Unexpected

So tonight at dinner, our little family was sitting down to dinner.  We said our prayer, and began to eat.  Then conversation began...

Don:  Have you been to Anniversary Inn lately?

Nicole:  No... (Pausing, and with a look of confusion)  Have you been there lately?

Don:  Yeah.

Nicole:  ...  With who? 

Don:  I guess I should have said have you been to their website lately. 

In other words... Does anyone have a place that I can bunk for the night?  :)

Tip Junkie Give Away!

Tip junkie is doing a 12 Days of Junkie giveaway. Each giveaway lasts only 24 hours so go back each day to enter for the new giveaway. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do! Good luck to you all!

New Contest-

So I can I just say that I LOVE fabric!!! Lila Tueller is doing a give away with her new fabric line "Eden."
Wouldn't this fabrice make beautiful dresses and outfits for my two girls!?!?! Or what about a new baby blanket for both of them... ooooh, the posibilities! I sure hope I win. You can visit her website here so that you too can enter the contest.

One more...

I took this just after I update the blog and it is too cute to pass up posting.

2 Months have passed...

My how time is flying. I can't believe it has been two months since I had my baby girl. We went in last Friday to her doctors, and she now weighs, 10 lbs. 10.5 oz. and she is 22 1/2 inches long. She is chunking up and becoming more beautiful everyday. I took these pictures today. I love how she is reacting to sounds and smiling at me!
My beautiful baby girl.

I had to post these shoes. These were mine when I was little.

Her cute little face.

Her beautiful smile.

And I can't believe how big my oldest is getting. I went through my cedar chest that my mom gave me that was my grandmas, and in it were some of my dresses as a little girl. Aubrey is now able to fit into some of them and loves to twirl.

The Utah State Fair

This past weekend we went to the Utah State Fair. We had a blast. My brother with his family and my parents, and grandma came with us. Every year that we go, we of course love to look at all the many booths that they have, but our highlight of the whole day is... "The Big Yellow Slide" Every year we go on it. When we got to the fair, the yellow slide was closed. :( We had been there for about an hour and the yellow slide opened up. So we headed on over.
Don coming down with Aubrey
My brother coming down the slide with his youngest Macey.

My brother coming down the yellow slide with his other two girls.

Our youngest niece riding the merry go round.

Aubrey, Don and Molly riding the Merry go round

Megan, Aubrey and Molly riding the hot air balloon ride.

Aubrey riding Scarecrow.
I love going into the building where people have entered their quilts and sewing projects. Now that I am getting more into sewing, I love seeing the things that I can do with it. (I get lots of ideas here).


And this quilt I loved the colors.

The cutest witch quilt. I love that the feet are stuffed and dangle from the quilt.

What A Day!!!

Oh my not only have I no posted in a while, but I think I chose a great day to catch you all up on. Labor Day weekend has tons of things going on, this year felt like we tried to do everything all at once! Our Saturday started bright and early, (so we could fit it all in of course), so by nine o'clock in the morning we were at Swiss Days in Heber City, my mom, Rebecca and me. I was sad that none of don's family was able to make it. The have turned it into a tradition that they go each year, and when I joined the family, my mom and I started going with them. I love going to get ideas. There are so many creative people out there that it is great to see other ideas and, dare I say it, think of making it yourself... I found great ideas for birthdays and Christmas. So anyway, spend a few hours there with my mom, ate our annual Navajo Taco and pie, then was heading home. This is where the real fun begins!

