Cell Phone Pics

I made a few more bags a few weeks ago. We gave Julie and Jill both one for Mother's day. Then I got a text from Jill saying that Kennedy had already stole hers (this was the next day) so I knew exactly what to do for her birthday that Sunday and already had it done actually! 

 Jill's bag

 Julie's Bag

 Kennedy's Bag

 Diana taking a nap while Shanda and I made hair bows.

Yes this sweet dresser was at d.i. and I told Jared we needed it. He disagreed.

Enjoy the Journey.

Scripture Study

Last night Jared looked up "lds thought of the day" as he has he past few nights for our scripture study. (We have been getting in bed late and I have been so exhausted but these little tid bits have been exactly what we needed to heard and have provoked some really good conversations about how our life is changing.) 

This is exactly how he read this quote with the part in between the dashes added without hesitation. It made me smile.

“In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil and you must never forget that --especially when giving birth--. When disappointment and discouragement strike, and they will, you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham’s seed.”

–Jeffrey R. Holland, “For Times of Trouble,” New Era, Oct. 1980, 15

Enjoy the Journey.

Motherhood

I was told I couldn't go to church today because of how exhausted I am and my head hurting. So I was sitting here listening to KLCE online and this song came on. It perfectly describes what I have been thinking about lately.

"To Bring Them Back to Me."

Sometimes I think about my life 

unsure of what to be. 

My friends and family give advice; 

They want what's best for me. 

Of all the things they see in me, 

What should I become?

 I need Thee, Lord,

 to help me choose,

 that Thy will may be done. 

Will I be prepared to fill woman's role,

 Accept the Lord's will with all of my soul, 

To raise children up, 

to love them, to lead? 

Will I take the time to bring them to Thee? 

My mother loves unselfishly, 

helps others in their need.

 She loves the teachings of the Lord

 and teaches them to me. 

Of all the things that she could choose,

 she chose the will of God, 

To love and lead us back to Him 

As hand in hand we walk. 

My mother prepares and fills woman's role, 

Accepts the Lord's will with all of her soul. 

She's taking the time to love and to lead, 

And she's taking time to bring us to Thee. 

As I prepare for motherhood

 And children I may raise, 

Be near me, Lord, that I may teach, Inspire in loving ways. 

Help me to walk the path that brings My children back to Thee, 

That we'll find joy throughout our lives, 

Together on our way. 

And I will prepare to fill woman's role, 

Accept the Lord's will with all of my soul.

 I'll raise children up, I'll love them, I'll lead, 

And I'll take the time to bring them to Thee.

 And as I prepare for children to raise, 

Be near me that I may bring them to Thee.

I have been blessed with an amazing mother who held me by the hand to "Bring me back to Him." She has and always will be my example in motherhood. I have learned so much from her as I have watched her quiet but GIANT example. In my eyes she casts a shadow of example far taller than her 5'5" body does. She is patient, kind, and loves unconditionally. She is always willing to do something for another person, which is something that I have really tried to apply into my life. 

 As I am preparing for this next step of motherhood I pray and hope that I can do the same thing with my children; that I may lead them back to Him. What a blessing and a responsibility it is to be entrusted by Heavenly Father to raise one of His choice Spirits. Jared and I cannot wait to meet her and get to know her better. We are so ready to have her (more fully) in our home and learn and grow with her, as well as other children that will come into our home in the years to come.

Enjoy the Journey.

Grilling

Good thing I always have my cell phone on me and text pictures regularly. It keeps our lives documented. :)

 Side Note for your enjoyment: Sometimes this is how we roll when we are at yard sales. We found a cabinet for Jill for $7 the week we didn't have her and her van with us, but nonetheless we got it in the car and made it the 4 blocks home to drop it off before going out again. :)  Yesterday (I should have taken a picture) We had 3 bikes on the bike rack and a baby swing tied onto the bikes, because our back seat was full of the love sac we picked up for $15!!! 

Anyways back to the title of the post: GRILLING.

 We picked up a grill and an empty tank for $35 on KSL and have loved grilling since then. Last summer there was one at the trailer we rented, but we needed to get one. We are so glad we did and have used it 3 times in the week and a half we have had it. :)

(the plate of cheese went on the potatoes in the foil after they were cooked)

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Jones we have enjoyed hamburgers and steak! We love that we benefit from their raising a cow and slaughtering it. 

Enjoy the Journey.

Staycation

Nielsen's Grove

Something else I mentioned a few weeks ago was for date night we went to dinner and the park. I finally put the pictures on the computer from the park-The order got a little mixed up but enjoy! 

 (Actually a picture with my face-I feel like this makes me look huge and that I don't really look like this, maybe I am just in denial.)

 Mother ducks sitting on their eggs.

  This was a sweet bird, but this picture was right before we left so the lighting is terrible.

 These signs just made us laugh.

 As you swing on this if you get it going enough the whole thing spins. (3 people can swing at one time)

Enjoy the Journey.

Tulip Festival

As I mentioned earlier we went to the Tulip Festaval with Jill, Savanna, and Kayden. It was so fun, but here are a sampling of the pictures we took. Plus Jill has many many more. :)

(Jill has the good ones of us, we were actually looking at her, but Savanna was snapping away too.)

Enjoy the Journey.

39 Weeks

Here is another picture taken at 39 Weeks-before a morning of yard sales. :) 

Enjoy the Journey.

39 Weeks

Thank goodness for cell phone pictures. :)

(Sorry about the weird highlighting behind the words.)

How far along? 39

Total weight gain: 24 lbs

Maternity clothes? Yes and sweats. :)
Sleep: lots and lots
Miss Anything? nope
Movement: All of the time. The dull ache in the right side of my ribs grows throughout the day as she pushes on them, but she doesn't kick them, She gets the hiccups several times a day. She moves a lot when we get in bed which is fun for Jared to be able to feel her going crazy.

Food cravings: Yes. I just wanted a hamburger this week. SOOO strange for me but I had 2 (one saturday at 5 guys) and Jared made me one on Sunday. It was sooo good.
Anything making you queasy or sick: the smell of In and Out/greasy food (a block away from us)
Gender: Girl 
Belly Button in or out? barely in, Jared checks it by the Hour sometimes!
Wedding rings on or off? off-Jared's extra band

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Getting to meet her! We are so close!!! Every night we talk about how we can't believe how close we are and how she is OURS. And that we don't have to share her-but we will.... it will just take some getting used to. :)

Enjoy The Journey.

38 Weeks

(I will be 39 weeks on Saturday but this is the picture I had so I am updating this for last week and will do another one on Saturday).

 38 Weeks

How far along? 38

Total weight gain: 22 lbs

Maternity clothes? Yes or Jared's basketball shorts. :)
Sleep: lots and lots
Miss Anything? nope
Movement: All of the time. The dull ache in the right side of my ribs grows throughout the day as she pushes on them, but she doesn't kick them.

Food cravings: nope
Anything making you queasy or sick: the smell of In and Out/greasy food (a block away from us)
Gender: Girl 
Belly Button in or out? barely in, Jared checks it by the Hour sometimes!
Wedding rings on or off? off-Jared's extra band

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Getting to meet her! We are so close!!!

Jared practicing working on Ebay while holding Diana (Mike and Shanda's baby).

Enjoy the Journey.

Daddy Daughter Talks

Jared does a good job telling our baby that he loves her, or telling her how crazy her mom is, or other random things. This week he has had a few more serious talks with her. 

After going to the bathroom 5 times in 1 hour on Friday night I asked him to have a talk with her about her joy in hitting my bladder. As he did so he told her how much he loved her and how her mom already had problems with her bladder and she should stop playing around so that her mom could get some sleep. He promised her a cookie if she listened! He told her again how much he loves her and told her goodnight. We found out that we have an obedient daughter-she listened to him and let me sleep.

At our appointment yesterday Dr. Clark told us that she thinks that Monday would be a great day to have a baby-she thinks it would just be convenient for everyone plus she would have her birthday off every few years. So last night I told Jared to have a talk with her about it so we could see if she listens. As he talked to her he mentioned how she had done a good job 2 nights in a row being nice to my bladder and he owed her 2 cookies. He continued how it would be nice if she could come Monday and told her that she would get 20 cookies if she listened! Plus another cookie if she was nice to my bladder last night! He again told her how much he loves her and told her goodnight. 

She listened and was nice to my bladder last night so we shall see if she is obedient to the rest of her talk she got! 

Enjoy the Journey.

Updates

I realized as I was falling asleep last night it has been a while since I updated the blog. Here are some updates on what is going on in our life:

-School: Jared is in week 4 of the Spring term-His finals are the 13/14 of June. He is crazy busy so I try to spend as much time with friends as possible so that he can get his homework done as quickly as possible with minimal distractions. He is doing great in his classes despite one of the teachers not being very good. He had a test last weekend, has one this weekend, and another one next weekend. Last weekend I was leaving and opened the bathroom door to say bye to him (he was in the shower) I caught him poking his head out looking at his paper he had sitting on the back of the toilet-studying. He studied so hard last weekend!

-Ebay/Craigslist/KSL: I am keeping (or trying to keep up) on the craigslist/ksl side of it. We have sold a few things there lately, but not a ton. I always like it when big things sell! As for Ebay we have a few packages going out every few days or so. Every time packages leave it excites me because it means they are out of my house! :) Also this month Jared has sold 6 bikes! He has 2 more in Idaho and 1 more here, but getting that number down before the summer buying season starts is a huge blessing. Last week he sold a bike and we were so excited. We picked up a bike box and Jared got it packaged. He checked his email right before he pushed print and the guy emailed and said that he "bought the wrong bike" our question  "how do you buy and PAY for the wrong bike?" Anyways we ended up canceling the transaction but it sold a few hours later! We were so excited! This brings me to our next update...

-Garage Sales: The season has started!!!! Friday and Saturday mornings you will find us up early and looking for great deals. We have already found a few things that we have been asked to-like Bread pans for Karissa we totally paid NOTHING FOR! Got them thrown in with something else. Also I found my mom 3 skeins of yarn. She just started crocheting with this kind and they run about $4 a piece. My price for all 3 you ask? 25 CENTS!!!! I am a rockstar! ;) Jared has found some awesome deals as well for ebay stuff! I love when he can list it quickly and then it sells within 12 hours-get it in and move it out!!! 

-Crafting: I have been making more of the bags with the ties on them. We had a RS service auction and that is what I brought. They had to pick out their own fabric and I would make it but I made it within 24 hours of getting the fabric. I also taught someone else in the ward how to make it and now she wants a serger- I don't blame her. :)

-The baby: She is doing great and growing! I will do an update later today (I promise) and include a picture.

Enjoy the Journey.

Date Night

(on the 4th)  Jared asked me on a hot date to Chili's and the park, topped off with DI. :) I am trying to get better about bringing our camera and taking pictures!! I know it will be constant in June, but I need to document the times before that too. I am not a fan of pictures of me right now because I feel like my face looks fat in pictures. I don't feel that way when I look in the mirror, so I don't know what is going on. 

Of course a belly shot. :) (35.5 wks)

I will post pictures another time of our park adventure-they are on the other camera which isn't here right now. Also during our park adventure this girl recognized jared from at least 30 yards away he had a class with while we were engaged. Turns out their great grandpas are cousins-pretty exciting but it was crazy trying to get it figured out!


Enjoy the Journey.

Idaho Ward Baby Shower

My sister and Carol Messick threw me a baby shower for those who are in Shelley. It was so fun and they put a lot of hard work into it! The food was amazing (especially the "pizza" that Carol forgot to put out so I got to take it home), the company was great, our little one was SPOILED, advice cards were full of laughter, in the end I was exhausted! Thanks to all who came and supported us! (Somehow my mom managed to escape the camera... But I think Karissa had her camera too, so hopefully!)

 Traditional quilt tying! I actually didn't tie a knot, but this is what we do instead of playing games. (Funny Becky and Julie are there together-the same thing happened at my family bridal shower.)

 Friends!

