great decisions

April 30th is a good day for decisions.

First of all, I am pleased to announce that my little sister Cassie has finally decided where to go to college. And she chose well... she will be coming to BYU in the fall! I could not be more excited to have her close by and going to my alma mater and living the cougar life. I'm SO glad she picked BYU (mostly for selfish reasons.. like that she will get to hang out with her little niece all the time!) I'm very proud of Cassie and her scholarship and how hard she's worked and so excited to see where her college life takes her.Second of all, today marks the day that exactly 3 years ago Paul proposed to me! Of course I said yes and it's been the best decision I've ever made! I love being married!

today i'm 22 weeks

pregnancy update:
-Overall I'm feeling great! I am really enjoying being pregnant. Everyday is like a new little adventure.
-Still love those lucky charms and eating lots of fruit
-My baby is moving around ALL THE TIME and i love it. With one exception: the other day she kept kicking me in the bladder! I had this sudden urge to pee over and over again then it would go away. The she was totally just laying on it or something, so much pressure. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom that day. Other than that it's fun.
-I feel like i have officially "popped out" in the last couple of days however, I decided this morning that the top part of my tummy hasn't quite caught up with the bottom. It slopes then sticks out around my belly button. At night or after I've eaten lunch it catches up a little and I have a rounder belly. (This pic is post-lunch so this is the best looking pregnant tummy I get)

happy 23

I'm so lucky to have amazing family, friends and my hubbylicious to make my birthday weekend so great! Thanks everyone for the bday wishes! These were the events of the weekend:
Saturday
-I got off work early and was able to hang out with Paul all afternoon.
-The night mostly consisted of tennis shopping. Paul is obsessed with tennis right now, so yes, at 5 months pregnant I've decided to take up a new sport. I said I would play with him because I could get tan and get some exercise and that was all the encouragement he needed. One stop at Sports Authority and we were ready to hit the courts.
Sunday
-went to church, which is still way too early, especially on your b-day morning (8:30)
-Came home and made chocolate swirled banana bread, because I was craving it and wanted to try out this recipe. It was delicious!
-Baked a few other things for my party then took a nap!
-Opened presents and cards from Paul and family and friends. I got some adorable baby clothes, maternity clothes, gift cards and cash. I got hooked up I'm so excited. Paul also surprised me with the cutest ruffle pillow that I've been coveting from Pier One for the baby's room and also of course my new tennis stuff!
-Paul made me a delicious dinner of salmon, stuffing, asparagus, and mashed potatoes.
-I wanted to try to make a birthday cake like the ones they sell here. They looked so cute at the store. So i tried it out and it was actually surprisingly easy and super tasty. I thought my cake turned out pretty cute.. if i do say so myself.
-Then that night we had a little shindig at our house of cake, ice cream, chocolate fountain, and other treats. Tons of people came and it was way fun to have so much family and friends around to celebrate with! We are so blessed with so many great friends.
-After the party had mostly died down, some people stuck around for games. Which evolved from playing scum to eating contests. Including: chubby bunny, how-many-saltines-can-you-eat-in-a-minute and other such flattering contests. We had lots of laughs to say the least, and were a little grossed out at the same time.
Monday
-Paul took off work to have a fun day with me.
-We went to "The Original Pancake House" in Salt Lake for breakfast. I know, it's a long way to go for breakfast but it is seriously that good. We had eggs benedict and pineapple pancakes.
-Then we shopped our way back to Provo with stops at The Gateway, Ikea and the mall. Paul was a very patient shopper.
-After we got home we went to play tennis! Our first attempt at our new sport was such a blast! We got to play with Morgan and Whitney and they were VERY patient with us newbies. We had a great time and it was beautiful weather!
-That night we went to P.F. Chang's for dinner with the Taylors and the Turnbulls. We had a very... entertaining night there with great company.

Thursday night, we went to dinner with Leigh and a few other friends and family members to celebrate Leigh's graduation! It's so crazy to me that I have now been graduated for over a year and also that all of my freshman roomies are now graduated.. we made it through all of college together! I'm so glad that Leigh was such a big part of my college life.. and will continue to be a big part of life to come! I'm proud of you Lee Lee!

4.25.10

self proclaimed spring break

Since i am not in school, or teaching school, and BYU didn't have a spring break anyways, i decided to have my own. I deserved it right!? So, while Paul was busy working and taking finals... I went HOME! I got spend about a week in Dallas and finally got to see my parents and Cassie for the first time since I've been prego!

**Speaking of prego: one REALLY exciting thing that happened while i was down there was that i started feeling my baby kick!! I felt her really softly on Friday night and then since then it's been more and more, getting stronger and stronger. She is definitely a little busy body! I LOVE feeling her it's so exciting.

I had a great time.. the weather was warm (although unfortunately not too sunny).

I got to be there to celebrate Cassie's birthday:

We went to Joe T. Garcia's in Fort Worth for dinner.

-I had lunch with Leah (SO mad i forgot to take a picture) and also saw Brittany! It was so fun to see both of them.

-We were able to work on lots of projects:

baby bedding

refinishing baby furniture

picking fabrics for a baby quilt

We also celebrated with an early birthday dinner for me:

We went to eat at Cheesecake Factory... so delicious.

With maybe a few other fun things on the side (shopping.. eating out... watching movies... hanging out).

So glad I got a little break.

