signed, sealed, delivered

We hope you had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Baby B Week 21

Yeah, I didn't really get around to making a picture last week because I was so sick. I think I had a little of everything...although the throwing up is normal and it was not any more than I usually do, so I think that one was little buddy!

Christmas was AWESOME this year. Katy seriously made Christmas so great. I thought it was fun last year, but it fails in comparison to this year. Santa always left our stockings by our bedroom door so he does that for Katy too. She woke up at 5:00 am asking if it was time to get up. I got her to go back to bed but she was up again at 6:00. It didn't matter because she was SO excited about her stocking. Everything she pulled out of that puppy was the BEST present in the world. She was even elated about the orange and apple :). Then we really had a laugh when she was completely satisfied with her stocking and was shocked when we told her that Santa had probably left some presents down the stairs.

More on that later....

Little buddy is on the move. He is going crazy most of the time but especially at night. That, I'm convinced, comes from Steve. I am starting to feel like I'm big. I'm having trouble getting up into the truck and have joked that Steve is going to have to get me a step stool before long. We defiantly have ideas for names but nothing is set in stone yet. Hopefully we can narrow this down coming up. Ahhh...naming someone is quite the task!

Last thing worth noting is the fact that Katy is loving talking to the baby. She is always singing little brother songs and telling her what she is doing. She always tries to "hear" what he is telling her. I told her the other day that he kicked her in the head (because he was kicking around when she had her head on there), she thought that was hilarious and has since asked him nicely to not kick her head when she is listening in!

I'm still a bit shocked that we are having a boy. I think my friend Tyanna said it best for me (her daughter is Katy's age and she has the cutest little guy around)...

Congrats Amy!! I remember feeling pretty certain I was having a girl and when the Ultrasound tech said it was a boy, I felt perplexed the whole day...I mean I was excited, of course, but all I knew was GIRL and I knew I could do a girl...but, a boy? All I can say is I am SOOOOOO glad I have a little boy. Boys are fun and sweet in such special and different ways. Its nice to still be able to do the cute-girly things with Sen and its especially nice to NOT have to do Dutch's hair :) So happy for you guys! Katy will love it!

That not doing hair part is pretty great sounding to me! Hey by the time he get's here I may finally have a handle on Katy's hair (probably not).

See ya later this week!

Baby B Week 19

Well you are officially a boy! I am not too surprised, although we did think you were going to be a girl. I guess most of the old wives tales were right. It's weird to think we will have a little buddy around here soon. Steve was excited for sure. I am excited and think it will be perfect to have one of each, but I am SO in girl mode right now. Steve keeps telling me that I need to make sure I am not going to decorate this nursery girly. It needs to be manly! I have to get approval on nursery items, per Steve!

Katy has been so funny this pregnancy. At first she was convinced she was having a brother. Then a sister. This past week it's been a boy again, and yet she cried when the ultra sound tech said we were having a boy! We have her on video saying that she is sad because she loves girls more than she loves boys. She was making us laugh, she kept saying that the baby was all slimey and we were going to have to give the baby a bath. She is excited to meet him though and said that she will be a great big sister.

I got a call last Thursday requesting me to go in for another look at his kidneys. They were concerned that he had a cyst on one of them. After I went on Monday they told me that there is no cyst but that one of his kidneys has an extra tube draining to his bladder (normal kidneys only have one tube draining into the bladder). This could mean a number of things, so they are going to keep an eye on it. I have several more ultra sounds scheduled, another one in 6 weeks. As far as they can tell at least the one kidney is functioning completely normally because my amnionic fluid is at a normal level. The one in question may be functioning normally as well. They say only time will tell. Worse case scenario is that he will have to have surgery. We are hopeful that things will work out just fine, and feel incredibly blessed to live in a time of modern medicine. I feel like little buddy is in great hands!

We really can't wait to meet him!

baby B Week 18

I thought it'd be fun this week to put the old wives tales to the test. I am basing my information off what I found here.

1. This one you can do just by looking south: if you're carrying high, break out the pink. If your bump is low you're carrying a boy.

-NOT SURE ABOUT THIS ONE, IT'S JUST THERE!

2. According to legend, 140+ beats per minute indicates a girl, and below 140 a boy.

- Boy. My doctor couldn't even find a heart beat the first few appointments, which freaked me out!

3. Craving ice cream every single day? Some people believe this means it's a girl. If you have to have salty or sour stuff, then it's a boy.

- Boy. Give me nachos and chips all day, and put some french fries on the side! Ha. When I was pregnant with Katy all I wanted was lemon aid and oranges!

