Friday, December 2, 2011

20 Weeks!

This week marks week 20 in my pregnancy! I can't believe I am halfway there. This pregnancy has seemed to fly by and I hope it continues that way. I had my ultrasound on Monday and let me tell you I was so impatient waiting for it to get here! This whole pregnancy I have felt that we were having boy number 3. Then on the big day of the ultrasound I had a really neat experience with Wesley in the car. I was driving him to school and telling him that we were going to find out if the baby was a boy or girl. I asked him if he wanted a little brother or a sister. He said "sister" with a huge grin on his face. I all of a sudden felt the spirit and had a strong impression that we would in fact be welcoming a little girl into our family.

After dropping him off, I met Rob and my Mom at the doctor's office. I was extremely nervous for some reason but very excited. We were finally called back and got the exciting news that we were having A GIRL!!! I was honestly shocked, even though I had a strong feeling that day that we were going to get that news. I was skeptical of the ultrasound tech and made her double check. She got another angle and said yep, it's definitely a girl. She continued on with the ultrasound and everything checked out to be perfect! Our sweet baby seemed to be healthy and growing right on target. At the very end of the ultrasound, the tech decided to check the gender one more time. {I think we were making her nervous} So she checked one more time and said that it was still a girl. Here are some pictures of our sweet baby girl:

This is the first shot we saw of her. She's waving hello!
{Look at those little muscles! She's going to be one tough little girl!}


Her cute profile




It's a Girl!

...it's a girl again!


She was moving around like crazy during the ultrasound and at one point she was bending and straightening her legs. The tech was able to capture it in the next two pictures.



We have a whole disc of pictures, but I won't bore you with them all. We are SO excited to be having a girl. Especially the boys! I can't wait to go shopping for her and practically "break the bank" as Rob put it. She is going to be one spoiled little girl. My mom and sisters are so excited to be welcoming a new granddaughter and niece. It's been 12 years since my last niece was born! Our family is definitely ready for a girl. I've been having so much fun looking for baby bedding online and planning out her cute nursery in my head. Now if Rob and I could just agree on a name...

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Halloween '11

Here it is December 1st and I'm just getting around to blogging about Halloween. I guess it's better late than never. There isn't really too much to say. Our Halloween wasn't too eventful this year, but it was so nice to have my parents home. Rob was his normal boring self, while the boys and I dressed up. We did our usual traditions of trick or treating around the neighborhood and then onto my Mom's for Chili and donuts {YUMMY!}.

Wesley was off track on Halloween, so his class had their party earlier in the month and they got to dress up for it. My friend Dede snagged this picture of Wesley and his buddy Chase before taking them to school.


Me and my boys on Halloween night

The boys had a blast and I think they are starting to love Halloween just as much as I do! My favorite part of the night was when we would call Beckett Batman. He would turn to us and say, "But I'm just Beckett!" Too cute! I love my boys!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Chicago Road Trip

My parents finished their mission in October. My sister Jenny and I got the opportunity {or were forced} to fly out to Chicago to help my parents pack up and move home. Although it wasn't the most enjoyable trip {mainly because of the hours and hours we spent in the car}, it was quite the adventure! One of my favorite parts of the trip were meeting and visiting with people my parents had taught or had an impact on. It was amazing! My parents are pretty incredible and have to be some of the greatest examples I know.

This is Agent Joseph Hope. He was an investigator my parents were working with and he was baptized by my Dad the week after this picture was taken. My parents gave him a Quad with his name on it. He couldn't stop beaming!

After visiting with Joseph, we headed to the Chicago Temple to do an endowment session.

Me with my Mom and Jenny.
{I look like a giant}

Me with my Dad

After an amazing afternoon spent in the Temple, we went and crossed off one of the items on my Dad's Chicago Bucket List. He wanted to visit Chicago's Leaning Tower and take a picture.

Check.

After driving {what seemed like forever} back to the city, we decided we needed some grub. We grabbed dinner at Ed Debevic's. Ed's is famous for their not so great service. They even insult you.

Here's my Mom in her cute hat. As our waiter was putting on our hats, he put mine on and it didn't fit. He then called me Chubby Head as he adjusted the hat to be bigger. :( It was actually pretty funny because Jenny and my Mom were talking earlier in the day about my huge head. It just proved their point.

Me and Jen at Ed's

While the atmosphere was fun, the food wasn't fantastic. We did eat the cutest desserts ever though. Ed's serves the World's Smallest Sundaes.

And that they were!

