Taylor's Walking!

So, Tay's walking! Kind of. You'll love this video footage of her taking her first few steps. We get so excited that we scare her.

House Sold!

Well, today is a very good day because, after seven months of aggressively trying to sell our rental property, we closed the sale today!!

Most who read this know that this was our first home - and it happens to be just right across the street from our current house. We bought our current house three years ago, and it was a sudden move, as we really had no plans to move. But it was a house we always liked and we moved fast. As such, we didn't have our house up for sale when we bought it - so we decided to rent that house out.

It's been an adventure. Three years ago, the market was hot. So who would have thought that, by waiting three years, it would be one of the worst times to sell??? Being a landlord was a great learning experience. We had some nightmare tenants to start with (unless you think it's cool to have the police come over because they were shooting birds out of the neighbors trees), followed by some of the best tenants you could ever ask for.

So why did we sell now? Well, we'd have to pay capital gains tax on the house unless we sold it by the end of November. With the uncertainty of where property values will go from here - and the desire to not have a hefty tax bill - we decided it would be best to sell now. And for the last seven months, it was a major stress - and it's a HUGE relief to not have an extra mortgage now.

But even though we're so excited that it's sold, now's the time where we're reflecting on all of the memories from our first house. So, I'm going to take you down memory lane with us. So, now's the time where we get all reflective. Start playing the sappy music that Clark Griswold listened to while watching old home videos in the attic . . .

When you see these photos, you'll probably think the same thing we're thinking when we look back at the house when we bought it - which is "what we're we thinking???" I really don't know WHY we would have bought the house, seeing how it looked then. Well, a few excuses: (1) we were wide-eyed, not-yet-married, and just excited to be getting something of our own. (2) we bought the home for the great area. My sister moved in the month before, and it was a convenient location, a good value, and we liked the large trees. (3) we saw potential. Our goal was to make it into a home we loved over the few years that we'd live there. This house was livable, but also had plenty to improve upon, which was something we liked. And I think we ended up doing a decent job of improving it.

Seriously. This is the photo from the flyer from when we bought the house. Notice the beautiful foilage in front of our house. Yes, that is the front of our house behind the overgrown fetzer and junipers.

The very day that we closed on the house, our good friend, Gordon, came over and helped us cut down those junipers that were blocking our front door and front of our house (as you can see in the photo below):

And what about this beautiful stone-work? The funny thing is, I actually liked the stone work when we first bought it. And trust me, the pictures do no justice with how bad the "stone work" was. It was really bad. It took me two years to realize what a meager job it was, until one day, Jamie came home and found me ripping it all off with a crow bar and sledge hammer. With no warning, I had enough.

Well, here's what the front of our house looked like as of now:

Backyard when we bought it:

Backyard when we sold it:

Our beautiful kitchen. I loved the color scheme in the house when we bought it: white. The whole house was just spray-painted white. We later found out why - it was covering up a much worse paint job.


Kitchen now:

Our family room:

The same view of our family room a few years later:

The main bathroom at time of purchase:

The main bathroom seven years later:

So, good-bye, first house. We hope you can provide as many valuable memories for the new owners as you did for us. And at least you're not going anywhere - we'll be seeing you often whether we'd like to or not.

1st Triathlon

As of Saturday, I am officially a Triathlete. Well, a sprint triathlete, I guess. It was a 400 meter swim (which was quite interesting), 12 mile bike and a 5K run. I was always intrigued by triathlons, but never thought I'd actually do one. I guess this is something that I can check off my list.

I think that I've made mention of it before, but I have seriously become one of the laziest gals around since my swimming days. It was like some type of rebellion for me and working out seemed like hell to me. But I was so inspired by Dustin the past two years not only with his triathlons, but his biking and his constant drive to stay in shape. Since I had a couple of friends who wanted to do one to it seemed like the best thing. I always do better when I feel obligated by others to do something. But knowing me I knew that I had to just sign up for it, otherwise I wouldn't do it. So for the past 3 months or so (with a 3 week hiatus in September) I have been training. Training was a bit hard with a baby and a husband who is a busy man, but I started to feel that fire that I haven't felt for a long time.

So I know that this isn't some award show, but I wanted to thank a few people. Thanks to my mom who was seriously going to fly out to watch me until I forbid her to do so. She has always believed in me and has always loved to watch me compete. I guess I am pretty blessed to have two parents who have always been involved in my extracurricular activities. Thanks to Quique! Without her dragging me along on some of those runs, they may never have happened and I may not have made it through them. I know 3 miles is nothing, but it is a lot for someone who has always hated running. I am grateful to my friends who have done a tri and the ones who did it with me and for all of the love and support! Thanks to my IPod and especially the show "Glee" for their rendition of "Don't Stop Believing". That song helped so much when it was too cold to run outside and I had to run on the treadmill.... yuck! Thanks to Taylor! I have always wanted to be a mom (like my own mother) who wants her children to know that anything is possible and that you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. It was something that I knew I had to teach by example so she was a huge inspiration for me. And of course to Dustin. I was so proud of him two years ago when he did his first triathlon and he inspired me so much. He has been my cheerleader, my trainer, my teacher, whatever I have needed. He has even been my whipping post when I was scared to death to clip in and out of bike with cars driving right next to me. It was such a big sense of accomplishment, one that brought back a lot of fond memories.

And I am sorry to those people that I had to swim over because apparently the swimming in the pool part wasn't organized great, but I still had a lot of fun!

Ava and me before the triathlon. Ava just turned 6 and did the Kid's Triathlon with two of her brothers and our other friend's son, Luke. It was by far the cutest thing I've ever seen!

After the race... I look like crap, but was actually proud of myself. Here I am with two of my biggest fans!

