http%3A%2F%2Fkleiderboerse%2Dpeiting%2Ede%2Fimages%2Famw%2Ephp

Our little baby - please keep us in your thoughts

Hi friends.

Most of you know that we are having a baby girl soon, but do not know the details. Carrie will be induced on Wednesday the 16th of March. It's only days away! We have been lucky enough (thanks, Mom) to see her many times in 3D ultrasounds. She is beautiful. Carrie says she's got my lips and we can only hope that she's also got my thighs :-)

We found out four months ago at our 20-week ultrasound that our special baby girl, Logan, has a lethal heart defect. It has gotten worse with time. Logan's time with us will be very short. Doctors expect that she will be born alive, but do not know whether her little heart will keep her alive for minutes, days, or weeks. We have two wishes for Logan and Carrie and me:

1. Logan will be comfortable and feel no pain
2. We hope to be able to hold her alive

The past four months have been very difficult. We have found peace in our testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ as we know it. We know that we knew our sweet little girl before this life, and that she is a very special and courageous spirit. She has proven herself to her Heavenly Father already, and does not need the trials and pain that come with earth life. All she needed to complete her Father's plan for her is a physical body, which Carrie and I are honored to participate in providing for her. We are so very proud to welcome this heroic spirit into our family. We know that through the sacrifice of her older brother and our Savior, we can live with Logan for eternity if we do our part. She will be our guiding star.

We have largely kept this situation to ourselves. It has been a difficult thing to talk about. I know you'll understand why we've been so private about it. We are blessed to have incredible family and friends. You all want to know what you can do to help. Please just keep us in your thoughts and prayers. If you would like, please join me in a 24-hour fast on Saturday and Sunday for the two wishes I've bulleted above. I have seen the Lord grant incredible miracles when I've sacrificed and fasted, and we really need his help right now.

We can hardly wait to meet our little Angel in a few days. Thanks for your love and support. I will try and update this blog with new information and pictures when we have them.

Bryan & Carrie

Our sweet baby...

In honor of Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week we decided that the time has come to update our blog. We wanted to give everyone information on our little baby that will be here before we know it. For those who don’t know, at our 20 week ultrasound we found out that our baby girl has a Congenital Heart Defect. After a lot of testing she has been diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, an unbalanced Atrioventricular Septal Defect and a leaky mitral valve. Given the complexity of her diagnosis and little heart she has not been given a good prognosis.

We have decided to name her Logan. This name is just perfect for her. First, a “logan” is something that is not solid; or has a space or gap or cavity. Given that her little heart is not complete and has a hole in it I felt like this was a beautiful way to pay tribute to her and her sweet little heart. Next, Bryan and I met in the town “Logan” and have many wonderful memories there. We lived in our first home there, we found out we were pregnant there; the list goes on and on. We just love the name Logan for her.

Over the past few months we have been coming to terms with the idea that Logan's time with us will be short. We are cherishing each "belly" moment with her now and can't wait to meet her and are hopeful that we will get a little bit of time with her before she returns to Heaven. I feel bad that at the first half of my pregnancy I felt burdened, I hated the sleeplessness, the sickness, the nosebleeds, etc. Now, I love being pregnant. I love how active Logan is. She is moving all the time. This is probably partially due to the Dr. Pepper and yummy snacks she gets every day. I could just watch my belly for hours. I wake up in the middle of the night and shine a light on my belly and just watch her move around. There is no doubt that Bryan and I want her very much and are cherishing her as our baby already. Being pregnant with her is amazing and I feel heartache for those I know that have not been able to experience it. I can’t imagine the despair that they have had. So, although being a “mother” is something that I may have to wait for I am so happy that God has given me the gift of carrying this little baby.

We are thankful for all of the support that our families and friends have given us. This is the most humbling experience in the world and without all the prayers and support it would be unbearable. Bryan and I have been pretty private about our circumstances, I think we just don’t know what to say to people and know that people probably don’t know what to say to us. I have moments where I am so sad that I don’t know if I can get through this. I read something the other day that said “The Lord will shape the back to bear the burden placed upon it.” I keep thinking about this over and over and have to believe that this is true. My whole life I have had this concept of “faith” but never until now have fully understood what faith is. I imagine that my concept of faith will be a very present part of my life and will be ever changing. Today, I am trying to have faith that I can get through this.

Things That Happened This Weekend

1. Bryan sunburned his head.
2. Carrie and Bryan got to spend a few solid days together, something that hasn't happened in way too long.
3. Our new kitchen is finally complete!
   
