My first official Mother's Day

So, this year was my first official mother's day.  And I just have to say that who ever decided we should have a day solely devoted to celebrating mothers should have a monument made for them... or something.
I have always loved mother's day anyways, (because I have pretty much the best mother EVER!  And I am pretty sure that my mother in-law, and sister in-laws, and grandmas, and aunts, and friends, and friends mom's are some of the most amazing women on earth!!).  It's so fun to celebrate your mom and treat her like the most amazing person in the world, because she is!  But now to be on the receiving end of mother's day celebrations, to actually get to cash in on this great day and all that goes with it... well it's like having a second birthday!  And you could say that I am a fan.

So anyways, since this was my first mother's day Justin went all out.  I'm talking, roses, a funny card, breakfast in bed, cleaning the house, watching Trace so I could sleep some more, making dinner, and tickets to a Ranger's game!  (I know, I know, I have a pretty amazing man!)  

Here are some pictures of the festivities...

Thanks for the card and flowers Trace!

Um look at Trace's face when we lit the candle... can you say future Pyro?!

Justin humored me by taking some family photos before the game.

Yu Darvish was pitching.
YUUUUUU!

My two guys!
This is one of my favorite pictures of them.

Rangers stadium is so beautiful!

The game was the following Wednesday, we played Oakland, and we won!  So you can't be upset about that!  Anyways, all in all it was a fantastic mother's day/second birthday.  Now I just have to plan for Justin's first fathers day... he has set the bar pretty high!  If you have any good ideas let me know!

Justin speaks Parseltongue...

For those who don't know Justin and his brother Jerry have a snake breeding business!
Apparently Justin grew up with pet snakes, and about a year and a half ago Justin convinced me that we should get a ball python.  Being a science teacher in training I thought it would be fun to own a pet that I could maybe take into class with me some day.  So we purchased a little ball python and named her Zeus.  (Yes, Zeus is a male name... we thought she was a male for about a year before we found out she was in fact a lady snake!  But by then it was too late to change, so poor Zeus will just have to live with her masculine birth name for forever!)
Around the same time we got Zeus Jerry bought a ball python and then he bought a couple more and decided he wanted to breed them.  At first Justin was just giving Jerry "advice" in his business.  However one day much to my surprise the discussion turned from "Jerry's snake business" to "Our snake business".  And that was the birth of JMBP's Since then their 2 snakes have turned into 15 SNAKES!

Their logo that Skyler Thiot helped them make

Here are some of the snakes!

Bengal the Ghost Het Carmel Albino Ball Python

Daisy the Albino Ball Python

Sahara the Desert Ball Python

Carmen the Carmel Albino Spider Ball Python
(Justin's Favorite!)

And here is the URL to their website: http://www.jmballpythons.com/

No worries, they are all locked in their cubbies upstairs, and no snakes have escaped since we installed the locks...  

So the first comment I get when I tell people about the snakes is "Wow you are a great wife for letting your husband do that"... and to that comment I respond "do you think I have any control over Justin and what he does?!"  haha no!  No, Justin is his own man, and in most things he takes my opinions into consideration.  But if he really wants something... he'll get it!

The next thing they ask is"what are your feelings about the snakes?"  The answer to this question is that I am indifferent.   I don't really mind the snakes, mainly because they don't take up a lot of room, and they are upstairs so I don't ever have to see them if I don't want to.  Also, I don't have to clean or feed them, Justin and Jerry do all of the dirty work.  And the business does actually have the capability to earn quite a bit of money in the upcoming years if Justin and Jerry go through with it!  But I do get some funny looks when I tell people my husband is a snake breeder... haha oh well!

So if you are ever bored check out the website!  Hopefully the first eggs will be hatching this time next year, and we'll see where this little business venture of theirs goes from there!  

July through November 2011 catch up...

I eventually want to print out these blogs to use as a sort of journal, if you will... so in order to better remember our families history I have a few things i need to write about in a little catch up blog from the second half of last year.  

JUNE

At the end of June we moved to Plano, Texas.  Surprisingly I have no pictures from this move which is unfortunate because if was a pretty memorable experience.  Especially breaking down in the middle of the desert and having to get the van fixed up in Monticello, UT... good times with the moving van!

JULY

In July we headed back West for the annual Lake Powell trip where we lived "On the Edge of Glory" for a week with my momma's side of the family

    My awesome siblings (minus karly who is hiding behind me!)

After this Justin headed back to Texas and I attended the Robison family reunion up in Island Park Idaho.
After the reunion I flew out to LA to attend Jerry and Sara's wedding in the LA temple!  It was fun for us to be able to visit our temple again as well!  The wedding was simple and beautiful and we have LOVED having Sara in the Martin family!

What a great looking couple!

