Snow

When we woke up this morning there was snow outside!  It's our third winter here and only the 2nd time we have seen snow in St. George.  It was a fun little Christmas surprise.  It melted off of my grass by noon, but it's still in the hills next to my house.  I was glad it didn't stick to the roads though.  It just looked pretty :).

Snow on the hills next to my house.

Crafty Projects

Now that I'm done working, I've actually had some time to be crafty!  It's been so nice!  I first sewed a car seat cover for the baby, and then I sewed one for my sister too.  Here's the one I made for me:

I also made these candy bar snowmen for neighbor Christmas gifts this year.  If anyone is looking for an easy neighbor gift, these are it!  They did take a little time to put together, but I really like how they turned out.

I've still got lots more baby stuff to make.  I'll keep posting as I finish things.  Also, we have finally started on the nursery!  Once it's all done I'll post pictures of that too.

Family Baby Shower

I have been meaning to blog about this for weeks, but I had to wait for my sister to post pictures on her blog so I could borrow them :).  At the beginning of the month we went up north for my family baby shower.  My mom, sister and sister in laws threw the shower and it was so much fun!  I shared the shower with my sister, Noelle, who is due 2 weeks before me.  It's her first baby too.  She is having a boy.  

We first ate lunch, then played the yarn game where people guess how big your belly is, we played the "guess how much candy is in the jar game," and then opened presents.  My mom was the winner of the yarn game.  She got my belly size almost exactly!

The yummy food!

My sister in law, Katie, made these adorable onesie cookies!  She decorated each one differently.  She made boy ones too.

Me and the presents!  Everyone was so nice.  I got some very cute things for baby girl.

Noelle and me with my mom!  Noelle's baby will be her 11th grandson and my baby will be her 1st granddaughter!

  

Noelle made me this cute diaper carriage!

Belly bump!

Sisters!  Me, Jannifer & Noelle.

Thanks to my mom and sister and sister in laws for the great shower!  It was so fun!

Dan's 30th

I meant to blog yesterday to say Happy Birthday to Dan!  However, I was so busy getting ready for his big celebration that I didn't have time to blog.  I hardly had time to sit down.  I was busy shopping and baking and cleaning and wrapping presents and all that fun stuff.  But it was worth it and I think Dan had a great birthday!

He turned the big 3-0 so I wanted to make sure it was a special day.  I decided to do a theme where we celebrated all 30 years of his life.  I got 30 presents and they all had to do with his past, present and future.  I even asked his siblings and friends from growing up what he liked when he was a little kid, to make sure I got the right things.  Unfortunately there weren't too many 80s toys out there (maybe I should have gone to DI).  But luckily things like Ninja Turtles and Star Wars are still around.  And if you are wondering, yes it is difficult finding 30 presents! I think I went to every store in town, some more than once.  Amazon was also very helpful in my quest for 30 presents.

I also made a poster of Dan with pictures from his whole life.  Here is a little sample of some of the pics I used:

Isn't he so cute???  I love how light his hair is.  We're thinking we'll have blonde babies :)

Not sure what age, but still cute!

Middle school age!  I told him I would have had a crush on him back then :) haha

High school age... still would have had a crush on him ;)

mission pic!

The first picture of us taken together ever!  We weren't even dating yet. 

And here are a few pics from his party.  We were joined by many great family and friends.  I just wish I would have taken more pictures!  

The cake!  Thank you, Costco.

Opening his 30 presents.  The kids loved helping him!  I wish I would have taken a picture of all 30 before they were opened.  That wrapping was a lot of hard work!

As kids their dad would always make them a 2nd cake just to burn (that's what happens when you have 5 boys).  So I had Dan's dad help me create a cake just for the purpose of burning.  Dan loved it!

Love you, Dan!  Hope you had an amazing birthday!

Thanksgiving Reunion

Ok I have not been too good at blogging lately.  November and December have just been crazy months!  During Thanksgiving Dan's whole family came to St. George for a reunion.  Between us and his parents we were able to house everybody.

Here's the group:

We did our best to get everyone to look.  This is about as close as we got.

