Liam Richard Judd

I am now 5 months along or in Preggo talk.. 21 weeks. Over halfway done!! I am a little late in telling everyone. I have been asked how I kept my pregnancy a secret for so long. Honestly it wasn't that I was keeping a secret, I just didn't want to make it that big of a deal. If someone asked, I told them. It was that simple. Plus I was extremely concerned about having a miscarriage. The last thing I wanted was to tell everyone that I was pregnant, only to have a miscarriage and have to tell everyone when they asked about the baby, that I wasn't having one anymore. My mother, sister-in-law, and cousins have all struggled with miscarriages. I have been aware of this possibility and it has been a real fear in my life. I assumed that I would be the same as my family, so I expected to have one and didn't really let myself get truly excited until I had my first ultrasound at 18 weeks. Now that everyone knows, here is a little 'catch up' on my pregnancy experience so far.

I have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far. I felt GREAT my first trimester. It was a literal BREEZE. I didn't tell anyone but my mom & Conner that I was pregnant until I was in the last week of my first trimester. Everything was the same except a sudden HATE of anything with meat in it and I was just a little more tired than usual. This meant more naps, which in my world is a WONDERFUL thing. The second trimester however, has been riddled with nausea, unbearable migraines, misaligned hips, extreme back spasms, sciatic nerve pain, blurred vision, more exhaustion and fatigue, and an inability to sleep for more than 3 hours at a time. I thought that the sleep thing was what happened AFTER the baby was born.. I guess I will be used to sleep deprivation by then. Those things aren't the worst in the world though. I will survive. Apparently according to EVERY other woman in the world this is supposed to be when I am feeling the best. Oh goodie.  -______-

Baby Liam is a wild one. He kicks me ALL day long and ALL night long. If I am laying down he is kicking me. Conner was a wild child, so we are going to blame him on this one, but I am honestly afraid that this child will come out bouncing off the walls. With Conner's destructive toddler stories and my insane amount of energy I think that this kid is going to give us a run for our money. Conner is convinced that Liam is going to be a huge baby, but I think he will just be average. Every Dr.'s appointment he has measured exactly normal. That one we will blame on me. I was always pretty average height and weight wise. Conner however was a tank as a kid. So we will just have to wait and see. As long as he fits in the outfit I bought him to come home from the hospital in I will be happy. If you saw this outfit, you would completely understand. It is the definition of 'manly adorable'.

I honestly have had a really great pregnancy overall. It has reassured me in the fact that this is what my Father in Heaven wants me to be doing. Bubba and I have always wanted kids. We have been married for over two years and everyone started the "So when do you guys want to have kids?" conversations a year ago at least... Which really bothered me for some reason. To Conner & I this decision was not just ours, but we included God very much in it. After all it is His child that we will be caring for and teaching. We wanted to make sure that we were prepared spiritually, emotionally, and financially. If I had decided to have a kid when I had wanted one, I would have had one two years ago. It would have been a blessing, just one that felt more like a trial at the time. We have been constantly praying about when it was right to start our family. This summer we both just knew. We went to the temple and prayed to confirm that the answer that we had received was truly what God wanted in our lives. I can not explain how good it feels to have the Lord's blessing and approval on such a special endeavor. We have been prepared to fully enjoy this entire process and have felt nothing but peace and comfort. (the freak out moments are probably not too far away but for now we have felt strangely calm about this whole being responsible for a human being thing.) I am so grateful that my husband and I have a relationship with Christ and our Heavenly Father. It has only strengthened our marriage and helped us see this life with an eternal perspective. I definitely am counting my blessings and enjoying every second of my transition into becoming a mother. It has always been a dream of mine and Conner has been DYING to be a dad so we are nothing but over the moon about this whole experience.

I will be writing more about my feelings about becoming a Mother, and about Conner becoming a Father. I am so excited for the future and can it just be May already?!

XOXO, Cami

How We Met

 English 101. That class... I don't remember a thing the teacher said but that class changed my life forever. It was my last class of the day. I had met so many people in such a short amount of time. Some from orientation, some from classes, and some from the awkward crammed elevator rides. Out of all of my friends that I connected with, most are now married, and one of them is my husband.

