Fathers Day 2012

Happy Fathers day to my main squeeze! He really is the best daddy in the world. I love him for that! I remember my mom talking a lot when Jake and I were dating about how special it was that I got to see my boyfriend/future husband as a dad before we bring children into the world together. I remember thinking that was cool, but not REALLY thinking about it until recently… Watching him be Kailee’s daddy really is one of my favorite things about Jake. It brings me more comfort than words can express to know that my kids will have the BEST daddy in the world! He is Kailee’s first love and I know he’ll be our boys’ best friend! Nothing means more to me than knowing he’ll be RIGHT next to me raising our family. I couldn’t ask for a better companion. He is patient, loving, playful and stern. Kailee respects him, listens to him and she LOVES him like crazy!

We spent the weekend with our families and had an amazing time! We played at Boondocks, watched McKaylie dance, had dinner with Roger and JoLene and a BBQ with my dad and family.

Loves to all the men in my life who are such great daddies!

Thanks for being our favorite prince! We love you more than anything in this world! XoXo

Welcome Baby Boy!!

I remember one night in October getting the phone call. THAT phone call. The one where I saw it was Linds (at a super weird time) and knew.. she was preggo :) I answered, she was in tears, and asked me if I was ready to be an aunt again! I cried, she cried and we laughed.. I was SO happy! I was able to go to her first appointment with her listened to little man's heart beat for the first time, and again.. we cried. and laughed and we were SO happy. I remember her asking me to be in the delivery room when it was time, I was so honored and excited to be a part of the whole experience..

Nine months FLEW. Like they always do.. It was Friday afternoon (June 8^th) and I got THAT phone call again. I answered, she was crying and I knew.. It was time!  She said the doctor wanted to admit her that night . Her blood pressure was pretty high and they wanted to get her started. Plus little man was measuring quite big.. 8lbs 11oz at that point if I remember right. I was SO excited!

I had plans that night with my girlfriends to go to City Creek for Morg’s birthday. Since they weren’t admitting her until 9, I decided I’d go do that, and head to Ogden when we were done. At a little before 7, I got the call that they were going to do 8 instead of 9. I remember feeling so nervous for her! So excited and anxious and just had CRAZY butterflies. I wanted to be strong for her, but I was nervous too! I cut our shopping trip short (thanks for understanding girls :)) and was on my way to O-town.

I got to Lindsay and Joey’s house and my mom and Riley were already there. We sat and chatted awhile.. all of us talking a million words a minute… we were SO excited! we couldn’t wait to get up to the hospital! We pulled in and Joey called. Said they were still getting her hooked up to give them a little while.. so we drove to Smiths and walked around, grabbed our late night snacks and headed back up there. we walked into the room and there she was.. in her pretty blue and white gown ;). It was FINALLY here! I was already a boobing mess! (That’s weird.) We were in there for a couple of hours and just talked and laughed. They had put her on an iv to get her thinned and the doctor told her it’d probably be the next day before the little one arrived. We decided to go back to their house and catch some zzz’s. I kept my phone right next to my ear all night.

We woke up pretty early Saturday and headed to the hosiptal. She was at a 5 and doing well. Her doctor had broke her water at 2:45 that morning, it was a slow process, but she was a rockstar! At 1:00 pm she was ready to start pushing. I remember thinking to myself THIS was the part I was worried about. Not the physical side.. she’s strong, she’s played sports her whole life, I knew she could handle the pain and that her body would be able to do it. I was worried about her mind though. Emotionally and mentally getting through that block that says ‘I can’t’. She pushed. And she pushed and she pushed. She had the most AMAZING nurses and that rockstar pushed for 3 hours! At a little before 4, the nurse called her doctor and told her it was time. She was exhausted at that point and her labor just wasn’t progressing. The doctor showed up and it was all a blur from there. She checked her and calm as could be, told her that she had 2 options at this point. She could have a c-section, or she could push a couple more times with her help (forceps). Lindsay looked at her and said ‘lets do this’. I was so proud of her! Two contractions later (and me deciding to go with adoption ;)) there he was at 4:13 pm.

