It's a BOY!

Okay, so as you all may know Mike and I were dead set on a girl from day one; for some reason we just felt like we were going to have a girl. And yes, I even bought a $5 dress in Key West for the little expectant one. Mostly everyone we shared the news with thought it would also be a girl. The night before we went to get our ultrasound we had Dave and Kimber over to our place for a nice dinner and games.

As we were conversing, Kimber told us about this interesting way to know how many kids you would have and in what order. We thought it would be fun to try it out and see if our predictions were right. What you do is you take a ring dangled by a string and hold it over your wrist. After it unwinds you let it sit there and you see how it starts to move either back and forth or around in a circle by itself. The theory goes if it moves around in circle you will have girl, if it moves back and forth you will have a boy. Once it totally stops you know how many children you will have. When we did it on me it first went in a circle, then back and forth, then in a circle again and then it stopped. We did it to Mike as well and he had the same results. The craziest thing about it is that it totally moves on it's own, going from a circle motion to a back and forth motion—it was a trip. So this "belief" we had of it being a girl now became solidified by what would start calling "the ring theory." (Dave, by the way, believed it was a bunch of crap, and was mocking us the entire time we were doing it. Funny thing is that when Kimber had someone test her with it, it followed the same pattern that she now has and said she was done after three kids. So Dave, looking to prove the ring wrong, was seriously debating trying to have another kid).

Waking up the next day and going into the Dr. I felt confident it was a girl. Practically 2 seconds into our ultrasound the nurse announced to us "it's a boy!" Mike yelped out "WHAT??? Are you sure???" We both had her check it again and again because we didn't believe her. Poor girl, she's like, ya, believe me, see these two things, you can't mistake those, it's a boy. I was in a state of shock the whole day, it really did take me a moment to wrap my head around the idea of us having a boy.

I have to say after a few hours of letting things absorb I became ecstatic about the news. I always thought I would have a boy first, until I actually got pregnant; in fact, I always wanted a boy first (more boys than girls has always been my preference). I don't know why, there is just something about having an older brother to take care of the rest of his siblings, and like Michelle told me after I told her the news, it is a win win situation the next time around because if you have girl he will be her protector, someone she can lean on and look to for advice, and if it is a boy they can be buds!

Dave, of course, was stoked because a) he had been proven right about the "ring theory," and b) he now didn't have to prove the ring wrong and have another kid. HAHA, happy I could oblige and help him in not having to make an "experiment" out of his next child.

The next morning I went out and bought Mike a little congratulations gift to officially celebrate us having a boy. I found the cutest sandals and onesie that read "A Big Deal, like my dad." I feel bad that for 4 1/2 months we've been thinking it is a girl, poor little fella. He is a BIG DEAL and I want him to always know that and feel that his parents LOVE him so much and are so happy he's joining our family.

Finally starting to show at one week shy of 5 months! Woot woot!

Our first picture of our little boy.
I can't believe this little guy is inside of me. From this shot he looks like he has big ol' lips!"

Two more weeks and we go back in to get his measurements! We are excited to see how he is developing!

Glendale Glitters

Oh how I am loving AZ more and more each day. It is so nice to be in warm weather while enjoying all of the holiday festivities.

There are so many activities AZ offers to get you in the mood for the holiday: Christmas classics in the park (White Christmas, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, How the The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Polar Express, etc.); Christmas concerts in the park; Goodyear Ballpark with 40 tons of snow to play in, ice skating, arts and craft booths, Santa Claus, food vendors, etc.; Mesa Temple lights; Farmers Markets, and more.

This past Friday we met up with Dave, Kimber and her sister and husband and went to Glendale Glitters which is a festivity reminiscent of a Christmas fair packed with food vendors, craft booths, Santa Claus, and various activities for kids. We watched a live concert with a performance by Lauren, this past seasons winner on So You Think You Can Dance, ate some yummy food (Mike and Dave indulged in the yummiest Mexican hot dogs, and I had some hot coco with a cinnamon sugar pretzel); we watched the town light light up with over 1 million lights, and finished the evening off walking around the streets viewing all of the quaint shops and yummy restaurants Glendale has to offer. It was such a fun night; a perfect way to start off the holiday season.

The more time I spend here the more I can see myself living here; AZ has so much to offer!

