Twenty Twelve was a big year in our family... We became a family! Colton and I got engaged in the last week of Twenty Eleven, we were married on March 3, 2012.. and We welcomed and wonderful new baby boy into our lives on June 17, 2012. With all the new exciting things going on... it was so easy to blog! After we got settled in our happy new lives, I got lazy!

But that is not to say that Twenty Thirteen was not just as excited and huge for our family! We had a lot of wonderful moments.. including celebrating Jaxon's FIRST birthday, my parents moved across the country to Virginia, we found out were expecting baby number TWO, I miscarried, and we decided to take the plunge and follow our family to Virginia!!!

I am so excited for the rest of our lives as a family. We learn and grow so much every year, and I cannot believe I didn't take more notes on our experiences in Twenty Thirteen. But, I did get a lot of pictures! so pardon me while I share a years worth of memories in one post!!

If you haven't seen the Lorax, we did a Lorax party for Jaxon's first Birthday. He has ALWAYS loved that movie. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I think it turned out so cute! We used striped straws and yarn for the truffula trees on the smash cake and the cupcakes. I then made large trees for the tables out of washi tape and feathers. 

We did it at our apartments pool with a Barbecue. We just had close friends and family. It was really fun! Jaxon loved his little floaty. And he has always loved the pool, thank goodness... because in AZ it is a must!! 

Then of course, my sister Whitney got married!! So Jaxon and I went to North Carolina for the wedding!

 It wasn't long after we got back that I started to think I was pregnant. I have always been terrible with keep track of my cycles... but it had been a while and my face was breaking out like crazy!! So we took a test.. and much to our surprise I was expecting!! However, after 2 or 3 weeks of trying to get the baby on the ultrasound, doctors determined that the pregnancy was not successful. After weeks of waiting for my body to miscarry on its own, I had a D&C in December. I would have been 12-13 weeks at the time.

But at least we got some nice family pictures....

Just weeks after my surgery... we decided to move to Virginia!! So we packed out bags, quite our jobs, and off we were! So we never ended up spending a Christmas alone! In fact, we got to see my brother Brock who has been in the Marines since he turned 18 in July.

Family Pictures (:

So... First off,
I fully intended on sending out these adorable Christmas cards to everyone... but they are EXPENSIVE! And we have to much family and friends to afford that! But we did get the pictures done... so you can enjoy those!

Happy Holidays!
and as always, photo credit goes to tysonfrenchphoto.blogspot.com

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Well... little late. But that's okay. Jaxon is 5 months now, growing like crazy!

We had family from my mothers side come to town for the weekends AND my dads side, which means LOTS of people to spoil Jaxon... he loved that. And he got to see Morgan, my aunts little girl who is just weeks older than Jax. It is so amazing how different 2 babies the same age can be. Jaxon is not in daycare, so I never see him around babies his age. He LOVED her. the first time he saw her he practically pounced her in her car seat. He also love his great-great-grandma, who would sit next to him in his little toy and talk with him for hours.

All I have to say, is out of all the very many things I am grateful for, the fact that I have blessed with such a sweet little boy is number one. He is so well tempered and he is so smart. He teaches me and my husband, and he has brought us so much closer together. Second I am thankful for my husband, who goes above and beyond to love me and my son. Times for us aren't easy, for most people they aren't, but he holds my hand through it all and we fight the fight TOGETHER. And third, I am thankful to be an environment that is safe for my family to grow. Even though we aren't rich, we are much better off than most; with family and a good neighborhood and strong values... that is a true blessing.

We just past the anniversary of when I found out I was pregnant last year... and I keep thinking to myself where my life would be if some small events in that time of my life DIDN'T happen. And it physically scares me. I loved my life before, and though I knew eventually everything would work out the way it was supposed to, I was afraid of loosing the life I had. But now, I am afraid at the thought of loosing what those changes have brought me. I would change a single thing about the last year of my life. I love my husband and I love my son, they are the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Another busy weekend!

This past weekend the Taylor family went to our home state of Utah! It was so good to see family and friends we hadn't gotten to see in a while. We even attended the Lazenby family reunion, a reunion I have gone to every year as long as I can remember! It is at Veteran's Park in Provo and every year they have family Olympics, a raffle, face painting, swimming and of course TONS of food. On the other side of the family we were able to have a BBQ and people were able to meet Jaxon for the first time. While we were there we were also able to bless Jaxon (for anyone who is not LDS, this is a tradition where the baby gets an official name in the church... among other things). It really was special to see just how much so many people love our little boy. He really has brought so many people together and is extremely lucky to be born into such a large loving family!

Of course, being in such a large group in such close quarters can lead to some drama, but what would a family reunion be without it! 

I just wanted to again thank everyone who was able to be a part of such a great weekend! And of course those who weren't able to make it! I will post pictures soon!

Family!

This last week has been crazy! Today Jaxon is 2 weeks old, and him being here is hot news for both sides of the family. Last weekend Colton's parents Gina and Jake were able to come down to meet our little guy and this weekend we have had my family in town. Amongst this family was my aunt Carrie who just had her baby girl Morgan. Fun fact for those who care, on my side of the family Jax has not one but TWO great-GREAT-grandmothers, that means there are 5 generations of Frenchs and Ferres alive today! Crazy huh!

The Wedding!

AHH! We made it! Who would have thought? Colton and I are ACTUALLY married. This is about to be the longest blog post... ever. Or at least by me, haha.

