James' Family Lines

(the names are blurred out just a little bit. in the real print, they are in black and really easy to see. they look great.)

p.s. if you love these family trees (the circle or the lines) and would like one for your family, contact me. I’ve decided to sell them. They’ll make a great Christmas present and if you contact me soon, I’ll be able to get it to you in time for Christmas.

As the day for Brennan to join us came, we started to make preparations. We got a mattress and put it on the floor in the room that would be his new room once the baby came (we would have to take the crib, chair and dresser apart to move them, so we didn’t want to change the room that would be the nursery).

NEW BED!

This was in July and James loved it. He thought the bed on the floor was the greatest thing. He would jump, say “BOOM” and fall on the bed.

Then I became worried that he would think it was only a toy and for fun and not a place to sleep. Then he got sick. He threw up one morning all over his crib and I bundled up all the bedding and threw it in the laundry and headed to the doctor’s office (it was his 15 month appointment that morning…I don’t just run to the doctor after just one throw up). On the way home from the doctor he fell asleep and I carried him into the house and was going to put him in bed, to my surprise there weren’t any sheets or blankets in his crib (I was 8 months pregnant, I had completely forgotten that I didn’t remake the bed after throwing the bedding in the laundry) and I decided to put him on his mattress and see how it worked for nap time.

It worked like a charm and we decided to move nap time to the mattress and new bedroom permanently.

Shortly after Brennan was born, I was still afraid to change bedtime to the new bedroom. James was sleeping so well in his crib. We read scriptures, said prayers, snuggled on the chair for a few minutes and put him in his crib and he went right to sleep on his own with no complaining or crying. Messing with such a good thing seemed like such a bad idea.

But it needed to be done and we did it and it is working just as wonderfully as the crib.

My favorite thing about James in the new bed is at night either Bryan or me will lay with him in bed for a little while until he gets sleepy enough to fall asleep on his own. The last little while, James has started to pull his binky out of it mouth, lean over and kiss us on the head and then put the binky back in his mouth and turn over. It is his signal to us that he wants us to leave. It is one of the cutest things ever.

I love my sweet Baby James.

To make the transition even more smooth, I wanted to make sure that he room was special just for him so it was time to decorate (and I was nesting and I took it out on his big boy room). I love how it all turned out. Here are some pictures:

The Bed

Above the bed is James’ family tree (not the circle one that I made originally, I wanted to do one with lines that would match his decor more. Up close view in another post). Also are the six canvas pieces that I made to match the bedding. I got the idea on pinterest and really liked how they turned out. The stool helped him get up on the bed (after we put the box springs on the bed, it was too tall for him on his own, but the box springs, and the bed rail keep him in bed after he wakes up).

Canvas and Family tree

Bookshelf and toys

I didn’t want to buy a new dresser and the one we had didn’t match very well, so we hid it in the closet and use the green buckets for diapers, jammies, extra blankets and jackets. He has a teddy bear, his jungle truck, a piggy bank and the Illustrated Stories of the Book of Mormon (he LOVES those books). The frame above the bookshelf is going to be filled with pictures of his aunts, uncles, cousins and us! We also found a beautiful picture of the Savior holding hands with a little blond boy by Greg Olsen, a picture of the temple and a picture of President Monson.

The Temple, the Savior and the Prophet

It turned out a little high on the wall for his little eyes but he still takes notice of it (he pointed at President Monson today and said “bumpa” (how he says grandpa)…opps, we’ll have to work on that).

On the side of the room (where I stood to take the pictures) is just the door and a closet. So nothing interesting to see over there.

