Catchin up...

Here i am 4 months pregnant. I feel like i look a lot bigger. When i see the picture i realize i don't look as big as i feel. Isn't that the way it always is though?! :) But most of the time i stand with bad posture, which makes my stomach stick out further and makes me look bigger. So, i need to work on my posture a bit. :) We find out next Thursday the gender of our baby. We are so excited. I cannot wait. As soon as we find out i will move my studio downstairs and start making plans for the baby room, which is just across from our room. I am glad about that b/c with Tanner, his room was upstairs so i always had to go up and down but now i don't! :) I know, i am lazy i guess. I am feeling pretty good. My morning and evening sickness have calmed down for the most part, but i am starting to feel more tired now. I am still able to workout, which definitely makes the rest of the day a good one for me. It makes me feel good. While Shane took this picture the boys really wanted a picture taken of them. So , i snapped a quick one and here is the result....Aren't they so cute? I always get a good picture when i don't try to get a good picture. :) I must brag on my boys. They are the cutest little things alive. I love them so much.And here is the Christmas card i put together. For it being my first, i am proud of myself. :) I actually just took a layout from another card and just changed the papers and colors. It was fun and easy. :) We really enjoyed Christmas this year. We were in Idaho with Shane's family and it was so much fun. It was definitely crazy because there are so many of us now. The next time we see them there will be two more bodies added to the family! Anyway, we enjoyed FOOD, games, talking, basketball(well, not me, but the rest of them did). We had tons of fun. We are going out to Idaho again in May. We bought the tickets BEFORE we knew that i was pregnant. When we go out i will be 8 months along. Yup. I don't know if i will be able to go though. I might let the boys and Shane go by themselves. It depends on how i feel. I definitely won't come if you guys truly plan on taking family pictures! :) No way! :) hehe. I will take the picture , but refuse to be IN it! :)

The boys had a good Christmas. Instead of naming everything they got i thought i would just mention their favorite. Gavin got the Nintendo DS lite...he LOVES it. He could sit and play that thing for HOURS. But we only let him play for about 30-45 minutes a day. Tanner, well, honestly i don't think he has a favorite. He plays with all of it and doesn't show much more interest in one toy over another. Well, i take that back. He loves his cars. By that i mean, CARS. We got him a lightning McQueen car, just a little one like matchbox size cars. He loves it. He loves playing with any kind of car or trucks or Transformers.

I took quite a few pictures for people before Christmas break that i still need to put up on my photography blog. I will post those soon. Oh the kids are so cute!!! I was also called to another calling....ward photographer. Exciting huh?! That means i go to all the activities and make sure i capture all the action! Then i have a whole bulletin board in the hallway of the church that i can use to post all the pictures on. I am excited about it. Somehow i am gonna have to KNOW when all these activities are. It seems like activities come and go and i never heard there was one in the first place. :)

Oh, and i am getting excited too. Gavin is starting to show signs that he is ready to stop using a pull-up in the night and ready to get up and go potty. He wakes up with an almost dry diaper. Makes sure to go potty before bed time and gets excited when he thinks he has a dry diaper in the morning. Soon he will be wearing underwear to bed. I am also excited b/c i am getting ready to potty train Tanner. He is ready. He can tell me he needs to go poo poo, he tries taking his diaper off, he doesn't like having a poopy diaper. So, he will be potty trained before the baby comes. That is exciting for me b/c that means all i have to change are little baby diapers. YES!

Sleep, what sleep?!

