Merry Christmas!

This year for Christmas my parents got Josh and I a new camera (well lets be honest, it was more of a present I wanted) But I just wanted to share the pictures that I've taken with it.  My phone would always be full of pictures, but I would never do anything with them. I am excited to have a camera and hope to actually use it to print out pictures.

Oh and Totally crazy, We got snow and its been here for 2 days! Everyone says this is the worse snow storm in 5 years. I didn't expect us to get snow this year, but I am glad that I was able to introduce Kaia to snow and she was really sad when I had to bring her in. 

2015

Maybe this year I'll do better.....
Its a new year and everywhere you look via social media people are posting their new years resolutions, I was trying to think a few weeks ago what would be some things I could work on.

On the 30th we ended up taking Kaia into the ER here in town, for what I thought would just be IV fluids. Turns out she was sicker than I had assumed. I had been fighting the feeling all day, but after trying to get her to take a drink and to eat a cookie and she would just push me away I knew that she needed to get re-hydrated. Once we got her in there they informed us how high her fever really was. 104. At home I was only getting around 101 and 102. The ER doctor called the on call pediatricion and it was decided that she should stay the night to receive IV fluids and to see if we could rule out an infection where her fever was so high. Between the poking of needles and the attempts of putting a catheter in her, we had Josh and the x-ray tech give her a blessing. She calmed down immediately. As I held my baby in my arms that night I knew that I didn't need to be better at sewing or keeping my house clean. I didn't need to beat myself up for not having the most perfect decorations or furniture or all the worldly things that we often find ourselves wanting. I  knew that I needed to be a better mom for Kaia. I needed to put down my phone and to play babies with her. I needed to let her feed me her fake food and help her have tea parties. I needed to read all 30 of her books at night because that's what she wanted from me. She doesn't want perfectly sewn skirts or aprons, she doesn't want the house to be perfectly clean. She doesn't care that she sleeps on a mattress on the floor or anything else. All she cares about is that she has my full attention. This year I am going to try and not beat myself up for not having the things the worldly things I find myself wanting. This year I am going to make sure my daughter knows that I love her. I am going to make sure my husband knows I love him. He works so hard so that I can finally be the stay at home mom I wanted to be before Kaia was born.

Happy New Year 2015, We are ready for all the happiness you are going to bring!!

Tap Tap Tap....is this thing on?

Lets try this one more time! A quick update on our family!

Josh: In January 2014, he joined the Utah National Guard! He ended up leaving for Basic and AIT for 20 weeks in March! Upon returning he found a job in Page, Arizona at the Glen Canyon Dam and that's why we are in Page! He is busy working night shifts and is typically gone from 6pm to 6am and then sleeps till the afternoon. So the time we get to see him and spend time with him is very limited, but we just appreciate him and all his hard work that he does for our family! He goes to Drill once a month up to West Jordan .and is typically gone from Friday till Sunday.

Hillary: Upon Josh leaving for Basic and AIT I was able to stay home with Kaia. We moved in with my parents, since there was no reason for us to be in Bountiful by ourselves for that long of time! Since moving to Page, I am still a stay at home and so enjoy it! I love knowing that I am the one staying with Kaia and teaching her all the things she needs to know. I know that its not something every mom is able to do but I feel so blessed that we are in a position that I can stay home. I have a sweet little girl that I also watch typically 3-4 days of the week. She is 2 1/2 and is a good thing for Kaia. Teaches them both to share and to play well with other children.

Kaia; The biggest change over the last year or so is of course Kaia. She is now 18 months (tomorrow) and is officially old enough for nursery. Granted we have already taken her in a couple times and she does awesome. Between classes we usually check up on her and she will see us and pay no attention and will continue playing with all the toys. She knows a lot of her animals sounds and knows all the simple body parts! She likes to count to 3. She LOVES her babies. We can't leave the house anymore without a baby in tow. She loves puppies and kitties. She loves when we take her to Walmart and she can look at all the fishies! She enjoys watching Tangled and Frozen and will even sing "Let It Go: She loves her cousin "Jax" (we are lucky to have a Jax on both sides, my brother's little boy who is about 2 months older than Kaia, and Josh's sister's boy who is almost 4 and lives in Page too. She   loves to play at the park and swing in the swings and is even brave enough to go down the big slides. Josh and I joke that she is no longer our baby and is a "Naughty" little toddler- and she has the attitude to match!

Well there is a quick update on us! We are so grateful for all that we have been blessed with.  I will "attempt" to do better but I'm not promising anything. Guess I'll do another update in a year!?

                                This was before Josh left. I love little Kaia's smile. I feel like she had no

                       idea her daddy was going to be leaving for 5 months. She was and still is such a

                     Daddy's Girl.

 While Josh was gone to basic the only way we could communicate was through letter. Twice during the 10 weeks we were able to talk on the phone and we took advantage of that and Facetimed. The last time it was Kaia's 1st Birthday. I think before we left to go out to see Josh, we were all a little worried that Kaia wouldn't know who her daddy was. But I was able to snap this picture. She remembered who he was. What a sweet moment this was for us!

This was taken the day after Josh got home from AIT. Kaia was in such a happy good mood.

 We loaded everything up in a Uhaul and pulled our car all the way down to Page. Kaia was such a good sport! It may have helped that she was able to see what was going on outside!

