My 3 BIG Countdowns!

Guess what yesterday was? ...September 28, 2010 my "little BIG brothers" 20th birthday! He spent it on his mission in Rio Grande, TX. He only has 10 months left! Can you believe it, where does time go? It seems like he Just left! I am looking so forward to that day we spend waiting in the air port to see our little missionary come walking up to us! That thought puts butterflies in my tummy! Weston and I are extremely close, we have been best friends for the last 5 years. We have a lot of good memories and many more to come. I am so proud of Elder Weston Swanson. He truly is a great missionary. He is different than most young boys serving missions. He has wanted to be a missionary for the last 3 years. I can still remember him coming into my room, sitting on my bed saying, "Shantay, only 23 more months! I just wish that day would come faster, I want to be serving the Lord sooner!" He never stopped his count down. He wanted his mission more than anything! The countdown finally ended when he left August 5th, 2009. I love every letter I get from him. His letters always seem to conceal his sweet and powerful testimony. He also says, "I wish I could press the slow-motion button cause 2 years just isn't enough time!" He truly loves our Heavenly Father and wants nothing but to continue serving him thorough out the rest of his life. He is such a inspiring example of our Savior! I have always looked up to my little big brother! He has taught me many things in my life. I will forever be grateful to him for his righteous example. Now I count down the days until I get to see his bright blue eyes and happy contagious smile! Happy Birthday Elder Swanson!

My other count down has been for my sister-in-law Leah to have her 3rd baby, my newest nephew! ...Well that happened early this morning September 29, 2010 little Rigdon James Martinuea enter this world (7lbs 11oz and 20 inches)! He came 3 days early! Lucky Leah, I know! Thats not what she would say though. She had been dilated to a 3 for the last 2 weeks. Her Doc told her 2 weeks ago that she could have this baby any day...she was literally a ticking time bomb! What pregnant woman would be upset about that wonderful news??? Only Leah haha! She told her Doctor, "No, no He cant come any earlier than October 2nd...he has to come on his due date because I have too much going on through the end of September, so he just has to wait! Oh how I love Leah! She always keeps a smiles on my face! We are so excited to have a new little guy in the family! I can't wait to fly down and meet him next weekend! He is so precious. I just love new borns. They are so fresh from heaven you can just feel their pure, clean and sweet spirit so strong! They are such a blessing in our lives whether they are our own or a friends! ...Which leads me to countdown #3...

Yup, the rumors are true! I am pregnant again for the second time this year!! I surprisingly got pregnant like 3 weeks after I miscarried. I am 10 weeks along and sick, sick, sick! I am SO jealous of Leah...She doesn't get 1 once of sickness, just sleepiness! Which I would take over throwing up any day! But I must say having Bristol continually reminds me how worth it-it really is! When I was pregnant with Bristol I was certain I was done... I knew I wanted 4 or 5 more kids so I decided I would adopt the rest. I just didn't think throwing up every 10 seconds could possibly be worth it! BUT, I must say......IT IS SO WORHT IT, every second of every day! Abe and I are so excited to have a new addition to our family! I am due May 2nd, 2011. Bristol and the baby will be 17 months apart...thats a little better than 15 months! I would like to have my kids 18 months apart but I'm thinking I'll give my body a rest after this next one! We are hoping for a Baby Brother! We only have to wait anxiously for 9 more weeks to find out!! Abe has been the biggest help these last 3 weeks that I have been sick. I literally sleep in until 10am, that means he wakes up at 9 (not really, he actually cant sleep so he really wakes up at 5 or 6 unwillingly) but he gets Bristol out of bed at 9am, changes her diaper (sometimes, only of it's not poopies), feeds her and plays with her! Then he makes me breakfast and brings it to me (so sweet)! He does the dishes, laundry and even vacuums!! I have the best husband ever! I love him every second of every day...even when I'm pregnant, sick and grumpy! He has been a life savor! We are taking a little over night vacation tomorrow! He deserves it :) We are going to Breckenridge, 2 hours away to stay in this cozy lodge up in the mountains (Abes favorite place). The trees are turning yellow and red! We'll be sure to take plenty of pictures don't worry! Off to watch Iorn Man 2 with Abe! Goodnight!

