Hidden Treasures

Well, my blog will be changing a little bit. Instead of just updating about my family, I will also be posting craft tutorials, baking, and fashion deals. Because well, these are things I really love to do and would like to share with my friends. I hope you guys enjoy it!

As I was rummaging through my closet a few days ago, I found a hidden treasure. I bought these shoes 3 years ago when Skyler and I first got married and wore them ONCE before we moved to Idaho (the first time). What was I thinking? They are way too dang cute not to incorporate into my wardrobe. I had a few people ask where I got them, so I did a little search and voila!  You can buy them here for only $27.99

Also, for Christmas my mom got me these Hunter rain boots that I have been wanting forever. Guess how much she spent on them? $75!!! Guess how much they are at Nordstrom? $135! She got them from an online site called ioffer. We weren't sure if it was legit, but we took the boots into nordstrom and they are 100% REAL! You can get them here or here. Ill take the yellow or pink ones next please and thank you! The downside to these beautiful rain boots is that if you want them for this price, you have to wait a couple weeks! Worth it? YES!!!

Im sure most of you fashion blog lovers have seen these totally adorable DV by Dolce Vita shoes, and guess what...I found them for a really good deal!! They are originally $130 at Nordstrom but I found them at Piperlime for only $64.99, you can buy them here using this an additional 20% off code XH74HTHC3KBV . If they don't have your size, you can also buy them here at 6pm.com with free shipping. These are my go to boot this winter, they're so versatile that they will transition perfectly into Spring! :)

Finally, if you are in love with JCrew jewelry as much as I am, you want to know about this site I found! Its Apple of my Eye jewelry on Etsy. They have Jcrew, Kate Spade, Stella and dot, and many more inspired jewelry for a fraction of the price.

 You can buy this gorgeous pave bracelet here or the stella and dot renegade bracelet here with an additional 20% off code apple20.

Thats it for now, see you real soon!

December / Our Christmas Bucket List

Ive been so spoiled lately! Skyler only works about a week of the month during his off season, so he is home all day with me. Which means, I get out of the house a lot more! Poor Cayman gets pretty restless in the house all day, and i'm sorry but I am so NOT a home body! I have to be up and about doing things or I fall into a depression. I have pretty much switched from straight nursing Beckham, to pumping 5 times a day and nursing at night. This helps Skyler have more bonding time with him during the day, because he gets to feed him his bottles. Its also great for me because I can run errands if I need to, and not have to worry about the baby getting hungry. But all good things must come to an end. (I don't really believe that, but it seemed fitting for this statement. lol) Ill be stuck at home all day for the next two weeks, which I guess isn't a bad thing because I have family here, but I hate being stuck in the house all day! I just need a least a 2 hr break to feel the sunlight, taste the fresh air, and get out of the house.

 Cayman AND Beckham are napping, which you would think id just take a nap considering I only got 4 hours of sleep last night with Beckham, but I cant nap during the day. I don't know why, I wish I could, but my body just does not like sleeping when the sun is shining! sigh... so blogging it is! First up- Christmas!~ Sadly ive been working on this post for a few days now, its hard blogging with two kids. I dont like to be on the computer when they're awake so i've only blogged during nap time. We all know how that goes...oy vey!

So glad I am finally to the month of December, it was honestly the best month of the year. Not only was it Christmas time, but Beckham was able to come home in December too!! My sister in law Kamie and I made a Christmas Bucket List this year, what a fun idea! We used an old mirror and made it into a chalk board, then wrote out our entire bucket list! Im excited to say that we completed all but two things on the list. One was an old christmas movie Kamie wanted to watch, and ice skating.

We started the year off right by decorating the house. Christmas, just isn't Christmas without all of the decorations up. We bought a new tree this year, because I wanted something taller since our ceilings are a lot higher. I got a 9.5' tree NOT pre lit. WHAT WAS I THINKING!? Im pretty sure I wanted to shoot someone after the third time a random strand of lights went out. After almost an entire day of wrapping the tree with lights, we were finally able to start putting the ornaments up. Cayman got to help daddy put the star on the tree, so sweet. 

