Baby Shower

When we were in Utah for Christmas, my sweet sister and mom decided to throw a baby shower for me. I was so excited because I really didn't think I would get one since we don't live near my family. I was so happy to see everybody that came...and to open all of baby Logan's presents! Everyone was so sweet and sooo giving. We had to borrow a HUGE suitcase from mom and dad in order to get everything home! So THANK YOU everyone!! Here are a few pictures of the party:

Sweet mama and sister. Thanks ladies for the shower!!

Mobile that my mom and dad made for Logan

Close ups - look at those cute little faces!!

Mobile and beanie that Meg made

Huge pile of stuff that we got for Logan. Thank you!!!

Probably my 3 favorite presents... 3 of the exact same outfits, but all different sizes 

Logan will be able to wear his favorite monkey shirts from birth to 1 year old!!

L.O.V.E this coat that Jan bought for Logan. He will look so "classy". Thanks Jan!!

Linds made me this awesome nursing cover and Moby-style wrap. Can't wait to use them!

And I realized I didn't get any pictures of actual people from the shower, so thanks Jan for these pictures (glad it's so easy to steal pictures from other peoples blogs)

Realizing that we got another Silly Monkey outfit. So awesome!

Cute picture of me and my girls. Last picture we will get to take for 18 months!! Miss you Whitty-poo!

Whit made me this shirt to remember her up in Canada. So cute! Thanks Whit!

Note the "eh?" where baby Logan is. :)

And I couldn't resist putting up this picture of Aidyn...he was loving that 2 liter bottle of Dr. Pepper. He kept trying to carry it up the ramp, but it was too heavy. Haha!

Look at that face!

Aidyn's First Birthday

Meg was so sweet and waited until Andy and I were in Utah to have Aidyn's first birthday party. We went shopping with her earlier in the day to buy the decorations, snacks and stuff to make the cake. She wanted to do a Bob the Builder theme, and it was amazing because got a lot of decorations to match from the dollar store. Meg was very adventurous and wanted to make and decorate a cake for Aidyn. She asked for my help...I think I just sat around and watched her. I don't know if I could decorate a cake like she did. I might be creative, but I'm usually not brave enough to attempt my creative thoughts. Haha!

We had a lot of fun decorating and getting ready. As the time got closer we heard from Dave and Dan and both of their families were super sick so they couldn't make it. We were kind of counting on them to be there to bring the kids, because we had kid games planned, but that's okay. Adults can play kid games! We played pin the hammer on Bob the Builder, musical chairs, and a game where you have to pop the balloon with your butt. It's always fun to act like a little kid every now and then. Here are a few pictures of the night.

Nana and Aidyn

Cute table and decorations

Some of the peeps... looks at those pictures on the wall. Meg made those!!

Andy won musical chairs

Meg with her masterpiece

Cute little 1 year old

Getting in his cake eating outfit

He kind of dug into the cake. Took him a while though.

Such a cute cake. Bonus that it was a Funfetti cake. YUM!

Happy birthday sweet little Aidyn baby. I honestly can't believe how fast that year went by. I am so glad that I was able to fly in and see you and your mommy in the hospital a few days after you were born. You were the cutest newborn! Love you little boy!!

Christmas vacation

Hello friends. As I'm sitting here, waiting for church, I thought I would do something productive. And what's more productive than a blog post?? I have no idea... :) We switched to 1:00 church this year, and although it's been nice to sleep in and be super lazy all morning, it kind of has me feeling guilty for "wasting" a Sabbath day. I definitely think that's something I'm going to have to work on throughout the year - try to do something before church starts so that I feel like it's not just another Saturday morning.

Anyway, let's do a post about our Christmas vacation. It was my family's turn for Christmas, so Andy and I flew out there for a week. We got in on Saturday afternoon and went to a movie with the fam. Bad idea seeing as how we had been up since 4am...so I fell asleep throughout the whole movie, basically. We went to the old ward on Sunday, except it's just not the same ward anymore since the split. It was a  really nice Christmas program. My dad sang in the choir and Rich and Amy narrated the program. They are soooo cute! I'm in love with them. :)

I'm super upset that I didn't take very many pictures. I'm just not used to taking pictures anymore, because at Tolton get-togethers...it's so STRANGE to have a camera present. Christmas Eve was nice, everyone came over to mom and dad's and we just laughed and ate, played games, watched the kids put on a play, had a talent show. I bet you're all wondering what my talent was?? I showed off my blanket that I'm knitting for baby Logan. But the best talent...Andy sang for all of us!! I told him I wasn't going to pressure him because he hates being the center of attention, but I think he was just won over with the spirit of Christmas. And yes, the minute he started singing...I cried! Haha! I think I would have cried even if I wasn't pregnant! We got some amazing presents from the family. Everybody is so crafty and creative!

