Little Blue

This is a tribute to my car that I have been driving for all my commuting back and forth for all my schooling and the first thing that James and I bought together when we were engaged. We bought this car hoping it would last us till we could get something better and it did just that. After 70,000 miles in 2 years and only $40 for a minor repair little blue was definitely a great car for us. James decided that although this car worked well for us to do commuting and driving around town that he didnt think it was a safe enough car to have a baby riding in the back of....especially in the snow. So........ we sold it! annnnnndddd....bought a new car!!! :) :) Now we have been planning on this for awhile and saving up and doing our homework on what cars we were interested in and the newest member of our vehicle family is a 2011 Nissan Pathfinder! I love the way it looks from the outside and I love being higher up when I am driving...idk if I can ever go back! Also, I love my back up camera and controls on the steering wheel. Really...anything woulda been an upgrade, but I am grateful that we were able to get a nice model.

right before we sold it



California, Lake Powell, & Half-Way mark!

Well, in my last post I said that I was going to try to take more pictures and I was a bit more successful! First, I was able to take a fun girls trip to Southern California with my Mother in Law Juli and Sister in Law Alyssa. In a nutshell there were lots of good laughs (i.e. dressing up in grandma's nightgowns we found), lots of good food (cheesecake factory), lots of singing and music and lots of sun. Here are some pictures of that fun time.

Newport Beach

Cheesecake Factory - Dessert first!

Catalina Island

Catching some sun on Catalina Island.

HAHAHAHAHAH!!

The day after I got back from California James and I left to Lake Powell with some friends. It was so fun to stay on a house boat, soak up the sun, ride wave runners, swim to caves, boat, cliff jump, wakeboard, air chair, rock climb and spend time with friends. Although I couldn't do all the crazy things I wanted to, I still had a way good time and loved watching James do all the things I couldn't do. The part of the trip I will never forget is the midnight thunder and lightening storms that soaked all 15 or so of us that were sleeping ontop of the house boat, not once but two nights in a row! Not so funny when it wasw happening, but we laugh about it now. No pictures yet, but maybe some to come. We were having waay to much fun to worry about pictures on this trip.

Last thing to post about is BABY! :) My favorite part of life right now! So a quick week by week re-cap.
18.5 -19.5 weeks: This is the week I was in California and I felt amazing and besides a little heartburn nothing was very different this week expect that I was SO tired by the end of the night and definitely needed my sleep for our fun filled days

19.5 weeks: I had my 20 week ultrasound and we saw our little man and they measured all his parts and made sure I was growing a human and not an alien in there. haha! It was so fun to see him for so long and see his whole body. It amazes me how babies grow and that they have their appendages and just continue to grow and grow (reminds me of those toys you put in water and they grow) except thats all happening inside of me!!! p.s. can I say I love the nurse at my doctors she is amazing and so personable and remembers everything about me that it makes me feel more than just a patient being seen, but that they actually care whats going on in my pregnancy!

19.5 weeks-20.5 weeks: We were in Lake Powell for the first part of this week and I started feeling our boy move all around on a consistent basis and on the last evening I had just eaten and I layed down on top of the house boat and James and I were just talking and once again the baby started wiggling all over inside. I didnt think James would be able to feel him, but I told him to put his hand on my belly and sure enough our little guy started going crazy! He was kicking or punching or somersaults or something in there because the strongest movement I have had so far went on for about a full minute and a half and James felt it all. It was so fun to see his face in amazement that he was really feeling a person inside of there. haha.
Now that we've been home I have had heartburn, heartburn, oh and more heartburn :( I do know what is causing most of it ..... Chocolate! Most of you know that I LOVE sweets and especially chocolate so tums are now a constant must have.
Here are some more picts of baby and belly.

LOVE him!! So handsome!!

All crunched up in there!



Summer Time & Baby Boy!