My newest addition to the family decided that she was hungry so I gave her a bottle in the car. We reached the turn off point that takes you from Heber City to Provo canyon road. We turned there and there was a pull off area to the side of the road. We had parked so that I could burp her. I hate throw up in a car.. it is just nasty. So anyway I burp her and get her in the car. I head over to get in my car, I look up while getting in the car, close my door and kind of freeze. There was a tire heading straight for my car. I braced for impact, and it hit the front left side light area. Needless to say, my car is not in the best shape now :) I will let the pictures speak for me now...
The font of the car where the tire hit

Causing the frame to shift and the door now doesn't open all the way :)


There was a second car that was also involved. we believe a lug nut hit their wind shield causing it to splatter.
The other guys windshield:


So the guy that started this all, was a truck pulling a tent trailer, with a double axle wheel. The got about a mile away before they noticed something was wrong. When the went and looked at the problem, the lug nuts we completely sheared off from where the tire was, (I should have gotten a picture, but I didn't go back up the canyon to look). No one was hurt, and it could have been a lot worse.

So the day continues on, we went and celebrated my niece, Miley's birthday. Short and sweet. We then headed home so that I could make dinner for the babysitter, (thanks mom), the headed off to dinner and our concert. Dinner was great. It was nice to have a dinner with no kids. I really can't believe how much time a second kid takes out of you... I don't remember the first taking so much time! Of course it has been 2 years.

I do have to say that the highlight of the night was the concert. We went and saw Jon Schmidt in concert at Thanksgiving point. He gives this concert every year. Don and I started going together the year that we met and have been to the concert each year except our first year married, (we can't remember why we missed it). Anyway, the concert starts at 7, doors open at 6. We got there at 6 and there was a line, I swear a mile long. There were tons of people I would say that he easily 5X'd his crowd. It was amazing to see how one song can change that. Everyone was there for the Love Story Meets Viva La Vida (Cold Play). I just could believe my eyes this year though. Usually we just get there around 6:15, park in the parking lot and walk right in... We actually had a waiting line to get in the doors, and there was I would say easily 2,000 or more there. (Don got a picture with his phone and will try and upload that but don't know if I can). They sold out of CD's before the concert even started, and they had a second shipment brought in.

The girls stayed behind to get the CD's signed, while the guys went to get the cars.

Don and I on the lawn at the concert.

Steve and Danielle started coming with us last year.

And Nate and Heidi are the newbies to the group... Welcom guys! Hope you had a great night.


What a Crazy Fun Filled Day.

Newborn Pictures

Last week we had pictures taken with our family. Check out a few of them here.

Series of Events, So Far...

Note that this does go into some detail... if you get grossed out easily or whatnot, I wouldn't read. Consider yourself warned!

Well it all began on Wednesday night the 15th of July. I went to bed like any other night and woke up only a few short two hours later, feeling like I had peed my pants. Yikes! So I go potty and it just doesn't feel the same or seem to stop. I think nothing of it, try to go back and lay down and it happens again. My sweet hubby at the time had not come to bed yet and so I went down and talked to him, like nothing was wrong (he says that he felt something was wrong when I wasn't all that mad that he wasn't in bed yet :), so anyway, I told him that I think my water broke. I go call the doctor, and wait for the reply. Within about two minutes I went from a water trickle to a water stream. They called back and said go to the hospital... Now mind you we live a half hour away from the hospital we were delivering at, so I was really nervous to waist gas to get there if my water wasn't broken, but yet nervous that if it had, I wouldn't make it in time. Needless to say we made it and it was a good thing. Backtrack fora few minutes here... when we figured that my water had broke, we started calling people in the middle of the night for our 2 year old was asleep in the next room... I called my good friend that had agreed to be our middle of the night person, she didn't answer. We then called his parents who were camping at their cabin in Heber, both cell phones straight to voice mail... great I am freaking out about now. Don called his friend, no answer. Don then called his other friend, which happens to be the husband of our middle of the night person, and he answers. Finally we have someone. She came over and stayed with Aubrey until my parents got there from Bountiful. Such a crazy experience there all in itself.