My mom created all of these little scenes for each kid. Mine was a Nativity scene, which is perfect because I don't have a Nativity. And now I have an amazing hand-made one from my mama. Meg got fireplace and stocking scene, Dan and Judy got a Snowman family, Dave and Shell got a Gingerbread family, and Rich and Amy got an amazing Christmas tree. All of these were handmade our of sculpy clay/dough and she's been working on them only since October. I wish I had pictures of all of the other ones.

My Nativity scene

 The siblings "draw" names every year and Meg had Andy and I. She made this precious canvas for Logan's room. I'm going to do gray, yellow, black/white with giraffes and elephants. So this is absolutely perfect. It is sooo cute!

Love those giraffes!!

 Amy is apparently an amazing knitter and she knitted this super soft yellow blanket for baby Logan. Mom and Dad's house was pretty cold at times, so we put this on us and warmed right up.

So soft and cozy!

Dad made these little Learning bags for all of the grandkids. I saw him making them, but I didn't think he would have one for Logan yet, because he's not born and won't be "learning" for a little while. But he surprised us with his own little bag. So cute, he free-handed all of the pictures on the bag. 

Can't wait to read him these little books

After Christmas was over, pretty much all of the family got sick, except Andy and I so we borrowed Amy's car and tried to stay out of the house and away from the sickies. We got to hang out with our friends quite a bit on this trip, that was really nice. We did some shopping with Jan and Spencer, dinner with Brian and Derek, bowling with my girls. We were busy busy, but that's the way we like it. We got so much snow and I was in heaven! I was hoping we could go sledding with the kids, but we just never found a good time when everyone wasn't sick or busy. It was so good to spend Christmas with my family. It's always crazy and loud and so much food. But it's so much fun at the same time. I just think about next Christmas and our little baby will be here. Crazy!!

It's a.....

Andy and I had our big ultrasound on Friday, December 21st, just a day before we headed out to Utah for Christmas. The nurse/doctor (ultrasound lady??) said that everything looks "beautiful" and I couldn't hear that word enough. It made me so happy to hear that our little baby was developing and growing at a perfect rate and that there isn't anything to worry about. I tend to get a little bit paranoid about these things...I read or hear things that can go wrong with babies and I assume that it will happen to my baby. I should probably get over this soon!!

Well, after checking his bones, heart, kidneys, etc. the ultrasound lady headed down south (or wherever the baby was) to get a good look at the private parts. Immediately when she pointed it down, there was the legs and there was the little pee-pee! He's ALL BOY! Andy was very proud of him (that's really odd to say, huh?) Boys and their "pee-pee" proudness, I guess. Anyway, so there you have it. We are having a boy! Our due date changes with every ultrasound, so now we are on May 3rd. Our little guy is growing and growing and I can feel him moving around a little bit more (depends on the day). I think I've started feeling a few kicks, instead of just a small flutter. But sometimes it's so hard to tell what it is that I'm feeling.

I know, just what everyone wants to see... but hey, some people actually do want to see. So here you go. :)

Andy and I are so excited to have a little boy! Sometimes it's just crazy to think about...and when we had a baby shower in Utah (more about that later), we got so many clothes and baby things, it was just all too unreal. Now we need to start turning my craft room into the nursery so that we can have somewhere to put all of our baby boy stuff.

Halfway there...

20 weeks and 2 days!!

Well hello there! I thought I would post a little something-something on here, seeing as how I'm 20 WEEKS ALONG!!! How did that time go by so fast? I remember thinking of all of the other ladies I know who are pregnant and further along than me, and I thought that there is no way I would ever reach this point...time just seemed to be dragging. And now I'm here! Halfway! Wahooooo!

Okay, enough excitement. So I wore this outfit to work yesterday and decided that it REALLY showed off the baby belly. Kind of made me happy because I'm reaching the stage where I'm not just "fat", I'm "pregnant fat"; and I'm okay with that! I've bought a few maternity pants, because I just about die if I try to wear anything else. I've been that way for quite a while now, but am just now spending the money on maternity pants. Most of my shirts still fit and look decent, and hopefully if I don't get super fat, then I can just wear my normal shirts and have them be tight and then I'll look so cute with just baby bump...we'll see if I can be one of those lucky mama's.

