Kent’s Parents Come to Town

When Kyson was born, my parents got to be here for just over a week, and it was so wonderful. A few days after they left, Kent’s mom came into town for just over a week. We had so much fun with her. We had no idea when we scheduled her visit how good of a baby Kyson would be, and that he would start off only waking up once or twice a night (he sleeps through the night most the time now!) So her visit to help us turned out to be very different than what any of us were expecting, especially compared to what she’s used to with going to help her daughters after they have given birth. Since I was feeling great and Kyson was so good and healthy, we did things like meet up with friends and go mini golfing at Trafalga! Crazy, I know! I also sort of volunteered her to sing a solo at our local Senior Center while I accompanied her on the piano. For the month of September, I volunteered to play the piano and do the musical number every Thursday at the Senior Center for their “Relief Society/Priesthood” meeting. It was a wonderful experience, and since she was in town for one of the Thursdays, I asked if she’d want to sing her song, “Angel of Light.” It was a great experience. We loved having her out here so much. She was a huge help! She also helped me make homemade raspberry jam…Kent’s favorite!

Then, a few weeks ago, Kent’s parents both flew back out here for a short work trip. We got to pick them up from and take them to the airport, but they stayed at Kent’s sister Raelene’s house. We still enjoyed going to our nephew Reed’s football game with them, and going to dinner with them and Kent’s grandparents. And we were especially glad they got to both see Kyson. We love being able to see and visit family!

My favorite part of the visit was that when we got together with Kent’s grandparents, we had four generations of Nixon boys together. Kyson is their 16^th grandchild, but their FIRST Nixon grandchild, since all the others are from Kent’s sisters and they have different last names! It was really special having those 4 generations together.

We don’t have any trips to Boston planned anytime soon, but I hope that we can find our way out there for a visit sooner than later. We love and miss Boston. 

Kyson Kent

I can't believe it has been 4 weeks since our amazing, precious, beautiful, pretty much perfect dear son Kyson was born. He arrived at 2:03pm on Thursday, August 18th. He was 9lbs. 5oz. and 21.5" long! We got the phone call from our Birthmother's mom about a half hour after he was born. We knew that the doctor had scheduled to break her water that morning, but we had no idea when anything would actually happen. When Kent got home from his half day of work and we still hadn't heard anything, we decided to load up the car and just head to Vernal anyway. It was literally after we'd started the car to leave that we got the call. We knew it was going to happen that day, but still, hearing that he was here was the most incredible, overwhelming, scary, yet magical feeling I've ever experienced. Our son was born! The thought, "You're finally here, my sweet boy" kept running through my head the whole drive to Vernal. And I will tell you, we have been on many, many long road trips together, but that would-be 3 but in reality almost 4 hour drive to Vernal was by far the longest, most agonizing drive of our lives! It did not help that we hit three different sites of major construction that added nearly an hour to our drive. It was so hard. I kept thinking, "I want to be with our son, just let us get to our son." And finally, we did.

We walked through the door to see a room full of people, H's family. H was not in her bed--despite having just given birth a few hours before and having an epidural, she was up walking and in the bathroom. At first I was so overwhelmed by all of the people I saw (7, not counting Kyson and H), I had no idea where Kyson even was. But then suddenly, one of H's brothers was at our side, placing Kyson in my arms. Even a month after that blessed moment, just typing it here still brings tears to my eyes. Our beautiful, dear, sweet son was just perfect. Our little boy, whom I'd dreamed about and seen several times before, was in my arms at last.

We spent about 48 hours at the hospital with Kyson, H, and her family. The hospital and wonderful maternity staff actually gave Kent and me a room to stay in free of charge the entire weekend, and we are so grateful to them for the fact that we did not have to leave our son at night. It was, of course, a long 48 hours given the circumstances. We got to help give Kyson his very first bath in the nursery, which was wonderful. The best part was that he totally pooped in the tub. Loved it! I did not get any sleep the first night there, and at 3am finally woke Kent up and we went for a walk. We ended up timing it accidentally well, as the nurses were just bringing Kyson into the nursery for his vitals, so they let us hold him and stay in the nursery with him until 6am. It was such a wonderful opportunity to hold, feed, and bond with our son. Even being just a few hours old, this sweet little spirit was so good. He really didn't even cry much at all the whole time we were at the hospital.

My mom and sister Katelyn were able to drive to Vernal to be with us on Friday. It was so good to have someone from our family there. Our caseworker did not make the trip out, and H's caseworker didn't come until Saturday around 11am, so it was a little difficult, but we managed.

