It's been A while

It really has been a while since I have posted anything I will update you on a few things and say 
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We are a family of 6 right now living in Saratoga Springs, Utah. We are feeling very blessed, especially this time of year. We got to focus much of our season on giving to others and preparing to be able to give and serve more in the next year. I love this time of year. I love that so many people who don't feel the spirit as often as other get to feel it. They recognize it as the Spirit of Christmas but I believe that it is the Holy Ghost they feel. The Spirit of Christ. His love. The love of our father in Heaven. It is amazing how easily it is found this time of year.  I know it is due to the service and love that people give to others so willingly. 

As we end this year we are excited to announce that we are expecting baby number 5! We had a longer road conceiving than with the others, not that we have had near the heart break of MANY MANY other but we our own testimony building experience. It was a sweet tender mercy the day we found out we would be blessed with number 5! We are due in July. 

All the kids are doing great. Loving their new schools and enjoying our wonderful neighborhood. 

I wanted to share about the neat weekend we had... 
This is the first year that the Ward Family decided to have a family celebration outside of just whom ever could make it for the holiday. Anyway.. We were all together, it doesn't happen often it has happened more recently but it still is a sweet time we get to spend together. We also got to celebrate the blessing of two of my nieces. Also... now that Josh's mom lives in Idaho we got to spend time with her and it has been so fun seeing her more often and the kids getting to have a relationship with her. 

I also had a very great experience. This is what I really wanted to write about. I don't know why but I really feel the need to document it. A year ago my best friend from my childhood passes away, leaving his sweet wife who was pregnant and their three other children. It was sudden and it was truly heart breaking. When it happened I gathered memories from all our childhood friends. I took all the memories and made a book of them. I have had the book about done since Christmas last year. I just needed a picture for the front. For some reason I just could not get it done. My heart ached and I cried hysterically every time I worked on it. Until October this year after talking with my mom I decided no matter how many tears it took me I was going to finish Greg' book. I finally figured out something for the front and had it printed. It arrived mid November and I knew it would be Christmas time by the time I could get it to Pam and Terry. I was dreading it, stressing out about seeing them, not sure I could keep it together.. but this was not about me. I really didn't want to bring more pain and sadness into their lives... not at Christmas. Well I did it and it was perfect. I made my mom go with me. We went over to their house last night. We were met with smiles and hugs as always. I gave Pam the book and warned her there were some serious tear jerkers as well as some of the greatest memories of my our childhood. We had a great visit. BUT the best part.... Greg and Julies kids were visiting Pam and Terry. I got to spend time with them giggling and talking about their dad who they look JUST like! Sweet Dillon his 2nd child came right up and climbed in my lap. He looked me in the eyes and said " My dad is with Jesus". I told him I knew and what a special friend his dad was, I told him I had made a book of stories about his dad, he asked me to read it, we snuggled and read stories of his dad for a few minutes before we had to get back to a game of chase. It was so special to me to see their dad's spirit again in them. I even got asked to have a sleepover :). Anyway... this was just what I needed to see the smile see that they are being watched over so carefully... all things I knew but it was just so good to see. 

I am just feeling so blessed right now and am so grateful for all that I have and for the love of my Father in Heaven. Have a very Merry Christmas from the Martin's!!! 

DoTERRA

 We are in LOVE. Yes we have only been using them less then a week but we are seeing changes already. That is what I like instant results! I know the longer term ones will be even more motivating.
What is DoTerra you ask? Its essential oils. These are natural healing. Now If you know much about me we are lovers of modern medicine as well! Of course it was modern medicine that saved our sweet Morgyn 3.5 years ago. I am a believer that it certainly has its place. I have also seen modern medicines destroy lives through addiction and chemicals and that is where I see such a need for holistic and natural medicines such as DoTerra. If you want to know more about Essential oils check out my site mydoterra.com/karajmartin or email me or comment here with your email and I will get back to you.

 Our first win was with constipation. No one likes a grumpy baby and constipation makes for a GRUMPY baby. Since Ace was an infant we have had trouble getting him to poop, we had to use suppositories even when he was nursing. After he started on the bottle and formula we had to put miralax in EVERY bottle and still we often had rock hard poops. So then we would have to put extra in. So while we were on Family vacation we were introduced to the whole line of DoTerra Oils. I had heard of them before but had never been taught about all that they could do. Ace had been really grumpy because of constipation for a couple days when Digestzen was suggested to us. We used it 1 time-- 3-4 drops on his tummy and my boy pooped 6 times in 24 hours!!!! Unheard of for this kid! This was amazing for us!  And so our DoTerra Journey begins! We are really excited and hope to have more wonderful success stories to share throughout the years!

February ALREADY?!

