And the official countdown begins!

Well it's official- we're down to one month before D-day. I'll be totally honest though, this little girl is due on the 6th of January, which just so happens to be the day that David starts back up at school after Christmas. So I am hoping and praying and hoping some more that all the stories of first time moms going way past their due date doesn't apply to me! I would much rather daddy be around and not have to worry about school or other commitments for a few days at least! We'll see though! As long as she's happy and healthy, I guess I can't complain.

I would say we're getting pretty adjusted to Arizona life, although we went to a Christmas concert this afternoon and it was wonderful! Totally got me in the Christmas spirit, that was until it was over and we walked outside and the 75 degree weather totally ruined it. Haha, I don't know if I'll ever get used to a warm Christmas entirely, but that's okay!

David's been busy busy with school, and I've been working part time, but we've found time to do some fun things! David's school had a white coat ceremony where they symbolically welcomed him into the medical profession- I guess it's the thing to do these days, but it was fun! His dad and my parents were able to come out and we got to spend the weekend with them, yay family!

We had a fun halloween as well, We carved pumpkins although they didn't last very long with the heat, but it was okay! They were cute while they lasted

Midwestern gives it's students a 3 week Thanksgiving break, so November was absolutely wonderful for us! We started out by celebrating my birthday, nothing too crazy, just a nice dinner and some presents :) We also took not one but two trips back up to Utah, as well as a trip to Sedona and to Las Vegas!

The first trip to Utah was for a wonderful baby shower where we had tons of support from our friends and family! It was so fun! We were able to see most everyone (if we missed you, sorry!!) and it was great.

The trip to Vegas counted as our "babymoon" our last biggish trip as a couple before baby comes and changes everything! It was way fun. We stayed in the Luxor, ate delicious food, saw a show and just enjoyed the sites! As part of my birthday, David took me to see the Siegfried and Roy animal garden, where they have lions, leopards and my two favorite animals of all time, the white tiger and dolphins! It was so fun! I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Vegas anytime soon. Its a little spendy, but then again what isn't in that town... haha

Viva!

We were close enough to get splashed!

We just took a day trip up to Sedona, which is about a two hour drive north from us, it's basically Arizona's version of Zion's in my opinion, and absolutely beautiful. David convinced me to do a couple of small hikes and we drove around and saw some spectacular views

We were originally planning to just stay in Phoenix and have our own Thanksgiving because I was a little worried about travelling at 34 weeks and work conflicts, but after the go ahead from my doctor and a work schedule that magically worked out, we decided to head back up to Utah and spend it with my family! We drove to St. George, and then carpooled with my mom to Northern Utah and had Thanksgiving with all of her family. It was really fun, and all of us siblings were able to be there which was way nice!

Now, we're back and getting so excited for Christmas! We are definitely sticking around here this time because baby girl could just decide to show up here any day! Although I still have a month to go, I'm already starting to get antsy and freak myself out about making sure everything is ready. I'm nearly there I think. We took some pre-baby classes at the hospital, the nursery is about halfway ready, we have the carseat and the stroller, and the crib is on its way, and my hospital bag is packed with the absolute essentials, just in case... haha. Now to just decide on a name for this little princess... haha we'll see if that happens, but chances are it'll be when we see her.

I can't believe we're winding down to her being here! I'm definitely in that, "Oh I still have so much time, but holy cow I really don't" phase, so I'm just trying to enjoy what I can while I still can. Honestly, I don't have much to complain about this pregnancy, its definitely had its downs, but compared to the horror stories I've heard, I've definitely had it pretty good,

As an end note, here are some maternity shots my dear friend Natalie took for us! She is so amazing with the pictures she takes, and managed to make me look good although I feel like a cow these days. :)

Next post, who knows, may be filled with baby pictures! Either that or me ranting to the world how ready I am for her to finally get here. Haha, only time will tell! Until next time!

A summer to remember!

Well this past summer has marked a lot of ends and tons of new beginnings, its hard to pick where to start! I guess we'll just head in chronological order and go from there! So in April, David graduated from BYU in Biology. It was kind of a cheat graduation because he hadn't officially finished all his classes, but they let him walk, because we wouldn't be around for him to walk in August. So his family came out, and mine did too, and we just celebrated all of his accomplishments! He achieved quite a feat, coming out with such a high GPA, I definitely admire his dedication and hard work to get all the way through!

 

 Right around that same time at the end of April, we received some more happy happy news, that we were expecting again! It was a very personal decision for us, but we decided that it would be best for us to start trying for another baby sooner rather than later after losing Audrey, so it wasn't too big of a shock, but we were and are super delighted to welcome this new addition to our family at the beginning of the year!

I told David by bringing him cinnamon rolls in bed with the positive test and a note saying that we had our own little "bun in the oven!" I thought it was pretty clever, and he was so excited!

 This time around I've definitely been a lot more paranoid about things :/, but luckily, I've had some great doctors who've made sure I've gotten lots of attention, and care, and so far everything looks great! We found out fairly early on that we're having another girl, and she's looking as healthy as ever, with a due date of January 6, 2015, so a New Year's baby! David's kind of worried that she'll decide to come on Christmas, but I really don't think that would be the end of the world! As long as she's healthy. Since I've gotten so much attention, we've gotten to see our little girl quite a few times, here's a few snapshots!