I made this tree skirt with lace and burlap, and this tulle garland during rounds at the NICU. It look a good two weeks because I only worked on it for an hour a day, but they turned out so dang cute!

(dont judge my ghetto curtains, we are waiting to have some made that actually touch the ground! lol)

Of course we also decorated the outside of the house and hung up a few Christmas lights!

On December 1st we crossed off THREE activities on our Christmas Bucket List. We went to Temple Square, Hot chocolate was involved which made the whole experience that much more enjoyable. It was an awesome feeling telling Cayman, "look, thats where mommy and daddy got married!" He said "whooaa!" Kamie and our cousin Marissah came with us so we had way too much fun. Temple square is such a special place for our family and I'm excited to share it with both our boys next year.

We also went to City Creek Mall to visit Santa and ate at the Blue Lemon, yummy yummy!

annddd we went to the Festival of Trees. Gosh, next year we are going here before we decorate our tree! I had major tree envy and wanted to re-do ours after seeing so many gorgeous ones everywhere. Personally, my favorite was the Harry Potter tree, but not because I thought it was pretty. Thats just because I'm a major Harry Potter nerd. ;) About half way through Cayman had a cow, because he wanted all the cars and stuffed animals under the trees. He'd say "vroom vroom" and when we wouldn't let him play with it, he scream and cry. It was kinda cute, don't know if ill be singing the same tune next year though. 

The Shops at Riverwoods we so cute this year, we just had to add it to our bucket list. We once again got hot chocolate and had fun seeing all the gorgeous lights. Santa was there so Cayman got to meet him, and we all had a blast! I love my family!

Another day, Kamie and I went to the new Traverse Outlets, they had just opened. Lets just say it is bad news having an outlet mall literally right down the street from us. Cayman didn't have any sleepers one day, SO I drove down the street to the Carters outlet and bought him three pairs for only $10. Whoops! It is just way too convenient.

Skyler and I attended the VIVINT Christmas party for his region. They had all kinds of competitions with the men and it was hilarious to watch. Skyler dominated the rock climbing competition for his group. They also had a competition with the wives to win a Michael Kors watch. They had us all tie balloons on our ankles, and we had to pop each others balloons. The last girl with her balloon still attached, won the watch. I ALMOST won! Girls are vicious though, especially when it comes to Michael Kors. Lets just say I ended the game on my butt with my hair in a complete mess. haha

Kamie and I made a gingerbread house with Cayman, another bucket list activity crossed off the list!

One night we visited Santas reindeer and saw the Thanksgiving Point lights. So nice having Thanksgiving point so close to us. It really is the cutest little place ever!

(sorry for the bad pic quality, this was taken on my phone) My sister in law Diane came to visit for Chrsitmas so we went to Gardner Village with her. Another activity crossed of the bucket list. :)

Another day we met up with a bunch of the girls in our neighborhood to get ice cream and shop at the Emporium at Thanksgiving Point. So yummy, and wow the Emporium is the cutest shop ever! I pretty much wanted everything there!!

Hot Chocolate- Ive never been a huge fan of hot chocolate but this winter I am loving Chocolate Factory hot chocolate with peppermint bark, and of course Starbucks white hot chocolate. Its so nice walking around in this gorgeous winter wonderland, watching the snow flakes fall, while drinking a hot chocolate. It makes the cold so much more worth it! Don't mind my creepy picture, I was just loving this gorgeous day way too much. ;)

We decided this year we wanted to do the 12 days of Christmas for some of our neighbors, every day we'd bring them a gift and leave it on their doorstep with a little note that said, "on the ___ day of Christmas our neighbors gave to me..." On the 12th day of Christmas we told them who it was from. We had so much fun dressing in black and trying not to be seen, haha I hope this is a tradition we will have from now on. I think it will teach our children the spirit of Christmas, and that its about giving not receiving. 

