Halloween~

For Halloween I had to work so I decided to wear my costume. I was a little nervous about it because its so morbid, but it turned out to be a hit! I had 2 different customers actually take a picture of me, plus a lot more told me how much they loved it. One person said that we should make a bunch and sell it because we'd probably make good money off it. Pretty funny. After I got off work, Russ and I went up to Ashley and Wes' house and had pizza, played some games, and watch a scary movie. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the family. We watched "the eye" which was a pretty scary movie. It was fun to watch my mom get really scared and hold her hand to her face the whole time just in case she needed to cover her eyes. I think everyone was a little nervous with that movie. Pretty fun night!!!
!!HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Evans Halloween Party

On Monday night we had our Halloween party with the Evans family. Russ had a great costume idea for me. He was so excited that he made the costume for me-sowing and all. He went to the DI and found a cabbage patch doll and took it apart and sowed it on some elastics that went around my belly. He used his work shirt, cut holes and added blood. It definitely was a hit!! Russ looked pretty scary himself!! He had to take off the mask during the party so he didn't scare all the little kids. At the party we had a nice dinner and played lots of games. It was so fun to see all the fun costumes, especially the cute kids.

Pap pop with Kimball

Rich, Lisa, and Family

Mindy and Cierra

Russ and Lexy

Chris, Cierra, and Gavin

Russ, Gavin, and Hagen

This week I have hit week 30! Actually its really week 31, but I went to the Dr. last week and she was measuring 29 inches, so I'm going with that. My due date is Dec. 27th, but I still want to go over into January so I'll give a week or so to the time line. The time is going pretty quick which is good. I feel like I've been really spoiled because this pregnancy is going so smooth. Whitney is a very active baby which brings me comfort. It also makes me laugh that every time I snuggle up to Russ, she just kicks him in the back making it impossible for him to sleep. Hee hee!! Another thing that drives her crazy is when I lean up against the table at work. No fail, that girl just kicks away at it until I'm not touching it anymore. Lately its been a lot of fun to get ready for this baby. My mom, my sisters, and I, have done craft nights every so often and have put together some beaded binky holders, blankets, and burp cloths. I'm still working to finish my quilt for whit as well. That's been a lot of fun getting together to do that. Especially cause Russ has been super busy with school. Last week he had the whole week off for winter break and spent everyday, all day and even into the late night doing his 40 page report that's 50% of his grade. Also he has to do a slide show on that report and present it to his class for a 10 min. presentation. This is all due tomorrow along with a test in another class that he's got to study for tonight. It seems like a lot of stress the poor guy. Glad its him and not me. It makes me tired just thinking about it. He's a trooper though, and lucky for me he's still a sweetheart amidst the stress.
I'm excited for the next couple of weeks because I start having my baby showers and we're also going to St. George for the air show. I love having things to look forward to because it makes time go quicker and keeps me busy. By all means I dont want to wish this pregnancy away cause being pregnant is enjoyable-at least at this stage :)- but Russ and I just cant wait to have our little girl snuggling with us and to finally see what she looks like. Plus its going to be nice to fit into all my cloths again and to have all my moving abilities back again! :)

Right now I’m in my 24rd week and I can feel the baby just getting bigger and bigger. It’s been really fun to feel her kick me. She’s big enough that Russ is feeling her kick too. I’m about six months now and already it seems like I’ve been pregnant forever. I just can’t wait to see what this little girl looks like. Although I’m really enjoying being pregnant so I shouldn’t wish time away. Russ had his birthday on Aug. 11. We had a fun party with the family and close friends. It’s always fun to watch him play with all the nieces and nephews. He was giving all the little kids a fast ride in a little toy dump truck. He took off so fast that I swear he was going to leave the kids behind in the dust. But they loved it. My mom and I made home made ice cream, which is so yummy, and cupcakes that Russ requested. It was a fun time. He’s now 27!!! Monday the 25th he started school at the U of U again. He’s pretty happy with his classes, which is good. I can’t believe that we’ll have a little one once this semester ends. Then after that, one more semester and he’ll have his Masters. He’s a hard worker and dedicated. I love that about him. I am back at Wells Fargo on 94th and 7th in Sandy. It’s a great branch and I’m enjoying it. I’m only doing 25-30 hrs which is a change for me. I think during this pregnancy it’s really nice to have less hours of work and more time to relax. I’m just not as energized all day long like I was before and the extra sleep is really helpful. My mom and I have a couple of projects that we’re doing that keeps us busy. Right now we are working on little Whitney’s quilt. I had a hay day at Joann’s the other day and found the cutest material. I think this is going to be a great project to keep me occupied while Russ is doing his many hours of homework. When I get further a long with it I’ll post a picture.