He was sitting in the front row on the opposite side of the room as me. He sat alone. He had his notebook out and was ready to pay attention. "He must have just gotten off his mission" I thought. He was too old to be 18, so he must be a returned missionary. Most of the guys at my school were. He was wearing a plaid button up with a white v neck underneath. He had on a pair of  khaki cargo shorts. Ones from Hollister or American Eagle. He had on flip flops. His hair was inbetween long and short. Almost like he was trying to grow it out, or had just gone a little too long between haircuts.

The teacher introduced himself and gave us the syllabus. He explained how the semester was going to work and how we would be graded. [I have to mention the fact that this man was ANCIENT. Walking skeleton status. Moving on... ] He then assigned us our first paper. It was a profile essay. Usually a teacher wants you to write an about me paper so they can get to know you. This was a twist on that concept. We had to write a paper about someone else in the class. We had to interview a class mate and write a paper on them. But wait, there was more. Then we had to present our paper to the class aloud, while they sat in front of the class listening. The teacher then asked us to choose partners and fill out a questionnaire about one another, interview style, for the rest of the class time.

Conner turned around. He started looking around the room and I asked him, " Hey do you want to be partners?" He agreed and I moved up to the front row to sit by him. I wasn't like "Oh my gosh this is my future husband!!!!" I just thought he was a kid who I could be friends with in this class. I found out that he had gotten home from his mission in Sao Paolo, Brazil nine months ago, (not a month ago) and that he was in his second semester at the Business College. He had been a manager at Hollister, which explained the clothing. He had a girlfriend back home who was getting baptized and he lived in Salt Lake with some friends just down the street. We talked and laughed and found out that we had some things in common like movies, and life goals. We both liked sports and books. I made fun of his sports team choices and he openly hated mine. It was fun. We didn't get all the way through the questionnaire before class was over and I had to catch the bus. We agreed to finish next class, said goodbye and went our separate ways.

I missed the next class because I slept in and missed my bus to Salt Lake. We were not able to finish our papers and because of this Conner was pretty ticked at me. He thought I had dropped the class and left him hanging.. He asked the teacher what he should do and he told him to just write a paper on himself and present that. So he did. Well SURPRISE I showed up next class and told the teacher that I didn't have a paper because I had missed the last class. He told Conner to scrap his paper on himself, and finish the project with me. Let's just say that Conner was more than a little upset.

He played it cool but the next class he came in after me and purposefully sat on the opposite side of the room behind me. I saw him and immediately got up and moved my stuff next to him saying, " Why did you move?!" as I sat down next to him. I was so oblivious. Classic Cami.. anyways, I took the humor approach to the assignment where Conner was sweet and sincere. I basically sat and listened to a compliment Cami-fest and then regretted not going first when it was my turn. I basically made jokes about all the things I thought were silly about him like his sports teams and complimented him a little bit. I honestly don't know why he ever talked to me again. We sat down after it was over and laughed about it.

It was that assignment that brought us together as friends and we sat by each other for the rest of that semester. We learned a lot about one another and I really believe that it helped us cultivate the best friends mentality that we have had our entire relationship. We were friends first. We weren't trying to impress each other and showed our faults openly. This helped us love everything about each other, not just the good stuff. I know that I fell in love with Conner that semester. The more I learned about him, the more I wanted to see what life would be like with him. I am so glad that I got to find out.

Utah. the Good, the Bad & the Pretty

Okay so I just moved back to good ole California from Utah. There are things I miss about Utah and things that I am glad to leave behind, but honestly the transition has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. Here are some things I loved and hated about Utah, if you have ever been or lived there then you will understand.

UTAH PROS

-better looking people, BYU is the highest ranking school of brains mixed with beauty according to college prowler and business insider, seriously check out this article on it. For some reason almost everyone up there is GORGEOUS and health is a big thing as well.

-clean cities, not much trash or graffiti. Alot of homeless people, but even they seem to be cleaned up compared to other cities I have been to. 

-FRY SAUCE. I am literally having withdrawls. I went into five guys in California and instantly wanted to return my fries when realizing that there was no fry sauce to dip them in.

grass and greenery. The mountain views are AHHHHMAZING!!! 

-BEST SHOPPING EVER... 

Here are a few of my favorite places that I shopped at, most being just a block away. 

Nordstrom Rack 

Plato's Closet, a clothing exchange where you can sell your clothes and buy clothes at a discounted rate. 

Hobby Lobby.. nuff said

The Wood Connection

Tai Pan

My Quilt Shop.. little old ladies and the most adorable fabrics ever. I miss you.