There was that sweet baby she carried in her tiny body for 9 months. The baby boy her and her husband created. The baby boy that would forever change their lives, and all of ours, as well. Brody Kevin Black. 9lbs 15oz and 22 inches long. Yes. That’s real. No typo. My sister is a rockstar! The Dr Johnasson told her she’d have pushed all day, that big boy wasn’t coming without some help.

I was floaded with emotions and couldn’t wait to share the news with Jake and Riley and the rest of the family (who were listening at the door). I stood there, next to my little sister, and just couldn’t help but be so proud. She was amazing. She was so strong and patient and every other thing that she should have been. She was my hero right then.. Lindsay, YOU ARE AMAZING! – thank you for letting me be a part of the miracle of bringing a child into the world. Thank you for being such an amazing example, thank you for being so strong. Thank you for giving me the sweetest nephew and thank you for being the best sister in the world! I LOVE YOU!

Kailee's Preschool Graduation!

Congrats to our Kailee Bug!! She’s a big Preschool Graduate!

The three of us couldn’t be more proud of her! She’s grown so much this year! Here are some of her biggest changes and things she has learned since Fall and some of my favorites that still haven’t changed.

• She can identify all letters and the sounds they make
• She can sing just about every nursery rhyme, even ones I’ve never heard of
• She is getting her counting down.. Still says 18 twice ;) SO cute, I have a hard time correcting her!
• She now says ‘yellow’ instead of ‘lellow’ sad face :(
• She now says ‘licorice’ instead of ‘necolish’ sad face :(
• She LOVES school and her friends at school, her best friend this year was Talon.
• She can recite the Pledge of Allegiance WORD for WORD
• She can write her name really well
• She can write DADDY and MOM
• She can now use our letter magnets on the fridge to spell words. Her favorites are “NO” and “OK”. :) and she always sings “ N-O spells no; O-K spells ok” too cute!
• She has lost her toddler cheeks and officially looks like a little girl. SAD L
• She can recite the ENTIRE book (dang near word for word) of I’ll Love You Forever. I may or may not have cried my eyes out when she asked to read it herself for the first time..
• She still wants to marry Brock
• She loves her cousins
• She likes to play games and LOVES Art – painting, drawing, coloring, stamps, stickers, all of it!
• She has become quite the Daddy’s Girl as of late
• She loves to help me cook, her favorite is to stir things
• She has developed quite the sassy attitude. Sometimes funny – sometimes not funny at all.. We’re all in for it with this little one, that’s for sure!
• She says –ing like –een. Never says the ‘g’ example: ‘thing’ sounds like ‘theen’ and ‘ring’ sounds like ‘reen’
• Still loves the words ‘Lacy.. watch this’
• Her and her daddy still call each other ‘boo boo head’

Still have yet to meet a more loved little girl! So blessed to be a part of her life and share such an amazing bond with Jake and Angie. I love that we are all on the same team and can raise her together and genuinely support each other. And Kailee loves when it’s just me picking her up or dropping her off and she has Angie and I’s FULL attention. She is such an amazing little girl. She is so smart and SO funny. She picks up on everything and will always ask about new words, or things she sees. I love how curious she is.. most of the time ;)

She has brought more joy and worry to my life than I ever could have imagined. Most days I find myself worried about the world she’ll grow up in, the trials she’ll face and the temptations she’ll experience. I have never felt more challenged at anything in my life. Being a parent is hard! It’s exhausting and it’s frustrating at times. I HATE to see her hurt or confused or sad. I hate that there are times when I can’t comfort her or answer all of her questions. But I love her more for making me a stronger person. For teaching me what life is all about. For teaching me to dig deep for patience when I thought I’d long since ran out. And mostly, that there are no boudaries for love. I’ve grown more from the ‘step mom’ experience that I have from anything else up to this point in my life. I’ve learned to let go of the term ‘ex’ -such an ugly little word. I’ve learned that love has no limits when there is a child involved, I’ve learned that people who aren’t ‘supposed’ to be friends, can turn out to be pretty great friends. And I’ve learned that no one quite understands these relationships unless you're in them. and even more importantly, that it is okay if they don't. I’ve learned that this ALMOST 5 year old little girl has taught me more about love and life than I could ever hope to teach her!

