lets talk steroids

A while back I said lets hope I never have to get on steroids again. Well I am tapering off of my fourth round. I started them for the fourth time on Halloween and I will be done MONDAY:)
My face got massive this last round. don't believe me? just ask people in my ward. I have had many comments on my lovely fat face. Some that have stuck out are like this..
- The lady puffs her face nice and big then says.. "you must be on steroids"
- Another lady said "oh Melissa, did you get your wisdom teeth out?"
Yes, I did get them out on the third round of steroids but it was two months earlier lol
- My cousin who hasn't seen me at all with a fat face came for Christmas. He saw me and was totally shocked. He said "wow you look like you should weigh 300 pounds" then continues to touch my face and ask if it hurts... its water weight! lol
It is a good thing I know this fat face is not forever. I have lost a little of the water weight recently and it makes me beyond happy. I can't even describe how happy it makes me.
The steroids have other effects than just the water weight.
They make me super depressed (anxiety meds have helped a ton!). I have found myself hiding out in my room for a day or ignoring people for no apparent reason.. I do not like the person I am while on the steroids. I am soooo excited to be done and begin to be Melissa again :)
I had another colonoscopy recently and had the biggest scare but with my husband, family and doctor right by my side I keep fighting this crap. It has made me a stronger girl thats for sure. One thing that has kept me going is my dream to be a mom. When things get hard and I just cry and cry I just say to myself that I need to keep going to get my body healthy so I can be a mom!!

Thank you Kellen for being there with me through it all. He is an amazing husband! He takes care of me every single day and doesn't ever complain even when it feels like I have been sick our entire marriage.
Thank you family for being there for me to support my decisions. Thank you mom for going with me to my doctor appointments and helping me understand my own disease.
Thank you Edward (my doc) for allllllll he has done. He is the best doctor!!!

I am in love with Pinterest!!

I found this cute idea on pinterest the other day and decided to make it with the kids I watch to give to their mom's and dad's for Christmas.

isn't it so cute? it wasn't the easiest thing to make with a one year old (Thank you Emily for your help) but I love it and I hope their parents love them as well.

I can't wait to make many more things I have found on pinterest lol

Christmas is in a couple days and I am beyond excited to spend it with our families :)

best dog ever!

I don't want to brag or anything but we basically have the BEST dog ever!

Duke may be a bit large... ok he is HUGE and he is still just a baby but he is amazing. Kellen and I seriously are so lucky we got such a good dog. Duke never goes potty in the house and is so sweet and gentle. One thing I love about Duke is we can take him on walks with out a leash because he just stays by our side. Even if he spots another dog or kids running around he will stay right by Kellen and I.

Duke is so lucky his cousin Penelope comes to play once a week usually.. they are BEST friends lol even though she is a tiny pug and he is huge they are so cute together. They literally kiss when they see each other and Duke walks her to her car when she leaves. lol

It is crazy to look at pictures of when we first got him. He has grown so much. He is stubborn like crazy and whenever he gets a bath he decides he wants to play in the dirt or mud but we are so glad he is ours :)

Easton :)

Last week Kellen and I were able to watch our nephew Easton for a couple days while his parents went on a vacation. Where do we begin to tell you how much fun we had with Mr. Easton!
He has the funniest and sweetest personality. He was so funny and loved to beat up uncle Kellen! hahaha I wish I would have made a video of him beating up Kellen... it was priceless.

We enjoyed every minute we got to spend with him and we were so sad when he went back to St. George. Kellen keeps saying he better not forget him lol Thank you Chet & Erin for letting Easton stay with us.. We just love him :)

scary man!

Halloween we have decided is not fun with no kids around. lol but we dressed up and had a fun day on Saturday to celebrate.
We decided to be a cowboy & cowgirl!

On Friday night we went to a haunted forest with some friends. I have never EVER been to anything scary. For some reason I decided to try it this year...

Skylar, Shantel, Kellen, Me, Ashli & Austin!

