families. We had a delicious dinner of roast and potatoes and the works. We opened gifts from each other and my mom and we had a fabulous time. Josh and I got stuff to finally start a 72 hour kit (better late than never) and I got a zebra purse with some Dancing Waters lotion and body spray. It was a fun night with great company.

Obviously next up was Christmas Day. It was so fun for me to wake up and be at my mom's house still. It reminded me of times growing up. This was Talon's first Christmas and I had so much fun putting that together for him. I can't wait for next year when he will know a little bit more about what is going on. It was a good year for us. Josh got me a new Digital Camera that is hot pink that I am still trying to learn how to use but I still love it. We had our usual Christmas breakfast of crepes and then went over to my grandma's house for some good company and food. I really loved Christmas this year for Talon and because I was able to really feel the spirit of Christmas and that is really what it is all about.

And last but not least we come to our New Years Eve celebrations. This year has been one of the most fun years to celebrate. It was me and all my sisters and families and we even had my little sisters boyfriend here to help celebrate. We had more food than we even knew what to do with and played Wii and Curses. We laughed all night long and ate until we wanted to throw up. Such fun times. Thanks for all who helped bring in the new year.

Just a few quick updates. We should be closing on our house and moving in within a week to a week and a half. This has been a very long process and we are so excited to move in to a house. Talon is getting bigger by the second. He is so quick crawling and can't wait to walk. He is pulling himself up on everything. He talks to me all the time and only has 3 words I understand. Mom, Dada, and Ba Ba.
Whew!! Long post! I hope everyone else had great holiday's and Happy New Year everyone.

Happy Birthday Josh!

2009-12-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

Josh turned 24 yesterday! We had quite the celebration for him too. We had the family come over to my mom's house for dinner and a white elephant gift exchange. To add to that we were all supposed to wear our "ugly sweaters." I think the ugliest sweater award went to Jared but there were some pretty ugly sweaters. Dinner was delicious and the gift exchange was so funny. We were all laughing until we had tears coming out of our eyes. The pictures below can describe the gifts and fun times way better than my words ever could. So Happy Birthday to Josh. We love you.

This and That

2009-12-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

Since my Halloween post I have: seen New Moon with my mom and sisters (minus 1), saw New Moon again with Josh, had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal twice once with my dad and once with my grandparents and whole family, done a little Black Friday shopping for Christmas presents, enjoyed the nice weather with my sisters, and today said goodbye to Josh for possibly a month and a half. I need to explain the last one. We put an offer in on a house in St. George back in October but the process takes a very long time because we are waiting on the bank. So I have been told we will hear back to see if we have been approved in about two weeks. Josh is starting his job in St. George today and our house isn't ready so he was sent on his way to work and stay with friends down there while I stay here with Talon at my moms house. While I am so grateful we have these options that save us money, I wish so badly that there was a way to stay with Josh. Hopefully it will go by fast and all will go well.
In the meantime I will work on Christmas and Birthday preparations. I am going to be sending out Christmas cards this year and all my addresses are packed in a box somewhere in a storage unit so if you would like a card I would love it if you could get me your address. You can email it to me at princessjojo05@yahoo.com or text it to me at 801-472-4223. Thanks everyone!

Getting ready to go see New Moon

Talon will not like me someday for this but I could not resist this picture

Be Grateful

2009-11-30T17:17:00.000-08:00

In honor of Thanksgiving, I wanted to list some of the many things I am so very grateful for this year.

I am SO very thankful for my husband and all that he does for our family so that I can enjoy staying home with my baby. He is such a wonderful father and husband that I don't think I could of asked for better or more!

I am thankful for Talon and the joy of being a mother to such a unique and wonderful baby boy!

I am thankful for all of my family everywhere and for their love and support in all we do, most especially right now for my mom that is letting us stay with her and for helping us out above and beyond.

I am grateful for the opportunity that we have to purchase a home in St. George.

I am also so grateful for the little things in life, like retail therapy for a really bad day, or happy hour at Sonic that helps get you through the rest of the day!

I have so much to be grateful for and it goes so much deeper and more than this but I wanted to share some of the things that are such a big part of my life. What are you grateful for?

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T09:22:00.001-08:00

Well we made it through another Halloween here. I am always sad to see it go because there is so much anticipation for me getting costumes ready and making sure everything is perfect that it just comes and goes too quickly. But I am also excited because it means that more great holiday's are approaching us just around the corner. For Halloween this year we got square pumpkin kids meals from Arctic Circle for dinner and enjoyed that and then decided we would take Talon out for his first Trick-Or-Treating experience. It was so much fun we only went to a few houses but I can already tell he will be a great trick-or-treater! After that we just went back to my mom's and passed out candy. We had so much fun!! And I can't wait to put together next years costumes.

Attempted Photo Shoot

2009-10-26T07:22:00.001-07:00

I am finally getting caught up on some of my slacking blogging. Hopefully I will be able to stay caught up this time.
Last week, my sister and I ventured out and decided to try and take our own pictures of our babies instead of paying a hefty price to have someone else do it. Well now I know why people will pay the high prices for good pictures. It is so hard to get a good picture of babies. We tried and tried and got a few good ones but nothing that was super exciting. So if any of you know a good photographer for a decent price I would love to get their info! If nothing else we had some fun trying to get them to look at the camera and smile.

BYU Homecoming Game

2009-10-26T07:16:00.001-07:00

This last Saturday, we took Talon to his first BYU football game! And as you can tell by the pictures he LOVED it!! Well for the most part. I had a decent time until TCU really started stomping on BYU. It was a little bit of a heartbreaking game but I am so glad that we had the opportunity to go. I look forward to going to at least one game every year! And even though BYU lost miserably, I still love them! Go Cougars!!

Annual Halloween Party

2009-10-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

Many people probably know that Halloween is one of my favorite holiday's. One of the things I anticipate the most is our family annual Halloween party that Allie throws every year. This year we had it a little early (17th) but she did such a fantastic job and it was so much fun. We ate some delicious homemade pizza's and we decorated our own little pumpkins, and we also did the traditional trick or treating to different doors in the house. For our theme on our costumes this year we went with Monsters. Josh was Cookie Monster, I was the purple people eater, Talon was a 3-eyed monster, and we even got Charlie to be Frankenstein. Putting together costumes is always so much fun for me so I am already searching for ideas for next year. Everybody else gets so creative with their costumes that seeing them is half the fun of the party for me. We can't wait for actual Halloween to come to, Talon gets to go do a little bit of Trick-Or-Treating for the first time!

