More ultrasounds

I promised a few weeks ago that I'd post some of the ultrasound pictures from my 20 week appointment. The scanner was nice to me today and worked, so here are a few. We have about 8 pictures, but a lot of them are very similar profile pictures so I left some out. Plus, because I am the way I am, I'm not going to post any of the ones showing she's a girl.
The first is of her body and head, you can see some of the umbilical cord at the top
This one is of one of her legs and I think both of her feet. I think it's so cute!
And this is, of course, her cute profile.

Car Accident, Thanksgiving, Gingerbread Houses, and Disneyland

A lot has been happening since my last post, and since I've been slacking I'm squishing it all into one post. Sorry it's gonna be a super long one!

First, the car accident which happened about 3 1/2 weeks ago. Luckily I wasn't in it and luckily Jer wasn't hurt, and luckily it was the blue car, which is paid off and not as nice as our other car. He was on the freeway, traffic was bad and he had stopped. A semi (without a load) didn't slow down fast enough and ran into him, pushing him into the suv in front of him. The semi driver didn't want Jer to call the police and said we could just take care of the damage on our own-yeah right! I was a mess when he called to tell me what happened. Crazily enough, he was able to drive the car home. The other insurance was ridiculous and slow about everything (of course). We finally found out where to take the car, and the day after Thanksgiving we were planning on taking it in, but it wouldn't start-we're assuming the battery died because the trunk can't latch anymore. We were going to jump-start it, but the hood was too crunched to have access to the battery. Long story short, the car was towed last Monday and we FINALLY got a rental car. Right after we landed in California for our trip just 2 days after getting the rental, Jer checked his messages to find out that our insurance has decided the car is totalled. So, we're planning on trying to be a 1 car household. It'll be tough sometimes, but won't be too bad, especially since Jer carpools most days to work.

Amidst the car drama, we had a great Thanksgiving with my family. After making yams my very first time, I've been appointed to the yams every year we're with my family....hopefully my beginner's luck will hold out. The Sunday after Thanksgiving we had our usual family dinner with Jer's family and decorated gingerbread houses. Jer and I shared one, and although it's not perfect, I think it still turned out cute-ish. Here's the before and after shots:











Now for Disneyland. I've never been there during the holiday season and it's SO pretty and extra magical there with all the decorations and lights! I loved it. When we got home I was kind of sad because besides the gingerbread house, we haven't decorated yet!
We flew into Long Beach Wed night and got to the hotel, which was within walking distance of Disneyland! We could even hear the fireworks going shortly after we settled into our room.
Our first day we split between California Adventure and Disneyland, the 2nd day we were in Disneyland all day, and our last day we split again. I think my favorite rides (that I was able to actually go on) were the interactive ones-the Toy Story 2 Midway Games in California Adventure and the Buzz Lightyear ride in Disneyland. I was a little disappointed I couldn't go on a lot of the rides, but it was still a really fun trip, and at least I didn't have to stay off the rides alone since Jer's mom doesn't like a lot of the 'scarier' rides and one of my sisters-in-law is pregnant too.


This is a video of some of the fireworks, I think it was my favorite section because of how they choreographed them to the Nutcracker Suite...


We had so much fun in Disneyland and just got back yesterday in the early afternoon. I think I'll need a few days to recover though, I don't think my poor feet and hips will ever be the same, I'm still super exhausted from it all!

For your viewing pleasure, here's a better picture of my pregnant belly when I was about 22 1/2 weeks since you can't really see it too well in the other pics....

The Baby

As many of you already know, we found out what our baby is this past week. It was Jer's first time to an appointment with me, so he'd never seen the baby live on the ultrasound. He kept saying how weird it was that there was this little baby moving around in me. When the ultrasound tech told us what we were having, he was a little disbelieving. Not because it wasn't what he wanted, but because he didn't really know what he was looking at on the screen, so the tech got lots of good pictures/positions to prove that she's 100% positive that our baby is a GIRL! We, of course, are super excited. I'm so relieved that everything looks normal on her too.
It's fitting that we're having a girl, a boy would have been fun too, but that's all either side of our families is having these days. We even just found out that we'll be getting another nephew on my side around the same time, along with the nephew on Jer's side just a few weeks before. Our little girl (wow, that's still a little weird to say) will be surrounded by boy cousins her age, they'll be fun to watch.
After watching the DVD of the ultrasound, I realized why I've been extra sore lately, and not just where the ligaments are stretching. Our sweet little girl looks to be a kick-boxer, and even though I can't feel all of her movement, apparently I can feel the after-effects of them.
I wanted to post some of the ultrasound pictures, but our scanner is being mean and not working, so I'll try to post them another time.
20 weeks down, 20 to go!