So, I stopped all blogging before the wedding (except that cute post Colton put up about loving his life haha) so now I have a lot of ground to cover. Monday before the wedding = official crunch time. Which you would think with ALL the family coming into town that week that would mean more helping hands and a little less stress.. not really. If any of you reading this know my mother.. she would NEVER let anyone come into her house when it wasn't spotless. Which is admirable and I actually kind of steal that trait from her (lucky me), but on top of planning a wedding we are trying to do spring cleaning? Crazy right.

Then Monday night rolls around... no freaking bridesmaid dresses. Seriously? so they shipped out on the 17th and are no where to be found. I think if anything, those bridesmaids dresses are responsible for bridezilla! I have never been more frustrated as I was on the phone with USPS. This is my official sponsor for UPS because USPS customer service is AWEFUL! It took almost 35 minutes just to get to an actual human being rather then the recording saying "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are saying.."

Tuesday was my last full day at work. Obviously I personally didn't get much done for the wedding that day other than a spray tan with Colton. But the work didn't stop, my mother and brother plugged away and away at cooking desserts, getting centerpieces, and finishing the back drop for the ceremony.

Wednesday the Yates family arrives (my mother sister). The last half of the week I got off work at 1pm, which actually turned into about 12 because I was so anxious to be off I could barely stand one more hour. Directly after work Colton and I had a list of stuff to do. We had to go to the fabric store and get lace, I had to get my nails done, and after we met up with family to get some grocery shopping done. That night my aunt did my hair (which desperately needed to happen by the way!) She gave me the same haircut I have gotten for 5 years it feels like and we dyed it a very dark brown. (I am very happy Colton likes darker hair because I have always liked my hair darker.. and people always talk me into highlights and what not... they just aren't me I guess!)

Thursday rolls around and I am still stressed but I am getting very excited! My grandparents drove down from Utah, my Aunt Carrie came in from California, Kenzie flight came in Thursday night, and Colton's family arrived that night as well. It was all dandy and exciting.

Except I'm sorry, NO BRIDESMAID DRESSES! AHHH!! And I find out one of my bridesmaid isn't even going to make it to the wedding! I literally spent 4 hours that day finding replacement bridesmaid dresses. Which for a pregnant lady, 4 hours at the mall... is like a year. We finally found 2 cute yellow dresses (not exactly the yellow I was aiming for.. but I think they worked out well..) at forever 21 for $20 a piece. SWEET! Come home to change before going to meet Colton's family... andddd they bridesmaids dresses (the original) came in the mail. HALLELUJAH! you would think.. they are totally not even yellow. They are some sad excuse for champagne, and they don't even fit the girls. I guess in a way it is kind of a good thing we found something else to work.

I met Colton's aunt, grandmother, cousin and brother that night. They really are sweet people.

FRIDAY! Oh my goodness only one day left. That day came and went so quickly I can hardly remember the details. But we did have ALL of Colton's family join MY family at the house for some of my grandpa's famous tacos. 45 people, 1 house, crazy night! And I must say I am glad everyone got along. My family can be a lot to handle, as any I'm sure. And the LAST thing I wanted to deal with the day before my wedding was in-law drama.

THE BIG DAY! <3
Can I just say, I was very disappointed when my mother didn't want me to have an early afternoon wedding, because I wanted the beautiful sun! But, even with the ceremony starting at 4, I didn't have time to pee!
8:30 sharp Whitney, Kenzie, Maddie and I went to the salon to get our make-up done. We were probably done there around 11am and spent the next 2 hours getting everyones hair beautiful, which can take some time with only 2 straighteners, one curling iron, and 2 bathrooms.
1:00 bridal shoot. Which I am again going to brag about how talented my brother is as a photographer. They turned out better than I could have imagined. And as you go through them, I hope you can see we had a lot of fun taking them.
After the shoot we had just enough time to get some water and head straight for the ceremony.

If I gave you a play by play of the ceremony, we would be here all day (if we aren't already) but the most important thing is that it was beautiful. Makinlie one of our flower girls (and I guess my niece) was a little upset about walking down the aisle, but other than that no one tripped and it went smoothly. Colton and I especially enjoyed the bishop including the 3 things we love most about each other. It gave us something to hold onto and made it much more personal.

In the 2 hours between the ceremony and the reception we had family over for pizza and while they enjoy a classic American meal, Colton and I rushed to get our pictures done. Again good job Tyson. And off to the reception we went.

At the reception, I spent most of the time sitting, which I don't know if that is typical, but my feet hurt! The desserts turned out great and everyone was so sweet. My favorite highlights from the reception..

A couple of my mothers friends from work got Colton and I a 1 night stay at a hotel in Phoenix. Which is about the coolest thing ever because we had no where to stay that night anyways :/

Colton shoved the entire cake in my face LITERALLY. So I guess there goes that tradition of eating the top layer at your first anniversary.

Our groomsmen and bridesmaids not only went crazy on our car.. they  CONDOMED it. We are STILL finding condoms...

And like I mentioned before.. we got to end the night with a peaceful hotel stay in Phoenix. But not without Chipotle, because I hadn't eaten ALL day. So yes, I ended my wedding day with a burrito.

AND WE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER! (followed by a crazy baby shower filled sunday! All you need to know about that is my belly is 11 toilet paper squares huge haha)

Enjoy some pictures... If you want more... check Facebook or my brothers photography blog at tysonfrenchphotography.blogspot.com