The Jungle Family (I helped sew their costumes, YAY )

Mom is a skunk and of course the Rag Doll

Madison the genie and Marli Ariel

Becky the Rag Doll

Where have we been??

2009-10-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

Wow have we been busy or what?!?! We have been back and forth from St. George 3 times in the last month trying to get a house in place to live in. With that, we have been trying to also move out of our condo in Lehi. So now we are moved out and we put an offer on an awesome townhouse in St. George. We are currently living with my mom until the townhouse is ready for us to move into. Or at least we hope that the offer is accepted for us on the townhouse! Time has flown by for us with all of this going on. In other exciting things going on in our lives, Talon is now 6 months old. He is getting more fun every day. If I knew that every one of my babies were as good as he is, I think I would have a dozen kids. He is just a lot of fun!! We are anxiously getting ready for Halloween. One of our favorite times of the year. So that is what is going on in the Doan world for us. Pictures to come very soon of some of our exciting adventures.

Random Business

2009-09-30T13:52:00.001-07:00

Talon got ahold of a waffle when we weren't looking, he loved it!!

So for starters I just wanted to say that I have decided for the time being that I will leave my blog as is and won't put it to private, but I may still change my mind again and go private at that time.
That being said what have we been up to????
We have been ever so busy trying to figure out where we are moving next and what the next step in our lives are. As of right now the plan is to be moving to St. George and buy a house there. We are so excited and we know this will be such a great place to raise our family. I am most excited to finally put down some roots somewhere!
We are also getting ready to celebrate one of the best holiday's around. We have some great costumes in mind and adding Talon into the mix has made this even more fun. So stay tuned for that.
I have added some random pictures of Talon for entertainment. Enjoy!

This is what happens when you leave Talon and daddy alone for too long.

This is his newest smile. He is so cheesy and I love it!!

What's New??

2009-09-14T07:28:00.001-07:00

I feel like so much has happened since I last blogged!! I don't even know where to begin....Almost a month ago now, I went with my mom and some of my sisters to Cedar City to take my baby sister to school. I really cannot believe she is old enough to be out on her own now! She is still just 10 years old to me. While we were in the area we decided to make a weekend of the trip and go to St. George! What a good time. A funny side story off this, Josh and his brother decided that Saturday to go hiking at Zion's National Park and had to be home around 2 o'clock that day. So as me and my mom and sister were on our way home, I see on the side of the road Josh!! Their car had broken down and they were just getting some help from a nice guy. So he just hopped in the car with us and we took it from there.
Also this past month I went to the Keith Urban concert!! WOO HOO. It was such a great time, he is a wonderful performer and I would pay money to go see him again and again!
Talon turned 5 months old a week ago and some of his newer developments include, almost sitting up by himself, eating vegetable baby food which he loves everything he has tasted so far, went from sleeping through the night to getting up two or three times (the Dr. says he is teething but I am not so sure), he LOVES LOVES LOVES Charlie. Anytime Charlie is around he has to stop and watch everything he does and he just laughs at him all the time! Love this boy!!!
Josh and I are moving again!!!! You would think I like moving, this is not the case. We haven't quite decided where yet but we think it might be a few hundred miles away down south!! More to come on this one as we know.
What a fun month this last one was! What a way to say goodbye to summer and hello to Fall very soon! With fall comes Football!! GO BYU!!

Private

2009-08-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I really hate to do this but I am having to go private now! Too many creepy things going on here so I am going private. Please leave your information for me in your comments or if you would prefer email it to me at amandajodoan5@hotmail.com. Don't be shy about commenting to be added to my list, the more the merrier!

4 months old

2009-08-13T08:30:00.001-07:00

Well I can't believe that my baby boy is already 4 months old (on the 7th)! I cannot imagine my life without him now. He makes me laugh everyday! He is now weighing in at 14 lbs. 12 oz. and he is almost 27 inches long. So this boy is very tall, he is in the 95 percentile for his age. YAY for my future basketball star. Some of the other little things he is doing now, he rolls all over the place from his back to his stomach and his stomach to his back again. He loves his toys and his favorite song for me to sing to him is Take Me Out to the Ballgame. He loves his daddy, and he is constantly laughing. He has just recently started sleeping through the night now. He is also eating rice cereal once a day, I think he really likes it. I could go on and on about him but these are some of my favorite things. I just love my handsome boy!

Some Summer Fun

2009-08-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

So these last couple of weeks have been very busy ones for us. A lot of fun things and some not so fun. For the last week we were able to go to Missouri to visit family. We had such a great time. For my memory's sake I will go through it day by day.
Friday and Saturday: We drove all through the night Friday and got there around 1:00 pm on Saturday. Talon was a champion on this drive. He slept almost the entire 16 hour drive. When we got there we visited with family for a while and that night had a dinner gathering and went to bed because we were still so tired from our long drive.
Sunday: We went to church for Sacrament meeting then decided to go to Adam Ondi Ahman after that and see the church site there. That was a lot of fun for me to see and learn more about. We had everyone over to the house that afternoon and hung out there and had great food and great company.
Monday: We got a bunch of Josh's sisters and their families together and went swimming all day. And had a BBQ that night.
Tuesday: The girls all decided we wanted a break from kids and husbands and so we got together and had an all day/night sewing day at Josh's mom's quilt shop. We had great fun and I got to learn some things about sewing and quilting. I even made the coolest Halloween table runner. I will have to post a picture when I am finished because I am pretty proud of it!
Wednesday: Josh went golfing in the morning then he and I went into town and did a little shopping. Then that evening we went to a Royals baseball game. This was probably a highlight of my trip because I love baseball so much. It was mine and Talon's first major league game. And this was one of the only times I managed to pull out my camera.
Thursday: Some more golfing in the morning, more sewing, and then a family BBQ that night to send us off. Sarah was nice enough to take family pictures for everyone and she got some great ones of us. I just need to get them from her now. Then started our long long drive home. Not so great this time but we made it and that was the important part.

Other things going on, I got a new nephew Friday morning! His name is Lucas and he is so adorable. I love new babies. Unfortunately though, we had to cut our trip a few days short because my Grandma Christensen passed away. We came back and went to her funeral. The funeral was nice we just sat around and discussed her life. It is sad but we know she is in a better place now. We have some great things coming up to help finish off our summer fun. Can't believe summer is almost over!

