Freckle Eye Fancy

It has been eleven whole days since I last posted anything, holy cow! I don't know how time seems to go so fast sometimes. Let's just dive right into this review, shall we? The first month of 2017 started with me at a new job. We were still so fresh in our grief, but were starting to get back to real life. After two weeks at the new job, we had a little weekend away to Disneyland. We also got Carter's final autopsy results this month, which gave us a little more closure. February wasn't particularly exciting, as far as I can remember. March was a good month! I went to Vegas with my girls, then a few days later we found out we were pregnant again! That month, we also found out we were getting our first nephew. In April, we learned we were getting another nephew! We also went to Amsterdam, Brussels, and Luxembourg.  We celebrated Brandon's birthday at the beginning of May. About a week later, we learned we would be losing our little bean. The rest of May was spent ...

I'm not sure what it is, but lately I have been feeling so joyful and thankful for literally everything (well, with the exception of some neighborhood drama, but that's a story for a different time). These feelings are exactly why I love the holiday season so much. The hustle and bustle, if done correctly, can be more beautiful than crazy. I talked about it on the vlog on Monday, but we had to do a few different transactions at Walmart on Saturday, and when I apologized to the family behind us, they were so understanding and kind. Then, as we were leaving, they told us Merry Christmas and I wanted to cry. I love the kindness that is in people's hearts this time of year. It also probably helps that Brandon and I have been spending a lot of time over the last few weeks being cozy inside. We make dinner together, bake cookies, and watch a lot of Hallmark Christmas movies together with the fireplace on and the tree lights twinkling. For a long time, we had somewhere to go ev...

Warning: this Chex mix is really addicting. And for some reason, the recipes makes an endless amount. Just know that you will probably be eating a lot of this Chex mix in a very short amount of time. I want to just call it Christmas Crack. Is that allowed? Ever since I can remember, we have had this fancy Chex mix at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Usually we would have it when we would go to my Grandma's house. I never knew who made it and brought it to the party, but boy were we glad they did! The second year Brandon and I were married, my parents were hosting Thanksgiving at their new house, and everyone was going to be there. I wanted to contribute, so Brandon and I spent a whole day in the kitchen making Oreo turkeys, and this mix. I want to make it every single year, so our kids can have the same memories of it that I do. Sweet memories of family, joy, and of course, lots of food. Enjoy! DIRECTIONS In a very large bowl, mix together corn Chex, rice Chex, Golden Gra...

This post was written back in August, I just never got around to posting it. It's going up today because I'm lazy and don't have anything else to write about. So no worries! Today is a good day. I tried multiple times to write this opening without sounding like I was putting myself on a pedestal, and I just couldn't figure it out, but I don't want you to think I'm better than others and don't judge, because I'm definitely not and I definitely do. But anyway. The gist of it is this: we all judge other people at some point or another, and that's okay. It happens. But it isn't right to openly judge and think that you know their life better than they do, because more than likely, you don't (and obviously this does not apply to murder, hate crimes, or anything of that nature, because that stuff is actually bad). And it definitely isn't okay to do it when a person is clearly having a hard time in life. I've said it a few times when peopl...

As you may have read , I had a lot of feelings leading up to the donation of the CuddleCot. As bad as it sounds, a large amount of those feelings was relief that the cot had finally arrived and that we had found someone that wanted it. I was just ready to give it to the hospital so it could be put to good use (or no use, ideally). But after it was out of our hands, I felt strange. The NICU manager, as she took the cot from me, said "I almost feel bad taking it from you." I just kind of laughed, because what the heck would I do with a CuddleCot at my house, but then I realized that I felt bad about her taking it from me too. Not like I had a bad feeling or was wishing that we weren't doing it, but more like when you have to walk away from something special. I remember feeling the same way when I sold my first car, and when we sold our house in Boise. It just doesn't feel right to hand ownership over to someone else. Especially when that something has our children...

By the time you read this, the donation will have already been completed, and the CuddleCot will be in the hands of Logan Regional Hospital. I wanted to take just a minute and talk about how I'm feeling right now, before the donation happens. I have a lot of feelings. To start, it breaks my heart that we even have a reason for wanting to do this. Last night, we were gathering a few things to take with us, including the drawing of Carter a kind stranger sent to us in January. Looking at our sweet boy's face makes me happy (because let's face it, he's the cutest) but it also makes me miss him so much. It's not fair that we don't get to see that face every single day. But if something good is going to come from our experience, then I am grateful that we are able to help other future loss families. Our time with Carter was far too short, and hopefully this donation will allow other families a little more time. But I'm also really sad that we know there will b...

I have nothing cohesive to talk about, so here's ten things about this week. This week has been crazy busy. Between running errands, Brandon having a late meeting, and me getting sick again, we have been trying our best to function at 100% when we can really only give like 20% haha. We get to donate the CuddleCot in TWO DAYS!! It feels weird to be excited about it, but we are glad we get to help other families. Along those lines, I've had over 45 people leave their angel baby's names on my instagram post and I am so glad we will be able to have those babies names near us as we donate the cot. We're trying to finish up our Christmas shopping for Brandon's side so we can leave the gifts with them when we go up on Friday. Anyone else having a hard time shopping for people this year?? I've watched two Hallmark Christmas movies this week that I actually liked. Switched for Christmas, and Miss Christmas. I fell asleep during Miss Christmas, and actually went back ...

Sometimes it seems like all you need to do is complain a little for something to work out. On the 19th I posted an update about the CuddleCot, and nobody had returned my calls and we still didn't have the CuddleCot. But on the 20th, the cot arrived! We filmed a little vlog update that I'll post down below, but I am so glad it finally got here! We haven't been able to see it in action, but I can already tell that it is going to be so helpful to the (hopefully very few) families that need it. Also, someone from Logan Regional finally called me back! I have her cell phone number now too, so there's no escaping us! We will be donating the CuddleCot this Friday December 8th, at 1:00 pm!! We are both so glad that we have been able to do this for other families, and are so appreciative to all of you for the support you have shown us, and the money you have donated. We will be sure to share as much of the donation process with you as we can. Thank you again!

Each year that we have been married, I make a list of 25 Christmas movies. We try to watch one each day of December. It doesn't always work out, or sometimes we end up binge watching all the awesome tv Christmas movies, but either way we feel super festive! Our list this year is below. There are probably a few classics that aren't on there, but the important ones are! Santa Clause Santa Clause 2 Santa Clause 3 Home Alone Home Alone 2 Miracle on 34th Street Elf Christmas Vacation Frosty the Snowman Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer A Year without Santa Claus A Miser Brothers Christmas How the Grinch Stole Christmas The Polar Express Christmas With the Kranks Arthur Christmas Jingle All the Way I'll Be Home for Christmas Jack Frost Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas A Charlie Brown Christmas Love, Actually Fred Claus Mickey's Christmas Carol (because we've watched a different version of A Christmas Carol every year and this is the o...