He loves his room and understands that it is HIS room. I love going in to get him in the morning and finding him snuggled up in his bed, just waiting for me. I love snuggling with him and watching his eyes open and close as he fights going to sleep. And although I know that I’m going to miss him being my baby, right now I love doing these things for him to help him grow up a little tiny bit.

video taken Nov. 5.

unique little guys

Brennan loves to be held, cuddled, snuggled and wrapped up. If he is unhappy, holding him close will often solve any problem. I am loving it (who doesn’t love to snuggle a brand new baby?). The only issue is that in the middle of the night if he is upset and I am tired, I know that I can just tuck him in the crook of my arm and he’ll fall peacefully asleep, then I can lay down and do the same, with him still tucked into my arm. I’m not against co-sleeping, it’s just not a habit I want him to be in when he gets older. I like my own personal sleeping space.

snuggled

James didn’t much care if you were holding him or not. He was pretty happy to jut stretch out on the couch, floor or your arms. He also was not much of a snuggler. Right from in the hospital James liked to stretch out. He liked to see the world and know what was going on. Even now he’s not too much into snuggling. We have moved him to his big boy bed and at night either Bryan or I will lay in bed with him for a little bit while he starts to fall asleep, but he doesn’t like for me to actually touch him. He likes that I’m there with him, but I can only put my arm around his belly to make sure he lays down, no other snuggling allowed.

James stretching in the hospital

Their love for binkies are different too. James thought the binkie was great and still loves it. Brennan will tolerate it, but I can just imagine him rolling his eyes at me while I try to put it in his mouth when he is upset.

James loved baths and still does.
Brennan thinks baths are pretty horrible.

I have always known that no two kids are alike, even in the same family (goodness, just look at my siblings, we are all crazy different) but it is just so much fun to discover it in your own kids.

Brennan Lee Phelps

He made his debut into the world Friday, September 2, 2011 at 6:10 am. He was 6 lb and 3 oz and was 18 inches long.

His timing was actually pretty great. As I mentioned before, Bryan has been called and was serving on jury duty for a case that began Aug. 29 (the Steven Strate case). I was so scared that I would go into labor while Bryan was in trial and I wouldn’t be able to get a hold of him. Due to scheduling with the court system Bryan didn’t have to go to jury duty on Thursday or Friday (they have Thursdays and Fridays set aside each week for different kinds of trials (family, civil, etc.). I was very happy about that because I had my 38 week appointment scheduled with my doctor on Thursday at 2:20 and really liked to have Bryan there with me. He was able to come home from work and go to the appointment with me (even though he hadn’t been at work all week because of jury duty … Thanks MonaVie and Alex for being so understanding and working around our schedules!).

At the appointment my doctor, Dr. Jones (with Legacy OBGYN in American Fork, whom I highly recommend. He is absolutely fantastic)  asked how I was feeling and if there was anything new going on in life. We quickly told him about Bryan’s jury duty and joked a bit that we this baby might be popping into the world without Dad present.

Dr. Jones checked all the important things they like to check at a 38 week appointment and settled back down onto his chair to chat for a minute. He told me, you look great. You are dilated to a 3 and are good and ready that this baby could come any minute. The baby is in a great position and you’re full term. Your strep B is negative and you have no high blood pressure issues…  Do you want to have this baby tonight?

Thinking he was joking, I agreed that having the baby that night would be great.

He told me that he could help the whole process along and strip my membranes (TMI for a blog, maybe, but its my record keeping process and you choose to read a post about the birth of my baby so you get to deal. :)). He said that doing so would give me a 50/50 chance of starting labor tonight. He told me that he was on call all night, so he would be there to deliver the baby for sure (which I really wanted, because with James he was off and another doctor delivered James. It was fine, but I really like Dr. Jones and wanted him to deliver the baby).

We were a little bit worried about doing it and wondered if it didn’t start labor tonight, if it would speed up the process and I would end up going into labor some time next week, earlier than my due date and while Bryan really couldn’t be there. He told us it would either start or not start. He left us alone for a little while to family council it and decide what we wanted to do.

I liked the idea of having the baby and then having the whole weekend with Bryan home before he had to go back to jury duty. I also liked the idea of not having the worry in my head about the possibility of going into labor and not being able to get a hold of Bryan. I couldn’t decide what to do. I told Bryan it was up to him and he reminded me it wasn’t at all up to him, and it was up to me (being my body and all). Finally I decided that I was going to do it. I either would have a baby that night, or be in a some additional pain and not have a baby. Having a baby and no longer being pregnant won. I was so ready to not be pregnant.