Saturday, once the caseworker finally arrived, the paperwork and placement actually began. He started by meeting with H and her parents. Then he met with us. We then took a few minutes to speak with H, just the three of us, which was very emotional, but so wonderful. I just have to say that we are so blessed to have such an incredible, selfless, loving, and strong Birthmother. She has from the very beginning had so much faith and we are so grateful to her not only for bringing us Kyson, but also for being so level-headed and strong. We love her and are so proud of her and wish her the very best in her bright future. She will undoubtedly touch many many lives and do great things in her life. We love you, H!

After visiting a few minutes alone with H to thank her ahead of time, we made our way into her hospital room where she, her parents, and Kyson were waiting. Time for placement. My Mom was able to capture the entire event on camera, and Katelyn video taped it for us. The footage is priceless. I don’t think I will ever be able to write anything that would adequately describe placement. When we walked into that room you could immediately feel several things: the Spirit, so much love, and heartbreak. H and her parents were in tears, and the moment we walked in, so were we. H was holding Kyson, who was peacefully sleeping. She had tears in her eyes and she looked so strong, yet so scared at the same time. It was hard to take in all of the emotions in the room. She took a moment to gather her courage, and then she approached me and placed our dear, sweet son into my arms. I knew this would be an emotional event, but nothing could have ever prepared me for the spectrum of emotions and the amount of love and joy and peace that immediately flooded my being. I broke into tears and sobbed with H as she placed that sweet boy in my arms. I could feel her love in her embrace and I will never be able to fully express my gratitude for that sweet girl. The pictures that my Mom took of placement say well what words cannot. You can see in her eyes before she hands him to me the pain, the love, the faith, everything. And then moments later, after she handed him to us, we sat down and gave her our placement gifts. In one of those pictures you can see a new look in her eyes: heartbreak is still there, but so is peace. She told us then that she has always known that Kyson was meant for our family and no one else’s. She was convinced of that and I know that is part of what got her through all of this. We gave her a painting of Christ holding the hand of a beautiful little boy. We gave Kyson a picture book entitled, “If the Savior Stood Beside Me” with the same picture on the cover and told her that Christ has guided Kyson to us through her, and that He would always be there to guide him throughout his life. We also gave her a willow tree figurine entitled “Remembrance.” It is an angel with her hands held over her heart. H is our dear angel on this earth, and we will forever remember her. We gave her and Kyson matching giraffes so she can see pictures of him with it as he grows. We also gave her a copy of my uncle Tamar and aunt Katrina’s CD that has their adoption song on it, and a candle. We gave H's mom a glass block that said “LOVE” on it with the words, “faith, hope, and charity” on it. It was a simple reminder of the love she had to be able to allow H to do this for us. It was such an emotional experience. There is another picture just after this of H with her arm around Kent as he holds our son. It is one of my favorites because I know that H could have kept Kyson and been an amazing mother to him. But she knew that he needed a father—a strong, worthy, Priesthood holder that would help raise him in the Gospel. She saw exactly that in Kent, and I believe he is a large part of the reason that she chose us. After a few more minutes of heartfelt, tearful goodbyes, we made out way out of the room with our dear son.

  

He is our son. He was placed with us on August 20^th, 2011 around 1:12pm. But he has been ours for much longer than that.He has been waiting for the right time to join our family, and he is finally here! Our love for him grows stronger each day. He is such a beautiful, perfect little boy and I strongly believe he is so content largely because he can feel all of the love that so many people have for him. His birth mother and her family love him and he will grow up knowing that that is how they were able to place him with us, and that is precisely why they placed him with us. We love him; oh, how we love him and have for so long. Our families love him and couldn’t be more supportive. Their countless prayers helped us all through that weekend.

Kyson is our miracle. After waiting with faith for so long, being tried and stretched beyond my limits, I have my beautiful son and my heart is overflowing as I hold him and love him and care for him. I thank the Lord several times each day for the tender mercies that brought Kyson Kent Nixon home.  
  

Summer Fun

Okay, let me just start by saying I wrote this post several days ago and am only just now getting to posting it, and I will not be posting the pictures I was planning on posting...yet. BECAUSE...OUR SON, KYSON KENT NIXON IS HERE!!! He arrived yesterday, 8-18-11 at 2:03pm, 9 lbs. 5.2oz, 21.5 inches long and he is perfect. I am sitting in the hospital eagerly awaiting tomorrow morning, placement day. Once we make it through tomorrow I will be on here posting pictures like crazy. For now, I am sticking this up here simply to stay caught up. I feel crazy, but right now it's all I can do. We are beyond overjoyed with our beautiful son--he is perfect. 

