Ultrasound Results

This morning we went to St. George for our ultrasound. We were really happy to find out last month that the ultrasound tech we went to in Vegas last time now makes trips to St. George once a month.

Everything checked out beautifully. She looked perfectly formed. Oops, did I just let slip the fact that we're having a girl? Well, we are! The feeling we had is now confirmed. :)

She was a bit of a contortionist. Look at that spine curvature! She had her feet above her head a lot of the time. She made it a little difficult to get good shots because she was moving and twisting so much.

 

 But the tech was able to find everything he needed to let us know that her growth and development are right on track.

It feels good to say "she" without qualifiers. :) We're very excited to meet this little girl and find out what her personality is like!

Ethan did pretty well during the first part of the ultrasound. He liked to point at the screen and say "baby!" But after a while he lost interest and just wanted to go play with the big exercise ball in the waiting room. Who can blame him?

After the ultrasound, we took a little walk and then went to our midwife appointment, which also went very well. Yay for good growth!

Instead of driving straight home, we stopped at the pioneer park place so we could hike around a bit. Ethan loved it!

 He saw daddy climbing,

 and he wanted to try it too!

 So he climbed,

 and climbed,

and climbed!

It was a wonderful day.

Lovely Fall Day

Today really was a lovely day, and it definitely felt like Fall. It started out with a beautiful fog that made everything look a little other-worldly. Since Terral's dad helped us get the heater going the other day, we were nice and cozy inside.

My sister Sarah and her family slept over last night to break up their trip to D-land. I love that we can accommodate people now! Ethan was asleep when they got here, so he had a fun surprise of two cousins that came running as soon as they heard he was awake! Ethan and H immediately started acting silly. It was really fun to see them all play. And I was glad that we had gotten some good visiting with Sarah and Kyle the night before since the morning was full of activity and corralling little boys.

Of course they all got a house tour, and we showed them the chickens too. And we had squeegie eggs for breakfast. But all too soon, it was time for them to get on the road again. Luckily, we get to see them in a week on their return trip. :)

After they left, Terral took Ethan outside to play while I showered. He was excited to tell me everything they did when I was done with my second breakfast. (First one didn't deign to stay in my stomach.) I can't remember everything, but they did things like balance on the concrete borders, saw big branches into pieces, and play with tractors in the dirt. Oh, and they played Rocket Moon. :)

Well, we decided it was such a beautiful day (the fog burned off as soon as the sun came up) that we wanted to go for a little ride. So we hopped in the car and took off in the direction of Summit. I don't think I'd ever been there before. It's one of those little towns that you always see the sign for but never stop because there just isn't a reason to. Well, we were really glad we went there today. As we were driving through just enjoying ourselves, we saw a handmade sign advertising a pumpkin patch. We decided to turn around and check it out.

Turns out the patch was in the backyard of an older gentleman. He said his granddaughter had come and planted them all. He was really nice, and we visited with him while Ethan inspected each pumpkin. The vines tripped him up a few times, but he was having so much fun he didn't seem to mind.

 Here he is with the pumpkin he picked out.

 We also ended up buying a box of apples (for $5!) while we were there. Yummy! I used them in dinner tonight and intend to make many delicious things with them. :)

After our impromptu stop, we continued on to Parowan so we could gas up the car. While we were there Ethan got antsy to get out of the car, so we decided to find a park. When we found the park, we also found a Fall Fest going on. I guess this day was just meant to celebrate the new season!

When we parked, I saw a little shop called Half Moon Trading Post, or something like that, and we went in to check it out, just because we could. They had lots of interesting things inside. We were particularly interested in the handmade leather working. I was impressed with how reasonably it was priced! I think we will be going back sometime. :)

When we finally made it to the park, Ethan took off running. I just love watching him run. :)

 He and daddy played with the swings while I investigated food options. We ended up with tamales.