Dr. Jones came back and we chatted a bit more about the whole process, he did what he needed to do and we were off for the day.

I wasn’t really sure what to think. I really wanted it to work and start labor, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up and be disappointed. So I started to make a list of things that I wanted to do just in case labor did start.

After we got home, we at dinner and watched Big Brother (its out summer tv guilty pleasure. such a stupid show, but so entertaining). Then I picked up a couple of rooms but didn’t actually do all the things on my list. Then, after putting James to sleep, we thought we should warn/ask Kevin if he would come up to our house and stay with James if we did go into labor that night. He was great and said he would.

Instead of going to bed and getting some sleep, Bryan and I stayed up and played Ticket to Ride (Looking back now, I realize I should have just gone to bed. I ended up only getting about 20 minutes of sleep). We climbed into bed around 11:30. Throughout the evening I had been feeling a few small contractions here and there, but nothing consistent and they weren’t getting more painful. As soon as I relaxed and tried to go to sleep, that’s when I really started to feel the contractions.

Around 1:30 they were consistently 7 minutes apart and getting more painful. I tried to get a little bit of sleep through them but to no avail, so I got up, washed my face and brushed my teeth. I put a few last minute things into my hospital bag and woke Bryan up at 2:30.

He had told me earlier that he didn’t think it was actually going to happen that night. So when I woke him up I made sure to tell him he lost the bet and we were having a baby. He woke up and called Kevin. We got a few more things ready for to leave while we waited for Kevin. He came, we got him some things to help take care of James when he woke up and were off.

The drive to the hospital was surprisingly calm. Bryan joked about taking me all the way into Provo to the hospital instead of American Fork. We talked about how I could have totally driven myself to the hospital and when we got there, I just had him park and we chatted about how nice of a night it was as we strolled through the parking lot to the front doors. We even stopped at the front door to document our arrival at the hospital with a picture.

We're Ready!

It was amazing how much more calm I was with this baby than with James. The contractions were 4 minutes apart, but weren’t crazy painful. I felt like I knew what to expect and was totally ready to have this baby. I had no fears of lack of preparation or not enough socks.

We got settled into the triage room around 3:40 so they could monitor me and make sure I was progressing before officially checking me in. Bryan and I played Words with Friends and Hanging with Friends back and forth for most of the hour. Then the contractions started to get more painful.

At 4:40 I had dilated to a 6 and they officially checked me into the hospital. They moved me into a labor and delivery room and called the anesthesiologist. I was so ready for my epidural.

My contractions hadn’t moved much closer together, but were more painful, so Dr. Jones came in, broke my water and put me on a pitocin IV to help the contractions move closer. John the anesthesiologist came in and we were on the way. I felt the epidural start down my left leg and into my toes. Then felt it move its way very very very slowly up my right leg, starting with my toes. It was 5 am.

The contractions were getting much closer together and much more painful. And the epidural had stopped making its way up my right leg. I could feel how painful the contractions were getting in just one little spot next to my right hip.

It hurt.

I cried.

I screamed.

We pushed the button to get me more of the epidural, but it wasn’t moving any farther up my right leg. She brought in Dr. Jones and explained that I had a “hot spot” that the epidural wasn’t hitting. He checked me, and I was dilated to an 8. They decided to go a head with the catheter and Dr. Jones told me he was going to get some water boiling and to get ready for a baby. The nurse then went to bring back the anesthesiologist to have him check to see if there was something wrong.

After Dr. Jones and the nurse left and the catheter was in place, the hot spot disappeared and I could feel the contractions radiating pain around both of my hips, back and down both legs. The epidural wasn’t working.

It hurt.

I cried.

I screamed.

Poor Bryan had no idea what to do to help me. I remember clinging to the railing of the bed and just shaking because of the pain. This wasn’t exactly how I had calmly remembered labor.

Dr. Jones and the nurse came back in and I was still only dilated to an 8, but Dr. Jones said the baby was coming and he was coming now. He calmly told me that I needed to push. I not so calmly told him there was no way I was pushing without the epidural working.

