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Friday, August 30, 2013

22 weeks - A Papaya

Kaycee,

Sorry I missed blogging about your 21 week mark - mom dropped the ball there. You were a spaghetti squash. Dad & I have no idea what that is, but that's what you were last week!

 
Now, you are a papaya! The app I use to track your progress changed this week, so it looks a little different from how it's looked before. And your countdown is wrong - don't know why it says 18 week and 4 days but whatev.


The last two weeks have been great. I feel like time really is going faster now. I've always heard that the weeks go by faster after you hit the halfway mark, and so far that's true. And the holidays haven't hit yet. That's gonna make it go by even faster! Especially since mom & dad have some fun stuff planned for September. That'll REALLY help make time go by fast. That, and it's football season. Fall always flies by for mom - it's my favorite time of year. 

My hips have been hurting a little bit more, but it isn't unbearable. You're worth it. I have also been feeling kinda nauseous in the mornings, which isn't so fun. Earlier this week I called in sick to work and spent the entire day sleeping. I can't believe how much I slept that day! Apparently we needed it though, I've felt a little bit better since then.

You seem to really like soup type things. Or at least that's what I am craving lately. I have had chicken noodle soup twice this week, even though it's in the 90's. Makes my body temperature a little weird - I feel super hot and yet that's all I want to eat haha. That, and ramen. But I am trying not to eat ramen noodles since they are so high in sodium and there is no nutritional value to it whatsoever. You also seem to really like cantaloupe lately. Just like dad. Don't know why I'm surprised - dad loves cantaloupe.

And best of all, I started feeling you move. It's hard to explain what it feels like, but it isn't like what I was expecting. They say it's like butterflies, but that isn't true. I figured it'd feel like a poke - something sharp and sudden. Not like that either. It's more like... a bubble. Like I have a bubble in my tummy for a second. That I can only feel for a short amount of time and then it stops. I can't wait until I can feel you for longer amounts of time, but for now I am just glad I can feel you. It's an awesome experience.

And I am starting to get more of a belly! It's fun having people realize I am pregnant. I don't know if it's "expected" to be showing at 22 weeks with your first, but I am and I'm ok with that. I've been excited to have a little bump and now I have one!

With my arm resting on you. PS - mirror pregger selfies are AWKWARD! I need to have dad help me take some pictures next week!
No arm - definitely getting a bump!
Mom sure loves you babe. Dad & I are getting ready to start working on your room. Grandma & Rick and your aunts are going to help mom paint your room in a few weeks. Dad & I just need to decide what colors we want to do. I can't wait to get your room all ready.

And I can't wait until you're here. I love you so much babe. I'm scared to be a mom - what if I do it wrong? What if you hate me? Before you're 16? But at the same time I know that it'll be ok. Only 18 ish more weeks {and 16 weeks until mom is officially a stay home mom}

Love,
Mom

This week in pictures

Even though it's only been 4 days since I blogged last, I feel like I am WAY behind! Guess it shows just how addicted I am to this whole blogging thing haha!

This week has been fairly uneventful as far as activities deserving of their own post but there's been enough little things that I just decided to post a big post about all of it. Therefore, prepare for lots of pictures!

Last Saturday, Jake went to his parents house for a few hours to work on the truck. It has been making a squeaky noise and he thinks he figured out how to fix it - for like $45! I have an awesome mechanic for a hubby. While he was gone, I cleaned the house. Considering it was only a few hours, I got a TON done and was VERY proud of how clean the house looked after just a few hours. And we've been able to maintain that and keep the house looking clean all week, which is AWESOME! After Jake got home, I decided we should do something "productive" towards Kaycee's room, so we moved everything out of the office and moved the guest bedroom out of Kaycee's room and into the old office. It looks awesome!

I didn't think to take pictures until after we were all done, but if you want to see what the office & guest bedroom used to look like, there are pictures in this post.

Guest bed with nightstand
Rocking chair and one of the bookshelves
Other bookshelf
It turned out AWESOME - it's really weird walking in that room and having a bed in there though. We've had that room set up as the office since the day we moved into the house and have never changed the furniture or rearranged it, so having it be totally different is, well, different, but we like it! It's nice having a guest bed in case my dad or my sisters come stay with us.


Jake's mom got us a gift when we got sealed that didn't come in the mail until last Saturday, so Jake brought it home after he was done working on the truck. It's a porcelain miniature of the Manti Temple!! I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY MADE THOSE!!!

