Merry Christmas!

Well I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know that we sure did. It was a busy holiday for sure. We started our celebrations this year on Christmas Eve at my dad's house. We had a tasty dinner and opened gifts. We had a great time there. Then Christmas morning Josh woke me up at 6 to open presents. (It's part of his little kid syndrome) We both got some fun things and had a great time watching each other open presents. Then Josh made me Swedish pancakes aka Crepes for breakfast. We didn't really dare venture outside too much becasue we were in a blizzard!! However, we ventured to my grandma's house for a little while and enjoyed being around family. Then yesterday we got together at my mom's for a celebration with her! Again, a great meal!! We had so much fun exchanging gifts again. Who really gets sick of presents?? We got some really cute things for the baby that just get me all the more excited for him to be here! I just cannot believe that Christmas has come and gone already. Part of me is a bit relieved while the other part is sad! Regardless, I hope you all had a great Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful and Safe New Year's.

P.S. We are officially under 100 days now until Baby Doan gets here!! YAY!

Birthday Festivities

Well we survived the weekend! It was a lot of fun and there was a lot going on. Saturday morning for Josh's birthday and the Swedish holiday of Santa Lucia Day I got up early and made Josh cinammon rolls and hot chocolate and took it to him in bed. Then he opened some presents from me which were a new jacket and a video game. Later on in the day we went and saw the movie Four Christmases and went to dinner at Tepanyaki. Then that night we had some of my family over for cake and ice cream and some games and of course, more presents for Josh! I know I have said this many times before but I absolutely LOVE holiday's with Josh. He is like a little boy with his anticipation and excitment. He loves toys, games, and the works. It makes it so much fun to prepare and surprise him. On Sunday night I had the rest of my family over for dinner and leftover cake. It was fun and exhausting. Now we get to focus our energy and attention on Christmas in just 10 short days!! Can you even believe that?!?!?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy 23rd Birthday Josh!! I love you and I hope you have the best birthday ever! I will blog about all we did on Monday.

It's a Wonderful Life

Last night Josh and I got to go to the Odyssey Dance Theatre performance of It's a Wonderful Life. It was so great! We both had a great time watching this dance performance. It really made me wish that I was still dancing though. This show was so great to help get us in the spirit of Christmas even more. If any of you have an opportunity to go, I strongly recommend it.

Thanksgiving and our Busy Weekend

It is so nice to finally have a minute to sit down and not do anything!! We have been extremely busy. Our Thanksgiving was great! Josh went and played a game of football with guys in the ward while I got ready to go to my grandparents house for our Thanksgiving meal. When he got home he got ready and we headed over there. It was such a good meal and always great to spend a holiday with family. After the turkey I was ready for a nap so we came home and rested a little bit before we went to my mom's house to plan out our shopping adventures for Black Friday. After that we just went straight to bed because before I knew it I would be up again to shop!!

These are just some pictures from Thanksgiving at my grandparents house.

Next came the Black Friday shopping. I went with two of my sisters (we were missing one, who had to be at home with her children) and my mom. We got up about 3 and headed out to Kohl's and Sears and Target. It was raining and wet and a little cold. But that didn't stop us from doing some crazy good shopping. We got everything we went out for and did it with plenty of time to spare! I met up with Josh later and came home and slept for about 2 hours before Josh and I went out shopping again. We were out for almost the rest of the day before we came home and put in Home Alone 2 and wrapped presents.

Saturday after a day at work we decided to put up our Christmas decorations. That was a lot of fun and it looks great if I do say so myself. In the second picture below you can even see how my baby bump is coming along. It's definitely there. Then last but not least, yesterday night we went over to my oldest sister's house to celebrate her birthday and to have another Thanksgiving meal of sorts. It was such a nice time!! I have a feeling this is how my whole month is going to be, but I love it! It will help pass some more time before our baby is here!

Sorry for such a long post this time.

Gratitude is the Best Attitude

So last week for our FHE Josh and I talked about the first Thanksgiving and then we made a 'thankful thoughts' box. What we do with this box is everyday on a piece of paper we write down at least one thing that we are thankful for and on Thanksgiving we will open it up and read them out loud. So I just wanted to share, in lieu of the upcoming holdiay, some of the things I am so grateful for.

* I am grateful for such a wonderful husband that works so hard without a complaint!
*I am grateful for our baby boy that is coming in April
*I am so grateful for the gospel and the happiness it brings into our lives and our home
* I am grateful for our job here that lets us live rent free
* I am grateful for great family and friends!!