4. Lefend has it that the Mayans determined a baby's sex by looking at the mothers age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy.

- Boy. I am 28 years old and it's 2011.

5. Chinese Birth Chart. This ancient method uses your age at conception and the month you did the deed to determine gender.

- Boy. Found here.

6. The ring test. Pop off your wedding ring and tie it to a string. Hang it over your belly. If it swings in a circle, a little guy's in your future. If it goes back and forth, you've got a girl.

- Girl, according to this one. My friend Holly is convinced that back and forth is a boy, so that would win this one too!

7. Sick as a dog during the first trimester? Signs indicate you're having a girl. Little or no morning sickness points to a boy.

- Girl on this one. I have been sicker than a dog for sure this go around. I was not sick one day with Katy.

It sure will be fun to find out...but like I said above: whatever you are, you are exactly what we wanted!

So what do you think???

Belly Baking and Cookie Exchange

My sweet friend and neighbor Angela had a cookie exchange party. I, of course, was ecstatic to go because cookies and me = good times! It didn't take me long to find yummy holiday cookies on my guilty pleasure pinterest. I found some cute holiday pinwheels found here.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 c flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking powder

1 c butter, softened

1 egg

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 t peppermint extract

food coloring

3 T milk

powdered sugar, for rolling out dough.

Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl. I am impatient, as I have stated before, so I just popped my butter in the microwave. It's probably a bit past "softened" but hey it works!

Add egg, vanilla, milk and beat until incorporated.

***Katy and I made two batches. She helped with my first (experimental) batch. When I was reading the instructions found on the website it did not mention adding the peppermint extract so the first batch did not have that included. In my second batch I only added a 1/2 t. It was a good flavor in the cookies but I liked the ones I made without the extract...so it's your call :)

***Have recipe handy if you have questions!

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder.

Gradually add the flour mixture until combined.

Remove half the mixture from the bowl and add the food coloring to half. Even though it was noted to use the gel color I used my runny red....it was not very red and I ended up running out. Luckily I had some pink from a cake for Katy a while ago I used. It worked much better.

On a sheet of wax paper roll out each piece of dough, about a 1/4 inch thick. Carefully slide the red dough on top. I ended up just flipping over my wax paper with the red on top.

Roll dough into a log, creating a swirling effect.

This was the hard part for us. My dough was so soft that when I went to pick up my log it stretched WAY out. When I made my second batch I actually made two logs with half of each of the dough. It was much easier to handle that way.

After you have you log, roll in sprinkles.

Put in the fridge and let chill for 2 hours.

Again with the impatience. It was probably only an hour for me, but it worked fine.

Pre heat the over to 375 degrees F. Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on how thick you cut your cookies.

The party was SUCH a blast! Angela had us play some really fun games. We all played christmas charades. There was a tie so we all picked a number between 1 and 20. Lucky number 7 won me some super cute cookie cutters.

When we were done with the games she had cute boxes made up for each of us with our names. We then had to go around and vote for our favorite cookies. There was a most unique, prettiest and best tasting (voted on by her husband). After we voted we gathered cookies to take home in our boxes. She had yummy food to much on. Then she announced the winners. I think I was the winner of prettiest cookie, so I got another prize of an oven mitt and some kitchen necessities! Whoo who0!

I wish I had brought my camera with me because Angela did such a GREAT job of decorating for the party, plus her house is decorated so cute. Yup, she is going to need to come to my house and help me out!

What a great way to start the season of treats. Hopefully I can pace myself with these delicious goodies!

Miss Reindeer

Katy is really pulling out all the stops this year. Her imagination is going WILD with everything swirling around in her pretty little head.

And I feel like since Halloween her ideas have really been kicked into high gear, so it's no surprise that she is just as hilarious when it comes to Christmas.

"cheese face"

I am of the belief that it's good to talk about things and events coming up, so you know what to expect. We have been talking a lot about Santa Clause. We talked about how he brings you presents, but you have to been on the nice list and not his naughty list. When we were done with our Santa talk I told her it would probably be a good idea to write him a letter so he would know what to bring. She stopped me and asked "mom, can we just tell Minnie Mouse what I want for Christmas?", ha that threw me totally off and made me laugh.

"Katy Minnie Mouse doesn't bring us our presents so we have to write Santa"

"But I don't like him"

"We are just going to write him a letter, you don't have to see him"

"Oh, will you take my letter to him?"

"Well, when we write a letter we just put it in the mail box"

"So I don't have to see him?"

