Remembering 2009...

I guess a lot of people are doing this and it is kind of fun to reflect on the past year. 2009 was for sure an adventure and I laugh about most of it. I got to experience many things I haven't ever experienced, and it was a lot of fun. Now that I'm not pregnant I can laugh about the whole experience and laugh about the whole delivery. My pictures, especially toward the end are pretty hideous and that's what makes it funny! Hopefully I don't blow up next time i'm pregnant but i guess if I do, I'll just have to laugh about it again! It was a fun 2009 and I'm looking forward to a much more comfortable 2010!

1.) What did you do in 2009 that you've never done before?

For one I got pregnant!

Two we went to a bunch of places in California!

2.) Did you make any new years resolutions?

I made some goals and things I wanted to do. Some are:

Get back in shape (I really need to)

Not be massive and pregnant for the summer!

Read the Book of Mormon front to back

Being like Ellen!

Learn more about my camera and how to take a good photo

3.) Did anyone close to you give birth?

left to right: Bennett (Kay's), Talia (Mine), Perry (Christa's), Lucy (Stefanie's), and Milo (Jenny's)

On the right my Aunt Kenda with her baby Olivia

Talia on the left with Anne on the right (Steve and Andrea's first baby!)

My newest nephew that just made 2009, Jaxson who is Joanie and Ryan's first baby!

Also Natasha Jefferies had her twins Gloria and Wesley, Abby Nelson had her baby girl Niko, Karen Hill had her baby Miranda, Suz from work had a baby boy Ethan, Kathy from work had her baby boy Andreas, Camille from work had her baby girl Shelby. SOOOOO many babies!

4.) Did anyone close to you die?

My cousin Brock. Such a great guy and will always miss him!

Brock is the second one in from the left.

5.) What places did you visit?

We went to California for 10 days and did a lot! It was one of my favorite holidays. I don't have any pictures but for a few days we stayed at Amelia's parents house! It was a lot of fun.

San Diego Zoo with Amelia and her kiddies!
Universal Studios

San Diego Temple (So glad Jason convinced me to go!)

The resort we stayed at for 3 nights

Sea World!


Went to Panorama on a Pizzey family vacation. First vacation as a married person without Jason. Besides a few emotional moments (remember I was REALLY pregnant, well I looked it at least), it was a lot of fun!

6.) What was your biggest achievement in 2009?

Hands down, surviving pregnancy and labor! Probably most women who were pregnant and delivered in 2009 would say the same thing! So congrats to those who did!

Like my birthday photo's I am embarrassed to post this, but it shows how big I swelled and it was tough! Don't worry though, after delivering the baby and losing the weight that comes with the fluid/ placenta etc., I dropped another 30 in 2 days from fluid retention! Still have lots to go but throughout pregnancy I definitely liked holding onto all the water I could!


Doing this for 1 hr trying to turn Talia

7.) Did you suffer from any injuries?

If this isn't suffering then what is? I'm just kidding, but I did break my tail bone in labor, that sucked.

8.) What was the best thing you bought?

My favorite swing chair!

9.) Where did most of your money go?

Maybe an exaggeration but seriously pills saved me during pregnancy! If we didn't have some sort of coverage we would have spent more than 1000 dollars on meds. for me. I took over 1250 pills in my pregnancy!

Baby stuff!

New house and everything that comes with that!

10.) What songs will remind you of 2009?

Viva la Vida- Coldplay (Jason loved this song and listened to it ALL the time)

Better in Time- Leona Lewis (Love playing and singing it on the piano)

11.) What did you wish you had done more of?

Hands down, enjoy the summer. I was so hot and swollen the whole time that I really didn't enjoy the summer and now that I think of it, I should have just gone outside and walked... but who knows? It was pretty hot some days!

12.) What did you wish you had done less of?

Throw up.

13.) What was your favorite TV show?

Oh I love TV (I shouldn't love it so much and I don't want as much as I used to but I have 3 favorites... actually 4!)

(I know I should keep this a secret but I really do love them, they're so great!)

14.) What was the best book you read in 2009?

