It's been a while...

Brian and I had a great first Thanksgiving and Christmas together as a husband and wife!  For Thanksgiving we went to my Mom and Step-Dad's house.  We had a lot of people there.  We had my step family and some of Brian's family!  It was wonderful.  The day after Thanksgiving Brian's sister Shelly, her husband Eric, Brian, and I drove to Yuma.  We spent the weekend with their Uncle and Aunt (their Dad's brother).  We had another yummy Thanksgiving dinner and had a blast with Brian's cousins.  I had a great time going to see Breaking Dawn Part 1 again with some of Brian's cousins and that day the guy's went shooting!

Brian with the newest member of the family (while in Yuma).  He was so sweet holding her.  Good Daddy practice! 

Our first Christmas as husband and wife was great as well!  Brian's mother flew out here.  We spent Christmas Eve day over at Brian's Grandmas house and had a nice feast.  Christmas morning he and I opened gifts to each other then went over to my parents house.  We had breakfast then opened gifts!  We hung out and relaxed then ate another great meal.  My mom put a turkey on their rotisserie that is out on the BBQ.  We had the best homemade pies as well.  It was fun spending New Year's Eve with my husband and we had a great New Year's Day as well.  That was a Sunday and our first day teaching 5 year old children at church!  They are absolutely adorable and I love teaching them about Christ!  

Brian and I went to Utah for a week at the beginning of January.  I was dealing with Pneumonia and back problems but it was still a total blast.  I loved seeing family and we got a day of beautiful snow.  We had a nice time talking, going to fun places, and playing with my nieces!  

Brian took this picture of the Salt Lake City Temple.  It is going to be framed!

Outside Brian's mothers home.  It snowed the night before and was still lightly snowing!

Brian holding one of his mom's cats.  You can see a little bit of the snow falling.

This is when we got to my sister Amanda's house.  There was a lot more snow because she lives at a higher elevation.  It was beautiful!

 Brian and I at my brother Guy's house.

 My sister Amanda and my Dad.

Beautiful snowy mountains.

My nieces Madison and Sierra.

 Indoor boogy boarding.

Madison and Sierra at the bowling ally. 

My brother Guy, my Dad, my sister Amanda, and me.

My awesome husband Brian and my great sister-in-law Christa.

My brother Guy and his wife Christa.

Guy bowling.

 Indoor parachuting.

 This was taken from a high rise condo.  It had a wrap around balcony.  The view is incredible.  I would love this if I was rich but I love having a backyard.

My nieces love their Uncle Brian.  He is going to be a great Dad!

This was taken from a restaurant area very close to the Temple.  Perfect timing at sunset.

Lexi and Alli are way too cute.

Brian and Lexi.  This is super precious!

Lexi and I. It was determined that we have the same eye color but my pupils are bigger. Cute picture!

I was trying to take a picture of Alli and I.  Alli was sitting in the seat right behind me but this is how it turned out. I thought it was still a pretty unique looking picture.

Fun with Uncle Brian.

I sure love my Nieces.

Lexi and Alli playing. This is at my brothers house.

This is at the restaurant area I mentioned earlier with the great view.  They are adorable. 

Well most of you know that I have been suffering from horrible back pain for quite a while.  I have had total numbness in my left leg for a long time plus pain in my left hip, rear-end, and thigh for a few months.  I went through Physical therapy for months, several doctors, tons of tests and it was all negative.  I started to feel like I was crazy. I went to my pain specialist for my medication refill (I go for my Fibromyalgia) and mentioned what was going on.  He happens to specialize in the spine.  A complete physical exam was done and an EMG/Nerve Conduction test was done.  He said there was evidence of moderate to severe damage and a L-Spine MRI needs to be done (the only MRI that had not been done yet).  It showed a herniated disc at L-4 and L-5 that was compressing a nerve to the left.  Also, it was discovered that I have a herniated disc at L-3 and L-4 to the right.  I had three Lumbar Transforaminal Steroid Epidural Injections a few weeks apart (one on the left and one on the right).  My last one was the 19th so I'm still pretty sore.  I will get the pictures at my next appointment.  Maybe I will share them in my next post.  Hopefully these work and the pain will be significantly less!  

I am officially the on staff Social Worker for Blessings in a Basket (BIB) Big Tough Girl Support.  BIB is a non-profit organization supporting birth mothers.  There is an "ASK APRIL" column.  I write two columns a month.  No topic is off limits.  Whatever is asked, will be answered (depending on how many I get).  There is a Big Tough Girl Support Group online that I will be checking in on.  I will join the private chat a couple times a week to answer questions, offer support, or just talk.  Birth mothers can also send me a private email for the more personal questions/conversations.  I am so thankful for this opportunity.  I love being able to not only use my social work degree but I also have a special place in my heart for birth mothers.  Check it out.  My articles post around the 1st and 15th of every month.  Here is the link:
http://btgsupport.blogspot.com/