A Few Details From That Day . . .

July 12, Brandon and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary. I can't believe it's been 6 YEARS! It's gone by fast but that's probably because we've been on a whirlwind of having kids. We started young and wanted to finish young so that we will still be young when our kids are teenagers (that way we can still do everything with them from wakeboarding to sports, ect.). One of the things we never did was plan when we were going to have our kids; all 4 have been a surprise and a gift from God. Brandon was set on being "done" after we had Chase (he wasn't exactly the best of babies); then he got the vasectomy after we had Cylas - and now we have our fourth on it's way. I've always had the mindset that though it takes a lot of hard work, the more kids God gives us, the more blessings it will bring. There may be a lot of trials but God is refining us through every one.

This picture from our wedding day is my favorite. It was our first kiss as Mr. & Mrs. Dion, right after we said our vows. I loved that moment.

Some other moments I remember from that day are getting to the church with my sister and running to the dressing room (we got there a little bit later than we wanted to) and having beautiful diamond earings delivered to me while I was getting ready. Those earings became a symbol of sacrifice as they meant a lot to me since Brandon gave them to me on such a special day. They were a carat each and I wore them almost every day but about two years after being married a lot of things came up and we ran into financial trouble. We ended up having to sell those earings that meant so much to me but it was okay. You sacrifice the most for what matters the most. Through all that we've been through sacrifice could look more like failure. But it is not failure; it is that which makes us stronger. And in the end it will hopefully be a beautiful story of love prevailing. I LOVE you Brandon and I always will!

Since I haven't been feeling that good, we watched P.S. I Love You (I actually got him to give in!!!) while the boys napped and then we went out to eat at Blue Goose for dinner. We plan on doing something else later when I feel a little better.

July 4th

Originally we were supposed to be in California for the 4th where every year the whole family gets together and cooks breakfast on the beach. Since plans had changed we wanted to try to do something fun this year in Texas. So we decided to have a pool party. Yeah. . . you might be thinking "But you don't have a pool". That's where getting 12 kiddy pools come into good use. :)

As you can see we are officially into our hot Texas summer - the grass is fried and I can't take the kids outside for any long period of time unless we're in a pool and have a bottle of sunscreen on.

I'll make this my "1 month Pregnancy Picture" since I still look normal and can wear a bathing suit.

No such luck at getting a good picture of the boys together that day.

So, I never finished telling how I told Brandon about the pregnancy test. Since I was asleep by the time he got home and I wanted to involve the boys in telling him, I had the boys make up a scavenger hunt for Brandon to go on in the morning. They each made up a clue that led him on a hunt around the house for three papers. Once he found all the papers we laid them out on the floor and watched him open each one. It read,"Ready for 4?"

Let's just say after having a vasectomy he was not very excited but by the end of the day things were looking up. One of the things I wanted to do different this time around was to surprise everyone we told. Brandon has always just called his mom to tell her the news but this time I made him wait. We went over to his parents house that night and gave them a card that said, "We're adding two feet onto our house." It had two baby footprints on the front and inside it had the finish (due) date. They were both surprised and excited (Chase has had a different expession in every picture I take of him lately - he looks surprised too).

For my parents I made them a card that listed the top 10 reasons they should move to Texas:

1.You can live in a new house for less than half the price of your house (and make tons of $ from selling your house).
2.Although it’s a little hot for a month or two, we actually have seasons!
3.The price of gas is lower. (By a whole dollar per gallon right now!)
4.The air is better to breathe.
5.With all the money you make off your house you could buy a boat and have fun on the lake every time you miss the beach
6.People are nicer/friendlier and community is 10 times better. With all the churches Oma could find a job with no problem and Papa there’s a “Soaring League of North Texas”
7.Cole
8.Chase
9.Cy
10.Your NEW grandson/granddaughter that will be here March 3, 2009!!!

