Time...

December 9th
I am so grateful to Toa and Sela who took us into their home for the last two weeks while we were waiting to move into our apartment. I don't know what we would have done otherwise, but I cannot put into words how thankful I am for their kindness!

December 10th
I am so thankful that we were able to move back into East Elementary boundaries. That school is amazing and my kids are getting a great education!

December 11th
I am beyond grateful to both of my children's teachers and how willing they are to help my kids succeed. It is nice to have someone to help further your child's education. Honestly I can only do so much...so this is my big THANK YOU to them!

December 12th
I also am very happy and grateful that Aarron has a job and was able to have that job while we were up north and to transfer back here. Not everyone is so lucky to have a job at this point in time and as much as I sometimes am frustrated by the time it takes from us at the end of the day I know we are so blessed that he has a job!

December 13th
I am grateful for our vehicle...we have had to spend some money fixing it and we still have things to fix on it. That being said we are so happy that we have a vehicle that fits us all and gets us to where we need to go!


I know this is a lot in one post but since we don't have internet right now that is how it has to be...I am at least writing something down everyday it just takes me a little time to get it on here. So for now they are fast short posts but in time I am sure that they will be more regular and maybe unfortunately for people reading them longer :)

December 7, 2012
I am very grateful for my little baby girl who I had stopped hoping for. She is such a blessing in our lives. I could not have hoped for a better daughter. She is so happy all the time and we have lots of fun together! Plus her brothers love her and they all play great together. Really I couldn't ask for more. I could add to this post all day probably but I will stop here :)

December 8, 2012
I am grateful for my cell phone and the chance I have to get in contact with the people I love on such a regular basis, but I am also glad that I am not glued to it and know how to enjoy the world around me still!

December 5th
   I am so thankful that I have Aiden who can help Ian with some of his homework. I tis a lot bigger of a homework load with two of them so it helps a whole bunch to have someone who is so willing to help and so ahead of his own grade level that he is able to do it!

December 6th
I am so grateful for my doTerra essential oils they have made a huge difference in our lives and our home. I thank Andi for that first introduction and for Carisa to have again given me the chance to use the oils and experience just how great they are!

The joys

December 3rd 2012
    I am very grateful for all the clothes that myself and the rest of my cute kids and hubby have. That being said I did not love trying to pack all of them up for 2 weeks before our apartment is available :) No honestly we are so lucky to not have to wear the same clothes for weeks at a time. I am glad that we have clean clothes at our fingertips and washers to clean them in. I think sometimes we forget to stop and think about what life would be like if we didn't have washers or so many clothes available to buy at the store.

December 4th 2012
   I am grateful for my parents who were so willing to jump into their truck unplanned on Sunday morning to help transport my family down to Cedar safely. My plan to all fit in the Uhaul failed miserably and it would not only have been a very uncomfortable ride it would have been extremely unsafe. I am so thankful to them for helping to protect the people I love so much!

My posts will probably not happen everyday for a couple of weeks but I will make sure I get a post for every day! :)

My Challenge

So two years ago I took up the facebook giving thanks every day of November. It was a great experience and did create a better atmosphere and attitude around me and for my children. I enjoyed it a lot but have since not done it because I feel like 30 days was to easy. It took me until this November to decide my new challenge. I loved the change within my life over that 30 days so much that I decided this year to skip November and come up with something I am thankful for every other day of the next year until November rolls around. I know this is going to be a huge challenge but I hope for it to create a long term change in my perspective. I am a pretty positive person anyways but I want this to be a focus for my children in their home...so here it goes :o)

Today December 1st, 2012
    I am very grateful for an able body. I see people who cannot walk or lift things and I think sometimes we take that for granted. I am so glad that I can lift up my children and run after them as well. I always have hoped that I would be positive if I ended up losing those abilities, but I am not sure I could. I love those people who are so positive and had a great grandfather who was and that has always stuck with me. I am grateful for those people who make the best out of tough situations. I know that I am very blessed to have the ability to do the things I want to and I am so thankful for it!!!

Seeing as well I was writing this post it turned to December 2nd, 2012 I will just combine my posts.

I am thankful for the simple joys my children share with me and how it helps me to find those simple joys in my own life on a day to day basis. I hope with all my heart that I don't lose that with my children, but life seems to have a way of taking the simplicity out of things. Maybe when my children get a little older I will have mastered finding the simple joys so that I can help them remember to do that. There are so many things to find joy in and it makes life just that much sweeter when you share in those precious moments with the ones you love the most!

test of FAITH!!!

Okay so 6 months ago we moved from Cedar City, Utah back up to West Valley City, Utah. We moved with the intentions of staying up here for a long time. We moved back to be closer to family so that it was easier to see everyone...once again Heavenly Father is letting me know I am so far off the mark.

It was very hard for me to adjust from Cedar lifestyle to life up here. I missed Cedar horribly and struggled through the first four months up here. Aarron, myself, and our older kids did pray about going back to Cedar City. We knew at some point that we were going to go back to Cedar and that it was where our family was suppose to be, but of course we didn't think it would be soon. As I finally settle into life up here and start getting to know people better a change is to come...