Deseret Book/ Distribution Center, ordering church books and g's just aren't the same online.

ULTA you are DEEPLY missed, 

Walmart ... I know everywhere has them but in Utah it is NOT ghetto and is open 24/7 at every location which they are all Supercenters... Price matching on groceries is the best thing ever! I went there WAYYYYYY more than I did Target and Target was closer.. that says A LOT about Walmarts there.. seriously it was the BOMB. Black Friday's will never be the same for the Judd Family.

DI, or Savers, Basically they are thrift stores but HUGE and have the BEST stuff, not your grandma's stuff. We got 28 classic disney movies like Cinderella and Toy Story for $1 a piece.

9 malls in a 50 mile radius two being outlets,

1. Provo Towne Center Mall **

2. University Mall***

3. Traverse Mountain Outlets**

4. South Towne Mall***

5. Fashion Place Mall****

6. City Creek Mall***

7. Gateway Mall***

8. Park City Tanger Outlets***

9. Mall in West Valley that I can't remember the name of 

because it is an awful Mall and no one should go there.*

Shopping just isn't the same. *tear*

Sorry for that random rant... back to the list. 

-KSLclassifieds, like craiglist but not sketchy and ghetto. 

see ksl here.

-Mormons are majority, this is a con as well but honestly it was nice not having to explain my beliefs to everyone and having people who aren't Mormon understand as well. It was kind of cool sometimes.

To learn more about Mormons and what we believe click here

-People are nicer and more trustworthy. We never locked our cars or home. (we didn't have a house key) and they were always there when we got back. I lost my phone, I.D and wallet all numerous times and they were always found and turned in.. I was not ready for that. I will miss it..

-Easy to find a job. See KSL job postings. 

-School is cheap. With the Pell Grant that I received I paid -$500 a semester to go to school.. that's right I made money going to school. Low tuition will do that for you. 

See if you qualify for the Pell Grant.. married people usually do. So do single Moms..

-Movie theaters ALL have reserved seating, (including Cinemark, they are screwing us here) You can buy your tickets for a midnight premiere from home online and reserve your seats!! So there is NO sitting outside the theater like an IDIOT for hours. You walk in have them print your tickets and walk right into the theater to your PERFECT seats 5 minutes before showtime. IT ROCKS.. oh and they let you bring your own food in with no questions.. they even have unlimited refills on drinks!!! (Larry H Miller Megaplex is where it's at!!)

UTAH CONS

-people are SUPER FAKE, you never know if they are really nice or not because they all look like someone you can trust. 

-NO Diversity.. pretty much white bread and polynesians.. a few black people in salt lake city and a few mexican communities in West Valley, but there is NO other languages anywhere... There are alot of international students from around the world living everywhere, but they are all headed straight back to where they came from as soon as they graduate. Oh and there are redheads everywhere!! Driving around BYU campus in Provo you are GUARANTEED to find at least one redhead on every block. Dead serious we played a game.. hahahahhaa Don't get me wrong I love Gingers and Redheads, but they are a rare sight in other places. It is like Utah is their home. 

-COSMETIC SURGERY and ENHANCEMENTS are EVERYWHERE!!!! It was hard to meet a good looking confident woman who did NOT have anything done whether it was laser hair removal, breast implants or reduction or lifts, botox, eyelash extensions, fake tan, or some other type of surgery fix. It was kind of crazy. You just begin to expect it. It is not a bad thing there. 

-COPS pulling you over for meaningless things like going 1 mile over the speed limit on the freeway, yes this happened in Utah and I was given a ticket.. law enforcement is a joke in Utah.. at least on traffic violations.. CA = 1 ticket in three years of driving (in high school), UT = 4 tickets in 1 year..  something isn't adding up.. unless we are talking about my insurance payments... DUMB.

-SNOW and everything that comes with it.. shoveling driveways, scraping your car off, driving in snow and on ice,  slipping on ice, runny raw noses, salt on the roads, chapped lips, frozen ears, gloves, freezing outside and Sweating once indoors, and never seeing the sun all winter.. It is depressing. The inversion during winter is so bad kids can't go outside to play because the air is dirty. GROSS and only more snow or rain will make that go away.. never ending cycle of DOOM

People who rarely see snow's idea of snow.

What snow is really like.