So...This summer has been an amazing one for Kent and me. We bought the 7 Peaks Pass of all Passes that gets you into 7 Peaks, Raging Waters, Trafalga, and a bunch of other events for free a few months back. We have had the chance to go to the water parks so much this summer! It’s been awesome. Utahns, we definitely recommend the Pass of all Passes. J

When my mom and siblings came out in July for our baby showers and stuff, we also got to go see the American Idol Top Ten concert. My dad was supposed to come, but at the last minute was unable to, so they gave me his ticket. Unfortunately Kent didn’t get to come, but I had so much fun with my mom, little sister Lyska, little brother Tyson, and little sister Katelyn and her hubby Steve. It was awesome. It was amazing how well everyone sang (minus Jacob, in my opinion). We had amazing seats and just had a blast. Scotty and Lauren are still favorites, but Haley and Casey are also just incredible. Here are some pics from the big night:

While they were in Utah, we celebrated my mom’s birthday by taking her out to lunch at Applebee’s and sending her on a fun scavenger hunt that started at the health club, went to the house, then eventually to Macy’s, where we bought her a new pan and some cookware. We also got her a massage, which she so deserved. Happy birthday, Mom, you’re the greatest!

My family spent two weeks here in Utah, and then it was time to go home. My sister Katelyn decided to drive home with them for a couple weeks and then fly back to Utah later. My brother Ki was also going to be flying home for a couple weeks. So I was going to be the only sibling not at home! So, Kent and I decided to take yet another impulsive trip up to the Northwest. We decided to surprise my family though. So Saturday night while my mom was attempting to pack up her car and realizing it wasn’t all going to fit, we took her aside and told her we were going to be driving home at the same time the next morning. So we snuck some of their bags and things into our car without my siblings knowing. Then the next morning we got up and left around 5:30am…about 15 minutes before my mom left. We ended up getting home about 45 minutes before them; just in time to hide the car, sneak in, completely surprise my dad, then sit on the couch and wait for everyone else to get home. It was priceless. Lyska walked into the living room first when they got home and was just in shock. Her jaw hit the ground and she was just kind of in shock and then started jumping up and down. We told her to sit down next to us, and then she called Tyson and Katelyn in, saying “Jimmer’s on TV!” Next, Tyson came running in, glanced at us, then the TV, then back at us and his jaw hit the floor and he was just speechless. So he sat down. Then came Katelyn. She ran in, looked at us, looked at the TV, and kept looking at the TV, confused because Jimmer wasn’t on the TV. It took her about 20-30 seconds, and finally she saw us and flipped out. It was so funny.

So Kent and I got to spend just under a week at home where we went wakeboarding, inner tubing, visited my Nanny and Gucky, and hiked around in our river. Kent and I also made it up to Seattle and were able to visit our friends Nate and Lacey and also go to the Seattle Temple. I love going home!

We’ve also had the chance to go camping a few times this summer. While camping, we discovered a new, delicious, fantastic camping treat: “S’mOreos!!! They are exactly what they sound like: S’mores on Oreos. Go ahead. Try it sometime. You’ll never want to go back. They are delicious.

Kent and I also got to go hiking to the Spanish Fork Hot Springs with Ki and one of his friends Drew. It is gorgeous down there and we had a blast.

This past weekend we spent in Layton at the FSA National Adoption Conference. Sister Julie B. Beck was Friday’s keynote speaker and she was amazing. And Dr. Karyn Purvis was Saturday’s keynote speaker—she is an incredible woman. We were able to go to so many different classes and network with so many people who are a part of the adoption world. It was an incredible weekend.

(So, sometime this week we will be parents. Our little boy is due on August 20^th, which is just a few short days away. We have had an incredible summer, but nothing we have ever done can compare to the excitement we both feel right now. We are so grateful to our dear birthmother, H, for all she is doing for us, and we can’t wait to welcome our son into our home! My next post will definitely be an update on everything that will be happening in the next few days. I can’t wait to share with you our bundle of joy whom we already love so very much! *Obviously this was written a few days ago, lol )

Showers and Showers

So, as I continue to attempt to make up for oh so much lost time on here, I would like to spend a few minutes on the showers of baby showers I was lucky enough to have over the past month-ish. (Not to mention the oodles of real showers Utah has been getting! It's been raining so much I almost feel like I'm home in Washington! I love it!)

