Easter

Easter is such a beautiful holiday. It's a celebration of the resurrection of our Savior and his gift of the atonement given to us. We didn't get into the holiday as some people do. We didn't have an easter basket for Paige because in all reality, she doesn't eat the candy and we definitely don't need it. We did participate in two easter egg hunts with each of our families respectively and of course we eat lots of yummy food. I thought of my dad this year and realized that the resurrection had an even deeper meaning for me. Paige wore a really cute easter dress and she would just twirl in front of the mirror looking at it. She was a "princess". Enjoy the pictures.

Pregnancy

I tend to do a terrible job about documenting how my pregnancies go. I've been trying to remember how things went when I was pregnant with Paige or how long a symptom would last and I have no recollection. I thought I'd do a better job of documenting and hopefully have a better memory for my next pregnancy. I think pregnancy is a very sensitive topic. I have many friends who are unable to get pregnant or have a hard time conceiving/keeping the baby. I try not to complain around them because they would give anything to experience what I feel no matter how ill they may get. I thought I would share my thoughts by having a positive and a negative list.
Positive: Having a living being growing inside of me, feeling all the movements, having a little more attention directed at me (I'll admit it), I have an excuse to be fat and eat anything I want within reason, the preparations that come with a new baby, the ultrasounds and seeing that little heart beat, gaining a small amount of weight (22lbs with Paige and 18lbs with this one so far), getting to be a little bit more lazy and have extra help from the hubby, the delivery of the baby with an epidural, the baby itself. I truly enjoy being pregnant and tend not to get as sick as most people!!
Negative: Three months of kind of feeling blah and not wanting to cook or knowing what to eat, the tiredness, popping in movies for Paige to watch so I can get some sleep, maternity clothes never fit just right, swollen feet and hands, rolling over in bed and picking things up off the floor, the asthmatic cough I get from the first trimester to the third that makes me wet my pants on a regular basis, the hot flashes that make my face turn bright red, the sore and achy body (because I don't exercise well), trying to manuever my belly around the patients at work, the waiting period to make sure the baby is healthy and has no complications, the time period!
A few extra things. I crave cookies and tend to have a cookie a day. I'm also very thirsty and drink quite a bit. (Sometimes induldging in Dr. Pepper which makes the baby move around a lot). I'm lucky to have a great husband who is so helpful especially when it comes to taking care of Paige. He is the greatest father. I love the miracle of pregnancy and am blessed to have a relatively easy pregnancy. Thanks for everyone's well wishes and we'll be seeing this little girl in under 4 weeks. YEAH!!

Baby animal days

As we did last year, a couple of my sisters, their kids, and my mom ventured to the baby animal days held by the american heritage center. It was a somewhat rainy and muddy day but I was prepared with warm weather clothing for Paige. We had lots of fun as always and we enjoyed spending the day with "cousins" as Paige puts it. Here are some pics of the outing.
Paige peeking into the pens

Paige and her favorite cousin holding chicks

Paige looking at baby ducks

Paige is terified of the bunnies

Paige and I riding ponies

The end of a very long day

Our 80's themed birthday party!!

Megan and I turned thirty years old on Feb. 18th. Can you believe it? Megan had a great idea of having an 80's themed party and she did a great job planning it. We played 80's trivial pursuit (we had my mom on our team so we won because she is a trivial pursuit champ), sang kareoke (I had the cold voice but had a great time singing even if people were cringing), and we ate some great food. What a fun night with some great outfits. Thanks to mom for the yummy cookie "cake". It was a great celebration of our birthday.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Disney playhouse live

Paige is a huge fan of Disney playhouse in the morning. Her two favorite shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins. When I heard they were coming to the Energy Solutions Arena, Scott and I decided to treat Paige to the show. My mom joined us on out little outing.
Paige was able to nap on the way down which probably helped her immensely but it made her a little groggy when the show started. I think she was overwhelmed with all the surroundings. She recognized the show but couldn't quite figure out what was going on. She finally got into it during the second half and even sang and danced to the hot dog song. She may have been a little young this year but she talked about the show the whole way home telling me that Goofy had been flying. She's such a cutie and we loved being able to do a little something for her.

Snowmobiling

That's a really tiny sled!

We were really lucky to be invited to go snowmobiling with Deborah and Christian Jackson to the Uintahs. Their cabin is special to us because it's where we became engaged. Now we were going back with Paige and a baby on the way. We left friday afternoon and drove all the way up with a pitstop for munchies and a potty break in Evanston. When we got there, it had been raining and the snow was a little low. We unloaded all the supplies onto the snowmobiles and headed up the the trails to the cabin. After unpacking the supplies at the cabin, the boys went out for some more fun on the snowmobiles while Deborah and I got dinner going. After watching the Jungle Book with the kids, they went to bed and the adults played a rousing game of Settler's of Catan (Christian's favorite). We had a great time. After a somewhat restless night with Paige and Brody both falling out of the bed, my sore pregnant back, and a trek to the outhouse in the middle of the night, I decided to sleep on the couch for some reading which helped me fall asleep. Then up for a yummy breakfast and the boys heading out again for another couple of runs. Then it was time for the kids. After hoping for snow during the night, we actually got it during the day so we decided to have the kids go sledding close to home and use the long driveway. They loved it and even Paige went by herself. She's such a snow bunny. She even made a snowman while brody sledded down the cabin stairs. It was so fun to see her enjoying the outdoors even while it was snowing and cold. Next was lunch, and then we took turns babysitting while the grownups went out for a ride. I found it was to bumpy for me so after a short ride of getting stuck and tipping over, I decided to call it good. It was just so much fun to have a weekend with great friends and being able to relax. Thanks to the Jackson's, we love you guys!
Scott getting stuck
Scott getting stuck again
Still trying to get unstuck
Isn't he handsome in all his gear
Brave Paige all by herself
Paige and her sledding buddy
Paige and her rocking buddy
Paige and Brody watching a movie
Me asleep on the couch

Paige makes me laugh

Paige has been so much fun lately. We went to the store the other day and the whole way there she pointed out everything she was seeing. She saw a boat, a christmas tree, a giant blow-up snowman, a tractor and many more. She talks so well and we're lucky that we can understand most of what she says. She is so fascinated with princesses right now. At the store I purchased a swimsuit and coverup dress for her to wear on our upcoming trip to Vegas. She immediately took off her boots and tried to strip down right in the store so she could put on the "princess" dress. She didn't get far but I promised she could put it on when she got home. 4 hours later we were able to pry it off her. Same thing with any of her sunday dresses. She'd wear them everyday if we let her. We finally got some princess jammies that we could trade and put on after the dress came off. The other funny princess dress is my garment tops. With most of them being maternity, they are quite flowy. She usually gets them out of the basket before I get a chance to fold them, and then we tie them around her neck and she walks around twirling all day. Lately she's been waking up at 6:00am. It's a little trying when I can't wake myself up so while I'm trying to pry my eyes open, she'll watch disney playhouse. She wakes up requesting Jojo's circus which has been discontinued so we endure lilo and stitch. What's so funny is she knows all the music for all the shows. She's really good with singing music and can recite most of the words. While driving around town, she'll entertain herself by singing songs like wheels on the bus, old macdonald had a farm, I love to see the temple, I am a child of god, and itsy bitsy spider. I finally found the Children's hymn book cd with all the kids songs on it ie: hinges, do as I'm doing, wise man built his house on the rock. She loves them. She may be a future american idol winner, who knows. I just love her and realize how much joy I receive from her.

Paige sledding down the hill all by herself

Paige climbing up into the baby's basinet

Paige loving her curlers (shocking!) and dancing of course

Paige loves the snow and was a big helper shoveling

Paige making a snowman

Falling asleep on the floor in her princess dress