Talon fell asleep at the quilt shop all by himself like this!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

2009-07-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

Last night Josh and I and Talon had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. It just completely amazes me at the beauty and elegance of the temple. Now, more than ever, I just cannot wait for the day that our family can go there to be sealed for eternity. There is absolutely nothing more important than that! Hopefully it will be very soon that we will be going back to the temple. If you have not gone to this open house yet and you have the opportunity, definitely take advantage of this. You will not regret it!

Lava Hot Springs

2009-07-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we took a family trip to Lava Hot Springs. Our day started really early to get there and ended really late coming home. We did all sorts of fun things like tubing down the river which we all ended up getting scrapes and bruises from. But they make for good stories. We also spent some time at the big pool with the water slides and diving boards. Talon did great considering he wasn't feeling too well. I just tried to keep him shaded and cool. Lava Hot Springs is definitely one of my favorite places to go! Can't wait to go again next year!!
Please don't mind me in the photos as you can see I am still trying to get some of this darn baby weight off.

I Need Some Advice!!

2009-07-20T08:11:00.001-07:00

Okay, so we are going to be doing a road trip here soon to Missiouri! We are leaving on the 31st of this month and coming home the 9th of August. What I need advice about, is how do I do this with a nearly 4 month old baby?? So far our plan is to leave around his bedtime and drive through the night but this is not just a short little drive. So any advice that all you seasoned mothers could give me, would sure be appreciated. We are SO excited to be going out to Missouri finally to see family and let them all meet Talon.

100th Post!!

2009-07-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

Yay I made it to my 100th post. So much has been going on around here. Talon is 3 months old and I have been having my sister take some pictures of him and they are turning out so cute. I will post them when I get them. Talon is constantly doing new things to remind me just how big he is getting. He laughs all the time now, best sound in the world if you ask me. Yesterday I had to take him to the Dr. because he had white stuff all inside his mouth. It turns out he has a yeast infection of sorts in his mouth. It is worse than it sounds. The dr. gave me some antibiotics to get rid of it and he will be good as new soon. And last night for the first time he slept all through the night. It was so amazing!! I hope this happens again. As if that wasn't enough excitement for me in one day he decided to surprise me again and roll over for the first time today. Oh how I love this boy!! He does something everyday to make me smile. This weekend we are off to Lava Hot Springs for some fun in the sun! I will post about that next week. Have a great weekend!!

Happy 4th of July!!

2009-07-08T07:52:00.001-07:00

We love the 4th of July at our house. Our day started with Josh making Swedish pancakes/Crepes for breakfast. He made them red, white, and blue. They were delicious. Next up we had a picnic at the park with family and hung out there for a little while before we went swimming at my mom's pool. I always love swimming and I especially enjoyed it this time because I got a little bit of a suntan, finally! After that we went to some of our friends BBQ and had some really good steak. We hung out there for a little while before we went to my Grandma's house to have dessert and watch a little bit of fireworks. Unfortunately, Talon had reached his limit for the day so we weren't able to see the big display of fireworks. So maybe on the 24th he will be able to see his first fireworks. All in all it was a great day!

breakfast was delicious!

My little firecracker is going to be a thumbsucker.

Not quite sure why this picture is sideways, but it is so darn cute!

We really tried to get some cute family pics, but it is hard to get everyone to cooperate!

The picnic bunch minus Talon and me

Charlie even joined us for some of our festivities.

Just them being them!

I'm thinking he doesn't quite like the slides yet.

Day at the Zoo

2009-07-02T10:13:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my nephew Zack's 1st Birthday so to celebrate we took the boys' to the Zoo! It was such a great day to go. The weather was nice and warm! I hadn't been to the zoo probably since I was in elementary so I was kind of like a kid again. The only thing I wish could of been different is that Josh could of gone, but he had to work so I guess that means we will have to go back. Talon was so good at the zoo. He loved the animals. But not the snakes (Just like his mom) So we had a wonderful day. Thanks for having a Birthday Zack so I could get out of the house and do something fun.

He loved the zoo

Birthday boy in a birthday hat!

The adventures at the zoo tuckered him right out!

Happy Anniversary!

2009-06-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

So this past week was our 2nd Anniversary! To celebrate, we went camping with my sister and her little family. It was so much fun to just sit and relax by the fire. We also got to go to a movie and lunch while they watched Talon for us. We only ended up staying one night camping due to rain. But it was still such a great time. I was really nervous about taking Talon camping because of the cold nights but he was such a champ and he slept quite a bit while we were there.

We also celebrated Josh's first Father's Day as a daddy. We got him a shirt and tie and put together a collage of pictures for him including some footprints and handprints of Talon. It turned out quite well. Talon sure loves his dad and he is such a great dad!!

We sure are excited to be camping!

Worst Mother EVER!!

2009-06-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

So I took Talon to the Dr. today and I put him in the carseat and got him to sleep and I went to get in my door and I realized that I had locked them in the car WITH my baby!! Um, panic. Luckily, my sister was still there (I needed moral support for his shots) and she had her cell phone. We did indeed have to call the fire department to come and open the door for me. Probably would have to say worst moment of my life. I was pretty lucky though, it was an overcast day so it was not hot, he was sleeping so he didn't even know anything happened, and he was in there for a total of maybe 5 minutes. But still, who does this?? I can guarantee you not me ever again. So the worst mother of the day maybe even the week award goes to me!

P.S. I do have a post beneath this one that is much happier and full of pictures!

2 Months, Moving, St. George

2009-06-10T10:44:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I know I have been missing for awhile, but we have had SO much going on!! Not only that, we don't have internet hooked up yet. So since my last post, Talon has turned 2 months old. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. We went to his 2 month appointment and he weighing in at 12lbs. 8 oz. And he is 23 inches long. So we have a tall boy on our hands. He is also smiling and "talking" to us a lot more. He is really just a lot of fun.
We also have moved. We are no longer working and living at Towne Storage. We are living in a condo in Lehi for the time being. And I am trying my hand out and being a stay at home mom. Gotta say so far the best thing I have ever done!!
Right before we moved we took a spur of the moment break to St. George. We really just love that place and I can't get enough of it. We got to take Talon swimming for his first time and he liked it pretty well. But he really likes St. George, so we might just have to move back there. (I would love it too)
A couple of other things that have been going on: My little sister graduated High School, I got to go out last weekend for a girls night, and I made Freezer Jam for the very first time but not the last!!
I will try and post again soon, hopefully we can get the internet going. I posted the cutest video of Talon on here where he is just really happy and almost laughing.

