Lucky to be your Visiting Teacher March Handout Ideas

On to some St. Patrick's themed visiting teaching handouts for the month!  

The two that I created can be attached to anything St. Patrick's themed.  

I've got a few different ideas if you need some inspiration! 

I found this cute shamrock dish at Dollar Tree, but I also found it online HERE-get it at Dollar Tree if you can and save some money!  Fill it with some shamrock cookies, gold candies, or any kind of green treat.  Some gold candy I thought of:  Twix, Rolos, gold coins, and Werther's Original Soft Caramels- you could do the hard caramels too but I love the soft.

If the sister you visit teach has kids this would be a fun option, I found these light up rings at Dollar Tree that the kids would just love!

You can attach these cute little tags to anything to 

let her know just how lucky you are to visit teach her!

I found this container in the Target Dollar Bins and filled it with gold candy.

The next tag is super cute!  You can still pair it with anything mentioned before, but this one is ideal for anything with lucky on it.  Think Lucky Charms! 

I found this lip balm in the Dollar Spot at Target for only $1, but you can find a variety pack with other fun cereal flavors HERE!  

A little or big box/container of Lucky Charms would be the perfect treat for their family too!  THIS limited edition kind would pair really well with the lucky theme!  I really like these Lucky Charm Bars too, it would be so cute to give one bar to each sister you visit.

No matter which tag you use or what you decide to give with it remember
just how lucky you are to serve and visit with those specific sisters.
Visiting Teaching really can be so fun if you make it that way!

Find the free printable for both tags above HERE!

Pray for Each Sister by Name March Visiting Teaching Handout Ideas

Don't you just love St. Patrick's Day!?  I love all the cute leprechaun decorations, pots of gold and of course chocolate coins.  Really any holiday to celebrate is just so much fun!  

Carrying on the St. Patrick's theme with the visiting teaching principle this month of Pray for Each Sister by Name, I had to incorporate shamrocks somehow.

How cute are these chocolate hearts?!  I bought a bag HERE and used three of them to make a cute shamrock, but you could even just use one and put it in the center of the shamrock.  Any kind of heart treat or shamrock decoration would work great with this printable!

There is no way we could know the hearts of others or what they really need in their lives at the time if we don't pray for the inspiration needed!  Heavenly Father is so anxious to bless us, he wants to answer our prayers and sometimes its through others that he answers them.  I hope that I can be receptive to those prayers and first off make sure to say those prayers.

This handout would be a perfect little flyer to put on each of your sisters door that are in your district if you're a district leader or pass out on Sunday if you're the Relief Society President-to remind the sisters to do their visiting teaching!  

Find the free 'Pray for Each Sister by Name' printable HERE!

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own. 

Power in Prayer March Visiting Teaching Handout Idea

I cannot believe how many handout ideas I have for this months Visiting Teaching Principle.  So for the next week I will be sharing an idea or two each day so keep checking back.

I love that holidays make it a great excuse to visit your sisters and give them a cute treat or handout!  Later on this week I will have more holiday themed handouts but I thought I'd start with some general tags if you prefer those instead.  

This month the principle we are focusing on is Pray for Each Sister By Name.  There really is so much power in prayer!  When we pray specifically for others we are better able to help them when needed.

And this quote from Elder Bednar fit so perfectly.  This tag can obviously go along with Powerade or any kind of protein bar or drink, another favorite protein drink is Premier Protein-there Caramel and chocolate flavors are awesome!  These Power Bars would work so well too!  Anything that could give the sisters you visit teach a little more power.  ;)

Print, attach to the treat of your choice and go!  

How easy is that!?  I love a good tag that can be paired with different things.

Find the free 'Power In Prayer printable HERE!

Find more monthly Love Notes below:

(They are perfect for Ministering/Visiting Teaching/Home Teaching)

January 

February

March (I made LOADS of ideas this month-find them all HERE!)

April  and HERE

May

June

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

Olivia's Newborn Pictures

I'm finally getting around to sharing Olivia's adorable newborn photo shoot.  

My best friend Gabby Larsen took the most amazing pictures of our little sweetie and I just had to share!  I also wanted to share some of the outfits and bows I used for the shoot because it can be a struggle sometimes to find what you're looking for.  I'm on the hunt for the cutest, affordable bows so if you know of any places let me know!

Bow Sleeper-gifted, similar options linked below / pink bow-gifted, similar linked / 

swaddle-Aden + Anais 

I couldn't find the exact bow one piece we were given by my sweet aunt but I did find the Bow Bodysuit that has the same adorable bows from Janie and Jack, and it's on sale!