On Christmas eve we stayed in and had friends and family come over, we ate dinner and made cookies. It was the perfect Christmas eve, and the first one I didn't have a ton of shopping to do! We were able to just relax and enjoy our time together. Our "elf on the shelf" aka "Elfie" must have reported good news back to Santa, because the boys were VERY spoiled for Christmas. Every year on Christmas eve we open our first present, which is always pajamas. It was so cute seeing Cayman in his little pajamas so excited for Santa to come! Beckham had cute Christmas pajamas on, but he pretty much slept all day. haha We also had a sibling gift exchange with my side of the family. My sister Becky and I had each other, so we pretty much got stuff for our babies. I bought her adorable clothes for her little girl coming soon, and she gave me cute stuff for Beckham. I loved it!

We made cookies for Santa!

On Christmas morning we made kneaders french toast, which was yet another item we had on our bucket list. My sister in law Kamie works there, so she was able to get the recipe. They weren't as good as actual Kneaders french toast, but it was still very good. Such a perfect breakfast for Christmas morning!

Cayman decided to sleep in Christmas morning, so it was complete torture waiting for him to wake up. I think I was more excited than he was. When we finally heard him up, Skyler and I both bolted to his bedroom, pushing each other so we would be the first one there. Haha he was a little confused at first when he saw all the presents, but once he saw his "vroom vroom" he was so excited! Heres a little video we took. :)

Skylers parents were a little late to come over, so we waited for them to show up before we opened the rest of the presents. Guess who was at the door when they knocked? SANTA!!! Cayman was a little scared of him at first, but warmed up quickly once he realized there was candy in his large red sac! ;) This was such an amazing experience because Beckham is not allowed out of the house, so he was never able to meet Santa. So, santa came to him! I cried. It meant the world to me that both my boys got to experience this. What a perfect Christmas present for our family! We read the Christmas Story in the bible before we all opened our presents for each other, this is a tradition we will carry on for years to come. I love being reminded of our Saviors birth and what Christmas is all about. 

It really was an absolutely perfect Christmas. Having both my boys HOME was the greatest Christmas present anyone could have gotten me. 

To finish off the year right, we went sledding with the family. Skylers grandma babysat Beckham so we could all go together. It was a blast. We went four wheeling, sledding, made snowmen and snow angels, and had snow ball fights. Oh the snow ball fights, they got pretty aggressive. My sister in law Diane and I were at WAR! 

Notice this tender picture, it was supposed to be of us all throwing snow up in the air. So sweet, so innocent. Then notice Diane (blue coat, green pants) throwing the snow IN MY FACE!!! ahhh! Dont worry though. I got her back. ;)

In the end, Kamie and I completed almost everything on our bucket list. December was definitely a great month, cant wait for next year! :)

November

Well, I seem to be on a roll now with catching up on my blog. Cayman is sick yet AGAIN sleeping next to daddy while he watches a movie, and Beckham is sleeping peacefully in his swing. Although I'm not too happy about Cayman being sick, its really peaceful tonight. 

Most of the month of November I spent getting our house in order, and of course visiting Beckham every day at the hospital. We were so busy in October that unpacking took a lot longer than it normally would. I finally got around to decorating the house too and it was so fun!

This Thanksgiving we were in charge of having the dinner at our house. My mom was out of town visiting her mom, so we spent it with my sisters and Skylers family. Dinner was phenomenal of course, anything made with the help of Skyler's mom turns out perfect. I do have to say that being in charge of a huge meal like that is stressful!!! I was running around like a chicken with its head chopped off all day!

Before we had thanksgiving dinner, Skyler had us all say one thing we were thankful for. Everyone said the most touching things, and by the third person we were all in tears. I am so thankful for my family, for modern medicine that has kept my boys alive, and for our Heavenly Father. Just being able to sit around the table with my family was the best feeling.