After dinner we met up with a few other converts my parents had taught for some ice cream. We ended up staying for hours and had a lengthy religious debate. It was an interesting experience, but I was glad I could be a part of it and share my testimony.

Our last day in Chicago we started off with some shopping. We stopped at H & M for a little hat shopping...

Then it was off to Navy Pier where we had some really neat CTR rings made.

Then we were off to Eduardo's for some delicious Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. After we got back to the apartment we got to work. We finished packing up the apartment and began loading the truck. Luckily my parents whole district and a few ward members showed up to help. It was quite the moving process. We had to load everything on luggage racks, then haul them to the freight elevators, go down 29 floors, then onto the loading dock. And repeat {100 times!}. Although my parents lived in a tiny apartment, it took us 3 hours to get everything out.

This is a picture of 10 people and a luggage cart crammed into an elevator. You can barely see my eyes in the top left corner. You can't even see Jenny who was squished behind me. It was hilarious to see the look on people's faces as the elevator doors opened on different floors.

After cleaning the empty apartment, we loaded into the car and truck and began our journey home. It was almost 8pm and we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. It was a long drive {especially after a long day of shopping and packing}, but we made it to our first stop in Moline, IL. Good thing because if we had to go any further, I probably would have fell sleep at the wheel.

The next morning we were off again! This time Jenny was behind the wheel and it was nice to just be the passenger. We listened to "The Help" to make the time go by faster. There wasn't a whole lot of scenery to look at along the way. Mainly farmland and truck stops every once in a while.

"World's Largest Truckstop"

Our second stop was in Omaha, NE. We picked Omaha so we could visit Winter Quarters, a historical Church site.

My little Mom in a big chair

After checking into our hotel and freshening up a bit, we headed to Winter Quarters.

Me and my parents in front of the beautiful Temple!

We decided to check out the Cemetery and Visitor's Center before heading to the Temple.
Statue in the cemetery

View of the Temple from the cemetery

Statue in front of Visitor's Center
It was incredible to learn about the Saints who lived there and all that they sacrificed. Many lost their lives during the freezing winter months and I admire the courage the others had to keep moving forward. My great great grandmother lived in Winter Quarters. She had her son there and also lost her husband while living there. It amazes me the testimony she had to push on and make it to the Salt Lake Valley. What an amazing example!

After spending time at the visitors center, we headed over to the temple. It was very beautiful and unique inside. We were all so tired that night, but I'm glad we took the opportunity to go and participate in a few ordinances. It was worth it!


After another well rested night, we hit the road again! I do have to say that Nebraska is the most boring state I have ever driven through! This was our longest day in the car and I wanted to die! I drove the whole day and I think we were in the car from 12:30 pm to 11:30 pm. I was so glad when we reached our destination of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Not only was I glad to be out of the corn state, I was glad to be that much closer to home!
We thought this water tower looked like a lego head...or a baby.
This was our view for almost two days. Nothing but corn fields. For miles and miles and miles. No joke!


Our last day of driving was pretty uneventful. I realized that Wyoming doesn't offer much to look at either. I also realized that I take our beautiful scenery for granted. I missed our majestic mountains!

Our last pit stop {somewhere in Wyoming} before reaching home!
Although it was fun getting to spend some one on one time with my sister and my parents, I don't think I ever want to make that drive again! Rob always talks about how fun it would be to take a road trip across the country, but after driving only a third of the way, I think I'll pass! I'm so grateful my parents are home. We missed them dearly and hope they wait awhile before heading out on another mission!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Enjoying Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year! I love the cooler temps, the beautiful colors, and the fun holidays that go along with it! Although I was feeling pretty icky through most of September and part of October, we still tried to take advantage of all the fun activities!

We took advantage of the warm weather and went to Frightmares at Lagoon one Saturday.







We bought the boys frosty's on the way home and this was the end result:


We went over to Rob's parents for our annual jack-o-lantern pizza and pumpkin carving night.

Beckett was all smiles as he dug his hand in to pull out the pumpkin guts...

He wasn't really a fan.
So Dad took over.
{This is a classic Rob concentration face. Tongue out and all!}

This is what Wesley did while we carved his pumpkin...

Our finished pumpkins:


We went to Gardner Village {twice} to see the Witches! Once with our good friend Nikki and the other time with our friends Mike and Trisha. The boys loved seeing all the crazy witches! The one below was probably their favorite.







When we went with Mike and Trisha, the ponies were out and the boys begged for a ride. Beckett's smile was priceless!



One thing we missed out on this year was our annual visit to Cornbelly's. The month turned crazy and we just plainly ran out of time. I guess there is always next year!