Mother on Mother's Day!!!

Karli and I just wanted to get a little somethin somthin on the blog about our beautiful daughter Claire as there was much concern with possible scenarios due to Claire's polysystic kidney. I will keep it simple so that Karli can have the experience of sharing the details. Things ended up going a little differently than planned and Claire showed she was just as impatient/excited to come out as her parents were for her to arrive. The plan was for Karli to be induced on Monday May 10th at 1:00 a.m. to get the ball rolling. However, we ended up at the hospital late Saturday night and Claire was born at 8:15 a.m. on mother's day. She was 19 1/2 inches and weighed 7 lbs and 14 oz. It was truly one of the most remarkable and powerful experiences of our lives. Karli was amazing in labor and is doing great. Claire is a beautiful little girl, a cuddler and snuggler, that is already blessing our home and family. She actually had quite a bit of hair when she was born, which is a dark red with some blonde in it. In regards to the birth and process after it couldn't have gone any smoother. Claire was "going number 1 and 2" providing a lot of relief as this was the sign to show kidney function (whether it be one of both) is still good. So at this point there are no immediate concerns with Claire's kidney. We have already gone in for the ultrasound and will get the results by tomorrow. With that we will head up to Primary Children's in a month for further testing. All is all both Karli and Claire are going great and our beautiful little family couldn't be any happier (lack of sleep and all). We appreciate everyone's support, prayers and concern and are very grateful for our wonderful families and friends. Pics and additional information with be posted soon.

COLLEGE GRADS!!!!

Joe and I finally became college grads! Joe graduated with his B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Family Services, and I graduated with my B.S. in Elementary Education and a minor in Reading. It feels so good to be done with school! (Joe still has grad school though :-D ) We have both worked so hard and it feels great! However, there is a small sadness that comes with it. School has been such a huge part of our lives from the very beginning of our relationship. Joe and I have some great memories that have come from being students. We met at Snow College where we dated for a year and he eventually proposed at Palisades. We had lots of late nights hanging out and doing homework.We moved to Cedar after getting married to go to SUU, and we started a whole new step of our lives (being married and students). At the end of each semester we would get huge pepsi's and snacks to stay up all night with Joe while he writes a paper the night before it is due (he'd finish at 7 am the morning of). Plus, late nights in the ELC computer lab doing homework because we didn't have the internet at our house. We have many more memories but I won't bore you with them.
We are now entering the next step in our lives, finding real jobs, and most importantly, expanding our family with our baby girl. We are so grateful for the experiences we have had and the experiences to come. I am so proud of Joe for graduating. He was always working full time and going to school full time, and still found time to entertain me. Thank you to all of our family. We couldn't have made this long journey without you all. It was so fun to see all of you who could make it to Cedar to share this special day with us. It meant a lot. For those of you who couldn't come, we still felt you there with us! We love you all! P.S. No baby yet! :-(