Thankful for Thanksgiving!

This past week, my mom and stepdad and my sister and her husband came out for the holiday. It was great to see them and spend a few days hanging out with all of them. We didn't think to take any photos, which is really a shame because my sister is expecting also and it would have been fun to take a photo or two of us as our big bellies progress.

Ashlee had a retched head cold when she got here and on top of her morning sickness, I was really grateful to not be sick anymore. I guess I wasn't grateful enough because within hours of her leaving I came down with world's worst head cold. Ugh.

Other than eating too much too many times, getting sick and experiencing some insane Black Friday shopping where I didn't buy a thing, the weekend was pretty uneventful.

Winter here is in full swing and the fog has been crazy thick. So we have been inside, decorating for the holidays, finishing the baby nursery and preparing for Christmas. 

I also had my glucose tolerance test before Thanksgiving and still have some wicked bruising and knots in my arms where a really great (say that with sarcasm) phlebotomist butchered me. Let's hope I pass so we don't have to play that game again. 

Below are a few photos of the last few weeks to show how the belly is progressing...

24 weeks

25 weeks

26 weeks

Fat Lady Photos

I must admit as excited as we are to be taking this next step in our lives, watching the scale go up each week is not getting easier. But I guess that goes with the territory. Due to popular demand, I have posted some pictures of my growing body. I am confident my butt has grown more than my belly (refer to my hind end at 6 weeks compared to 20 weeks...those are the same pants).  She better be a cute little viking. Even if she is neon white.

I really had good intentions to take a weekly picture in the same clothes, but I have pretty much sucked at that. And I don't think that t-shirt even fits anymore.

6 weeks

This is the morning we found out. See, I started with good intentions.

7 weeks

8 weeks

This is when I started getting sick.

10 weeks

12 weeks

14 weeks

The end of this week is when I stopped being sick. Funny, this is also when I started to gain weight. Coincidence?

18 weeks

I swear I took a picture at 16 weeks, but I can't find it. 

Maybe when I started getting fatter it was easier to ignore the camera.

18 weeks is also when I first felt her...I think.

20 weeks

This is when I am CERTAIN I could feel her.

21 weeks

This is when I first experienced heartburn. Awesome stuff.

22 weeks. Definitely getting harder to hide.

23 weeks. I just took this one today. 

The dress (and the awesome glare) makes it hard to really see anything.

Looking back,  I feel stupid for feeling fat at 12 and 14 weeks. I am sure that in another month, I will feel stupid for feeling so fat at 23 weeks.

In other notes I'd like to remember, my skin, hair and nails look good. Mostly my nails. So I guess that partially offsets the additional 12 lbs I am packing. My lower back hurts when I sit or stand for too long and I sleep like a rock from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. I am sure that will change eventually, but I am really enjoying for now. 

I have read a lot that it isn't good to sleep on your back, but I wake up on my back all the time. Each time I do, I wake up Logan and he gets chewed out for not checking on me. Now, he nudges me several times a night to remind me to get off my back and move to my side:)

That's all for now. Stay tuned for next week!

Back At It and Happy As Ever!

So, it has officially been a year since I last blogged and what a year it has been! We are sooo happy and things are wonderful. I left the blog on kind of a sour note but am glad to say our lives are as good as they have ever been and we are both anxiously waiting to see what our life has in store for us.

I have documented (with my camera) a lot of the fun things that we have seen, places we have went and things we have done over the last year, but unfortunately I don't have the time or ambition to play catch up in much detail, so a few crappy pictures from my phone will have to work. My last blog post was about the one and only real vacation we had had together. I admit I was pretty bitter that we had waited until that point in our lives to try and take a timeout. I think that if we have learned anything about marriage it is that spending time together and enjoying life is far more important than work or jobs, luckily we have both been enjoying our jobs as well.

While none of the things we have done this year have been impressive or earth-shattering, they are examples of how we are living life more fully, appreciating each other more and spending time doing things that matter to both of us -- rather than focusing on how much time we are apart or things we don't have or don't have time for. They are all things that we didn't do a lot in the first couple of years we were married. We have a long list of goals -- things we want to do and accomplish, but the things that have been keeping us busy this year are definitely a good start towards being the people we want to be.

In the past year we have:

Worked a lot.
We have set a goal to travel more together and we have spent a lot of time together in the company car.

Went fishing!
Logan got out his new fishing pole for the first time in three years and has used it several times! He went fishing in West Yellowstone when he was in Idaho visiting family; in Huntington Canyon when we were visiting family in Utah; in Hat Creek in Northern California; and on the East Fork Carson River near Reno.

Taught Sunday School.
Stevie is teaching the 16 and 17 year olds...they are tons of fun! (and, at times, a challenge).

Went golfing!
Logan got a new set of golf clubs for his birthday...and used them immediately!

Bought some cows
Horses and arena are next, we just have to find some more money and somewhere to put them...baby steps I guess.

Worked on our home.
We got new carpet in our house; a new bedroom set, painted and decorated the last spare bedroom; and are adding upgrades to the other spare bedroom as we speak. We also got a new bedroom set and love it!

Spare bedroom before...

Spare bedroom after...

It still needs some color. Maybe some red or turquoise accessories, but I haven't decided yet.

Celebrated the national passtime!
We frequented AT&T Park quite a few times. We are huge fans of the San Francisco Giants! We even had front row seats once.

We didn't match on purpose, but we sure were cute!

Got rewarded.
Stevie got a new boss, a job title change and a well-deserved raise! Woot Woot!

Picnicked!
Logan discovered a little lake in the Sierra Nevadas and we took a whole day to hang out, have a picnic and scope out fishing spots along the for Logan to visit.

Made a baby!!!!
Our little (or big) white viking will be here around the first of March and we can hardly wait!

There was some confusion at first.

This is after we found out that she was a girl. 

But I think I knew all along. Just kidding, I had no idea. I was just hopeful:)

We also have some other top secret news that we can't talk about yet, but stay tuned! I promise it will be exciting...