"Nope, that is the postman's job"

"Oh, ok"

Also is it rude I am trying with all my might to sway her opinion about the Dora kitchen? That is not something Santa will be bringing (aside from my aversion to Dora and the fact that it's like 80 bucks!), I think Santa is pretty much done. Hopefully I can sway her the way that Santa might already be taking!

We'll have to see if Katy warms up to the idea of Santa yet!

Gobble Gobble

The stuffing has landed, the stuffing has landed...for me at least. That is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving! Something of which I volunteered to make. I also decided to go ahead and volunteer for our famous 10 layer jello. Remember last time we were at moms I did the jello and it did not turn out so well! Ha, Steve kept telling me "PATIENTS", but that is something I have a hard time with some times. Instead of letting each layer chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes, I went ahead and popped it in the freezer for 10 minutes. Ha, worked like a charm!

I also cooked the Turkey (!), not really....

But I did make this guy. We are the lucky owners of an awesome popcorn machine that was given to us that we decided to use. Yup, filled with yummy movie popcorn! Also note worthy is Britney's super cute place setting turkey's just there at the bottom of the picture! Aren't we so crafty!

Other fun crafts we did included turkey faces...

Katie you are looking good!

And turkey apples. I LOVE Thanksgiving so much. I love spending time with my family. I also have so much to be grateful for...Steve is the most amazing person I know, and I am lucky enough to call him my husband, Katy is the bomb digity and we have so much fun teaching her and learning with her every day, I have my health, we have everything we need, and we are grateful for our new little baby! I LOVE SO MUCH, we are so blessed!

Britney made the cutest "gratitude rolls" she asked us all to email her things were are grateful for. Every time you opened one up you had to read your message. Mom opened hers first it said, "I am grateful for my two new grandkids due in 2012". We all laughed, because mom was not sure what was going on! We are all so happy for the Barkers, after all they do make super cute babies! Congrats, thanks for sharing your news in such a FUN way. We are so excited. Thank you to my mom for having us all over, and for being such a wonderful mom! We love you!

Hope your Thanksgiving was great!

Baby B Week 17

Party Time Excellent!

Another year gone by and another national holiday celebrated! Katy had a great birthday. It was on Thursday this year.

She has an account at America First Credit Union, they mailed her a post card wishing her a happy birthday and giving her a free kids meal from Chick-fil-a. We told her we could go there for her birthday. So that is what we did. We opened presents earlier of course. She was so happy it was her birthday. She kept saying things all day like "I love you mom" or "this is the best birthday ever!!!" She knows how to make you feel good!

A few months leading up to her birthday we kept asking her what she wanted to ask for. She would name things but then add that she wanted them for Christmas. We had to remind her several times that she gets presents for her birthday too!

She really wanted a friend party, but I am going to try to hold off until she is 5. I may have to do one next year, we'll see. We opted for a little family party with grandparents and such instead. I told her we could have a rainbow party. She was excited about that idea.

Katy helped me make a wedding cake...I mean a birthday cake! Ha, this thing was huge! She just kept saying, that is a humongous cake mom! I had her help me frost the layers. We put chocolate frosting in the middle. I didn't notice but we didn't get them all on quite straight and the cake was a little crooked. *Note to self, make sure they are straight next time. I think that will make it much easier to frost the outside!* I couldn't find a cake stand I liked that wasn't a fortune so I opted to make this one out of a Michaels 40% coupon candle holder and a DI dollar plate. The plate was already blue so I only spray painted the bottom. Technically you can't actually place food on it if you spray paint the surface. I worked out nice I can still use the plate with no problems.

It was pretty delicious! We were all laughing when we cut the cake we had to cut the slices in half so everyone only had 3 layers...otherwise we'd not have been able to finish the piece!

No national holiday celebration would be complete without decorations. Katy is still a bit leery when it comes to balloons (I'm trying folks!), but she was ok with these ones for the most part. I was blowing them up the night before her birthday. I had to make Chuck go into the basement he was having a break down trying to eat all of them. Colt was at work with Steve, but I can imagine he would not have been that annoying!

Katy thought it was cool when she woke up, she said the Birthday Monsters (a Sandra Boynton book) had come to decorate! It was pretty cute...even thought it took me a gaul darn hour to put them all up :) I figured I could share the credit with the monsters, seeing that they did a fabulous job!

More colors!

Her new "cheese face" is so funny to me. I tell you what I have never told her to say cheese, but for some reason kids pick up on that stuff. She is hilarious!

She thought blowing out her candles was pretty awesome. She almost got them all by herself!

One happy birthday girl. Thank you so much for mom, Katie, Roger, Joanne, RaNae and Ken for coming over to celebrate with us! We had a blast with you!