My first shower was thrown by some sweet friends of ours from our ward in Provo. We had this shower back in June, because we were moving to Salt Lake in June and wanted to have it before we left. So at the beginning of June, the showers began:

My "Baby Shower" cupcakes I made...I thought they were pretty fun and cute!

I want to thank Nadine and all of my dear Provo Peak 11th Ward friends for everything. I love you all and miss you so much! We so appreciate all you did for us. We had such a great time that day. I also want to thank our wonderful Birthmother H and her mother and sister for taking the time to come join us at my shower. It meant so much to have you there.

After that shower, H's family had a wedding reception to go to, so H spent the afternoon with us. We went to lunch at Cafe Rio, and went and saw a movie with my brother Ki and sister Katelyn and her husband Steve. That was also the day that Katelyn announced to us that she is expecting! So our little baby boy Kyson Kent (yes, that is what we are planning on naming him!) will have a cousin only 6 months younger than him! Yay!

After our Ward Baby Shower, we embarked on a crazy expedition of moving out/moving most of our stuff into the stairwell between our apartment and the downstairs apartment where our cousins lived, having our three nieces over for a sleepover, and then driving to California to spend a week and a half with Kent's parents, brothers Reed and Rob and Rob's wife Katie...all of this in less than one week! Hence, I will have to dedicate another post to that experience.

At the beginning of July, my mom, sister Lyska, and brother Tyson came out to Utah for a couple weeks of fun. We got to go to the American Idol Top 10 Tour, went swimming, to Raging Waters, played games, etc...and, of course, had more showers!!!

My incredible Aunt Kathy, and cousins Kristin and Renae threw me a shower at Kristin's home for my side of the family. It was beautiful, and so much fun to be there with my family and close friends! Thank you Kathy, Kristin, and Renae--I love you all and just think the world of you! H and her family came into town that weekend for this shower and for the one on Kent's side of the family the following day. It was wonderful getting to spend more time with her and her family, and especially for our families to finally get to meet one another. Unfortunately, both our dad's were missing, but other than that it was fabulous.

The wonderful group!

H's sister helping out with the Nursery Rhyme Jeopardy game!

My grandma, "Oma" in the middle with her sister-in-law and sister: my Great Aunt Sherrie and Great Aunt Bev

The delicious food and adorable "diaper cake" Kristin and Renae made!

Kent and me singing, "Sealed With Love"

BYU Freshman Friends: Krista, me, Amanda, Mandy, and Carley. Friends since 2005!

H and her mom and two sisters

My wonderful sister-in-law Raelene, and Kent's amazing cousins Melody and Deondra were sweet enough to throw me a shower for Kent's side of the family at Raelene's home. It was a beautiful sunny day that day, so we got to have it outside and it was lovely all around. So many wonderful cousins, family, friends, etc. Loved every minute of it!

Kent and me with H at Raelene's

The beautiful outdoor setup of delicious food

Singing our song

H's mom, sisters, my Mom, me and Kent

So, to all of you who were in any way shape or form involved in our showerings of love, THANK YOU! We love you! At both of the showers, Kent and I sang a song we had recently finished writing together about our adoption, entitled, "Sealed With Love." It is simply our love and our feelings regarding our adoption put to music we created together. I will try and record it and put it on here soon.

So, largely because of our dear family and friends, we....are....ready. Well, at least about as ready as we CAN get. We know that once our Kyson arrives, "ready" will fly out the window and be a mere joke forever more. But, we are ready for that! We have had such a wonderful four years of marriage together, and we are so ready to add to the love that is in our home and let the priorities in life change altogether forever. So Kyson, whenever you are ready to come and see what's in store for you, I repeat: We. Are. Ready.

Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh!

My oh my, how far behind I am on the happenings of our lives these days. We have had some extremely major, extremely exciting changes in the past couple months. Let me start with the biggest and most exciting: WE ARE ADOPTING A BABY BOY IN A COUPLE WEEKS!!!!!! Yes, it is true, we have been selected by a loving, wonderful, selfless birth mother who is due August 20^th. We met her and her family in person for the first time at the end of April. It was an amazing experience getting to know them—we feel like we have known them all our lives, and I think we know why. She decided to wait a couple days after meeting us, until our Anniversary on May 4^th (Happy Four Years!) to call us. She started out by wishing us a happy anniversary, and then she went on to tell us that she had decided to place her baby with us. It was the happiest, most wonderful anniversary gift we could have imagined. We will be naming our baby boy Kyson Kent Nixon. Kyson is a combination of my two brothers’ names: Ki (Jakiah) and Tyson.

