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2011-03-24T17:15:00.001-07:00

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Our little baby - please keep us in your thoughts

2011-03-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

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:

Logan will be comfortable and feel no pain
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...

2011-02-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

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

2009-06-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

Bryan sunburned his head.
Carrie and Bryan got to spend a few solid days together, something that hasn't happened in way too long.
Our new kitchen is finally complete!
We got Lexis's DNA results from a ridiculously expensive test, but we now know she is part Weimaraner.
Lexis rolled in human feces and was quite proud of herself.
Carrie amazed her family with how white her skin is now that she's old and married.
Bryan discovered his board shorts don't fit anymore.
Five men caught 7 catfish, none of them more than four inches long.
We ate our first deep fried turkey.
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.
We started our mission to create the best s'more in the world. Any ideas?
Lexis got a new collar after the human poo incident.
Bryan sunburned his head again.
Carrie's 80-year-old grandpa got a 42" flat screen TV for his birthday.
Bryan and Colby floated the canal in near-freezing water and fear they are now sterile.
Carrie rediscovered her love for Aggie BlueMint ice cream.
We had so much fun with our nieces Keira and Layni.
Lexis [and everyone else] was traumatized when her paw got caught in a folding chair. She's okay.
Bryan got a pair of Chaco's, something he never thought he'd do.
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.
At Logan River Golf Course, Colby shot under par, and Dan nailed a goose with a golf ball.
We met "neutered Fender" and thought he was quite the gentleman.
Shorty found the world's worst patch of burrs and Diane cried.
Bryan learned that Colby is scared to death of snakes, poisonous or not.
Carrie introduced Bryan to white nectarines, her favorite fruit.
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!

2009-04-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Let's not be lame.

Maxamum Fine

2009-03-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

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.

Our Valentines Day

2009-02-16T10:37:00.000-08:00

We had a great Valentines day and we hope all of you did too! Carrie surprised me by making my favorite desert, a dozen little heart-shaped fruit pizzas! They are sooo amazing. Lexis wrote me an awesome Valentines day poem in which she thanked me for finding her on the internet (Heath acutally found her, but she doesn't need to know).

Carrie and I went to Callaways in Smithfield for dinner and it was okay except for my steak, though cooked perfectly, tasted burnt all the way through. Lesson learned: Callaway's makes one of the best pizzas anywhere, but McDonalds could make a better filet mignon. Good thing I had those fruit pizzas at home to get that burnt taste out of my mouth! After dinner we went home and hung out with our tired puppy. Our first Valentines day as a married couple was awesome and I look forward to many many more!

Beagle Eye

2009-01-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

Wow. This movie was super awesome and totally not lame. Wait! Sorry about that- my brain was momentarily taken over by a humongous super computer for a second there. Actually, I did not like Eagle Eye. I thought it was extra lame.

At the beginning of the movie I was really worried that the voice on the phone was an alien. There are four things in a movie that make Bryan sleepy: wizards, dragons, swords, and aliens. But I have now added a fifth thing to my list... super computers. From now on, if I sniff super computer gone wild in a movie, I'll save my eight bucks.

The sequel, Beagle Eye, is the story of "Short Stuff," a runt stray beagle pup which is lured into a super computer's lair with computer-generated meow's. The super computer replaces Short Stuff's left eye with a camera and surgically implants a video transmitter in his skull. This allows the super computer to infiltrate the old county dog pound, which is the only building in the world which does not yet have surveillance cameras installed inside which can be viewed and controlled by the super computer. Once the pup is inside, the super computer will have control of the whole world. I'm looking forward to it.

Grandma Loves Lexis

2009-01-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

Bryan's mom and dad came to visit us this weekend. Sheri couldn't resist buying her granddog a winter coat. What would dogs do without grandmas? Who would buy their winter clothes?? Here's a picture of Lexis showing off her new pink coat, so cozy and comfortable that she's falling asleep sitting up.

And oh, yeah I found a great job! I'm working for Spring Communications. You know... "Get your ring from Spring?" Anyways, they're an AT&T retailer and I'll be managing their Logan store. I started last Monday and it's been a lot of fun so far. If you've got AT&T and need anything, come see me. Jer, I have a sneaking suspicion you're using a 4-year-old Nokia "cinder block" and could use a new phone. You should see these new phones... they have color screens.

Thanks to all of you who were looking out for me and trying to get me interviews! It's all about who you know and I've got some good friends.

The X[mas]-Files

2008-12-28T10:33:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen such a gravity-defying and logic-less Christmas icicle? Don't say yes and make a liar out of yourself. I spotted this on the bumper of Carrie's car last week. A Christmas anomaly, most likely crafted and placed here by an intelligently superior non-human. You saw it here first.

Winter and Logan Main Street

2008-12-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

We got four or five inches of snow between six and ten o'clock this morning. I'm so excited to see snow. Main Street and 200 North are nightmares, as those who know Logan can imagine, due to the Christmas shopping and icy conditions. It's funny how just about every single store in Logan is on the same street. The population continues to grow and Main Street gets worse and worse. I can't imagine what it's going to be like in ten years when we've got 50 percent more people, one main street, 6 Wal-Marts, no Targets, and 50 percent more wierdo's running up and down 1400 North pushing shopping carts full of rocks or hurling themselves through intersections backwards in wheel chairs at the wrong times. Logan's a funny little place.

Dream Big

2008-12-09T14:24:00.000-08:00

My wife and I both had dreams the other night. The dreams were very different and exemplify a difference between Bryan and Carrie. I have been looking for a good job. Jobs are hard to come by these days and the search has been pretty discouraging at times. Poor Carrie worries a lot about it. She worries not so much because we need the money, but because she's worried what the rejection is doing to me. She gets nervous for me before interviews, and sometimes can't sleep because of it. She's very protective of me and I love her for it. But anyways, here's the story...