Pumpkins and Cupcakes

We don't really get in to Halloween around here, it makes me a little sad because I used to love getting all dressed up and answering the door for the cute little trick-or-treaters. We didn't even have candy this year, I felt really bad about that. Maybe next year things will be a little different.
Even though we don't do much, we did do our annual pumpkin carving at Jer's parent's house last week, which is always a good time.This is my ugly bird-witch. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, mostly because I was planning on carving the whole thing, but the warty pumpkins have THE WORST rind to cut through, it was almost impossible to just cut around the stem as it was.This is Jer's awesome tribute to one of his favorite bands, 311. I think it looks really cool, he did a good job with it.
It's always funny to watch the kids being crazy and creative with their own pumpkins, this annual activity might be one of our favorites.

Tonight for family dinner I'm in charge of dessert, and decided to make some Halloweenish themed cupcakes. I've been wanting cupcakes all week, but didn't have a reason to make any, until today. I think they turned out cute. They're lemon flavored with vanilla icing. On some I put toasted coconut, and on others I added, with some melted chocolate chips, ghost faces. (sorry the pic isn't so great, but you get the idea, right?)I've taste-tested them, they're good. Hopefully everyone else will think they're as tasty and cute as I do, although I'm nowhere near as talented as my friend Emily-the cupcake making queen!

We hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween!

Anniversary

This past week we had our 4 year anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been that long, but sometimes it's hard to believe it hasn't been longer.
I'm so lucky I ended up with Jer, I can't imagine having gone through all the stuff we went through these last 3 years with anyone else who would have been as understanding as him. I'm surprised sometimes to remember back to what I was like when I was on some of my pre-surgery hormone pills and how horrible I was, and he still loves me, even after that. I'm a lucky girl.
Our actual anniversary was Tuesday, so I went up to his new job and we went to lunch at a little deli called Pazzo Vita. It was good food, but it was even better to see him in the middle of the day, and finally see where he's working now. He's really starting to enjoy his new job, I'm so proud of him. We had our actual anniversary date last night. He came home from work and had flowers for me! I thought he just picked them up at the grocery store, but he actually ordered them special. Purple ones for my favorite color, and pink and blue ones for the baby! I thought that was so sweet!
After I got all fancied up (meaning I made my hair curly) we went to The 5 Alls. Jer told me about this place a couple years ago, but we still hadn't been there. I told him this year that I wanted to go, so he made reservations and we headed up. It's a cool little restaurant that's sort of medieval and they serve you 5 courses. It was really good food, and A LOT of it. Jer got the steak and shrimp and I got the chicken (possibly the best chicken I've ever had at a restaurant). It was expensive, but definitely worth it. We brought back 3 boxes of food, mine, his, and the bread they put out. I'm sure we'll go back, but who knows when.

As for baby news, I'm 17 weeks along and had another check up this past week. Everything's going good. I'm gaining weight (although I think I'm still in the 'is she getting fat or is she pregnant' phase) and the baby's heart was sounding great. I think I've started to feel it moving around here and there, but not on a regular basis yet. It's kind of cool. We'll find out what it is November 12. I'm surprised I'm not more anxious about it, but I think it's mostly that I don't care what we have as long as it's healthy; finding out what it is will just be a bonus. I personally have NO idea what it is, but I've had a lot of people tell me they think it's a boy. Recently I've started to hear more people thinking it's a girl, so it's about even. It'll be interesting to find out for sure so we can settle on a name and I can call it by it's name instead of calling it 'it' all the time.

Thanks for all the prayers, love and support!

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While I was waiting for work I made this,
hope you enjoyed it!

Growth

I went to the Dr. today and heard the baby's heart beat for the first time, it was crazy! I also got to see just how much the baby has changed in a month, so much it's amazing to me. It's so weird that this little miracle is happening, and you can't really even tell until you get to see inside yourself! The lady who did the sonogram said the baby was moving quite a bit, though I couldn't feel it yet.
Here are 2 of the 3 ultrasounds I've had. The 1st one was just a little dot-the heart. Exciting for us, but maybe not so much for the rest of you, and sort of hard to see anyway.
This one is from 8 1/2 weeks, it looks like a little blob:And here is the one from today, 12 1/2 weeks, I love how you can see the fingertips above it's face!You can see the cute little profile in there too, as well as a foot and part of a leg if you look closely. It's amazing how tiny it still is though! If you want to see the ultrasounds better, just click on the picture, and it should blow up for you.
We'll keep you posted! Thanks for all the comments on the last post, I don't think we've ever gotten THAT MANY before!