It's GORGEOUS!
Next to the Salt Lake Temple mini I got from Charlotte when I got endowed on our front table. Looks AWESOME!
We spent the rest of the night relaxing and watched the movie "Oblivion" with Tom Cruise & Morgan Freeman while we ate Pizza Hut. Nutritious, no. Fun, yes. That movie is AWESOME. I really like movies that make me think, like Skeleton Key {only scary movie I like}, Prestige or Inception. This movie definitely will make you think. Problem is, my brain sure doesn't work right at the moment, so Jake had to keep pausing the movie to explain it to me. Usually it's the other way around haha! It was a REALLY good movie though - I highly recommend it.

Puppy relaxing on the floor while we watched the movie. We moved his crate into our room, so his bed got moved into the living room and he has actually been laying in it. Good puppy :)
For Young Women's this week, we had a talent show. Ok, so I feel like I have some talents. Like blogging. Talking about every little moment of my life in my blog, and wanting to write about it, and looking forward to it, is a talent I think. Especially since I SUCKED at journal writing up until I discovered this whole blog thing. And I like to cook. I do have talents. Just not necessarily performing talents, like singing or dancing or playing an instrument. So for our talent show, we decided that the girls could bring something they have done at home, like a drawing or something they have sewn. Tiffany Barth brought pictures of hiking trips she has done - that's TOTALLY a talent. For my talent, I decided to bake some cookies. Because I do NOT bake. I used to, like when I was 14, but I don't anymore. I ALWAYS buy stuff at Smith's in the bakery if I am asked to bring a dessert. And I want to change that. It also counted as something towards my Personal Progress & earning my medallion. Boom!

I found the recipe on Pinterest. SUPER easy. Not that chocolate chip cookies are all that hard. But it went really well. Didn't burn the cookies or anything! And I was able to keep my kitchen clean in the process, since I had worked so hard over the weekend to deep clean it! AND THEN I made dinner afterwards. I felt VERY domesticated haha.

First batch coming out of the oven
Both batches cooling on my ghetto cooling trays - just upside down pans. I should invest in some wire cooling racks now that I am baking more!
Jake tried a cookie before I took them to Young Women's and said they were really good. I grilled him about it to make sure he wasn't just being nice so I wouldn't be embarrassed by gross cookies and he said something about how making cookies from store bought dough isn't that hard. I was SO proud to tell him I made them from scratch. He didn't believe me at first - I had to tell him what the ingredients were. He was SUPER impressed I made these all by myself! And the Young Women loved them too - I only had 1 cookie left. Jake was happy to eat it :)

Puppy has been very good this week. He's been evenly more cuddly. It just melts my heart haha. I love my little Max!

Cuddling with Jake while I was getting ready for work
Wanting a belly rub - too bad he was so far away haha
Looking out the window on top of his crate. I think he was super confused about why the window was "crackling" since I just put tinfoil up in the windows to help it be dark while Jake sleeps
Cuddling me & Kaycee last night while we watched the Utah vs Utah State game
And last but not least, I have been craving fruit a bit more. I brought a smoothie to work on Monday and it was really good, but I am trying to watch how much sugar I have, especially in the morning, and there was a lot of orange juice in it. I went to the store after work that day and got some fruit at the store. Cantaloupe and bananas to be exact. Jake cut up both cantaloupes for us - he is so awesome. We ate an entire cantaloupe in less than a day, and the other one we are trying to slowly eat. I had some for dessert last night - it was delicious! 


And I found out that cantaloupe is super good for Kaycee too. I think it's awesome that I am craving it, when it's something so highly recommended for her. Way to go body! Keep cravin' the good stuff!

Monday, August 26, 2013

A little card

When Jake & I lived in our apartment in Pleasant Grove, we were in the Grove 3rd Ward. Not that we went to church all that often. We lived there for exactly a year, and didn't know ANYONE in the ward or in our building, except for the Bishop. About 3 months before we moved out, I started getting serious about wanting to go to the Temple, and I knew that the first step was to go to church more often. I also started meeting with the Bishop to discuss specifics to get to the temple. One of the last times I met with him {March of 2010}, he gave me this card.


I had seen it before, and I think I actually already had one on our fridge, but he gave me a new one anyway and wrote his email address on the back. He told me that when I go through the temple, he wanted me to send him an email and let him know.

In November of 2011, I sent him that email letting him know I went through. I was SO proud of myself for getting to write him. And he wrote back. I thought I had the email somewhere, but looking in my phone I don't see it. I'll have to look from a computer since I can search easier.

Last week, I was cleaning out my wallet and found the card again. I decided to email Bishop Wernli and let him know that we had been sealed. This was what I sent him:


Bishop Wernli,

So I don't think you're the Bishop of the Grove 3rd Ward anymore, and we moved out of that neighborhood 3 years ago so chances are you don't remember us. But I wanted to email you and tell you Jake & I were finally able to be sealed.

