I forgot how to blog...

For a while now, I've been wanting to write things down.  Funny things, happy things, our new experiences, our triumphs and our heartaches.  I just need a place to put it all! Then I remembered my blog.  I was once so loyal.  My thoughts were all in once place.  I have to admit when I sat down to try to figure this out again, I had totally forgotten what my web address even was!  haha.

I'm here to try this out again.  We've moved.  Life has certainly changed a lot in the last years since I have written.  But I love to write and tell you how I feel.  And even if this isn't for anyone but me, well...it will still be worth it.  I really should print it out.

That was a long intro! 

Let's catch up.  Since the last post we added baby #3.  Alyssa Mae.  She is so fun.  She makes us laugh daily.  She talks a lot and loves her brothers.  She has also given us a run for our money.  I didn't know what to expect having a little girl.  I think she is like me (help!) and I also think she was blessed with an extra dose of spunk and crazy (help!)  and she is 2.  Almost weekly here in Cincinnati, we'll be out in public and she'll reach her end point, scream, throw a tantrum and then they say something or just stare.  The comments have lost their glory, but I know it won't last, so I'll just keep smiling.  

Also, since my last post we bought a house and Mark and his Dad remodeled it.  I'll post pictures soon.  It was a great experience and we were happy with how it all turned out.  

And in May of this year, we got a call from a guy that worked very briefly many years ago.  They had kept in contact through franchise conferences, etc.  This guy called Mark and wanted to meet with him to see if it could be a good fit. It sounded like an interesting job and offer, so Mark flew to Cincinnati to interview and check it out.  Mark had been at Harris Research for roughly 10 years.  I worked there with him when we were first married.  It was a great place to work in Cache Valley.  I could tell though that Mark was itching to do something different and move on, but I resisted the thought majorly. 

When we talked about this change and upcoming interview, I had this crazy thought that kept coming that this was our next step in life and that everything was going to be okay.  He interviewed, really liked it, felt great about it and flew home. This started a crazy roller coaster process for me. We prayed our guts out.  We went to the LDS temple and prayed, we fasted, and again did this all over and over.  I knew what the answer was, but wasn't going to accept it.  Then I got really nervous, confused and upset about this.  WE HAD JUST FINISHED REMODELING OUR HOUSE.  Why would we leave that?!  We had some amazing friends in our ward and in the valley that we loved, our family was close, we LOVE Logan!  The camping, horse riding, snowmobiling, hiking, etc. Why would we leave everything we loved????  We just couldn't make sense of it.  Mark talked to his boss, the upper boss and so on.  They offered him more and a better position, but now it wasn't feeling right.  Why was this happening to us!? (Trust me this is a good problem to have, but it was really crazy for us to navigate through)  This was such a blessing, so why couldn't we stay?!  

Then we made the decision to go.  And we felt peace.  We felt a sense of joy that Heavenly Father had our best interest at heart and that we needed to do this together.  And that no matter what it was all going to work out.

I'm so glad we did.  It has been a really interesting experience so far.  We have been here almost 2 months and it gets better every day.  We still miss home.  We miss our family and friends so incredibly much.  We miss Utah.  BUT we love it here.  I have felt over and over again a sense of joy that Heavenly Father is blessing us for doing what He wanted us to do.  I'm trying to do this really hard thing the best that I can.  I'm learning a TON about myself.  I'm trying to better myself and I'm trying to be a better wife and mom to these little ones.  It's dang hard some days.  But this is what I want.  This is what it's all about right?  

These are our family pics taken August 2014-Two weeks before we packed up and moved...Thanks Cali!

We've almost made it!

It's so hard for me to believe that today is May 31st! I have watched my calendar for June 1st to come for almost 10 months now.  Crazy how slow time can go when you are wanting it to go fast.

We will be induced tomorrow to have a baby girl.  I can still hardly wrap my mind around it.  I am really excited, nervous and ready.  This pregnancy has been quite strange.  My OCD flared up and made it seem like this wasn't going to happen.  I have worried just about non-stop about all the "what if's" of it all and have been so nervous that something was wrong with me or the baby, or something terrible would happen to me or the baby.  So, I'm really happy to be at this point.  The worries will hopefully lessen tomorrow when it all happens.