Carrie woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me she'd just had a really bad dream that I totally bombed an interview with a company I'd been interviewing with. When she woke me up, I was just finishing up a dream of my own.

In my dream, I was drawing a Big Mac with crayons on a blank sheet of paper, and I was very impressed with the detail I was able to get in the small pieces of lettuce. Underneath the hamburger I wrote in crayon:

Hi my name is Willey and I draw dragons and sometimes hamburgers.

Realizing the irony of how she was so stressed about my job interview, and how I was having the dream of a special-needs 5-year old, I started laughing so hard that I couldn't even tell her what my dream was about. It scared her because she couldn't tell if I was awake-laughing or asleep-laughing. When I was finally able to tell her about my McDream, she said in half-disgust "Oh my gosh," rolled over, and slept like a baby. I chuckled myself to sleep. I don't think she's worried quite so much about Ol' Bry ever since.

This One's for You, Poppa Wilkins

2008-11-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

Jeremy reminded me how I'm a slacker blogger today and I was inspired to make a new post. Man, does the economy suck right now! I've been looking for jobs... fuggetaboutit. It's ridiculous how many resumes I've sent out. I had an interview last week that went really well and I'm hoping I get the job.

Is there anyone else who feels like job hunting on the internet is a total waste of time? I have replied to dozens of jobs online and I cannot get a call or email from anyone, even after sending follow-up emails or making follow-up calls! It's frustrating to spend 45 minutes filling out an application, tailoring a resume to the job, and writing a cover letter, only to never, ever hear back from someone. I'd kill for a "We're sorry, we're looking for someone with more relevant experience" or "We think you suck" email. At least that way I'd know I could forget about that job. Even for gigantic companies, how hard would it be to automate an email to all of the applicants once the position was filled or when the screener gave the application the thumbs-down? Um, not hard.

So Natalie Crowley, maybe you can tell me... WTF?! I totally understand Michael Scott's issues with Toby. Toby is one of them. Did you know that one of them ended an interview with me when I told them that I was not a student body officer in high school? If I am ever their boss, I will fire them. But I'm not bitter. Friggin jerks.

Husband and Wife

2008-10-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Shame on me for not writing until now. Carrie and I have been married for two and a half months! We are loving being married.

We were married in the Salt Lake temple on August 9th in the early afternoon. It was great to have so many friend and family members there to support us. After taking pictures outside the temple, we had a little wedding dinner for close friends and family at Gardner Village. It was beautiful. Carrie’s mom Debra and her friends did the decorating. We have gotten numerous compliments on how beautiful the dinner was and we couldn’t agree more - it was gorgeous. The food wasn’t bad either. A week before the wedding we had an open house at Bryan’s parents’ home in Sandy. Bryan’s mom did a great job making that beautiful as well and it was great to see lifelong friends and ward members there.

After the dinner we stayed at the Grand America and it was beautiful. The next morning we flew to San Francisco for a couple days and had a great time there. We took a bike ride to the Golden Gate bridge, took a boat tour around Alcatraz, had some great seafood, and just had fun being together without any distractions.

Now we’re living in Bryan’s house in Logan with our puppy Lexis. Carrie’s in her busy travel season at work and Bryan’s going to school and looking for a good job. We hope to see or hear from you all soon!

US FYI

2008-09-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and girls! Thanks for visiting our blog! We will try to keep it updated so you can keep track of what’s going on in our lives.

In case you don’t know our “story,” we met at the end of March in 2007. To make a short story shorter, our roommates set us up. After only a month and a half of dating each other, Bryan left for the Summer to work in Chicago. Carrie made a trip to Chicago for a few days and Bryan spent the fourth of July in Salt Lake. We talked a lot on the phone and got to know each other that way.

Bryan moved back to Logan at the end of the Summer and we have been inseparable ever since. We were married on August 9th of 2008 in Salt Lake City and now we are living in Bryan’s old house in Logan. Carrie is pregnant with sextuplets... just kidding... no babies anytime soon. We love being married!

Our Friends are Getting Married

2008-05-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Roger and Hillary are getting married here in Logan. Carrie and I want to pay a little tribute to the two of them and wish them the best.

In March of last year Rog and Hill and I tricked Carrie into meeting me. We went to see a movie together. Carrie thought I was a total loser because I brought homemade trail mix to the movie and offered to share with everyone but her. Loser or not, I tricked her again... this time into marrying me! We’re excited to get married and we have Roger and Hillary to thank. Thanks guys and good luck!

Our Orlando Vacation - We're Engaged!

2008-04-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

I returned yesterday from an amazing trip to Florida with Carrie. She had a conference to attend in Orlando for work and invited me to tag along.

We flew out of snowy Salt Lake on Monday morning and five hours later landed in luscious green and sunny Orlando. We went to Disney World one day, played in the ocean at Cocoa Beach the next day, and went to Universal Studios the next. One night while Carrie was at a meeting I even got to go to Buffalo Wild Wings with her bosses’ son and his friend. But that’s not all! Thursday night I talked Carrie into making the 60-mile drive back to Cocoa Beach with me so we could take a nighttime walk together on the beach. And on the beach that night I asked her to marry me. She said, “yes!” So we had ourselves a fantastic little vacation and are looking forward to lots more!

Meet Lexis

2008-03-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

Two of my roommates and I have been wanting a puppy for years. About a month ago we finally got one. She is adorable... most days, and Carrie and I love her to death. She’s an awesome snuggler.

However, she does have her naughty days. This morning in the backyard, she dug up a thawing hair-riddled poop of some other animal and tried to bring it inside. I almost threw up when I had to pull it out of her mouth.

For the most part though, she’s just a big cuddly bundle of fun... and she eats poop.