a couple more we forgot

Alex was a bee for halloween. :) So cute!

His costume was 18mo and a little small.

Our little man in his sunday suit playing the piano (one of his favorite things.)

Our cute little xmas tree with a train that goes around the middle. The train has since ended up on the ground so its a little easier access for Alexander. I love Christmas!

just a few quick pics.

We are having a little girl! Mike finished his program!! Thanksgiving was amazing with Mike stuffing and cooking his first turkey...it was amazing! Mike is now just studying for his board exam and I am 2 1/2 weeks from being done with a rotation. :) Alexander had croup and ended up in the ER for treatment and was doing better but his cough is getting a little worse right now so we will see. We hate so much that he is sick and wish there was more we could do besides hugs. I have to get back to the studies so here are a few pics. This was little Marabelle at 6 wks old. A little alien.

Marabelle's profile :) her little hand is by her chin. 14 weeks old when we found out the sex. Oh and for pronunciation Mara rhymes with Tiara :).

Working with accepting change

There are some changes that always seem welcomed; Mike finishing school and getting a raise at work, becoming pregnant and watching the little one grow. Other changes come with a little more fear; Mike starts scanning on his own without anyone checking over his scans starting Monday, He has to start studying for 2 board exams, me starting my rotation tomorrow and having no idea what to expect, Alexander going to daycare for the first time starting Monday and the idea of an actual baby with the crazy sleep schedules at some point in the future. Other changes bring sadness; this is especially true with having Alexander go to daycare, I can not fully express how hard it is to not know how it will be for him and wish more than anything that I could just continue to watch him forever. I am completely envious of all of the stay at home moms that I know. Another change that is making me sad is becoming fat once again. I do realize there is a baby growing, but when I know it is only the size of 2 pennies it makes me wonder why it looks so much larger. I hate no longer fitting into my pants and my shirts getting tight and that those maternity clothes are coming right around the corner. But the key is to accept change, move with it, find some joy in it and realize it is just another adventure on your journey, to realize that the hard times will pass and feel like a flicker in time when you look back. I am so grateful that my little fam is on this ride together, Mike has a way of always making me laugh and helping me see the bigger picture and Alexander has this smile and energy that is purely contagious. I am also so grateful for family that listens when I need to vent and are always there with positive encouragement and support. I love you all so much!
Star
P.S. Alexander was the cutest little bumble bee for Halloween although the costume seemed a bit small (crazy it was an 18mo costume and he is 13mo) but hopefully those pics and some new ultrasounds pics will be posted soon. :)

thought we would let ya'll know

Hi everyone, we hope all is going well for you. Star right now is just finishing up here last test for the rest of her pharmacy career except her boards. If we haven't told you guys yet(if I remember right I have) we are pregnant again. We went to the OB on Tuesday and Star is about 10 weeks pregnant, and feeling it. She is sick every morning and her senses are making her gag pretty bad. It sucks that I have to see my wife go through this but Star is a superwomen and I am so grateful for her sacrifice and the strength that she has.
Star starts her 3rd rotation on the oncology floor at UVRMC in about 2 weeks and she is super nervous about it but she has talked to some class mates that have had her preceptor and they said that he is hard but they learned a ton. We will keep you updated as that progresses. Up at school there were some companies that were their doing interviews and she got 8 interviews with companies that included walgreens, rite-aid, ShopKo, Walmart, target, harmons, smiths, and Kmart. Some went really well but she won't really know for awhile. She may have a better job outlook in Utah since she is only looking for part-time.
I am doing good, just trying to get all of my schooling done by the 15th of November then I am done with the cardiac sonography program YEA!!!! Still learning a ton at Central Utah from Dr. John Allen. Like today he wanted me to learn the drugs that my patients are on so I will understand what might be wrong with my patients. I am so grateful though that he has pushed me as hard as he has.
Alexander is growing up to be a happiest little boy that you have ever met in your life. He laughs at everything and is crawling super fast now. He is almost standing by himself and stairs are no problem for him anymore. He stops midway down the stairs, claps for himself, then proceeds to finish his way down the rest of them. The games that he is into right now is crawling to the other side of a door, shutting the door, opening it back up, laughing, then do the same process over. He loves to play pic-a-boo with strangers, but at first he curls into either star or I and then once he warms up to the stranger, he just starts playing games with them.
We love you all very, and hope all is well. Here are some pics of Alexander. Love ya'll.
Mike, Star, and Alex

pics

love you guys all very much, hope you all enjoy the pics.
mike, star and alex

Alex is one!

