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.