Marissa and me after the race. She is in her 2nd year at Utah State and is one of the Young Women that I got to hang out with when I worked with the Youth in church. She did so awesome and we are already planning to do another one together next year!!!!

Amy and Megan (and their husbands) participated too, but they were a bit preoccupied with kids so I didn't get a chance to get a pic with them because right after the race we were off to Vegas to watch the Utes beat UNLV. (The race was in St. George). I couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend, minus the driving part of course... :)

September in Review

With Taylor's birthday starting us in September, football season starting, a trip to Cali, bike rides, trying to sell a house and then our anniversary to end September, it was a pretty awesome month. And even though I can't seem to account for a lot of it, I definitely didn't make time for the blog. As I mentioned before, we celebrated Taylor's actual birthday at the Utah vs Utah State game, however we wanted to make sure that she did have a party. So we had some of our family and a few of our friends over to join in the festivities. Honestly, we were planning on something really small, but there were so many people that supported us and prayed for us that made our miracle possible, so we had to include some more people. Although, there were so many of you that also made this possible, so know that we celebrated you as well on Taylor's special day.

Cam posing with Taylor on her special day with her special crown from Grandma TT that lit up and everything!


The cake that didn't turn out quite so great. Luckily I still have a year or two to improve my cake making skills.



The video is a little long, but next to the cute kids painting Taylor's face, the funniest part is how hard it is for Dustin to watch. For those of you that don't know him as well, he was the kid that if he got anything on his hands, he would freak out. Bless his sweet little heart!

After her birthday, we went home to visit my fam. We hit a Giants game and a football game and got to spend some time with the family, but as always, the week went by way too fast!

For our anniversary, we decided to do it on the Saturday before. It was a perfect fall day. Dustin had some church stuff in the am so I took Taylor and Quique to Tanner Park so Q could swim and run around with her friends. Then Dustin had a great idea to meet for brunch up at Solitude Ski Resort, so he rode his bike from our house up Big Cottonwood Canyon and Taylor and I met him there. This picture doesn't give the day justice, but the weather was perfect, just like our wedding day.

The brunch was amazing and Taylor really seems to like eating out with us and for the most part she's an angel! We ended the day by watching Utah beat Louisville so we couldn't have asked for a better day and I couldn't ask for a better family!

Two of my very favorite people.

Taylor is all about the open mouth kisses...

We love the gap between her top front teeth. Who can resist that smile?

And she has the sweetest laugh that I could listen to all day long!

Happy Birthday to You!

Yesterday we celebrated Taylor turning 1! We started off the morning when Taylor woke up singing "Happy Birthday" and the birthday wishes only continued the whole day through. (Thanks to everyone for the text message and singing telegrams). Dustin worked yesterday so I decided to just do some of her very favorite things. We went to Tanner Park so she could laugh at all of the dogs and watch Quique swim and then we took Taylor to the pool so that she could swim. I don't know if it was because she is a big fan of the pumped up Beach Boys jams (water aerobics class was going on) or if she just missed the pool but she was a splashing mad woman in the pool, just laughing and laughing. And for her evening excursion, since it was the first day of the Utah Football season and she doesn't really get to choose what she wants to do yet... she got to stay up until 11pm and watch the Utes play. She was loving the family sitting behind us and even started reaching for them so she could sit with them (which of course, she did). She was such a good girl and stayed awake through the whole game!

There was too much for Taylor to look at, so she wasn't hamming it up for the camera... Go Utes!

I can so vividly remember a year ago on her birthday. The morning started out with a phone call that we would no longer be meeting with the birth mom we were supposed to meet on September 3rd because she had gone into labor. She hadn't chosen a family to place her baby with so we had no idea what that meant, we were just waiting all day to hear anything. That night I had a youth activity at church. I was getting ready to go and Dustin came running into the parking lot with the biggest smile on his face and I knew. We hadn't been chosen yet to take Taylor, we hadn't met Taylor and we hadn't even met the birth mom, but at the very moment, I knew that we had a baby coming our way. And even though nothing was certain, April and Amy took me to Target (at like 10pm) since we had NOTHING for the baby and to be honest, we didn't even know if we would be getting a baby. And then it was a year ago today that we met Taylor and we got to hold this beautiful angel that God had sent to us. And a year ago tomorrow, we took her home.

I look at the year two years ago compared to this last year. I love Dustin with every ounce of my being, but two years ago was hard. And even with all of that love, there was something missing. I hope I don't offend anyone by getting religious, but this experience has given me an even deeper understanding of Christ's atonement. It's not just about him dying for our sins, he is also there to take away the pain. I know for a fact that I was in a lot of pain emotionally two years ago, I know it, but I don't remember it and I certainly can't even feel it. The moment Taylor was placed in my arms, every little void, gap, anything was filled. I know that there are so many people out there that don't believe in God, but every time I look at Taylor, I am reminded that there is a God, and of the miracle that he entrusted Dustin and I with.

Last night, we were messaging back and forth with Taylor's birth mom. She wanted to post a video and some pictures of Taylor and was asking us about it. You can tell she is just so proud of Taylor. She was telling us how she has shown her friends pictures of Taylor and us as well as emails, etc. and how people have told her that she seemed to have found the perfect couple for Taylor. She completely agreed with them and told them she knew that we were the perfect couple because she was guided to us. Those are certainly some big shoes to fill, but it's what is always driving me to be a better mom and I will always consider Jami our guardian angel. She gave us the most beautiful and self-sacrificing gift that has changed our lives for ever and filled us with such love and joy. There is nothing more beautiful than watching my husband (I love more than anything) continue to fall head over heels in love with his daughter and to watch him become such an amazing dad. I don't think life gets much better than that.