HERE SHE COMES (not really quite yet)

i realize that i am NOT a very good blogger. but with a baby on the way (VERY SOON) i would like to be better so everyone can keep updated on our little family and the way it grows :) 

let me just say that we could not be more excited to meet our little girl! i know that mike will be a great dad - and i'm glad our first is a girl. normally in church mike refuses to sit in the back, but lately we have been sitting there so we can watch all of the funny kids in our ward. we have THE CUTEST little kids in our ward. mike thinks the little girls are the funniest and i think it has made him more excited to have a girl. 

look at that perfect little profile. it kind of killed me that i didn't need another ultrasound after my 20 week one. i wanted to see her so bad. but in the same breath i should be grateful that i have had a super healthy pregnancy. and i have actually really liked being pregnant - minus the first trimester. (it might be a completely different story for mike!) it's been hard for sure - especially now at the end when i can no longer count the number of strangers that have told me i "look like i'm going to pop" - but such a blessing to be able to feel my baby move everyday. it is so weird that i have gone from this - 23 weeks -

to this - 38 weeks (and this was almost two weeks ago)

(side-note on the picture below...one of the little girls i nanny said she "thought my baby was trying to get out" when she saw this. hahaha)

we have been suuuuper busy getting ready for this little one! but we feel "ready". 

poor mike had to deal with my craziness and still make it through finals. half way done with law school!! it has gone by so fast and we really love it here in moscow. we will for sure miss it when we leave. 

we are a little sad (ok i am really sad) that we won't be seeing very much family for christmas this year. but the more we talk about it the more we realize that this baby coming right now couldn't be better timing for us. god really does know best! can't wait for all of you to meet her. 

we are so thankful for all of you - friends or family - whatever you may be. for all the "just-checking-in-phone-calls" and baby gifts and love. hopefully we will be able to return the favor in some form someday! 

wish us luck over these next couple weeks - i know we will need it :)

I did it...barely.

Well. I did it. I opened my etsy shop. I only have 5 things listed yes. But it is OPEN. My goal was to have it open before November...soooo I was cuttin it pretty close. Oh well :) go check it out.

etsy.com/shop/straightstitchin

This is a quick post and I promise I will post again SOON about our lives. It would take too long to do right now and this baby in me is STARVING. Dinner time. Love you all!

P.S. If you want a quilt and you are my family (close friends count too) I can make one especially for you :) But maybe not before Christmas...I should probably spend more time on my own baby stuff for a bit! Whew.

So this summer hasn't gone exactly as planned. This is in large part because of the little person growing inside of Allie that was or was not planned O.o

This is a picture of Allie just as she was starting to show at what was about 14 weeks I think. Now she is 18 weeks and is really showing. It is incredible.

The first Trimester of the pregnancy Allie was really really sick and was throwing up pretty regularly. It was impossible for her to continue working at Office Depot so we just had her quit. Seeing as I myself still haven't found work here in Moscow, Idaho, this left our schedule pretty open... and the madness began...

We immediately left for Clackamas, Oregon. Allie always wants to visit her parents there and I was more then happy to let her parents take care of her while she was sick while sneaking in  some free vacation time eating fancy cheese and sipping grape juice with my father-in-law Rob. 

On the way out of the Portland area we found this gem. A delicious Mexican food truck authentic enough to make me order in Spanish. We loved it. 

We were also able to make it to Springfest in Moses Lake, but i don't really remember where this fits into the whole trip.

 Next we drove to Sandpoint, Idaho, to the cabin. I hadn't been in year and it was an awesome trip. The river is so different then I ever remember it and was FREEZING, but it sure was beautiful. 
  

 Somewhere in there we got pictures with the one and only MKP... a Korean SC2 player...

So we went pretty much straight from Sandpoint back to Portland, and from Portland straight out to the three rivers resort in Lowell, Idaho, for some 4th of July camping with the Tom Earl crew. Before we left Portland, we were able to make it to the Zoo with Landen and Kristen Tutt (Allie's sister and her husband) which was really pretty zootastic. I love the Zoo.