Updates

2009-05-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

Things have been crazy around here!! Talon is fast approaching 6 weeks and he is growing like a weed. I don't have stats but just from looking at him I can tell he is getting bigger and longer. He is starting to smile and make sounds when he is happy. So that has been so much fun.
Also, Josh and I are getting ready to move......again! Yes we are moving this time we are quitting our job with Towne Storage so that I can stay at home with my baby! I thought I might be able to work and take care of a baby, but it was just too hard and I picked my baby over my job. It was sad because we loved our job and the perks with it. So if you or anyone you know is looking for a job and house (free rent) let me know and I will put in a good word for you.
Mother's Day was amazing!! I got to celebrate it this year which is crazy but I got taken care of. I got a "pamper" package. I got a certificate for tanning, nails, and get my hair done. And as a bonus Talon was an angel for me all day long. Now I just need to think of something great to do for Josh for Father's Day. Which is one day before our two year anniversary. So I need to think of something doubly good.
I posted some pictures but as a proud new mom they are really only of my baby boy, so enjoy!

Luckily for me, Talon decided he likes taking a bath.

This was our Mother's Day picture, we matched for church that day.

You can't tell me this isn't the cutest little outfit you have ever seen! It helps that the baby modeling it is Darling!

2009-05-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

This week my Grandma and Uncle came into town from Bellingham, WA. So last night for my dad's birthday we all met at an Italian restraunt called Robintino's. It was so much fun to get together with everyone and see family we haven't seen for a long time. It was the first time my Grandma and Uncle got to meet Marli, Zack, and Talon. So it was a special visit. Sure hope my dad had a great birthday, I know we had a great time!

Growing Baby!!

2009-05-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well my baby is 4 weeks old today. Time is flying by! Just a few fun things about him are:
He loves to eat!! This little guy is already eating about 4 oz every 3 hours.
He is a pretty good sleeper
When he cries and gets really worked up he snorts
He isn't like most babies where he likes walks in the stroller, car rides, and things like that. He just doesn't seem to like them.
We are having such a great time learning how to be parents. I had to start back to work yesterday and that has not been very fun but I am lucky enough to be able to bring him with me for now until he gets a bit older. So that has been what is going on here with us.

Back to Church

2009-04-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Well we decided to try and go back to church yesterday. I was really nervous about this because anytime I tried to take him out of the house before this, he would not do too well. He would just cry and I would just end up coming home early. Well church went great!! I fed him right before we left and he fell right to sleep and we were able to enjoy Sacrament meeting and Sunday School before we needed to head home to feed him again. It felt so great to be back to church, it felt like I hadn't been for so long.
Talon looked so super cute in his church clothes that I had to snap a few pictures. I put some up of him with Josh and with me, so you tell me who do you think he looks like more?? Because I just can't decide.

2 Weeks Old

2009-04-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well it's hard to believe but my little bean is two weeks old today. We went in for his checkup and he is looking great!! He is now weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs. 10 oz. WOW!! He is quite the eater and will be bigger than me before I know it. He is now sleeping about 3 hours at a time at night so we only have to get up twice a night and as he gets bigger, he should be able to sleep even longer. He likes to go on little walks in his stroller, and doesn't mind the car rides so much either. We sure love him and can't wait to see what adventures are next.

Life at Home

2009-04-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well now that we have been home for almost a week, I finally feel like I am getting the hang of things. Talon is so much fun to just watch and be around. We went to the Dr. on Monday for a quick checkup and he has already gained 2 oz. from his birthweight and is a half inch taller. So I think we will have a big boy on our hands. But he is looking great and is healing great. I have been feeling gradually better too. Life with a baby is a lot of hard work but is so worth it. Hope you enjoy the pictures of my little guy!!

Talon Joshua Doan

2009-04-09T12:21:00.001-07:00

Well my precious baby is finally here!! He came Tuesday night at 8:48pm. It was a long day and a long delivery but he is so worth it!! He weighs 7lbs. 12oz., and he is 20 1/2 inches long. It is so amazing just how much my life is changed already. I feel so blessed!! Something that was so amazing to me is that the day he was born is an anniversary of sorts for Josh and I. It was 2 years ago that day that Josh proposed to me. So it is extra special to us that we get to share this day with Talon. We are now home and we are going to work on figuring things out here. So stay tuned for some more pictures in the future. We just LOVE our little boy.

At home for the first time.

Getting dressed at the hospital to come home!

His first bath at the hospital.

Just hanging out in the nursery

Our first family photo!! I know I don't look great but I didn't care I just gave birth.

Jazz and Easter

2009-04-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

So last Friday night, Josh and I had 4 free tickets to the Jazz game so we invited my sister and brother-in-law to join us. We had so much fun watching the game and got really into it. Unfortunately, the Jazz lost by one point. Kind of disappointing but still had a lot of fun.

Then tonight for FHE we colored Easter eggs. We did this a little early because I think we may be busy with a new baby this weekend. We got creative with our eggs and had a lot of fun. I am so glad that Josh and I are able to enjoy the holiday's like we do. It keeps us young.

Obviously, still no baby. But my doctor said she would induce if I go a week overdue which is Thursday. So this week we will have a baby!! It is really frustrating to be overdue but I know it is all going to be worth it in the end.

Sorry about the order the pictures are in. Blogger just randomly put them in. But you get the general idea.

It was NOT easy to pry their eyes off the game for this pic!!

Josh and Charlie are coloring eggs.

The finished products. Sorry it's sideways.

The Jazz shooting some free throws.

My sister and I enjoying the game.

Sickness and Pregnancy

2009-03-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

So this past week I have been pretty sick. I went to the Dr. and he said that I have what is called Croup Cough. Normally this is something that babies and children get, so when adults get it, it's a bit rare. Seriously, what are the chances that I would get this a week before my due date??? Not something that I was planning on! It was not fun, but I think I am getting over the worst of it. Now I am just left with a scratchy voice and an annoying cough.

But here I am 2 days until due date and I am not feeling anything in the way of contractions. I think I have just made him way too comfortable in there. I will be going to the Dr. tomorrow to see if I have made any more progress. So I am crossing my fingers!! Any good vibes you can send my way would be great!!

Also, new in our lives is that Josh finally got his day schedule back. We are so excited about that. It was tough for us to have him working graveyards.

Well that is it for now. I really hope my next post is about our new little baby. But we will see!!

