Our story (part one)

 Dustin and I sorta met when I was six years old, thats when my family moved to Provo and in our ward was the Barnes family. Meagan Barnes was in my sunday school class, I knew she had an older brother named Dustin but that's all I knew about him. Well the Barnes family moved to Saratoga Springs by the time I was 12

My sister Meredeth would hang out with a couple of people in our ward, one of them being a boy named Colin Bliss, Colin is Dustins Best friend, So even though Dustin moved we still would hear a little here and there about the Barnes family. 

In the year 2010 my sister Meredeth got married to Colin Bliss. He wanted Dustin to be his Best man at the wedding but he was still on his mission, however Dustin had a knee injury that sent him home early and he made it just in time to be his best man. Apparently Dustin thought to ask me out on a date at the wedding but then chickened out. 

While I married someone else and had two daughters and went through a difficult decision of getting divorced, Dustin was working at Deseret Book, he got promoted and moved out to Sacramento where he went through a severe depression, then he got moved back to the Riverton UT location at about the same time or just after I moved in with my parents.

2018 I was a divorced single mom thinking all men suck and I was going through therapy for emotional abuse and PTSD. I started going on 5k's with my Brother in law Colin and starting to date again while practicing looking for Red flags in others. Dustin had also tried dating many times in his single life with no luck. 

One day in the middle of the night my mom had a thought that I should go on a date with that Dustin Barnes. She asked me if I would be interested and I said sure, so she asked Colin to set it up. Meredeth and Colin invited him to one of their kids bday parties and I was going too, however He ended up not coming because he ended up having to work. I guess this happened more than once. 

Finally in December of 2018 Colin had arranged a double date for December 31st. Dustin picked me up at my parents house and we drove to the Provo Beach Resort where we and Meredeth and Colin played croquet first. Well it was an awkward date, we both new Meredeth and Colin but not each other so it was easier to talk to them then it was each other. After Croquet we went bowling, during bowling Cosmo the BYU cougar interrupted Dustin and bowled for him (very poorly too) it was silly and fun. Colin invited us both to his birthday dinner the next day (we both said was obvious he was trying to get us together again.) Then we played some arcade games and finished by splitting up and going to dinner alone. 

Dustin was taking me to Olive Garden and when he didn't turn at the right place I asked him if he was kidnapping me and then explained he wasn't driving toward any Olive Garden I knew of anymore. He just forgot where it was. Dinner was awkward and kind of quiet, but of course delicious! That evening Dustin asked me if I wanted to turn Colins birthday dinner into a real date and go do something after.

So after Colins birthday dinner Dustin took me to the Museum of ancient life at Thanksgiving point. It was nice to just be us and not have my family following us. We were able to chat and get to know each other more and we both really enjoyed this date. 

2 Months

 Grady is two months old!

He weighs 11.68 lbs and is 24.5 inches tall.

He still loves to lick everything! Grady started smiling and cooing this month and it is our favorite thing.  

He hates the hiccups and has gotten them everyday since birth (he had them a lot in utero too).

His doctor had me pump for 24 hours to see if i was making enough milk because his weight went from 89%+ to 40% and she was a little concerned. Well I make plenty of milk and he just needs to be encouraged to stay latched longer. Last night he had a 5 hour sleep stretch!!!! it was amazing! but I know it was because he only napped for 20 mins at a time during the day. 

Therapy

 Lydia broke her arm on mothers day this year, I still have flash backs from it and it makes me cringe and just feel awful!!! 

She has come very far since the surgery, however I noticed that her right hand is still not functioning at 100 percent so I mentioned it to the doctor, we were referred to an occupational therapist. Lydia has since had two appointments with the therapist. He says she is very unique because of where her numbness is located and how she can and cant move her fingers.

She is enjoying therapy so far and is working hard at improving motion in her arm. 

Here are some photos of her Journey..... 

That bump

This was my hardest pregnancy so far but I am great full to have had a healthy pregnancy. Also my sister is amazing for always taking our photos!

 

Halloween

Halloween was fun this year. 

we stopped by y parents house and got some big candy bars and then we went to Dustins parents house for trick or treating and some dinner and games. The girls had SO much fun!