Away for a while

Wow its been forever since I have posted. So much has happened these last few months. In January of this year as many of you know Brian injured his back, he re-herniated L5-S1. It happened right after Christmas break and it was an absolute nightmare. He was in un-controllable pain in his back and all down his leg and foot and it was really bad. I was 6 months pregnant with an almost 2 year old and things were so bad and hard. I didn't know If I could make it through.

Thank goodness time passes quickly, here we are now in almost October and life is so great!! Since Brian's injury he has had multiple injections to try and get the pain under control. (and remember we were in the middle of his second year of Medical School) Thank heavens for so many wonderful doctors who helped us along the way and took such great care of us. Brian was able to finish out his second year with flying colors!! I don't know how he did it, sometimes he would be up all night in pain and it was really hard to listen to him practically moaning, not to mention he could barely walk, and he was never pain free. I think this was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. Thanks to the many prayers in our behalf and a loving and caring Heavenly Father we made It through.

Ashley Mae was born April 16th 2008 at a whopping 9lb 8oz, yes she almost killed me. Before Ashley it always drove me crazy when people would complain about being pregnant and how uncomfortable they were and how they wanted to go early. Well Braden was a breeze but Ashley made me realize what so many women were talking about. I was so uncomfortable I could barely do anything. And if I would over do it at all (which wasn't hard to do) I would start having contractions. Once she came out My body was in such relief it was a miracle. No more pain, no more uncomfortableness (at least being pregnant) it was amazing!! And thanks to Dr. Solovieva and all the doc's and nurses in Kirksville who helped me all along it was wonderful!!

My family came out to help and see the baby and it was so nice to see them, and so nice to have so much help. Also to my neighbors and friends they helped out with Braden and meals. I have never really considered myself a needy person but these last few months I was, and I needed help to get through.

Time has flown since Ashley has arrived, Brian finished school, we have moved from Kirksville to Grand Blanc, Brian had back surgery and things are finally settling back down.

Brain's Back surgery went excellent, thanks to an incredible doctor (Dr. Huntsman) in Utah. He did Brian's previous surgery about 6 years ago and we have been very pleased with him.
He has been in physical therapy and is feeling much better.

We love our new home, it is so much bigger than anything we have ever lived in. We don't have enough furniture to fill it up but that's ok for now. We have a big playroom downstairs which is so nice. Braden can play all he wants and the toys stay downstairs. We have 3 bathrooms, wow I love it. We went from 1 to 3, ahhhhhh it is so nice. Oh yeah and we have a 2 car garage, it has been so nice and in the winter especially it will be so nice.

We love being in Grand Blanc, we miss family and friends from Utah and Kirksville but we really love it here. I miss so badly just walking outside and having a neighbor out to talk to and kids for Braden to play with but we are figuring things out here. I love being in an area that's not as isolated as Kirksville, I mean it was nice but its so nice to be able to drive 10 min to the mall, etc.

I find myself so excited to go to church and see people and make new friends, there are so many wonderful people in our ward. I am looking forward to meeting and making new friends.

I am so thankful to be at the end of September, I know that our challenges are not over but we have made it through some hard times this year.