They had everything ready and told me to start pushing. I screamed. I kept telling them over and over that I couldn’t do it without an epidural that was working and I didn’t want to. I screamed and told them I wasn’t going to push. I could feel myself having a panic attack and I couldn’t breathe. The nurse and Dr. Jones told me to breathe and to push. If I would just push, the pain would go away. Everything would be better if I would just push. Dr. Jones told me I could do it. I couldn’t understand why the pain wouldn’t go away and I couldn’t understand why the baby was trying to come if I wasn’t even dilated to a 10 yet. He couldn’t come yet, my body wasn’t ready. I was breathing out short small bursts of air or holding my breathe trying to make the pain go away. I looked over at Bryan while I was screaming and crying. He looked terrified.The cute nurse was trying to get me to calm down and just breathe. I remember thinking to myself, “You are having a panic attack. You need to calm down and breathe.” but it didn’t happen. I had no control.

Amazingly though, during my panic attack and freak out, my body knew exactly what it needed to do and was pushing anyway. As I was telling Dr. Jones no, my body was doing exactly what he said to do and what it knew it needed to do.

At one point, I remember the nurse telling me to hold my legs. I told her I didn’t want to, put my feet in the holders and pushed away from the dr and nurse.

After two really hard pushes, he was here. I leaned over and looked, and there he was… my beautiful baby boy.

Here at last!

It was 6:10 a.m.

It took him a minute to cry and I looked at him and said, “cry, baby. cry.” Dr. Jones assured me that the baby was okay and soon the baby took his first breath and cried. It was beautiful to hear. Dr. Jones had Bryan cut the cord and they took the baby to clean him up a bit.

After a little bit, I could feel Dr. Jones stitching me up. I asked him what he was doing down there and if I had torn. He told me that during the part where I was “climbing up the table” I was going to tear so he just gave me a little more room so I didn’t tear (TMI again, but it’s my blog).

He was 6 pounds and 3 oz and 18 inches long. After cleaning him up a little bit and testing his breathing and everything, they let me know that he wasn’t breathing very well and needed to be placed on a breathing machine for an hour. But before they wisked him down to the nursery, they let me snuggle with him for a little bit. But then had to take him to the second floor. I told Bryan that I was okay and to stay with the baby.

After everything was over, I apologized over and over to the nurse and Dr. Jones for all my screaming and freaking out. They told me I was fine and that I did great. I still felt horrible and wanted everyone to know how sorry I was that I was so difficult and screamed so much. I still feel a little embarrassed, but I had no idea that I would have so little control over what my body was doing. It was like I was there, and inside, but couldn’t control it.

I know that because the epidural kind of worked, I didn’t feel everything that I’m sure I would have felt if I had a natural birth, but what I did feel was crazy painful. When I was younger, I had a few warts on my feet that I had frozen off. I remember it was pretty painful. I cried and screamed. Then suddenly in the middle of the process, I couldn’t feel anything anymore. My whole body had gone numb and I just looked at my mom. The doctor was quite confused and told my mom that I should be hurting a lot right now. Then everything turned back on and I was screaming again. I guess my body had just had too much and had shut down. I had always kind of hoped that something like that would happen during labor. Guess not.

Everyone had left the room and I was alone. Bryan and the baby were down on the second floor for the baby’s breathing treatment, the Dr. and nurses had left to let me relax and calm down a bit. I was so shaky. I couldn’t decide if I was cold or shaking because of everything that just happened. I sent out a couple of texts telling my family the baby was there. Called my mom and let her know the baby had come (she was getting ready to come down, but because he came so quickly, so completely missed it). Then, I got a phone call. It was 6:30 in the morning and it was a number I didn’t recognize. I’m not sure why I answered it, but I did. It was a good thing I did because it was my older brother.

We had a really nice chat he told me how much he loved me and how proud of me he was. I was pretty surprised by his call because it was 5:30 in LA. I didn’t think my brother’s body could actually function at that time (he normally doesn’t go to bed until at least 3 am and doesn’t get up until past noon). He was wonderfully sweet and it was so great to talk to him. We haven’t always gotten along, but I am so thankful that as we have gotten older we have become closer.