I am so excited to have a baby girl.  I already feel so bonded to her.  I can't wait to meet her and love on her. I'm excited that she has 2 older brothers that will protect her and love her and I am especially excited to see how Mark loves her.  He is really excited.  3 feels like a lot!  I am still trying to process being out-numbered by our kids.  I love it.  I am so grateful that we can have children and that Heavenly Father has blessed us so abundantly.

Let tomorrow come! We are ready!!

Getting back into it...

I have been terrible about posting on this blog.  I don't know if anyone actually reads it, so I haven't wanted to spend the time on it.  And I am behind...like way behind.  I am ready to start up again--some I will catch up on and some I won't and that's just going to have to work :)

I started blogging a LONG old time ago! I started before Caden was born.  It started out as a place to write-all the good and bad times and just get my thoughts down.  As blogs progressed and became more popular, I've felt like it's turned something that isn't reality.  Some blogs I read-totally discouraged me. It seemed like some people's lives were all glamorous all the time and they weren't very real.  So I just gave up on it all together.  I want to get back to the roots of why I started this in the first place.

I am a simple girl, mother, wife, sister, daughter and friend.  I love people, love life and like learning new things.  That's where this all began.  I'm just going to put it all out there what this blog is intended for -the up's and down's, happy and sad times-and that is good enough for me (and I hope for you too!) :)

Bailey Fam Pics July 2011

The whole fam

 The siblings and mom

Best sisters in the world...

Races 2011 Edition

I love to run races-it's true! They give me something to work towards, train for and set goals for.  You'd think after all I'd done this last 4 months-I'd be super skinny, but alas, it hasn't happened.

In May, I ran the Smithfield 10K with my friend Mandy.  It was fun and a good starter for the season.  We didn't take any pictures darnit!  It was a good first race of the season.  Not my best time by any means, but I ran and finished!

In June, on the 17th and 18th, I did Ragnar again.  It was so awesome this year! Last year, I was nursing and had a 7 month old-so I wasn't in the best shape ever.  This year, I felt ready and had a great team..  We got up early 4:15 AM! yuck! and met up at the starting line up at USU. It was FRIGID cold and we hurried and got the van all pimped out and ready.

 Getting mighty nervous!

 Running in the frigid morning! Can't beat the scenery!

 Dang we are hot!

 Like our tan lines?  thanks Mandy!

Some members of our See Spot Run team

 Aren't they cute?!

 Our awesome van!

During Ragnar you run 3 times during a two day period with 12 people, 6 in each van.  This picture above was the end of my 2nd leg.  My third leg started at approx. 4 am!  I cannot tell you how much I loved this run.  It was nearly 9 miles and it was STRAIGHT up a canyon.  I started out with my ipod on low battery and half way up-it totally died.  I was nervous about how I was going to finish it all without it.  I took it off and then concentrated on my breathing, the birds chirping, listening to the river beside me.  And with every breath I took, I felt stronger and stronger.  At the top of the mtn. I turned around and saw how far  I had climbed and totally got teary!  I had done this...yes, I had conquered this mountain.  Ragnar was awesome!! I feel lucky that Mark's work is so healthy minded.  I hope to do it again next year.

 Free back popping? Don't mind if I do!

We finished!!!

I ran a couple more 5k's in July and then went to register for the Top of Utah 1/2 marathon and it was FULL. I was so bummed out.  I quickly got on Facebook and got the word out that I'd love to take a spot if someone didn't want to do it anymore.  Luckily, I found someone quick and got training. 

Bryan, Cali and I after the race. 

What a little cutie!

The last race I ran for the summer was a Mud Run.  It was crazy! 

What fun! I'm feeling sad that fall has now arrived in full force in Logan.  We had a great summer.  More posts to come so I can get all caught up!

Oh BOY!

Big C is just a joy lately.  Him and little C have switched places in the naughty department it seems.  Big C just started preschool again and he LOVES it. He is doing great with all of it and I love that it is a block from my house.  He has said some pretty funny things lately that I don't want to forget....

Mom: Buddy, I really need you to pick up your legos and trains.  I don't want to ask you again.

C: But MOM, I told you we should have bought a different house! This one has too many toys to clean up!

He calls marshmallows : Smash Mellos (I can't bring myself to correct it!)

He calls Root Beer: Fruit Beer

He says "Fmamly" for family (what a monkey!)

I just realized I need to get some updated pictures of him!  He is growing so fast! His 4t pants just got retired-they were turning into floods.

I adore this little boy.  He is a joy in my life everyday and I miss him when he is at preschool.  

He is very scheduled and likes to know what we are doing at the beginning of everyday.