Holy smokes wasn't it just October!!! How does this happen! Time of course is flying by and I have not stopped long enough to document and capture the joys of our life! One more thing I have failed at... Oh well we sure have been enjoying our time. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Birthdays, Anniversary, Christmas and the New Year has taken us by storm! We have found ourselves super busy with Work, callings, School, basketball, play groups and just enjoying each other.
I just can't believe it is February already! I know this happens to me every year but Feb hits me personally like a brick wall. I rather enjoy it because the special memories of this month force me to slow down and really really enjoy my kids and express our gratitude for their health and safety.
This last year has been a great one for our Little lady, We sincerely miss her Cardiologist in Arizona, we had  been released for a year from him and when we moved to Utah and found a new one, after he checked her out released us for 2 YEARS! exciting and scary all at the same time... For those that don't remember or have  never heard Morgyn's story you can read it here and here.
So I got emotional a little earlier this year than usual, the thought of missing our annual heart walk around Tempe town beach is really hard for me. I love the time we have spent remembering how blessed we are to have our little angel and walking in honor and with families who have had more of a struggle than we have. I will certainly miss that. We will still honor Go Red Day on Friday Feb 3, many of our friends near and far have committed to join us in supporting the American Heart Association in Morgyns honor.
Join us on Friday and GO RED FOR MORGYN!

Canyon Drive

One of J's Co-workers was kind enough to show us around a bit, they took us for a drive up the canyon and WOW it was beautiful! It was a great way to spend Sunday afternoon! Basking in the beauty of the earth. we LOVED it! Thank you to Matt and his family for being our home town tour guides!

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BYU vs Utah State Game

We Were Gifted some tickets to the BYU game Last Friday and we jumped at the chance for a new fun night out. We had NO idea what a to do the BYU games are~ Next time we will leave even earlier! Anyway we had a great time and had perfect seats to see all the really great plays of the game. Josh enjoyed getting to see the game and I discovered that I actually like football! We took Ace with us and he enjoyed all the people watching and everyone thinking he was so cute. He got lots of attention. 

Hanging out With Dad watching the game.

Saying Hi to Mom, I think I just missed the smile.

Family Dinner

One of the pure joys of moving to Utah is being close to some seriously wonderful family. Today we got to have dinner at Jeff and Becki's home where we got to enjoy the wonderful talents of Grandpa Hone and Kenny Favero! I got a couple of videos of grandpa. He probably would die if he knew I was planning on posting them so I will work on that! Lotsa love! Happy Sunday everyone!

Disappearing Act

So did you think we disappeared after our sweet baby boy was born???? Well we kind of did! We had a challenging and wonderful summer that allowed us to move to UTAH! So for those that didn't know we MOVED! It was fast and rather unexpected! We are settling in and I am going to go back and update all the fun things that I missed out on posting! My goodness our little Ace is already 4 months old so I will certainly post more pictures of him and whatever else I have pictures of! Send me a message if we missed letting you in on the news of why and where we moved!
Much love !

Hone Family Reunion 2011

Josh Had a couple of Job interviews in Utah the First part of July so we decided to make the trip as a family, We got to attend the Hone Family Reunion at Cub River Ranch. It was wonderful to get to spend time with Kal, Miki and their family, as well as others from the Fabulous Hone Family, Jeff and Becki were gracious enough to let us stay with them for a few days as well. Here are the few pictures I took while we went to Preston to visit Grandma Hone's grave site.                                 

Ace Blessing

Some how once again I failed for the most part on the picture side of this! We had many friends and family come join us for this special occasion, Grandpa Hone made the trip as well as good friends Jared and Kim Scholz and all of my family in the area made it( R.Jay, Valerie). It was a super special day and I am so grateful for those that came. Ace Kalvan was blessed by his Father on June 6th in the Maricopa 2nd Ward. 

Colin Turns 4!

Oh Colin's Birthday was a bit of a disaster! We went to the movie with friends and family because that is what he wanted to do but getting there was a adventure, on the way we had a tire blow out so we had to sit on the side of the road and wait for onstar *thank goodness* to come and fix it because the spare had some super tricky contraption on it that even the tow truck driver had to fight with. BUT we still did our best o make is day super special and he sure thought it was! 

What else happened in May 2011

 Taylor had Kindergarten Graduation just a week after Ace was born, My parents (Gma/Gpa Ward) made it in time for graduation and to spend some time with our new little man, we got to do all sorts of fun things, we stayed at the Az grand, went to the park and to all sorts of different graduations and activities, here are a slew of pictures from the end of May. 

 

 Here are some pictures of Ace during his first month!

Ace Kalvan Martin

Our Handsome little Ace Kalvan joined our family just before 11am on Wednesday May 11th. He came a few weeks before his due date but we sure are glad he did, I will give details on that toward the bottom so that those who wish not to read the details don't have to.

