Life as I know it

Jan 19, 2013

My Zoey

Wow, where to begin. I have neglected this blog but it is for a good reason. I am completely enthralled in my beautiful little girl. In order to catch up to date I will give a few details.

Zoey Jane Rust was born on October 27, 2012 at 8:36am. She was 9 pounds and 21.5 inches long. Such a special moment when she came into our lives, I cannot put it into words. She is just so wonderful. Lee and I couldn't be happier. Lee is an amazing Dad and I love watching him with her. Zoey was a very alert baby from the moment she was born. Just minutes old, she had her eyes open and looked back and forth at both Lee and I. She was wide awake for the first 2 hours of her life, meeting different family members who came to see us in the hospital.

When she was a week old, we had her picture taken. Brandy Hawkins did a wonderful job. These are just 2 of them.....if I could post them all and not be ridiculous, I would. :)

Shortly after Zoey was born, we finally got the keys to our new house!!! Buying the house was a very long and stressful ordeal but it is so nice to have it finally. Getting it meant lots of work trying to fix it up before moving in. Zoey was very patient with us as we spent hours and hours working on the house. She would sit with my Mom, or in her chair alone while we worked and I would stop just to feed her and change her diaper. Poor girl. She did great though.

Lee and I decided that we wanted to get a real tree for Christmas. Neither one of us had ever gone to cut a fresh tree down. Well, in our new house we have a vaulted ceiling and so we decided to get a large tree. It was quite an adventure getting it into the house but we loved our tree. We think it was about 11 feet tall. While having fun decorating the tree, my sister Gaylene had the idea of putting Zoey on the tree like an ornament. Well I don't think she liked it very much but we have lots of fun pictures to document the experience.

On Sunday, December 23rd, with lots of family and friends present, Lee blessed our sweet Zoey at church. That was such a sweet experience and the blessing was beautiful.

Zoey LOVED Christmas. You may wonder how a 1 month old baby can really love Christmas. Let me tell you. All of my family was in town for an entire week for Christmas. When I say all my family, it is not some small group. There were lots of people around and EVERYONE wanted to hold and talk to Zoey. She was the star. The only time I got to see my baby was when I was feeding her. She was never put down and she enjoyed all of the attention. Talk about getting spoiled right off the bat.

Zoey has discovered her voice. She loves to hear herself talk and I love to listen! When she gets upset, sometimes I will turn on a recording of her talking and she will stop crying, stare at the video, and sometimes start smiling or talking to herself in the video. She is so happy and loves to talk first thing in the morning (Such an amazing thing to wake up to), and at night (sometimes at 10:30 so I have a hard time putting her to bed).

She also, just recently started to laugh!!! So fun! I was so excited when I was able to capture just a little bit of it on tape since it doesn't happen very often right now. I love her squeal!

Love is the only word I can use. Zoey is full of LOVE and we LOVE her so much it is unbelievable.

Jun 14, 2012

It's a GIRL!!!

Well, it's official....I'm prego and we just found out that it is a girl! She is due to come around October 26th. I am 20 weeks along and I'm loving this phase of being pregnant. I won't lie, it was a really rough beginning to pregnant life as I was very sick along with working. Luckily I have a bathroom in my classroom at school and I have two wonderful aides who were very patient and understanding with me. Somehow I was able to keep it a secret from my students. I am happy to report that life since then has gotten MUCH better. I don't know if I could have handled life if it continued the same. Anyway, I feel a ton better and enjoy feeling my precious little girl moving around/kicking me. Lee and I are extremely happy! We were excited before and have been anticipating finding out what it is but now we can start really planning and it is so fun. We enjoy talking about names and looking at baby clothes/items. I guess, just knowing that it is a cute little girl made it even more real somehow. I am thrilled to see my baby girl and to see Lee as a Daddy. He is going to be an AMAZING Dad.

May 17, 2012

The Long Overdue Update

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. The biggest and greatest event was November 19th when I was sealed to Lee in the Sacramento Temple. Our wedding day was the best day!! I could not have asked for anything better and am so happy. I love Lee and words cannot express it all.

The time leading up to getting married was crazy and stressful. Not much sleep and not a lot of time to see Lee which didn't help. Lee graduated from the police academy and got a temporary job while he looked for a police job. I started was at my new school teaching and getting the hang of how things work there as opposed to my last school in Utah (which I miss a lot!!).
Since November, life has been wonderful and crazy at the same time. We were renting a cute house in Galt and loving it but it didn't work out for too long. To keep that story short, some family things came up with our landlord and we moved out so that he could help his family. We made a very quick move in with my parents which has been good but it was sad to leave the Galt house. We had just barely gotten all settled with things on all the walls when we had to move. About that time, Lee was hired with his new job which has been an adventure in itself!

We have now been married almost 6 months and I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. I know that 6 months isn't a huge chunk of time but I really feel like it has gone by in the blink of an eye. So many fun times and memories already made. I love every minute of being with Lee, which isn't a lot these days with his crazy schedule but life is wonderful. I am the luckiest girl in the world!