Can I just say how happy I am that it is summer...and that I am actually able to enjoy it! No school or stress, warm weather, time with the hubby, vacations, camping, BBQ's, and a bun in the oven what could be better? Well, I wish with all this fun that I was a picture taker. I love looking at pictures, but for some reason I get so caught up having fun in the moment that I forget to capture the memories. So once again I left to just writing about them.
Since being pregnant I totally plan and live my life by the weeks, so that is how I will continue this post.
Week 16:
Guess Ill pick up where I left off last post.
Life - I went to girls camp and it was super fun! I'm so glad I decided to go. It was REALLY hot durig the day and then freezing cold at night. I was so suprised during the day I would refill my water bottle a million times and then never have to pee! (a pregnant ladies dream!) haha but thats gives you a little taste to how warm the weather was. Overall it was a great experience to get to know the young women in our ward better and make friendships with the other leaders. Its funny how growing up in the same family ward for my whole life how hard it is to feel totally comfortable in a new ward. I am grateful for friendly people and am glad we bought a house in this ward with tons of young families! Other than that we just helped a family move in our ward and worked around the house.

Pregnancy - At the end of this week 16w5d we went to fetal foto in the Southtown mall to see if we could tell the gender of our baby. Becuase of my doctor's vacation and my upcoming vacation we weren't havin gour anatomy ultrasound till atleast 21 weeks. Anyways, I was a little nervous because I wanted to be sure we got the gender correct, but I was SOOOOO excited to know if we were going to have a little baby boy or baby girl. James of course was sure we were having a boy. We couldnt get it to let us take a peek, but after about 5 minutes we finally saw and before I could even register what I was seeing James shouted "ITS A BOY!!!" We were so excited and the ultrasound was very clear it was a boy, so my worries of being unsure were diminished. It was so fun watching our baby boy move all around inside of me and let me tell you he's a mover. He was jumping and rolling and having a good ol time in there, looked like he'll never want to come out hahah! We then of course immediately called all our families and are so excited for the first grandbaby on either side of our families! Besides that not too much happened this week. Honestly, I hardly felt pregnant at all. I was feeling great, had tons of energy, and was so much less bloated. It was a very easy and exciting week.

Week 17:
Life - James was on his 7 days off and I was in heaven getting to play with him ALL week! I have such a fun husband and I love all the crazy times we have together. This week my sister flew in for EFY and we got to hang out with her and her friend Julianna for a couple days before taking them down to Provo. Then we had a swim party with some friends and ended the night with a projector movie out on the grass. So fun! The next day was fourth of July and I love parades, so James and I went to the Grantsville Parade. I loved seeing all the kids (and young adults:) run for their lives over and over again whenever taffy was thrown our way. We walked around the car show/carnival, then headed back to our place where we had a BBQ with some family and friends. Once it started getting dark we headed back to Grantsville to see the firework show. Since we were a little early the boys played football and the girls played card games until the show started. I LOVE fireworks, they never get old and Grantsville puts on a really good show, so I am sure we will find ourselves going back there in years to come! Besides that during the week we just went on a temple dinner date, made dinners together, and enjoyed our time off together!

Pregnancy - So this week my belly was going through some changes. One day I would wake up and feel like I was totally showing, then throughout the day it would go away, then sometimes it would be back and this went on for a few days. I have heard of this happen, so I was not panicking, but thought it was so funny that one second my pants were loose, then the next im wondering if I can get away walking around with them unbuttoned haha. The other thing that has changed this week is my sleep. Now any of you that have known me pre pregnancy know that I LOVE my sleep! Sleeping is a talent of mine. I can sleep in any position, anywhere, and once I am asleep I am dead to the world, so don't even think about trying to wake me up! I can take a nap for hours during the day and still be ready for bed when night comes, but now that I am growing a human inside of me my body decided that it doesnt like to sleep anymore. I am SO sad! Now if I do sleep for a chunk of time at night I have terrible nightmares or crazy bizarre dreams. Usually my nights consist of me taking atleast 40 minutes to fall asleep, wake up 2 hours later to pee, wake up again an hour later cuz the cat came in, wake up again in a few hours to pee again, wake up cuz im hot, wake up cuz im cold, and EVERY morning I wake up at 5:30 am (when it starts getting light) and can hardly get back to sleep before I finally just give up and get out of bed! I know that it will only get worse as my body changes more, so Ill just try to look on the brightside and realize this is just preparing me for when I have a newborn that I need to wake up for in the middle of the night!

