BABY!

Well world, another day, another deed. Actually, a few deeds. Today’s deeds included buying the majority of the remaining items on our registry and straightening out our room to make a place for baby. With our security clearance in the air and our living situation unclear, we had put this off (because, really, if we were to get it all set up, we’d just have to take it all down again before moving). However, at our most recent doctor’s appointment, I was dilated to a three and doctor man said travel is out.

Really, he did us a favor. New York, you’ll have to wait a little longer. (If we hear from you soon enough to make you wait…that is). Okay, ready for this?

BOOM.

If you didn’t just become insanely overcome with excitement for us, I want you to refresh your browser, start reading from the beginning of this post one more time, and—this time, when you see the picture of our soon-to-be BABY’S closet…well, yes—become insanely overcome with excitement. Choose to ignore the poor quality and lighting of the picture. Do it.

I can’t even tell you how happy it makes me to look at that thing. Oh, and that carseat you see sitting in front of it? Yes. There’s going to be a baby in there.

It is SO nice to finally know where we’ll be having our baby and to be able to set up for him. We are so grateful for all of the exciting things the Lord has blessed us with lately.  (Oh, AND for all of you wonderful people who gave us wonderful gifts to help fill that wonderful closet…by the way :)

We recently had the opportunity to have maternity pictures taken. For all of you who were wondering how to increase self-awareness during pregnancy, well, I would suggest taking pictures when you’re over 9 months pregnant. That’ll do it.

It might be because I’ve been good about exercising throughout pregnancy, or maybe just that the mirrors I look in are angled to make me feel smaller than I actually am, or even just because I’ve had such an awesome pregnancy and therefore haven’t really paid attention…

Whatever the reason, I am bigger than I thought I was...

What's great about this is:

A.  I have a husband who tells me I’m not as big as I look in the pictures (bless his heart)

B. I LOVE the pictures. They make me sooo happy, and

C. Thanks to this reality check, baby’s arrival feels closer and closer!

Here they are, for your viewing pleasure. I mostly
just included my favorites. Give all the credit to Alicia Marie Photography. She happens to be my amazing cousin who was in town recently.

This picture is by far my favorite. I just LOVE that I married someone as excited about starting our family as I am :)

I know what you're thinking...if ONLY we had spaced those letters evenly. . . 

I'm just loving them! :)

Happy day(s) with my mister...

Well, this week is two years since Matthew and I's first date, and one year since he proposed to me. 

For those of who who don't know it, here is our story :)

The first date

Senior year at BYU for me was an awesome one. I was blessed with two amazing roommates, one of whom invented something called "Bomb Dating" with me. Bomb dating is where you show up at someone's door, having a date planned, and ask them if they're ready. They usually respond by saying, "....uhh...for what?" To which, you happily respond, "for a date, with me. Right now :)" 

We usually had a fun date planned. Usually two phases, actually. If the first phase went well, we'd continue to the second half of the date. If it didn't seem to be working it, we might call it a night after the first activity (not having told our dates there indeed was, a second activity :) 

****Please note: there was not always a second phase planned. If you are a "bombee", if you will, reading this--don't think we cut you short just because there was only one activity :) 

Anywhoooo....There are two types of Bomb Dating. Classic Bomb dating (when you pick a random apartment where you know members of the opposite sex live), and Strategic Bombing. Strategic Bombing is when you have scoped out someone you think is cute and are interested in and bomb them. You may or may not have actually spoken to that person before. 

In Matthew's case, it was a strategic bomb. Chelsie, (my awesome roommate), played wingwoman for our double, (which, might I add, almost ended very differently when Matthew almost wasn't home for the bombing :) I had met Matthew at a church activity and spoken to him once thereafter. I thought he was super cute, fun, and a little eccentric. I was interested, but wasn't sure whether or not I was his type. 

Anywho...as it so happens....he had been wanting to ask me out on a date. And then, boom--we show up on his doorstep with our bomb invitation. 

Due to many eyes that I'm sure have started scanning by now...I'll sum up the date in short. We went to Nickel City (an arcade) and then to SubZero (an icecream place). The fact that he wouldn't let me pay for either were further reasons to like him. It was super fun. He fake proposed to me with the ring I bought with our tickets. I ignored the brilliant thought I had to take a picture that night. I mean, who would have thought we'd end up getting hitched? :)

Dating

Apparently, I'm a little (overly) cautious when it comes to dating. This resulted in some periods of figuring things out and taking steps back. But, overall, we just had fun together. You couldn't really dream up a boyfriend that treated me better than my mister did. Really, you couldn't. We loved doing things for each other, whether it was buying favorite foods, or more elaborate surprises. Matthew is just one of the most giving, thoughtful people that has ever walked the face of the planet.

I know, a seemingly random picture to the worldwide web. But I love it for many reasons.