Aug 30, 2011

I'M GETTING MARRIED TO LEE!!!

So, it happened! Lee proposed and of course I said YES!!! Here's the story for anyone and everyone.
After school on Friday the 19th I headed over to Lee's house. We decided to go out to eat before leaving for our little road trip so we headed to El Torito then on the road headed for Santa Cruz. It was a fun drive with him as the sun was setting. When we got there, Lee found a great parking spot and we headed toward the boardwalk. After buying some tickets we went on a couple rides. Of course the Big Dipper then a ride similar to Drop Zone. There were tons of people there because it was a Friday night and there was a live band. Well, Lee and I love the beach and decided to go walk down to the water. We had to walk in the water of course so we rolled up our jeans and left our shoes to go walking along the shore. It was just perfect,

walking and talking with the waves hitting us (sometimes higher than we expected). After a while, when we were a ways down the beach away from other people is when it happened. Lee told me that he loves me, that he is happy when he is with me, and that he wants it to last forever. With that, he said that he had a question for me. Lee got down on one knee (in the water, with waves hitting him) and pulled out the most beautiful ring. I told him he better not drop it in the water, haha. He asked me if I'd marry him and I did not hesitate to say yes. I am so extremely happy and excited! Words can't do it justice. I love Lee and cannot wait for our lives to continue together.

Aug 17, 2011

Adventures on the Delta

Every day I teach my students that I expect them to try new things. Well, I was given the opportunity to practice what I preach. Lee invited me out on the boat with his Dad, Brian, and Kim and of course I went. The guys were all taking turns skiing and then they asked me if I was going to. (more like told me I was) Well, I've never been skiing before and I was a little nervous. I didn't think I'd be able to get up and I thought that it could very possibly be embarrassing. I decided to try it and just have fun. After some instructions I went for it. I didn't get up the first time but I was surprised how fast I did get up! I was very wobbly and didn't stay up for too long but I enjoyed it. We went out again a week later and I was able to get up and stay up longer which was a lot of fun! Even when I was not out skiing, I was having a blast with Lee and the others. It is just fun being on the boat and hanging out. This past Monday we went out again but this time we had this nice tube. Is it called a tube? There wasn't a whole in the middle.

Lee and I rode on it together for the first couple times. I loved riding with him! We have video of us riding a couple times and wiping out hard both times. I personally think the injuries were worth it. I don't know if I kneed Lee in the face or if he tried to bite me. Either way, we both were feeling it but I'm afraid Lee got the worst end of the deal. While watching the videos of us, I was really wishing you could hear our commentary. I know it would have

been hilarious to listen to while watching.

While riding alone, I was able to catch some air which was crazy. I was tossed all around on that thing, holding on for my life. I could not stop laughing the entire time, even as I was face planting into the raft. The fun and adventures never end here in California with Lee! I have a permanent smile on my face. Man I would be bored without him! I don't
know what I would do with my free time.

THANKS LEE!! YOU'RE THE BEST!!

Jul 31, 2011

The end of Summer

Well, this summer in California has been great. I have enjoyed lots of fun times with the people I love. If I tried to sit here and write about all of my favorite moments this summer, I'd be here for hours. :) Let's just say, it has been unforgettable.
After many interviews and a few job offers, I now have a job. I will be teaching a K-3 class of students who all have Autism. I'll be working at a school only 30 minutes away from home so I will start the school year by commuting. This past week, I have spent a majority of my free time in my new classroom cleaning and organizing things. Boy this is a big undertaking and quite stressful. School starts this Monday and I am very nervous for this school year to begin but I know that after time, I'll get into a new routine. Once I get a feel for my new school and students, it'll be great. I am excited for this adventure to begin.

Jul 8, 2011

Home in California!

What a crazy past month! I don’t even know where to begin! The end of school was great but very sad too. It was hard saying goodbye to the teachers and aides I worked with all this last year. I was not expecting to feel as emotional about it as I did. I guess I was so excited about the future that I had not thought too much about what/who I was leaving behind. I absolutely loved my year at Foothill with such amazing people around me. Those amazing people were the best support system I ever could have asked for but they were more than that. They were my friends and I love them. It was also sad to leave Utah knowing that I will not get to see my family there as often. I cherished my time with them, especially Steve and company.

Coming home was exciting and something I have looked forward to for a while. Being home this summer has been amazing and very eventful. I have loved every minute of it and cannot believe how quickly it is going. I've been able to be part of the dance festival, spend lots of time with my family here, and of course lots of fun adventures with Lee.

While being back in Cali, I've started the search for a job which has been interesting. I've applied to about 13 different places and continue to look every day to see if new jobs are posted online. I've gone to an observation and had an interview today. I also have 2 more interviews next week which will be good. Things are starting to happen as summer ends and we approach a new school year. I am very excited to see how things go the next couple months. Such an exciting time in the life of Cami Hansen.