It's a ...................

 BOY!!!!

 

Yep. We are having a baby boy!!!! I have almost NO experience with boys big or little because I have four sisters but- can't wait to learn. I'm excited our other kids will have a big brother and every one says that boys are harder in the early years but way easier in the teenage years. I think I can handle that :) Steve is thrilled because he's been calling our baby a 'he' or 'him' or 'his' since day 1. This combined with the fact that he won a bet with me about 'triumphal' being a real word, has made him think that he's right "all of the time". PSHHHHHH He wishes!

 

The ultrasound revealed a healthy baby boy whom they estimate to be in the 95th percentile for weight! Yikes! I also have placenta previa which is a relatively common condition that means I will have to have a c-section unless the placenta moves out of the way. So far we haven't had any luck with it moving. I really wanted to have a natural birth but I'm not sure if that's in the cards for me this time. They said they will check again at 28 weeks to see if it's moved. If it hasn't odds are it won't. We are hoping it will move but I've been thinking of the positives of this condition- here's my list...

1. I get more ultrasounds than your average pregnant woman

2. I will get paid longer if I have to have a c-section

3. I get to pick the birthdate of my son

4. (I'm still working on four but I'm sure it exsists)

 

I'm still feeling great- I find the worst symptom I'm experiencing are the crazy ups and downs of hormone shifts! I keep getting caught off guard and not realizing what/how I'm feeling until I've been cranky for a day or two. If I make sure I'm exercising and staying active I do a lot better than when I don't, so I'm trying really hard to stay on top of that bit. I still crave protien way more than sweets... I would take a rotisserie chicken over ice cream {almost} any day. I looked in my lunch box today and realized that I had brought a peanut butter and honey sandwich, apple and peanut butter, nut protien bar and cashew-almond clusters, carrots and a cheese stick..(Don't worry I didn't eat all of it but I bring tons of food just in case my blood sugar drops to a crazy level!) I just laughed at the amount of peanut butter/nuts that were in my lunch. Ha.

 

 Here are some 'belly' pictures, though I still feel like I'm in the inbetween stage where people look at me and wonder "hmmm did she just gain a few pounds or....?"

Although the other day, we ran into an acquaintance of Steve's at a work party, and he said "Hi" and immediately said something like "So is this your first or do you have others at home?" Steve and I were both taken a little aback by that because people aren't typically so blunt about asking those types of question to near complete strangers, but hopefully that means I'm actually starting to look preggers.

This is at 21 weeks

19 weeks

 

 

The money shot.... There's really no question in our minds if the sonographer was right. The picture speaks for itself eh?

Santa Fe Reunion

We drove straight from Lake Powell to Santa Fe, NM to hang out my family. We stopped at the four corners monument which we found out is actually not and the four corners of the states and is a highly commercialized setup! It might have been a little anticlimactic, and we may have paid about $2 per picture we took BUT we have been in four places at once. How many people can say that- besides the 28000000 other people who have taken their picture in the exact same spot?

The landscape from southern Utah to Santa Fe is really really drab, however the sunset was pretty incredible!

We did a little bit of touring around Santa Fe before my family arrived. We took a really long bike ride from our hotel to the downtown area where we saw this old church and walked around some really cool art galleries. 

My family decided that we would all meet in the middle for our reunion this year so we rented this really nice cabin up in the mountains to spend the fourth of July weekend. We got to see a lot of our favorite little man Andrew and our favorite little lady, Genevieve. It was fun to play games and eat good food and enjoy good company. 

The cabin was right by this nice little stretch of private river, therefore, Steve went fishing every day! He loved being able to have a river ten minutes away from him!

Steve was excited to see Baby G again- look at how precious she is

Look at this awesome cabin we stayed in!

June 2012

This summer FLEW by! I loved the break from work and the chance to rest because I was soooooo tired all of the time; Like a tired that I've never experienced in my life- Ever. I got a new bike which was very I was very excited about. We went on an 'easy' trail with 'gentle' uphill grades (well so said the review online). Really it was an incredibly steep hill and a rocky looking trail! It was kind of a bust of bike ride for me because I'm terrified of mountain biking. We had a good view of the valley though :)

A huge fire broke out in Fort Collins about 45 minutes away from us. This is the cloud of smoke that we saw for weeks. Surprisingly enough, the smoke didn't effect us much because it mostly blew north and east. 