Heres a little video of Cayman eating olives off his fingers, keeping the family tradition going! ;)

After we finished eating, Skyler and I headed up to the hospital to spend the rest of the night with Beckham. He looked so dang cute and the nurses made him this adorable sign!

Every year during the month of November I try to think of one thing I am thankful for, really this is a concept we should try to use every day. So, instead of making this a November thing, lets all try to do it every day! I promise you'll be a lot happier when you realize every day how blessed you are! :)

RIP Rookie

On November 4th 2012, our cute little puppy Rookie passed away. To be honest, I'm still not quite over it yet. There are still days that I have a really hard time with it. This happened during the same time Beckham was in the hospital, so as you can imagine I was a wreck dealing with everything. I love and miss our little Rookie every single day. They say a dog is the best friend a person can have, because they genuinely love you more than themselves. That couldn't be more true for our puppy Rookie. He was the best dog for our family, because he never stopped loving us. I still remember the day I got him, he looked right at me and kissed me on the nose. I knew he was mine at that moment. You can read about it here.

Sick Puppy
It started about two weeks before he passed away, he was just not quite himself. He was throwing up and wouldn't eat or drink anything. I took him in to his vet right away thinking maybe he had gotten into something toxic. After three hours of labs and blood tests, they finally came back and told me he looked totally fine and probably had some kind of bug. They sent me home with some bland food and medicine and sent us on our way. A week passed and he still wasn't better, so while I visited Beckham in the nicu, my mother in law brought him in for more labs. This time they did an X-ray to see if maybe he had an obstruction or a blockage, still everything looked completely normal. I was distraught and angry that they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him! He was lounging around the house, wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, and wouldn't even bark at the door. It got to the point where we were having to force feed him pumpkin and water mixed with pedialyte through a syringe, just to keep up his health. A couple days later he started to look better and was acting like his normal playful self. I was so happy! THEN a few days later he was right back to being sick. On November 2nd I had a horrible bad feeling and knew something was terribly wrong with our little Rookie. We decided to take him to a new vet that night. Within 20 minutes they gave us more answers than the first vet did after 3 visits! The following day they called us and said they found a blockage in his intestines and they were going to need to do surgery immediately.

Surgery
 Honestly, Skyler and I were stressed about this because having a baby in the NICU is not cheap! We were already seeing the bills coming, and paying for Rookies surgery would put us into debt. We decided we wanted to do whatever it took to keep him alive, and gave them permission to do surgery. There was no question in our mind that he was well worth it. He was and always will be apart of our family. About an hour into it the vet called and said that Rookie was in surgery and was doing well. As they were bringing him in for surgery he had a massive explosive bowel movement (sorry tmi) and a little rubber thing came out. It looked like a small piece to maybe a nerf ball? After that they did another X-ray and ultrasound and saw that something still just didn't look right. They decided to go ahead with the surgery and found out that whatever caused the obstruction, had stretched his intestine so tight that they had to remove part of it! Because the intestine had obstructed, it caused intestinal fluid to leak into his stomach. Its kinda like if your appendix bursts and goes unattended, it can kill off your organs. This is what happened with Rookie. They had to suck all of the intestinal fluid out, remove part of his small intestine, and sew it back together.

Once he was out of surgery they called me again and said they expected a full recovery. During the surgery he passed away, but they were able to revive him. He was doing much better than they thought he would considering what he had been through, and was ready for us to pick him up in a couple hours. We had to take him to a high level intensive care veterinary hospital for 12 hr post surgery observation in Salt Lake. I was so glad he was doing okay, and loved snuggling him the whole way to Salt Lake! It broke my heart leaving him there over night, but I wanted him to be in the best place possible if anything were to happen to him.