During the week we had lots of fun (even though I don't think I was that fun... I just felt so tired!)  But here are a few of the highlights:

• Ate yummy Thanksgiving dinner!  I even made my very first homemade apple pie.  
• Had a Christmas gift exchange.
• The girls threw a baby shower for me.
• The men went hiking.
• Went to the Tuacahn Nativity.  
• Got Dairy Queen. 
• Dan went to a few late night movies... I went to bed :).  

I didn't take a ton of pictures, but here are a few of us at the Nativity.  It is one of my most favorite Christmas events in St. George!  I am sure it will always be a tradition for us.  

Waiting for the Nativity to start.

We got a pic by the camels after!  They are my favorite part of the Nativity.

On the train ride.

28 weeks

I realized I haven't posted a belly pic in over a month!  Here I am... 28 weeks (hello, 3rd trimester!)

I feel like I haven't changed much since the last pic.  I did have to finally put away my skinny jeans though!  I still wear most of my normal shirts, but I've had to switch over to mostly maternity pants.   

Not much news except I'm stopping my job earlier than I had originally planned.  After having a cold for nearly 2 weeks I decided I am done being around sick kids all day!  I should be done working by the end of this month.  Yay!  I'd rather stay home and sew anyway :)  

We still haven't started on our nursery because our basement is not quite done yet.  However, we are getting super close!  Our carpet goes in tomorrow and then we can start moving things down there.  I can't wait to post pics of our finished basement!

That's pretty much it for us.  Just 12 more weeks til we meet baby girl.  Time is just flying by!    

Birthday Week

Most people know I love my birthday!  I make sure it is thoroughly celebrated every year.  I don't just celebrate for one day, but usually the whole month of October.  This means if I see something I like, I usually buy it and tell Dan "it's for my birthday!"  Or we might go out to dinner more than usual, or stop for cupcakes because hey, "it's my birthday month!"  I figure I might as well live it up!  And luckily I have an awesome husband who supports birthday month fully.

But this post is about Birthday Week.  I feel we did a lot the week of my birthday and I just considered it all part of the celebration.  My parents even came down to celebrate with us!  It also happened to be my fall break, which was perfect timing.

Here's what we did...

Saw Aladdin at Tuacahn!  We all really liked it.

"A whole new world!"

The next day we did a session at the St. George temple with my parents.  We were able to do some work for Dan's ancestors.  I love doing family names!  It was great being there and I loved going with my parents.  I just didn't love the part at the end when I really had to go to the bathroom (thank you, pregnancy!)

After the temple my mom and I went shopping while Dan & Dad went golfing.  This arrangement pretty much happens every time they visit.  My mom helped me pick out fabric to make a car seat cover and then we stopped at TJ Maxx.  Because what's a trip to St. George without a stop at TJ Maxx?

That night we went to the Piano Guys concert!  Unfortunately Steve, the cellist, wasn't there because his wife had a baby that day (good reason not to be there).  So it was just Jon.  But Jon always puts on a great show!  We really enjoyed it.  

My sister Jannifer & her husband, Danny, also happened to be at Piano Guys that night.  They were down in St. George celebrating their anniversary.  So after the show we met up with them for some Yogurtland!  I love Yogurtland!

Happy 2 years!

Parents!

Not the best photo of us, but had to show we were there too!

Then on my real birthday, my parents headed to Las Vegas for a wedding.  You see, when you are mission presidents you get invited to lots of weddings.  I feel like my parents have a wedding almost every weekend! While they were gone Dan took me maternity clothes shopping, then we stopped at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for caramel apples, and lastly we went to see the movie Hotel Transylvania.  It was sorta cute, but not anything I'd really rave about.

Once my parents were back we all went to Buca di Beppo for my birthday dinner.  Jannifer & Danny met up with us for that part too.  It was yummy (I definitely recommend their apple gorgonzola salad)!

We then ended the night with cake!  And yes Dan made my cake (he only had a little supervision from me).

Ahhh 26!

First cake Dan has ever made!  Turned out delicious!

Making a wish!

And that was birthday celebration for this year!  I think we did pretty well.  Thanks to Dan & my parents & Janni & Danny for celebrating with us!

I forgot to mention, Dan got me a serger as my birthday gift this year!  Can't wait to start sewing with it!  And thanks to my many other family members and friends for the phone calls, gifts, cards, facebook messages, texts, etc.  I felt very loved :).

Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch for FHE with Dan's family.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but Dan's brother & his wife & kids, and Dan's parents have all moved here!  It's been fun having family around to do things with.  We are no longer the only Deceusters in St. George!

Dan picking a pumpkin!

With our pumpkins :)

Tiana, Kenzie, Jackson & Grammie

Ethan, Dan & Joel

We ended up with 3 pumpkins to represent our family.  We got the daddy pumpkin, the mommy pumpkin and a baby pumpkin (Dan is holding it in the last photo... you'll notice it's green and not quite ripe yet).

Projects & a baby bump

Time for a quick post before I head off to work.  Just to show you all what I've been up to lately.  First off... most recent baby bump pic:

23 weeks... I'm finally looking pregnant!  At least I think so :)

Second thing, I sewed a blanket for baby girl!  I really like how it turned out.  I did most of it in one night while Dan was at church meetings.  It's not all fancy quilted or anything like that, but I think baby will like it.

The front is the aqua & the back is pink minky with a green ruffle all the way around.  I used the tutorial on this blog.  It wasn't too difficult.  Minky is a little bit of a pain to sew, but not too bad.  Also, I found my fabric at Mormon Handicraft.  I was so excited to find fabric in all 3 of the colors I am using for the nursery.  My next sewing project is probably a carseat cover.

Lastly, while I was at my sewing machine this week I decided to finally finish these Old MacDonald puppets I started a year ago!  They really aren't that difficult, I just kept forgetting about them.  But glad I have them done now that I'll have a child to enjoy them.

I love them, even the backs are cute.  The horse is my favorite!  I got free printable patterns for them at this blog here.  The only thing I added was I gave Old MacDonald a hat, which wasn't in the original pattern.

Aside from sewing, working and resting the only other thing we've been working on is designing our basement!  It is coming along.  We most recently chose the carpet, cabinets & tile.  Can't wait for the whole thing to be finished!

Nursery Project #1

Last week I was wandering through the TJ Maxx... which this should be noted, St. George has the best TJ Maxx.  Seriously, I love it.  I never really liked TJ Maxx until I moved here.  You can even ask my mom, whenever she visits we always make a trip to the TJ Maxx.  Anyway back to the story... so I stopped by TJ Maxx to see what baby stuff I might find and I came across a little table I thought would be cute in the nursery.  My plan is to get a glider and I thought this little side table would be perfect next to the glider.  You know, so I can put things down while nursing the baby, etc.  Oh one other side note, I've gotten mixed reviews from mom's about gliders.  But my mind is already made up, I want one.  Now back to the table.  It was exactly what I had in mind and lucky for me, happened to be in the clearance section because it had a few scratches.  The only problem was it was a dark wood (everything else is white).  But I thought "we can paint this!"  So... I bought it.

I then decided to head to Lowes to buy paint.  Once I got there I wasn't exactly sure what I needed.  I called Dan and he didn't sound nearly as excited about the table as I was.  He told me all about the sanding it would take, and then the priming and then the painting.  It didn't sound like it would be too difficult.  After checking out the paint I immediately chose a lovely aqua color (i'm thinking aqua, pink & green as the colors for the nursery).  And did you know at Lowes you can get a little paint sample for $3?  I picked up some paint brushes and then went over to the primer and found the most amazing primer ever!  Ok seriously, if you are going to paint any type of wood with a laminate or varnish on it, you NEED this primer.  It's called Zinsser primer for all surfaces.  I read the back and it said it would stick to any finish, no sanding required!  I was so excited to find this awesome product.  Who knew primer could be so exciting?  I took my findings home, showed Dan, and I'm pretty sure he was impressed with my home improvement skills.

And then guess what happened?  My nice husband took everything to the basement (since it's unfinished and being painted anyway) and did all the work for me!  Love that man!  I think it took 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint and NO sanding (yep, worked as advertised).  Ready for the finished product???

I give you... Nursery Project #1:

Turned out perfectly.  And sorry for the really long story, but I find it important for everyone who has ever wanted to paint wood furniture to know how easy it is!