13 weeks!

16 Weeks

20 weeks

22 weeks!

Baby bump at 22 weeks!

 I'll admit, it's been a lot harder this time around to get excited about everything, but now that I'm almost past where I made it last time around and I'm feeling her move all the time, it's slowly becoming more and more real! Plus I know with the holidays right around the corner, she'll be here before we know it!

This summer also marked the end of our Provo/Utah days as we prepared to move to Arizona for David to go to dental school. We kind of were in a weird transition, we sold our contract in Provo at the end of June, but we didn't need to be in Arizona until the end of August, so we had two months of kind of a limbo period where we stayed with my parents and just kind of hung out. It was actually really nice, it was the first and probably one of the only times where David was out of school with nothing to do, and I wasn't working, so we had a whole two months to just be together and do fun things! We took tons of trips, went to a couple of family reunions and just hung out! We were actually able to go to all five National Parks in Utah, as well as Goblin Valley, Cedar Breaks, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. We hiked and camped and explored, all favorite things of ours so it was really great. We took tons of pictures, but here are a couple just to give you an idea. :)

Angel's Landing- Zion National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Yellowstone!

Delicate Arch

Kolob Cayon, Zion National Park

Canyonlands National Park

 After all of our Utah adventures, we actually split up for a week, I went to Wisconsin to see my sister, Tess get married, and David went to Oregon to see his family. I drove with my parents to Wisconsin, which was super long and full of corn, not too exciting, haha. But it was for a great cause and I got to be a bridesmaid and see lots of family and see my baby sister all grown up!

Mom and siblings night before the big day!

Siblings the day of, Jacob is finally taller than me!

I didn't get a ton of pictures because I was involved in lots of other things, but I'll put more up if and when I get them! But trust me, Tess was a beautiful bride!

After the wedding, I flew out to Oregon to meet up with David and see his baby brother get back from his mission and his older brother get married! We got to stay for about a week, and it was really fun

All the boys back together!

Outside the Medford Temple

After our Oregon trip we finally made it to Arizona, just in time for David to start school! We found a lovely little apartment about two miles from campus so David can bike to school. It's a two bedroom with a washer and dryer (finally!) So there's lots of space for us and our little addition here soon! Arizona has been great so far, definitely a change from Utah, the heat is the biggest thing that's taken some getting used too, but as long as you don't stay outside for too long, its bearable, people keep telling us that the winter makes it worth it, so we'll see! David's school schedule is pretty intense, so he spends the majority of his time either in class or studying. I've picked up some part time work to keep me occupied before the baby comes, so we've slowly gotten into a routine and making our schedules work so we still get some time in together!

Overall, we've been super blessed! I'm super grateful for the chances we had to see all those amazing places and to get to spend time with all our family and friends before we moved away, and I'm excited to see what Arizona has in store for us in the coming months and years! I promise I'll keep this more updated, especially in the New Year when I'll have tons of adorable pictures to post!

Thanks for reading guys, enjoy your week! Until next time!

adventures as of late!

Well the holidays have come and gone, as has the worst month of the entire year, in my opinion anyways. January is just long and cold and never seems to end, but finally its over! And we're on to the month of love.

The holidays were pretty good for us. We're trying to switch off between our families, but we'll see how long it will last. This year, we had Thanksgiving in Oregon with David's family, and Christmas with mine. Both were wonderful. We got to go to a duck football game, which was awesome. There's just something about college football that I absolutely love. It's probably what I miss most about college, is the discounted tickets for the games.


Christmas was good, we got spoiled rotten with lots of presents. :) I had to work a lot of the break, but we were able to go see my family for a couple of days, we also got to talk to this young man :) I can't believe he's been in Africa for a year and a half! Its so weird to me, but he's doing so well, and it was way awesome to talk to him.

Also, we got some super exciting news- after a long and grueling 6 months of applications and interviews, David has been accepted in Midwestern University Dental School in Glendale, AZ! We are over the moon excited. Especially me, I've lived in Provo now going on 6 years, which is the longest I've really lived anywhere so it'll be a nice change of pace, and it will be warm! All the time! David and I clash here a little bit. He grew up in the rain and I grew up in a desert, so the sun is basically the best thing ever and he's not a fan. But I keep telling him that he'll grow to love it. :)
He'll officially graduate in June from BYU and we'll be off sometime after that!

But since we're leaving the snow, we decided to go up to Midway this last weekend to see the ice castles! I had no idea what to expect, I had just heard of a ton of people going, and it sounded pretty cool, and it was! Just towering ice walls made up of icicles that you got to walk through, they even had an ice slide, but I was too scared to go, David did though, I think he had fun. :)

                                

And that pretty much brings us up to date! For Christmas David got me tickets to go see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in Las Vegas over Valentines Day weekend, so I'm so super stoked for that! I'll definitely be back to brag about it in a few weeks!

Until next time!!