From Here to Eternity...

...That was the name of our wedding song.

And here were our rings.

~We recently celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary.~ 

And this is what we did:

It was a week to the day that Ryler was born. 

We began the day with a little picture taking. 

I took a few & then Tim's sister Tracey came to our house to do a lil' Family photo shoot. {photos coming ...}

Tim & I thought a lot about how different our lives were 12 years ago.

Wow was it different! ... in many more ways than one.

12 years later here are our wedding rings now...

on the oh -so- tiny toes of my 5th born.

I'm glad I took this photo that day because we have since LOST Tim's ring in this crazy time!

....ah.. the joys of moving.

*Later that evening, we celebrated in true Audra-style. We had our kids babysit themselves while we took plates of our neighbor-brought dinner to the secluded Pecan groves & talked about our future.

*Free and Peace and Quiet....what more could I ever want?

*Then with baby in tow, we headed to Kohls to use our free $10 off coupon. Tim pushed my recently cut open body around the store in a wheelchair while Ry lay on my lap. 

We were quite the site I'm sure.

While there we bought Jax, our soon to be 2 yr old birthday surprises to give him that next day.

*Back to the house it was as we greeted our 4 oldest children, 

...who were all still in one piece. 

We ate our yummy {neighbor-brought} dessert, watched a movie 

...and talked about our Moving plans for that next week. 

Yup- that's what you call pure Romance in the Campbell household.

~L❤ve at First Sight~

Once I could finally feel my legs again after surgery 

(3 hours later!!-Remember my Rookie Anesthesiologist?) 

...they let Ryler & I leave the Recovery Room so he could greet everyone.

To my amazement Jaxson has jumped into the Big Brother roll  full force. From the moment he saw Ryler he said over & over again "Baby... a Baby!" He began to love on him and kiss him and even found some random stuffed bunny in the hospital and was trying to have Ry play with it. There has not been an ounce of jealousness shown by Jax-It just might have pushed me over the edge if he did. What a blessing!... 

{Just now as I was typing this, Ryler began to fuss in his swing & within seconds I hear Jax yelling from the other room saying: "Mom baby cry!"}
And then there's the BIG KIDS:

They are loving every minute holding their little brother Ryler.

My favorite thing about being a Mom...

 is seeing my children LOVE each other!

{I'm sure it is just how our Father in Heaven feels too.}

That's just the way we roll....

Thanks to my husband's line of work, the economy & our crazy moving history, I typically have a baby and then we move right before or right after. I've come to accept it & actually laugh about it...(kinda.) This time around ⌚we are moving 13 days after Ryler is born, just 10 days after being released from Hospital! C-Section incision, staples & all...

~Jealous?~

{We will be moving temporarily into a house for 5 months until our other house is ready. We are staying in the home of friends that just recently left on a 6 month mission. They were praying maybe even more so than us that our house sold soon so that we could move in while they were gone The blessing is that our house sold just 4 days after our friends, the Bulechek's left on their church service mission... Meant to be?-I think so. As crazy and unpredictable as life is, it is comforting to know that we are watched over.}


*I think over time I have learned...or am learning, that if I put ALL my FAITH into the hands of Heavenly Father & tell Him 'thy will be done', that Yes it can be scary not knowing the answer, but I do know that it WILL all work out. Sometimes I just don't know when or how but that's okay.

✌-OUT, 

The Birth Story...

The Prep Room:

The place where I get to have my bloodwork done & a lovely I.V. put in 

(that they can never do easily cuz my very small veins!)

{This is about the time that Tim starts getting REALLY nervous.}

Then it was really time....

I walked into the Operating Room, climbed up onto the bed. I hunched over a pillow & took deep breaths as the "Rookie" Anesthesiologist gave me my spinal. (Not comforting to hear the experienced guy walking him through it...lovely.)

I laid down, watched the magic blue curtain go up & waited for my hubby to come in. I prepped him on what to do with the cameras. I was trying to keep both our minds off the fact that I was being sliced open for the 5th time in the same spot.

Here I am thinking:  "Am I really doing this again!?"

 I looked up into these lights & could see a clear reflection of my surgery. I got super nauseous. They would continue to raise my blood pressure to keep me from vomiting. As it started to get closer I snuck a few peeks & my adrenaline started pumping and compensated for my nausea.