:)

I was so so so SO nervous but it was so much fun. Kellen was so sweet and let me basically break his arm the entire time but it was a very good haunted forest lol for some reason.. this freak above was the thing that scared me the most. He would follow me every where I went because of some girl named Ashli who told him I was terrified of him and that it was my first time at a haunted forest. I would hide in Kellen's jacket but he ran away from me the last time the guy came up to me so I grabbed Shantel! Everyone wanted to get Shantel away from me so I could be scared alone (nice friends huh? lol)

I am so glad Kellen and I went to the haunted forest. We will be going again next year for sure! I just hope this ugly, scary dude is not there again lol

happiness

Three months after Kellen and I got married he started working for the company Ebay. We were so glad when he got this job! He enjoys it and they have amazing benefits. The bad part was he was going to have to work nights (3-1130) and weekends. They told him it would be about 6 months of nights. It was so incredibly hard to have him gone at night. I am a nanny and work in the day so we felt like we never ever had any time for just the two of us. After one year of nights we decided that we should pray that Kellen would get a new schedule since he had been trying for the longest time with no success. Two days after the prayer Kellen got amazing news.... he got a new schedule!!! He is now working in the day :) We were so happy we could hardly stand it. I called and told family and I told everyone who I saw. Today is his first DAY. It is weird to not have him home during the day and to wake up alone again but I am just giddy thinking he will be coming home in just a couple hours for the entire night!!! ahhhh. lol

I would be lost

Kellen

My mom

Emily

Ashli

My dad..

.........

Where would I be in life without these people?

I would be lost!

I can't express how much each of them mean to me. They have been there for me through all my struggles. I have been having what I would say is my biggest struggle of all in life and they have comforted me to no end. Even if all I do is cry the entire conversation they still are there for me through it all.

I am not very good at expressing my feelings but I just want each of them to know how much I love and appreciate EVERYTHING they have done for me. I don't know who I would be today without them in my life.

lets celebrate

Kellen and I decided to take a vacation to celebrate our first anniversary, being sealed to each other and his birthday! We went to Hawaii :)

We went horse back riding (my first time on a horse)

we went to a luau which was soooo neat. They had a guy that did tricks with fire. We were pretty much amazed lol

We went to the Temple!

We saw beautiful sunsets

we went to Pearl harbor. A lot of people said they were very dissapointed in Pearl Harbor but Kellen and I enjoyed it so much. We were impressed with it all.

We went to the Dole plantation.

Pineapples are gross

Pineapple ice cream is good:) lol

We went snorkling... When we went on our honeymoon in San Diego I was a chicken and wouldn't get all the way in the water and I LOVE the water. I am like a fish lol but in Hawaii you could see in the water so clear that I was so excited to get that snorkle gear and get in there.

Kellen swam over a huge turtle while he was snorkling.
(next time we need an under water camera)

On Kellen's birthday we went on a ship to see the sunset and they also had a firework show. Our waitress took Kellen in the back for a while and he came out dressed like this along with some other guys. He had to dance in front of everyone on the ship! His face was so red but he shook that butt so well he tied for first place hahaha

We had so much fun in Hawaii we did not want to come home. We took about 400 pictures and did a lot more than I am posting but that would take alllllll day. I am so happy I married Kellen. We have so much fun together and pretty much just act like we are 5 years old all the time lol

We are so lucky we were able to go on this vacation and know we will always remember it and hope to go back again some day.

I have never had a hard time with air planes. The take off and the landing of coarse make me a little nervous but other than that I am usually ok. On the way home I guess I was so tired from all the fun and the plane ride was pretty rocky.. I was that girl throwing up in a bag. The bad thing is.. I was sitting next to Kellen and some other guy and I am a LOUD puker. I don't do quite lol I kept hoping the guy next to me wasn't one of those guys who sees someone else throw up and then does himself. I apologized to him many times before leaving the plane.

I could go on and on about how much fun we had but I think this post is long enough. but we have decided everyone needs to have a vacation to Hawaii atleast once in their life. It is heaven :)

2nd place!

My cousin Kolton invited Kellen and I along with some other family memebers to come play on his kickball league. We loved every minute of it! Our team was 2nd to last before the final tournament
My friend Sarah joined our team for a little while but couldn't make the rest of the games so...

Ashli came to play for the tournament! Good thing we had her.. she helped us kick butt! lol

Our team took 2nd place!!! We can't wait for the next kickball league. We will be getting a team together FOR SURE lol

Duke Jimmer Robbins

My nieces have been dying for us to post pictures on our blog so they can see pictures of Duke.. Well everyone.. I caved in! We have a puppy. His name is Duke Jimmer Robbins hahaha He is fluffy, cute, calm and AMAZING with the babies I watch. We are already in love with him.

Kellen, Duke and I with Brandee, Novia and Axel

isn't this the cutest face? We picked him out of all the others because of his cute face :)
Kellen and I have been teaching him how to shake.. he got it down sooo fast lol

Sealing pictures :)