This seems to be the way life works for me which isn't horrible. I am a pretty positive person most of the time and most days I can find the good in just about everything even when my kids are doing something naughty. I don't really know why I am like that, but I do believe it makes the rough patches in life a whole lot easier! I also think it is a great example for my children. So anyways back to the change to come about.

Aarron has been putting in for a position to advance in the company we did not get the job as they already had someone lined up for the position. He had stated in his application for the job that he wanted to advance in the company and further his knowledge so when the same position came available in St. George we put it for it to keep with his word, but both of us felt like he would not get that position so there was no real stress for us to worry about a move. About a week after he put in for the St. George job we got a call from one of the people who works down in the Cedar City office telling Aarron that he would like him to come back down and take his old job back with a pay raise.

This put some stress on us at this point. Since we weren't really planning on having to move it opened a door to something we were not prepared for which is not uncommon when God has a plan for you :) So the opportunity for us to go back to Cedar had readily fallen in our laps with a bonus we had not expected. The move though needed to take place in 4 weeks. I felt crazy four weeks is so fast...how was I suppose to manage that and get the kids still to school and on the list went. I was skeptical to say yes lets just move to Cedar City, because I didn't want to do something that was not the best thing for my family. Of course I started to pray and yet because I am such a logically thinking person I could not figure out if the answer was yes we need to go or if I just thought it made sense and how can you turn down a pay raise. We talked it out and we talked to my parents after much consideration that seemed to be the best option.

Now to get ready to move and find a home. With a job lining up and a pay raise the majority of everything was in place, but you cannot move without a home. I am a planner and I want a lot of notice so I set up a U-haul for our move for four weeks from the date but two weeks had gone by and we didn't have a house. I was beyond stressed and scared. I was trying to be faithful but felt like this was a huge road block and it got me thinking that maybe God was trying to tell us this was not what we were suppose to do. So again I started praying about if we were suppose to go now and I felt that we were so I willing stuck with trying to find somewhere to live. We could not get into where we wanted to go with the school we wanted the kids in, but I decided maybe I was trying to again place my wants in front of the Lords plan for us so I branched out our options. We moved the U-haul back a week and now had 3 weeks to find somewhere to live. It took us a few days. We got an application to an apartment where the rent was $580 but I felt the best about this apartment then all the others we had talked to yet including the place we wanted to get into. So we figured we could just wait and see what happened.

I have been packing the house up so it is ready at whatever point we actually do have to move. The day we went to print out the application for the apartment we applied to we went to see someone we are close to and care about a lot and found out that she is going to separate from her spouse which is a good thing for her, but we know it will be hard on her and her family so we felt very bad and like maybe we shouldn't move. It honestly ate at me for days. I again searched for an answer from Heavenly Father about what we were suppose to do. I am beyond grateful to know that he knows me and my family and will guide us in the direction that is best for us. I again got the answer that this is what we are suppose to do which is such a blessing. Knowing that we were suppose to still move I wanted to make sure we got the apartment. We did get approved and found that out just yesterday in the early afternoon. Funny enough though I got a call about an hour after that approval finding out that we can get into the place we wanted to and rent will only be 462 a month. This has been such a test of my faith and sticking through all the uncertainty but I am so glad I have a Heavenly Father who I can count on to guide me through those tests and that he blesses my faith. It took a lot of faith for me to feel so unplanned, but I am grateful for the strength it added to my testimony!

Story of a Girl

So I guess my girls story jumps around a bit...

So about three weeks after I had Aiden I saw this little girl in my head and thought it was wishful thinking on my part wanting a baby girl...after we found out we were having a girl I think it was God giving me a heads up :o)

Then as I stated in Owen's story I saw two of Aarron's ancestors in my dream Feki and Ana. Again when we found out I think this was God saying Brisha pay attention I have two babies for you still. Of course I didn't really pay attention. Apparently I am slow on the uptake. I usually make my own plans and Heavenly Father lets me know how off the mark I am. I trust in him though because he always knows what is best for me and the path my life needs to take!

After having Owen I felt pretty done. I felt like my family was complete. I told everyone I did not want a football team to have a girl and that I loved my boys more then anything in the world. I didn't need a baby girl...Oh how wrong I was!

Here is the start of my sweet baby girls story. I skipped three birth control pills thinking it was just one. I told Aarron that night that we were pregnant and I was right. My due date was exactly 40 weeks from that day. Pretty crazy when you know the day you got pregnant with your fourth child. Anyways I was not really sure how to feel. I was worried about being pregnant again. I don't have horrible pregnancies but they are rough on me. Once I hit about 5-6 months I can't lay down because it is to painful and I am tired through the majority of my pregnancy. I have a lot of pain. It was a lot for me to take on with three kids and I was worried and to boot Aiden was going to school for the first time. I was a wreck.