Birthday

2009-03-23T08:19:00.001-07:00

So Saturday was my birthday! It turned out to be a pretty fun day. Josh and I had to work until 5 so that wasn't so much fun. But after that we went and got some Cafe Rio and then we stopped by my mom's house and I got to open a super cute purse from her and some shoes. Then last night, we went to my dad's house for a bigger family gathering and had a yummy dinner and dessert. I got some more way fun things like nailpolish, gift certificates, and games. So it was a pretty good birthday for me this year.
It was harder for me to concentrate on it being my birthday this year because we are just anxiously awaiting for this baby to come. So we don't have a whole lot else on our minds other than being ready for a new baby. Only 1 week and 3 days until Due Date!!
****Sorry for the horrible pics! I was a slacker with taking pictures this year, so I only have 2 that are just awful. *****

Baby Shower

2009-03-16T10:55:00.001-07:00

So this last Saturday I had my baby shower. It was so much fun. Thanks to my sisters and mom for such a great time. And thanks everyone that came. Always fun to see family and friends. We got some really cute things and now I just really can't wait to see Talon. We are getting so close now and I am doing everything I can to get him here! That is what we have been doing the last little while is just getting everything as ready as we can.
Don't forget to wear your green tomorrow, I would hate for you to get pinched. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Some of the delicious food we had. Chicken Salad Sandwiches.

The table of gifts.

Getting in some practice with Zack!! Isn't he so adorable?

Josh got to come and participate too! He is pretty handsome.

This bib is from my mom and it says born to be wild. Isn't this SO true??

36 down....4 to go!

2009-03-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

Okay so I don't really have a whole lot of updates! I just thought I would say that I am down to 4 weeks until I have a little baby!! This is so exciting and so terrifying all at the same time. Is it normal to not feel like you are prepared?? Not only do I not feel prepared with all the things an infant needs to be taken care of, but I don't feel prepared to be a mom! I know this should just come natural....what if it doesn't??? Really though, I am SO excited to see what my baby looks like. He is going to be big. I went to the Dr. yesterday and she said that if she had to guess about how big he is now she would guess 6 lbs. So give it 4 more weeks and he will probably be over 8 lbs. So I am really hoping he decides to make his entrance a little early. Everyone keep your fingers crossed.

Pictures as Promised!

2009-02-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

Okay so I finally have taken pictures of our new place. Please keep in mind that I have not even come close to finishing with decorating. So the walls are still pretty bare and not everything is in their final place. We love it!! And if you want to see it better, feel free to stop by for a visit.

Here is the dining room area.

Part of the living room/office

Just another view of the living room

The kitchen area

The main bathroom. I love it because there is a seperate room for the shower, the toilet, and the vanity area. This view just shows the shower room and the toilet room.

View number 2 of the bathroom.

This is my laundry room. Yep!! It has it's very own room. Complete with a sink and cabinets too.

Our bedroom, this room is probably the one that is farthest from being done. I don't even have a bedskirt on the bed.

Okay this last picture obviously isn't of the house but I so could not resist!! Josh is going to kill me. But he decided he wanted to take some of the balloons from Valentines day and stick them up his shirt so he could know what it feels like to be pregnant like me. I gotta say he looks pretty good!

Valentines Day Love!

2009-02-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

So as you can tell from the previous post, I have the best husband ever!! He is so sweet. It didn't stop there for Valentines either. When I got home from work he had made me a trail of balloons leading through the house, up the stairs and to our bedroom where the door was closed. Hanging on the door was a note that said there were 5 flowers hidden throughout the house that I needed to find and with each flower was a gift. So I opened the bedroom door and there was a big Happy Valentines Day sign he had made with a teddy bear sitting on the bed next to an empty vase for my flowers. Well as I walked through and found the flowers they weren't just ordinary flowers either. He had made them! With each flower was a gift card to different places I love. So he gets an A+ for Valentines. It was so much fun and creative. We also went out to a restraunt called Mark Anthony's, it is italian, it was delicious!!
I have some pictures of the cute Valentines I got and I also included a belly bump picture that was taken on Saturday. I really don't like pictures taken of me right now so this is a big deal! More pictures to come VERY soon of our new place.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to take a minute to tell my wife how wonderful I think she is. She always puts her family first and only does what is best for all of us. I know she is going to be a Wonderful mother, our boy is going to be lucky to have her as a Mom. She is so fun to be around and can always make me laugh. She always knows how to make me smile and make me feel better. Every time I see her it brightens up my day. But most of all I just want to make sure that she knows that I love her with all my heart. She has saved my life and she means the world to me. There is no one in the world that I would rather spend my Valentine's day with. She is the Best and I Love Her!

I Love you Amanda!!!!!

Josh

PS: Will you be my Valentine?

Updates

2009-02-05T09:39:00.000-08:00

Well I am finally back!! We have been very busy trying to get moved and settled in our new place. Last weekend we got to take a break from packing boxes and go see a play at Desert Star called Home School Musical. It was so much fun. This particular play could of been one of my favorites they have done, it had me laughing the entire time. I highly recommend it. Then on Monday we started moving things over to our new place and didn't really stop working until late Tuesday night. (With a sleep break in there somewhere of course) I am still unpacking mounds of boxes and trying to get settled but we love our new place. I will post pictures as soon as I can find the attachments for my camera in one of my many boxes. Other than that life is great. Josh is getting used to his graveyard shifts at work and I am still pregnant. With only 8 weeks to go! Our little guy will be here before we know it. Well stay tuned for some pictures!!

Changes

2009-01-20T08:10:00.000-08:00

So I recently learned something new about myself. I don't like a lot of change. You would think that I would of known this about myself by now, but I didn't. Josh just changed his shift at work to work from 1 in the morning until 9 in the morning. This is great because it means more time for me to see him at home, but it also means getting used to a change in the routine schedule. For some reason I am having a hard time adjusting to it. This makes me a little bit nervous now for our move soon. How will I adjust to a new area, a new ward, a new house, and just before our new baby comes??? Don't get me wrong, I am excited for new opportunities, just a little nervous is all.
On a brighter note, Josh just got back from visiting friends and family in Missouri and he had a great time! I wished I could of joined him but I couldn't because of work and because he wanted to have a "guys" weekend. So I am glad he enjoyed that. Things are still coming along so great with the baby. We are approaching 30 weeks this week and I really cannot believe how fast time is flying by. We have picked a name for him, it's Talon Joshua. So now we just need to get him a crib and the works and get ready for him that way.
Well, sorry for no pictures. Next time for sure! Maybe they will be of our new place.....who knows! Hope you all have a great day.

GO AWAY SNOW!!