We got checked in and by one o'clock in the morning they had me hooked up to monitors and verified that my water had in fact broken. So starts the labor. The nurse kept asking me about every half hour what my pain was... I was like 1 maybe 2. Her reply was always the same, "really?" She then explained that I was having contractions every 3 minutes apart. They weren't that strong cause I wasn't feeling much. By 5 o'clock they were coming on hard and fast. I asked for the epidural, and life went amazingly smoothly after that. I saw the doctor at 7 am, and we started me on pitocin. They checked me then and I was dilated to a 3. I seriously couldn't believe it... 7 hours of labor and only at a 3! Well that was the longest part of it all. By 9:40 am they checked me again and I was dilated to a 8. They started watching me more closely because the baby's heart rate kept dropping. The nurse explained that it was most likely due to dilating and each time I would dilate, she would drop and stay down longer. They had me change positions to see if that would help and when i did that within a minute I felt a lot of pressure. I said to the nurse, "I am not sure, but I feel the need to push." Shse checked me again and I was all the way dilated. We did a practice push and she then said no more pushing. We need to wait for the doctor. They called the doctor at 10:01 and he was there at 10:16. Rebecca was born at 10:25... only 4 short pushes later.

All in all the delivery went really well. It was considerably easy and fast. Really it is still all sinking in that she is even here. I now have had one induced labor and one more naturally started. I am glad that she is a healthy little girl. We were able to come home from the hospital as long as I got her into the doctors first thing Monday morning. Her "problem" at this time is her jaundice. She is still climbing and so we are having to keep an eye on it. The doctor doesn't seem all that worried and doesn't think that she will have to go under the lights. There you all have it though. We are now adjusting to the sleepless nights, messy bums, and trying to figure out what the cry means. So for now, with time not on my side... here are a few more pics that will have to do for a while.

Here are the pics and stats!

She came today at 10:25 am, 5 lbs 10 oz, and 18 inches long.

And So It Begins!

Well everyone we will keep this updated when we have more to go on.... but as of now we have been at the hospital for 3 hours, awaiting the arrival of our little one. Hopefully not too much longer, but we shall see. :)

Amazed...

That is only a few short weeks I am going to be a mother of two! I am still trying not to freak myself out over the little things, and not even the big things... ok anything. And there are things that I am overlooking that are reminded to me at the smallest opportunities. Like when I dropped my angel off at grandma's today, and the first thing out of her mouth was:
Mom: "How are you feeling?"
Me: "I am doing good thanks."
Mom: "Because you look miserable." Thanks mom! :) I know she was being a sweetheart, and yes I am tired, but what prego woman likes to hear that? :D

Really I thought that I was holding up well. I do have to agree that this pregnancy has been worse than the first though. I have those wonderful Braxton Hicks that have shown up and are taking a vengeance from the first pregnancy. She is starting to drop, even more these days and that is taking a toll on how much I can stand, sit, walk or do anything for any length of time. It wouldn't be a pregnancy without that right? I am trying to work through it all and get things even more ready for her arrival. I still have that cooking day to make meals so that all I have to do is stick it in the oven and call it good, along with a cleaning day before I go to the hospital, which at this moment could be any day. I think at this point there are only a few items that are more wanted than needed, aka: girly things. Even though I had a darling daughter for my first I never really got into the girly things. I am on the lookout for headbands, bracelets, you know... the cutsy stuff. So if any of you see of find things, send me them my way to check out. Tips are always great!

There are things that are not going to be missed when she gets here, such as: bumping the belly into almost everything, (yes it has been growing with me for the last 9 months, and you would think that I would be used to it, but it seems to be popping out more than ever at the moment). The non stop bathroom runs, they are now getting a little more ridiculously closer together.

I can't believe how much your mind goes wild with you in your future pregnancies. There are so many things that don't need to be feared, but are feared for it is the unknown, or the now know with consequences. I look back at when we had our first little one and her rough start in life. It really wasn't anything to worry about, but it was enough to worry about that this time around I am hoping for a healthy baby straight out of the womb. Nothing wrong, ten fingers, ten toes, breathing normally, mom doing great, baby awake and alert (for a newborn yes). I mean the list could go on and on. So step back, take a deep breath, and don't worry unless you have to.