I still haven't really had any weird cravings...just food, in general. I've had heartburn off and on, and it's super annoying. I read that can last all through pregnancy...Yay! I cough a lot, that's probably because of the heartburn. Drinking water gives me heartburn, makes it difficult to want to drink 64 oz. a day! A few weeks back I was having difficulty sleeping. My hips and my butt would hurt no matter what position I was in and I woke up every few hours. But I've been sleeping like a baby for the past two weeks or so. No hip or butt pain at all! I even bought a butt cushion for work so that would help with it, and I really think it has been helping. My hair seems to be falling out, like normal, but I was really hoping the prenatal pills would help that problem. Unfortunately...no. Last week I was having "round ligament pain" and it was freaking me out - big time! I just kept having this dull, achy feeling to the left of my belly button. And it would get worse and worse the more active I was. So I went in to see my doctor because it had been happening for about a week, and they reassured me that it was just the round ligament pain. It's crazy how you can feel such weird things, and you just have to be okay with it and know that it's normal... While I was at the doctor, they tested my pee, as they do, and they said that I might have a UTI - but apparently it's hard to get a nice clean sample from a pregnant woman. And I don't think I have one, because I'm not having any symptoms. Anyway...hopefully not!

I'm trying to think of what other symptoms I've been having... I really don't think I've been too moody. Although, I was holding back tears while trying to sing along to "Silver Bells" the other morning...that was weird, because that's not even a sad/touching song!

Okay, on to the most exciting part!!!!! I FELT THE BABY!!! I was sitting at work and I felt this weird feeling in the area below my stomach, I assumed that's where my bladder is??? Anyway, so I was just wondering that maybe I did have an UTI and that's what I was feeling. And then I had a little realization that no, THAT'S MY BABY!! She (we are calling it a "she" this week) just wanted to say hi to her mama! Oh my gosh, it was so awesome. I told Andy that I'm glad most people know I'm pregnant and that it was a quiet day at work anyway, so that anyone walking by didn't think I was a huge dork for tearing up with a huge smile on my face! I've felt her a few times since that day, just little flutters here and there. I can't wait until she wiggles more and more. And I also can't wait until Andy can feel her moving! I think he's a little jealous right now that he can't feel her...poor guy.

We have our big Ultrasound appointment on Friday!! I can't wait. I'm really hoping that this baby will cooperate and show us the goods (or lack thereof) so that we know what it is FINALLY! I'm really excited that we get to find out right before we go to Utah, because then I can tell family and friends in person what we're having. It's so much more fun that way.

Okay, well I think that's enough for today. I'm sure I'll put up another post after Christmas. :)

It's a BABY!!!

Hello there, everyone! I've decided to forego a lone post about our latest Utah trip. I feel like there just isn't a lot to tell about it besides about Rich's wedding. But then I don't have any pictures to back it up...so therefore, not going to say much. Rich and Amy's wedding was perfect. They are so cute together and yes, I cried. It was amazing, as usual, to see family and friends. But let's move on to bigger and better things, shall we?

Andy and I are joining the club and having a little baby. Yay!!! Here he/she is (unfortunately we won't find out the gender until December), but we will be calling it a "he" from here on out to make it easier.



Sucking his sweet little thumb

We started really trying earlier this year and we found out that this little one was on its way on August 25th. It was a Saturday and I had taken 2 tests early in the morning, but didn't trust them. So I stopped at Target when I was out and about running errands and just waited until I had to pee again. I made a stop at Ikea and as I was walking in I realized I had to go. I went in to the handicap stall so that I had plenty of room and I waited my 3 minutes to see if I was really pregnant. And this time...I believed it!

Yes, my friends. That is my pee stick. At least there is a cap on it, though...

 I cried and danced around for joy. And then I had to go into the store to finish my shopping...looking like an idiot with a huge smile and tears on my face. Every time I thought about it I would tear up again. And I could not wait to tell Andy!! I finished up my shopping and made the 25 minute trip back home. I got in the house and woke him up from his nap to show him my purchases. I had bought a few shirts and then I bought this little puppy dog. So as I was pulling each item out of my bag, he was getting more and more annoyed. I showed him the puppy and he said "What's that for???" I said it's for our baby! And instantly started crying. It took him a second to understand what I was saying, but when he looked up and saw me crying he just asked "did you test? did you test?" And then we just hugged and kissed and cried. It was so sweet and we couldn't have been happier.