Kailee bug, I want you to know that I love you so much! That you and your daddy have been the best things that have EVER happened to me. Thanks for teaching me so much and for letting me love you and be a part of your life. I love you more than words can express! And I am SO proud of you for the little girl that you are, and especially for the big girl you’re becoming. You have more love and support around you than you’ll ever know! I hope you will always come to me with questions, tell me all things you’re scared of, talk to me when you’re sad, laugh with me about silly things, share your secrets, and someday even talk about boys!.. I hope we can always be this close! You’re growing so fast.. Too fast!! But I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you! You will rock it all, girlfriend! Love you baby girl! Daddy and I are so so proud of you!

Sept 2011 / June 2012

Happy Birthday to my bestie!!!

Where to begin? How about with the GREATEST person I know? The BEST friend in the world and the most REAL? I could go on and on and on.. She’s my very best friend!

Like I said in a previous post, I have been SO lucky to have a group of girls that I basically ‘grew up’ with. Not the traditional way, we haven’t been best friends since Kindergarten.. but we literally ‘grew up’ together. All of lifes biggest changes, disappointments and growth came while we were besties.We became inseparable in 2003. The beginning of my sophomore year. But Morgan and I became that way a year earlier. I can truly say I’ve had my ups and downs with every friend (who hasn’t?!) except Morgan. We’ve been there for each other through it all.. BAD break ups, make ups, deaths, births, weddings, funerals, birthdays, school, jobs, holidays, vacations, and everything between.. Though I have 3 other girls I consider ‘besties’ and my husband and sister of course!.. this chick is my best friend in the world! She’s been my rock,  my confidant, my strength when I didn’t have any… and frankly, she’s my ‘Lacy’. I’m sort of known as the friend who puts others in their place, calls them out, etc. She’s the only one who does that for me.. Not that the others don’t try, but she’s the one that REALLY gets to me.. The only one that can say (without argument from me) that I’m wrong. She’s been there from day 1 and will be there til the end. The kind of friendship that doesn’t really sway.

I remember our first Summer as best friends. She was 15 and I was 14. I slept at her house a good 6 times a week! We were INSEPARABLE.. Kelli was and still is, my 2^nd mom.. I finally stopped being afraid of Blair that Summer, Josh became a big brother, and her family became mine. Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents.. they’re all my family... They treated me like one of their own from the very beginning. I remember very clearly planning our cabin trip over the 4^th of July one year.. And Blair was talking to Kelli about what ‘the girls’ wanted to do. I remember hearing ‘girls’ and then thinking about it real hard.. He was talking about Morg and I. I was a part of it, part of their family.. They only had one daughter, but after that Summer, they had 2. They’ve been there every since.. Kelli has supported me through BAD relationships, while Blair called me a dumb ass during them ;) They were just what I needed.. Because at that time, I was WAY too smart for my own parents! I remember planning our nights around when Blair was working because Kelli always let us stay out later.. Looking back, she was always awake when we got home though :) I learned how I wanted to parent a teenager from her…She’d come in with her jammies on and hair on top of her head (maybe that’s where I got it??) and ask about our night. We were SO honest with her! We told her everything.. Not that I didn’t have a great relationship with  my own mom, I did.. But she was worried about Linds and Riley too. Plus I was her first teenager, Kelli had done this before.. Morg was her last, so she was pretty chill about it all.. Much like my mom was/is with Riley.. I can think of a million memories with the W fam.. Island Park, Lake Powell, Orem for fire training, shopping, swimming at Grandma Jones’, 3 trips a week to Quilted Bear, running out to ATK, doing crafts and just hanging out downstairs talking and laughing.. I could go on and on. I love my Westergard fam! So grateful to be ‘a part’ of such an AMAZING group of people..