I wanted to take some of the extra time I had this summer and try new culinary experiences... this is a picture of one of the experiments- Ratatouille. It really looks beautiful eh? However, the recipe I used was seriously lacking in flavor and a major disappointment! I need the recipe that was used in the movie I guess :)

Culinary Adventure #2: Coconut Souffle, topped with a dark chocolate coconut sauce. This was the opposite of disappointment, pure culinary delight!

At the end of June we headed off for Lake Powell. All of Steve's family minus Mike, Erin and family were there and so were the family friends the Mays and Steve's canadian relatives joined us on the boat! Three of us were preggers and there were more small children than there ever have been when we've gone to Lake Powell so it was a bit of a different trip but we all still had a great time. It was weird not to be able to get out behind the boat at all but I got a sweet tan and read a lot! Worst part of the trip: Steve biffing it doing a wakeboard trick having temporary memory loss and giving himself a concussion... Best part of the trip: Steve's little sis, Annie, got engaged officially to Joey. It was fun to get to see them right after he proposed! And you read that right everyone, my kids get to have an 'Uncle Joey' just like the Tanners did on Full House!

The happily engaged couple!

Exciting News!

Steve and I are happy to tell you that we are having a baby! Wahoo!

I'm 15 weeks and the baby is due January 6th. I have been feeling great so far, no morning sickness and as long as I eat regularly I don't feel nauseated. Be jealous of that all you want- but I do have acne like I'm 13 years old again.... so maybe that balances it all out?!?! Well we're excited and can't wait to find out the gender (even though Steve still thinks we are going to be surprised.... pshhh ya right)!

And a shout out to my sister Kiersty who took the picture and did photoshop magic to put the ultrasound photo in the frame!



Spring 2011

Well after Winter comes spring... Here are some of our Spring 2012 highlights!

We had an unseasonably warm spring like temperatures in the 60's, 70's, 80's from February until May! We spend a lot of time outside and hangin' out, riding bikes, playing with our nieces and nephews and I suffered through the last two months of school!

We took a hike up to Bear Lake in RMNP one day in late April and were surprised to find feet of snow still hanging around up there. So our hike turned into a short walk during which we took a lot of time to talk and enjoy the scenery. This has become one of my favorite places in the park. It is beautiful.

Steve had his 32nd birthday in May and we invited some friends over for games and dessert. Steve got his favorite- Lava cakes with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream.

Over Memorial day we met up with Steve's family and family friends in Durango, CO for the weekend. One of the highlights was going to Mesa Verde National Park. We spent a day there exploring the Anasazi Indian ruins. It is crazy to imagine that people actually lived in these cliff dwellings. They were these tiny little houses built into the cliffs with sandstone and they lived there all year! I can't imagine that they were ever truly comfortable but they made it work! Some of the pictures are below...

These round rooms used to have roofs on them and in the winter they would build fires in these rooms and that was their source of warmth

Adelaide loved playing in the dirt!

Climbing up an 40 foot ladder after seeing some ruins...

These were Steve and I's LUXURY accomodations in Durango! haha This room was 4 feet by 8 feet and I have no idea how they even got these bunkbeds in the closet! We actually were sharing a room with Steve's parents but had to switch because I couldn't sleep with snoring! haha. Abbie and Annie graciously gave up the bunk beds and took our queen bed :)

 

A dramatic sky over Lake MacIntosh

We got to go see Landon Donovan and David Beckham play the CO Rapids in soccer. They totally dominated the Rapids and we had fun watching them play!

We had to write our names on white pieces of tape and put them on hats for the training... after the training we all stuck our pieces of tape to Brent's bum! It took him hours to realize... haha

We went to a defensive handgun training course in Las Vegas for a weekend. Steve had already been to a different class last summer with his dad and brothers, this time girls were invited to go. I was really nervous about the whole gun shooting thing but I actually ended up having a lot of fun. It probably helps that I was pretty good at it :) We stayed for an extra day in Vegas and went to a Cirque du Soleil show. We had a fun time and loved the show!

 

My sister had a baby in the spring and after school got out I was able to go visit for a week and 'help out' with the baby. Although I don't know how much I helped... she is a pretty chill baby! And look how adorable she is!