Camping was so fun as you can see from the picture on the right. Allie was super excited. We hung out with the Ryan Earl family as well as the Scott Richie family since Tom and Gail just got a room and lived the high life while we all camped. It was really amazing and the locals put on an amazing unofficial firework show on the bridge over the river that lasted really late into the night. Since it was just random locals shooting off huge fireworks, we were able to go and sit right under the bridge where the fireworks were being shot off and they would explode directly above us. It was next level...

This is where things got even more out of control. We left from the Three Rivers straight to Provo, Utah. I woke up around 4am and we were out of there at 5am. When we got to Provo we stayed at Jon and Kelsey  Edward's house for the first two days. We were just going to be there for around 3 days in order to go to Dan and Kristen's wedding and to celebrate our own anniversary, which was on the same day. 

This is a picture of us at the wedding dinner. It was a great experience to be able to celebrate our anniversary at the Temple with friends. It was such a beautiful wedding and really was such a good way to have a memorable anniversary. A temple wedding is the best place for a newly wed couple to get some really sound advice and perspective. 

We then celebrated our anniversary at The Chateaux at Silver Lake in Park City. It was really nice. We ate at their restaurant there at the resort called Cena. It was really fancy and we had fun enjoying a high class three course meal. 

 We ended up spending about a week and a half just hanging out with our long lost friends in Utah. Justin and Angelique were kind enough to let us stay at their house for the rest of our stay and it was so awesome staying with them. It really made us miss the time we spent living with them right after we got married. The real reason we stayed in Utah for so long was because my sister Cali was having her baby that same week! We got to go and see her and William Mays Emig in the hospital and it was so exciting. It got Allie so excited about having a baby of her own.

Eventually we decided to drive home, and that was pretty uneventful. We were only home a few days when we left for Moses Lake to see Sam and Kyle and play in Dr. Dave's famous Golf Tournament. It was really fun.

I probably left some stuff out, certainly a lot of trips to Moses Lake as I have been driving there to spend time learning the law from Jeff and Pat.  Essentially our summer has been out of control and I have put quite a few miles under my belt. The picture above is of the clouds as we were driving into Moses Lake. It rained so hard I could hardly believe it. 

So that is a quick recap of our summer. We are painting the ceiling in the apartment and hopefully getting new carpet. Allie is anxious to prepare our second room for the coming of the baby, but we wont know the sex until the 30th of July. Exciting times.

Recap of our busy LIFE

So I realized today that blogging is HARD.  Ha. But for Mike's sake I really am going to try from now on. Plus I haven't really  posted since September (I knowwwww). Mike posted on my birthday - but that doesn't really count. Details from that to come...

So I am going to roughly recap the last few months. All of the highlights at least (well the ones that I actually have pictures of anyways). 

We went home to Oregon a lot when we first moved here. My nieces Piper and Sophie LOVE Mike.

Halloween came and is looong gone. But I made these cute cupcakes for our ward party.

Mike had a birthday! His family isn't big on birthdays..as he explains it. But I LOVE them. So he is a good sport and makes them a big deal for me :)  He got a nintendo 64...that is ALL he wanted. 

One time at home in Oregon this happened...that is my brother in law Landen. We have lots of fun.

We spent Christmas with my family this year. It was SO MUCH FUN. I made these quilts for my nieces...can you tell one loves pink and one loves yellow? (in these pics they aren't quite finished)

We also went skiing over our Christmas break..which Mike hadn't done in 5 years or something crazy like that. My whole family grew up on the mountain. My dad was a ski instructor for years on the weekends...just because he loves it that much. I myself have been a skier since I was about 4. It's in my blood.

Mike's parents got home from their mission in January! We didn't take any pictures (dumb) but we are so glad to have them back :)

Saw this beauty.

Got my very own Costco card!!

For some reason it wouldn't let me turn it...but you can see how excited I am!

McDonalds got chicken Mcbites. Yes. It is a highlight. They are DELICIOUS.

Oh. And in the midst of all of this....THIS was happening...

Our first valentines day as a married couple came..I had work that day though. So mike brought me lunch..in the shape of a heart.

Also I got these shoes that I had been wanting for FOREVER...

I got accepted to the University of Idaho! I will be going in the fall.

I have done a TON of decorating in our apartment. This beauty being one thing...made this with my sister on my trip to see the fam in February. Oh. I made the headboard too.

