Well, we have been moved into our new house for about a month now! I love it! I love having somewhere to call home, I love having something that is ours, I love being able to do what we want to it and I love that we are across the street from target .
It seems like everytime we start a project it turns into a way bigger project than we thought it would be. Fun, but expensive and time consuming. Justin is currently tiling the guest bathroom shower and is preparing to replace the plumbing throughout the house.

Justin graduated with his bachelor's in nursing last month (with straight A's throughout the ENTIRE bachelor program). Since then he has been applying to different hospitals for the intensive care unit (ICU) to gain experience to get into anesthesia school in a few years.
With Ava being such a hard baby and being so far from family we have been dying to live closer to home! With justin working nights and sleeping days I sometimes feel as if i am a single mom. Which is not at all bad! I have learned so much and gained so much patience and more strength than I ever thought I could have. It has been a true test for me but God gives us nothing that we can't handle! We went to the temple and prayed about what to do and I just had a strong feeling that I should support my husband and let him guide us in the direction that he felt best fit our family. So, he took a job in the ICU here in Twin Falls! At first I was bummed that we wouldn't be closer to home but it is what it is and i know this will benefit us in the long run! In a year justin will start applying for grad schools to become a nurse anesthesiologist. We could go anywhere in the country!
On a side note, Ava turned 5 months old and time is flying. She has improved quite a bit since birth with her acid reflux. She is still pretty grouchy a lot of the time and is fussy a lot. But when she's not refluxing, SHE IS SO MUCH FUN! Her smiles and coos and yells are the best. I don't remember what life was like without her. Oh wait, I do. It was quiet. And pretty boring! She brings joy and a sweet spirit into our home. She has started reaching for things recently and she loves to grab faces, hair, and the dogs! Oh my lanta she LOVES dogs. All of them. She especially likes to grab their ears and shove them in her mouth. Maizie really doesn't love her yet but little does she know that sweet blue eyes girl will be playing fetch with her soon enough and they will be best friends!

She is OBSESSED with the wiener dogs!

Welp, I'm officially the worst blogger in the world. It's a whole lot easier to update our lives on social media than here, so I apologize If you've missed my blog updates recently ..
  As most of you know, our sweet Ava Louise Heyrend was born on December 31, 2014 weighing 6 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long. My birth was the easiest thing I had gone through my whole pregnancy. I would take that and the recovering process over the kidney pains I experienced during pregnancy!
  I went in for a checkup the morning before her arrival with contractions 5 minutes apart. The doctor told me to go walk around for an hour and if they got any closer to check In to labor and delivery.. as soon as we got to target to do some last minute shopping, they were 2 minutes apart. I checked in to the hospital, the nurse told me to bounce on an exercise ball for an hour and when she came back to check me it was go time! The doc came in and broke my water, I got my epidural and we patiently waited.. a few hours later with 45 minutes of pushing, she was here!
  About 30 minutes after ava arrived and got checked out and cleaned up, the nurses put her on my chest for some mommy cuddles. All of a sudden her little body went limp and her breathes were shallow. I called for the nurse, she listened to her heart, took her out of my arms faster than I could blink and rushed her to the NICU with my husband and step dad. My mom stayed in the hospital room with me for hours before anyone could tell us what was going on and if Ava would be okay.
   Finally our doctor stepped in and let us know that she had to be recessitated with a few pumps of air and that she was doing okay and being tested for anything that could have caused her apnea episode. While justin worked most nights, I spent most of my time in ava's NICU room, waiting for her to be discharged. She had a few more times where her heart rate would get really low or she would stop breathing. It was the most traumatic experience for me to go through as a first time mom, always expecting the worst.. $41,000 in NICU bills (thank goodness for great insurance right?!) and 9 days later, she was FINALLY sent home with us attached to a heart monitor. It would go off anytime her heart rate would drop or get too high. It was as loud as a home smoke alarm to make sure we always knew if something was wrong. Luckily she only had to wear it for 2 weeks as she grew out of her apnea.
  The doctors assume she quit breathing because of acid reflux. As newborns are still adjusting to the outside world, they don't always know how to react to certain situations (like having acid reflux).
  She sees a doctor about every other week for her reflux. He has tried switching her from breastmilk to different types of formula. She takes medicine 3 times a day still. We are taking her to a chiropractor to see if an adjustment will help and her doctor wants to send her to a pediatric gastroenterologist for further testing.
  This little one keeps us on our toes at all times but we wouldn't have it any other way. We love her so much and are so grateful she's here with us. I know heavenly father has a plan for all of us and this is just one of those trials we are trying to get past. I have learned to have so much more patience than I am used to and I am thankful for the things I learn everyday with her. ❤