To The One I Love...

Wow, I can hardly believe that it has been four years since I married the love of my life. It has gone by so fast but when I think back on all the many experiences that we have gone through, it amazes me what we have accomplished together in such a short amount of time.

I recently came to the realization that we have experienced a lot of "4s" together. The most obvious one being "4" wonderful years of marriage, full of laughter, some sorrow and a lot of change for both of us. Then there have been the "4" cars that we have owned (2 of which have been totalled), "4" pregnancies (2 painful miscarriages followed by our beautiful daughter Abby and our "soon-to-be" baby boy), we have lived in "4" different states (Utah, Texas, Arizona and now Maryland), and we have survived "4" major job changes (Baker Botts, Intel, Conco-Phillips and Citi.)

Now as we prepare to add the "4th" member to our little family, it makes me very excited to see what our "4"-ever has in store. I am so eternally grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knew exactly what He was doing when He sent you to me. I love you Jason, more than words can even begin to say. Happy Anniversary!!!

Random Post

I was sick of opening the blog and seeing those preggo pictures of me. I think I much prefer pictures of Abby since she is such a little cutie so here's a few new ones from right after her birthday...






And a few interesting tidbits about me that I stole from a friend's blog...

Two names you go by:
1. Dade (only Jason and my sister Tasha call me this)
2. Mommy (only Abby calls me this so far:)

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. Khakis
2. Yellow shirt

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Workout
2. Laugh with Jason & Abby

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. Ice cream
2. Spring

Two favorite pets you have had/have
1. Dog, Buffie
2. Dog, Gizmo (I've had many pets, but these were definitely my two favorite)

Two things you did last night
1. Watched "Lamb of God" (Abby loves any book/movie about "Jesus" and was compeltely enthralled my this movie and was very disappointed when it was over)
2. Slept

Two things you ate today
1. Cheerios
2. PB&J sandwich

Two people you last talked to:
1. Abby
2. Several women from playgroup this morning (can't remember who the last one was)

Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Going to the gym
2. My last monthly doctor's appointment (can't believe I'm already going to every 2-week appointments)

Two longest car rides:
1. Utah to Texas (Texas is HUGE)
2. Texas to Maryland (Texas wasn't so huge this time since we were traveling East)

Two favorite holidays:
1. Christmas
2. 4th of July (I know my friend Rachel wouldn't agree, but it just reminds me of summer which I LOVE)

Two favorite beverages:
1. Water
2. Fresca

Abby's Birthday #2

We had a great time celebrating Abby's birthday together as a family. After Jason came home from work, we had her put on this little headband that said "Birthday Princess" and she wore it for the rest of the night. I really thought it would only last for a couple of pictures, but she loved it and didn't want to take it off.


Then we had her open up her gifts which she loved doing. She got a new tricycle, a Little People doll house, some clothes, a play phone and some cards/giftcards. I think you will probably be able to tell from the video, but her favorite gift was a singing "Barney." She is really into Barney lately (we have Gold's Gym to thank for that one) but it really is quite cute to listen to her sing "The Barney Song." The only bad/good thing is that Barney really isn't that popular anymore so we had a tough time finding anything Barney related but we were lucky and found this little Barney doll at Toys 'R Us and it has become the new "gotta have it" toy around our house since she opened it up.





After presents, we took her to Chuck E. Cheese. We learned the last time that we were there that the food is pretty nasty so we just played the games and then ate at a place called "Garfield's" nearby. Abby loved Chuck E. Cheese this time, especially the pony ride and the Barney car (of course!) She also played a pretty mad game of Skee-Ball, but was rather menacing as she threw the ball up the ramp instead of rolling it.
After dinner, we came home, ate some ice cream and her cookie cake. We put a candle with the #2 on her cake which she thought was great. That was until we actually lit it, and then she became terrified of the dancing flame. Once the candle was blown out though, she really enjoyed the cookie part.

It was a pretty low-key birthday, but very enjoyable and non-stressful for mom and dad which was great. Happy Birthday lil' one!!

Happy Birthday Abby!!!

I cannot believe our "baby" is now 2 years old!! She has brought so much joy and love into our lives and we cannot wait to see what her future holds. We love you lil' munchkin and we hope you have a wonderful day today...

OUR BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!

(This is her new cheesy grin. I just love it!!)

We're baaaaack!!!

Wow, it has been a really long time since my last post. I know all of my fans have been anxiously awaiting my reports about our exciting lives in Hagerstown, MD so here's a rundown of the most interesting details of the last month or so...

1-I celebrated my 28th birthday on January 18th. Jason kept trying to make me feel old, saying I was now in my "late twenties," but to no avail, I still feel really young. I think part of that stems from feeling really good and having friends who are all in their 30's. Plus, no matter how old I get, I will always be younger than my "almost 30-year-old" hubby!!

2-Two days after my birthday we headed to Colorado for a two-week visit with my family. Abby got sick within a day of arriving with her very first ear infection and bronchitis, so needless to say, the first week was rather miserable with a very sick and clingy toddler. But the second week she was feeling a lot better and we had a good visit.