When we were in that ward, I was just barely becoming active again and Jake wanted nothing to do with it. We moved and 18 months later I went through the Temple (Nov 2011) and I emailed you when that happened.

In the middle of June, Jake went through the Provo temple and received his endowments.

And last weekend we got sealed at the Manti temple.

I have kept this card in my wallet since we moved all those years ago because I knew it was true. I knew that my husbands heart could be softened and that we could make those covenants together. And now it's happened.

Thanks for being such a great Bishop, and for giving me this card with your email on the back so long ago. I've been looking forward to sending you this email for a really long time.

Hope you and your family are doing good.

Ashley McClellan



Not even 2 hours later, I got this reply back:


Ashley,

Thank you so much for emailing me - you have made my day! I certainly do remember you and I can remember the feelings I had when you visited with me. I am so proud of the decisions you have made in order to bring this all about. I am also very humbled by how the Lord works with us! I will never forget how clearly He communicated to me regarding His love for you. It sure was clear that he had a plan for your family :)

I will be printing this email to keep with me for a long time :) Again, thank you so much for sharing and for being so true to yourself and to the Lord's voice. 
With Love,

Bishop Brandon Wernli

ps. My family and I just recently moved across the United States to the Atlanta, GA area. Its been quite the change for us but we have enjoyed our new surroundings so far. We sure miss the 3rd Ward. If we have the opportunity of meeting up again, you may find me with a subtle accent if I'm not careful :)


It totally made my day that he remembered us. And his response made my day. I'm so glad that I kept that little card in my wallet all these years. And I'm grateful for all the prayers that our little family got - I know that the Lord truly can open the hearts of those around us. The fact that I got to be sealed to the love of my life 9 days ago wouldn't have happened without the prayers and faith of those around us who kept encouraging us.

And yes, this card is still in my wallet.

20 Week Ultrasound

Dear Kaycee,

I've decided to start writing about my weekly updates as a letter to you, since this pregnancy is, after all, all about you. Last Monday, dad & I got to see you again at your "official" ultrasound with our doctor's office! We went to the Provo office instead of the Orem office, but we found it just fine and were on time - something that doesn't happen all that often haha. Both of your grandma's were able to come, and so was Aunt Popper!

Sleepy dad, excited Grandma's & Aunt Popper!
Leading up to the ultrasound, I'd been a little worried. So many people have told me they felt their baby moving at this point in their pregnancy but I still hadn't felt you move yet. I was worried that meant maybe something was wrong. And my tummy has had LOTS of stretching happening to make room for you, which can be painful sometimes, and that made me REALLY worried that you might not be ok. But all the throwing up I do on the weekends has helped calm my nerves a little bit. We got into our ultrasound room and they put the little Doppler on mom's tummy and there you were - moving.

Your little heart beat was one of the most reassuring things I have EVER heard. I just laid there and closed my eyes and said a prayer to Heavenly Father thanking him for you being ok.

And then they started the ultrasound. It wasn't anywhere near as fun as your ultra sound when you were only 15 weeks along. This time, they were very focused on medical stuff - making sure you had 2 arms and 2 legs and all your bones and 4 areas of your heart and a stomach and a bladder. And you had all those important things - good job little miss!

All at once, we {me, dad, grandma's & Popper} all started saying how much you were moving around and the technician doing the ultrasound said you were actually not moving as much as normal babies. It wasn't anything to worry about - just that you are mellow & calm. And as soon as she said that I knew it was true {mom tends to worry even when they say not to, but not this time!}. Dad is VERY mellow and calm - he doesn't get hyper or excited very often, so it makes sense for you to be the same way. That makes me really happy to think you're just like dad. You two are gonna be best buds, I just know it.

The tech also said you were measuring a little small. Once again, nothing to worry about. They thought they needed to move my due date, since you were measuring about 19 weeks when you should have been closer to 20.5. At the end of the ultrasound though they think you're only 5 days behind, which is exactly what they said at you're first ultrasound at 8 weeks. No big surprise there. Still left your due date as January 3rd though, yay!

Crossing your little legs - we all commented how cute your ankles are
You're still a little girl! We all had NO idea what we were looking at in this picture haha
You're adorable heartbeat. 144 BPM
You're cute foot, complete with 5 little toes
You're adorable face. We were all melting babe. You're one adorable little girl!
They printed out the pictures for us and after making sure my blood pressure was normal, we left the appointment. The doctor told me I can start taking medicine for motion sickness, which I am very excited about. I don't think dad would be very happy if I threw up the whole time we were at Lake Powell next month!