I could probably go on and on but these are some of the things I am most grateful for right now. I am so excited for all the food this year. I get to have 2 Thanksgiving meals and what more could a pregnant gal ask for?? So I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving, and Happy Black Friday shopping to you all too.

Concert

Last night Carrie Underwood and Little Big Town came in concert and I really wanted to go. So my sister and I were listening hard to the radio stations trying to win tickets to go. Well as luck would have it, my sister won some tickets at about 4:30. So I had a blast watching this concert. We had excellent seats straight center 12 rows up from the floor. Little Big Town was the opening act and they did an excellet job getting the crowd excited. Then Carrie came out and she is so adorable!! It was just fun to watch her interact with the crowd and see how down to earth she really is. She had 3 different outfits and I loved to see those different changes. Definitely a great night. I just love concerts and can't wait for the next one.

My camera was taking blurry shots for some reason so this was the only one from her concert that turned out looking decent.

We were having a great time. And I just really don't like to take pictures, so the ones I am in I am just not serious.

Little Big Town

Carrie Underwood

Half Way!!

What an exciting day for me!! I am officially 20 weeks which in pregnancy talk means HALF DONE!!! The first half has gone by pretty fast and pretty slow, only when I stop to think about it. We are so happy that we know what we are having so we can start buying things for our little guy. I went to the doctor today and she said that everything is looking great and everything is right on target and his heartbeat is great. So here is to another great 20 weeks to come!

Drum Roll Please......

Well we did go get our ultrasound yesterday and it was such an amazing experience to see my little baby moving around inside of me!! The Dr. said that everything looks great and we are still on target for our April 2 due date. So I am almost half done here people!! Time flies. For all of you that guessed we are going to have a girl, I am sorry to say you are WRONG!!! I am having a boy!! YAY for us. My only problem was I had a name picked out for a girl and I am completely blank on boy names. So I better get on that little problem. It was so much fun for me to see how Josh reacted, he was so giddy all day and he is so proud that he gets a little boy. Truth be told I am scared out of my mind for a boy because I don't have much experience with them at all. However, I couldn't be happier about it!!

Make sure to keep scrolling to check out our fabulous Halloween pics!!

Halloween

Every year for Halloween my sister throws a big Halloween party for the family. They are always so much fun, it is what I look forward to almost the most every Halloween. We have great food, games, and best of all we all go around to each other and do a little "trick-or-treating." Last night the costumes were great!! Jared and Allie's little family dressed up in football gear and a cheerleader, my favorite costume of the family was Zack, he was a football!! Josh and I dressed up as an old couple, we looked pretty ugly!! But we had so much fun with it. My mom was a witch. Becky was a cute fairy. And Darren and Amber both wore some crazy looking masks and their cute little girls were M&M's. And last but not least we did dress up our dog Charlie for about 2 minutes and we put him in an angel costume. He was a Charlie's Angel!! I know it's cheesy but I think it's hilarious. Good things dogs can't talk, I don't think he would of been too happy with us. I think my favorite thing about Halloween is to see all the different costumes that everyone comes up with. I better start thinking about what we will do next year!!

Pumpkins

I just love this time of year! As one of our many Halloween traditions, we carved our pumpkins!! We had so much fun. I used a stencil for mine, Josh decided to free hand his, and Charlie decided to do something a little different for his since he can't really carve. So enjoy the pictures of our pumpkins!


All 3 of our pumpkins

Charlie's pumpkin with Eeyore on it.

Josh's pumpkin

my pumpkin

Guesses

Well I went to the doctor today and they scheduled my ultrasound for next Friday!! Woo Hoo. That happens to fall on my favorite (well tied for favorite) holiday, Halloween. So I am putting this post out to see if I can get sort of a poll going on. What do you think we are going to have?? Will it be a boy, or will it be a girl?? Let me know what you think.

Baptism

On Saturday my husband had the opportunity to be baptized!! It was truly an amazing experience for him and all of us. When we got to the church to set up and get ready we walked in to find that the bishop had overflowed the font and the water was coming out into the hallway. So our first half hour or so was spent trying to mop up all the water and luckily reinforcment showed up with vacuums. After which we had the baptism and program which was wonderful, you could feel the spirit so strong!!
I just want to let my husband know that I am so proud of him!! He has come so far and is a wonderful example. Some of his family drove overnight to come be a part in all this and that meant so much to us. We know that more of his family would of liked to have been there but we understand and still felt your love and spirit there with us. My family also played a huge part in making it a great night!! So thank you to everyone that helped make all this possible. We love you!! We can't wait for what is to come next in our lives.