Happy Birthday Katy, you are wonderful!

Katy Remix 3rd Edition

I can't believe I'm actually posting on how my sweet newborn baby bundle has turned into one sassy 3 year old!

Little Miss 3 Year Old! I just LOVE her crazy hair. I opted not to fight about doing it and just go with it! Let's be honest I still don't know how to do girls hair still and Katy has the most beautiful hair around!

I guess they don't pop out as 3 year olds (thank goodness, I don't think any amount of my "old lady strength" could pop out a 3 year old), and changing from a 2 year old to a 3 year old doesn't happen over night. Everyone said that Katy's 2nd year would fall into the "terrible two's" category, and we've had our moments of drama...but I think the transition was pretty smooth. (Let me reiterate the point of "we've had our moments of drama", because we have!)

I've learned a few things as the owner of a 3 year old:

• I've learned that potty training is not all it's cracked up to be, and that no amount of coaxing or bribing or talking about it will help you get there any faster. They will do it when they are ready. Katy is more stubborn than I give her credit for!
• I've learned that I am still totally a pushover when it comes to disciplining, and that her "going to sleep problem" was probably partially caused by me hoping into her bed to lay with her at her cute little requests! Thank goodness Steve is around here!
• I've learned that Katy is a SPONGE when it comes to information. She always asks me to clarify when I use a word she doesn't know the meaning of. The other day she asked me what ".com" means, what?!? Ha, can't wait to see what she comes up with this next year!
• I've learned that even though Katy totally knows how to push my buttons, I love her more than imaginable! I'm going to soak up these years, who knows what her teenage years will bring (ahhh!)! In the words of Olivia's mom..."Katy you really wear me out, but I love you anyway!"
• I've learned that Katy is going to be the best sister in the world. She is always talking about how she is going to share everything with the new baby (mind you, she is an only child and doesn't know the meaning of share!). She tells me that she is going to make the new baby so happy, but that she is not going to help change the poopy diapers! Oh man!
• I've learned that Katy is just how I always imagined my kids would be....AWESOME! :)

Katy we love you more than words, and can't wait to see what this next year brings. Happy National Holiday!

Let's see how this past year went down:

November 2010. Popping balloons on her birthday.

December 2010. Getting her first hair cut with aunt Katie.

January 2011. Making suckers with aunt Britney. What a funny smile!

February 2011. Taking our Valentines Day pictures.

March 2011. Learning how to ride a bike.

April 2011. Taking pictures in the daffodils.

May 2011. Playing in the ocean for the first time. She LOVED the beach!

Photo taken by Tara Whitney

June 2011. Playing in the pool with Brynn up at Snowbird.

July 2011. Getting her face painted by Jenny at the Beardshall family reunion. So serious.

August 2011. Playing up in Park City.

September 2011. Gettin' dirty in Moab.

October 2011. Gettin' crafty with mom for Halloween.

November 2011. Livin' it up as only a party girl can!

Here's to working on your 4th year!

Check out our last remixes here and here.

Baby B Week 16

I realize that I am about a week behind, but here is week 16 anyway!

Baby B Week 15

Baby B.

For all intensive purposes we are going to go ahead and go with the 15 weeks per the first ultra sound. I was originally due on the 23rd of April (which would put me at about 16 and a half weeks) but with the first US it put me at May 4th as my due date. Seriously? Don't tell a pregnant woman that she is going to have to wait longer to meet her baby! We have our next US the first week in December...and although I am excited to see what we are having, I'm more excited to see if they change me due date again (come on April 23rd)!

Week 15

This week I finally am feeling that I am getting "back to normal" somewhat. I have been so super sick with this baby. Throwing up has been welcomed because it actually makes me feel better for an hour or so. Steve has been such a GREAT sport. I feel like I've been much more ornery this go around (Katy must have been an angel baby because I felt great the whole time with her). Steve keeps telling me he would feel the same way if he was so sick all the time! He's also been super helpful about keeping up with the house because I have been lacking in that department as well! It's not all day now just for a few hours here or there! Because it's Katy's birthday in a week I though it would be fun to take my picture with her this week. She will be 3 years old! Not too shabby for the self timer!

Also, although I have no pictures to prove it, I am showing much sooner this go around. I can't button my pants. I am holding out for H&M on Friday to open, hoping that they may have some of there maternity clothes in the store (please bless they do!). I'll get some pants then!

Until next week!

4 x 12//October 2011

October 2011.

