One door closes....

...a new job starts.

So...in the middle of July, my employment at Bravo Arts Academy was ended by the choice of management. It was hard to deal with as I didn't quite understand what was going on. I don't have any hard feelings over all for Bravo as I feel the school its self is amazing and I would love to have Cailin attend.

On 8/19/13, I started my first day as a Customer Service Rep for a company called Bio Express! It's located in Kaysville so it's like a 5 minute drive from my apartment. I am Full Time and will get awesome benefits after 90 days. I so excited to start this new chapter in my life and to better provide for my daughter.

Fresh New Start for Spring

With Spring arriving, it's time for a fresh new start!
Cailin and I have moved into our own place! I'm so excited to be on my own with no roommates. (Bleh) No more "disappearing" food, invasion of privacy, shared space...yada yada yada. We have a 2 bedroom apartment in Layton. It's an older apartment so there is no dishwasher but I don't mind as I don't have enough dishes to fill a dishwasher. I'm fine washing them by hand. I'm right up the street from a Smith's, McDonald's, gas station, Baskin Robbins, Little Caesar's, the apartment a friend is living in, and a gym. Here are the pictures I took right after I got my key and could officially call it mine:

My Living Room. It's actually pretty spacey. Brand new carpet all through out the apartment!

Looking into the Kitchen from the Dining area

Fridge is across from the (new) stove

Dining area

Cailin's room. Small but just the right size for her. And a big enough closet for all of her clothes! Lol

Hallway (1st door on right - Cailin, 2nd - my rom, 1st door on left -  coat closet, door straight back - linen closet, bathroom is around the corner from the coat closet

Master Bedroom

Bathroom Part 1

My walk in closet

Bathroom part 2

It's official!!!

Also to kick of my new start, I chopped off my hair!! That's right...10 inches were cut off. I didn't have enough to donate to Locks of Love due to all the layers and split ends. :( So now it's short, just below the chin line, A-line bob. And I got blonde and red highlights. I'm still getting use to the short hair. I love my new look. I'm still trying to get a good picture of it lol.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I want to say what I'm grateful for.

• MY MOM: Mom, you are my hero, my best friend, and the greatest mother I could ask for. Thank you for everything you have sacrificed for us and the lessons you have taught me. You are a strong woman and I hope to be just a good of a mother that you were to me.
• CAILIN SHANNON SHAW-LUCK: My beautiful, wonder angel! I couldn't be more thankful for the blessing of being this angel's mother. She is a miracle and a joy to my world. She has opened my eyes to a new world and new experiences. She has helped me learn and grow into the woman and mother I was meant to be. Thank you Cailin for choosing me to be your mom. I love you SO much.
• MY JOB: Bravo Arts Academy, thank you for hiring me and giving me such a great opportunity to grow in the performing arts world. Working at the Front Desk as introduced me to great new people. Plus I'm in an environment that I love. I'm around music and dancing and the Arts 5 days a week and it brings me so much joy!
• MY FRIENDS: My list would go forever is I listed every friend I wanted to thank. So I'll be doing personal thank you's privately. But for now, for those that have been there for me the past roller coaster of a year, words cannot describe the gratitude I have for you all. Thank you for all your support and advice. You are all priceless to me.
• FAMILY: Thank you for being my supporters. We've all gone tough times and we've always backed each other up. More tough days are ahead of us. But together we can make it through. Love you all!
• GOD AND JESUS!!: Last but not least, I have to give thanks to my Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus! They are my rock, my light in the darkness, my savior, my everything! I feel so blessed to know that I am in their light and their love. To have someone to pray to and know my prayers are being heard and answered. I'm so very thankful for my brother Jesus for bleeding for my sins and dying for me. They have blessed me with amazing family, wonderful friends, a job that is better than I could have asked for, and the most beautiful daughter! Without God and Jesus Christ, I would not have all of you. 

Cailin: 9 months

I'm sooooo slacking on my blog posts!!!

Cailin had her 9 month check up last week on Thursday. She's still growing!!
17 lbs 8 ozs
71 cms
I can't remember her head circumference but it only grew .5 cm.

Here are her developments:

• She is crawling at the speed of light. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with her.
• She's pulling herself up on tables and chairs. BUT she's starting to stand up on her own...when she's on my bed.
• She has 4 teeth now with 2 more growing on top. Soon she'll have 4 on top and 2 on bottom.
• She says "Mama"(her first word) and "Dada" and "Baba."
• Her favorite action is clapping when we say "yay"
• Slowly but surely she is learning to wave. And most of the time she's waving to herself.

On a side note, Cailin has another sinus infection and this one is rough. Fever, very bad clogged up nose, cough, and very grumpy baby. I feel bad that there isn't much that I can do as a mom beside giving her Tylenol, warm bath, and love. I breaks my heart when after I do all of that and nothing seems to help and hear her screaming. Hopefully this passes over fast.

The State Fair and my Birthday

So last Saturday, to celebrate my birthday I took Cailin and one of my best friends Brittany to the State Fair. I hadn't been for a couple of years so I was extremely excited and so was Brittany. As it got closer to Saturday, we would be texting each other different animal noises. When the day finally came, we couldn't have gotten there any sooner! We left around 1pm and were stocked up on water and camera. The weather was perfect and Cailin was sitting in her stroller for the first time without being in her carseat. We went straight to the animals and what did we see first...LEMURS!! Cailin was so fascinated by them. I couldn't get her to peel her sight away. They had two baby lemurs out to pet and Cailin was a bit timid to pet one. But when it came to cows...I had trouble holding when I took her up to get close. All because I was laughing so hard at her excitement and she was moving so much she almost slipped out of my arms. We tried to find the piggies but we didn't seem to find them. The next day we found out we had walked right past them...DOH! We had been there about 3 hours when Cailin decided to throw her bottle out of the stroller and we didn't notice till was too late and that bottle was no where to be found. That's we figured it was time to head home anyways.

Then on Sunday, I had the pleasure of waking up at 6:30am to get ready to pick up my mom at 7:30am so we could drive up to Logan for one of my cousin's mission farewells. My cousin Jacob will be going to Hong Kong!! Wow! Everyone could get over how cute and adorable Cailin was. Right as the sacrament hymn was being announced, I had to take Cailin out for a diaper change. Walking around the building waiting for us to go back in, we found the picture of the Lion and the Lamb lying together. Cailin must have recognized the lamb because she giggled and got all excited. At the luncheon afterwards, I started to worry that Cailin would take away the attention for Jacob. But Jacob would disappear all the time so I didn't worry so much. I was really glad that I decided to go up and spend time with my family. Later, we had cake at my Uncle Lemar's house. And it was my favorite...Cookies n' Cream cake. YUM!

Baby lemurs!

Chilling like a pro in her stoller

She loved petting the cows

Mostly the calf!

My favorite picture of the day. Zonked out walking back to the car.