Gingerbread Houses

The kids and I had fun hanging out with our friends Chrissy, Aidan, & Madden while we attempted to decorate our Gingerbread houses. I think Chrissy did most of the work on hers, poor thing kept falling apart. Also Aidan liked eating his decorations more than he did putting them on the house. I was lucky my house came pre-assembled, Dalan didn't do much he was to interested in Aidan's toys, but Abby seemed to enjoy it. It all ended up being a little more complicated than we thought it would, but all in all it was fun!

Oh Christmas Tree, Time to Decorate

This year we went and cut our tree down at a place out in LaCenter. I brought my camera to take pictures but forgot the memory card, so no pictures. Aron worked real hard though!! This is my absolute favorite part of Christmas time!! The kids were so excited to decorate the tree. They each help put ornaments on the tree taking turns. Abigail would pretty much put her ornaments in the same are each time. Then when she went to go get another one Aron would move it to another spot on the tree to even everything out. She did this last year too, this time I think she knew that Aron was moving them, but didn't seem to mind. Last year after Christmas I bought a set of small ornaments that were the characters from Rudolph the Reindeer. She was so excited to see those and had to personally hang all of those. Her favorite ended up being the monster (can't remember the name). She was so excited to show everyone when they came over her monster on the tree. We ended up decorating the tree before church that day, so I thought I would let Abby wear her Christmas dress early, good thing too, since for the rest of the month we didn't go to church due to it being cancelled because of bad weather.

Christmas and Baby are Coming!

The kids are especially excited this year for Christmas. They really get the concept of Santa and lights and especially presents this year. To add to that excitement they know that Mom is going to have this baby soon too. They talk about presents and Santa on a daily basis. The other day Dalan told Aron that he was so excited for Christmas. And then he explained to his Dad that he will go to sleep and Mom will go to sleep, and then he will wake up and come into our room and Mom will be awake and there will be a baby, and he will say hello to his new baby sister. Oh, if only that would happen so easily! When Aron told me the story I agreed it would be much better that way, whatever happened to baby's being delivered by the stork? Gotta love the imaginations of 5 year olds!

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving this year. It was the first time in 4 years that we were able to spend it with Aron's family at Grandmas house. This is the only place Aron has ever spent Thanksgiving since he was born until we moved to New Mexico so he was anxious and excited to spend it with his family again. They are a great bunch and I enjoy them! Although I was missing playing dominoes with the Johnston Family (we miss you guys)!

Making Oreo Turkeys

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. First, my husband of 8 years. He is my best friend and I love him dearly. He never misses a day to tell me that He loves me. It's amazing how we seem to know each other like the back of our hands yet learn something new every day! I'm so proud of his ambition to go out into the world everyday to provide for his family and make life better for us. He loves to learn and increase his knowledge of things, a great example for our children. We have had some challenges in our life together, but I'm grateful for them. I seriously believe that we have grown immensely closer after experiencing them. We learned things about each other we never would have before. He is a wonderful father and will never admit it, but his daughter has him wrapped around her little finger! He is my eternal companion and I feel so lucky for that!

I'm grateful for the two children that I have. Oh how hard kids are, testing my patience daily, but they also bring me SO much happiness. I love to watch them role play with their toys and see their little imaginations at work. They also on a daily basis tell me that they love their momma. I hope and pray that even when they are teenagers they will continue to tell me everyday that they love me (will see).

I'm grateful for there health and the health aron and I have. I'm grateful for the child that is continuing to grow inside of me. I am so anxious to meet her, see what she looks like, her personality, and everything else that comes with her. We are pretty sure she will complete our family, but we'll see.

I'm grateful for this wonderful country that we live in and the freedoms that we have. We are currently going through a rough patch in this country but it is still so much better than what a lot of people live with on a daily basis in other countries. I'm grateful for the men and women who serve in our military and put their lives on the line for our freedoms every day!

And I am forever grateful for my Heavenly Father whom I know loves me and looks after me. I'm grateful for my Saviour Jesus Christ and for his atoning sacrifice. I know that I am a daughter of God, and he will only give me in life what I can handle. The future is scary to me, but at the same time I am looking forward to all of it. Growing old with my husband, and watching my children learn and grow (mistakes and all).

Old Friends....Good Times!!

Chrissy, Lisa, & Ali
Lisa, Kali, & Chrissy

Lisa, Chrissy, Ali, & Kali

After being back in Washington for close to 3 months I was finally able to hook up with some old friends of mine. I have seen some but only one on one, and this time the four of us were able to get together and just hang out for a couple of hours. It was so good to be with them and I seriously have not laughed so hard in a long, long, time. My belly was hurting I was laughing so much. The four of us all meet each other working at the movie theatre. I have known Lisa the longest 9 or 10 years now. Good memories with her working and going on a couple of rafting trips. I can still remember the day Chrissy walked into the theatre looking for a job, she is one of the quietest gals I know (reminds me of my sister, a lot!) but is one of the sweetest also, and has two adorable kids. And Ali can make you laugh on the spot, no matter what kind of day you have had. These gals are true friends who I have missed a ton and I am truly thankful to have them as friends. It was a GREAT night!! Some how the next night Ali convinced me to go with them to the opening night of Twilight. I haven't read the books yet, but have been meaning to. We didn't go until the 10:15 pm show and I am NOT a night person. But I made it home awake, I was a little grouchy the next day due to the lack of sleep. It was a good movie and I look forward now to reading the books.

Baby Update!

Today I am going in for my third ultrasound! Yesterday was my regular scheduled appointment and my doctor was disappointed in the fact that my stomach had not grown any. So she wanted an ultrasound scheduled for the next day. Now I get to jug 32oz of water again, so fun. Hopefully all is okay. Also I finally talked to my doctor about elective induction. That was a no go! She is old school and would like things to go naturally, even if that means going two weeks past my due date. The only positive note about going that far past my due date would be that my daughter would no longer have a Christmas birthday. But I am not anxious to be pregnant any longer than I have to! The nights right now are absolutely miserable. My pelvis area is in SO much pain at night, I really want to die. Tylenol does not help any! My body pillow only makes me wake up in the middle of the night with sweat everywhere. I am constantly throwing the covers off from me and sometimes Aron. Poor guy wakes up in the morning freezing, oops. So after having two births that were induced it looks like this time I will not. We were really hoping to be able to chose the date (just makes things easier). So we will see how my ultrasound goes today. If everything is well (which I do hope everything is well) than we will continue on until this little girl wants to come out!

34 Weeks - 8 1/2 Months - 1 1/2 Months More to GO!

We are getting closer!!! I am definitely hurting in all kinds of places. I am so tired and exhausted all the time, and grouchy as ever!! I'm sure my husband and children will agree to the grouchiness.

Last night we finally wrote down our list of potential names, so I think one of these will be it.

Natalie, Anna, Marissa, Annabel, Allissa, and Madeline. And I will throw in there my top picks that Aron vetoed. Kaelynn, Kaitlynn, Taylor, and Emma! I vetoed from his list Melissa, and Edith, I know there were some others but I can't think of them right now.

So we will see what happens!