Ace arrived at 10:53am the bruise you see on his forehead is because he came out face up but still didn't give mom too much trouble during delivery. He is a light weight at 5lbs and 8oz and 18.75inches. Despite his tiny measurements he is a huge spirit in our home. He is quiet and calm so far. The kids adore him, he sleeps wonderfully, he is eating pretty well gets a little exhausted by nursing but he is so perfect! We are so blessed to have him join our family!




The Details:
So here are the details again as fare warning you may want to skips these but for some reason I know other Mom's care and want to know :) So as many of you know at 32 weeks I was put on bed rest, I had started to dilate and had a positive Ffn test( google it) so they gave me steroid shots and sent me to bed in hopes I could make it to 36 weeks. Those weeks were a struggle but with the help of MANY friends from the community and ward we did make it! At 36 weeks we were given the OK, to have baby! I had been to the hospital twice in my 35th week for contractions and dilating and although I didn't actually go fully into labor my body sure was trying, I was at a 4 by the end of my 35th week but they never felt is necessary to keep me at the hospital during that time. I went to the Dr. Monday and was a 4 or 4.5. Monday while Sheri and Grandpa Hone were visiting I was having a lot of contractions but before we decided to head back into the hospital Grandpa and Josh gave me a blessing and later that night the contractions stopped. It was a little frustrating, Tuesday night about 4pm Contractions started up again and this time they were harder than they had been in the past, I was hesitant to go to the hospital but we decided we had better go. I was checked into Triage and was a 5.0 but not contracting consistently so they had me walk and I had a little change so again they had me walk and then no change so about mid-night at a 5.5 they sent me home, I was in shock considering my last delivery that they would send me home I was NOT happy! On my way back home I was contracting again pretty hard but refused to turn around so I went home, showered and went to bed, I was having hard contractions for the next few hours and working through them until I thought my water had broke, when I got up to see I realized it was blood not "water" or fluid leaking and I passed a large clot of blood or what we now know could have been a portion of the placenta, ( its now 4:30am) Josh and I headed to the Hospital after he saw the blood he drove FAST!!!! So we were sure not to have another 347 baby. We checked in to triage at 4:55am and they checked me, I was a 7 so I was finally admitted. We were moved to labor and delivery and they needed to give me antibiotics because my strep B test hadn't come back yet so they tried not to check me or anything for the next couple hrs, After I received both sets if antibiotics they checked me and I was an 8 and my water was "bulging" so shortly after my water broke and things went quickly from there, after about 30 mins I was ready to push and so were all the other women in labor and delivery I guess because they didn't have a Dr. for me, Luckily Dr. Ragaini was walking by on her way to a c-section and had 10 minutes to deliver me~ She came in we pushed about 5 times and little Ace entered the world, he was face up so that is why I had nasty back pain much of my pregnancy and made the last few pushes a little challenging but my Sister and husband were there to help me through it, Ace had a big bruise across the top of his head but it has already faded and its really hard to see even in pictures. So when I delivered the placenta they realized that it was deteriorating and had probably been detached for a quite some time, they don't know why it detached or exactly how long it had been they just new it was in sad shape and that Ace probably wouldn't have been supported him much longer. So once again we were blessed with a perfect miracle. Child birth is so incredible! exhausting, scary and painful yes but the lords miracles are clearly visible there. I am so grateful our tiny Ace made it to us healthy and safe. He is perfect and amazing in every way!!!

Easter 2011

Since I was put on Bed rest at the beginning of the week our Easter Weekend was pretty low key but the kids had a great time. We got the kids a special surprise on Wednesday for Easter ( see below) and on Saturday a friend hosted an Easter egg hunt that was perfect for us, not too much work but the kids got to find eggs and sugar up. We had BBQ chicken with Potatoes and Deviled eggs for dinner and it was nice to not have everything too focused on the things that don't matter as much but we spent a ton of good time together and had a nice relaxing day. Hope you all had a splendid day and had the opportunity to think about our loving savior who died for us and was risen again on this day! Happy Easter everyone and remember that we know that Our Redeemer lives and loves us!





The Easter Bunny came a little early to our house this year, he brought the kids a couple new pets that we have been debating on getting for a while, Easter seemed like as good a time as any. We looked at Frogs, Turtles, Chameleons, Birds, Rats, Hamsters, Gerbils, Guinea Pigs and Birds. After much consideration and a bit of research we decided on these two little ladies!
Here is Colin holding Rosita she is black and white and what they call a "silky" Guinea Pig, she has a little bit of a rat look but she is pretty sweet and purrs alot. This is Gabriella she is super furry and Brown and Black she is a little more skiddish but is warming up to the family. They have been a lot of fun so far even though we can't play with them as much as maybe we would like to since they are still young and working on getting used to their new home. The kids adore them and just want to watch them all the time. This is Taylor holding Rosita. Morgyn doesn't get to hold them too much and defiantly can't take pictures while she is holding them but maybe soon enough we will get one of her with her new "babies" as she refers to them.