2009-01-06T08:24:00.001-08:00

Well I have just one more reason to hate the snow now!! Last night Josh calls me on his way home from work telling me that he has been in a car accident. After making sure he was okay, which he is, I asked him what happened and he said that a car had stopped in a non turning lane and Josh couldn't stop in time and he hit him. So now we get to go through all the fun stuff with the insurance company and trying to get the car fixed. What a pain in the neck! Oh and did I mention that the car Josh hit was a Mercedes??? Yeah, just our luck!

New Year

2009-01-05T11:56:00.001-08:00

Well Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all survived the holiday's. Now it is back to everyday life. I just thought it would be fun to share some of the things that Josh and I are looking forward to this year.

We are looking forward to having our first baby
We are going to be moving to another storage facility here soon in Riverton/Herriman
We are so looking forward to being sealed together as a family hopefully in October this year
Looking forward to celebrating our 2nd year anniversary
As always looking forward to new adventures!!

This should be a great year for us and we are so excited to share it with all of you! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know that we sure did. It was a busy holiday for sure. We started our celebrations this year on Christmas Eve at my dad's house. We had a tasty dinner and opened gifts. We had a great time there. Then Christmas morning Josh woke me up at 6 to open presents. (It's part of his little kid syndrome) We both got some fun things and had a great time watching each other open presents. Then Josh made me Swedish pancakes aka Crepes for breakfast. We didn't really dare venture outside too much becasue we were in a blizzard!! However, we ventured to my grandma's house for a little while and enjoyed being around family. Then yesterday we got together at my mom's for a celebration with her! Again, a great meal!! We had so much fun exchanging gifts again. Who really gets sick of presents?? We got some really cute things for the baby that just get me all the more excited for him to be here! I just cannot believe that Christmas has come and gone already. Part of me is a bit relieved while the other part is sad! Regardless, I hope you all had a great Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful and Safe New Year's.

P.S. We are officially under 100 days now until Baby Doan gets here!! YAY!

Birthday Festivities

2008-12-15T14:34:00.001-08:00

Well we survived the weekend! It was a lot of fun and there was a lot going on. Saturday morning for Josh's birthday and the Swedish holiday of Santa Lucia Day I got up early and made Josh cinammon rolls and hot chocolate and took it to him in bed. Then he opened some presents from me which were a new jacket and a video game. Later on in the day we went and saw the movie Four Christmases and went to dinner at Tepanyaki. Then that night we had some of my family over for cake and ice cream and some games and of course, more presents for Josh! I know I have said this many times before but I absolutely LOVE holiday's with Josh. He is like a little boy with his anticipation and excitment. He loves toys, games, and the works. It makes it so much fun to prepare and surprise him. On Sunday night I had the rest of my family over for dinner and leftover cake. It was fun and exhausting. Now we get to focus our energy and attention on Christmas in just 10 short days!! Can you even believe that?!?!?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2008-12-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

Happy 23rd Birthday Josh!! I love you and I hope you have the best birthday ever! I will blog about all we did on Monday.

It's a Wonderful Life

2008-12-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

Last night Josh and I got to go to the Odyssey Dance Theatre performance of It's a Wonderful Life. It was so great! We both had a great time watching this dance performance. It really made me wish that I was still dancing though. This show was so great to help get us in the spirit of Christmas even more. If any of you have an opportunity to go, I strongly recommend it.

Thanksgiving and our Busy Weekend

2008-12-01T08:58:00.001-08:00

It is so nice to finally have a minute to sit down and not do anything!! We have been extremely busy. Our Thanksgiving was great! Josh went and played a game of football with guys in the ward while I got ready to go to my grandparents house for our Thanksgiving meal. When he got home he got ready and we headed over there. It was such a good meal and always great to spend a holiday with family. After the turkey I was ready for a nap so we came home and rested a little bit before we went to my mom's house to plan out our shopping adventures for Black Friday. After that we just went straight to bed because before I knew it I would be up again to shop!!

These are just some pictures from Thanksgiving at my grandparents house.

Next came the Black Friday shopping. I went with two of my sisters (we were missing one, who had to be at home with her children) and my mom. We got up about 3 and headed out to Kohl's and Sears and Target. It was raining and wet and a little cold. But that didn't stop us from doing some crazy good shopping. We got everything we went out for and did it with plenty of time to spare! I met up with Josh later and came home and slept for about 2 hours before Josh and I went out shopping again. We were out for almost the rest of the day before we came home and put in Home Alone 2 and wrapped presents.

Saturday after a day at work we decided to put up our Christmas decorations. That was a lot of fun and it looks great if I do say so myself. In the second picture below you can even see how my baby bump is coming along. It's definitely there. Then last but not least, yesterday night we went over to my oldest sister's house to celebrate her birthday and to have another Thanksgiving meal of sorts. It was such a nice time!! I have a feeling this is how my whole month is going to be, but I love it! It will help pass some more time before our baby is here!

Sorry for such a long post this time.

Gratitude is the Best Attitude

2008-11-25T08:31:00.000-08:00

So last week for our FHE Josh and I talked about the first Thanksgiving and then we made a 'thankful thoughts' box. What we do with this box is everyday on a piece of paper we write down at least one thing that we are thankful for and on Thanksgiving we will open it up and read them out loud. So I just wanted to share, in lieu of the upcoming holdiay, some of the things I am so grateful for.

* I am grateful for such a wonderful husband that works so hard without a complaint!
*I am grateful for our baby boy that is coming in April
*I am so grateful for the gospel and the happiness it brings into our lives and our home
* I am grateful for our job here that lets us live rent free
* I am grateful for great family and friends!!

I could probably go on and on but these are some of the things I am most grateful for right now. I am so excited for all the food this year. I get to have 2 Thanksgiving meals and what more could a pregnant gal ask for?? So I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving, and Happy Black Friday shopping to you all too.

Concert

2008-11-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

Last night Carrie Underwood and Little Big Town came in concert and I really wanted to go. So my sister and I were listening hard to the radio stations trying to win tickets to go. Well as luck would have it, my sister won some tickets at about 4:30. So I had a blast watching this concert. We had excellent seats straight center 12 rows up from the floor. Little Big Town was the opening act and they did an excellet job getting the crowd excited. Then Carrie came out and she is so adorable!! It was just fun to watch her interact with the crowd and see how down to earth she really is. She had 3 different outfits and I loved to see those different changes. Definitely a great night. I just love concerts and can't wait for the next one.

My camera was taking blurry shots for some reason so this was the only one from her concert that turned out looking decent.