One of my first questions to my doctor was "How soon can we tie my tubes after I have this baby?" I love my babies and I am glad I have them, but like I said I was really worried about going through another pregnancy. My whole pregnancy I tried to convince myself it was a boy but I just never really could. I think I knew she was a girl. Come our ultrasound I knew it was a girl even before they told us and I was "tickled pink!" That is actually the words I said all day kind of silly since she was a girl but it was true...for the first time I got to buy pink and cute girly things :o)

I am not in a great head space well I am pregnant and with her it seemed to be worse. I guess it could be possible that I struggle with depression during pregnancy rather then postpartum, but at any rate it is not easy on me mentally. With every baby I always worried about dying during childbirth or that I would have a stillborn baby...I don't know if everyone goes through that or not. At the end of my pregnancy with Dessa it got bad enough that I spent every moment of my day thinking of if I should write out notes for pretty much everything in my children's lives for Aarron so he knew all of what he needed to do for each of them. At that time we had some doctor stuff going on for Aiden and what not. I will say it got really bad. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I could die. Funny thing is at about 6 months I prayed to my Heavenly Father that I would be okay and I knew I would be, and yet I could not keep those thoughts from my head. It got bad enough that I felt like I really needed to just be done being pregnant. We talked to our doctor and decided I would get induced on Halloween.

We went into the hospital at 3:30 in the morning on October 31, 2011. It was not the most pleasant experience in the world. I did not progress at all for many hours. They rechecked me at 9:30 and nothing had really changed so they started the cycle all over. At this point I was worried that I might end up getting sent home which I did not want to do. Come about 1 they started the pitocin. I hate pit it made my contractions so bad that there was literally no break in them. It wasn't the first time that I had gone through this so I was pretty determined to tough it out and go natural again. By about three I was only dilated to a five and not very much effaced which was so infuriating to me. I could not understand why things would not progress I mean I had done this before so I felt like my body should have been moving things along faster. They did even break my water to try to move things along which also did not do much.

My contractions by this point were so bad that I could not catch my breath through contractions. I finally looked over and asked Aarron to tell me to breath while I was contracting because I wasn't managing that on my own. That is a big deal for me because I don't say anything while I am in labor nor do I want to be talked to. I think Aarron really knew I was struggling but he just didn't know how to really help me. He did remind me to breath though pretty regularly and he did sit and hold my hand for a long time trying to give me his support which I desperately needed! I love Aarron and I am so grateful to his strength for me through all of that. I love that I could depend on him through that even though there was not much he really could do. 

I stayed at a five for about two hours. I at during that time frame while I was struggling to catch my breath did ask for the IV pain meds that took the edge off which was a huge relief and did help me cope better. IT did not last very long though unfortunately.Then I moved to a six and stayed there for another two hours. I felt like I had done everything I could to move things along and nothing was working. I was feeling very tired since I had not slept and very upset by how long this was taking. I had hoped I would be able to see my boys in their Halloween costumes and that they would be able to see their baby sister. Once again my plan was not working like I wanted it to. Well as time moved like a turtle and I was fed up the only real happy thought I had was that I knew at this point they wouldn't send me home and I would get to meet my beautiful baby girl!!!

At about 7:45 p.m. the nurse came in and asked if I wanted her to check me of course I said no...why would you say yes? Anyways she walked out of the room and about 5 minutes later my contractions changed and I knew we were close. The thing was my doctor was not there yet and his house was about 10 minutes away. I told Aarron to call the nurse because she needed to check me. Sure enough I had finished dilating so they ran to call the doc that was at 7:57 p.m. After having done this three other times my body knew what it was suppose to be doing and it was ready. That is a good thing when your doctor is in the hospital when your doctor isn't there it is a little stressful and crazy for everyone especially the nurses. They told me not to push to keep her in until the doctor came...all the other ladies who have had a baby before you know how much of a joke that is! Well little Dessa baby was delivered by the head nurse with no complications and I got to do it naturally again :o) She was born at 8:05 p.m. on Halloween and she got a cute little minnie mouse colored bow in her hair so that was her first "costume" ever. My doctor made it in right after she was born and as they cut her umbilical cord. I love my doctor and I am sad that he did not make it there to deliver her, but I am glad that the nurses were so amazing and that everything went smoothly. 

Part of me is sad that her birthday is on Halloween, but I will make sure that she gets to have her birthday celebration always be about her. I hope that she loves Halloween and knows that her birthday is more important to us then Halloween. Halloween aside though I am so glad that I have a baby girl. Girls are different then boys. I love my boys like crazy and I don't love Dessa anymore then I do them, but I was wrong. I did need a baby girl and I could not have gotten a better baby girl.

She is such a blessing in my life. She is so happy and sweet. She is so loving and she loves her mommy. She loves to be with mommy and just cuddle. She is also super tiny which is fun for me since my boys were so big. I love all my kids and I am glad that we have four amazing children and that our beautiful family is complete for now. It will be fun when the baby journey I get to go on later in life is for a grandchild. Life is such a beautiful thing and I am determined to enjoy every moment with my children absolutely possible!