4.16.10

happy birthday Cassie!





Happy 18th to the best little sister I could ask for. I can't believe you are a legal adult.. although so much more adult than I as at your age. I'm so glad that i could be with you on your birthday! I'm excited to see what this upcoming year brings you! And hopefully it brings you close by :)

today i'm 20 weeks

pregnancy update:

-I'm halfway through my pregnancy! I can't believe how fast it's gone by so far (i'm sure it'll slow down from here).

-I feel like I'm legitimately starting to look pregnant.

-I went to doctor on Monday, it was a short and sweet visit. Everything is looking good.

-I got my 20 week ultrasound on Wednesday and it was SO fun! I couldn't believe what a little person she is and moving around a ton and already showing a personality and so cute to watch. She looks healthy in every way and measuring 12 ounces. And I am right on track as far as my progession and due date.

-I still haven't felt her kick or move, I've felt a few little flutters that I think may have been her but nothing real for sure yet. I can't wait until i do, however after seeing the ultrasound it might be a blessing in disguise because she is DEFINITELY a wiggler!



Here are a few of my favorite pics from the ultrasound (luckily we were able to get quite a few, she just kept striking all these poses!):



playing peek-a-boo with her fists in front of her face, all snuggled in



profile of her face and her cute little button nose



crossing her legs -- such a little lady



a full body shot (she is upside down with her knees bent)



And here's what I'm looking like nowadays:

pillow project

I had some fabric scraps that I wanted to make a little pillow out of for the baby's room. I wanted to do a patchwork-type thing so I found this idea online and whipped it up this weekend! I think it turned out adorable, I can't wait to put it in her room, probably sitting in the rocking chair.
Speaking of rocking chair, we are going to order a glider from my work but we have been looking for a glider ottoman to go with it, they can get kinda pricey so I've been on the lookout for one on sale. We decided to go to Babies R Us on Saturday and just check and see if they had any that had been returned or something on clearance. We were so lucky to find this little beauty:
It had been returned. It came right out of the box so it's brand new, although it's the wrong colors for the room so I'll probably try to make a little slipcover for it. Nevertheless, the BEST part of it all was the price: $20.00 I couldn't believe that was the actual price!!! And then we got 20% off so we ended up getting it for like $16. We were VERY proud of our find!

The only other thing I've done for the baby's room is these flower balls I have hanging in the corner where the crib will be:
These were my project one weekend when Paul was out of town. I think they turned out really cute, although it took WAY too many flowers and money, but worth it.

Other than that we don't have anything set up in the room, not even the crib yet. We're trying to take it slow so we still have things to do for the next 4 months. It's so fun finding and doing things here and there and getting ready little by little!

a day spent sewing...

...is a nice day indeed. I had quite the day on my day off: slept in, read in bed, had breakfast, and then got to sewing! Whitney and Tiffany and i decided we want to do a project every month. So we all got together and started this month's: aprons! It took most the day but we had a lot of fun and made some good progress. After that i hung out with my hubbylicious. We ate dinner, went grocery shopping and watched way too much 24. Not bad for a Monday!

... since easters

(You have to read the title in the Nacho Libre voice.)
We had a great Easter weekend!

Saturday night we dyed Easter eggs with the Barnes and the Taylors. This one was my favorite:


Then on Sunday morning we woke up to lots of snow! Then we had a delicious Easter breakfast at the Taylor's and enjoyed conference, took a nice nap between sessions, that evening had Easter dinner at our house:



I made these cute little corn flake nests to go down the center of the table.

11 people came and the food was all very delicious!
And of course the bunny cake for dessert:

Listening to conference and eating yummy food was a great way to spend the weekend!

Happy Easter

Hope all of you enjoy this wonderful day of springtime (SNOW?!), bunnies, renewal, and most importantly the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for the atonement and what it blesses me with everyday.

4.3.10

happy birthday dad!

Wishing my dad the happiest of birthdays. Thank you for being an amazing father and I can't wait to see what an awesome grandpa you'll be! You're the greatest! Love you tons!

today i'm 18 weeks

pregnancy update:
-Well, i thought i was doing well with my record of no throwing up during my pregnancy. NOT SO. Disaster struck about 3 days ago when i got food poisoning and had a very miserable about 36 hours up-chunking and trying to get over it. About as soon as i was over the initial stages, Paul started. Not good. But, we are ok now. And technically, since it was food poisoning and not morning sickness i can still kind of keep my record.

-speaking of food. I have definitely been on tons of little kicks with my cravings. I'll like something for a week or so then have no interest in it. (such as: smoothies, frosted mini-wheats, peanuts, cranberry juice, any juice really) but things that are still popular and also some new ones to the table are: lucky charms, fruit, pretzels, cucumbers. I also haven't had much of a sweet tooth since I've been pregnant (SO unlike me!) but lately i've been seriously craving one candy: Air Heads. One grocery store has them 8 for $1. Naturally, i bought 16.

-i have been a little bit of a space case lately. so forgetful. Especially while running errands or when calling someone for a specific purpose.
Example A: Paul opened the fridge the other night, only to find this:

oh don't worry, most households usually keep the can opener in the fridge.

Example B: I was telling Paul about the Easter surprise i got him when i realized that i forgot where i hid his surprise. It took me about 5 minutes to remember. And it's not like we have a big house with lots of hiding places.

And now for the belly pic: