Pregger updates and graduation hoopla

The little kid FINALLY graduated from Shelley High School and from seminary. I keep on telling her now we can actually do stuff and we don't have to worry about her having to be back for some practice or school. The fun has begun! Good job Kinz, we're proud of you!

The gang at Seminary Graduation

(minus Andrew, dang work always getting in the way)

-The four of us-

(Us other 3 trying to figure out where Bryan came from :)

Getting ready to put on her "Hogwarts Robes"

When I first saw the graduation gowns I asked where she was graduating from and where her wand was. . . they were weird looking graduation robes. You'd have to see them up close. You'd know what I was talking about.

It was fun because Kinz got to graduate with her cousin Lacey too

Cade in a few years

Kinz with her two most favorite family members

Prego Update

I went into the doctor today for my check up and everything seems to being doing fine except that I'm measuring small. I know it's something every women would love to hear. . . . just not when you're pregnant. He said that I'm measuring around 35 weeks when I'm supposed to be at 37. He said I shouldn't worry about it. He then told me that some women carry them different and the little guy could be hiding or could have dropped more. The dr said to keep tabs on how much he moves, because if he doesn't move as much then that's when it's a problem. Well, as of right now I don't see that being a problem. I swear he stretches and does leg exercises while trying to make more room  (maybe that's why I'm measuring small, he's buring calories in there!) He's going to check me next time and if I'm still not measuring on then we'll do an ultrasound to make sure everything is ok. I'm not going to worry about it too much because there's not much I can do. It was really funny because my mom asked me if I wanted to go exercise with her tomorrow morning and I just said that I couldn't because I'm working on getting bigger. . . I said that while I was eating some ice cream. Good excuse I know :)

4 weeks and counting!

I have been so blessed to have had such a good pregnancy! I'm so thankful that I've made it this far and have had no complications. What is really weird to think about is he could come anytime and be developed and ok. It's crazy how fast it's gone by and how close it is to Andrew and I becoming parents. It doesn't seem real.

The Hosts

My sister-in-laws and family threw me a baby shower and it was really fun. They did such a good job and I can always count on that. We were TOTALLY spoiled and are basically set for "Hank" to come.

I got SO much good stuff! I was sweating afterwards because I was trying to open all the presents fast and It was almost overwhelming. I'm so grateful to everyone that came. I know a few had to travel to get here and I'm so thankful for them that made the effort. Thanks to everyone that brought stuff that I'll need. Experienced moms are the best!

We were able to have it at Liberty Square, where I work, and it was barely big enough to hold everyone. Andrew came with me to help everyone set up and he kept on saying that this was his first baby shower that he's been to. It was cute. Thanks again to all my family that helped and made it a fun memory!

Sneak Peak!

Today we went in for our 3D ultrasound. It was so fun to see our little guy. We were really debating over whether we should do it or not, because we wanted it to be a surprise when he came out. A few reasons why we ended up doing it were:

*Andrew has had several dreams that he came out with a full set of teeth. Once with a gap inbetween the front teeth the other he came out talking.
*I had a dream that he had an extra finger on his right hand and an extra toe on his right foot.
*Andrew had another dream that he came out with an unruly mop of hair.
*We thought it would be fun to have for baby books and for him when he got older.
*We have the technology so why not take advantage of it.

We were able to somewhat see that he doesn't have teeth, doesn't have extra toes or fingers, and she couldn't see any unruly mop of hair on his head, so finding all this out was worth the peace of mind and money :) Maybe we'll both stop having crazy dreams. We were a little worried however, because the first thing the tech said to us was that the baby is in control and she can't help if he doesn't cooperate. Andrew and I looked at eachother and had flash backs of our 20 week appointment and thought it was going to be a total waste of our time doing this because last time he didn't hold still very good. He did really good, but started acting up when she started pushing on my stomach to get his feet to go down out of his face. He was like in a pike position or something! I told her she better watch out he'll start getting mad. Sure enough, he started on the move. I guess he doesn't like to be pushed around :) It was so fun to see him and it makes us want him here a lot more. It also proved how amazing technology is!

Him in the "pike position" His little feet are so cute!

Baby room and 3rd Trimester

Andrew and I have FINALLY finished the baby's room and now we just go in there just to look at it randomly. We do have to say we're pretty proud of ourselves, because of all the sweat , blood, and tears that went into it :) It was funny after we got it all finished and everything set up Andrew said that it looked like someone professional came in and did it. I told him that we were professional after all that. We figured it took us about 10 hours to do or more. We lost track after that. We had to seperate it into days so that it could all dry before we taped and caulked the other set of stripes. I do have to admit that I was quite the stickler on trying to get it done, because our house was in shambles. We had things moved out, paint stuff everywhere, things waiting to be set up. It was driving me crazy, so a lot of weekends we didn't do anything but paint. We had a lot of fun doing it together though.

My massage room cleaned out and before it turned baby

Already 10 hours into it probably at this point

Finished product

I decided that I should probably take a picture of my increasing tummy so I can remember with each pregnancy. I've had people tell me how "cute" it is, but I've also decided that it's always cute on someone other than yourself. I have been extremely lucky to still be feeling really good and able to do everything. It has started getting harder to put on my socks and shoes though. I really feel for those Biggest Loser people now that couldn't do that either. Andrew laughs at me when I have to bend over and I sort of grunt while trying to breath. I'm sure it's really attractive. All in all I can't complain and am really happy with how my body is dealing with being pregnant.

28 weeks

Our all time high

In a couple of weeks I'll be into my 3rd trimester and it seems like this pregnancy has gone by surprisingly fast. Everyone always asks how I'm feeling and honestly I don't have anything to complain about. I guess I heard all of these horror stories and just expected to not be able to do anything. I've been able to do pretty much everything that I usually do. I just have to adjust a few things due to my increasing soccer ball of a stomach. Which brings me to the subject of my post :)

Andrew has been a really good sport through the pregnancy. He's been there for me whenever I need anything emotionally and physically. He's always telling me how cute I am with my tummy and sympathized when I couldn't fit into some of my clothes. However, some of that sympathy turned into empathy when recently he's been having some trouble fitting comfortably into some of his pants as well. When his clothes started "shrinking" I showed him some famous stretches that probably every girl knows how to do to make their pants roomier. Because everyone knows that pants straight from the dryer don't have that broke in feeling yet :) He did them and it seemed to work. But it started hitting home when he couldn't do that with his church pants. He can still fit into them, but they're really uncomfortable. Just this last week after church we compared how we both had marks on our hips- mine from my nylons and his from the pants.

So on Monday I told him that I was going over to my mom's to do yoga. I asked him if he wanted to go do it with us. He probably would have totally shut me down, but his dad has done yoga in the past and told him how much he liked it. This yoga is pretty advanced though and it's an hour and a half long. It's an actual work out yoga. He really didn't want to come so I didn't force him, but I was really trying to get him to go. What did it was when he got on the scale and weighed himself. It was really funny actually because all of the sudden he said "Oh my heck Steph. I'm at an all time high!" My reply was "So am I. I know how you feel" :)

After that reality check he went a little crazy. He decided that he was going to run over to my parent's house and do yoga. He didn't think the yoga would be that hard . . .  little did he know. He was a pretty good sport and did most of it. I think he has an appreciation for it now.

Our yoga date- doing the tree pose

I'm so thankful for Andrew and the fun guy that he is. He always makes me feel like I'm #1 in his life. Eventhough he has so much going on and things that he's dealing with in his life right now. I so appreciate him for that. He even has gone as far as gained weight with me through the pregnancy. . . what a guy! I love you Andrew!

Ultrasound=Hunting, Hunting, Hunting!

We found out Wednesday that we are expecting a very active little BOY! We're so excited! The appointment went really well. Everything was as normal as she could tell. However, it was really hard to get pictures, measurments, or anything for that matter cuz he was ALL over the place. The ultrasound tech had to figorously tap my stomach with the wand a few times so we could get a picture. I don't know if that helped. It probably egged him on. We were able to get a DVD of the whole thing and there's evidence on there of what I've been feeling for about 6 weeks. . . kicking. Maybe I'm just a first time mom and don't know anything, but I swear he's going to come out running. I'm a little worried :)
After we found out that it was a boy, I'm pretty sure a blank stare went across Andrew's face as he was imagining all the future hunting trips and etc that they would go on together. He has lots of plans. What was really funny too is Andrew said to me " I don't want to make the baby's room a "baby room". I want to make it a "little man's room". I thought that was pretty cute. If it would have been a girl I don't think he would have been as actively involved in the decor of the room.

Now that we know what it is it's kind of a reality check. Names, furniture, and essentials come into place. My brother has lovingly named him Hank until we can come up with one. Thanks :) He along with Andrew has big plans for our "Hank" and Cade. They're going to be best buddies. Tiffany and I have already mad a pact. We're going to have to stick together for sure. We're just really glad that everything was normal and he's a healthy little guy.

20 weeks with his foot by his face. . . getting ready to kick I bet :)

This and that from us!

Christmas and all the holidays seem so far in the past that I feel a good review will just have to do. I also noticed that I am one of the worst picture takers so I pretty much have no pictures of the holidays to post. I hope I get better when special occasions happen with our kids.

We had a really fun Christmas and New Years. All our family is from here so it makes it really easy to jump around to all the families. We enjoyed Christmas with both our families and the day after we headed up to Island Park where we just hung out, played lots of games, and ate lots of good food. After Island Park we headed right into our big New Year's party. I did take a few pictures of that. I love New Year's!

Us celebrating. . . and Mom and Dad in the back. We don't know what they were doing?

The two love birds. Those glasses though, I can't take him seriously :) It makes me laugh every time I see these pictures.

Bry and Tiff with Cade's baby monitor. Reminding us that we'll be doing that very samed thing next year! P.S. Cade slept through the whole hoopla too.

We did miss Em and Trent during the major celebrating. Hopefully they'll be able to be there next year. We have had a lot of fun and our share of craziness too. I can't believe that we're already half way through January.

I have gone to 3 doctors appointments and everything seems to be going good with the baby and myself. It has been so fun because I started feeling the baby move a couple of weeks ago. I am a little nervous though, I think this little one does the olympics in there. It's either just a very active baby or we might have an ADD kid on our hands. Just today Andrew was able to put his hand on my tummy and feel the baby move too. It has been really fun that way. I am feeling SO good I can't complain at all. I honestly sometimes forget that I'm pregnant. Because before being sick was a constant reminder. I am such a hypocrite because I love it when everyone else posts pictures of their pregnant bellys. . . just not of mine :) I will post a picture in the future, it's just that right now I'm in the not so good stage. All the mom's out there know what I'm talking about. It's the "I really hope she's pregnant and didn't just enjoy the holidays too much" stage. Oh well, I guess it's part of being pregnant.

What's really fun is that we get to find out what we're having in 2 weeks! We're so excited. My dad has been really funny about us finding out what it is. When we first told him that I was pregnant his first question was "When do we get to find out the flavor". After my last appointment I told him that we would find out in 3 weeks. So I called him the other day and right when he answered he said "Has it been 3 weeks yet?" It's pretty funny. So we're really excited to find out what it is so we can actually start planning and maybe getting somewhat ready for our little one to come!

Our "LITTLE" secret

Andrew and my time as a married couple without kids is starting to come to a close. . . June 17th roughly! Yep we're going to be parents. We're really excited about it! What I'm excited about at the moment is that I'm starting to not feel as sick. THANK HEAVENS! It has been pretty rough, but then I kinda think I'm a wimp when it comes to being sick. . . all day long! Forget the "morning sickness" where is the "day sickness" that everyone forgets to tell you about before you get pregnant. I thought that I'd be ok since practically none of the women in my family got that sick. Well, there's always one isn't there and the one being me. My mom kept saying to me that she felt bad that I was sick, but had no idea how I felt. Being sick has constantly reminded me that I am pregnant and it's unfortunately been a constant reminder to Andrew as well. He has been such a trooper and has helped me out SO much! I couldn't have done it without him.
One morning he made me breakfast and had everything sitting out that I needed including my vitamins. Then he asked me to say the prayer and I started saying it and mid prayer I started bawling because for one the hormones I'm hoping had to do with it and I was just so grateful for him. It was funny looking back on it. He was probably thinking "what have I done to her."
I really don't care what we have, but Andrew really wants a girl. It's pretty cute. I have always thought I'd have a girl first and a lot of my family thinks it's a girl too. Regardless of what it is it'll have cousins close in age on both sides of the family. Only time will tell though. It was also fun telling everyone. Some of the reactions we got were priceless.

I know that things happen for a reason and Andrew and I both know that this little blessing has come to us when it was supposed to. We're both just really excited to start our family. We have been able to really grow and get to know eachother through out the years. We will always look back and cherish that time we had before we had kids. I'm so thankful I have Andrew in my life to share this with. It'll be an adventure for sure, but we think we're as ready as we can be for it!

Our little gummy bear at 8 weeks 6 days

The Roadtrip up North

We had a ton of fun at state volleyball this last weekend. Eventhough the girls didn't win state they still played good and it was a memorable experience. My whole family got to go up and watch and it was fun all being together. Even our little nephew Cade made the trip and was a real trooper.

Inbetween games we went to the floating green in Coeur d' Alene. It was closed for playing, but we probably wouldn't be playing anyways because it was like over $200 to play and it was freezing cold. We all just wanted to hit a ball to see if we could make it on the green. It was funny because there was a club sitting on the tee box. We all swung and acted like we were teeing off.

Trent went searching for golf balls. I honestly don't know how some of them got right there. Way bad shots :)

It is so pretty up there. It doesn't seem like it's Idaho really. Trent served his mission in Spokane so we went and drove around looking at some of the places he lived. It was nice having a guide. It was fun seeing where he served.

Andrew and I with our little volleyball player after her last state game. We were so proud of the kid! It was a fun family trip!

We are alive still!

Wow, I feel like I am totally out of the blogging loop since I haven't posted in forever.  We haven't had too many things going on, but it just seems like we're always going. Now that I can make my own schedule I feel like Andrew and I can just pick up and go or do whatever. It has been SO nice. However, I don't think my house has ever been this dirty in I don't know when. I don't know how that works???

I've loved being my own boss and I love the place I work at it's so nice and everyone that has come there says how relaxing it is and nice. It's funny because where I was at before it was old 80's pinks and blue pastels. Let's just face it, it was UGLY and old. The room I finished with there I couldn't even get around my table without hitting the wall. The room I have now has a couch in it with a bathroom attached. What a difference! I really have got back to loving doing massage again. The clinic really burned me out, but I'm doing it on my own time and when I want to which has made a difference. I'm loving it!

My room at the clinic. . . .lovely. I don't know why I didn't stay???

Where I'm at now! This is what you see when you walk in to the apartment.
There's a kitchen where the table and chairs are too.

This is the actual massage room that is just down the hall from the frontroom. The bathroom is just around the corner from where I'm taking the picture.

Now that I've got things pretty much up and going I'll have the energy to clean my house. . . uh probably not :) We have kept busy too watching, Kinzie, my sister play volleyball. It's her senior year and her team is doing really well. We love watching her cuz she's such an amazing setter and I'm not being biased because she's my sister. She's really good so it's been fun. We get to go to Coure d' Alene to watch her play at state. We're renting a van and we're all driving up. Those are the best trips! Good luck Kinz!

Real Life

Recent events have got me thinking lately about "real life" opposed to "blog life." I've noticed that all of my post have been about fun, exciting, or new things that have happened in Andrew and I's life. What I've left out a lot of is the hard struggles that happen, which is apart of life as well. This post is going to be about "real life." The stuff that people don't necessarily want to read about, but it's the hard things that make us human and not seem like EVERYTHING is just picture perfect.
I have been having a huge struggle these past few years with my employers. I absolutely love what I do and I have thoroughly enjoyed working on my patients and getting to know them. I've had some tell me that I know more about them than some of their own family. I value their confidence in me. However, my employers have not made my experience there a happy one. So, last Wednesday, on our anniversary, I got fired from my job. I am proud to say that I got fired, because of what I got fired over. They wanted me to sign an office policy (that they just sprang on us) that I couldn't follow. I didn't feel right about signing it and breaking a contract even though they probably wouldn't ever even know that I was breaking it. They told me they wouldn't make exceptions for me and that I couldn't have employment there. I told them ok and was done.
This experience has been a life altering experience for us and has made me really kick it into high gear. It's pushed me to get out on my own and do something that I've been wanting to do for a long time, but have been in a comfort zone that I didn't want to get out of. Change is a good thing and I'm excited for this new adventure. I am going to be renting an awesome space at Liberty Square that is in Ammon to do my massage business. I am so grateful to my brother Trent for doing a lot of the leg work for me. I wouldn't have had this opportunity if it wasn't for him. He's introduced me to an awesome business man that can see my same vision in what I want to do. It's refreshing to finally be working with great people!
I see loosing my job as not a bad thing, but as something that was supposed to happen so I'll learn and progress. I know that we have struggles so that we get stronger and so we can turn around and help others along their way. So in a way I feel like I should thank my previous employers for helping me break that chain of monotony, because I'm going to be better because of it!

Already 3 years!

It seriously doesn't seem like Andrew and I have been married 3 years. We have had so many fun experiences together it's just flown. We've definitely had our ups and downs, but that's how we've grown to love each other more and more. I appreciate Andrew more now for sure than when we started 3 years ago. I couldn't picture myself with anyone more perfect for me than him. How I got so lucky I don't know, but I am so grateful to have him in my life.
We decided when we got married that we would try to do something fun on or around our anniversary. We really wanted to celebrate being together. We also decided that each year we would have one of us in charge of our anniversary.

Andrew was in charge of our honeymoon. With the help of Andrew's parents in offering a week of their time share and my parents in paying for my plane ticket, we went to St. Maarten for our honeymoon. It was such a blast!

At Matilda's pub. We ate there a lot. . . unfortunately it shows.

On the French side of the island eating, imagine that.

For our 1st anniversary I was in charge. Not very much pressure, compared to our honeymoon. A girl from my work told me about this and I quote "quaint" hotel in Preston, Idaho. I should have know when she told me Preston. However, I decided to go through with it because it was really cheap and I trusted her judgement. Wow was I wrong! I surprised Andrew by packing all of our stuff and taking him on a drive. When we got past Pocatello he was really wondering where we were going. We finally drove into Preston and got to our "quaint" hotel. Long story short the room we were supposed to have was not made up and it was all dirty and the bed wasn't made. The whole time Andrew thought I was joking by bringing him there. I really wish that I was. After deciding to not stay there (it wasn't a real tough choice) I called my mom and asked her what we should do. She told us that we should drive to Logan and stay at the Anniversary Suites. She looked up the number and basically saved our whole trip. That's what mom's are for! We did end up salvaging our first anniversary together and stayed in the Swiss Family Robinson room it was a lot of fun! The next day we went shopping and then drove home.

We saved our wedding cake. It was pretty good.

Our room had a huge tree going through it. We didn't realize how entertaining a room could be!

For our 2nd anniversary Andrew was in charge and he was so excited about his idea that he had to let me in on it before we went. It was weird because I was thinking that we should go skydiving for our anniversary too. We were on the same page on that one. We went down to Ogden to do it. I have always wanted to skydive and I had it on my list of things to do before I die. I decided that if I died doing it at least I accomplished a goal I had written down. Andrew has also always wanted to skydive. So we're a bunch of adrenaline junkies. We decided that we should do something crazy like this before we had kids too. We had an absolute blast and Andrew wants to do it for every anniversary or every year which ever comes first. I, however, think we have already defied death once and we shouldn't take too many chances messing with it. But really it is pretty safe and we will probably do it again. . . but not this year.

Us with the people we trusted our lives with. My guy looks like a nerd, but he did a really good job in making me feel safe. Andrew's guy "fell asleep" and then said that he was praying. . . comforting, I don't know?

Andrew was the first to bail. He did a full flip.

I'm sure I was thinking "what the crap did I get myself into" and also thinking "oh well, it's too late now!"

This picture is funny because you can barely see Andrew's gum on the corner of his lip. In his video you can see it fly out. It's hilarious!

You are falling so fast it sucks your cheeks back. Very attractive.

Over the past 4 years that I've known Andrew I have come to love him more and more every day. We have made it a goal to do things for one another so we'll be this happy 50 plus years down the road. Happy Anniversary Andrew! I love your guts!

44 hours!

Andrew has been home for a little over a week and I am absolutely loving it! It's so nice. However, getting him here wasn't the funnest or most comfortable thing to do. We started on our "trek" across the United States Sunday August 30th at 9:30 a.m. I really don't know what else to say other than we drove, and drove, and drove. I had to be to work at 9:00 Tuesday so we were in a bit of a time crunch. We did find time to make a few pit stops. We decided that we would stop in Georgia to get home grown Georgia peaches and make jam when we got home. We could have got them in Idaho, but it was the whole sentimental thing we were going for. We didn't know where to get them, but there were signs along the freeway saying that there were peaches. We went past one exit and thought it would be our last chance to get them so we turned around and got off and made quite a bit of a detour to get them. Come to find out there were peach exits clear till the end of the state, but we got our peaches and ended up making "Georgia Peach Jam" with Andrew's parents. Thanks Todd and Loretta for all your help!
Georgia ended up being a really long state for some reason, but we finally got out and started west. We ended up stopping and sleeping some place for 3 hours in a parking lot. It was so uncomfortable because we couldn't put the seats back with all the stuff in the cab. I think that's why we only lasted 3 hours. Basically that was our only stop other than gasing up. We finally rolled into our house at 3:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. It was a welcomed sight. We figured that we each drove 22 hours total in the 2 days. Not very healthy :) We really had fun though being together talking and laughing. It will be a memorable trip that we wont forget for sure!

Andrew saying bye to Florida

Us starting the drive all happy. . .and showered!

Our 3 hour sleep. All I gotta say is it was quality sleep for sure :)

Entertaining ourselves

I had to get a picture of this! And we thought we were packed!

Middle of the night or not we had to get a picture. A very welcomed sight. . . and not just for Andrew!