Then we heard the doctors and nurses say phrases that hinted he was almost here. Suddenly I heard my Doctor say something to the affect that the Cord was wrapped around his neck...then he said "wrapped twice..." & "also around one arm.".....Seriously!.. I thought. Is this really happening! I panicked for a moment as I saw the reflection of what was happening above me. 

The nurses quickly took him and worked on him. Still no crying! A mother's worst nightmare. He still hadn't cried yet but suddenly an overwhelming feeling of peace came over me and I knew he was going to be okay. A tender mercy I'll never forget.~

He still hadn't cried yet and needed Oxygen!
(look how purplish he looks)

And then FINALLY we heard a little gurgley cry....

And then a louder, clearer one.

The best sound I ever heard...

When all was well, Tim cut the cord & then brought little Ryler over to me so I could kiss him. It literally felt like I was kissing Heaven. 

Tim took Ryler out of the room with him & the nurses as I was left in operating room getting sewn back up. The nausea came back & I threw up that nasty barium sulfate drink a number of times.

Finally I was all done. The doctor told me that again I had quite a lot of scar tissue (as always) but that everything looked good. What a relief. No abnormal bleeding, tearing, hemoraging or need for hysterectomy...Fears I have.

Then I was wheeled into the Recovery Room & I got to hold my baby.

And the World stood still....

♥Meet our sweet Ryler!

*RYLER means "Adventurer" & that he has been from the beginning. For starters, this little guy thought it would be cool to be born on Friday the 13th.  I'm certain he had something to do with that. It was actually supposed to be Thursday the 12th but long story short it was set back a day & Luckily that it was, because I had a terrible flu bug that day! {Unanswered Prayers work out best sometimes.}

When Ryler made his Earthly appearance, I guess he thought he'd come repelling out of my body. He came complete with the umbilical cord wrapped twice around his neck & once around his arm. I saw the reflection in the light above me as the doctor quickly unwrapped it & passed him off so the nurses could get him crying & breathing. It seemed like it took forever and although I lay there helpless and scared, I knew deep down he would be okay.

HE must have known too....

~Ryler Thomas Campbell~

6 lbs. 1 oz. & 19¼ inches

Friday, May 13th 1:00pm

Hooray!....

Hooray!...

Tomorrow Ryler comes out to Play!

ConGRADuations!!

Woo Hoo Britters!

My little sister Brittany just graduated from her 2 year program studying to be a Dental Hygienist. It opened my eyes to what they have to go through to get to this point. {Even being accepted into the Program takes a lot of Prerequisites.} Just the amount of Anatomy they learn is crazy, the Tests they take (& have to score well on) & the amount of Patients they have to work on is amazing! This must really weed out the ones who aren't cut out for the challenge.

I'm so proud of you Britt for sticking with it!

I don't think I ever could've done it..

M♥ther's Day this year...

~Here is our traditional sit-on-the-couch Mother's Day photo.~
There's just something about being pregnant on Mother's Day...It made this "Mother" thing Im doing all the more meaningful and all my emotions were on the surface that day.

(yes the dog thinks he's my child too)

~In our ward at church Sunday morning, Tim's parents were actually the speakers making the meeting significant as they spoke about Mothers. It was sweet to hear Tim's Mom talk about her Mother who was sitting in the congregation and said it meant a lot that she was there, even though she probably had no idea that she was because of her Dimentia. {There's just something about just having your Mom close by that is comforting.}

~That evening my hubby, dad & siblings prepared Dinner for my Mom and I. (I think mom helped a bit...) It was scrumptious. Tim had the idea to spell "MOM" out of cheese & Sara the Talented made this "Queen Ice Cream Cake" (best I've ever had!) & helped my SIL Kayla make chocolate covered strawberries! I felt spoiled...

We visited with both of our Mom's that evening & gave them their little gifts.

We are so blessed to have our Mothers in our lives, 

and are grateful for all that they have taught us and raised us to be.

