Once upon a time.....

On July 15, 2006 Daniel and his amazing fiancee Mandi :) Were married in the Bountiful Temple in Utah.

a couple of engagement photos:

3 years ago I married my best friend

then about 15 months later THIS adorable monkey was born! Miss Ireland was born into our family. We have had so much fun with this kid!!

She can be QUITE a handful. uh...... that's not for you!! ha ha

then about 20 months after Ireland was born..... we were once again in the hospital waiting for princess # 2 to arrive.
here everything is going ok. (We had been to the hospital already that night! I hadn't felt the baby move in about 3 hours so I went in to get checked. Baby was fine and I wasn't contracting or dilating so they sent me home. I was to be induced 5 days from then anyway so I was ok with everything. We left the hospital after midnight......and was back less than 4 hours later in labor!!! ) so anyway..

Things were ok (minus the PAIN!!) and then the nurse gets freaked and calls for help. Apparently baby's heart rate dropped way too low and I needed oxygen....
and had to lay on my side and hold still.

It worked!! baby was fine. I progressed pretty quickly and from when I arrived to when she was born was less than 4 hours.
Well the labor was pretty scary. a few things were wrong and she wasn't making her graceful appearance. I was losing way too much blood and the dr. and nurse were getting pretty intense and worried. So they had to do some things to get her out immediately and literally saved her life. It was so scary!!!

They got her out. and she was posterior (head up) and that was part of the problem. Also... all that bleeding that had my dr. freaked?? It was what he suspected: my placenta had torn.

Anyway, they had to rub her back like crazy and try to get her to cry and respond.

She did and had a great apgar score and she weighed 6 lbs 5 oz and was 18 inches long. Leighton was/is so beautiful and healthy!!! and she does NOT seem to have a milk allergy like sister did! phew

Here is me and my girls!!

They offered Daniel and I an amazing dinner in the hospital (which I called our date night) I chose the salmon and he chose the chicken cordon bleu. It was so fancy and so nice!!! And the manager of the hospital came and gave me a huge, white, soft, fluffy robe. sweet! I SERIOUSLY LOVE that hospital and their staff!!

Leighton had dangerously high biliruben levels and we couldn't go home with her when we were supposed to. Daniel went home to be with Ireland and I refused to go home without my baby. SO I stayed in my room while she stayed under the lights praying she would get better. She didn't much but we got to go home that night!! BUT had to have the lights at home :(

It was soooo hard for me. 3 hours on the lights then 1 hour off. If I fed or changed her, that counted as part of the hour so the next 3 days I BARELY held the baby :(

these are at home:



well that's our story. Long, sad and scary, but we survived and are so very happy with our cute little family. Ireland is a rockstar!! such a good big sister and can NOT get enough of Leighton!! Always by her side.

LOL!!!!

And Daniel: My wonderful sweet husband, thank you for loving me. Thank you for being my friend.... since elementary school!!! Thank you for being an amazing daddy. Thank you for putting up with me. And doing all the dishes every day and thank you for being willing my entire pregnancies to get up at any hour and get what I am craving. And changing diapers... most the time without being asked. Thank you for hardly every complaining and for being the positive one. thank you for holding the Priesthood. Thank you for making me breakfast every sunday, even on fast sundays when you can't eat!

Thank you. I love you