I cannot believe my little man is a whole year old! The term time flies has never seemed so perfect than when looking back since the day we found out we were pregnant or better yet since the day I met Mike. We just got back from Fish Lake and it was funny to look back and see what changes have occurred over the past 3 yrs. The first time I was there Mike showed up and proposed (cute) the next year we were married and a week away from giving birth to Alexander, and then this year we have our little one year old. It will be interesting to see what the next years have in store.
Fish Lake was Alexanders heaven though, he loved being outside most of the day and being able to crawl right out onto the porch. He also loved the tons of kids constantly around. He even got to go out on a little fishing boat for a little trip on the lake. I wish I would have taken a pic when he was in his life jacket it was so cute.
He is so active now, crawling and standing next to everything. He knows the doorknob is the way out and will stand next to the door and reach for the door knob. He has this little bye-bye wave which means he would like to go on a walk, although it’s not always possible. He also loves to wake up and look out his window at the horses next door, he just smiles and points, it is so cute. If I am on my laptop he will stand next to my chair, I will put him on my lap and he will just smile and hit all the keys and move the mouse. Yesterday he even started wrestling with Mike slobbering all over him and laughing. He LOVES the tub (even empty), the other day he was standing next to it and just dove into it, I grabbed him thinking he would be hurt and he just smiled. It is really fun to see his curiosity for life. Oh yesterday we fed ducks and he loved it and wanted to crawl after them. He can now kind of climb stairs but is struggling getting back down. I tried instructing him but Mr. Independent that he is just got frustrated so the fence has to stay there for the time being.
Oh Mike has now started his final semester in his program and cannot wait to be finished! I am back in school making up the time I took off when I had Alexander. We are both pushing hard and trying to enjoy our time when we are together. I will try to post some bday pics.
We love you all, Starli and Mike

really quick pics

Ok so it has been a while since we have posted anything on the blog but really quickly to sum things up. Star is having one heck of a rotation up at IMC a.k.a Death Star in Murray. She has to leave the house by 7 in the morning, get there by 8 and have most of the patients ready for the heart failure clinic before they open. Usually they have bout 25 patients to see a day. She works hard all day, and then to top it off her preceptor gives her about 1-2 hours of homework a night to research and to report back to her the following day. She doesn't get home usually till about 5:30 or 6 because of traffic and then is able to relax for a little before she hits the books again. Today though she did see a kidney transplant, and has seen stents, valvular angioplasty done on a stenotic aortic valve, and almost saw a heart transplant.
Work/clinical is going good for me (mike). Dr. Allen is pushing me every day to be the best sonographer that I can so when he lets me on my own, I will have no problem letting the doctors know what I see. Other than that, things are going really well. Alex is growing up so fast, he is crawling all over the place, talking(babble) like crazy, and has 4 TEETH NOW!!! Last time we went to the doctors he was 85% in height, 60% in weight, and 96% in head size, so he is growing into his head :). He loves animals, outdoors, playing with papa dave who constantly makes him giggle. He favorite foods are top ramen, watermelon, pickles, celery, and pretty much everything else. You name it and he will try it out by using his pointer finger and making sure it feels right, and then shoving into his mouth and gagging because it was to much. Star and I have become really good at trying to get out all the stuff from his mouth.
Enough said, we love you guys, and hope all is well and we hope you like the pictures.
P.S. Alex got a condition called Black Hairy Tongue(he got it after taking an antibiotic) EEEWWWWWW!!!!!!

