So much to be thankful for!

  So with Thanksgiving last week, I have thought a lot about all of the many blessings I have received in the last year and throughout my life!  I realize more and more how much I have been blessed with!  To name all of my blessings would take too much time, but I definitely wanted to name a few:

1) Obviously Grant's and my biggest blessing this year was getting pregnant, having a great pregnancy and having a healthy, happy little boy.  Will has been such a little angel!  Grant and I can't imagine our little family without him.  We feel like through our love for Will, we have gained a greater understanding of our Heavenly Father's love for each of us!

2)  I am so grateful for Grant!  He has been such a wonderful husband and father!  Especially this year with my pregnancy, I can't think of a time he ever lost his patience with me, or let me carry anything over five pounds!  He was constantly looking for things he could do for me (i.e. let me sleep or take naps whenever I was tired, give me foot and leg massages when my feet and legs were tired or swollen, making dinner so I could relax when I got home from work, etc. etc. I could go on for quite awhile about all the sacrifices he made for me!)  There are so many times I have looked at Grant and just felt such an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort from knowing that we are sealed together and we can always be together!

3)  I can't imagine how different my life would have been had I not had such a wonderful family!  I look at my parents and brother and sisters and am amazed at what strong people they are.   Everyone has always been so supportive of me and been such great examples.  I am so grateful for my parents strong testimony and for the choice they made to always raise our family in the gospel.  Although I feel like I have been blessed with even material things, I have been even greater blessed to always have been taught the teachings of our church and have the priesthood in my home!  As for my siblings, I don't know what else to say but I love spending time with them and only wish I could see them more often.  But even with not seeing them as often, I will always consider them some of my best friends!  

4) Even though I am not looking forward to going back to work in a month, I do have to admit that I am so grateful for my job.  I love what I do and I love the people I work with.  Because I have such a great job, Grant and I are in a position where Grant can stay home with Will until we go to law school, while I work and we don't have to put Will in a day care.  All throughout this year, there has been so much talk about the unemployment rate and I can't help but feel blessed in having such a good, secure job with great benefits.  

5)  I am grateful for my testimony of the gospel and how it has given me strength throughout my life.  The gospel has always been such a guiding influence on the decisions I make.  I look at myself and see plenty of areas where I need to improve and be a better person, and I know that I have not only this life but the next life as well to continue to learn and grow and better myself.  I am grateful that this last weekend Grant was able to bless Will at my parent's home.  He promised Will with many beautiful blessings that would come to him throughout his life by following the gospel.  I am grateful to Grant and that he is a worthy priesthood holder and that he was able to do that for Will.  Without the gospel, I know I couldn't be the person I am right now.

   I have to admit that this year has been such a wonderful year filled with so many blessings!  I know I have been blessed in many more ways then I can even imagine or recognize!  I have so much to be grateful for!

Little Buddies

   The other night Grant and I babysat for our friends Rick & Collette while they went to a Cardinals game.  Their little boy, Logan, is just a few weeks older than Will, so we keep telling them about what good friends they are going to be.  Well, while they were gone we got both of them down for bed and ended up sticking them in the crib together.  We were a little worried that if one woke up, he would wake up the other one, however, they did great and slept like that for almost three hours before Rick & Collette got back from the game.  We thought they looked pretty cute together!

Our Little Pea in a Pod

  

 So this year for Halloween, Will dressed up as a little pea in the pod!  Again, I am the bias mother but I thought he looked pretty darn cute!  We took him to our ward's Trunk-n-Treat where he quickly ate his dinner and then was a sleepy pea in a pod!  Surprisingly, he actually enjoyed his costume quite a bit and would flap his arms around and smile for anyone who was willing to give him a little attention!  Grant and I thought the arms on this costume were pretty funny because in order for his arms to fill in the costume he would have had to have ape arms.  His little arms only went half way so he just kept flapping the sleeves all over the place.  The next day we ended up getting family pictures and so we thought we might as well take the costume and get a few pictures of him in his costume also.   By the time we were done taking all the pictures Will was so tired we couldn't get him to stay awake no matter what we did.  However, this one of our sleepy little pea is turned out to be one of my favorites!

 

Introducing the Newest Mullin!