 My adorable Grandma (and a nice shot of Becky chewing)

 Anderson Girls!

 Apparently Jared's and my sister are more alike than we knew. :)

Enjoy the Journey.

Thoughts on Pregnancy

I have been terrible about keeping a journal since we got married. As I reach the end of this pregnancy it has become more important to me to write down my thoughts and feelings. 

I have been so grateful to have this little girl growing inside of me for the past 8 months. It has been a wonderful experience to take part in creation with Jared and Heavenly Father. I cannot believe how fast it has gone! It seems like just a few weeks ago we were stopping by Smiths on the way home from the temple to grab a pregnancy test. Then I remember waiting in the bathroom for what seemed like forever, because Savanna came down to invite us up for cake and ice cream, to come out and tell Jared the test was positive. Those moments seemed like forever. We thought that it would be positive, but to have the reassurance was unreal. Then I text a picture to my mom... shaking I waited for her response as Jared and I hugged and hugged, but she didn't text back. Finally I called her, and said "HELLO!!! I am waiting for your response!!!" She replied "I am sitting here laughing and crying while my husband looks at me like I am a crazy person!" 

The first time we got to hear her little heartbeat I was 11.5 weeks pregnant. We wanted to tell our family over Thanksgiving, so I wanted the reassurance again that we really were expecting. Being so early, they couldn't just find her heartbeat so we got to do an ultrasound and see her. Our tiny little cinnamon bear, she was real. There was a baby growing inside of me, so tiny and so fragile. We left the appointment so excited, but we didn't believe the next few months would ever pass.

When we told our families our excitement grew and it became more real. We ended up telling my dad earlier than planned because for some reason he paid attention to me not feeling well. He was SO shocked, but SO excited. As we told everyone, our favorite was just waiting for people to read our shirts and figure it out. The excitement of Jared's family when they realized that they weren't just having 2 babies born this summer but so close and the fact that our baby was coming before Jordan and Cahlin's (since they told before we did). We should have had a video camera with us because some of their reactions were priceless. 

We had other check-ups and got to hear her heartbeat, but January 6th came and we got to go in and have our 20 wk check up and see her again, as well as find out who she was. The ultrasound tech did all of the measurements first before telling us that it was a girl. Jared knew it-he had said girl from the very beginning, but I said boy, then a few weeks before Christmas I changed my mind and though she was going to be a girl. During the whole appointment she was moving and kicking like crazy and wouldn't hold still. We joked that it was because I had had a Krispy Kreme that morning for breakfast and apparently she liked it. As we got home from our appointment we told my mom and sister, but had called my dad on the way home. They were all so excited! We continued to tell the rest of the family that day, as we were moving in we decorated with pink streamers so that they would know as they helped us move in. 

Our scare came when I had my first gallbladder attack at 23 weeks. I started crying when the nurse told me to go to labor and delivery to be monitored. Jared assured me that everything would be okay and that Heavenly Father knew what was going on. I was so scared and worried-I am sure Jared was too but he was so good at comforting me. As I received a blessing given by Jared and Jordan I knew everything would okay. The thoughts that kept going through my head made me so worried, but I had to remind myself that Heavenly Father has a plan and knows what He is doing.

The weeks have passed quickly and I have forgotten many times about this little girl growing inside of me because I have been blessed with an easy pregnancy. But then she moves around and I am reminded of the blessing she is already in our lives. We pray for her daily, for her health and strength that she will arrive safely and healthy. We thank our Heavenly Father for the blessing and miracle that we know she is, and for the fact that she will be OURS on loan. What an immense blessing and calling that is. What a responsibility we have to teach her the truth and raise her to have a testimony of her own.  We are anxiously awaiting her arrival with only a few weeks left, but know that she will come when she needs to and when she will be ready. Until then, we will enjoy our days together, our time spent watching my belly move, or laughing when she is going crazy having a dance party, or beating up Jared as he puts his hand on her on my belly, the laughter Jared we share when he checks the depth of my belly button and finds it is continuing to get shallower by the day. Our lives are about to change, but we are excited and ready.

Enjoy the Journey.