Rocky Mountain National Park!

After camping we drove up to the RM National Park! We didnt see any elk :(

CaMpInG time!

YAY!!! We finally found a camping spot! Me and Adelle are so excited to get the fire going so we can roast twinkies and marshmallows. MMM MMMM!

What a beautiful view! We found the coolest camping spot EVER! It has this slight drop off and when it was dark you could see city lights. It was perfect!

There is a lake off behind us in the distance!

Bristol played in her play pin while we set up and took down camp!

All the guys getting back from shooting! Craig, Abe, Tanner and Chaz!

Oh what a night! Bristol did AWESOME! She slept the whole night in her play pin at the bottom of our feet! But when 6am rolled around and the campers 50 feet from us never went to sleep and were making all sorts of noise it woke Briss and I up! Usually Bristol sleeps in until 8am and then plays in her crib until 9am! I know, IM SO LUCKY!

Wake up daddy! It's time to play!

It was pretty cold but snuggling kept me warm! I love my Bristol and Abe!

Tanner, Abe and Bristol sitting by the fire! We had fun doing fire rockets (not sure if thats the correct wording)! All of the guys tried it out. I think Tanner won... Fire Rockets, for those of you that don't know... is when you fart and hold the lighter up to your butt and it creates a fire ball!!

Peak-a-boo!

Me and my hubby! I love him SO much! He is such a wonderful husband and perfect daddy!

A + S = LOVE

Bristol doesn't always keep her flower on!

She loves her new toy! She stands at it all day laughing at herself in the mirror!

"Ooh Bristol look over her!"

She's just checking out her flower!

Now she is checking out her new shoes!

BAMB! Just like that, she decides she doesn't want her flower on her head any longer!

Our silly little Bristol bug!

Some random pictures and stories of Briss Briss...

This is what Bristol spends 1/2 of her day doing. Yup, standing at the back door, wishing she was outside exploring! She loves watching the trees blow and that cup roll around on the porch. She literally stood at the door for 30 minutes one day, Im not teasing!

This spot is where she stands the other 1/2 of the day! Look at that frown, she hates it! She stands there and pounds her hand screaming to the top of her lungs trying to get our attention.

So guess what Bristol did on the day she turned 9 month... Abe and I were sitting on the computer located just behind the brown couch you see in this picture. All of a sudden i hear bristol crawling and I look over and she is right next to me on the other side of her "cage" We were so shocked and confused. Did she really climb over that little ottoman?? It was still in it's place so she must have! So we put her back in and spied on her to see if she climbed over...sure enough she was climbing head first over it within seconds (with the help of standing on a pillow)!

When we do let her out of her "cage" her FAVORITE place to roam is the kitchen! She loves the sound of her hands on the hard wood floor. She goes back and forth back and forth for as long as I'll let her! She occasionally will find a crumb or two!

Abe always finds it funny to put her clothes on her head! She is still so cute!

BATH TIME!!

Bristol is her mama's girl! She loves her bath time, just like me!!

"Oh hey mom!"

Look... she is a little froggy!

She could seriously crawl around and play in the tub all day if i'd let her. From the second week of her life, Bristol LOVED bath time. If she was ever grumpy or sad we knew it must be bath time. Sure enough the second we set her in the water her mood changed and she was the happiest baby ever!!

Elitch Gardens Theme Park in Denver!

Ok seriously this place is a blast! We had tons of fun, my dad bought all of us fast-pass cards that got us to the front of every line....SOOO worth it! We got through all the rides with NO waiting!!

Abe and Dad going on the Yoyo ball!!! It shoots you straight up into the sky! It's quite a thriller!

Me, Bristol (Love her face expression here), Ashton and Sunni!!

Now it's mine and Ashtons turn! HOLY-COW! That was seriously the crazzziest feeling ever! I was so scared...we shot off and all you see is the sky and you're just flying so high super fast! I thought I was pretty brave to go on that! Ash and I kept throwing our legs up making us flip ourselves on our way down!