I LOVE reading, but a lot of the books I read are from the Church bookstore. I enjoyed reading the Twilight series, but as for the books I read last year that I really enjoyed:

"The Secret Journal" by Kay Lynn Mangum

"Handle with Care" by Jodi Picoult

"Desire of our Hearts" by Sariah S. Wilson (This book really got me excited to read the Book of Mormon front to back.)

15.) What was your favorite film this year?

Well if anyone knows me they know I hate going to movie theatre's, but the one movie I did go to in theatre was My Sister's Keeper. I for sure enjoyed the movie but maybe I liked it more because the book was so good. There's lots of good movies I want to see, I'm just waiting for them to come out and rent. Plus I don't know if I'll be going to a movie until I get a donut to sit on for my tail bone!

16.) What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

Before I answer this, I'm telling you now I am extremely embarrassed and laugh out loud when I see these photos (so don't feel bad about laughing), BECAUSE as you can tell pregnancy and I didn't go well together, I swelled from week 8. So in these photos it looks like I just got my wisdom teeth out and well it looks like my arms got there wisdom teeth out as well! I blew up!

Anyways to answer the question, I had just got off a 12 hour shifts from work (7am to 7pm) and Jason had Justin, Amelia, Zach, Kara and Kate over waiting to throw me a little surprise party. We had a steak dinner and cake! Jason made it all! Wasn't feeling to attractive (and I wasn't) but it was fun, especially after a 12 hour shift and walking on my extremely swollen feet! Oh I also turned 23.

17.) Who was the best person you met?

Well the first person that came to mind was Dr. McCubin, then I remembered I met my daughter! But in all fairness they come hand in hand. Dr. McCubin saved me from having a c-section AND she helped Talia get out of me. When I think back to that whole experience I just remember being so grateful she took Talia out of me! So that brings me to Talia. I loved her the moment I set eyes on her. Yes, I did love her while she was in me, but I hated pregnancy so much that I just wanted her out. She for sure gets cuter every day!
(scary!)

Blessings...

I am glad for days that you are reminded of your blessings and how lucky you are. I was in need of a reality check and I got one!

SO... I had a really bad day a week ago where I was really down on life and not being back to a normal size and was feeling sorry for myself. During these moments I long for Jason to be home to hold me and say it's going to be OK but the moment he gets home I often take this frustration out on him. (Why do I do that? I have no idea.) Then I complain to him about not comforting me the way I need him to. This is NOT fair of me, but after much crankiness and crying I still have a loving husband that is willing to support and love me (of course this is after I stop taking my frustrations out on him, explain to him what was wrong, and how I need him to comfort me. I am also reminded that proper communication in the first place works best!)

Anyways I just had a bad day and went on with my week. So today I was reading NieNie's blog and I realized that we all have bad days and complain a little (that's OK!) but at the end of the day it helps to be able to recognize our blessings and to know that life is good. (I'm not sure if you follow NieNies blog but you should, her story is amazing. Her link is on my blog.) Here is what came to my mind while reading her post:

1.) I may still be over weight but I am healthy and able to lift and care for my baby girl!

2.) I'm married to my best friend and love of my life

3.) I have a baby girl that is so precious to me and I love her SO much

4.) I have a house to live in with food and heat

5.) I live in a safe country

6.) I have friends, sisters/ in-laws that can relate to me and be a support (thank you GNO girls!)

7.) I have my blog express myself and others blogs to read (some may think this is weird but it helps me feel attached to the world and close to my friends)

How can I not feel blessed when I've been trusted to care for this little girl every day? (Thank you Jenny for this photo!)

Now I'm not going to say I'll never have bad days or complain again, but it is nice to have days when you're reminded of what is important in life!

Having fun with the camera...

I'm not a photographer, don't plan to be one, and I'm for sure not creative or talented enough but I have wanted to learn how to take better photos and do some basic photo editing just so I could have some nice photos of our family to keep and to maybe start a new hobby. Jason bought me a photo editing program for Christmas (best gift ever) so we thought we try it out. I still have SO much to learn but I can do the basics so we did some experimenting! These are some photos I took. She was such a good girl and it was fun taking photos of her.