The next weeks that followed were pretty darn stressful. I had had some spotting that was lasting longer than a few days. It never got very heavy, but still seemed abnormal. Unfortunately, I was too early to see anything on an ultrasound, so there really was nothing I could do if I was going to miscarry. So we just had to wait and see...and PRAY! We went in to the doctor at 6 weeks hoping we could see something and hear the heart beat, but we couldn't hear anything. The doctor pointed out the gestational sac and said there was "definitely something in there". That calmed our worries a little bit, but 2 weeks later we had our big check-up and we could see the baby, hear the heartbeat and had no worries after that. We have been ecstatic and just ready to tell the world. We started telling everybody over the next few weeks and that part was way fun. Oh I'll post this video, because I LOVE it and my girls (sorry Linds, at least you were the first "girl" to find out. Does that make it less sad for you that you weren't there?)

 

Now we've had our third ultrasound and everything looks healthy and normal (that's the top picture). It was so fun to see our little baby wiggle and squirm all over the screen. He was stretching out and arching his back. And then the nurse kept pushing him around to get her measurements and he just found his sweet spot and wouldn't budge much after that. Andy and I just stared at the screen and couldn't believe it. I'm sure every other new parent has felt that way. :) Lucky for us, a day after our doctor appointment my parents flew in to town to visit us. So we had a fresh picture of our little baby to share with them. I wanted to get some nice pictures to announce our baby so here's just a few. And also, he is my huge belly! I am so tiny, it's just popping out nice and big! I like it, but it's still kind of in that awkward stage where I could just be getting fatter...or I could be pregnant. So I'm not wearing very tight shirts these days. Also, I should have taken off my belt...it makes me look weird. Sorry about that... :) Anyway, here we go.

Front view with baby

 

Side view with a weird lookin' tush and belly

Aww...

Oh, I should probably mention Andy's mustache. He's growing it out for Movember (for men's health)

Andy loves touching his baby



 

And the whole fam. Should possibly zoom in...oh well.

Anyway, there's some nice pictures and I will try to be faithful with updating monthly or so. I told my parents I would so that they could see my baby belly grow and grow. Andy and I are just so excited and literally could not feel more blessed. Ever since I found out I was carrying this sweet spirit, I have just felt closer to Heavenly Father and feel so lucky to be trusted with one of his sweet angels. It's crazy how something like this just makes you want to be a better person, not just for yourself, but for your baby that you will soon raise and teach. I can't wait and I just hope that I can live up to our Heavenly Father's expectations.

****UPDATE: We are due May 5, 2012. Today I am 14 weeks along, just reached the 2nd trimester! Wahoo!!

Rich's song

Okay, so I don't feel like typing up a whole long post about Utah just yet... but I cannot go another day without sharing this oh so cute song with you all! Rich sang this song to Amy right after they got married and honestly...I could not keep my eyes dry. And you know what? I don't think anyone else in the room had a dry eye either!! It was so sweet and I am IN LOVE with this song now (and this guys voice, awww yeahhhh!) Okay, enjoy. And please tell me if you were able to keep from crying (mind you, just think of Rich and Amy and how they are married. Try to imagine Rich singing this to Amy right after they are made man and wife. And then...try to imagine your husband singing this to you - and tell me you DID NOT CRY - like a BABY!)

Overwhelmed by Tim McMorris:

Vancouver Weekend

Well, let's see. I finally remembered that I actually took pictures of my little weekend trip so I guess that means I have to blog about it, right??

So we'll just do a quick little post while I'm bored at work. Good idea? Great idea!! My good friend Michele and I decided that we wanted to do a little Girl trip over Labor Day weekend (this was after it was already decided that Andy and I wouldn't be spending $1000 to go to Portland for the weekend and Andy is not a big fan of short road trip vacations - or maybe I just told myself that, because in reality I just wanted a girls weekend and that made me feel less guilty?!? Either way...)

We headed out at about 7:00 on Saturday morning and drove the 2 1/2 hours up to Vancouver, BC. I was pretty excited seeing as how I've never been to Canada. Also pretty excited that we could go somewhere cool and not have to drive forever. I can't believe how fast it went by. We didn't even get tired of conversation and have to resort to listening to the radio. I figured that was pretty good! We got the border and just slowly crept through. I really don't think we even had to stop. I didn't know what to expect with the border patrol-guy, but I didn't even really have to talk. He just asked a few random questions "What we were doing in Canada?", "How long we'd be there?", "Where we were from?"...pretty simple questions. We answered sufficiently and then we were on our way.