Once upon a time i used to be a good sleeper. Until i got married and had kids. I used to be able to sleep through the whole night without waking up once. I had wonderful night sleeps. Shane, oh Shane... his mind is like a spinning wheel. It never stops. He tosses and turns through the whole night.
1.Some nights i wake up to a shaking bed b/c he is figgiting his feet b/c he can't sleep.
2.Other nights i wake up to him saying "Are you AWAKE?!!?" Well, now i am. :)
3.Every night he wakes up to go to the bathroom, which i NEVER have to do unless i am pregnant. And since i am pregnant i have been waking up to go pee too...half the time i go when Shane wakes up to go. It is funny b/c i am grumpy in the night if i do wake up or get woken up. i don't know how to smile in the middle of the night. When i go in to go pee after him he acts like its the middle of the day. He is WIDE awake. He hugs me and says, "Hi honey!" hahaha. It is hilarious to think about it. His cheery face at 2 in the morning. How does he do it?! I can't do it. I am grateful for those cheery smiles even though in the middle of the night when he does it i think "what in the world?!"
4.OR there are the 4:00 in the morning runs he decides to go on b/c he can't sleep. Yup. Can you imagine. He goes down to run on the treadmill. In our old house you can hear every footstep, every sneeze, cough, whimper. So, imagine a 200 lb. person running on a treadmill in this house and the sound it makes in the quiet night. Plus, the ceiling is low, so occasionally his head HITS the ceiling. Not kidding. So, i hear the treadmill, the head banging, and the music playing.
5.OR he sometimes wants to cuddle me in the night. So, he comes up behind me and squeezes me, which obviously wakes me up(which is a good way to wake up IF i HAVE to)...BUT it isn't just a cuddle. It is like i am his body pillow. He lays half of his body on me. Not too comfortable. I get smooshed. :) haha.
6.Other nights i wake up to his loud gas he decides to let out at 2 in the morning. hahaha. Yup.
7. Then there were those early mornings not too long ago where for about 2 weeks straight Shane would wake up at 4 in the morning, which would wake me up. We both would be wide awake at 4 in the morning and not be able to go back to sleep. So we would get up and go watch tv together. Luckily that only lasted for 2 weeks. I don't know what that was all about.

Anyway, do you get the idea of what kind of sleeper he is? Well, it is rubbing off on me. I wake up a few times in the night. I toss and turn and figgit. And now that i am pregnant, last night was my first night to experience the sore hip from laying too long on one side. Great. It is already starting. I already wake up a few times in the night and now it is going to turn into me being half awake all night. When the baby comes it will be 3 hours of sleep at night. I need to mentally prepare myself for this. :) Truly,these are great memories, i know. If i can already laugh about some of this as i write it then years from now i will love reading this post. :)

{Reflections of Christ}

A fine art photographer, Mark Mabry, created beautiful images of Christ. If you have not seen these yet PLEASE you have to look. These beautifully captured images bring the life of Christ to life more than i have ever seen from any other picture of him. Just beautiful. It is a slideshow of the art he has created. Since i am striving to be a better photographer everyday, these images he has captured really helps to inspire me. They are beautiful. If you have volume, make sure you turn it up so you can hear the music with it...it makes it even better. PLEASE, go down to the very bottom of our blog and push the pause button on our music so that you don't hear our music mixed in with the song on the video. Also, if you want to see the pictures more clear and sharp then go to www.reflectionsofchrist.org. Click on "MultiMedia" towards the right. Then click on VIDEO. It should play the video "Come Thou Font". I would go there first if i were you. The images look so much better and will make your first time experience of seeing it so much better! :)

Merry Christmas...

Putting ornaments on the Christmas Tree. It is a magical time for these boys. They love to turn the Christmas Tree lights on as soon as they wake up.