Upcoming plans: My parents are coming in on Friday to stay with Dave and Kimber for week. We are going to hit up some movies in the park, take them to Westgate and Scottsdale, see the Mesa temple lights, eat at some of our favorite places, celebrate Mikes birthday with a nice roast beef dinner on Sunday, and of course mom and I are going to spend time sewing some baby stuff. We are also going to dig out our tree and get our house decorated for Christmas. Lots of fun things to look forward to!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Even though we weren’t able to spend Thanksgiving with either of our “entire families”, we had a wonderful day. We woke up early, worked out for two hours, watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and then headed over to Dave and Kimbers to shoot some family pictures for them before driving to Mesa to celebrate Thanksgiving with Kimbers extended family.

Everyone was so welcoming, the weather was gorgeous, the food was in plenty and was amazing, the entertainment was fantastic (one of Kimbers relatives got up and did a middle school performance he gave when he ran for president. It was a part of Brian Regan’s comedian act. It was so freakin funny, all of us were crying we were lauging so hard). It was so nice to be with the Schawbs for Thanksgiving, we are so grateful for their hospitality in letting us join them this year. It was also so nice to be able to sit outside for once and enjoy the beautiful blue sky and sunshine; it reminded me of my days living in CA.

We were going to go to a movie after lunch but Mike and I were so stuffed we opted to go home and lay down ☺. Right now we are on the second book of the Hunger Games and so we read a chapter, watched some TV—apprentice, Taylor Swifts concert tour (I just love her music), The Most Talked About People of the Year, The Apprentice— and then called it a night.
I love this time of year—my FAVORITE time of year—with Thanksgiving traditions, Christmas around the corner, and the ringing in of a new year.

Hope everyones Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I wanted to wish all of you a very happy and enjoyable Thanksgiving! Mike and I have so much to be grateful for this time of year: a baby on the way, good health, a wonderful new apartment and warm sunny weather, a nice new ward with great people to associate with, countless freedoms we enjoy by living in this beautiful land, wonderful family and friends, the gospel . . . the list goes on and on.

I hope we can all take a moment today to count our many blessings!

AZ Events

Mike and I have been enjoying our time here in AZ immensely! While most people are in the rain, cold, and even snowy weather, we are enjoying what we call "luxury living" in the nice warm, AZ sun. I honestly didn't think I would ever say this but we really like AZ. We love the weather, we love being able to BBQ outside during the winter, we love being able to lay out by the pool and read The Hunger Games together, swim, get in the hot tub at night, etc. We love our ward—a good mix of younger couples with children and older couples. Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming!

We feel so blessed, having Mikes job and the luxury it affords of being able to take a few months off together. What a blessing it has been! We look forward to camping, celebrating Thanksgiving here in AZ with Dave and Kimber, exploring the area more, finding our new favorite places to eat, etc. Lately we have been taking time to look around and get ideas on what we will need for our newborn and enjoying that entire process of being new parents together.

Last week we went to the AZ State Fair with Dave and Kimber and the kids. We had such a fun time eating yummy BBQ, going on all the rides, getting snow cones and funnel cake, and laughing and enjoying each others company. Last Sunday we had dinner at Dave and Kimber's. Dave is quite the amazing chef; we had grilled salmon with tomatoes, grilled asparagus, crispy potatoes, biscuits, and for dessert I made pineapple upside down cake. We had fun playing a card game of Big Two (Mike and David tied and I officially became known as "Debbie Downer" because of my horrible luck each hand).

Last night was date night. We didn't realize how packed the restaurants would be because of Veterans Day but we waiting it out and had a yummy meal at Chilis: ribs and fries. I have to say that Chili's ribs now rank #2 for me; Rib City will always be #1!

Mike did the cutest, most thoughtful act of service at the restaurant. We were situated in a room with 12 widows who had to be split up because there weren't enough tables for them to sit together. During our appetizer Mike approached our waiter and asked her if we could move our table at the end of the theirs so two of the ladies who had been split up in a booth could join them and we could take their booth. It is amazing how one act that seems so insignificant to us can mean so much to someone else. The ladies started clapping for Mike and were overjoyed by his act of service. They kept showering him with compliments and praise. The waitress who was kind of in shock about the entire ordeal leaned over to me and said "in all my 12 years of working here I have never seen anyone do something like that." It felt good to be of service. I am proud of Mike that he saw a need and he took care of it. As we were getting ready to leave the waitress handed us our bill and told us that she asked her manager to give us a discount for what we did and that the widows had actually pooled their money together to take care of the majority of the bill, leaving us with a $3 charge. Mike and I were astounded. I looked over to the ladies and told them they really didn't have to do that. We had more means to take care of our meal than they did and the act we provided was nothing in comparison. As we left the restaurant Mike made a really good comment as we were discussing how they really didn't need to do anything in return, it really wasn't that big of a deal for us to move, "sometimes it is important to allow others to serve you." This was definitely a good example of "paying it forward" for everyone involved.