Our little man , He loves the camel back , Our fun day in ghost towns

Grandpa Salmond Cowboy hat,

more pics on our ghost town day


older one but cute, Best family picture yet,

alex's great grandparents (he just turned 90),


His first sucker, turned his tongue blue for awhile (he loved it!),

his first car,happy july 4th

He is mobile

So Xander is mobile. He started crawling around 2 weeks ago (well its more of a scooty thing, but the Dr says that is not important) and now has some speed and a little more independence. We went in for his 9 month appointment last week and he is in the 50-60th percentile on weight, 85th percentile on height and 97th percentile on head size. You would think his head would just look huge but it kind of just fits his body. He is just super-sized and no longer fits in outfits less than 12 months. He is developing a strong personality and becoming more of a little man every day. He also LOVES the outdoors, if he is fussy all you have to do is raise him to the window, open the door, go for a walk, really anything where he can see the outside. I didn't think anyone was born with that but he really adores it outside and has since day one. Oh and Mike got a road bike and we bought a bike trailer for Xander and go road biking now. I LOVE IT!! I used to road bike a couple years ago and did not realize how much i missed it till we started. We are going about 5 miles a day and its truly one of the best part of our days.
I finished the lecture portion of my school and had 4 whole weeks off to spend with Xander. I loved it so much but admit there were days I missed school. There was one day he just wanted to scream for 2 hours, did not matter if i bounced, rocked, tried to feed, sang or hummed he just wanted to scream. Mike walked in the door and he just fell asleep in his arms. I felt relieved and upset at the same time, what magic did he have that I lacked. The 4 weeks are now over, the house is spring cleaned and although I will miss Xander, I was excited to go back to learning.
I started my 1st rotation, "Alcoholism and other drug dependencies". It is amazing so far!!! I have learned so much about addiction and the brain and the struggles facing those in recovery and addiction. I hope I can find the ways to apply it once I am done. Mike said to say "Booo" here since its been a little hard to have me gone more (hard for me too), but you do what you have to do and hopefully enjoy the path.
So Mike is finishing up his summer semester this week and still working full time at the clinic (doing ultra sounds of the heart). He LOVES it there and is really picking it all up incredibly fast. His preceptor is amazing and helps him so much to become the best. He pushed him really hard but most days Mike appreciates that.
He is the BEST daddy!!! He makes Xander (or Alex to him) giggle and laugh all the time and is constantly helping out with him. I am so glad I married the man I did, not only because he is my best friend, but because he is the most amazing father and I know that Xander will learn from him and be a better man because of him. For fathers day I thought a lot about the amazing father he was and how grateful I was for all those that had helped him become who he is and for the man he pushes himself to be and for the inspiration that gives me constantly.
Well sorry for the length, its just been awhile. I will get some pics/videos on soon.
Loves,
Star

one more video

this seems to be at the end of our to do list :)

Sorry there is such a delay from post to post, we seem to focus on other stuff (school, xander, work, sleeping etc) and this gets kind of put on the back burner. So I have one real test left!!!! Well till September when I have to make up what I missed from the pregnancy. But one test left till I am off for 5 weeks!!! SO SO HAPPY! Mike is amazing at his new job and the doctor he is working with said he wants to hire someone new that is "just like mike". Such a nice compliment to his hard work. Xander is growing like a weed - he is 7 1/2 months old and we are in the transition of switching him into 12 month outfits because he is outgrowing the 6-9 months. Crazy and cute. Oh and he is the proud new owner of 2 new teeth :), he gets a little grumpy for about a day when they come in but it has not been that bad. He is such a strong kid with an amazing independance to him (mostly just comes off as stubborn right now) and he LOVES the outdoors! We are going to try and post some videos so hopefully you can see his cute personality. We are so thankful for all the support we have and the love from all our friends and family (xanders grandparents are really his best friends right now), we could not be doing what we are doing without their help and can not say enough of how thankful we are. Loves, Star, Mike, Xander