{Aaahhhh...just breathe} just blabbing

It isn't a good combination when you have a husband in the middle of FINALS and a wife that wants to be...LAZY. :) I like to be supportive. I like to help out. I like to make sure the house is clean and dinner is on the table when Shane gets home. It just feels good to be able to do that for him and for me. It makes our home feel more like a home. Well, i have been doing good about making dinner. I make dinner every night. Most people say "oh go eat out. Go pick some pizza up." I like to eat out like once a month. That is it. I feel gross when i eat out. I much prefer to cook. It feels a lot healthier to me. I think if most people knew how much fat they were consuming every time they eat out they would slow down a bit with it. Even when you think you are eating healthy, it isn't so healthy. ANYWAY, there are times when i can't stand cooking. During those times i just cook pancakes OR toast with eggs, something VERY easy. :)
I lack soooo much energy lately. I try to keep the main part of the house clean - the dining room and t.v. room...oh, and my studio. My kitchen for the past few days looks like a tornado went through it. UGH. I can't find the darn energy to want to clean my kitchen. It is like the last thing on earth i want to do. BUT i LOVE to have a clean kitchen when i cook. AND since i cook every night, well, with a dirty kitchen it just makes cooking not so fun. During my lazy days i have been watching A LOT of The Food Network. I LOVE watching them cook. I LOVE it. LOVE IT. It makes me dream about one day when i have a bigger kitchen and nicer utensils and pots and pans to work with. I will be in the kitchen cooking a great dinner every night. AND having fun doing it. Now, don't get me wrong. I won't be in the kitchen all day. I will be in there just for dinner, since that is the only meal i cook. I cook once a day. I don't cook breakfast or lunch. Just dinner. Good thing i put love and thought into my dinner's otherwise i might get some complaints around here. :) The kids eat cereal, most days, and toast with a banana. The only time i cook oatmeal is if we are running low on cereal and i haven't been shopping. I never make pancakes for breakfast. Never bacon or sausage. If i do that it will be a BIG treat. For lunch, well, it is pbj sandwiches OR chicken sandwiches with yogurt and usually one other thing. That is the way i grew up. I liked it. I didn't mind it. I LOVE cereal. So, that is how i do it.
I love my boys. BUT you women know how it is... when you are pregnant and your hormones decide to make you really irritable one day. Yeah. Well, those days i just try to keep my distance from my boys. I tell them to go play upstairs. I try to give them something to do to keep them occupied for awhile. I do that b/c i have no patience. I don't want to be mean. So, if i keep my distance i won't be mean. :) (side note: they just came into my room pretending to be dogs. They are panting with their tongues hanging out. It is really cute.)
I don't really have a point to this post. I just felt like typing out what i am feeling. It is a relief for me to write down my feelings.
Now, somehow i am still able to find the energy to workout. Okay, i must rephrase that. I don't have the energy, i just force myself to do it b/c i want this pregnancy to be different than my other ones. I am determined. I am doing an "experiment". I have been consistently working out for 2 years now. I have never consistently worked out like that in my life. I don't think. Anyway, they say that if you workout during pregnancy that you won't feel as many aches and pains and that it will make labor and delivery better for you, and recovery. So , i really want to try it and see if it works. I really don't want this one to be as painful as it was when i was pregnant with Tanner. So, we will have to wait and see if it works. (fingers crossed)
I am hungry. I am gonna go eat now.

{Kids and their words}

Gavin: "Mom, did you buy apple juice this time?"
Mom: "Nope, i didn't buy any."
Gavin: "You are crazy for not buying any juice. I just want juice."
He has never called me crazy before. :) It made me laugh.

Tanner loves Christmas Trees. He pronounces it just like this "dee-dee tee." When he sees a tree that looks like a Christmas tree or when he see's Christmas lights he says, "OH, dee-dee Tee". It is so cute. We love hearing him say it.

Calling all Candy Lovers...

I have been on the look out for those cinnamon bear candies for years. I haven't ran into any. Does anyone know where i can find Cinnamon Bears?! I have been wanting some for years! You know, they are those gummy, chewy, stick to your teeth, red bears that taste like cinnamon. So?? Do they exist anymore!?

{This is it...not very many!}

Bathtime.

Gavin being silly.

The HUGE donut! There is a bakery down the street that makes GIGANTIC donuts. VERY GOOD. They had tons of good stuff there. I could have bought the whole store!

The boys walking down the street with papa to watch the sunset. The sunsets there are sooooooo beautiful! The sky is an orange, gold, bronze, firey color. Not like anything.

This is all i have from Thanksgiving! haha. My mom has a lot of pics. One night we had a little dance night. We played a bunch of up beat songs and danced crazily all through the house.

My dad burns the end of corks and makes it so they can put crazy black marks on their faces like Indians. They did that and loved it.

We ate TONS of yummy and fattening food. My weight went up a few pounds just in that week and a half.

We talked a lot to Uncle Brion on skype. He is in Europe studying abroad.

Now i need to figure out how to get video clips onto the computer. :)

Christmas Greeting Cards...