Watch out world...

Watch out world, a miniature Jer or me will be joining us at the end of March. That's right, we're pregnant! I'm now a little over 12 weeks along, and so far things are looking good. I've already had 2 ultrasounds, and I'll have my next on Wednesday. I can't wait to see how much the baby's grown since my last appointment. We are planning on finding out the gender, but we'll have to wait until November for that. We'll scan the ultrasound pictures in eventually for your viewing pleasure, but for now...no pics yet.
We're both thrilled, but still a little nervous. Every day starts getting a little more surreal for me, especially since we've started announcing it.
Thank you for all the hope, support and prayers, they've meant a lot to us, but we definitely still need them!

Ice Cream Cake

I made my very first ice cream cake last week and figured I should do a post on it.
The story behind making it in the first place is that one of the young women (Maria) in our ward is always talking about wanting one, and that started making me want one, and curious of how to make them. I wasn't about to go buy one (they're so stinkin expensive), especially since we have this handy-dandy internet thing that has all sorts of free info on it. So I finally gave in and set a day to make the ice cream cake, with Maria.
I baked the cake in 2 rounds the night before so I could put them in the freezer/fridge to chill over night. 30 minutes before Maria came over, I got the ice cream out to soften a little. I was going to have her fill the empty cake round (lined with plastic wrap) with it so it could set up in the same shape as the cakes, but she came late (what else do you expect from a teenager?) so I did that job too. I put it in the freezer and let it start setting up, which is when Maria got to my house (nice timing, huh?). Since we needed the ice cream to set up for awhile (I didn't know how long), we put "The Skeleton Key" on. Maria loves scary movies. I'm not a big fan (I used to be, but hate them now), but since I've seen it before I was alright with it. I kept getting up to check the ice cream, and probably half-way through the movie, I figured it was ok to put the cake together. We paused the movie, and got all the stuff out. The cake ended up looking like a big ice cream sandwich, but that's ok. I hurried and frosted it with and 8 oz container of Cool Whip, then popped it back in the freezer before the ice cream could melt too much.

This is what it looked like before we cut into it:
And this is how it looked on the inside:
Yellow cake with Rocky Road ice cream. It was very good and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out, especially for my first time!

Pioneer Day Party

Just about every year, Jer's parents have a party for the 24th. Food, fun, friends, family, swimming....all that good stuff. If any of you have seen any of the pictures from when we got engaged, my arm is wrapped in an ace bandage because of the 'fun' we were having at the 24th of July party in 2005.

This year we invited some friends (one of Jer's old friends and his wife and one of his younger brothers) and we had a good time. The guys did a Scottish pole toss, and everyone joined in the gunny-sack races. We tried a 3-legged race, but Jer and I lost horribly. I'm pretty sure I've never gunny-sack raced before, I'm sure I looked ridiculous trying! Mike and Ashley were pretty good at it though, maybe they should go pro? The boys had so much fun they had to race twice, so I was able to get some video of that:

After some swimming we enjoyed us some burgers and salads, and you can't forget the dessert. All in all it was a good day, even if I had to work and Jer got to have the day off.
Thank you Pioneers for giving us another GREAT reason to party in the summer!

Lake Powell Trip '09

We went to Lake Powell last week, and had so much fun. It's amazing to me how much work goes into a trip like this though, especially grocery shopping for 18 people!

We spent most of the time lounging around, working on our 'tans' (or at least getting rid of the tan lines):Looking at the beautiful scenery,

(I love the clouds in this one):

Rode the jet ski:
And went down the slide:
Jer jumped off the boat, but we don't have a picture of that. I didn't post a lot of pictures because they all seem pretty similar, so this is what you get. We had a great time, it was a nice break from life.

Rodeo

July 3rd we went to Oakley for the annual rodeo, it was pretty fun, and there were some crazy animals. One of the horses tried to climb out of the stalls before anyone was even on it, it was funny to see everyone's reaction to that.

Jer took some pics of the action, so here they are....

And of course we can't forget the fireworks, though it was a shorter show this year.....
If you look closely, you can see a smiley face made out of fireworks in the top of this next picture

We're so grateful for our freedoms and all that our country's service men and women do for us, they sacrifice so much. Jer hates the song, but we really are Proud to be Americans, "where at least we know we're free", even when the world and economy are crazy, we still have our freedom!

Upcoming

Well, we don't have a lot going on at the moment, and like we always tell people, we lead a pretty boring life, but here's a little of what's been going on and our plans for July.
Jer and I went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, and then I got to go again with the youth. It's a beautiful temple, and I'm excited to go when it's dedicated because my parents will be temple workers in it. Here's a picture of the angel Moroni since being hit by lightning, it's so crazy to see up close in person...