Week 18 -  This week! Lots of fun things going down this week! I am going to try to take tons of picts so that I will have a post with more pictures and less words next time!
Annnnnndddd....finally a belly picture! I felt totally weird, like the kids I used to make fun of that took random shots of themselves in the mirror to post on myspace, but what the heck right?!

Pregnancy Thus Far

I love reading blogs and staying up to date with what is happening in our family and friends lives. Because of this, I have decided that I am going to blog about my pregnancy and all of the ups and downs and crazy things going on. Plus, I have been keeping a journal of this pregnancy so far and I would way rather type then write. So here's the scoop:

5.5 weeks - Found out I was pregnant! :)

6 weeks - 13 weeks- SICK SICK SICK

8 weeks - first doctors appointment, saw our baby (Even though it only looked like a little blob), saw and heard it's heartbeat! Doctor said everything was looking right on track and set my due date to be December 10th!

11 weeks - Doctors appointment, the doctor warned us that we may not find the heartbeat with the doppler this early and might have to do an ultrasound (for a breif second I was hoping he wouldnt hear it so we would get to see our baby again, but I pushed that thought away in 2 seconds because I just wanted to know things were still going well) but the doctor found the heartbeat almost immediately!

13.5 weeks - finally feeling so much better and can eat full meals without wanting to die after.

15 weeks - doctors appointment, finally gained the weight back I had lost from being so so sick, heard the baby's heartbeat loud and clear with the doppler, and our doctor informed us that our little one was moving all around in there (even though I cant feel it yet) and thats why he was constantly moving the doppler around.

16 weeks - TODAY! I am feeling great except for the headaches that usually come on in the evening time, but I would way rather have headaches then nausea. I have a lot of energy throughout the day, but some days I need a midafternoon cat nap to rejuvinate my body.

That is how things have been so far. I love how I will get addicted to eating certain things and they will be the only things that sound good, then magically I will wake up and not feel like it again at all. When I was so sick early on in the pregnancy the only things I could eat were crackers and lemonheads and I felt like I would never be able to eat meat again in my whole life. Then the first thing I could eat that had some substance to it was a dippy egg (sunnyside up) with a piece of toast. When my body decided it didnt like that anymore I started having bean and cheese burritos and cereal all the time, which let me tell you cereal doesn't keep you full very long. For the last 2 weeks I have been hooked on bagels and cream cheese and when I say hooked I mean I go to Walmart at 11pm when my husband is in bed because I realize I don't have bagels for the next day. I kind of like that my taste buds are changing and some foods taste totally different then before.
Luckily I have been able to exercise almost all the time since I found out I was pregnant (minus the week I could barely eat enough to keep my body awake, let alone exert it on exercise), but I am so glad that I can still run and do light lifting because its something I really enjoy. I defintely want this to last, but I know that it is inevitable to think that I will be able to sprint on the tredmill when I have a big ol baby belly to bring along with me in the coming months.
Speaking of baby bellys I was always not sure if I would really want to post pictures of myself when I got pregnant of my growing belly, but I decided that Im ok with it and maybe it will help me accept that fact that my stomach will no longer be flat and I am going to see new numbers on the scale that I have never seen before. I would totally upload a belly shot for this post, but honestly its pretty non-existent still. My tummy is definitely not flat anymore, but really just looks like I stuff myself at every meal and my shirts are getting a little snug.
Things I am looking forward to: growing a baby bump, finding out the gender (hopefully later on this week!! :), and feeling the baby move. All of these things seem to differ according to every woman and according to every pregnancy, so I look forward to them whenever it is and hopefully that will make this whole pregnant thing feel more real. Because as of right now, since the nausea is gone it hardly feels like I have something the size of a large orange growing inside of me and wiggling all around :)

Update: Graduation & Pregnancy

I know that it has been over 6 months since my last blog post but ALOT of things have been happening in our lives. If there was one phrase to sum it all it would be We are Blessed! Here's a quick update of our life over the past months:

December 2011 - We spent Christmas with James family here in Utah and it was the first time in a LONG time that everyone was together. Alyssa had just gotten home from her mission and Blake came up from Nevada. It was so fun to be together and we did things like take family pictures, go tubing, GHS Alumni Tourney (James year won :), Movies, and alot more fun things together.