Well, i finally finished my Christmas greeting cards. I originally had planned to handmake them. I finished a few and then realized that i procrastinated the other 20 up until now. I knew i couldn't do them in time. So, i decided to make digi cards. I usually like the handmade ones i do b/c they seem more original and made with more love. Well, i proved myself wrong. I really feel like this one(made in photoshop) is original and made with just as much love as my handmade ones. :) I've been meaning to make some of my own style of baby announcements and greeting cards for months and months and months, but just haven't gotten around to it. Well, this has motivated me. :)
As for my family, i know you've been waiting for me to post pictures. Well, i was going to post our Christmas Greeting card, but i can't do that! It will give it all away and take away from the enjoyment of first seeing it. :) Sorry. BUT i am getting ready to post a few pics i took over Thanksgiving, which isn't much of anything, but it will have to do, right?! :)

{Coming soon...promise}

More about Thanksgiving...

I am very proud of myself. This Thanksgiving i did majority of the cooking and let my mom sit back and relax for once. :) I cooked the Turkey, the stuffing, the rolls, the wassail, and the green bean casserole. My dad did 2 sides and the only thing my mom had to be in charge of was the potatoes. I really enjoyed cooking. It was lots of fun. It is especially nice when i have nice utensils and pots and pans. It makes it easier. I am now determined to invest in a few really good cutting knives. Their knives were so sharp that i could cut any vegetable with extreme ease. That is my next purchase. I LOVE cutting and chopping food IF i have a good knife. :)

Black Friday morning Shane got up a little before 5:00 a.m. to go to Wal-Mart to get a few things. He came home with a few things for our house and for the boys. Well, when i woke up we decided to go back. We came home with a few more things that time as well. It was fun. It is funny how early people get up to go shopping! I did a little shopping online! I obviously need sweaters. Well, there was no point in buying sweaters since i am pregnant and can't even wear them. So, i decided to do some maternity sweater shopping. They had pretty good deals on GAP(a site i frequently visit in search of good deals). I bought a few sweaters and just got them yesterday. I like them a lot. :) My stomach is sticking out, but the maternity sweaters still look baggy on me. I have to wear them though b/c i don't have winter sweaters and it is getting in the 20's now. :) yikes.

We had our annual Texas Hold'em tournament. It was me, Shane, my dad, Stephen, my cousin and his wife, playing. My dad gave the winner $40, second place $20, and third got $10. I got second place this time. Last year i won first! I am pretty good at this gambling thing. :) haha.

Well, my next post i will be sure to put up some pictures. My mother-in-law reminded me that it is about time i put up some pictures. :) I agree. I think i will have to post some later! :) I am kind of mad at myself b/c i didn't take ANY pics over Thanksgiving. I used our camcorder though. I might have to put up some live action from that too. :)

Our drive home...

Ugghhh...What can i say. First of all, in the past we have hated going through Chicago b/c the traffic has been horrible, but the past few times we have gone through we haven't had to sit in traffic. So the next thing to hit us in Chicago is Tanner's car sickness. He vomitted on the way to Minnesota and on the way home as well. As soon as we hit Chicago he gets sick and vomits about 3-4 times. Poor kid. I feel bad for him. I kind of felt bad for myself, but when your kid is sick you have to help him even if you feel like absolute CRUD yourself. I just about puked again. I get car sick too. Plus i am nauseated throughout the day with morning sickness. Then when i have to help my child puke in a bag, looking down and over at him(if you get car sick you know you mainly have to look out the window otherwise you get sick) well, you get the picture. The rest of the trip i was miserable. Now, don't feel sorry for us. I am not telling this for you to feel sorry for us. This is just our story. I want to remember it. :) Me sitting in between both of the carseats is uncomfortable enough. I am squished. On top of that Gavin started gagging when he saw Tanner puke. He is a gagger. He gets it from his daddy. :) Anyway, i thought at first that he was going to vomit too. I was about to have a total and complete breakdown. Oh what a day. Oh what a ride. At that moment i decided we will not drive again. Of course i will change my mind as soon as i can forget that feeling. So far, our traveling definitely hasn't been as memorably good as i remember when i was a kid! :) Maybe when they are a bit older! :)
Aside from that, we had a great Thanksgiving with my family. It was so much fun. I didn't want to leave. We ended up staying a day longer than we originally planned b/c we didn't want to go home yet. :) Thanks mom and dad! :)