So now I give a shout out to my hubby for all his help. With being in the last month of my pregnancy he has been more understanding and helpful than I could have asked for. He is also putting up with major emotional shifts. I love you honey! Thanks for all you do for our family! Thank you for understanding without blame or hardship. Thanks for being there when I need you the most without even knowing it. And thank you for being a wonderful father to your children and a wonderful husband to your wife. I love you tons. Thanks again for all you do.

Late 4th of July...

Since our last update we have been pretty busy with family and friend outings. We had a great 4th of July. We went to the Centerville parade where our little girl had a blast watching all the dance groups, bands and police cars. We had a BBQ at my parents house, played around with my mom's new Cricket, while making Aubrey a name sign for her room, and then spent the evening with friends having a BBQ and setting off fireworks... only to be caught by the cops! Lets just say I have never done the not so legal ones before, and now never again. They weren't all that much better than the other ones, I think it was more fun watching the boys be stupid doing them.
Aubrey and dad with a sparkler:

My loverly little girl... isn't she just a cutie!


We also spent the last Sunday of June in Honeyville at the Orem family reunion. It is a great time to just spend the day with family. We have a lunch, play bingo, have a raffle and then if we feel like it we have a water fight. The water fight has kind of died off these past few years, but I think with more little ones coming we will start it back up soon.
Here is muffet and I at the reunion:


And last but not least my latest crafts. I got a wonderful idea from my friend Michelle at cross stitching Christmas stockings for our family. I have been working on trying to get them done before the newest one gets here, because I have this interesting thought that i probably won't be taking the time to cross stitch all that much after she is here. :)
Here is the finished product for Dad's stocking:


And last but not least Rebecca's snuggle blanket. I have always wanted to make a rag quilt for my kids, and having received one from my sister in law, I decided it was time to make one. So I took this fabric:

And made this beautiful rag quilt:

What's been happening?

Well I am so glad that you asked. We have been pretty busy these past few weeks just getting things ready for our little one, along with having some fun. So lets go way... way back to June 6th!...

That Saturday our family went to the Scera (sp?) pool in Orem where our little angel had a blast... I think she if finally getting over her fear of water, YAY!!! Mind you the water she is playing in was FREEZING!!! I don't know how she did it.

Just loving that face:



Next was getting my projects done. It helped a ton that we had a girls sewing night on the 10th where we had no kids! It was great to not have to worry who was crying and just work on our projects... I honestly don't know if I would have been able to finish the quilt at least in time without that night. Thanks girls... BTW, when is our next one?

One for the family reunion that is this Sunday, I am way excited to go and just get out of the house and be on the go for a day. I had volunteered to make the adult quilt for this year... little did I know I would be just about 9 months prego at the time... talk about hard work when you have a belly to work around, but oh so worth it. I am tempted to go buy a quilt for this year and just let me have this one. I love how it turned out. The pattern that I got the idea from is called "Grape Vines" So the colors are beautiful in this quilt. Purple, brown, green and blue... Hopefully everyone else will like it just as much as I do. If not, it won't hurt me to win it back... or take it off their hands!

A close up of the grapes:

Front overlay on back:

Another shot of the front overlay on the back:

A picture of the whole front:


I am also working on cross stitching our family Christmas stockings... mind you I started this last November... so we are almost 1 down... with only 3 to go! Hopefully I will be able to get Don's and Aubrey's done for this Christmas, and then work on Rebecca's and mine for next year. If I am feeling lucky, I might get three done this year. Here's hoping. Anyway so Don's is almost done, just adding the finishing touches and I will post that pic, maybe even before.

I have had one doctors appointment since the last post, and our baby girl is growing strong. I just can't believe that she is almost here. When we were trying with no success for as long as we did, it was a blessing to even get that positive sign, but now to think that she is only 6 weeks away... that is way too soon! I can't wait to see our baby girl. She is blessing our lives is so many ways already.

We then went camping with our good friends Steve and Danielle, and Nate and Heidi, (we were sad that Matt and Jill were unable to come... next time for sure guys!) Last time we went it was a total rain out... we left early and basically soaked and sleep deprived. This time was a little of the same, but tons more fun! It seems that we have the best weather the day we get there and then it goes downhill from there.

I want to give a shout out to the guys for helping replenish the fire wood pile while we were there. My dad is getting a little too... old shall we say... to be doing all that, and you have helped out majorly.

The whole crew went down to the river just over the hill from camp, while I stayed back and watched the fire... when they all got back, I was kind of glad that I hadn't gone. They were all soaked from the knees down and heavy breathing. Eight months prego it would have probably taken me ten times longer! Honestly I haven't been down to the river in who knows how long, and I didn't and don't remember what it is like. :) I do have to say that I was a little bit spoiled this time, for I slept in the trailer. And believe me it was a whole lot nicer than the air mattress! On the other hand, this was the last time that I am camping before our little one arrives. It wasn't all that bad, but the nighttime potty stops were just a little much, and any of you prego women out there know what I am talking about. Now add pitch black skies and one scared of the dark lady... no thanks. I think I can pass. Haha.

Ok and my last thing to post for now... I want to give a shout out to the wives who let me borrow there husbands for an hour last Wednesday night. We could not have gotten everything done that we did that night in preparation for our little ones arrival. It helped set a nesting pregnant woman's mind at ease... for now.

Time Flies...

Oh my goodnes... I can't believe that we are under the 10 weeks mark. ANd I have been counting the weeks as they go, but this yesterday at the doctors, the nurse measured me and said "Measuring at 30 cm, right where you are suppose to be..." It then clicked that I am less than 10 weeks away. We have also hit the wonderful mark of going to the doctors every other week. I can't believe that there is only 3 more visits with the doctor, before I start seeing him every week! (You can't tell I am excited or anything right?) I believe I have said this before, but there are things coming up in the next two months that will make this go by even faster. I still have the crib to set up! What is a girl to do!? And I have yet to find that take home outfit... oh man! Time is running out. :)

Ok so this a notice to all friends and family that wouldn't mind getting down and dirty for the day. In the middle of July, or maybe closer to the end... I am looking at doing a house cleaning day... and I mean cleaning day. Don't primp, just come in grubby clothing, for we will be getting into all the nooks and crannies, (I make it sound so much fun, don't I?). Danielle I know you are up for it :) I am thinking of doing a weekday rather than a weekend day. If you are willing to help please let me know if there are certain days that work better for you rather than others. (Kids are welcome. We have a fenced in yard and the kids can go play. If you are there during naptime, I have a few rooms that kids can sleep in, or we can have one big rest time for all the kids.)

Ok so catch up on family fun. This past Monday we took Aubrey to see Up... and boy is that a cute show! It was great! Most of the audience... like 95% of it, were families with small children, so it was great not having to worry about people being upset that kids were talking throughout. Aubrey loved to point out the birds, waterfall, dogs, pretty much anything she could. I can't believe my little girl is growing up. She is just over 2 and it feels like she is going to be grown up all too fast. You know how everyone says that they grow so fast, so enjoy and take time now to make memories, oh how true it is.

What to do... What to say...

My oh my it has been quite a while since my last post and there have been some happenings with our little family. Nothing too exciting, but lets update.