This one is similar and you can get 2 for just a little bit more, there is also a lot more designs to choose from.

Doughnut Swaddle and Headband Set-gifted, found on Amazon

My little doughnut baby!  I love this sweet (pun intended :)) doughnut swaddle and headband!  My cute cousins gave me this set because they new how much Dallin and I love doughnuts.  Talk about a perfect gift!  Remember how we announced we were having a baby with doughnuts on National Doughnut Day?!  Check it out HERE if you missed it.

Caterpillar Swaddle Sack and Hat-gifted, found on Amazon / 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Book-gifted, found on Amazon

My older sister and Mom threw me the most adorable book themed baby shower.  I'm hoping to post more about that later, but the same cute cousins that gave me the doughnut swaddle gave me this cute swaddle too-to go along with the book they gave me!

Pink Tutu and Flower Headband-Amazon / Vintage Mini Suitcases-Amazon

I'm hoping to decorate Olivia's nursery in a travel theme so these mini suitcases were a must for some pictures and to use later on in her room!  I loved this adorable little tutu and headband set, the color and fit of both were just what I was hoping for.

Gold Headband-Amazon / Flower Swaddle-Copper Pearl (style discontinued), similar linked / Pink Swaddle-Aden & Anais

These pictures were perfect for her floral and gold themed blessing luncheon.  

More pictures of that special day to come! 

Best Friend Onesies-homemade / Pink Tutu-Amazon / Flower Headband-Gifted, similar linked

Gabby had a little boy two weeks before I had Olivia and we just know they are destined to get married and be best friends!  :)  Olivia and Kayven will have lots of adventures growing up together we just know it! 

Obviously I am totally in love with all these pictures and I hope you enjoyed them too!  It obviously pays big time to have best friend photographers. 

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are as always my own.

Olivia's Birth Story

Our sweet baby girl arrived on December 10th and we are so grateful for her sweet personality and spirit joining our family.

I love hearing about birth stories, but hers is one of my favorites.  I knew that it wouldn't go as planned but I never would have imagined that everything I REALLY hoped wouldn't happen would happen. Don't worry, everything turned out completely fine and we definitely had heavenly help, which I am so grateful for.

Let's rewind to the day before Thanksgiving.  I had an awesome cold that week that I could not shake.  When I went in for my doctors appointment on Wednesday my blood pressure was high and my doctor was a little concerned.  He said it could have been because of my cold and the cold medicine I was taking but just in case he wanted me to get some lab work done and some monitoring if it turned out to be pre eclampsia.  The lab results came back completely fine, except my blood pressure was still high.  I had to go back a few days later to see if it was just a fluke.  When I went back it was still high and they told me to come in if I had any swelling in my feet or hands, a severe headache, high blood pressure again or if I just wasn't feeling right.

Fast forward a couple weeks later, I hadn't had any of the signs mentioned and everything was going along as planned.  I was 38 weeks and just a couple of days away from being 39 weeks.  I had a health screening at Dallin's work for our insurance and they told me my blood pressure was high then, Dallin wanted me to call my doctor but I kept saying it was fine and I didn't have any other symptoms.  The next day I noticed my hands and feet (really just my right foot, it was pretty hilarious) started swelling.  I shrugged it off thinking that people needed to give me a break because I was almost 39 weeks pregnant! haha

On December 9th I got a headache that I could not get rid of, we had lots of plans that day but I couldn't quite get through all of them.  The biggest one being going to my nephews birthday party.  We picked up my grandma and headed to the party.  I was still in the thick of my headache, but I wanted to support my cute little nephew.  Later while we were at the party I had a feeling (major prompting really) that I should really go in to Labor and Delivery and just check out my symptoms.  I sat there for a minute hoping that wasn't the case.  I didn't want to be sent home and charged again for all the tests and monitoring.  I kept feeling that I had to go.  It was silly of me to ignore all these signs when I literally had all of them.  So off Dallin and I went to the hospital at 8:00 PM, no bags in the car (which were only kinda packed at home).  When we got closer to the hospital I asked Dallin if we could just go home and sleep it off instead. haha He said no way!

Once we got to the hospital they monitored my blood pressure and sure enough it was incredibly high.  My lab work came back mostly normal, but my blood pressure just wouldn't go down so I was admitted and the doctor's orders were for me to be induced.  I was terrified, I did not want to be induced!