Seeing those widows just made me grateful, once again, for all of the Veterans who have served us and this country. I am so grateful for all of those who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice so that we can live and enjoy the freedoms we do!

Pictures of the Fair:

Cruise

I have to say I am not that big of a fan of cruises; they would never be my choice of vacation, but any trip that is free I am willing to go on.

We left last Wed. and our flight was supposed to take off at 11:50 p.m. After we had arrived to the airport we found out it was actually delayed till 3a.m. Once we got checked in, had our bags checked, went through security, and were waiting by the gate, we were notified that our flight had been cancelled due to bad weather in Atlanta. We were with a group of from Northstar so we waited with them to hear what we were supposed to do from our group in SLC. We ended up changing our flight to 7:50 the next morning. Sleeping in the airport, on the floor, being pregnant, is needless to say not the best, most enjoyable experience. We got about 4 hours of sleep, hopped on our 4 1/2 hour flight early in the morning, and arrived in FL at 3:05. We were supposed to be on the boat by 4pm and the cruise line was telling us we didn't have enough time to get our bags in order to make the boat. They told us they would bring our bags to our first port, Key West, the following day. There was no way I was going on a cruise without my luggage, and thankfully Mike and another couple in the group agreed with me, and we ran through the terminal, down to baggage claim, grabbed our bags, ran to find the shuttle that was going to take us to the boat, and we literally, as the shuttle was driving off, threw our bags in the back and off we went. We made it to the boat just in time! Whew! What a nightmare it was getting there.

Besides getting there and back we were pretty much problem free on the cruise. Thursday we unpacked and basically got ready for our first dinner and then went straight to bed, we were so exhausted.



Friday we worked out, docked in our first port, Key West, and got off to explore the area. Key West was a lot different than we imagined it to be. Unfortunately we had arrived the night they were planning a Mardi Gras Festival, so we were privy to a bunch of booze, women in thongs, and dirty old men and women walking naked around the streets with their tah tah's sagging to the ground covered in nothing but body paint. WOW, it was the ultimate experience.

We did end up buying the cutest little baby dress for $5. We don't know if we are having a girl yet but we figured what's five dollars? We were also able to tour around the area a bit, see the beautiful water, and learn about some of the historic sites (I didn't know Hemingway had a home in Key West).

I had to take this one for Michelle—see even Gluten Free in Key West!!!

Cutest $5 baby dress

We were on a good schedule and worked out every morning, which helped out with all the food we were consuming :). The next day we had a late port arrival in Cozumel, which was 10x nicer than Key West (go figure). We hooked up with some friends and rented scooters and rode around all of Cozumel, swam in the most amazing blue water I have ever seen, ate some tacos at a local dive, and shopped around for some fun souvenirs. It was a much better day than Key West.

Renting Scooters!!

Iguana

Swimming in the beautiful ocean!

Yummy Tacos

Sunday we celebrated Halloween on the boat. It was fun to see everyone get dressed up this year. Last year not a lot of people dressed up because our cruise didn't actually fall on Halloween. Unfortunately we didn't take the prize this year because there was so much competition, but two people in our Northstar group won! Mike decided to go as Bruno this year, and yes his shorts were some how shorter than last year. I decided to go as the Queen of Hearts in Alice and Wonderland. We decided, at the end of it, that it is a lot more fun to dress up as a couple, so I am sure next year we will be back on the same page.

Getting ready for Halloween!

Sleepy Bruno

Final Look!

Mike drew a heart on my lips after dinner

Not the only Queen of Hearts on the boat

Alice in Wonderland girls!

This guy totally cracked me up, I asked if I could take a picture with him and he said to me "of course girl (he was gay)! Wow you look good! You've got huge bazzooka's!!! :) HAHA I was laughing to so hard. I do have enormous pregnancy boobs!

Obama was on our boat!

We got into Miami early Monday morning and had to wait 7 hours before our flight took off so we rented a taxi with some friends and went to a local mall, saw the movie Hereafter, and had a yummy dinner before heading back to catch our flight, which again got delayed on the tarmac about an hour. We had to run through Atlanta airport to a different terminal to find our connecting flight that we were again running late for and barely made it (10 min to spare). Needless to say after all the flying and running and delays I was so happy to be home at the end of the trip!

Here are some more of our fun pictures, enjoy!

Yummy Coconut Shrimp!

Jay's Dad—Bad Karaoke!

Early morning breakfast!

Lookin good, feeling good!

4 months pregnant! I am almost half way there! Woot woot!

Last morning on ship! Miami!

Waiting and waiting for our plane. Good way to kill time: cards