Well, it has been almost two weeks and I still haven't posted a blog about the most exciting thing to happen to Grant and me since our wedding! On September 19th, Grant and I welcomed out little Will into our family! We named him William Curtis, in honor of his dad and great grandpa and Curtis which is my mom's maiden name. He was born at 9:23 am, weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. and was 21 inches long.

I know I am a little bias but I think he is the sweetest little baby I have ever seen! It has only been two weeks, but I can't imagine Grant's and my life without him. When he first got here, he was placed in NICU for some rapid breathing but got that cleared up right away and is doing great now (up until yesterday when he got his circumcision).

The first week, my mom came down to help me out and then my dad came down later that week for a few days as well. Grant has been able to work from home several days and his work has been really flexible with him, so with all the great help I've had the transition into mommy-hood has been great!

First Bath at home

He is a great eater, which isn't too big of a surprise with who he has as parents. Yesterday when we weighed him at the doctor's office he had almost gained another pound and weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. I think a lot of that weight has gone to his cheeks because they have seemed to fill out.

Well, I know this is pretty short but believe it or not this is the third time I have tried to sit down and blog but kept getting interrupted. So I wanted to just post a few pictures and let everyone know baby Will and I (and Grant) are all doing great! I am trying to figure out how to do slideshows on your blog so hopefully there will be more pictures to come!

Memory Lane

I've been told that I need to do more updates on my blog. So I took this from my friend, Kiersten's blog and thought it sounded like a lot of fun.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Our Weekend Getaway

   At the beginning of June, Grant and I went up to Utah for a weekend.  It was so great to see everyone.  This was the first time I had taken any time off from work since finding out I was pregnant, so it was a much needed vacation.  Sadly, it only lasted a few days before I had the wake up with reality and had to come back to work.  Even though I only took one day off of work, it took me a full week to recover from the vacation and late night chats.  

     Grant and I left right after we got off work on Thursday (around 4:00 pm) and didn't get to my parents house until 3:00 am.  We were driving because we sold our Nissan Sentra to Marianne and wanted to give her door to door delivery.  Grant was great and put it in auto-pilot and drove the entire time, while I got to take several little naps throughout the trip.  At one point, he did force me to sleep when my speech started to slur.  It didn't take much convincing to get me to take a nap.   

     So that first night (Friday), my mom and sisters threw me a baby shower.  Since Grant and I moved to Phoenix two years ago, this was actually the first time I got to see a some of my aunts and cousins, so it was great catching up with everyone.  I am grateful to mom, Kris, and Marianne for all the work they put into the baby shower.  It was great because we played one quick game, ate lots of yummy food, sat around and chatted, and then opened gifts.  I know that having it Friday night made it a little harder for some to come to the shower, but Grant and me were busy all day Saturday and then had to leave Sunday, so there wasn't any other time to do the baby shower.  I am so grateful to all my aunts and cousins who were able to make it and completely understand for those who it just didn't work out for.  My mother-in-law, Peggy, surprised me when I found out she was going to be there because school in Montana got out that same day at noon.  She, however, with her determination was not going to let that stop here from being at the shower, and even though I know she must have been running on very little sleep, made it to the airport, and flew in to Salt Lake by 4:30 pm and drove to Orem for the shower at 5:30 pm with my three sister-in-laws.  Grant and me have commented several times to each other, how lucky we are to have so much family that cares so much about us and give us so much support.  

This is a diaper cake from Karlie and Marianne!  It turned out so cute!

Zachary and Rebecca were huge helps for opening and organizing my gifts!

This is a diaper bag that my mom and sister made for me

 then filled it with all of the necessities of baby hygiene.

A few of the people who made the shower so much fun!  

   You might be wondering where all the men are, or you may not, considering this is a baby shower and is generally only for women.  However, the men entertained themselves by going up to Salt Lake and meeting going to see Kung Fu Panda, which apparently is a hilarious movie because every time an ad comes on for it, Grant still laughs at the jokes!  