We were having a great time. And I just really don't like to take pictures, so the ones I am in I am just not serious.

Little Big Town

Carrie Underwood

Half Way!!

2008-11-13T11:15:00.001-08:00

What an exciting day for me!! I am officially 20 weeks which in pregnancy talk means HALF DONE!!! The first half has gone by pretty fast and pretty slow, only when I stop to think about it. We are so happy that we know what we are having so we can start buying things for our little guy. I went to the doctor today and she said that everything is looking great and everything is right on target and his heartbeat is great. So here is to another great 20 weeks to come!

Drum Roll Please......

2008-11-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well we did go get our ultrasound yesterday and it was such an amazing experience to see my little baby moving around inside of me!! The Dr. said that everything looks great and we are still on target for our April 2 due date. So I am almost half done here people!! Time flies. For all of you that guessed we are going to have a girl, I am sorry to say you are WRONG!!! I am having a boy!! YAY for us. My only problem was I had a name picked out for a girl and I am completely blank on boy names. So I better get on that little problem. It was so much fun for me to see how Josh reacted, he was so giddy all day and he is so proud that he gets a little boy. Truth be told I am scared out of my mind for a boy because I don't have much experience with them at all. However, I couldn't be happier about it!!

Make sure to keep scrolling to check out our fabulous Halloween pics!!

Halloween

2008-11-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

Every year for Halloween my sister throws a big Halloween party for the family. They are always so much fun, it is what I look forward to almost the most every Halloween. We have great food, games, and best of all we all go around to each other and do a little "trick-or-treating." Last night the costumes were great!! Jared and Allie's little family dressed up in football gear and a cheerleader, my favorite costume of the family was Zack, he was a football!! Josh and I dressed up as an old couple, we looked pretty ugly!! But we had so much fun with it. My mom was a witch. Becky was a cute fairy. And Darren and Amber both wore some crazy looking masks and their cute little girls were M&M's. And last but not least we did dress up our dog Charlie for about 2 minutes and we put him in an angel costume. He was a Charlie's Angel!! I know it's cheesy but I think it's hilarious. Good things dogs can't talk, I don't think he would of been too happy with us. I think my favorite thing about Halloween is to see all the different costumes that everyone comes up with. I better start thinking about what we will do next year!!

Pumpkins

2008-10-28T08:28:00.001-07:00

I just love this time of year! As one of our many Halloween traditions, we carved our pumpkins!! We had so much fun. I used a stencil for mine, Josh decided to free hand his, and Charlie decided to do something a little different for his since he can't really carve. So enjoy the pictures of our pumpkins!

All 3 of our pumpkins

Charlie's pumpkin with Eeyore on it.

Josh's pumpkin

my pumpkin

Guesses

2008-10-21T11:09:00.001-07:00

Well I went to the doctor today and they scheduled my ultrasound for next Friday!! Woo Hoo. That happens to fall on my favorite (well tied for favorite) holiday, Halloween. So I am putting this post out to see if I can get sort of a poll going on. What do you think we are going to have?? Will it be a boy, or will it be a girl?? Let me know what you think.

Baptism

2008-10-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday my husband had the opportunity to be baptized!! It was truly an amazing experience for him and all of us. When we got to the church to set up and get ready we walked in to find that the bishop had overflowed the font and the water was coming out into the hallway. So our first half hour or so was spent trying to mop up all the water and luckily reinforcment showed up with vacuums. After which we had the baptism and program which was wonderful, you could feel the spirit so strong!!
I just want to let my husband know that I am so proud of him!! He has come so far and is a wonderful example. Some of his family drove overnight to come be a part in all this and that meant so much to us. We know that more of his family would of liked to have been there but we understand and still felt your love and spirit there with us. My family also played a huge part in making it a great night!! So thank you to everyone that helped make all this possible. We love you!! We can't wait for what is to come next in our lives.

Happy Birthday

2008-10-07T08:18:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to do a quick Happy Birthday to my older sister Allie!! She is turning 26 this year. So Happy Birthday to her!!

Good News

2008-09-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Josh and I are having a baby!! We are so excited. We wanted to wait until we had heard the baby's heartbeat and we got to hear it last Thursday and it was probably the coolest thing I have ever heard! I have been feeling great! I guess I was one of the lucky ones not to feel any morning sickenss or really anything except tired. So our estimated due date is April 2.
I told Josh that I was pregnant by building him a baby bear and putting together a little baby package. Luckily he caught on pretty quick that we are having a baby. So now we are just gearing up for that. Any tips for having a baby would be great! I am a little nervous but more excited.

Horseback Riding

2008-09-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

My brother in law's family has a horse and they invited us to come riding with them last night becuase they were taking my nieces. Josh was so excited. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was starting to get dark so all they had time for was a few laps around. I personally didn't really want to ride so I just enjoyed watching them. Madison did not want to get off the horse, she was loving it!! Marli on the other hand was terrified of the horse, so she also just watched. All in all it was a fun night for everyone.

Weekend Summary

2008-09-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Well this last weekend was pretty crazy and fun. I ended up getting sick after we got back from Missouri with a cold/sinus thing that has NOT been fun!! But on Saturday I threw a baby shower for one of my Best Friends and that turned out to be a lot of fun. It was really good to see her again because I don't get to hardly ever see her, she lives in St. George. Then after that we went with my family up to Little Cottonwood Canyon and had a campfire and cooked some dinner and dutch oven dessert and played games. It was so much fun and the time there flew by!! Next time we go we will plan for more time and wear warmer clothes. It was Freezing!! But a fun weekend back at home.

Tag I am IT!!

2008-09-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

Well I have been tagged by my sister Allie and I am supposed to list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 obsessions, and 3 surprising facts about myself. Then I get to tag 3 more people so here is my list.

3 Joys

*Taking a vacation
*My Husband and Family
*A good rainstorm with thunder and lightening

3 Fears

*Snakes
*A burglar coming in to my house in the middle of the night
*A loved one dying

3 Obsessions

*Shopping!!
*Reading a good book
*Getting ready for Halloween

3 Surprising Facts About Me

*I really do not like donuts
*I have never been skiing or snowboarding and Yes I have lived in Utah all my life.
*I am afraid of a lot of animals, namely cats, birds, etc. Pretty lame huh??

