nice neighbors

We have been so lucky to have great neighbors in this area. Last year, Travis and I came home from camping to find that our neighbors were in our yard, picking weeds and making it look beautiful. The lady in my ward said she was doing it because she knows how hard it can be when you're sick and trying to take care of a house. It was so lovely of them!

The other day, I got a knock on my door to see a little boy (around 9 or 10) carrying something in his hands. He didn't even talk to me, he just stared at me blankly. The mom and dad were in the car and asked me if I wanted what the boy was holding. I asked, "How much??" And she said, "FREE, if you want it, it's yours!"

The little guy was holding this:
a three gallon tub of ice cream called "Lucky mint." I said to the mom, "Thanks so much, how did you know I love ice cream?" She replied, "Well, I'm pregnant and you're pregnant and I figured if you were like me that you'd love it!"
So I graciously accepted. :) We had to make some serious room in our freezer for this. So... anyone want to come over for ice cream? We have a little to share. :)



Next, my neighbor Emily has been so great at helping me plan ideas for decorating the baby's room. I told her I saw something that I thought would be cute for the baby's room as a vinyl saying and she helped me design it! Actually, she designed it. I kinda just sat there and nodded. This is what she came up with! Isn't it so darling? She came over last night and we put it on the door to the baby's room.
While I was at their house designing stuff, her sweet husband brought us sandwiches with a pickle and sugar snap peas on the side. It was so delicious! So for the baby's room I wanted to have an accent "dot wall" that matched the fabric for the crib bedding. Travis and I took sheets of paper and drew sketches of what we would want it to look like. I gotta say, he was much better at it than me! I brought the sketches over to Emily and she just ran with it! She helped me measure the wall and then she designed this for us. We are going to do the dots in vinyl because it's more time efficient and they will be perfectly circular. (I would tear my hair out if the edges weren't perfect!)
The red stripe will be like a chair rail along all walls of the room. We are in the process of painting that now!

Anyway, I'm super grateful for good friends and neighbors. Emily is really talented and you should all check out her business and website here. She is super creative and so nice for taking time out of her work day to help me out. Thanks Em, you're the best!

I will take pictures of the room soon. Have a good weekend!

around the house

So like I explained, we had two holes in our roof due to weather vents literally crumbling into the attic. Travis went up to fix it and while he was up there, a massive storm came! He was soaking wet, and the wind almost blew him off the roof. I went inside and couldn't watch. These pictures were taken after the storm passed.


These crumbles are literally what was left of one of the weather vents. Travis barely touched it with his finger and it fell apart!


Next, this is from today. Travis was doing some yardwork and noticed that there was a little birdie stuck in our tree! It was stuck hanging upside down, flapping it's little wings! It was stuck on the fluffy part of a nest. So Trav pulled him down and decided to help out.


Travis was great with the little birdie! He was so gentle as he did the "procedure" complete with tweezers and scissors to cut the fluff free.
Then we let him go and he flew away!!
I've also been wanting to post some pictures of our teeny little garden! Here is zucchini (and chives hiding behind it)
Tomatoes!

And squash, with leeks behind it.
A little squash starting to grow!


...and of course, these two rascals.

That's pretty much what's been going on around our house!

kicks and hiccups

I am convinced that feeling my baby kick is the most wonderful feeling in the world!! I've heard many women say that it's like a little alien inside of you, but I disagree. I know there's a precious baby in there and he is as cute as can be. I already have so much love for him! Travis loves to just watch my belly move as the baby rolls around. We are both so fascinated with this entire process. I've never had more love for my own body! I can't believe that my body can make and grow a baby. Is that normal for first time parents? :)

He loves to kick really hard, and if you look at my belly, you can see the jabs and prods. He tickles my ribs with his toes, and he gets hiccups at LEAST 6 times a day. He is so very active! I don't care that when he kicks at night it makes me a little uncomfortable or that it keeps me awake. I know he's alive, strong and healthy. That is more comforting to me than a few mintues of extra sleep.

Every time he kicks, I smile. I know he's gonna be quite the character!

So I've been busy with lots of projects lately. Last week Travis was up on our roof fixing two holes from weather vents that got ripped off due to storms. (Blog post and pictures about that... coming soon.) We painted the baby's room Friday night, and it looks really good. We also made some sketches about how we want to decorate with accent colors.. etc. Honestly Travis did most the work! Then last night, I made curtains for the baby's room. Travis was so sweet in helping me figure out my grandma's sewing machine. He was patient while I had a meltdown due to missing parts. But we figured it out, and I was able to make the curtains. They are SO CUTE! Don't worry, I'll post pictures of baby's room once it is a little more organized and as it comes together. It's pretty exciting!

bedding

So I will be making the baby's bedding and this is sort of the "essence" of what I'm going with. I have these fabrics and I am so excited!!!


This, possibly for curtains

This as the fitted sheet
this as the bed skirt
This as part of the bumper... I have another fabric for the other part, but I couldn't find a picture. I'm pretty excited!!
You like?

birthday and 23 weeks

I had the best birthday yesterday! I feel so loved by all! Thanks to those who sent loving text messages, facebook posts and phone calls! I really appreciate all of you.

There's something to be said about having a birthday during a major change in life. I feel so happy to be starting our family! I feel really good about where I am in life and the things I have accomplished so far. Having a baby feels like the natural thing to do as our next step!

I had a wonderful birthday and even though I had to work, it really was a great day!

So lots of you have been asking about pregnancy pics. I am reluctant to post them because I know how much people can hate them! Admittedly, I was one of those people who thought it was so overdone, but now that it's my turn I can't help it! I don't think I fully realized the excitement that comes with having a baby until I became pregnant. Now I get it! So.. here are a few pics. I have more, but they are on my phone.

This was around 15-16 weeks.


This was yesterday, 23 weeks. (Even though my baby is measuring 24 weeks).




We went on a trip to Yellowstone this weekend and it was awesome! See post below for pictures!

Yellowstone trip

We recently went to Yellowstone for Independence Day weekend/my birthday trip! We had a blast! I was a little disappointed in myself that I couldn't do as much as I did last year when I went with my parents. This year was much different being pregnant and tired all the time! Luckily everyone was really patient with me and took things slow.

Here are a few pictures from the trip!

Getting ready to go!
We picked up Liz and she rode with us!
I had to go to the bathroom lots on the way, and we found a toilet. (no, I didn't use it, although I was getting desperate!)

We love Jack in the box. Wish we had one down here!
We stopped in Rexburg along the way to see where Trav went to school for a year, and it was cool to see where he used to live! Of course, we had to stop at the temple!

You can't see very well in this pic, but I made a face on my hamburger bun.
Trav's eyes. They kill me.


Just sitting on a bench, taking it easy. (See? We had to stop and rest a lot. Mostly for me!)
Lizzie and her fiance Patrick! So cute!


I went to find a bathroom (again) and this is how I found Travis!
We went to see a play at the infamous Playmill Theater! It was so wonderful! We saw "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and it was a musical! I absolutely loved it. Thanks for the birthday tickets, mom and dad! It was a great present and we really enjoyed it!




"Meditating"
Waiting for Old Faithful to erupt


That's pretty much it! We also brought some disposable cameras (yes, they still make them!). I thought it would be fun to take pictures the old fashion way when you can't just snap the pic, look at it and delete it to take another! It will be fun to get the pictures developed and see them for the first time!

Overall, the trip was GREAT! We had a wonderful time.