   So the next day, one of the whole reasons we came to Utah was to be with Grant's family on Saturday because Tanner (Grant's younger brother) and wife, Lupe, were being sealed in the Bountiful temple.  It was quite an adventure just getting there!  As we were hurrying along on I-15, no need to mention our speed, our tire didn't just go flat, but pretty much blew up!  I am grateful that Grant was driving and even more grateful that he knows how to change a spare tire.  I have to admit that I barely had time to realize what had happened before Grant had pulled the car over to the side of the freeway and was already tearing his suit coat and tie off and rolling up his sleeves.  He was already in the backseat getting the spare tire before I could suggest calling someone, not that anyone would be able to help us since they were all up at the Bountiful temple already.  Due to Grant's amazing Nascar skills, though he had the spare tire changed in seven minutes!  I was amazed at how quickly the car was moving up and then back down with the spare tire on.  We were back on the road and had hardly lost any time!  I admit had it been just me, I would have been calling a cab because I wouldn't know the first thing about changing a tire.  We got to the temple on time and thankfully we still able to be there for the actual sealing.   It was such a nice ceremony.  

Tanner and Lupe outside the temple after the sealing.

All of Grant's family outside the temple doors.  

    Later that night we had a party for Tanner and Lupe's ward to celebrate their sealing and then got to spend more time with them after church the next day before heading back.  It was such a great weekend!  Its after weekends like this that make it hard for me to live away from family where these weekends are too few and too far in between!  

little pretties

So my friend Sara (many of you who actually look at this blog probably know here) is having a contest to win something from here little pretties at http://saraetc.blogspot.com/. She has lots of cute things for little kids! Definitely everyone should take a look!

It's a ...

BOY!!    

     On Friday, Grant and I went in for our ultrasound.  I have to admit going into this appointment, I was convinced in my mind that we were having a girl period.  Not just because of the poll that we took, but it did help me feel more confidant, but because of several years ago when I was in Europe we did this type of palm reading thing where you dangle a ring from a hair over the palm of your hand and then depending on how it will spin or swing, it will tell you if you are having a boy or girl, how many kids and in what order.  I know there are many of you out there who are disbelievers, but I have predicted all 5 of my niece and nephews and in the correct order.   So naturally, I did not doubt "the ring" when it said I would have a girl first, however, it also said I was going to have 7 kids and I must admit I have never given that prediction any credit whatsoever.  

So going into this appointment, I really did not even think about what I would do if it was a boy, even though Grant has been insisting that it is. Grant, on the other hand, has been insisting that the "strength of his sperm" would create a "male heir."  Once we got started, I was watching to see if I could tell the baby was a girl, but after a few moments, even I could see before the sonographer said anything that our little girl was NOT a girl but a baby boy!  I'll be honest, I am very excited to be having a little boy, but my first reaction was disbelief.  I kept thinking, "There's no way that Grant's sperm is that strong and he has his arms and feet up around his head, how can we really be sure."  But then as if he could read my mind he would flash us and give everyone a clear look that we was indeed a boy (I think this must be a Mullin trait).  

      I think one of the reasons why this was  at first hard to accept is because Grant has predicted the whole pregnancy, he knew I was pregnant even before I did.  So I couldn't help but notice when the sonographer said, "It's a boy!"  that Grant got what  I lovingly call "the smirk of victory."       

Then with a quick glance at Grant, the sonographer told us that everything was normal...comparatively speaking.   The baby even gave us a thumb's up sign to let us know he's doing good (which is a White trait because of our large thumbs)! 

  Needless to say, we are both thrilled to be having a baby boy!   

Habit or Hobby?

Teresa has been pregnant for a while now, and it seems that Grant has begun to develop certain idiosyncrasies that can’t be easily explained. I haven’t been able to determine whether it’s a hobby or a habit.
It began innocently enough. At first money went missing inexplicably from the account. Then for no reason at all, he began to be ill tempered and would fly off the handle for no reason. Teresa didn’t think much of this new attitude as her fatigue forced her to inexplicably fall asleep on the couch.
One evening she was strangely awakened one evening by what she thought was grunt coming from the bedroom. She awoke slowly, groggy from her recent nap. As she approached the bedroom door she noticed that it was closed. Odd, she thought, Grant usually watches television with the door open. As she approached the room she became eerily aware of a deafening silence. She parted the door slowly, not knowing what she would find on the other side. What she saw would change her forever.
She parted the door and found Grant on a chair huddled staring intently over the table. The table contained an open box with odd plastic shapes and many tiny bottles containing several different colors of paints. But even more alarming, Grant had an open bottle of modeling glue lying out on the table. Grant’s hair was spiked in all directions; strange guttural sounds were coming from his throat from shear frustration and intensity of effort. As you may have guessed, he was assembling model cars. Or was he?
The fact that Grant claims to assembling model cars does seem rather a rather convenient explanation to his glue sniffing, and I don’t think you, reader, should buy it. First of all, if he’s assembling model cars, why does his hair need to be so spiky? Second of all, even the model cars he’s assembling seem to be so crazed and disjointed that only a junky would put them together. But the final bit of evidence seems to come from his insatiable insistence that he work on these models nearly every night. Teresa once witnessed him make a mistake painting a model car, then attempt to fix it by immersing the entire model in a acetone. When he awoke the following morning, the model was a puddle of plastic at the bottom of a cup.
Habit or hobby? At this time, it can’t be known. What is certain is that Grant carefully takes these models into his place of work. Places them on a shelf, then meticulously finds ways to draw his co-workers attention to them. Decide for yourself, but don’t do it under the influence of modeling glue.