The following day I was ready to pick him up and so excited to have our Rookie home with us again! I called the vet to see how he did over night, and he told me that he still wasn't ready to be picked up. He still wouldn't eat or drink and seemed like he was in a lot of pain. He asked if id come to the hospital and try to get him to eat. Skyler and I both came, but Rookie still wouldn't eat. He looked completely miserable so they did yet another ultrasound. He still showed no signs of any fluid in his stomach that could cause him to be this sick, so once again we had no answers. The 12 hour observation was now looking more like a 24 hour observation.

Later that night, after visiting Beckham we went to visit Rookie again. They let us in to a private room, and brought Rookie into us laying on a big pillow. They laid him on my lap and I just cried and cried. Rookie looked up at me and gave me this look ill never forget. I knew at that moment he wasn't going to make it. I won't go into too much detail about how in pain he was, but lets just say it was very hard to watch. After a couple hours the vet came in and asked to take Rookie back in for observation. Now the 24 hour observation was now looking more like 48 hrs. I didn't want to leave him, but I knew he needed to be in a place where they'd be able to help him if anything happened. I cried the entire 30 minute drive home, and cried until I fell asleep.

My Dream
That night I had a dream about Rookie. I received a phone call saying that he was eating again and had made a miraculous recovery. I saw him playing and jumping, acting like his usual self. He was happy again and I was filled with joy. I held and kissed him and told him how much I loved him. 

I woke up to Cayman crying in his bedroom and went back to rock him back to sleep. As I rocked him, I started crying again. I realized that it was all a dream and that Rookie was probably not going to make it . Once Cayman went back to sleep I laid down next to Skyler in bed and started crying again on his shoulder. He hugged me tight, and then told me that while I was with Cayman, the vet had called. My heart dropped...He said, "Bethany, Rookie passed away just a little while ago. The vet said he became really calm and peaceful, and passed away in his sleep." Wow, I was hysterical. I couldn't stop crying. 

Saying Goodbye

The last time we had seen Rookie, he looked like he was in a lot of pain and we didn't want to remember him like that. The vet said he looked very peaceful when he passed, so Skyler and I wanted to see him one last time to say our goodbyes. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect, or if seeing him that way would traumatize me, but we both kept having this feeling that we should. So, we went back to the animal hospital to see him one last time. 

They had us sit in a private room at the back of the hospital and brought him to us on a pillow, with a blanket lying over him. I opened the blanket, and there he was. Our little Rookie. I thought seeing him passed away would be weird, or I wouldn't feel like it was actually him. Instead, Skyler and I both lost it. Rookies sweet spirit completely consumed us. It was like he was still in the room with us and we couldn't believe how peaceful he looked. He looked like he was just sleeping and he'd wake up any moment, but he didn't. Im glad we decided to say our goodbyes, because it gave us both closure. We were able to tell him how much we loved him and thanked him for always loving us. 

We buried Rookie in the mountains by my moms house. We found the perfect spot overlooking the valley, and buried him under a great big tree. It was a beautiful day. Skyler buried him with his favorite toy (we called it his girlfriend) and made an adorable sign with Cayman to put above his grave. Every time we drive past that mountain we'll think of him.

I never thought I was one of those people that treated their animals like their kids, but I guess I totally was. Losing Rookie, was like losing a family member. Skyler gave me Rookie after we miscarried our first baby. He was what got me through it. I treated him like my baby, I carried him everywhere with me, heck i even put him in diapers! He started our family, he was Caymans best friend. They were supposed to grow up together. I couldn't believe he was really gone and that Beckham would never have the chance to meet him. I truly believe that I had that beautiful dream of Rookie because he wanted me to know he was in a better place, and that he was happy and out of pain. We will miss him curling up to us in bed every night, waiting at the door for us when we come home, and the way he'd light up every time we took him on a walk. I take comfort knowing that he's in a better place, and no longer feels any pain. Im sure he's in Heaven now and having the time of his life! We love you Rookie Rambo aka "Terd Ferguson" Dyer! Rest in peace.