Bryan came up and showed me some pictures of the baby and I realized how much I missed him and wanted them to bring my baby back to me. But he was hooked up:

After an hour, the nurses shift had changed and my new nurse came in to let me know that there was no room for me on the Mother/Baby floor and that I would have to stay in labor and delivery for a while. I was okay with that, because the labor and delivery room are really nice and so much bigger. She asked if she could get anything for me and I told her I really missed my baby. And she set off to find him and bring him back to me. It was wonderful to have him in my arms again. The breathing treatment they gave him worked and he was breathing really well on his own and his lungs had expanded and everything was good.

Around this time, we got a message from Kevin telling us that James wasn’t too excited about mom and dad not being home when he woke up.

Where's my mom and dad?

He loves his uncle Kevin and aunt Aubrey though, and warmed right up to them. They were so great for watching him and bringing him to the hospital later (with the help of Lindsay and her car seat) (and capturing the sweetest moment of the day on camera… more on that in a minute).

We were finally able to move down to the mother/baby floor and get settled into our room. After lunch time, Kevin, Aubrey and Lindsay brought James to the hospital to meet his new brother.  I was a little bit worried about how James would react to the new baby. Bryan went out in the hall to get James and bring him in. He set him on the bed with me and the baby and I leaned over and told James that this was his new brother. He looked at the baby for a second then reached up and patted his head. I moved the baby a little closer to James and without any prompting or any of us saying anything, James leaned over and gave Brennan a kiss.

Their first meeting

(How is that for great camera timing? Thanks guys for having the camera ready!)

It was so sweet. I melted my heart. They definitely knew each other in Heaven and James was excited to see his brother again. He loves having the baby home and wants to always see him and be by him (he’s getting a little too excited about the baby and hitting him, but we’re working on it).

We had a hard time deciding on a name and didn’t settle on one until right before we went home and had to fill in the paperwork for a birth certificate. Because it took us so long to figure out his name, I had a hard time calling him Brennan at first. I called him Bennett and Benson and Braden so often. I think Brennan is perfect though and it suits him so well.

After just a day in the hospital, I was good and ready to come home and get started with our new life as a family of four. So far the adjustment has been good. We are getting into the swing of things and with the help of some Dr. Pepper, I am actually getting stuff done. Hooray!

(congratulations on making it to the end of this post!)

P.S. It turns out that Bryan sat through the whole trial, but ended up being an alternate juror  and when it was time for the deliberations they sent him home. I guess they do that a lot with trials. They have 10 jurors listen to the case, but only need 8 to actually decide the case. Learn something new every day.

I have an app on my phone that keeps telling me to write down a pregnancy memory. And today, I felt like writing down how it all felt this time around. So you all get to read it.

Just for Good Measure... The Belly: 38 Weeks

This pregnancy has been so different than my pregnancy with James. I have had heartburn to the point that I have to take a pill every morning just to make it through the day and TUMS don’t make a dent in the pain. I wasn’t nearly as sick with this little one as I was with James. There were only a few times that I had to make a mad dash for the bathroom. Also, this time, I don’t have any indications of high blood pressure and will probably not have to be put on bed rest (except by my own instructions).

(I do have to admit though, last week at my 37 week appointment, I freaked out a little bit, worried that they would tell me I had high blood pressure again and send me to the hospital or put me on bed rest. It was my 37 week appointment with James that all the craziness happened, so I was so worried. I packed my hospital bag and a bag for James and was a total mess the whole morning before we went in. Poor Bryan. I don’t think he knew why I was being a crazy. He’s deals with me so well though.)

This little guy moves so much more than James did. In the evenings he is especially wiggly. Some nights I will sit in bed and just watch my stomach move back and forth, back and forth. One night Bryan and I sat and watched my belly more for a good 20 minutes. It was crazy.