Happy Birthday

Just wanted to do a quick Happy Birthday to my older sister Allie!! She is turning 26 this year. So Happy Birthday to her!!

Good News

Josh and I are having a baby!! We are so excited. We wanted to wait until we had heard the baby's heartbeat and we got to hear it last Thursday and it was probably the coolest thing I have ever heard! I have been feeling great! I guess I was one of the lucky ones not to feel any morning sickenss or really anything except tired. So our estimated due date is April 2.
I told Josh that I was pregnant by building him a baby bear and putting together a little baby package. Luckily he caught on pretty quick that we are having a baby. So now we are just gearing up for that. Any tips for having a baby would be great! I am a little nervous but more excited.

Horseback Riding

My brother in law's family has a horse and they invited us to come riding with them last night becuase they were taking my nieces. Josh was so excited. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was starting to get dark so all they had time for was a few laps around. I personally didn't really want to ride so I just enjoyed watching them. Madison did not want to get off the horse, she was loving it!! Marli on the other hand was terrified of the horse, so she also just watched. All in all it was a fun night for everyone.

Weekend Summary

Well this last weekend was pretty crazy and fun. I ended up getting sick after we got back from Missouri with a cold/sinus thing that has NOT been fun!! But on Saturday I threw a baby shower for one of my Best Friends and that turned out to be a lot of fun. It was really good to see her again because I don't get to hardly ever see her, she lives in St. George. Then after that we went with my family up to Little Cottonwood Canyon and had a campfire and cooked some dinner and dutch oven dessert and played games. It was so much fun and the time there flew by!! Next time we go we will plan for more time and wear warmer clothes. It was Freezing!! But a fun weekend back at home.

Tag I am IT!!

Well I have been tagged by my sister Allie and I am supposed to list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 obsessions, and 3 surprising facts about myself. Then I get to tag 3 more people so here is my list.

3 Joys

*Taking a vacation
*My Husband and Family
*A good rainstorm with thunder and lightening

3 Fears

*Snakes
*A burglar coming in to my house in the middle of the night
*A loved one dying

3 Obsessions

*Shopping!!
*Reading a good book
*Getting ready for Halloween

3 Surprising Facts About Me

*I really do not like donuts
*I have never been skiing or snowboarding and Yes I have lived in Utah all my life.
*I am afraid of a lot of animals, namely cats, birds, etc. Pretty lame huh??

3 People I tag

*Heather
*Misty
*Sarah

Missouri Trip

Whew!! We are back! What an adventure we had. I will just start from the beginning. Sorry if you get bored reading this. We left on Sunday the 31st of August and drove about 12 hours and stopped in a place called Grand Island, Nebraska. Our hotel was AWFUL!! We walked in the room and immediately saw a spider crawling down the wall. We were so exhausted we just decided to sleep and leave ASAP. I didn't even dare walk on the carpets without my shoes. So needless to say we left pretty early the next morning and finished our 4 1/2 hour drive to Missouri. We got there and all of Josh's family were helping fix up an old building they bought to start a quilting business. So our Monday was spent helping with that. We tore down old wallpaper, the guys built a wall and the kids had a great time building their own little fort area.
The next few days kind of blend together a little bit for me. We spent time hanging out with the family and Josh spent some time working on the Lemon Fresh business with his brother. Josh and I took a day and went and visited a Psychiatric Museum and went shopping. That was a lot of fun. The museum was so fascinating to me and yet it was so creepy too. Last Saturday the whole family got together and had a BBQ at a skate park to help promote Lemon Fresh. We had a great time and it was so much fun for me to see Josh skate. After that the girls left the kids with the boys and we took off shopping for the afternoon. Gotta love girl time!!
Monday morning came WAY too fast and it was time for us to leave again. This time we stopped in Laramie, Wyoming and the hotel wasn't as bad as the first night we left but it still wasn't great. It is great to be home now and sleeping in our own beds again. Thanks so much to everyone who let us stay with them and for feeding us. We had so much fun and can't wait to come out again. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I was just having way too much fun.



Kind of a gross picture but hilarious!! I came out to find Josh and his brother Alan playing nintendo like this. Nothing like brothery love!!
Josh loves his nieces and nephews. He was even playing Barbies with Ella for her birthday.
These next pictures were at the skate park BBQ. Isn't my husband so handsome?

Proof that I was there. It rained almost everyday we were there. I loved it!! I sure wish we could get some more rain out here in Utah!!