My nephews Josh, Dallin, and I asleep in the van on the way home from the Temple

AUGUST

At the end of July my amazing Grandpa Robison passed away.   Justin and I were fortunate enough to be able to travel to Idaho to attend his funeral with all of my family.  It was an amazing experience to be able to celebrate his life!  We miss him so much.  But I am so grateful for the atonement and the hope that it gives that we will see him again soon and be with our family forever!

On August 20th we celebrated TWO years of marriage!  That is crazy to me!  We experienced so much in those two years and grew so much closer as a couple!  It seemed like they just flew by because we were so busy and having so much fun!  Anyways... for our celebration we spent a couple days in down town Dallas!  Here we are feeding Giraffs at the Dallas Zoo!

Here is Justin touching the hungry giraffes!

 Side Note:  Justin is probably the funniest person to go to the zoo with because at every single exhibit he attempts to mimic that animals sound in order to get the animals to come closer to him!  I tried to record him but he caught on to me pretty fast and refused to make the animal noises until I stopped... so I did because it was way more fun when he did make the animal noises.  Anyways... I hope that everyone gets the experience of attending a zoo with him at some point in their lifetime.. it's just one of those things you have to experience!

SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

In September and October we were pretty busy with work and being pregnant... that is to say I was busy with being pregnant and Justin was busy with dealing with me being pregnant.
I got a job at REI in Dallas, which for me was like working in Heaven.  And Justin got 2 jobs, one at the PGA superstore, which for him was also like working in Heaven.  And the second was doing dry cleaning delivery with Brother Bickmore in our ward.

Also I got a crazy skin rash on my legs and found out I was allergic to Neosporin which is LAME!  ... haha who is allergic to Neosporin?!  I am apparently!

Here is me with swollen ankles and my skin rash...  ridiculous!

NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER

In November we said goodbye to another grandparent.  Justin's Grandma Johnson passed away on November 2nd.  Luckily I was not too far along to fly so we were both able to make it out to Moab for her funeral.  It was amazing to be able to learn about her life and the amazing legacy she left behind. This was the first time that Justin and his siblings had all been together since before Justin's mission!  It was awesome to be able to see all 8 siblings interacting together!

The Martin Clan

The rest of the year went by so fast!  Kindra and Niel and their kids came out for Thanksgiving which I again have no pictures of (I am slacker with the camera some times I guess).  I stopped working at REI on the December 9th and then we had Trace on December 13th!

All in all 2011 was an amazing year.  But so far, because of Trace, 2012 has been even better!  

BEST. DAY. EVER!

So, the big news in our house as of late is that Justin was accepted into medical school!  We will be moving to El Paso, Texas in May and he will be starting med school at Texas Tech in July!  We were so excited, relieved, and grateful when we found out!  And life has seemed so much brighter ever since!

Here is Justin with his acceptance letter!  

Justin and Trace celebrating (notice how Justin is wearing his scrubs)!

For those who don't know, this was the end of a long journey for us and I am going delve sort of deep for a bit and write about some of my feelings from the past couple years.  The process of applying to medical school is so stressful!  I am so amazed when I look back over the past 2 and a half years that Justin was able to accomplish all that he did.  There were a couple semesters where he was balancing 16 credits at BYU, volunteering at the Provo hospital, job shadowing, doing research, working, fulfilling church callings (some of which were pretty stressful like ward financial clerk),  studying for the MCAT, taking the MCAT, playing basketball (this was his stress relief), and of course being an amazing husband to his crazy emotional wife!  Then there came the application process with its essays, deadlines, fees, and interviews which always seemed to be offered at the last minute leading to expensive plane tickets and frantic schedules.

It was pretty hard when we did not get in the first year.  We went into the process with such high hopes and then those dreams were put on hold.  I think I speak for both of us when I say we spent a lot of time asking why we had not gotten in that first year.  We did not understand, we had done everything the schools had asked, we had applied early, we had spent money for new suits for interviews, and all those plane tickets, and we had been trying to live our lives right.  I definitely had a couple "woe is me" pity party moments after which I was reminded of 2 sayings.  First, "life's tough, get a helmet", and second, a saying that my mom always says, "If this is the worst thing that happens we'll be ok!".  And so we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and with hope and faith that everything happens for a reason applied for year #2!

Now looking back I can truly say that I am so grateful we did not get in that first year.  Yes it was hard to not know where we would living, and yes it was hard not be able to make long term plans.  For a while it felt like we were living in a sort of post BYU Limbo having no idea where we would end up.  However, there were things that I needed to learn about myself and there were lessons that I needed to learn from my Father in Heaven during this time that I would not have learned otherwise.  These lessons are priceless to me and I truly think that I am a better person because of them.  Also, in moving to Plano for the year we have strengthened many friendships, and made so many new friendships that we never would have had otherwise.  There were some hard times in the past couple years, but overall there was also a lot of joy in the journey and I am so grateful we experienced all we did.  We both grew individually and as a couple.  All in all, I am just reminded that everything happens for a reason and that our Heavenly Father is always mindful of us and knows exactly what we need even when we don't!