4. We got Lexis's DNA results from a ridiculously expensive test, but we now know she is part Weimaraner.
5. Lexis rolled in human feces and was quite proud of herself.
6. Carrie amazed her family with how white her skin is now that she's old and married.
7. Bryan discovered his board shorts don't fit anymore.
8. Five men caught 7 catfish, none of them more than four inches long.
9. We ate our first deep fried turkey.
10. Bryan scaled a steep hill to pee, and almost killed himself and crippled Dan [with a tumbling rock] as he barefoot skiied down the hill, landing on his butt at the bottom.
11. We started our mission to create the best s'more in the world. Any ideas?
12. Lexis got a new collar after the human poo incident.
13. Bryan sunburned his head again.
14. Carrie's 80-year-old grandpa got a 42" flat screen TV for his birthday.
15. Bryan and Colby floated the canal in near-freezing water and fear they are now sterile.
16. Carrie rediscovered her love for Aggie BlueMint ice cream.
17. We had so much fun with our nieces Keira and Layni.
18. Lexis [and everyone else] was traumatized when her paw got caught in a folding chair. She's okay.
    
19. Bryan got a pair of Chaco's, something he never thought he'd do.
20. We were amazed again by the amazing food that Deb, Grandma, Grandpa, Lisa, and Diane can make on a picnic table and a camp stove. Incredible.
    
21. At Logan River Golf Course, Colby shot under par, and Dan nailed a goose with a golf ball.
22. We met "neutered Fender" and thought he was quite the gentleman.
23. Shorty found the world's worst patch of burrs and Diane cried.
24. Bryan learned that Colby is scared to death of snakes, poisonous or not.
25. Carrie introduced Bryan to white nectarines, her favorite fruit.
    
26. Bryan and Carrie are in love and had a fantastic fun weekend together!
    

Don't Even Act Like that Cinnamon Toast Crunch Wasn't in the Bargain Cart!

I went to the grocery store this morning to get some milk, and on my way to the dairy refrigerators, I passed a "bargain grocery cart" full of Fruit Loops, Cocao Puffs, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch for a buck fifty a box. I love me some CTC, so I dropped a box of it in my basket and proceeded to the self-checkout. "Two dollars, seventy-five cents," the female computer announced as I scanned the barcode on the cereal box. And I thought to myself, "Nuh-Uh. I will not pay full price, no matter how delicious." I notified the self-checkout attendant of the pricing error and she sent a stockboy to verify that the CTC was indeed from the bargain cart. He returned to let me, the attendant, and the others in line, know that CTC was NOT from the bargain cart, but that he'd allow the discount this once, becuase it had been on sale earlier in the week. Ohhhh.... busted, Bryan!

Why I was irritated enough to take my groceries to my car and then walk all the way back to the bargain cart at the back of the store is a little embarassing to me, but I did. And guess what I found? Three boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in the dollar-fifty bargain cart! What I did next is even more embarassing. I found that stockboy who thought he'd caught me red-handed in an elaborate ploy to make off with a three dollar box of cereal for half-price, and I notified him of his folly. Boom! So what did I learn today? 1) There is something seriously wrong with me. 2) I hate being called a liar. 3) I am too sensitive (he probably wasn't calling me a liar). 4) I am now the type of person that will wait five minutes for a price-check to save a dollar... yikes. 5) I am always right. 6) I should let Carrie do the shopping from now on. 7) Work is boring today.

Let's Be Kind to Salesmen

Let's not be lame.

Maxamum Fine

Chances are you've heard this story already. But just in case you haven't...

A few weeks ago, I and 3 classmates had just finished our evening class at the Weber State campus. We all live in Cache Valley and carpool to class. Chris drove that night, and just as we were about to pile into his car, we all heard a crunching metal-on-metal noise and looked up to see a big pickup truck backing out of a parking space. He had picked probably the only spot in the whole parking lot where he would have to pull up on top of a mound of snow because the plow hadn't pushed the snow quite far enough. Did he pick this bad parking spot so that he could do the the awesome big-truck parking thing that we've all seen done so many times, or was it the only spot left? Of course I don't know, but I would guess (A) because this kid was a total weenie. Anyways, as we watched him back out of the space, we noticed the little car in the space next to his shake a little. The driver, while backing down off of the mound of snow he was on top of, backed right down on top of the front of the poor little car next to him! Hence the crunching noise we all heard. The truck came to a stop and a kid climbed down out of the truck to check the damage to the other car. After examining the wreckage, he walked his basketball-shorts-wearing chicken legs back to the drivers' side of his truck and stood there, apparently writing a note to leave for the owner of the car he had just run over. After a few minutes, we drove out of the parking lot, but over the snow-plowed mounds surrounding the parking lot, we saw the top of the truck as it quickly backed out of the space and sped out of the parking lot up the road, the opposite direction that we had gone. We went back the the injured car and guess what... no note! Luckily, we had made note of the truck's license plate number, "MAXAMUS." Fitting. What a loser! I was amazed that somehow he was able to convince himself that it was okay for him to leave the scene and take no responsibility for what he had done. I guess maybe he figured that the white paint flakes lying on the pavement were from when someone else ran over the car? And that the white paint on his silver truck was from some other car? I dunno. Anyways, we called the campus police and filled out witness statements. I'm sure MAXAMUS received a surprise visit from the police and a hefty fine the next day. I've heard that the fine for a hit-and-run is steep, like three or four hundred bucks. Also, I'm sure his insurance premium will increase. It is unfortunate that people can be so selfish, but nice to know that sometimes they don't get away with it.