WE SURVIVED! Phewww :)

After Ashton and I went Sunni decided she wanted to go! She chose me to go with her! :) I got round 2 of the Yoyo Thriller! Sunni was screaming the whole way up, "This is so fun, this is soooooo fun!"

SuRvIvOrS!

On the first roller-coaster I went on it jerked my neck of course. I couldn't turn it after that! :( So I took some medicine and it made me feel like I had a migraine head-ache. So Abe took me home I had a nap and felt batter so I brought Bristol back to the park with me! They were all excited to see her!!

Gearing up for another Thriller ride!!!

This ride they pull you all the way back up to the very top of those polls and drop you! You seriously go flying back and forth like Super-man! Theres Ashton, Dad and Sunni waving to us!

Our turn!

Lets go flllyyyy!

Nothing better than flying through the sky holding my Hubby's hand for dear life!!!

Holy-cow! That was intense...gave me butterflies!

Grandpaw showing Briss the pretty lights and the mist!

What a long day! She was exhausted. Her eyes were closed the second we put her in her car seat! Sleep at last!!!

A LOT OF COMING AND GOING!

What a FUN 2 weeks I had with my beautiful sisters Ashton & Sunni....

Just waiting for our SONIC SLUSHIES! We went to Sonic like everyday! I was craving their Grape Cream Slushies! MMM...so yummy! Ashton enjoyed talking to people in the cars next to us in her silly prank voice and the guy who would deliver us our drinks!

Bristols flower is HIGE, I know! I can't help it! Abe HATES when I put that one on her head. He says, "she is going to become lopsided trying to hold her head up"!

We went exploring up into the gorgeous mountains that are just 40 minutes away from our house! We had a little pic-nic right next to a beautiful creek!

Briss wanted Abe's sandwich SOOO bad!!

Daddy & his little "Briss Briss"

Mommy and her Bebe girl Bristol!

Just me with 2 of my bestest friends ever! Sisters for life!

Just out exploring........

Oooh, look what we found!!

We took this picture especially for our dad because he LOVES the color purple haha!

The Denver Temple! It poured rain on us after we took these pictures! It was actually lightning & thundering pretty bad while we were standing there!

Me and my sister Ashton

Me and sista Sunni!

Another rainy day...this one we spent (don't ask why) walking to Costco to mess around! Adelle joined us girls!

Does this need explaining?? Oh how we love CHURROS! Adelle is thinking...How can I get me some of that!

Hot tubbing in the rain! Is there anything better!?

We went to a huge park to play wiffle-ball and kickball! It was Adelle, Johnny, Craig, Chaz, Ashton, Sunni, Bristol, Abe and I! We had a blast...Definitely sore the next day, so out of shape! After we played, we went to Chillies for dinner!! Too much fun!

Another walk! No rain this time!

My little Sunni girl is such a sweet sister. She is such a big helper with Bristol, they had so much fun together! I wish we lived closer to them I miss my sisters everyday of my life! Sunni and I had fun staying up late talking...Ashton and Abe always fell to sleep earlier than Sunni and I so we made some good memories together being the only 2 awake! Sunni loved playing Balderdash...she would beg us to play with her every night! She was very creative with her answers and actually won the game more than once! Sunni I love you very much! You are such a sweet sister and auntie! :)

Ashton, Ashton, Ashton- Where so i begin! Oh how I love this girl, we have become so close over the last 2 years! She is truly one of me best friends! She is also such a good auntie to her Briss Briss! But one of my funnest memories of their trip out here was all the prank calling we did. Made me feel like I was back in High School. This girl can make you laugh to the point of exhaustion and pee rolling down your legs!! Haha- she changes her voice and the things she comes up with to say are just unbelievably funny! "Hi this is Baby Banesssa calling from Tokyo, Connecticut. I was just wondering what you had for dinner-- I had FISH and APPPLES! And it was yuuummy!" Another classic..."My voice changes to this when I take my night time pills!" Oh my goodness she had me, Sunni and Adelle laughing so hard! We made so many fun memories in that 2 weeks they were here! I Love Ashton so much! I am so grateful her and that we have become so close these last couple years. She is so much fun and I look forward to her 2nd trip out here in October!!! I have the BEST sisters in the world! :)