3 People I tag

*Heather
*Misty
*Sarah

Missouri Trip

2008-09-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

Whew!! We are back! What an adventure we had. I will just start from the beginning. Sorry if you get bored reading this. We left on Sunday the 31st of August and drove about 12 hours and stopped in a place called Grand Island, Nebraska. Our hotel was AWFUL!! We walked in the room and immediately saw a spider crawling down the wall. We were so exhausted we just decided to sleep and leave ASAP. I didn't even dare walk on the carpets without my shoes. So needless to say we left pretty early the next morning and finished our 4 1/2 hour drive to Missouri. We got there and all of Josh's family were helping fix up an old building they bought to start a quilting business. So our Monday was spent helping with that. We tore down old wallpaper, the guys built a wall and the kids had a great time building their own little fort area.
The next few days kind of blend together a little bit for me. We spent time hanging out with the family and Josh spent some time working on the Lemon Fresh business with his brother. Josh and I took a day and went and visited a Psychiatric Museum and went shopping. That was a lot of fun. The museum was so fascinating to me and yet it was so creepy too. Last Saturday the whole family got together and had a BBQ at a skate park to help promote Lemon Fresh. We had a great time and it was so much fun for me to see Josh skate. After that the girls left the kids with the boys and we took off shopping for the afternoon. Gotta love girl time!!
Monday morning came WAY too fast and it was time for us to leave again. This time we stopped in Laramie, Wyoming and the hotel wasn't as bad as the first night we left but it still wasn't great. It is great to be home now and sleeping in our own beds again. Thanks so much to everyone who let us stay with them and for feeding us. We had so much fun and can't wait to come out again. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I was just having way too much fun.

Kind of a gross picture but hilarious!! I came out to find Josh and his brother Alan playing nintendo like this. Nothing like brothery love!!
Josh loves his nieces and nephews. He was even playing Barbies with Ella for her birthday.
These next pictures were at the skate park BBQ. Isn't my husband so handsome?

Proof that I was there. It rained almost everyday we were there. I loved it!! I sure wish we could get some more rain out here in Utah!!

Updates

2008-08-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

So I just realized I haven't posted for a little while so I just thought I would catch everyone up on what has been going on in our lives.

My sweet husband surprised me with a new bike so we can go on bike rides together now. It's a pink beach cruiser bike and if I say so myself it is pretty fantastic!

Josh went fishing for the first time in a long time with our brother in law Jared and he just cannot wait to go out again.

For those of you who have been following my sister's baby Zackary, he is doing so great! He is now almost up to a full 3 lbs. They are estimating he will only have to be in the NICU for 6 more weeks. He also has his own blog page that you can find a link on from my page. He is so sweet.

And last but not least we are getting ready to leave for a week and a half to go to Missouri to visit family and I cannot wait to go!! I desperately need a break and I can't wait to see family that we haven't seen for so long. They are so great!!

Well that is all for now. But I am sure when I come back from Missouri I will have much to blog about. Especially since we are driving.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

2008-08-12T11:22:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to say Happy 29th (again) Birthday to my wonderful mom!!! We sure love you!!

Weekend Recap

2008-08-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were pretty busy. Friday night my sister won some tickets for us on the radio to go to the Demolition Derby at the Fair. I had never been to a Demolition Derby before and I had such a great time. It's just like bumper cars in real life.
Then on Saturday my family went to Lava Hot Springs for the day. A lot of us had not been there before so we had a great time. We went to the natural hot springs, then to their big pool, then after that it was tubing down the river for us. That was my favorite part. Unfortunately, I did not get pictures of this part because I was too busy tubing. There has been talk of making this a yearly thing from now on.

I had to get the customary car picture on the way to Lava Hot Springs.
Cute little Marli just anxious to get into the water.
This was our group of girls that were there, aren't we so stunning??
Josh cannot take a "normal" picture to save his life. I sure love him and his HAIRY chest!!!
Then just before heading home, we stopped at a place called Fat Jack's for delicious burgers and fries.

Lagoon

2008-08-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

We went to Lagoon for our work party yesterday. It was a perfect day to go it was overcast and only in the 80's. I am a little chicken when it comes to a lot of rides because I get motion sickness so this day was mostly for Josh. He had so much fun going on all the roller coasters. He did feel bad that I wasn't doing very much so he was determined to win me a prize from one of those game booths they have along the side. He chose to do a rope ladder type thing to win me a prize. He did it probably 5 times and he did it!! He won me a HUGE stuffed shark. It was super sweet. Needless to say, we had a fun day.

Baseball

2008-07-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

Last night I got to do one of my favorite things ever!! I got to go to a baseball game. My little sister, Becky, won tickets on the radio and decided to take me. We had so much fun cheering for the Bees and singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame. As you can tell from the pictures we get a little bit crazy. But it doesn't get much better than this!

American Idol Concert

2008-07-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Monday and Tuesday nights were the American Idol concerts in Salt Lake. I was fortunate enough to be able to go Monday night with my mom and all of my sister's. We had so much fun! Unfortunately the pictures I took that night didn't turn out so well. I was a little bit bummed about that. So my mom called me on Tuesday morning and told me she had gotten a pair of free tickets from her work and wanted to know if Josh and I wanted to go, I jumped at the chance. We had such a good time. We were sitting by a lot of older people that didn't really want to get into it but that didn't stop us from enjoying it. So I got to go to both nights of the concert and they were both fantastic!! Go ahead be jealous......

Quick Update

2008-07-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to do a quick update on my sister Allie and her baby Zackary. Last week they had to transfer him to Primary Children's Hospital to do a surgery on his heart, one of the valves wasn't shutting on it's own. The sugery went great and he is now resting back at St. Mark's Hospital. He now only weighs 1lb. 5 oz. But the doctor's saying he is doing great and that he is such a trooper. He is so precious. I put a few pictures this time to kind of give an idea of how tiny he really is. The stuffed animal in the picture is a beenie baby size. The last picture I loved because he is sticking out his little tongue.

Sister and Baby

2008-07-02T08:36:00.001-07:00

For any of you that know my sister Allie I just wanted to do a quick update on what is new with her and her baby. She is about 26 weeks along in her pregnancy and last week she was put on bed rest for high blood pressure. Monday she had to go back to the doctor for some results to see if she could go back to work. When she got to the doctor's on Monday immediately after the doctor saw the results he sent her to the hospital for extreme toxemia. They were hoping to wait at least 10 days before they had to take the baby out for both of their health. However after running a few more tests they realized they needed to get the baby out sooner. So yesterday they did a C-section and got the baby out. As of right now they are both doing okay. Her baby boy weighed 1lb. 11 oz. He is in NICU. So if you could all just keep them in your prayers it would be very much appreciated.