Mike got these shoes...just because I love him. (Ok he really needed a pair of tennies and he won't ever spend money on himself)

Annnd my birthday came. Mike had school all day, so he set up a huge/big/long scavenger hunt to keep me busy while he was gone. It started with this note in the hallway and had close to 40 clues I think. I have pictures of all of them..but that would be a long post. Maybe I will pick a few so you all can see how awesome he is.

My sister Kristen sent me a little birthday package with these super cute owl earrings in it! Along with a few other cute things and a card that my nieces drew in and that is now hanging on my fridge.

Did I mention I am working at Office Depot again? I just couldn't stay away.

I went to see my friends in Utah almost 2 weeks ago. Rach needed me so there I was :) There are pictures on facebook of all of the funs we had. It was easter weekend so Rach and I had a big feaster dinner :) love you Rach.

Also my brother Kyle (well he is my only brother so I didn't have to say Kyle hehe) is getting married this weekend! His fiance Alexa is wonderful. They are a really good fit. I only get one sister in law so I am glad he chose her :) Plus..they are gonna have cute babies. 

Their engagements were SO cute. So here are more...this one they used on their announcement. That also was SO cute.

I will admit...this one was mayyybe my favorite though.

Love them. 

My mom has been scanning pictures for Kyle's wedding and every once in a while we find a GEM.

HAHAHAHA I love my family. And that couch. 

Moral of the story..we are happy here in Idaho. Can't wait for summer and the heat though!!

ALLIE IS 22!

Today is Allie's 22nd B-Day and I spent the morning making her breakfast in bed and making a scavenger hunt for her to do while I was a school. The scavenger hunt should (hopefully) leader her to check this post.

Allie, I love you so much and an so happy you took a chance on me and actually married me! You are the best wife ever and I couldn't imagine my life being much better despite being a newly-wed in his first year of law school. In my family we never cared much about Birthdays, but I know you do so I am trying!

I decided I didn't want to give you the prize at the end of the scavenger hunt until I was home to give it to you myself, so you will have to wait to see what it is you have earned!

Love you and Happy B-Day Hunny

long days

Sometimes my days are too long and I run out of things to do.

Like when it is cold and cloudy outside and all I want to do is be cuddled up inside with a blanket and good book and do nothing anyway. (currently my book is In Our Time by Hemingway)

Or when I cleaned the house yesterday (yes there are just the two of us so it stays clean..)

Job hunted. Grr.

When Mike is going to be at school until 8 probably. YUCK. I'm used to him being home by now..its 4:30!

When I've already done laundry.

Already played guitar.

When I have read every family member and friends blog.

When I have recipe searched for over an hour.

When I have now called Kri (no answer=angry message) & Brook (in the library..will call me back), and Kyle called ME (he should be awarded)

Worked on some craft projects. (decorations, new cookbook)

I could go on. I need either some new hobbies or some friends. haha thank goodness for baking. And netflix. The day seems a lot longer when yesterday we went on a little dinner/movie date and spent a lot of quality Allie/Mike time together.

Also can't wait for conference weekend!! We are going home to Portland. Way more fun than trying to get the video stream online and plugging our laptop into our tiny TV. Hopefully mama will make some yum cinnamon rolls. Or in the very least there will be some conference BINGO with the nieces. :) gotta love traditions. 

Home Improvement

If anyone didn't see my facebook post..some of our WEDDING PICTURES are on my sisters blog here! She is the best.

So Mike and I were ROBOTS last week and got a lot of little improvements (that have been on our enormous to-do list) done around the apartment. And when I say a lot...I really mean it.

Little craft project. (yes i realize that my pictures are crappy...I couldn't find my real camera..I have since found it) I found this cardboard E at Joanne's for $3. Spray painted it red and then wrapped it in twine. Easy peasy. The "families are forever" plaque was given to us as a wedding present.

New towel hooks. And a freshly painted bathroom. New shower curtain..thank you tons of Target gift cards. Haha

And the final, way more impressive project...

New faucet! This is in our guest bathroom. We haven't put the new one in our bathroom yet.

Old sink vs. New sink

We are feeling pretty good about our place. Especially now that we have a bed!

We have had a mattress but we finally got a frame. No more sleeping on the floor :) Lovely.