20 weeks!

This baby and I are half way!  I can't believe it!  In some ways the time seems to go by slow, but other times in seems super fast.  Now that I feel good, it's going by a lot quicker.  Check out my 20 week belly:

The ladies at my work keep telling me they can't believe how small I am.  I don't feel that small.  I am still wearing all of my normal clothes though, which has been nice.  Occasionally I put on some maternity clothes, but most of the things I have bought don't even fit yet.

The most exciting thing this week is Dan got to feel the baby move!  We finally timed it perfectly (it has taken a few tries).

Today we started our first project for the nursery.  I will post before and after pics once it is all finished.  I love a good crafty project!

And what am I loving lately?  Kneaders soup!  We went there last night and I really want to go get more today.  Mmmm... love fall and love Kneaders.  

Baby Girl

My friend, Adri, told me I need to post more pregnancy updates so I can remember everything.  I actually have a journal where I have tried to write down pretty much everything.  I figure not everyone wants to read about all my pregnancy details (like the crazy dreams I have nightly).  But here is a little update at 19 weeks (almost half way)!

This morning we went to the doctor and had our big ultrasound.  The ultrasound tech immediately knew our baby was a girl this time.  100% sure!  It was a relief knowing I didn't have to return all the girl stuff I had already bought.  Then they did a really thorough examination of the baby to make sure everything was developing properly.  Luckily baby is healthy and right on track.  We are so happy about that!  My doctor told me I am a pro at being pregnant because everything looks great.  They recorded the ultrasound on a DVD for us and also gave us some pics.  They did the 4-D ultrasound, which some people think looks weird, but when you are the parent you think it is the cutest thing ever!  haha... I loved it.  I am seriously amazed at the technology they have these days.  So far I've had 4 ultrasounds and it is really remarkable to me how much this baby grows and develops in such a short time.  It will most likely be the last ultrasound I have during my pregnancy, I'm going to miss seeing our little girl each month!

Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound:

Baby girl @ 19 weeks.

4-D image.  I think she's so cute!  Right now she weighs about 10 oz. and is about the size of a mango.

Putting her hands by her face.

A few other fun things from this week.  We got our stroller and carseat in the mail!  I went with a Britax.  It had great reviews and I liked how it was a travel system but the stroller only had 3 wheels and seemed lighter.  I've also really started feeling baby move this week.  She seems to be most active in the afternoons and early evenings.  Sometimes I wonder if she is jumping on my bladder.  I can't wait until Dan will be able to feel her moving too.

I keep wanting to start the nursery but we are waiting until our basement is finished (it's about half way).  Once it's done we can move all of our study/craft room stuff downstairs and then we can start on the nursery.  I've got lots of ideas and we bought lots of furniture at Ikea last week for the nursery, but most likely the basement won't be done for another month or two.

I'm feeling really good lately and just can't wait to meet our baby girl!  

Labor Day Weekend

For the long weekend we went up north to my parent's house.  The weather felt so good!  While up there we went nursery furniture shopping at Ikea and spent lots of time with family and friends.  It was fun to see a lot of people.  On Monday we had a BBQ with my family and I made sure to snap a picture with my sister, Noelle.  She is pregnant too.  She is having a boy.  Here we are:

Belly shot!  Noelle: 20 weeks, Me: 18 weeks

I feel like the last couple of weeks my belly has really popped out.  On Friday I am having another ultrasound and will know for sure if we are having a girl.  I hope so, otherwise I will have a lot of returning to do!

Such a great weekend!  Now back to normal life.  

Back to School

Everyone has been asking me how my job is going, so I thought I'd do a little blog update.  I started working a week and a half ago and I have to say, I was absolutely exhausted after the first day!  My body went from laying on the couch most of the day to spending the day walking all over a school (somehow the classroom I'm in just happens to be on opposite ends of the school from the special ed. room).  I came home thinking... "what am I doing???!"  But since then it has gotten a lot better.  I'm still tired every day, but I like that it gets me out of the house and I'm starting to tell myself the walking all over the school is good exercise!  I am working with the same kids I had last year, so instead of being in kindergarten we have all moved up to first grade.  The adjustment from kindergarten to first grade is difficult because these kids aren't used to staying all day long.  By the end of the day they are so tired.  But we're working through it!