Thank you to everyone who prayed and fasted for us, we are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family!  I am so proud of Justin and the fact that he worked so hard and achieved his goal, and we are so excited to start this new chapter in our lives!

We will enjoy beautiful sunsets like this for the next 4 years in El Paso!

Trace's Hair

So, Trace was born with a lot of hair! We get comments all the time on how much hair he has, and how it is always sticking straight up!

I love it so much, especially because it reminds me of Justin's hair! Just like his dad's hair, Trace's hair has a mind of it's own... I used to be able to control it and comb it down... but now that Trace is moving around a lot more it just gets all messed up and ends up sticking up all over the place no matter what... kind of like his dad's hair :)

Here is a funny video of Trace when he was 3 weeks old...

We love your hair Trace! Please don't pull it all out! :)

He's Getting HUGE!

So I don't know when or how it happened but suddenly Trace looks GINORMOUS to me! I'm pretty sure that he is just going through one long growth spurt since he was born. I am so excited that he is growing and that he is learning new things. But at the same time it makes me sad because i feel like it is all happening so fast! But here are some pictures to show you what life is like for Trace since he was born 7 weeks ago!

1 day old Trace

He is already getting a million picures taken of him!

2 days old

Bringing him home and of course he is fast asleep like he was for most of his first few weeks!

The poor little guy had Jaundice so he did some serious sun-bathing!

This him sitting in the sun pondering the meaning of life.

He is the most popular person in our house!

Justin and I have facetimed/skyped more since Trace was born than ever before. And it's not us people want to see, it's Trace!

Here is Trace with some of his Aunts!

He poops a TON!

This is Trace next to the poop log from the Diaper Genie!

Trace watches a lot of Basketball games with his dad.

This is Justin and Trace on Christmas Day watching the Mav's vs. Heat game.

Side Story: The first night we had Trace in the hospital Justin took him in his arms and said, "Trace, important people to know are; first, Jesus Christ, second, Lebron James!"...

haha! there were more people on the list after Lebron but I forget who they were... This shows us all where Justin's priorities lie, first to God (thank goodness), and second to Basketball.

Yes I sure hope Trace will enjoy watching/playing basketball because that is what his dad loves to do most! :)

Trace makes a lot of funny faces!

Trace get's a lot of lovin' from his mama!

(He doesn't get the whole look at the camera part of pictures yet)

Trace get's some pretty cool hair styles!

A personal favorite of ours is the fohawk

Trace has finally decided that he doesn't have to scream during his entire bath!

(He still does not look to excited... but trust me, this face is an improvement!)

Here is 6 week old Trace!

11 lbs and 24 inches tall!

Yes, Trace is a cutie, and we are loving having his funny little personality in our family!

Oh Baby Baby!

Once upon a time 6 weeks ago we had a baby! On tuesday December 13th I went in to the doctors for a simple check up. While there I was told that I was indeed going into labor and that my blood pressure was a little high. So Dr. Gebert told me to walk myself on downstairs and check myself into labor and delivery and he would be there shortly to check up on my progress! So I called Justin and told him to grab the hospital bag, then I called my mom and told her to get on the next flight to Dallas, and I waddled myself on down to labor and delivery!

So I checked into the hospital at 11:00 am. My water broke at 12:00 pm. I got an epidural at 3:00 pm. My mom made it to the hospital room by 5:30 pm, thanks to Jerry's fast driving (and of course having the Camero helped as well)! And at 6:53 pm our lives changed forever when little Trace Justin Martin came into the world at 6 lbs 7 ounces and 18 inches tall!

Justin and I at the hospital!

My dad on facetime before the delivery!

Trace came out screaming!

Our first family picture!

Justin is one proud dad!

I just love my little man!

Jerry and Sara helped us out so much! We owe them big time!

Here is a picture of Trace and his Uncle Jerry!

(a friend of ours commented that Jerry is holding Trace like a football... haha)

I was so relieved that my mom made it there in time! I'll tell you that nothing makes you appreciate your mom more than having a baby...

Trace and his Grandma Robison!

We just love "The Baby Trace"

All in all the pregnancy was fine... a little uncomfortable in the end... but fine. Delivery was a piece of cake! Seriously though, thank heavens for modern medicine and epidurals! And the first two weeks after were AWFUL! ya... people don't really prepare you for that... BUT, every time I hold Trace and look at his cute little face I just think about how it was all worth it! We love him and we are so happy to have this handsome little man in our family!