Christmas Time

We had such an amazing Christmas this year!  We went to Evanston and got to spend almost two weeks with my family.  Everyone was home this year so it was a lot of fun.  One of my favorite things that we got to do was go down to Salt Lake and see the lights on temple square as a family.  The lights are so beautiful and Calvin loved them!  We have gotten a laugh over how much he has loved to stare at Christmas lights all through this Christmas season.  It was cold while we were there, but we bundled up and had a really good time.  Christmas day was a lot of fun, we opened presents, went to church, had a great dinner, and played games with the family all evening.  The family got a game called, "Run For Your Life, Candyman", it is like the old Candyland game but a lot more fun! We played it several times with everyone while we were there.  Nathan and I weren't going to spend much on each other for Christmas this year, but Nathan surprised me by getting me a really nice coat and some perfume, what a nice husband!  I bought Calvin a little coat too, and it actually matches mine... which wasn't planned but worked out really nicely!

Calvin is such a good and happy baby!  Over Christmas we made three trips down to Utah and he was amazing each time!  He loves to ride in his car seat and usually falls right to sleep.  He was a huge hit at my family's house, he never got put down.  He is starting to become much more alert, he stays up for longer periods of time and is always wide eyed and looking around at everything.  He smiles all the time and has even giggled a couple times while awake (he giggles all the time while he is asleep... it is the cutest thing ever).  He has starting sucking on his thumb and fingers when he can get them to his mouth, which takes him some effort since he still doesn't have great control.  We weighed him the day after Christmas and he was already 12.5 pounds, almost double his birth weight... yikes.
We loved our first Christmas with our little baby boy, I just keep thinking how incredibly blessed I am to have him and Nathan in my life.  I love my beautiful little family!

Temple Square:

Warming up in the visitor's center

Rosy nose and rosy cheeks... What a little angel.

Still in love and so cute!

Calvin loves the lights

The whole family

At home:

Playing games

Calvin sucking his thumb with Uncle Todd

Loves his new hat from Grandma

Dork face

Christmas morning hair

Loves his Grandpa

Nap time with Aunt Kendra

Watching a movie with Grandpa

Slow Down!

 I honestly can't believe how big my baby is already!  I was looking at pictures from just one month ago and he doesn't even look like the same baby.  It is going by so fast, he isn't my tiny little newborn anymore.  I'm sad he is getting bigger, but I'm also really excited.  He just keeps getting more and more adorable and funny.  I can't wait for all of his little milestones.  He is already starting to smile really big and sometimes he even giggles (usually in his sleep).  We LOVE this beautiful little boy.


These pictures show a good contrast of how much he has changed in the last month.  He is four days old in the first two pictures and almost six weeks old in the second two pictures.  Since he is in the same bouncy chair you can get a good idea of the size difference... and he is definitely filling out and getting that chubby baby look.

Here are some of my favorite recent pictures of Calvin:

The picture on the left is Calvin sitting on the floor beside the dryer.  He absolutely loves to sit and listen to the dryer... and it doesn't hurt when I need to get some things done either.  I love the look on his face in this picture too... what a dork.    

This could possibly be my favorite picture of all time.  He is such a happy baby, and so CUTE!!! His little smiles just melt my heart!

Pregnancy Highlights

So, I did not get many pictures of myself during pregnancy... and almost no belly pictures, which is definitely not a bad thing in my opinion.  However, there are some moments from my pregnancy that I want to remember... so here are some of the highlights. 

9 Weeks

Telling my parents that I was pregnant was a lot of fun, this is their first grandchild so they were really excited!!! We bought a white onesie and wrote, "I Love My Grandma" on it with puff paint and gave it to my mom in a gift bag.  My mom and sister were ecstatic!  My brothers were excited too... on the inside anyway haha.

Baby Shower

My best friends threw me a beautiful baby shower in August.  It was so much fun to see all of them and it turned out so amazing.  I have such wonderful friends!  

 Here are some of the only belly pictures that I did take.  I wanted to make sure and get at least a couple pictures of the big belly to show Calvin someday.  I have two pictures from 39 weeks... only one week before he was born.  It is crazy to think that my cute little Calvin was inside my belly and about ready to come out!

33 Weeks

39 Weeks.  One Week Before Delivery

39 Weeks.  One Week Before Delivery

Nathan's Birthday Weekend

This year for Nathan's birthday weekend we went and stayed in Evanston with my family.  We drove down early on Friday and went to the Evanston homecoming football game where we got to watch my brother play.  On Saturday my dad drove us down to Salt Lake to go to the afternoon session of General Conference.  We went with my brothers, Todd and Nathan, while my dad and sister hung out around Salt Lake.  It was a great session and, as always, a great experience to see it live!  After conference we went to Park City and ate at Cafe Rio.  When we got home that night we celebrated Nathan's birthday with cupcakes and he got to open a present.  He thought very hard about his wish, so I hope it was a good one.  I think Nathan's favorite part of his whole birthday was getting to smash his face in his cupcake.  Sunday morning we drove home to have dinner and hang out with Nathan's family.  Overall it was a really great weekend!

Fun with my brothers... the "cool" pose?

Thanks Nathan

I'm glad I have a husband that makes me laugh...

22 Weeks

22 Weeks and counting!  Only 18 weeks left (approximately)!  I pretty much went from my normal size to whale size over a period of about two days.  It is really weird!  One day there was no bump, now it is huge and continuing to grow.  

We had our "It's a boy" ultrasound and the doctor said he has long skinny legs and a Buddha belly... so pretty much an exact replica of Nathan when he was a baby.  

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I was looking forward to summer break so Nathan and I could see more of each other but it kind of went the opposite direction!  Nathan and I have both been extremely busy the last few weeks.  I've been working 9:00-1:00, going to TA at the UW photo lab from 1:00-4:30, going to work out, then finally going home!  Whereas Nathan's schedule is work from 5:45-8:00 in the morning, doing the insanity workout at his parents from 8:30-9:30, working melaleuca during the day, work at the ARK from 4:00-8:00, and then softball games, basketball, meetings, etc. almost every night!  So we basically spend about one hour together in the evening before bed and that is it!  I guess this is good practice for next year when we'll both have full time school, jobs, and a baby.  We'll be a family of strangers!

Maternity Shopping

Today Nathan and I went down to Cheyenne to get some pregnancy clothes for me!  In the Motherhood Maternity store they provide a baby bump that you can try on to see how the clothes will fit.  Nathan and I had a lot of fun trying on our baby bellies.  I must say that Nathan makes a much more attractive pregnant person than I do.  Then we hung out with Sam and the kids for awhile.  And of course we took a ton of pictures of Carlee!  We're both getting a little bit worried that the more time we spend with Carlee, the uglier our baby is going to look to us when it is born!

Nathan's pregnant belly

A little lumpy, but it is the right idea.

Connor passed out

Cutest girl ever!!!

A Fun Visit

My brothers Kevin and Todd came down to Laramie for a visit.  Kevin just got done with a semester at BYU-Idaho and Todd was on spring break.  We went bowling, they helped me work on my young women's lesson (which was more fun than it sounds), and just hung out at our house.  It was a lot of fun having them here, they obeyed all the guest rules and didn't make Nathan mad too much of the time haha.  

Nathan doesn't like sharing the love-sac

Awww...