Really though, one of the biggest differences between this pregnancy and the last, is this pregnancy I have James to chase around. I have no idea how people with children have more children. Chasing around my 16-month-old is exhausting with this big belly to lug around too. I’m truly thankful that he can walk though. If he were a late walker, I’m not sure I could ever go anywhere. When we go shopping or out of the house, I only have to pick him up to get him in and out of the car. Besides that, he’s really good to hold my hand and walk along side me until we get where we are going or get to a cart to put him in. Carrying him wears me out so quickly. Thank goodness he was so determined to be mobile (sometimes, little tiny things like these strengthen my testimony so much and remind me that my Heavenly Father is watching out for me and has a plan for me. I know it seems so small, but James walking has been such a blessing).

James is becoming so independent and learning so much every day. It’s so fun to watch him grow, but so frightening to think of how he is going to be when little baby B joins the family. The transition scares me a little bit, but I know that I will have Dr. Pepper to help me through it. :)

I had a conversation with Bryan the other day about how I am so tired lately, I just want the baby to come. He reminded me that after the baby comes, I’ll still be just as tired because he will wake up during the night…Yes, I responded, but I wake up just as many times during the night right now to go to the bathroom, or because the baby is kicking me or I’m having Braxton Hicks. But after the baby comes, I can have Dr. Pepper again to help me make it through the day until I get used to the new schedule. (I don’t like drinking caffeine during pregnancy for all those good health reasons, but also with this pregnancy it gives me CRAZY restless legs when I do have a sip or two, so I have had to cut it out COMPLETELY.)

We haven’t picked out a name for Baby B yet, but we know that it is going to start with the letter B (hence calling him, Baby B). With James we knew we wanted to name him after his two grandpas. James for Bryan’s dad and Edward for my dad. With Baby B, we weren’t sure what we wanted. We went through other grandpa and family names, and weren’t sold on any of them. We did know that we wanted him to have the same middle name as Bryan, but we didn’t want to name him Bryan Jr. Then we thought of giving him the same initials as Bryan and carrying on Bryan’s name in that way. So since we made that decision, we have narrowed it down to a handful of B names and are just waiting to see if one jumps ahead of the others. What do you think?

• Bennett
• Benson
• Brayden

Bryan suggested the other night that we just name him Blue. I ruled that one out.

Jury Letter

Bryan received a letter in the mail a while ago informing him that he had been summoned for jury duty. He would have to go down to the county building in Provo twice during August for jury selection. If selected to serve on the jury they would inform him of the dates and times of the trail.

Monday was the second day of jury selection. They had kept him from the first day as a possible juror. Monday they decided that he still would be a good candidate for a possible juror and called him back for a third day of jury selection (yesterday morning). Turns out, having a pregnant wife isn’t a good excuse to get out of jury duty. Around 10 am Bryan sent me a text that he had been selected and the trial would begin immediately. (I should have seen it coming. Bryan’s not an extremest of any kind and is so much the “guy-next-door” that it really was only obvious they would choose him.)

I had been a little bit worried about being home alone during the day and going into labor. I had a plan all worked out that I would call Bryan at work and start to get myself and James in the car. If I couldn’t get a hold of Bryan at work, he gave me other people in his department’s numbers so I could call them and they could find him for me. I would drive myself to the hospital while Bryan made his way to AF from 106 South. On the way I would drop James off somewhere or call Mel or Tyler to meet me at the hospital and get James (they both work in AF and would be able to get away from their jobs pretty easily). I also had some backup plans of people to call just in case I couldn’t drive myself because the pain was too much (my mother-in-law thought that would be the case).

Now that Bryan is in trail all day, I won’t be able to get a hold of him any time. He did give me a number for the court room that I would be able to call, and they didn’t ask him to turn off his cell phone so I could still call and text, but I’m pretty sure that it will take him longer to get to AF from Provo than it would have taken him to get from 106 to AF — crazy construction. And I’m not really sure if they would let him get up and leave in the middle of the trail. Plus, Mel and Tyler are out of town, so there goes my James contingency.