IT'S A GIRL

Russ and I just found out 2 weeks ago that we are going to have a little Christmas baby girl that's due Dec. 27th! I’ll have to recap all that has happen in the last few months since I’m horrible at keeping up to date on this blog. This last spring and summer we’ve been very busy. Russ got his bachelors in Mechanical Engineering this spring and now only has one year left to finish the combined program for his masters. He’s worked hard and I’m so proud of him. This past May we had the chance to watch 3 adorable kids-Packer, Hannah, and Kimball. For those who don’t know, they are Russ’ brother Rich and Lisa’s kids. They went to Israel for 18 days in May so we were able to stay at their house and watch them. Russ and I still worked during the day but we had them the rest of the time. It was a lot of fun, yet a lot of work. We now have a small idea of what is coming in the next few years. During the time we watched them a lot of people made the comment that this experience would be a good form of birth control, but little did they know that it was too late for that. Russ and I found out that we were expecting in the first part of May. It was a little tough for me to be nauseous with 3 kids, working full time, Russ getting sick in bed for a week, and on top of all that, we had to speak in church! Reality check-it was a hard one. I don’t know how those working moms do it! I was lucky that Lisa before she left did all the babysitter planning for the day time while we were at work. I can’t imagine trying to find a babysitter for eight hours a day, 5 days a week. Plus the cost for that!! Ouch! It was a lot of fun to see ourselves in the parent roll before we are actually parents. Thank goodness they come one at a time. After they got back from their trip Russ and I left 2 days later to Hawaii again. Russ started another house out there and this time I got to go. We were thinking that we’d be out there about a month but it ended up being 2 months.

Our Hawaii Trip

Well we got on the plane and I lasted almost through the whole flight without being sick…..almost. We were just landing in Maui when I just couldn’t take it anymore and threw up on the plane. How embarrassing! The poor lady next to me must have been thrilled to be sitting next to me. On top of that the bag that I used leaked and it spilled all over my pants and sweater. I just wanted to cry. For the first couple of weeks we stayed in this really nice place that had a huge master bathroom with a nice tub shower in the ground and a nice huge bed with a TV-it was paradise. It had a pool and was really close to the ocean. But a few weeks later that condo was rented out and we had to move to a house. It was the house from heck!!! It had no air conditioner, a million bugs in it which only bit me and little tiny ants all over the kitchen!! I’ll just tell you I threw up a lot in that house. With my new super sonic smelling nose I have being pregnant, every smell in that hot house made me sick. Especially the kitchen sink. I had to get up really early to do the dishes so I could do it with out dealing with the heat and I covered my nose so the smell wouldnt be as bad. It was pretty miserable. I felt bad for Russ more than I did myself because he had to go to work in the heat than come home to a house that was hotter inside it then it was outside of it. It was a heat trap. It was really close to the beach though and there was a swimming pool to use across the street. After a few weeks there we were thrilled to leaving that place never to return again. The last place we stayed was a lot better but by this time we just wanted to get back home to our family and friends. Russ and his guys worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week to get done fast so we could go home as soon as possible. We missed everyone and we felt like we were missing a lot. Holidays, Birthdays, family get togethers, and Kristy and Ashley (my sisters) both had their babies so I was anxious to get home to see them. Kristy’s little girl was born in June and Ashley’s little girl was born in July, just a couple of days before we made it home. We finally finished up in Hawaii and made it home......but here’s the fun part about it- No one knew that I was pregnant!!!!

How we announced!

Well Russ’ parents came to the airport and I wore a tighter shirt so they would notice. Luckily I was just about out of the 1st trimester so I didn’t get too sick on the plane ride home!! Yay! We walked outside where they were waiting and greeted them at the van but they just didn’t look at my belly. Granted I wasn’t huge at this point but I’ll tell ya, to me I felt big enough to notice. But Russ finally said to them, pointing to my belly, look what else we brought home. Funny enough I was holding Hawaii boxes of chocolates so they still didn’t notice. Finally he said “We brought home a little baby”! They were really excited! Now this is how we told my mom which was a scream. First of all I have to admit that I flat out lied to her about being pregnant because she kept asking while I was gone and I wanted to surprise her. So she had no idea. Plus I told her that we were going to be in Maui a couple weeks longer than what we really were planning on. When we landed in Salt Lake I even called her and was saying that I was on the beach while Russ was working a half day- again flat out lying..hee hee! Well Ash was still in the hospital with her new baby and my mom was going over to visit, so her and I came up with this plan. Ashley actually knew that I was pregnant. I had told her so I could have someone to ask questions to if I needed. I came to the hospital and Wes (Ashley’s husband) found a wheelchair and a gown for me to use. I put in on and sat down while Wes gathered the family in their room. Russ rolled me into the room and when seen by everyone said “oh oops wrong room” and started to roll back like we were going to leave. The look on my mom’s face was hilarious. She was the only one that didn’t know I was back. She was really confused. We then said "suprise we are back..." then I got up and said " ....and I have another surprise for you" and took off the gown and showed her my belly and told her I was pregnant. She said “no your not”. “Yes I am”. “No your not, there’s no way, are you kidding me, no way”!! I think it took her half the day to have it actually sink in that I was really pregnant! Her face was priceless. I called the doctor when I got back and was able to get in 3 days later for our first appointment. I was a little nervous because we hadn’t seen a doctor and I was already 15 or 16 weeks. We went in and since it was so far a long we were able to see the sex! I was hoping for that. Actually we found out that I was 17 and half weeks along, so more than I expected! Dec. 27th is the due date!!! I am hoping to have her a little bit early or a week or two late so she’s not born right at Christmas time. That would be a hard birthday time of year. But we’ll see! We’ve decided on the name Whitney but I’m still trying to pick out a good middle name that goes with it. We’re pretty excited!!! So far other than those couple of weeks being sick, I’ve really enjoyed being pregnant. Ever since seeing the baby with the ultra sound and hearing its heart beat it’s been a lot more fun because it seems more real to us now.