All in all, I miss Utah and it's quirks. I am very glad to be home and warm though. I would rather sweat in my car than freeze when  i get out of it. The grass is always greener on the other side, but truth be told where you are is how you make it. I was so excited to be moving out of Apple Valley and up to Utah. The first year was great and then I chose to be a negative nancy the last year or two while living there, now that I am gone I wish I would have appreciated it more. While there are somethings I will always dislike, Utah was my home for a little while and hopefully I will be able to visit there often. Utah is wonderful and will be missed.

Father's Day

Father's are the best! Especially both of mine. 

I myself have always been a Daddy's girl. I was his only daughter until I was 11 years old. I will always remember going on Daddy daughter dates with him. He taught me the important things like that I should kiss on the first date if I really liked them... he will deny that until the grave. hahaha We started Andersen T-Shirt Factory my junior year of high school and I will always have good memories in that garage. It was times like these that I started to recognize the sacrifices that he made and love that he had for our family. His words of wisdom at those times helped me love who I was becoming and know that I deserved the best.  He is my go to guy when I need some advice about life. He always played the "tough dad" to my boyfriends, except when he met Conner he hugged him immediately and the "tough guy" was out and the bromance was in. He denies that too.. I love my Daddy and I will always be his little girl. Father knows best.! 

BEST PICTURE EVER!!! My parent's engagement picture. He still talks about how hot she is in the this picture. 

Me and Dad on top of the empire state building in 2008

Right before Nate left on his mission.. Is little Sadie not the cutest little girl ever here?!?!

Jake and Dad at the Pirate Party for our ward!

Father-in-law Darin Judd is a great example of a great Dad. He loves everyone unconditionally. He taught me to love people, even when you feel like they do not deserve it. This was a lesson that will stick with me for the rest of my life. He's also HILARIOUS. Every time we visit we come back with a few more family jokes from the one-liners that he spits out. He is also a great minute to win it partner and will heckle people with me until the cows come home. This luckily has been passed on to my husband! Despite being a busy lawyer and stake president, he always makes time for family and makes sure to always be there for his kids. I see more of Darin's example in Conner every single day and I am so grateful :) 

LOVE this picture.. Darin and Jennifer with baby Conner. 

The whole family when Preston got home from his mission

photo cred and Idea cred: Erin.. Parent easter egg hunt. 

Thank you both for all the laughs and lessons that you have shared with us! We wouldn't be the people we are today without you. 

Let It Begin

DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!

I have been wanting to start a blog for awhile, so here goes nothing.. 

Before I start going off about my life I think that a few introductions are in order..

THE JUDD'S

Cami Amelia Judd

term of endearment: Camelia

twenty-one 

Southern California

From the Land of Dust and Wind

[Apple Valley]

primary songs, t-shirts and earrings, JBIEBS, classic stories, the idea of never truly growing up.

and then there is....MY BETTER HALF

Richard Conner Judd

goes by Conner, but he will always be my BUBBA

24.. aka: almost 1/4 of a century. 

Northern California

Right on the Bay

[Benicia]

Snoring machine, outdoor enthusiast., multilingual, macho man, scriptorian, my rock.

We currently reside in my hometown of Apple Valley, CA. 

Sounds quaint, but sadly there are no apples, or trees, or grass. We live in the dirt right before SoCal gets nice. It was also 110 degrees the other day... let summer begin. hahaha. I joke about how lame it is but I really love it. It is the perfect balance of home, memories, and new beginnings. I love the idea of raising my family here and luckily so does my husband (SCORE)

I am Mormon

I know it, I live it, I love it

I love Jesus Christ and my Father in Heaven.

God gave me life as a gift, how I live it is my gift to Him.

To learn more about the way I choose to live check it out.

We got married at 19 and 22.

We were in love so he put a ring on it, not to mention I was a little bit OBSESSED with him...
11 months after we met we were married & the rest is history!!!

It has been almost 3 years since we met on the first day of college.. 

[more on that later...] 

and 2 years in August since we promised to be together forever. 

Well now that you made it through that little introduction I think I have figured out what this blog will be. 

This is going to be a place for me to record my families stories, experiences, good times and hard times too. (not too sad though..) I hope one day I can look back and see the growth that I hope to make. Hopefully you enjoy reading about our adventures in everyday life.

spare a few minutes and take a walk in my shoes.