The doctor also wanted me to have an IV of magnesium to help prevent seizures due to my high blood pressure.  I've never been on magnesium before but boy is it rough.  It makes you really weak, drowsy, and gives you blurry-double vision.  Hence why I look pretty haggard in the pictures above and I just delivered a baby so there's that. They started with one form of induction to help me progress which worked out great.  They expected the baby to come the next night due to the slow nature of this process and it being my first.  I still remember texting all my siblings and telling them how terrified I was around midnight when Dallin went to get our bags from the house.  They all answered right away and were so sweet!  I called my mom and told her how scared I was and she told me everything would be ok, and like usual she was right.  I'm so grateful for that lady!  I can't tell you how many times I've thought about how lucky Livy and I are to have her as a mom and grandma.  I don't know what people do without having a Regana in their lives!

At 3:00 AM my water broke and my nurse said how ironic it was that I came earlier because the baby was planning on coming with or without being induced.  By 8:00AM on December 10th I had been monitored all night with just a little bit of sleep (Dallin on the other hand slept super well of course haha).  I could really start feeling the contractions and I knew that with the next round of medication to help me progress it would just get worse so I wanted my epidural quick!  By 8:30 I had my epidural (incredibly terrifying, but I'm oh so grateful for that thing!) and was set for the next step.  I was so blessed with incredible nurses that consistently checked on me and were so nice!  The nurse even helped me when I was getting my epidural and held my hand, while Dallin held the other.  At that time I was dilated to a 5 or 6 so no wonder I could feel those contractions.  Once the epidural set in, and with the magnesium and lack of sleep I totally crashed.  I slept until my sweet nurse Donna would come in to check on me and had to wake me up.  I remember her saying something about me progressing too quickly, and that I wasn't ready and she had to give me a shot to slow down things and later that the baby's heart rate was dropping but she would keep an eye on it with a little monitor she placed on the baby's head. I was in such a fog I fell asleep again!! So not like me, I'm a natural worrier so that I kept sleeping makes me think that was another blessing because if I would have been up worrying my darn blood pressure would have gone through the roof! By 11:00AM she came back in to check on me because the baby's heart rate was too low and still dropping.  She checked me and said the cord was pinched and that is why little baby's heart rate was the way it was, but that I was now dilated to a 10.  I quickly told Dallin to call my mom and tell her baby was on her way!  Once she told me that everything was in full swing! She sent the emergency alarm to all the nurses and before I knew it 5 nurses were in my room prepping for a speedy deliver.  I could still hear Olivia's heart rate so clearly and it was terrifying to not hear little beats when there should have been.  I started to panic!  I knew my doctor wasn't in the hospital and I figured he wouldn't be there for delivery.  Sure enough right as I started panicking another incredible doctor walked in and said I'm sorry but your doctor won't be able to make it, we've got to get her here now!  Two and a half pushes later little Miss Olivia was here and I couldn't believe how quickly it all happened.  Dallin called my mom at 11:16 and Olivia was born at 11:23 AM, weighing 6 pounds and 1 ounce and measuring 20 inches long!

I am and was so grateful for incredibly knowledgeable and kind nurses and doctors that can think and act so quickly.  I'm grateful that even though it didn't go as I had planned it went really, really well considering the circumstances.  I'm also so grateful for promptings from my loving Heavenly Father and the heavenly help and angels watching over us that day and each day.  Who knows what would have happened without them!

As I look back on those days in the hospital they were really so heavenly, and not just because of the nursery at night! :)  Dallin, Olivia and I would snuggle up on my hospital bed and watch Christmas movies, eat pizza and Tim Tams and endless cookies thanks to the hospital.  It was so peaceful!  I was really hoping Olivia would come closer to her due date before she arrived because we had so many holiday parties and events that upcoming week but being with her for an extra week was heaven.  I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else than snuggling with her and Dallin.  And at night when I would miss Olivia I would look at pictures of her.  Dallin was so great to always hold my hand when I cried and gave me loads of hugs no matter what the time, with all my crazy hormones and medications I felt like I cried SO much.  He was always there for Olivia when they took her for tests or monitoring too.  Livy and I are so grateful to have that incredible guy in our lives!

Meeting Olivia was something I hope to never forget.  She made me a mom.  Something I have wanted since I was young.  And even though being a mom is incredibly tough and exhausting it is so beautiful and rewarding too.  She motivates me to be a better person just by being in my life.  Even though Livy, Dallin, and I are still getting use to this new life for all of us we are loving every minute of it!