This picture was taken after having figured things out and returned to moving forward after my few steps back. On an epic camping/hiking trip with some good friends, might I add :)

The Proposal

Whelp, Matthew knows that I love surprises, and that I didn't want to talk about plans for the wedding or, even getting engaged really, until I had a ring on my finger. So, that's what he strove for. He had a few accidental slip-ups that tipped me off to the fact that he was planning on proposing. That being said, I still wasn't sure he was going to propose until he pulled out the ring. 

Anywho....On the year anniversary of that very first bomb date (which, I probably wouldn't have known was the year anniversary on my own, I'll be honest; that was one of his slip ups), Matthew had a date planned for us. We went to Nickel City first--I got another ring to commemorate another year, and then we went up the canyon to go longboarding. It was both of our first times, and we LOVED it. We then walked to Bridal Falls, and then back to the car to get things to make a fire and cook the tin foil dinners Matthew had prepped. 

It was after we had eaten that he popped the question. This question popping included a "magic trick" that turned my newest Nickel City ring into the ring he proposed with :) Sweet things were spoken, I maybe teared up a little bit, and the car ride home was filled with excited phone calls to family members and friends.

There are more pictures...but, mostly, they are for my journal, and not for you, oh, dear sweet, endless amount of random people who may stumble upon my blog :) 

This Year

To commemorate two years since our first date and one since getting engaged, we returned to our beloved Nickel City yesterday,  got me yet another ring to add to my collection, and then went for a walk up the canyon where we had longboarded. We also made a stop at the campfire site where the deed was done. 

Who would have thought, two years ago, that that Nickel City visit would be done all over again by the two of us, splendiferously married and expecting our very first baby together. 

 

I love this husband of mine, and I love our story. 

We are also LOVING this bundle of joy in my belly. 

Who, might I add, may be making our little twosome a threesome sooner than expected, or at least so says our beloved Doctor Empey, who we visited today :) 

Week 34, People!

 

That's right, my friends. Week 34. Is that crazy, or what? There's not really any mistaking my being pregnant these days, though I often forget how pregnant I look until Matthew and I walk by a window with my reflection in it, or I see my shadow and comment, "Hey, babe--look! It's a pregnant lady!"

 

I stopped working a few weeks ago, which has done wonders for my back pain (which has, honestly subsided completely during the day).

 

Current hobbies:

• Late night trips to the bathroom (we'll say I average four throughout the night)
• Keeping my husband awake at night
• Long walks and phone calls to my family
• Dreaming about our security clearance going through
• TV shows with the mister
• Watching my belly move
• Reading "The Wind Singer"
• Playing CharmKing on Grandma Barbara's Kindle while my hubster plays on his phone

This last weekend, guess who came to visit! You got it. My studly little brother. He's single, ladies. And, let's be honest, SO stinking cute. This is him, mowing our neighbor's lawn before the Saturday session of conference. Matthew usually mows it for a friend of ours next-door whose husband recently passed away, but Matthew was at work all Saturday. Guess who didn't even gripe when I volunteered him for the job?

 

Okay, I know. Horrible of me. But, really...what would you do? I look out the window and see our 70-some-year-old neighbor pulling the lawnmower out of the shed to mow. She's obviously not going to let the 8-month-pregnant lady do it. . .

 

Talon, being his awesome self, didn't mind at all. Mind you, that didn't stop him from a "Well, the apple didn't fall far from the tree" comment and a cute little grin to accompany it; we grew up with a mom who LOVED to volunteer us for service, or do service with us. I'm actually really grateful for it. But, that didn't stop us from hiding out in rooms of the house or finding ways to look busy to avoid having mom "help" us find ways to occupy our time growing up.

 

Isn't he so fun?

It was nice to have Sunday with both Talon and Matthew, since they've never really been able to spend much time getting to know each other, with Talon being on his mission and then going to school in another state. In between sessions on Sunday, we went to the park and threw around the Frisbee. I sure do love these boys

 Oh, funny story, actually. Talon asked me whether or not we had a volleyball. I went inside, grabbed ours from downstairs (compliments of Tiff, who gifted it to us for our wedding), and brought it out--assuming he had wanted to pepper with me. We used to do it all the time together in the front yard growing up. However, when I asked him if he wanted to pepper, his response was

 "Isn't that like, a technical foul? Peppering when you're pregnant?"

ha. He quickly learned, that it is, in fact, safe for me to pepper. Granted, if I were going to dive for a ball, it might be another story. But, let's be honest...when have I ever dove for a ball while peppering? I'll answer that for you, since most of your names are not Talon and do not, in fact, know this tidbit. Zero, I'd say. Okay, maybe 7, in all of our years of peppering. But, mostly, it would be Talon diving, and me doing a great job of hitting the balls that came almost directly to me :)

 

Anywho...it was a splendid visit. I have a splendid husband. And we have a splendidlyumptuous baby on the way. 6 more weeks until baby. That's...a mission transfer! Holy moly! Do us a favor and send some prayers our way in regard to our security clearance going through extra quickly.