Canadian border flower-flag 

We had to drive another 20 or 30 miles before we hit Vancouver. We really had to watch our speed, seeing as how everywhere else but the USA uses the metric system, so the speed limit was in kilometers. Pretty interesting. Anyway...so we finally reach Vancouver and it is sooo pretty! I was amazing how bright and white and clean it looked. First order of business was to ditch the car and head over to Granville Island. Well, technically before that, we had to make our first purchases. $20.00 super fancy rings! Aren't they lovely? Now to just make sure I actually wear it...

No no no, it's not gaudy at all!

We walked down to Yaletown and headed out on this little pier and waited for the water taxi to take us to Granville Island. I really liked the island. There is a big Public Market where you can buy all kinds of foods, and some crafty things (not as much as at Pike Place Market).  

Yummy cinnamon-crispy things

I feel like all I spent my money on was food...but that's okay when you're vacation, right? It's how you experience things.... Anyway, the market had a ton of yummy food and there was this bakery with these super huge crunchy-cinnamon disc things. I really wanted to buy one, and figured I could just save it for later. But then the worker pulled out one that was broken and gave us free samples! It was amazing. And I'm so glad that I didn't buy a huge whole one for myself. It was way too sweet. A sample was all I needed.

Really hilarious street performer from New Zealand!

This little street performer was hilarious. He was from New Zealand and just made a bunch of funny/crude jokes. Haha! Michele and I were laughing a lot. And because of that...and because I was on vacation.... I gave him $5.00! I never do that...and afterward when I was wondering where all of my cash went, I really kind of regretted it. Oops...

Oh speaking of cash, I have a very embarrassing story of trying to get my cash. We ran to the ATM because we figured we would need cash to buy stuff at the market. So Michele got her cash out and pointed out how pretty it was (it was all Canadian money). It was my turn, so I put in my card and got out $60. I grabbed the receipt and then walked back to the market. Oh but when I tried to buy something...I couldn't find my cash anywhere!! Apparently, I had left the ATM without taking my cash. How brainless could I get?? So I ran back to the ATM...no cash anywhere. I asked the little shops by the ATM's and no one had turned in anything. I searched my purse, but I knew that I had not grabbed out the cash. There was this really nice lady that was helping me and just told me to say a prayer that everything will work out. I decided that I was just going to have to suck it up and get more cash out, because I was still going to need it. So I tried again...and this time, I paid better attention! There was an error and it hadn't gone through!! Wanna know why? Oh, because I was trying to use my credit card...holy cow....again, brainless! I couldn't believe that I didn't even realize that it didn't go through the first time. But man, was I relieved. And the sweet lady was still there and she said that she just said a prayer in her heart that everything would work out. What a cutie! People up there are super friendly!

Picking the nose

View of the city from the water

We hung out on the island for quite a while and then headed back to check into our hotel. We were so tired by that point. We got to our room and it was super pretty with a really nice view of downtown. And then we just crashed for a few hours while we decided where to eat. 

We made reservations at a nice Italian restaurant back toward Yaletown, but then decided against that since we were too lazy to walk very far. We asked the concierge if there was a yummy Italian place nearby and there was! Yay! We walked there and sat outside. I wish I would have taken pictures (especially to try and make it last longer since it was so darn expensive!), but I just didn't think about it. My meal alone was $60...I couldn't believe it. Oh well, it's okay if you're on vacation, right? Vacation is a good excuse for everything. After dinner we headed back to the hotel because we were both full to the brim. We watched HGTV and fell asleep at 9:00. Haha! Some crazy girls weekend we had!

The next day we were so tired and didn't make very wise decisions. We decided to get up and go to breakfast at 9:30...and at the same time thought we needed to check-out of our room...So after we had breakfast, there was literally nothing to do because everything was closed. Sunday in Vancouver was like a ghost town. We just walked around trying to kill time until things opened and kept trying to come up with something to do. But because of our expensive dinner the night before, neither of us wanted to spend any money! We decided to just get our car and drive around Stanley Park and then go to North Vancouver and stalk rich people's houses. It worked...but we were both just exhausted. After a quick lunch we decided to just head home.

Japadog! Crazy Japanese hot dogs...you can get a hot dog with Yakisoba on it. So weird!

Bridge crossing over to North Vancouver

On the bridge, I was a little scared being so high up

We decided that if we go to Vancouver again, we will definitely plan our days out better. That way, we can save money and do different things without wasting time. All in all, we had a lot of fun. But it was also a good learning experience for us. :)