January - March 2012 - These were probably the hardest months James and I have had since we've been married. I was swamped with student teaching and commuting to Provo and James was on his regular shift work that multiple times a month we wouldn't see each other for 3-4 straight days, then when we did see each other it was enough time to say 'hi, im tired beyond belief, goodnight' or 'hey, ill pack your lunch really quick, k see ya' and any other free time was spent lesson planning on my part. We learned so much during this time and really grew together because our time together became so valuable and we had to really share the weight of responsibilities.

April 2012 - We found out we are going to have a BABY!!!!!! :) I took a test while James was at work and I could not believe it when I saw it, so I took 3 more tests and was finally convinced enough. The next day was Easter so I decided that I wanted to tell James in a special way. I put together an Easter egg hunt with 7 eggs. In each egg I put one word from the sentence 'You are going to be a daddy!' I woke up before him and hid the eggs. I woke him up and told him I had a suprise for him. He is so sweet and played along. I told him he had to find the eggs and there was a riddle inside. So he found all the eggs and began opening them. He opened them all except the last one so it read 'you are going to be a....' and of course he starts guessing things (by the way later I learn he thought I had gotten him an Ipad...which I did, but at a later time) so he starts guessing things like Im going to be the coolest guy at work, Im going to be really sophisticated etc. I wanted to jump out of my skin and yell your are going to be a dad, but finally he opened the last egg and stared at it lost for words for a moment, then he looked up with the biggest smile on his face and said REALLY????? He tackled me to the ground and I could finally let all my excitement out I had been holding in since the previous evening!

We were so excited to share the news with our families. James, for the past six months has been telling his parents that we were having a baby at sunday dinner every week, crying wolf, so when we told his parents they hardly believed us. Jim said "Let me see the stick I dont believe it" hahaha. We really wanted to tell my family in person, so we waited until they would be out for graduation (2.5 weeks later). It was hard to keep the secret, but we waited and they were all estatic for us! The first grandbaby on either side of our families!! :)...much more on pregnancy to come.

Like I metioned above another big milestone for us in the month of April was my GRADUATION! I graduated from BYU with a Bachelors in Elementary Education with an Emphasis in Early Childhood Education and a minor in Teaching English Language Learners. I am so grateful for my education and glad that we made the sacrifices necessary for me to finish my degree. Here are some pictures from graduation.

Thankful Tuesday

I know that I have been bad about blogging, and I thought November was going to be easier by blogging about what I was thankful for. It has definitely helped me think everyday for the things I am grateful for, but I havent been good about posting it! So today I have a few to catch up for. First, yesterday I was so grateful for my garage. I loved coming out to a sheltered car and not having to scrape ice and snow off my car in the morning. Last night I was so grateful for a dishwasher. I was so glad that I just had to rinse the dishes off and throw them into the dishwasher instead of hand washing each item like in our old apartment. It is nice to be having our own house with our own things. I am so grateful!

What November Brings...

October seemed to be a pretty stressful month with work and school and getting all setteled in the new house and I am determined to not let November become that way. First, because I am in a school teaching which is way more fun then sitting in classes with teachers telling you what you should do, but not actually putting it into practice. Second, because my family is coming to visit at Thanksgiving time. Third, because it is the Holiday season. Fourth because my dear sister in law and best friend is completing her last full month on her mission and I cannot wait for her to get home!!!
I am going to try and get back in the blogging habit by doing things that I am thankful for. Today I am grateful for our cars. Now, we all know that I totaled our car a few months ago and my sweet husband bought us another new car, but its a manual and I dont know how to drive it, so that leaves me driving our lovely blue car. In the beginning I was a little sad to be driving our older car, but I am just so grateful for a car that has given us no problems AT ALL and allowed me to put over 40,000 miles on it in one year doing all my commuting. I am grateful for my safety will driving. There are so many things to be grateful for I don't think that all the days in November are going to be enough!