 We might have stayed longer, but it was Ethan's nap time and we hadn't brought any extra diapers with us. And we didn't find the bathrooms until it was too late. But before we left, we played in the leaves for a little bit. I showed Ethan how to kick them, which he thought was pretty fun. Then he found a leaf with two stems coming out from it, and it instantly became an airplane that he flew around and around. What a cutie!

 Well, we made it home and took a nap. When we (Ethan and I) woke up, we had some more visitors. Terral's parents had come to see Ethan, but I found them outside helping Terral work on the power washer that we had borrowed from some friends. They got it going, and then put it to work!

Ethan got to play with his grandparents while Terral worked some more on the garage. There's plenty more to do, but every little bit done feels good!


It was fun to have a Saturday that really felt like a Saturday. We got to visit, play, relax, celebrate the season, and work all in one day. I certainly wouldn't mind having more days like this. :)


PS I nearly forgot to mention one of the loveliest things about today. Terral was able to feel our baby this morning!

A Shower and Some Fish

On Saturday we took a little trip down to St. George. It didn't go exactly as planned because, true to form, I was still making gifts that morning and we didn't get away as soon as we would have liked to.  But everything worked out in the end. :)

The plan was for me to take Ethan to Heather's shower so that Natalie could get in some grandma time since she doesn't get to see him as often anymore, but he was being a little ornery since he hadn't napped and he was being very much a daddy's boy. He cried and cried when Terral went to leave, so we decided it would be better if he hung out with daddy while he went fishing.

This is the only lame shot I got of the shower, but you can still see how cute Heather is pregnant. :)

Afterward, I rode with Maycie and Kaden to pick up our men at Sand Hollow. They hadn't been there very long, so we waited for them a while and let the boys play on the beach. It was so hot, it was killing me that I couldn't get in the water because I wasn't dressed properly!

 Terral, Chris, and McKade all caught a good sized bass and were satisfied. Well, I should say for the moment. I think it awakened a thirst to fish some more in Terral and McKade. ;)

Wheeler Farm

This is my last catch up post from July. Hallelujah!

After the wedding luncheon, there were several hours before the reception, so all of us non-newly-wed siblings gathered to spend the afternoon at Wheeler Farm.

Ethan fell asleep on the ride over, so Terral and I found a shady spot to park and we sort of napped in our seats while Ethan slept. Sarah had to go home for a couple reasons, so she was kind enough to bring some clothes for Ethan so he didn't have to wear just a diaper for the rest of the time. :)

Because of the nap, we wandered just the three of us for a while until we caught up with the others.

I loved the look of this barn!

Moo! Ethan liked the cow, but he wasn't into them quite as much as he is now.

The horses caught his interest a little more.

Aren't they pretty? I like their feed box too. :)

This is right after the horse snorted on us. Ha!

Ah! It's much nicer up here.

There was a whole barn full of tractors, which was pretty excited for Mr. E. But they were all antiques and we couldn't touch them.

He did get a turn on this green one though! Such fun!

And finally we found everyone else.

The kids thought it was pretty funny that the pig got in its water to drink. Ethan kept saying, "wet!"

Nothing's more exciting than a tractor in action.

There was a fun two story tree house that the kids loved playing in.

The door to the next level was pretty tiny. I wanted to go up there, but I decided there were too many kids. (Please note the headband in Kaylee's hand.)

Kyle made it up to the second level in spite of the teeny doorway and the multitude of kids.

Lovely sisters waiting while the kids play.

Daddy and Ethan up in the treehouse. Hmm. . .how did Kaylee's headband end up there?

He certainly didn't seem to mind it! Especially with the cool wagon there.

When we were done looking at animals and such, we gathered on one of the big lawns to visit and have a little picnic.

This is when I told my family that we were expecting. (I told Matt & Karalee and my parents earlier.) I kept waiting for a good opportunity to just slip it into the conversation so everyone could hear, but there were too many different things going on, so I ended up just saying it in a conversation with Braelyn. She was asking me about motherhood, so I figured that was as good as it would get! Sarah and Diane heard me, and then I had to interrupt other conversations to let everyone else know. So not as smooth as I'd hoped. But, hey, everyone was happy for us!