So…obviously we have much, much more to catch up on, and I will in the next several posts. But now, the meaning for my Blog Title today! Shortly after we were selected by H (for her privacy, this is how we will refer to our birth mother on here), we realized that we probably needed to go and register for baby things. Have you heard Justin Beiber’s song Baby? Well, that was the theme of our registry day. I just have to say that registering for baby things is a heck of a lot more fun than registering for wedding stuff! But before we actually went to Babies R Us, we headed over to F.Y.E. to buy a movie with a gift card that we had there. We walked in, and Beiber was not only playing over the speakers, but he was standing at the door, welcoming us in! Okay, maybe it wasn’t the actual Beiber, but it was a cardboard cutout of him that semi-freaked me out at first. We walked over to him, kind of laughing, kind of making fun of the cutout, kind of fake singing along to his song, when one of the workers at F.Y.E. came up to see if we needed any assistance. One of the first things he said to us was, “You guys look like Beiber fans. What can I get you?” We just sat there and laughed. What the heck does a Beiber fan look like, and do we really look like one? Perhaps you had to be there to truly understand the humor of the moment, but his comment just made our day. So we decided to go with it—today, we are Beiber fans. Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh!

Well, after a successful movie purchase (The Rescuers!) we hopped on over to Babies R Us and just had a clueless blast. Really though, we learned quite a bit in that excursion. Perhaps my favorite thing that we came across while there was in the keepsakes and memories aisle: a “Tummy Cast.” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they actually have a kit that you can purchase to make a cast of your pregnant belly!!! Haha, I couldn’t stop laughing! So, we decided to come up with different uses for this cast (not that I need one, but still). You could stick it in bed in your place when you get up to feed the baby and see if your husband notices the difference. Or, you could cut wholes in the boobs and stick bottles through them and have your hubby wear it and try and “nurse” the baby. Or you could stick it on your mantle as “modern art.” Or, my very favorite—invite friends over for a party and use the cast of your belly and boobs as a chips and salsa dish! Chips in the belly part, and two different types of dip in the boobs! Now, obviously I am kidding; but seriously people? Who came up with that? And who buys it? We did have a successful time there though. We found the cutest theme for our baby’s room—sports playing jungle animals. We had actually been joking about something like that existing, because we love sports, but animals are so cute too, when all of a sudden we come around the corner and there it is! But it was actually cute, not cheesy like we’d imagined!

Once we made it to the high chairs, strollers, and car seats, Kent and I realized we were feeling slightly overwhelmed, and very hungry. So we decided to go grab a bite to eat. I had been given a $10 gift card to Arctic Circle, so we thought it’d be a good day for that. Have any of you ever noticed though that Arctic Circle and Iceberg are a lot alike? They look alike, have the same colors, and pretty much serve the same food, more or less. Well, I had a blond moment and directed Kent to Iceberg, thinking that’s where my gift card was from. So we went in, and we ordered, and we both got shakes because we figured we could splurge with our gift card. When he totaled us up, I stuck my Arctic Circle $10 on the counter and slid it over to him, still oblivious to my mistake. The cashier looked at it, and then said, “Um, this is for Arctic Circle, you’re at Iceberg.” Wow. I was embarrassed. So, we paid for a meal ourselves and sat down and still enjoyed a great lunch, laughing a little more than usual. Suddenly, over the speakers in the restaurant, a song came on: “Baby, baby, baby, OH!!!!” We were like, “No way!!!” What a theme for the day of our baby registering. It was great. While singing along like the true “Beiber fans” we were that day, we also saw an unforgettable sight: two guys pulling out of the drive through on a motorcycle, the guy on the back trying his hardest not to look too gay, but while holding a shake in each hand. I don’t even know how to fully describe it, but it was hilarious watching him try and balance on the back without really touching his friend, and without spilling our dropping their shakes. Loved it!

So, as you can see, we had an eventfully hilarious day, learning the mere basics of what to expect in the very near future. It was such a fun, care-free day, that all these weeks later, I still remember our Beiber-ific day. I thought of the blog title that day in Iceberg, and I haven’t forgotten it. J We have since had so much happen that I can’t wait to share with you, but alas I will have to do so later, but soon.

Until next time, get up and get your Beiber on…you’ll like it!