Lately I've been pretty down, I think it's a mixture of the weather, not having much to look forward to, and being disappointed every month. Hopefully I can pull out of it soon. My hormone pills need to be changed because of some scary side-effects they were giving me (besides all the symptoms of being pregnant, even though I'm not), so hopefully that can help too.
We do have some things to look forward to in the next couple of weeks though, and we're pretty excited about them. I'll be sure to post some pictures (if we have any of interest) when we get back. This weekend we'll be going to Oakley for the rodeo, we'll stay overnight Friday and come back for fireworks at Jer's parent's house. The rodeo is always entertaining, and if the animals aren't enough, we're always on the look out to find the most interesting looking people that show up with their mullets, etc.
Next weekend we're doing a youth conference type activity for the youth in our ward. Since most of them aren't old enough to do the actual Youth Conference, we decided to do something special for them. One of the big things we'll be doing is go up to Salt Lake to see some sights and have them learn some Church history, it'll be fun.
Right after Youth Conference, we'll be headed to Lake Powell with Jer's family. I'm so excited, I've been needing a break from things for awhile, so hopefully I can get some relaxing in and not burn to a crisp.

Jer got me some planters awhile back, and we bought some flowers for Mother's Day, so now they're hanging off our balcony. I went out to water them one day (awhile back before all the rain) and this is what was there...I was surprised it let me get so close . I really do love this picture though, I'm considering printing and framing it and hanging it up somewhere.

A Tribute to my Grandma

My last living blood grandparent passed away Saturday, June 6, 2009 after struggling with colon cancer that had spread to her liver, and eventually took her life. She'll be greatly missed, but we are so happy that she is out of her failing body and in a MUCH better place with her husband and other loved ones who have passed on before her.

She was a smart, funny, talented, loving, incredible person. Her mind was sharp till the very end. She loved her family, she loved playing games, she loved to sew. She stood up for what she believed in. She was patient and kind. She encouraged and taught when needed, but she was never overbearing. She spoiled us kids with love and generosity and guidance, and every so often she'd spoil us with treats too. As I got older, I wanted my kids to be able to know her because she was such a great Grandma, but as time has passed, that wish diminished. I asked her to tell them to hurry up and get down here when she got up there. I'm happy to know that my kids have gotten to meet her now, just not how I planned before.

She was the Best Grandma a girl could have.

I remember having sleepovers at her house when I was little, she'd let me watch movies and have junk food, or she'd read me a story and tuck me in. I used to hate the peanut butter sandwiches she'd make because she'd put a bunch of butter on the bread, and then put peanut butter on-it was weird and not so tasty, but a funny memory to have now, and a sweet quirk to remember about her. Another funny thing I should mention is that one time she was talking and Jer cut her off. She looked at him sternly, but with a twinkle in her eye, and said "Shut up, Jeremy!" We laughed so hard at that because it was so unexpected, and someone needed to call Jer on his bad manners!
She was an amazing homemaker, and has made many quilts, even won some awards for a few of them. She made the best chocolate covered marshmallow eggs at Easter, even the marshmallows were made from scratch!
She amazed me.
She led an incredible life, from living through WWII and the depression, dating and breaking many hearts (being engaged more than once), going to USO dances, to getting married and settling down and having 7 kids (raising them all to be wonderful people who are strong in the church), going on a mission to Shreveport, Louisiana, and to being a wonderful Grandmother and knowing all that we were up to and supporting us when she could.
My main regret is not spending more time with her.
I know my words cannot do her justice, but at least I've scratched the surface.
I love you Grandma, and I'll see you again some day!

Something to hold on to/hold us over

This is just something I felt like sharing. I don't know who wrote it, but Jer's sister, Jenny, sent it to me to help us get through our difficult days.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I know you think I'll never come
But it's just that my work here's not done
There's just so much I need to know
Before I come to earth to grow
So don't give up, I'm on my way
Even though it may not be today
I cannot wait to be loved by you
For you to teach me all that's true
And although I am anxious
I'll patiently wait
'Cause I'm promised to you
And I think that's GREAT!

Love,
Me

Here's to 'some day'

Hiatus

Well, some of you may have noticed that we haven't posted anything for awhile. I thought I should just put up this post to announce our break from blogging. Jer has banned me from reading other blogs as well (most, not all) as some of them are really hard for me/us to read, so we won't be in the blogosphere for awhile.
We'll be back someday, we're just not sure when exactly.