I know that I have have enough family and friends who love me and would drop everything they could to come and help me should I go into labor. (My dad works at BYU, and I know that if I were to call him, he would be at the AF hospital within 15 minutes…not a lot of driving laws would be followed, but he would be there for me.) It just throws off my whole groove to have my plans change like this at the last minute; I like to be prepared. I know that everything is going to be okay, but every little contraction I feel kind of sends me into panic/stress mood.

My solution?

Do absolutely nothing that may help bring labor on faster — so, do absolutely nothing. Basically, I sit on the couch and tend to the needs of James and do nothing else. Good excuse to be lazy, yes? Maybe it won’t actually help, but it makes me feel better so that’s what I’m going with. They expect the trial to be finished by the end of Wednesday next week, so I’m only shirking my household responsibilities for those couple of days (until we need clean unmentionables, I don’t think I can ignore that responsibility).

So if you want to do absolutely nothing and feel like you are still helping a friend in need, come on over. I’ll be sitting on the couch in a pair of pajama pants watching reruns of America’s Next Top Model.

So we visited the Living Planet Aquarium. James thought it was pretty great.

Looking at the fish

Tall like a Penguin

Too many things to see to stop and smile with mom

This frog was too cool

Climbing on things

While he enjoyed looking at the fish and other animals, his favorite thing about the aquarium was the fake rocks to climb on (other kids used them to see the fish better) and the buttons. I knew that he would really enjoy buttons (when you push the button, it makes the sound the animal would make), so I had avoided showing them to him until we were just about ready to go.

the BUTTONS!

What animal makes that noise?

Bryan held James up to play with those buttons for a good 20+ minutes and when we decided it was time to go, he threw a great fit. Good thing I saved the buttons for the very end of the visit.

It was a lot of fun though and we’ll definitely visit again.

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers…

Malachi 4:6

I love the idea of having a family tree in the home to always remember the wonderful heritage we come from. However, I don’t really like how family trees often look.

Then one day, I came across this cute shop: My Tree and Me and I fell in love. I loved their modern take on the family tree and wanted to do something like it (but not pay $120).

So I decided to make one of my own. Originally, I had thought that I was just stealing the idea straight from them (I saw the site, forgot to bookmark it, made one of my own, then found the site again), but it turned out that my idea was different that the specific trees they sell.

Here it is:

I love love love the way it turned out. I found a frame at Ikea that is 20×20 so I just need to get this printed and it will be a great addition to my living room. (I thought it was a little bit weird to post the first and last names of all my family on an open blog … I try to be safe about what I put up here … so I changed out the names for this post, but in the real tree it has all the first, middle and last names for James’ five generations.)

I toyed around with the idea of including more information like birth and death dates for each person (as applicable) but decided not to for right now. I just love how clean and simple it is. Maybe in the future I’ll expand it a little bit more, but for now I am very happy.

Now I just have to come up with another idea for baby #2. (who still doesn’t have a name. Guess we shouldn’t have used up all our grandpa names with james…)

Our Wedding Day

Five years seems like such a long time, but it still seems like it was just yesterday that we entered the temple together and made sacred covenants and changed our lives forever.

As I was reading through the Ensign this last week and with the thought in my mind that our anniversary was coming up, I reread Elder Richard G. Scott’s talk from the Sunday afternoon session of this last General Conference, The Eternal Blessings of Marriage. As I read the talk and thought about my own feelings about the blessing that marriage is in my life, I was touched with something he said.

I have no power to describe the peace and serenity that come from the assurance that as I continue to live worthily, I will be able to be with my beloved Jeanene and our children forever beacuse of that sacred ordinance performed with the proper priesthood authority in the house of the Lord.

I echo Elder Scott’s feelings and know that words can’t fully describe how wonderful it is to know that our family can be forever. I feel so thankful to know that I can be with Bryan for all eternity. As we sit together on the couch and talk about the mundane things that happened during the day, I am filled with such a peace and wonder knowing that as we live worthy, these simple yet joyful moments never have to end.

I love Bryan more today than I ever have, and know that our love can continue to grow in the many many more years we will spend together.

The temple sealing has greater meaning as life unfolds. It will help you draw ever closer together and find greater joy and fulfillment.

-Elder Richard G. Scott