So what you're saying is

I get to enjoy all the baby girl clothes that I saved AGAIN?!?!..................

That's right, the cake could have lied, but the ultrasound photos made it all too clear. There's a girl in there and she is going to have a big sister!

On Saturday night, we had our gender reveal party with our families present. It was such an exciting moment to be able to celebrate and find out together. A few people asked me if I was sure I didn't peek beforehand and know... for some weirdly, odd reason, I can keep a secret (even from myself apparently) and I like surprises enough to wait. So until that cake was cut, I was just as surprised!!!

I was team boy, Joe was team girl. Just to clarify, I was not solely "hoping" for a boy, I just assumed I would have one of each and was trying to accept that reality, too. :)

Some highlights:
-Most people were "team boy"
-David, Joe's brother, wanted us to have a boy to "feel his pain" of having a boy
-Brenna sat at the table almost the whole night eating pink and blue M&M's (where's that child's mother??!)
-My grandma tried to convince my husband most of the night to have a third.. Let's see how two is first grandma =)

A sister!!! A SISTER! A sister?! Brenna doesn't even know yet how incredibly blessed she is to have a sister!!! I always wished for and wanted a sister. To this day I find myself making an unintentional mental list of the "If-I-had-a-sister-right-now, I would.." I am seriously BLOWN AWAY at how amazing God truly is. He really does care about us so intricately that He restores and fulfills places in our lives that were hurt, broken or missing. This is one of those miracle moments! I just am filled with praise and joy and thank God for another baby girl. To watch sisterhood bloom and grow is going to melt my heart and fulfill something in my soul.

Team Boy

Team Girl

28 & Not Counting

It came so fast! The age where, in my mind, was always the "official" adult-age. So when thinking about what I wanted to do to celebrate, I wondered what a pregnant lady could do with it being winter besides just going out to dinner.  I very quickly thought of the way (who) I have great times with ---- My friends!!!

I feel like the only one whose (most) weekends are pretty quiet and lame (after 8 p.m. that is!) so I had been wanting to plan a girls night anyway. So I decided to invite my best buds over for delicious food, games and lots of catching up.

L2R: Me, Bekah, Ash, Berlynn, Brooke, Sarah, & Anna

 I forgot to take pictures of all the great stuff we ate! I was totally craving cheeses, grapes, Martinelli's, & refried beans (not all together!) so we had that and more. We played some games and I totally won

lost but we had some good laughs!!! Then they made me do what I find most embarrassing in life:

We're so old now and I do not expect gifts... Just great company! :) But it was sweet nonetheless and I felt very special. [Side Note:] Anyone else thinking what I've been thinking for months?? My hair has got to go. The color and everything... I can't stand it! I am getting it done ASAP!

Of course Joe, Brenna and my family were involved. See, for my birthday, for as long as I can remember, I always have a 3-day celebration at least! So one night my mom made me an incredible dinner and celebrated at her house too.

What a great helper!

New knife set! YEA!

She was supposed to smile like me-- haha!

Thanks mom!!!! <3

My mom also took me out to lunch the next day @ Mimi's-- One of my favorites! Joe's family took us out to Red Lobster-- Love the shrimp!

Joe was so awesome! He totally surprised me and had cleaned up my party mess the next morning while making me sleep in. He also got me new Coach Sunglasses I've been eyeing and some serving dishes (I like kitchen stuff, can you tell?) I got tons of makeup & gorgeous scarves. I had a wonderful birthday and had so much fun!!!  So, overall I'm comfortable with 28. I had always "planned" to be done having kids in my late 20's so I guess that's what God wanted for us, too! I'll be done @ 28.

*CHEERS!*

Pregnancy Update

She wanted to "feel" the baby

*PREGNANCY STATS*

STAGE: 2nd Trimester - 14 weeks
BABY SIZE: A lemon
WEIGHT GAINED: 0 pounds
FITNESS: Long walks around Daybreak
SYMPTOMS: Frequent headaches... I'll take it!
CRAVINGS: Sour candy
FASHION: Still get to enjoy my regular clothes... not for long!
TO-DO'S: Buy a comfortable bath pillow, plan a "gender reveal" party!
EXTRAS: I have felt fluttering for a couple weeks; Still no idea if it's a boy or girl; I'm surprised I started showing at 12 weeks this time instead of 20; A perfect pregnancy so far.

Brenna enjoys watching fetal videos on Joe's iphone or on the computer. She talks about wanting a sister and occasionally a brother. She plans to help "buckle him" in car seat and "rock-a-bye her".

This was actually right at 12 weeks... Not wanting to take a photo tonight!

14 weeks

Halloween-Harvest 2012

First off, we decided a week before Halloween to finally announce that we were going to have another baby to our friends! I had a great time figuring out the "perfect way" to do so, with Brenna being the deliverer. I was so relieved that my doctor appointments went well and when I saw the baby again (forgot to ask for printed pics-boo!) we felt like it was time!!!

Due Date!

My sad attempt at our own house

My happy attempt at my Grandmas!

Can't get enough of her!

I have a hard time with Halloween! It's not that I wasn't raised to participate in some way. We went to harvest parties at our church, did "trunk-or-treats" and went door-to-door. For some reason now as a mom I don't like making a big deal about Halloween. I don't decorate. I don't say "Happy Halloween Brenna!" We don't carve pumpkins or go to any witches festivities.

BUT!

I do like to have our own fun and so that's what we did. It was by far our best, most favorite Halloween yet. I also have a rule at our house that Brenna (or any of our future children) cannot dress up as something scary, evil, strange, etc. :) I had already known since last year that I wanted her to be a Utes Cheerleader and she was totally into it too. If you asked her to cheer, she would say, "Gooooo Utes!"

We started off the evening by going to my mother-in-laws work, where she is a nurse for the elderly. They all sat in the hallways, passing out candy to the little ones. Some of the people couldn't talk, some couldn't put candy into the buckets, but you could not deny the joy you saw on everyone's faces! We were so humbled and grateful that we went to Bountiful to see these wonderful people who are sometimes forgotten.

Afterwards, we headed to our church's Harvest Party. It was mind-blowing! It was huge and so well organized. We found out later that there were 2,000 kids there throughout the night. We got to take a family photo with a professional, play a plethora of games where she won plenty of candy, got her face painted, jumped in a bounce house, rode scooters, and petted animals in the petting zoo, all for free! It was a very safe, fun-filled time!

Mom, just give me some candy already!

Checking out her painted U...

She likes it!

Scooters!

Her FAVORITE part of the whole night!

Her and her friend

It wasn't too late for us to stop by Joe's grandparents like we do each year. Brenna got her "num-n-nums" (M&M's) from grandpa and we got carmel apples! My grandma was still up so we stopped by her house, too for some candy and pictures. By 8:45, you think we were done, but we weren't!

Brenna loves the lady that lives across the street from us. So we went and saw "Kimmy" and her boys, who are like 5 & 7. The were ecstatic to see Brenna and Brenna then says, "Can I come in?!".... "SURRRRE!" So in we went for almost a half hour! She picked candy out of the boys' bags (they were VERY sweet & didn't mind at all) and then talked them into getting their shoes and coats on to go see the next door neighbors lawn decorations. I was just laughing at how persuasive she truly is.

BANDIT

It was a wonderful evening and I can't even believe that next year we'll have TWO! Now..... Let the Christmas decor./music begin!!!!!!