Have a good next few months!

Catch Up

It was brought to my attention, by my lovely friend and old roommate Becky, that I haven't blogged for awhile, and that I'd better get on it. I had no idea what to blog about, but after looking through the camera, I realized I had a little catching up to do, so here you go Becky, and any other fans I may have out there.

So awhile back I promised you a picture of my first attempt at a decorated cake, so here it is. It was winter themed, and I made a lot of really cute little intricate snowflakes and trees, but sadly most of them broke when I tried to move them, so I ended up with dots, star snowflakes, and swirls and a few little extras. Jer's family thought it looked great though, so that was enough for me. It was fun to make, and even more importantly, it tasted delicious.

Next up is the lunch I had with 2 of my old roommates from my first year at Snow College, Becky and FayLyn. FayLyn was in town from Michigan for the holidays and to bless her newest baby, so we hung out at her parent's house and had soup, crackers, Christmas goodies, and we chatted, and played with FayLyn's 2 cute little girls. Sadly our other roomies couldn't make it, one had just had a baby, one lives in Washington state, and the other one-well I think she might be back in Japan? Anyway, it was so fun to get together, even if it was just half of us. Here are a couple of old college pictures, and then the picture we took at the lunch more recently!
Cinnamon Roll Hug- Christal, Becky, Courtney, FayLyn, me, Melissa, Tarah and Ribekah


Becky pretending to be scary, and me pretending to be scared

me, FayLyn, and Becky

There's not any easy way to bring this next one up, and it's a very sad subject for us. The end of January we found out I was pregnant (yes, we took pictures, no, I'm not going to post them), we were so excited that the insemination had worked, but extremely nervous and cautious too. We wanted to keep it a secret til we got to 12 weeks, but we did tell a few people. It seemed things were going fine up until a couple weeks ago when I started spotting. We know this is a normal thing, but it made me nervous, so I had Jer give me a blessing (which left me waiting for something to happen), and did the 48 hr blood test to make sure my hcg levels were still rising. We found out that they were, and that they were high enough to check the heart. We went in for an ultrasound, but we weren't able to see anything. The Dr. wanted to see me a few days later to make sure the heart was actually there, so we went in Feb. 9 for another ultrasound where we found out the baby had stopped growing. I had a blighted ovum, meaning everything else was still growing (which is why my hcg levels were still rising), but the baby had essentially died. I was distraught at this news, but at the same time we were both expecting this to happen. The next day I went in for a D&C so the passing wouldn't become a problem. Jer's been really good about consoling me, but it's still been really difficult. That's now 2 miscarriages and 3 surgeries, I'm really hoping this is it for the heartache part because I can't handle any more. It's been hard enough trying to get back to normal from the surgeries, then not being able to get pregnant at all. Then we do get pregnant and this happens, I'm afraid this is the only ending I'll have whenever I'm pregnant. Anyway, we're ok, I'm just trying to get through this and lie low till I'm all healed up. Hopefully our next one will be successful (cross your fingers/pray for us). We're lucky to live where we do where we're surrounded by family and good friends to help us through. My beautiful flowers from my friend Denice are still blooming, and my cousin and his wife, Matt and Kate, brought us dinner and cookies the night of the D&C and helped cheer me up.

Sorry to end on a depressing note, but that's it for now. We hope you all had a good Valentine's day.

We finally have an answer, YAY!!!

This month I changed OB/GYNs and we did the insemination. After the procedure, the Dr (who is absolutely wonderful) talked to me a little about what tests I've had and haven't done. He decided we should do what he called a "day 22 blood test", so last Friday I went in for a blood test to check my thyroid and progesterone. Why my specialist never thought to run this test, I don't know, and I have been pretty upset with him about it since I got the results. But after having vented on Facebook and getting a few reactions and words of wisdom, I'm trying to just chalk it up to life experience. Although, it has been a painful, depressing, anxiety-filled 8 months we went through (not including nearly a year and a half for surgeries), for what seems like nothing because it probably could have been mostly avoided. Anyway, the results of the test were that my thyroid is fine, but my progesterone is a little low-at about a 10, and the Dr said it's best if it's over 15. This is the reason we haven't been able to get pregnant yet, and if I did get pregnant, then it would have ended up in an early miscarriage. But, this is not a big problem, it's easily fixed. All I have to do is start taking progesterone and then if I get pregnant, continue on it for the first 3 months. Simple as that. So why is it that a reproductive endocronoligist specialist never thought to check that and wanted to go directly to the bigger procedures? We may never know, but at least we found out what's wrong and how to fix it and hopefully we can move on and end up with a baby finally!