This past Saturday, I was cleaning & organizing the house and put your cute profile pictures in our bedroom. The one from your 20 week ultrasound is in a little cheap-y cute frame on my nightstand, but you're 15 week one is in a WAY cute frame on dad's nightstand. Aunt NeeNee bought the frame for us at Hobby Lobby - it says "Love at first sight" and it's pink. Of course we had to put your 15 week picture in there, since that's the first time we saw you. It's fun having two pictures of you in our room.

We love you little miss, and are so glad you are still alive in there.

Love,
Mom

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Clint & Macy's Wedding

I realized a few weeks ago that I never blogged about Clint & Macy's wedding, and I finally got my camera synced to my computer last weekend, so here we go!
 
June 22, Clint & Macy got sealed at Mt Timpanogos Temple in American Fork. It was a PERFECT day, especially considering it was June. I was worried we were all going to sweat to death being outside for the pictures and reception, but the weather was PERFECT!
 
And the best part {for me} was that Jake got to attend their sealing. That was AWESOME! 
 
Jake lookin' sharp before we left for the temple
Dustin with Kenzie & Emrie while we waited for them to come out of the temple. They got to go get their hair done that morning - they looked SO cute!
Jake rocking his bow tie, with someone's hand photo bombing lol
The two of us. Sure love this handsome guy
Clint & Macy McClellan!
She looked absolutely gorgeous. Clint looked pretty sharp too.
Another shot of my adorable nieces. They looked SO cute!
Another shot of Dustin with the girls. They sure love their dad
Jake sure loved his bow tie
Picture of all of Macy's family that came to the temple - she had a LOT of family that came!
The traditional brothers kissing picture. Love this one!
After we were finished at the temple, we all met at Jake's parents church in Lehi for a luncheon. Jake & I helped the family set up the day before hand - it looked really pretty!

Display on the salad table
We had ham and rolls with a whole bunch of salads and a veggie tray
Some of the salads
And cake - gotta have cake!
Another shot of the cake
Kenzie & Emrie did a beautiful job decorating the tables
Seriously - love these two little girls
She got cake all over her face and in her hair
Clint getting food for Macy - such a gentlemen
Dad looking studly
Grandma Kay
Emrie loved the cake

Jake figured out how to play with the settings on the camera and took some cool pictures of the centerpieces


After we finished eating, we cleaned up and headed to the Amphitheater in American Fork {across from the temple} for their reception. We had helped set up the tables that morning, but the place was transformed by the time we got back - it looked amazing!

They had a rustic theme - lots of wood and baskets
Engagement picture with the present area
Another shot of the picture
The sign in book table
They had all their guests sign the Dr. Seuss book "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?"
Engagement picture on a big piece of wood - the picture was GORGEOUS in person!
Backdrop area
What the tables looked like - they were really pretty!
Part of the food table - they served a really yummy yogurt parfait buffet bar with different breads and dips
Drink area - different lemonades
More pictures with more seating
Kenzie & Emrie were dancing with Jake before the reception started
I love little Emrie. Such a doll!

Lights wrapped around the trees
All the tables together


Poster with engagements that's set up like a movie posted - coolest idea EVER! Macy's Uncle made it!
Gorgeous Macy while they took some pictures
The groomsmen - Dustin, Jake, Trent & Holden {was about 6 weeks away from getting home from his mission}
The McClellan family with Holden & Trent
I got to hold the bouquet for a few minutes - it smelled amazing
Mom & Dad with Clint & Macy
Our family
They look so cute together
The cake!
The breads
Different jams to dip the bread in
More breads & hummus
Veggies to dip
Part of the yogurt parfait buffet
All the different berries & granola's to put on the parfaits
While Clint & Macy were greeting guests in their line, we went to go see who was decorating the cars. Macy's older sister Ashley had taken the reins - it looked awesome!

Oreo's on the outside, inside filled with balloons
Everybody smile!
Oreo's everywhere with saran wrap over the doors
Writing - "Honk - we're on our honeymoon!"



Tin cans with a balloon over the tail pipe - we were hoping it'd pop when they backed out but it didn't work


Ashley & Colton {Ashley's hubby} also filled the inside of the car with $5.00 worth of pennies - they were EVERYWHERE in the car! They put a bottle of Martinelli's and 2 glasses, along with a pregnancy test & condoms, on the dashboard.

Clint & Macy left the park area on a tandem bike and rode down to the parking lot. If you know them AT ALL, a tandem bike was a GREAT choice.

Their reaction to the car
They had to pop almost all of the balloons in the backseat so that they could get their bags in, but they were finally able to load up and head out. They spent the night in Salt Lake and then headed to San Francisco for the week to spend their honeymoon.

It was a gorgeous, awesome, memorable day. Yay for a new sister-in-law! Yay for Jake getting to go to their sealing! And yay for Clint & Macy finally being married!