After a bit, Diane had the brilliant idea to play 9 Lives. We used to play it when we were kids, but I had completely forgotten about it. I was pretty young then. I wasn't nauseous at that point, so it felt really good to get out a run and play. Terral and I didn't stay to finish it though, because we wanted to visit the habitat for humanity restore. That was a bit of a fiasco, so I kind of wish we had just stayed to play. In any case, we still made some good memories, and overall Matt's wedding day was full of good things.  It really was a beautiful day.

Adding Joy

It's time to announce that this family is expecting another kidlet come March! We are very excited to have our family grow.

It's too early to know the gender yet, but even before I was pregnant we felt that we had a little girl coming. There's a chance it won't be this time, but at present we think it is.

My first signs of pregnancy this time were immense hunger, more emptying of the bladder, and an inability to regulate my core temperature. Pretty sure that last one is not normal, but it sure let me know something was going on in my abdomen.

It will be nice now not to have to pretend I'm not nauseous. :)

I feel kind of bad that until a few days ago I haven't spent nearly as much time contemplating this pregnancy as I did the last time. Having a new house with all the projects that come along with it and taking care of our little boy take up a lot of my focus.

All the same, I know this little baby will be very unique and we will love her (or him!) so very much!

Matt & Karalee Tie the Knot

After all the chaos leading up to the wedding, and then thinking we weren't going to be on time, it was a huge relief to arrive and find that everything would be just fine. My cousin Cherise volunteered to watch kids for us. Mostly she watched Ethan and Diane's kids. It was so nice of her to do that so we could know the kids were in good hands!

It was really neat to sit in the temple and look all around at family and friends. When Matt walked in with his bride my eyes were suddenly wet. I don't know why I didn't think I would cry. Luckily one my sisters had an extra tissue. It was such an overwhelming feeling to be in that beautiful place all together and know that our family was about to be that much more complete. As I looked at Karalee I felt like I could read her emotions so well. I saw in her face much of what I experienced on my own wedding day. And I felt such a warm pride as I looked at my brother. What a good and handsome man he has become!

The sealer was a general authority that Karalee's family knows. He talked quite a long time about temple covenants and then he performed a very beautiful ceremony. It was a wonderful experience.

Afterward, we found Charise who said that Ethan had done just fine, and we joined everyone else outside the temple doors to await the happy couple.

I love this picture of my happy little runner. :)

We had one of my sisters snap a photo of us. My mom made all of our yellow tops. Mine came out a little large, so I took it in. I was proud of myself for figuring out how to do it all by myself.

Silly boy. Good thing the temple grounds are clean!

The three oldest nieces. None of them have sisters, so they call each other sister-cousins. Aren't they adorable?

And for comparison, here are the same three cuties at my wedding five years ago.

And here are some of the boy cousins. Apparently Terral and I didn't pay enough attention to one of the emails and we didn't dress Ethan quite right. . .

And here are more fun nephews. :)

My boys being silly. 

Waiting and waiting for the princess bride to come out!

Beautiful sisters :)

Awesome parents! (Who are all done with planning weddings now!)

And the moment the two lovebirds enter the world as a married couple.

I thought it was cute how all the nieces swarmed around Karalee showering her with praises, and all the nephews gathered around Matt.

Aaannnd switch!

And the of course we had family pictures. While we were waiting our turn, some of the kids had fun playing around one of the planter boxes.

Trying to get a picture with all the nieces and nephews.

I didn't get any other family shots, so I might have to get some from Matt later on.

After pictures were done, we all met at a church for the luncheon.

We left Ethan's change of clothes at Rachel's, so he was half-naked during this part of the celebration.

My cousin Cherise is the one with the pink shirt on. 

When we were all finishing up, anyone who wanted to had the opportunity to tell a story about the bride or groom. There were tears and much laughter.

I think that's a very good way to start off a marriage. :)