Love her smile!

Being cute!

Just love those cheek and ears!

Cute shoes (Thanks Amelia for having twin girls and lending so much clothes!)

She wasn't impressed!

LOVE this face! She wasn't sure about things


This is probably one of my favorites (well I like them all!) but she was so relaxed here!

Love those eyes... they're her Daddy's eyes

I just love her smile! So sweet!

Bath Time!!!

Talia loves her baths!

As a family we're going swimming on Saturday. My brother picked the activity because he wont be swimming for 2 years due to a mission. This meant we needed to find a swim suit. I was worried there wouldn't be one tiny enough but it fits ok, all we'll have to do it put a safety pin in the back to hold the straps together! She's so cute!

I just love the bum!

Family Outings

Oh how I love family outings! Jason had been really busy the last two weeks with presentations (for residency) and a trauma course he was taking, so as much as he wanted to see us, we didn't see him a heck of a lot. Anyways this past weekend Jason finished the course and we got to play!!!!
It's been so nice outside so we went to this thing called "Ice on Whyte". It's where a bunch of talented people carve Ice sculptures. I wish we would have seen some of the sculpting but the end result was pretty awesome. Unfortunately we thought our camera died right after we got there so we didn't get a lot of photos. I feel so bad we didn't get a picture of Jason, but maybe we'll go again this week because it's on till the 24th.
Anyways it was nice to spend time as a family and get outside and play!

Talia was all smiles as we were leaving


The back of a lizard thingy. The detail was amazing.
This was my favorite.

Me and Talia in front of my favorite one

Just being cute

So for all those who think Edmonton sucks or is too cold... well it is cold but at least it's cold enough to maintain these amazing ice sculptures! Edmonton can have some nasty weather but there are always fun things to do in the winter and summer. Plus it's a great place to take a vacation from once and while! I just love Edmonton... it'll always be home.

Finally got some footage of Talia laughing. I must warn you, it's not great taping. I was all over the place, but I had to keep the camera hidden from Talia or else she would have been pretty distracted!

 

 

Welcome 2010- Laugh. Dance. Play.

2009 will be a year to remember: first time being pregnant, first time going on maternity leave, first time going into labor and first time becoming a mom! I didn't hate 2009 and I didn't love 2009 (except the part that we welcomed Talia into this world... pretty awesome!). But I welcome 2010 and am looking forward to this year.

I'm looking forward to seeing this little monkey grow and develop so much in her first year of life. We just love her. In this photo she's giving us that look again! Makes me laugh every time!
She's changing so much. She's found her hands and learning how to use them. She also puts everything in her mouth.

All ready for church. She fits most of her 3-6 month clothes length wise but she still fits her new borns width wise. Oh well she can swim in her clothes for now, she looks cute anyways!

 

What I'm looking forward to in 2010

 

1.) Losing weight. I know that is every ones resolution but I really need to get back into shape for my own physical and mental health! I am looking forward to getting back to when I feel best!

 

2.) Watching Talia grow in her first year

 

3.) Going on a trip with JUST my husband... either in March (depending if we can wean Talia (no luck so far)) or in November

 

4.) Going back to work casually. I love and miss work. I'm not going to go back full time but I will always try to keep my RN license. I just love my job. Nursing has been my passion since I was little, I just love it!

 

5.) Look forward to summer and NOT being pregnant (well we hope to not be pregnant in summer! That is not in the plans)

 

6.) I want to read the Book of Mormon front to back like a story book and be really in to it. This may not be a challenge to some, and I love the Book of Mormon But I need to work on my consistency in reading it and reading front to back. I actually really look forward to this.

 

7.) I've contemplated putting this one up but it's something I want to do. I want to be more like Ellen DeGeneres. Obviously not the whole lesbian thing, but I truly love how she seems so happy and full of life. I need to sometimes focus more on the positive and just love life. I've been blessed with so much and life is good. I'll have my moments but that is going to be my 2010 outlook. Life is good and we should laugh. dance. play.

I'm sure I will think of more things as 2010 progresses, but as for now I am excited for 2010.