So first and foremost, it has been about 30 days since my last post and then baby update. There isn't much to report other than I have had one appointment since then, and I am getting way close. I had to have the RhoGAM shot again... loverly little shot that they give you if you have a different blood type than your spouse. It really is kind of a freaky thing. Here is a excerpt from the RhoGAM website that explains it way better than I could. "If you're Rh-negative and carrying a baby who is Rh-positive (like the baby’s father), your baby may be at risk for a serious disease. When your immune system (which fights off invaders to keep you healthy) is exposed to your baby’s Rh-positive blood, it will begin producing antibodies that are sensitized(designed specifically) to destroy these “foreign” blood cells." Just scary to think that if you don't act now, you can ruin your chances of more little babies running around because you didn't act. Anyway so there was the bum shot... fun! Blood work and a growing baby. The doctor said that she is around 3 lbs and head down. All good news. I honestly can't believe that we are already to the point of the every two week appointments. Ten more weeks and we have a baby here... of course the closer it gets the more scary it gets. I know that for every mother it is different, and I hear more people say that baby number one is harder than baby number two. I don't know about you, but my mind is sure having its way with me. I seem to be fretting over so many little things that I don't remember fretting over with Aubrey.

Don finished his semester at school and did oh so very well. I am very proud of him that he is continuing on with his education while being a family man as well. He is working very hard and I am thankful for the man that he is and his willingness to provide and strive for a better life for him and his family. We love you tons Don!

Next on the list, Memorial Weekend. We had a wonderful time. Don and I haven't been camping for 2 years, and it was so nice to just get away. My parents own property on the East fork of the Bear River and we went up there to camp and have a great time. While we were there I had plans of getting so much done on my cross stitching, but ended up having way too much fun doing nothing. I liked not having a schedule that I had to keep up. It was a great time relaxing... much needed. Don had a great time going out on the 4-wheelers. We went with our friends Steve and Danielle and their two little ones, and had a blast. We ended up cutting our weekend short for Aubrey woke up Sunday morning with croup and Steve and Danielle's littlest one had had two bad nights. Sleep deprived parents and a croupy kid... no fun on a camping trip. But we did end the weekend with a BBQ with our friends and that was a great time. We so need more of those. I can't wait for the next time we go to the property, and hopefully end up with no sick kids.

We are now getting back into the grove being home and back in civilization... oh what fun that is. Work and play hard. Now the next task... giving the house a good clean from top to bottom. At least the laundry is done for now. :) Maybe more will be happening in the near future that I will update more, but for now this is the end.

The Down Hill Slope!

So I have made it... we are on the down hill slope of the less than 100 days till our new addition joins the family! I am getting was excited! I see other pregnant mom blogs out there and they are further down that slope, only realizing that it is going to be me all too soon. I am looking forward to the summer and being able to relax and enjoy it. I have a love/hate relationship looking at the baby bouncing on the sidelines of the blog. It is great that it is helping me keep track of the weeks, but it seems to go so SLOW!!! And then another week passes and I can't believe we are already another week closer. Crazy!

Aubrey had her 2 year well checkup today and she is doing wonderfully. There are no signs of anything but a wonderful healthy child. You go girl!

This week is Don's finals... there are only two night left of school... YAY!!!! Let me hold that excitement until the week is over... because then the real work begins... fixing up the house and getting the garden planted! YAY!!!

Oh So Many Crafts!

So this past week I am gotten into a crafty mode. There is a blog that I have been following for only a few weeks now, thanks to a fellow blogger, (thanks Lauren), where she takes many ideas and implements them to the best of her ability. They always turn out amazingly well. I love seeing what she is going to come up with next. The blog is Make It and Love It! Check it out to see so many more of her wonderful ideas.

Okay... so onto the crafts that I have taken and made my own. They turned out beautifully, I do have to say so myself. :) Here is the fabric that I started with to make a car seat cover.

And ended up with this: This shows how it attaches to the car seat. Basically it is a blanket with straps that allows it to stay in place on the car seat. I was always loosing blankets while carrying her seat. Problem solved.

This shows when it is flipped over the handle.


Then I found this fabric:

And made this:
A reversible nursing cover! I absolutly love this. It turned out amazing! It was really fast to whip up.
\

Now on to the next project... finishing the quilt. Yikes this is going to take awhile.