 

The first little while we were here we took advantage of Josh not working yet and the warm weather and went to the Lake a couple times. Kaia enjoyed it so much the first time, but after that she just kind of seemed done with the water. But we do have all summer next year to remind her that its fun to play in!

 

 

 

 

I had a feeling this would happen. I would start a blog, write a post or two (ha, didn't even make it that far) life would get busy and then 6 months down the road I would post again--but look 2 posts in 1 month. But I'm trying to be good about this.

Kaia is only 16 weeks old.... she'll be 4 months old on the 3rd and even though it hasn't been that long, time has seemed to fly right by. There are things that I know I have already forgotten and that makes me extremely sad. She is such a happy baby all the time. She can out-fart both Josh and I and you can definitely tell when she is messing her pants. She is a high maintenance baby and does not like to have a dirty diaper and will scream until that thing is off.  She does a cute little thing with her lips, where she will smack her lips.  She is getting the hang of rolling over and even though I am so proud of her ... I hate it. That means she is growing up. I struggle Monday-Friday with having to go to work. I often feel like I am nothing more than a "milk cow". I miss out on 40+ hours of her life in a week! I'm afraid that I will miss out on important milestones of her life. Like crawling or saying her first word or taking her first step. I know that Josh is doing an amazing job taking care of Kaia, but I wish there was more I could do. I wish I could be there more for her. I just want her to know who her Mommy is. I know that I should count myself lucky that its josh taking care of her and not some stranger, but it is still hard. I just have to remind myself of the promises from my Heavenly Father, That I WILL be able to raise my children and that I will be able to stay home with them in the most important time of their lives... and that is what keeps me going. This is just one of my personal trials that I have to deal with.  While I'm sitting her writing this my beautiful daughter is laying in my arms sound asleep and that is what helps me get through this.

Life doesn't slow down...and I've learned that ever since having Kaia. I look back on my life, I've been married to my best friend for 2 years and I have an almost 4 month daughter! I want to enjoy every moment I have with my 2 favorite people! Fall is coming and that means BIG changes for our little family. I can't share the news just yet...but will once its official!

Journal Writing

Josh and I have been teaching Sunday school for the 12-13 year old and today we had a lesson about how important journals were.This was one of the talks that was in the lesson plan (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/o-remember-remember?lang=eng) and it got me thinking that I needed to be better about writing down things that happen in our little family, especially now that we have Kaia. Yesterday she turned 3 months old and I haven't written anything down about her or the blessing she is in our lives. I know most blogs are for families and friends to keep in touch, which is great, but most importantly I want to blog to have a record of the things that happen in our family.

Josh and I were married on August 6, 2011. We dated the end of our senior year and were together for about a year. Things happened and I honestly didn't think I would ever be with Josh again. Josh left on a mission and served a faithful 2 year mission in Rio De Janeiro Brazil. I went to school to become a medical assistant and I worked in Bountiful and Logan Utah. I dated but never found anyone that I thought I would spend the rest of my life with. Josh came home the end of May 2011, I went down to see him along with my friend Ali. The second day he was home we decided that we still had feelings for each other and made the decision that we wanted to get married. It was hard to explain to family and friends that I was in fact going to marry the person who had broken my heart 2 years prior. We were engaged on Saturday June 11 2011 and were married 8 weeks later. During our engagement I found a quote and think of it often when I think of our relationship, " Choose your love; love your choice".

We live in Monticello, Utah and even though its been hard to live so far from my family, we've been blessed with always having a place to live and jobs! This November we plan on moving up North, we are sad to be leaving Monticello but also super excited to start a new chapter in our life. Its amazing to see how things will fall into place if you live your life the way your suppose to. When Josh and I first planned on getting married we were worried as to where I should work and where to live. We made the decision to build a small cabin. and Josh worked very diligent those few months of our engagement to finish it so we would have a place to live. We also fasted and prayed that I would find a job and the next day I was offered a job at the local dentist office. We made the decision when we were first married that we would always pay an honest tithing and we have never had to worry about money of course we are not rich by any means but we always have money for the things we need and the things we want.

In May, Josh graduated from USU Eastern with an Associates in Science of General Studies. On the side he has been flying helicopters. He has only a few more hours till he gets his Private License. In June he took his written Private Pilots test and only missed 1 question! He really enjoys flying and wishes to make a career out of it.

I just continue to work as a Medical Assistant. Its been hard to go back to work but I am so blessed with the job I have and enjoy working with the people I do. I know that some day I will be able to stay home with my babies!

Kaia Rae Murdock was born May 3, 2013 at 7:02 PM. She was 4 days early and came just at the right time so my mom could come and spend a week with us! Its crazy how when you are pregnant those 9 months seem to drag on FOREVER and once you have that baby time flies! She has recently started to giggle and always has the biggest smiles in the morning. Josh has taken on the HUGE roll of staying home with her so I could go back to work. Not only does Josh watch Kaia while I am gone to work but he also works from home running his dad's business. He's super busy but he doesn't complain too much! It's been hard going back to work, especially when for the first 6 weeks of Kaia's life I was with her 24/7 but its such a blessing that Josh is able to take care of her. We also have family around who are always willing to help out and watch her if we need them too!

This blog will most likely be about Kaia because lets be honest, she's cuter and a lot more fun to talk about!