Kids Performances

The end of the school year came way too fast & has been full of Recitals & Performances. We have been BUSY with it all but I think having them perform gives them great experience & confidence. Over the course of 2 weeks we have had: 

*Spencer's 5th Grade Singing Performance:
He had a speaking part & was of course the most handsome 5th grader there. (Does every parent think that of their kids or is it just me?) Most of them were too cool to sing but not my Spence. His partner was not there so he danced alone & with the cutest grin. His star he waved around was decorated like Patrick-to which his younger siblings thought was the coolest thing ever!


*Daylan's Kindergarten Performance:
ADORABLE is all I have to say. There are some pretty talented 5 year old kiddos, Daylan included. He had the cutest speaking part & with his slight speech impediment, it melted the audience & gave them a giggle. He was the Vegetable "SPINACH" & said in the mic- "We're the leafy vegetables, in case you haven't guessed. And without us, Salads across the Land would be distressed."

*Spencer's Boys Hip Hop Dance Competition:    Spence & his Boyz Crew did great as always at The Hall of Fame Regional Competition. He was told by his Coach that this was his best performance ever. *They took 1st Place Overall in their Division!! As the boys accepted their award @ the Awards Ceremony that day, Spence gave the crowd a peace sign & head bob making them all chuckle. (They perform in July for Nationals @ Disneyland.)

*Kaylea & Spencer's Guitar Recital @ El Rico's:
Kaylea was one of the first to go up & was terrified. She hadn't practiced the particular song enough & panicked at the last minute. She even had to "run" to the bathroom right before she was to perform & was "gone" when it was her turn. But alas, she made it up to the front with a little love-shove from Mom. She sat on the chair in front of all the outside Restaurant & did a good job performing the chords of the song "Fireflies." I was so proud of her for doing something she was scared to do.

Then Spence got up & performed "I Wanna Be A Billionaire." He decided right before he went up to sing the words into the microphone. He also had a love-shove from his Mom right before when he 2nd-guessed his decision. He broke my heart when he said: "Do you really think I should?" Absolutely! -I told him. He got up there & sang and played his song. Kaylea & Spence have only been taking Group Guitar Lessons for about 3 months & both did something most adults would never do!

*Piano Group Days:
Each of my 15 students (3 being my own kids) casually performed over the course of 2 days for each other a song they had been working on. This was the less stressful way of doing it (for a prego lady like me) than the Christmas Recital I put on in December. We played games, performed & had treats. Awww...now for my 6 week Maternity-Leave...nice.

*Daylan's "Let's Play Music" Recital:

What?...this doesn't look like a Recital picture?

Well it's because he was throwing up @ home instead of singing.

But we had him do his own Let's Play Music Recital for FHE later on.

& *Spencer's Hip Hop Dance Recital:    (May 14th....to be continued)
I'll be in the Hospital with Ryler but will watch it later via recorded video. He'll have lots of support there from family members & I'm sure he'll do awesome! :)

~Spring All Around Us~

(although Summer is coming upon us way too fast...)

I LOVE SPRING...

If it weren't for my allergies, it would be my favorite.

so it comes in 2nd next to Fall.

~I love that Spring represents New Life & New Beginnings.~

..notice the For Sale sign in the background above...don't LOVE that part.

Every year wherever it is we live, it seems like we always have a nest of birds. This time the doves made a nest at eye level on a rickety branch in our front yard. The birds chose a pretty tree with a view but the branch, their foundation was way too wobbly. (See where I'm heading with this?...)
So after a couple days of enjoying watching these baby birds, the kids come running inside panicking saying "Mom, the baby birds-..they're dying!!" I went out and saw the 2 baby birds on the concrete, one was seizuring close to death & the other questionably sitting however he landed. The saddened mother bird was flying around in circles not knowing what to do. I got some gloves, picked up the baby birds and placed them back in their nest on a more sturdy branch.

Within minutes the mother bird was back to the nest trying to help her babies. A day or so passed as she tried nursing them back to health & then suddenly all were gone. One lay there on the ground dead while the other baby & mom were gone. Hopefully the other baby flew off & was okay.


Lesson learned from the Birds: New Beginnings are not always the same for everyone. As one baby bird survived and carried on it's life here on the Earth, the other began it's life elsewhere. As sad as I am to move and leave, I know just like the other bird that a new beginning is about to take flight.


~Here's to New Life & New Beginnings!...