3-I had my 24-week doctor's appointment right after we got back and have officially gained some weight now. I am up about 4 pounds which I won't complain about since I am now about 6 months pregnant. I definitely look more pregnant too, but thanks to the "tummy sleeve", I can still wear most of my pre-pregnancy pants. Our baby is doing well and enjoys playing trampoline on my bladder at night. And I think we will have another full head of hair on this baby too if my heartburn is any indication.

4-Shortly after arriving home from Colorado, Jason's parents came for a visit. Jason's dad had a work meeting nearby so his mom decided to come along and pay us a visit. It was fun to show them around our home and area. We also got to visit Gettysburg and spend some time with two of Jason's uncles who live in Virginia which was fun. The weather wasn't the greatest, but about as good as you can expect for winter. Abby had a lot of fun playing with Grandpa and asked about them for several days after they left on Saturday.

And that pretty much takes us to today, where we are snowed in (actually iced in would be a more accurate term.) I don't mind driving in snow, but ice is a whole other story. We got all ready to go to the gym, and then I discovered (after slipping on the ice several times on my way out to the car) that I couldn't open the doors as they were all frozen shut. I figured I could spend 30 minutes trying to de-ice the car, or I could just bag it and do my exercises in the basement. I'm sure you can guess which option won out. Abby especially enjoyed helping me with my bench-press exercises, otherwise known as "Abby presses." Since she now weighs about 25-pounds, it was a good workout for my arms too.

Interesting sidenote: Abby really enjoyed voting last night. We took her to our polling place where everyone went ga-ga over her and she even got to help daddy press the buttons to cast his ballot in Maryland's primary. She even got some stickers that said "I voted" and she went around the rest of the night saying "I vote." Gotta start 'em early, right?

We're glad to be back, and hopefully you'll be hearing from me more regularly now. We have a busy week ahead with Valentine's Day and then Abby's birthday (I cannot believe she is almost two!!!) so hopefully we will have a lot of pictures to share. Until then, here's a slideshow of some of my favorite pictures from our Colorado trip...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The BIG Ultrasound

We went in for our big ultrasound yesterday and had a great experience. My sister Tasha was able to be there with us which made it even more special. Abby really enjoyed seeing the baby again and was extremely fascinated by it (at least for the first 10-15 minutes or so.) After checking everything and doing all the measurements, we found out that we have a pretty perfect looking baby growing inside of me. Here are a few pictures of our ultrasound (we don't have a scanner so I had to take pictures of the shots, hence the quality is not the greatest, but I still think you can see most everything)...

We have a foot...

And a hand...
And of course, a baby!!
We also had a few 3-D pictures taken which were pretty neat to see. Here is a face shot of our little bundle of joy with its hands up near its head, just chillin' in the womb.

And the big money shot....(I think you can all probably tell what we are having without me having to actually spill the beans!!)

We are really excited to be having a little boy. It will take some getting used to after being around mostly girls my entire life, but it should be a lot of fun. And it will be really nice to have one of each, which definitely takes the pressure off of having to keep trying for the one missing gender!!

I was a little worried going into the ultrasound that everything would be okay. Everyone told me that I would start showing sooner since this was baby #2. Not only am I not showing sooner, I'm hardly showing at all (even my doctor seemed a bit surprised at how small I still was for being almost 5 months pregnant.) I haven't gained any weight and am still wearing all of my normal clothes, so needless to say, I was a little worried that the baby wasn't growing right. After the ultrasound though, my worries were greatly relieved. In fact, the baby is measuring 10 days ahead of my actual due date which puts us at an unofficial due date of May 21 (Jason's birthday.) Jason was pretty excited about that, but I still have a feeling this baby will be like his big sister and make us wait a while for his grand entrance.

After seeing such a healthy (and extremely active) little baby in there, we are even more excited about welcoming him into our family. We're halfway there!!!

Goodbye 2007!!!

I cannot believe that today is the last day of 2007. This year has gone by so quickly! It has been a year of many changes, a lot of ups, a few downs, but overall a pretty good year for our family. I am really excited about 2008 though. I have a thing about even years. It seems like all the really good things in my life have happened during even years (birth-1980, high school graduation-1998, mission call-2000, marriage-2004, BYU graduation-2004, Abby's birth-2006, birth of baby #2-2008.) I just think even years are great so I'm excited to see what 2008 has in store for us.

Since it is the last day of the year, I thought that I had better post some pictures of our first Christmas at home. We had a great time and it was fun to be able to spend it together as just the three of us. It is crazy to think that next year there will be four!

Here is Abby acting out her part as Mary as we read the Christmas story from Luke 2.

Here she is in her one-woman show, also playing a shepherd with her lone "sheep".

Abby opening up her pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Wow, new slippers too!!Modeling her new pajamas and slippers.Christmas morning...Abby absolutely loves her new kitchen set and cabbage patch doll and plays with them everyday now.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!