Now that we’ve grown up, we don’t spend NEAR the time together that we used to. Some days it makes me really sad, but for the most part I just feel so blessed.. I get to have the best of the best when it comes to friends. She is my best friend and I am hers. I never have to wonder if our relationship will fade. It won’t.. EVER. Kelli told us all the time when we were younger that we needed to cherish our friendship, they don’t happen like this often, and not everyone has a Morgan or a Lacy. I’ll never forget that, and I think about it often. She’s so right.. Not everyone has that.. I’m so lucky I do!! If I’m ever in a spot where I’m not sure what to do, what to say, or if I just need to cry or vent.. I call Morg. Our lives are very different now. We both have full time jobs, husbands and families.. but one thing will never change..

We truly will be BEST FRIENDS FOREVER! :)

 

Love you Morg, sorry its SO late, but I hope you had a Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my main squeeze! And GO BRAVES!

I am so far behind, I might as well just skip to 2013 and get a jump start! But.... I wont! I’ll play catch up and try to get SOMEWHERE… first up..

April 26^th – My sweet hubby’s birthday! 28 years young and sexier than ever! He just keeps getting better looking, I swear! We decided we’d celebrate the right way.. NO WORK! We both took that Thursday and Friday off and decided to go to Wendover for his b-day night. We’ve been loving it out there.. between Roulette and betting on basketball, people watching at its finest, eating lots of food, and being alone, we love it! Minus all the cigarette smoke, and crazies, it really is a fun place! Our plan was to sleep in that morning, but ended up awake early because birthday boy forgot to put his phone on silent.. by early, I mean up at 6!!.. ON OUR DAY OFF! Oh well, I couldn’t wait too long anyway, and had him open his presents by 7… First up.. (after coffee, of course!)

#1 – a new Braves shirt! He loved it and it fits him perfect! It’s so soft and he definitely needed anooooother t-shirt! (no sarcasm here..)  :) oh well, he loved it!

#2 – what?! I could see the MAJOR confusion here.. Another Braves shirt! But this time, it was for me :) He didn’t look too amused, but he didn’t know yet that there was a purpose! He gave me a funny look, then laughed! On to the next!

#3 – Trip itinerary. He looked at it. and looked at it.. and looked at it.. Airfare to Denver, hotel and transportation? Took him a minute. But he finally said “we’re going to Denver?” I smiled and told him to open #4. That’s when it clicked!

#4 – THESE babies! WHOA WHOO! We’re going to a Braves game!! I’m not sure which of us were more excited!  :)

Spent that night and next morning in Wendover and we had an absolute blast! We both won on a parlay and he won big in Roulette! Hit on black 26! How fitting, right?! On his bday! Left the table up almost $200! It was so much fun! Loved our time together! Hope you had a Happy Birthday babe!

The next night we invited friends and family out for a fun dinner. He chose Wingers, of course, and it was a good night! All of his brothers and their wives/families came and I know that meant the WORLD to him! Fun to see all of our friends we don’t get to see often and nice to be with the people we love most! It ended up a really fun night!

Doing the birthday cluck cluck dance!

May 4^th – GO BRAVES!

We had an early flight out on Friday.. left about 10:30 so we could soak up Denver and have plenty of time to check into the hotel before the game. We were at the gate for our flight and started noticing all of the Braves shirts. I couldn’t believe how many people on our same flight were headed to CO for the same reason! It was pretty cool! We started talking to a cute little mom with her son who couldn’t have been older than 7. He had his Braves hat on and I saw the picture of Chipper as the background screen on their ipad. She asked us which games we were going to and I told her just tonight's. She looked at me a little funny and said ‘well, if you want to see Chipper play you’ve got to catch at least 2 of the 3”. My. Heart. Suuuunk. What?! Who didn’t tell me this?! REMEMBER.. I’m new to the major league baseball world! This was basically the main reason I rushed to see a game in 2012.. Definitely wasn’t because we have extra moolah sitting around! Chipper is retiring after this season. My stomach was a little sick and Jake and I agreed, if he didn’t play, we’d either try to extend our trip, or hit San Diego with Josh and Heather in August… We landed in Denver and shuttled to Downtown. LONG drive. The airport is about 30-40 minutes from Downtown, kind of a pain.. but glad we planned in advance and had a shuttle ready. 