(I ended up reading the reasons to them over the phone before they got the card in the mail because I wanted to hear their reaction)

Another thing I want to do different this time is continue to work out through the whole pregnancy. Now when I first found out I was pregnant I was thinking I'll keep running 6-7 miles at a time and I'll continue cycling until I just can't do it anymore. The day after I said that I started reading a new pregnancy book I picked up and read about all the dangers of raising your body temp. and directing all the blood away from your uterus . . . that freaked me out so I didn't work out the rest of the week. Now I already feel like a big, bloated, baluga whale. I typically weigh in around 121 lbs. and now I'm already 126!! Don't get me wrong, I don't mind putting on weight; it's just a little early to put on 5 pounds in a week and a half when you know that's not baby. I'm already so nauseous and eating helps me feel better for a little while - but I am eating healthy :) Looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of walking and light weight lifting for the next 9 months!

By the way, many of you have asked how far along I am -I'm 6 weeks and my first Dr.'s appointment is July 21st (if we don't go to California before that).

Ringing in July

I am VERY excited for the month of July. I've been blogging for the last couple days but I havn't posted any of them because most of you know by now I have some big news - but I couldn't post that big news until I surprised my parents with the big news (which happened tonight).


July 1st started out normal. I took the boys down by the creek to let them explore and to take some pictures.

Brandon was busy working and would be gone all day (he had his defensive driving class later that day that lasted till 10pm). That afternoon I ran some errands with the boys, one of them being to pick up a couple things at the store. I decided earlier that day to pick up a pregnancy test to confirm my "I couldn't possibly be pregnant" thoughts. And why is it that every time I've picked up a test no matter how hard I try to hide it, EVERYONE in the store ends up seeing it? This time the lady ringing everything up got my stuff mixed in with the lady's stuff in front of me . . . you can imagine the rest!!! :)


Blog from:
July 1st

Before I write anything I have to say I’ve enjoyed blogging. I’ve been so busy with Needle in a Scrap-Stack stuff that I have not scrapbooked in awhile and I would truly feel like I’m missing out if I weren't blogging.

Scrapbooking to me isn’t all about the page design – although that part is so much fun – it’s about the moments that make our stories (and telling those stories). I recently applied to be apart of the Chatterbox design team and the only question they asked (along with sending in some photos of your work) was, “Why do you scrapbook?”

I first started scrapbooking after Cole was born. I was exploding with emotions and scrapbooking was the perfect outlet to express my feelings. If we don't write down our stories then eventually they're lost. But I want to remember, treasure, and pass those stories down to my children and to their children. One of the biggest things I love about scrapbooking is that it forces me to take a time out - to step back and look at the beauty in life when it seems not so beautiful; to look at the big picture.


In having this blog it has made me sit down and write out more of what's going on. Sometimes I feel awkward getting personal on the blog since it is connected to the business side and I never know who could be reading it. But from here on out it’s going to be a little more personal because I want to feel like I have something to keep me more accountable for the stories and because today I have some news (and I want to keep everyone updated). . . some BIG news and I don’t care what anybody thinks or says – I am going to be happy about it.

Brandon and I are going to have another baby!!! I’m pregnant!
(yes, it is going to be our 4th child!!!! And yes, I just got rid of all of our baby stuff because we REALLY thought we were done)

Wow, I said it.

Most of you know Brandon and I have not had the easiest year (actually more like years) but everything is telling me that this is God’s perfect plan – I mean come on, Brandon just had a vasectomy three months ago (he never went back to make sure all those suckers were completely gone and that everything was good to go - there went $1,000).

I have many reasons to be excited - one of them being that this one could be a girl. I am so happy with boys and would love to have another one but as a lot of you know, when a man has a baby girl it changes him in ways that baby boys can’t. If this is a girl then it could be an answer to some prayers.

It is still so unreal to me; I’m still in shock and have to make myself keep going back to look at the test to try to let reality sink in. I’m still trying to think of a nice why to tell Brandon so he doesn’t flip out (don’t worry – I’m not going to post this until after I tell him). I think I want to do something that involves the boys.

Oh, and something else that happened this morning that was totally random (this was before I took the test) - me and the boys watched Cy’s first 2 years DVD and both Cole and Chase said that they wanted another baby. They never say that!!