He still LOVES going to the library to get new movies and books.
He still loves Great Harvest bread trips in the bike trailer. 

His favorite food is french toast (do I see a bread theme going on?)

He is so lovable. I love his hugs and kisses.  

He is finally more comfortable in the water.  Hip Hip Hooray! We'll keep going on swimming lessons, but for not he'll at least play in the water with a life jacket and dunk his head.  

Remembering 9-11

I know it's been 10 years. But for some reason this year I really took it all in differently.  We watched a few news specials and I read a bunch of stories online.  Personal stories from various people involved in all that happened 10 years ago.  We even listened to all the air control audio on 9-11.  Crazy sad. I've cried quite a few times this weekend.  Am I weird?  Maybe.  I just have been really touched--reliving and thinking about this all again.  Tonight, we went to a community event that my father-in-law sang in.  It was really touching.  The opening prayer was a Muslim student at the university.  It was nice to feel like all the building were there in one cause-even though our religious backgrounds were very different than each other.  It didn't matter.  That to me is one of the great blessings that has come from such a national tragedy.
We all now have something in common. 

So much has happened since then. But I can remember that day like it was yesterday.

I was in college-My sophomore year in fact.  I was sitting in my 8:30 am English class in the education building up at USU.  I remember my teacher being interrupted by someone and then told us what happened.  I remember walking out of the class feeling calm and glad that I lived in a safe place.  I also felt that we were definitely in the last days.  I also wanted to call my family.  My next class was cancelled and I headed home to my basement apartment and turned on the TV.  A bunch of friends gathered and we were glued to the coverage for quite a while.  That night, my roommate Emily and I went down the street to get gas.  Everyone was a little uneasy about what was going to happen.  Was gas going to sky rocket?  Were we now at war?   The gas stations were packed.  I remember Emily getting out and offering to wash others windows.  Funny girl.  Two days later at the university there was a candlelight vigil.  The choir I was a part of sang in it.  We sang "Be Still My Soul" and that song will always remind me of that experience.  I'll always remember the spirit I felt singing at that.  We were amist over 1000+ college students holding candles.  When it was all over-nobody really wanted to leave.  Someone in the crowd started to sing God Bless America.  I don't think I sang a single word.

Maybe one of the reasons 9-11 feels different now is from our visit to NYC last month.  Ground Zero isn't just a place I'd heard about, but a place that I recently stood.  It truly is sacred ground.  I kept saying to Mark that I couldn't believe we were standing in places where all of this happened that has marked a large spot in America's history.  They have a visitors center that chronicles all the events of that day.  Everyone was quiet and their was a movie playing with testimonials.

A piece of the bent steel from World Trade Center 1

We didn't get to see down into the reflection pools-they weren't turned on then. And it was under construction-so it was difficult to get a good look at what was going on.

September 11th has changed me.  After what I've thought, heard and read about this weekend I am changed.  After listening to all the mother's and wives whose husbands called them from inside the airplanes or top floors-I just couldn't believe my ears.  And then the husband from the 92nd floor telling his wife that they tried to go down the stairs, but that it was so hot and the smoke was too thick they were forced back up the stairs.  The wife and husband talk during these last minutes and try to problem solve how to best get him out.  The husband says he has now walked up to the 105th floor to try to get out of a door that leads to the top and hope he could get rescued there.  But the door won't open. Just listening to the wife plead with her husband to try the door again. Please try the door again.  I just couldn't take it anymore.
Then they said their goodbyes.
 How can you not be changed by this?

I couldn't get enough of reading about the hero's of 9-11.  The employees that wouldn't get out until they knew everyone on their floor was in the stair well.  So many, many stories.  The stewardess that called her husband and told him that she was boiling water on the plane to throw on the hijackers.  And the show that moved us the most was the actual documentary of a firefighter that took raw footage inside the towers.
Those firefighters are real heroes.   

I've changed this week.  I rocked and sang to my baby Conner a little longer tonight.  I tried really hard to not get frustrated with Caden's millionth question today.  I gave Mark a hug and an extra kiss today.  I will try my best to remember this all year long and not just today.  We are blessed to have all that we have.  You never know what will come tomorrow, but we do know how we can react today.
We are the proponent of change that is necessary for the world today.

I'm sorry that 9-11 happened, but from these tough, tough experiences, we have to change-
or all those lives are lost and gone in vain, and the bad guys will have won.