The Bean

      

      This was our first ultrasound that I got when I went in to the doctor's for the first time.  I was only about 11 weeks along so there really wasn't much to make out.  The left side is the head and the right side is the tail/bottom of the torso.  The darker patch by the head is the heart beat, but is hard to tell on a still picture.  In this view we also can see one of his little arms, which Grant likes to refer to as tyrannosaur's arms because they are more like little nubs than useful appendages right now.  

      The day we went to the doctor's office, Grant met me there.  But before he had left that morning for work, he thought he should bring the camera in case there was a Kodak moment that we would want to capture.  However, afterwards, when we were back out in the waiting area, he said he felt like a pervert for bringing a camera into an ob/gyn doctor's office.  I thought it was pretty funny, but am so glad for how excited Grant is about the baby and wanting to be involved as much as possible.   

Since he had to go back to work after the doctor's appointment, I asked him if he wanted to take the ultrasound to show the people he worked with.  He just gave me this look and said, "I work with a bunch of guys, if I took that in, they would think it looked like a bean."  This is where the loving name of "the Bean" has come about since we don't know if it is a boy or a girl.  

The New Car

                 

             

     During the last couple of months, Grant and I have had a little disagreement on something that I thought would NEVER come up in our marriage.  I wanted to get a new (which still means used-car to me) car and he wanted to wait.   For those of you who know Grant also know that he is a big fan of cars, which is why this surprised me when we had this disagreement, even after we test drove a 3-series BMW (one of his favorites).  For the last couple of weeks we had been talking about what kind of car we would get and we kept leaning towards a Toyota Highlander or a Honda Pilot.  So last Saturday, we decided to go test drive some and see which one we did like better.  

We both really liked the safety features and how well the Highlander drove and they also had one with low miles in the color we wanted.  So after several hours of walk-out threats, scoffs over pricing, strait out bargaining and even a prayer we ended up driving home with the Toyota.  We didn't know buying a car was such a metaphysical experience.  

I  keep trying to get Grant to drive it more, but he insists on letting me drive it.  I get to drive it to work (since I'm driving for two now) and I make Grant drive the older car (we'll see if he disagrees with me next time about something).  I accidentally ruined the tire on our old Nissan Sentra when I filled it with over 90 lbs of pressure!  I'm lucky to be alive, and even luckier now that Grant doesn't trust me to fill the tires with air, and he does it all the time.

     Since we decided to start this blog, I thought some pictures of the new car would be nice.  So when I asked Grant if he wanted to help me take some pictures he jumped out of his seat, grabbed my hand like a giddy little school girl with a pretty new pet.  Then, we drove around looking for what he called "potential sites"  while waiting for the light to turn "the right shade of gold"  Fortunately these potential sites seem to be fairly common and in no time at all he took over 15 pictures of the car.  Fortunately for you, reader, I have only posted a small portion.  

Please note the odometer, a classic e-bay car photo.  Grant and his family have purchased many vehicles from e-bay, some by accident, some intentionally.  We currently have one of the "accidentals" as he calls it, in the parking lot.  At any rate, Grant is a pro at taking photos of cars, a skill I had no idea even existed!  In fact, the simple act of buying a used car from a dealership has caused quite a stir.  They all seem pretty excited for us, but I secretly suspect that Grant has me drive the car because he refuses to drive one that hasn't been purchased on e-bay.  I don't want to ask him about it, though, he may start wanting to drive it.

Also, please note the excellent lighting that compliments the golden brown color of the car,  I hope you appreciate the thought that went into the photos.  We had to travel through the wilds of Phoenix to get the perfect photo, I hope you enjoy it!