I'm also happy to report I am over the morning sickness phase.  Yay!!!  I haven't thrown up in a few weeks and the nausea is gone (for the most part).  I started feeling better about 2 days before school started.  Seriously an answer to my prayers.  I knew If I was sick there'd be no way I could work.  But now I feel good, just tired.  Some foods are starting to sound better and I had my first real pregnancy craving this week.  I woke up from a nap and all I could think about was a Digiorno stuffed crust pizza!  Something I have not had in years.  I just kept imagining the stuffed crust and it's the only thing that sounded good.  So Dan and I ran to the store to get some.  It did satisfy my craving, but tasted way better in my head.

And lastly, a little story from work...  so I was walking a boy back to class and he said to me "Miss Michele, I think you got taller over the summer!"  and I said "oh yeah?  What about fatter?"  he replied "nope, you still look skinny to me!"  Then I proceeded to tell him I was pregnant and that in a few months I might not look so skinny.  However, I don't feel skinny anymore, but everyone keeps telling me I don't even look pregnant yet.  I definitely have more of a belly than I've ever had in my life though!  But I'm fine with being small, otherwise I can't imagine how I'd be by 9 months.

4 Years!

4 years ago today I married my best friend.  I love him even more now than I did back then.  He is such a great husband and I know he will be a great father too.  I was thinking and we have done a lot in the past 4 years...

• I finished college.
• We have each had 2 different jobs (post college).
• We have moved 5 times (and hopefully won't again for a very long time).
• Dan started his own company.
• We have found a place to live where we are both happy (we weren't sure that would happen... i like Utah, he hates snow... haha... very few choices there!).  
• We bought a condo and built a house.
• We've gone to Disneyland twice.
• And my favorite... we're expecting our first baby girl!

It has been a great 4 years and I'm looking forward to many, many more!  My sister in law tells her kids on their anniversary that it's their family's birthday.  I'm definitely stealing that from her (thanks, Katie!)... so... Happy 4th Birthday to our family!!!  I love you, Dan!!!  

It's a...

GIRL!!!!!!!  At least we're 90% sure...  baby was being modest and made it hard to tell!  She was kind of laying weird and crossing her legs so the ultrasound tech had to look around for quite a while.  She was trying to get the baby to move.  Anyway... she finally told us she was pretty sure it's a girl.  We both have felt like it was a girl, so we're going with that!  I can't wait to go shopping... the doctor told me to save my receipts just in case.  We're having another ultrasound in a month where we will hopefully know 100% if it's a baby girl.  Anyway we are super excited!!!

Random pictures

I finally have a few things to post about.  I haven't had much to say because we really don't get out much, which I am totally fine with.  I'd rather lay on the couch and watch the Olympics anyway.  Because I'm just so tired!  Whenever pregnant ladies told me how tired they were I never understood how incredibly tired that really is.  It's like I could just nap all day long and still go to bed early and sleep through the night.  Making a baby is hard work (I keep reminding Dan of this). Speaking of work... my job starts up again next week.  I'm excited to get back into a routine, but a little nervous.  Just crossing my fingers I'll survive!

Now for a few random photos I have snapped this summer of things I have actually done other than lay on the couch...  

At Nielsen's with Dan's family.  Can't have a visit without a trip to Nielsen's!

Double rainbow over Cafe Rio!  For a while St. George was rainy and I loved it.  Meant less than 100 degrees every day!

New washer and dryer!  I love them! We figured we should get a decent set because I'm sure I'll be doing more laundry once baby comes. 

At the fair with our niece.

Carnival games.  Dan loves them!  I just try to forget how much the carnies are cheating us.

The fair was really fun, but after walking around in 102 degree weather for a while I was ready to go home.  I had to get a huge snow cone at the end to survive.

And last bit of news... we find out Baby D's gender tomorrow!  We are super excited!  Except I keep worrying they won't be able to tell and they'll say... "sorry, come back next month!"  haha... hope that doesn't happen.  I'll be sure to update tomorrow!