Waiting for our flight

We arrived at the Hotel and checked in. Fun environment that day in Denver.. the Braves vs Rockies game and the Lakers vs Nuggest play-off game. It was fun to feel all of the excitement in the air! Sports fan’s Heaven! We took our bags up to our room, changed into our game day attire and headed to get some grub! We decided to walk to the ball park.. it was just over a mile and we got to walk down 16^th Street, which is basically a giant mall! Mile long mall + baseball game = HAPPY JAKE & LACY! :) we were in awe! As we walked down the street we made note of all the shops we wanted to stop at the next day and headed to the brewery Josh and Heather suggested for lunch. It’s called Breckenridge Ballpark Pub and it’s right across from Coors Field. We headed up the steps to the restaurant after a long and HOT walk (87˚ in Denver in early May? SCORE!) and a server in a Braves hat opened the door for us! We knew we were in the right place! He smiled when he saw our hats and t-shirts and said, “real fans sit at the bar”, we looked up to the bar and it was surrounded by Braves fans! How fun!! We sat down and the nicest waitress in the world served us some YUMMY cold brews and thee BEST. SANDWICH. EVER. Hands down! It was soooo good! I want one right now! We enjoyed the scenery for a bit, ate our yummy food, and decided to head over early to take in the whole experience! (Thanks for the awesome recommendation Josh and Heather!)

We were some of the first people to the field, we found the one open gate and stood in line to get in. I had chills! It is an amazing park and you could FEEL the excitement in the air! We stood in line and when the gates opened I was in absolute AWE! It was both of our first games at a major league park and it was BEAUTIFUL! The foods, smells, people, and it was so clean! (of course I’d say that..) it was just amazing! I couldn’t help but just stand still and take it all in! we stood at in the outfield and watched the teams warm up a bit and I looked at Jake and could tell he was thinking.. he quickly said “I need to call Kailee”.. :) It was so sweet.. we’ve been teaching her a lot about ‘our teams’ lately. And NO, we aren’t brainwashing her! She just knows Red means STOP, Green means GO, and Blue means BYU! :) haha! but she’s been loving pointing out the Braves A on Daddy’s hat, or the Y on his shorts. Its pretty cute :) he talked to her and sent her a pic.. and from then on out we were both like 4 year old kids on Christmas! We got right down to the dugout and watched some batting practice and then watched them field balls.. and that’s when we noticed something pretty dang exciting.. CHIPPER! He was warming up with the starters! YAY! :) we watched Freeman, Uggla and Heyward crush a few balls into the stands and we were in heaven! We loved every second!

We honestly couldn’t have caught a better game. Braves comeback (down 5 runs after the 1^st inning), extra innings, Hudson start the game, Kimbrel pitch, doing ‘The Chop’ with all the other Braves fans by us, Chipper homer, ball park nachos, seeds and beer, and a game winning home run by Hinske. Really, couldn’t have been any better of a day! We sat next to a cute couple who were from Idaho Falls. He was a huge Braves fan, she… was not.. Or a sports fan at all, for that matter! But after that game, she leaned to me and said “I might even like baseball now!” it was THAT game for everyone! Amazing! We had so much fun! We made the little over a mile walk back to our hotel with the rest of the fans, still on cloud nine! And right before bed (and after a McDonalds run.. don’t judge ;) ) Jake said to me “top 3 nights of my life! #1- Kailee being born ; #2 – marrying you ; #3 – TONIGHT!” Awwe ;) I was so happy to see him so happy! Every penny right then was worth it! I wasn’t going to say it.. but when Hinske bombed that last HR, I looked at him as we were all jumping up and down and I swore I saw a LITTLE tear! Only a sports fan can relate, tear :) So sweet! We had an absolute blast! I have thought about it a million times since! I can’t wait to go to another one! Maybe next time in ATL? We’ll see!

Hope you an amazing birthday week, sweetheart! YOU DESERVED EVERY MINUTE! And GO BRAVES!

I love you! XoXo