I feel like fall is finally in the air. October has been filled with some pretty great things. We got to tell people we are having another baby, hang out with dad at work, go to Chuckie Cheeses to celebrate being fully potty trained, we went to Gardner Village, Wheeler Farm, get a new iPhone, do some fun Halloween/Fall projects, take some naps, carve a pumpkin, scoop some goo, go trick or treating with aunt Katy, and I have been trying to gear up for the holidays and Christmas (I'm crazy I know)! Like always we tried to make the most of things.

We are able to finally make it up to Silver Lake....we've been meaning to do that for a while. Since this weather has been totally crazy (and unusually warm) I wasn't thinking we'd need much more than a light jacket. Oops, there was a breeze so we made our stroll quick! We brought blankie along for added comfort! The colors were beautiful, but I was expecting more red, mostly it was yellows.

Katy sure has been making us laugh. She has taken a liking to calling me mother. She also is really into characters. She always tells me every day that we can be whatever character we want. She picks something else to be every day. Very random indeed. One day we are piggies, the next day we are ice cream cones....no idea where she comes up with this stuff! Oh and we have to address her as baby piggy (or whatever we are being that day), while she calls us mommy piggy or daddy piggy. She also whipped out the character stretches this month. I almost looks yoga moves...it is hilarious!

She is excited for the baby to say the least. Everything is centered around babies and how cute they all are. I tell her, when we brush her teeth, that we need to get rid of all the sugar bugs. She tells me that they are so cute and small and that they are happy when they get to go live in her toothbrush! We were out at the store the other day and she was putting her mouth on the shopping cart. I told her ewww! Don't do that there are germs on there. She asked again (for the millionth time what germs are), I told her that they are mean little guys we can't see that will make us sick. She proceeded to tell me that they are all cute little baby germs and how she loved them all! What? Where does she come up with this stuff? Makes me smile.

We head up to the lake after church on our way to the Beardshall's for Sunday dinner. We had stake conference so we took advantage of getting out early.

Katy was SO tired by the time we got up there, she was so snuggly!

But she is sure getting heavy! I had to make Steve carry her most of the time. She told us she was too tired to walk. Man we spoil her!

Here is to a great November!

Happy Halloween

Halloween never disappoints for sure. It's my favorite! Katy really did have a good time this year, aside from all the scary stuff! That is another story for sure. Let's just say I'm glad in a way it's all over too!

We opted to carve pumpkins on Friday night. We met Spencer and Jenny for dinner on Friday night. We had to get our pumpkins before we got there, yup we didn't get around to that until then! Katy had fun riding in the wheel barrow and picking out our pumpkins. She did a great job!

At first she thought the "goo" was gross but after a minute she realized it was fun! She had fun "scooping" with mom. Steve doesn't do goo. I'm happy to scoop all the goo to get our pumpkins carved! I made a silly face, Katy made Minnie Mouse and Steve did a Mac Apple!

Katy had a hard time deciding what she wanted to be this year. For months she wanted to be Aerial so we drove down to the Disney Store. The Aerial costume was SO stink in cute, but she was sure that she needed a costume with a tail. I searched and searched until we found this beaut. She was all for it and we were set for Halloween...until she informed me that she was not going to be Aerial! What?!?

She would change her mind every day and tell me things like...I'm going to be a monster, a farmer, an ice cream cone, a doctor, Minnie Mouse. I'm sure there were others but that is all I can remember for now. For our ward trunk or treat she opted to be Minnie Mouse (a costume we had, because that is what she was last year), so I was ok with that.

She surprised me when she decided to actually be Aerial on Halloween. She looked good and seemed to be pretty impressed with her red hair. Katie hooked us up and gave us some spray color the last time I got my hair cut. I wasn't sure if it would look good because it wasn't fire engine red, but it actually looked really good!

I know Steve is a scrooge about dressing up, and that usually doesn't discourage me from dressing up. But I was not feeling so great this year and opted to be lame and not really even get ready at all! We had Katie over for trick or treating and pizza. We had a great time!

We left a bucket of candy on our door step and all went trick or treating together. There was no game to keep Steve glued to the TV this year, so he joined us!

Our little neighborhood is perfect. It's basically one big loop. We hit up the outside, stopped and ate dinner, and went back and got the inner side of the loop. Katy got a TON of candy. We were even lucky enough to get a king sized candy bar! I helped with that one!

I saw this on pinterest but I but glow sticks and put them in jars of water. They were glowing ok and then Katie found that if you shook them up they really glowed good. But when I opened the door a few minutes later they were pretty much dead. So it was good for a bit of fun....but kind of more work that it was worth!