just the two of us

"First we had each other.

Than we had you.

Now we have everything."

via

We had a realization the other night that pretty soon, it's not going to be just us anymore.

For the past 2+ years it's been just us. 

I have absolutely loved our time together and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. 

Griffin will always be my Number 1.

But I know I speak for both of us when I say that we can't wait to be a little family of 3.

And to share our time and love with a cute little boy that we brought to this world.

Come on little boy.

We're ready for you.

life is wonderful

 photo via

Wow, it's been a while. 

I have just been overwhelmed with joy for so many things, I just needed to share.

• My wonderful mother and family threw me a fantastic baby shower last weekend. Beautiful soups, and desserts were enjoyed. My beautiful friends and family came and showered baby with cute little books and booties, blankets and hats, cute little outfits. It was a wonderful day and I just won't ever forget it.

• Me and Griffin washed, dried and folded all of baby's clothes this weekend (which is a lot for someone who is not even born yet. 3 loads of laundry!) As we were going through the clothes, I kept hearing Griff say, "Well that's not cute or anything," or "It's just so tiny!" We can't seem to stop talking about our little man over here. Every once in a while, I will look over and find him just smiling at me and my (rather large) belly and he'll say, "I just want can't wait to hold him." It's just the sweetest thing and makes my (rather large) belly, and many aches and pains, less of a burden.

• Conference this weekend was just what I needed. I enjoyed every talk and hymn sung. Elder Andersen's talk about families and bearing children was just what I needed to hear. 

• I could tell you that being home all day most every day is so boring and awful but I get to take naps whenever I want, go to dinner with friends, catch up on some Grey's Anatomy on Netflix, read lots of new books, etc. It's awesome. And the change in weather is so so welcome in my book. 

• Only 1 more month left! I couldn't ask for more, unless of course our little guy decided to come today...just sayin. 

best weekend, like ever

Happy 2 years to me and my love! We enjoyed our last summer weekend together up in Midway, UT at a friends perfect little cabin.(actually, the same cabin we stayed at the night we got marriaged.) We enjoyed playing games together (Scrabble, Sequence, Racko) and a relaxing swim at the crater, a trip to the outlets in Park City, and just each other.
Love Midway. Love him. Love marriage.

I Hypnobirth

Before I got pregnant, I always thought an epidural was the way to go in labor. Of course, I would never want to experience all that pain that I had heard so much about. But then, last summer, I had a good friend introduce me to Hypnobirthing, a way of natural birth. When she first told me about it, I thought, "Wow, you're a crazy person. Why would you ever do that?" But the more she told me about it, the more it made sense. With Hypnobirthing, you learn that pain, and fear do not have to accompany labor. And that if pain and fear do accompany you to your labor, it causes your body to tense up and close, not allowing it to do what it naturally knows how to do. With the Hypnobirthing program, you exercise positive thinking, relaxation, visualization, breathing, and physical preparation to prepare you for a gentle birth. After some hesitation, she showed me some Hypnobirthing videos. I was stunned at how calm these ladies were. How smooth labor can actually go, if you let your body relax and do what it already knows how to do. Even the babies seem more calm and responsive right out of the womb.

In March, when I found out I was pregnant, I knew right away I wanted to do Hynobirthing. When it came time to actually start taking a class, I Googled and found Fiona Judd who teaches Hypnobirthing in Orem. We just finished our 5 week course with her and loved it. We learned so much from her. She is very experienced and passionate about what she teaches, while being very down to earth and very understanding of everyone's situations. We left very informed about labor, things that can happen during labor, ways to relax during labor, etc and we feel very confident our labor will be a very stress free experience.

photo via

*I know labor is very different for every woman. Having a natural birth can't happen for everyone. I just hope to spread the word about this wonderful concept, and our wonderful teacher. To learn more about Hypnobirthing, go here. To learn more about Fiona and her class schedule, go here.

She likes Hypnobirthing. And so does she.

life update

photo taken by SIL at San Juan Islands

Summer is coming to a close. I have very mixed feelings about it. After summer comes fall and that's when our little boy will be here. But it also means Griffin starts school next week. And it's not going to be just another semester of school. He starts the Accounting Program at BYU (top accounting school in the nation, I might add. Oh so proud.) I have not taken enough advantage of how much time we have been able to spend together this summer. I quit my full time job (finally) and he's only been working part time so we get to wake up together, go on random bike rides, run errands together, etc. We now are poor poor married students with a baby on the way, but I think we needed this time together more than anything before he starts this intense school year and before baby comes. Our 2 year anniversary is coming up next week, which will be a perfect end to a hard but wonderful summer.

we will still be friends forever

I've been so lucky to see my three pretty friends a few times this summer. These pictures are from three different times we've gotten together! It's pretty hard to plan around four busy girls lives. Brit is getting ready to graduate in August. Mel is leaving us for Boston for a year and a half! A certain Amy has some big plans in the making. And of course baby boy for me. But there nothing like yummy food that will bring girls together am I right?

@ Yogurtland.

A snow-cone get together

@ The Red Iguana for Amy's birthday.

baby brain

photo of Jackie & little John via

Basically all I think about it is baby. Anytime someone gives me a date for something or I see a date on a movie preview, I say to myself, "We'll have our baby by then!" or "That will be only 1 more month until baby!" I find myself staring at little baby boys in church or at the store, dreaming of when I will have my beautiful boy. I really try not to talk about him all the time for the sake of the people around me but I honestly could talk about baby all day. The excitement of him moving around in my belly. My hopes and dreams for him. My doubts and fears. I dream about him all the time. How he'll have blue eyes like his daddy. All the fun times we'll have together. How he will teach me. Oh, I know there will be plenty of hard times, sleepless nights, and dirty diapers. Is it weird that I can't wait for those too? That will mean that we are a true blue little family, learning and growing, together.

left my heart on the island

Our trip was heavenly. It was so hard to come home, especially because we have so much going on (moving, job searches, big decisions to make, etc.) But I'm so grateful for the week we had to relax and explore such a beautiful place.

We DID...

• stop by Pike Place Market on the way to the islands
• have the perfect weather. 
• go crabbing. There were tons by our little home on the beach. We had a fish fry on Friday which included crabs that we caught and clams that we dug up! DE-LISH
• go whale watching. And saw some!!!! Dreams come true.
• go kayaking around the islands and found some starfish and seals!
• almost get lost in the fog on a boat trip (freaky)
• have a bonfire on the beach
• take a day trip to Friday Harbor
• see a shark right by the dock! (don't worry, it was only a little sand shark)
• chillaxed and played to our hearts content 
• have belly growth spurts (from all the good food. mine was baby+yummy food)

We did NOT

• want to come home

thank you harry

photo via

Yes I am on vacation. lovin this scheduled blog thing. Yes I am a nerd. Yes I do love Harry Potter and am sad that I'm missing my last chance to go to a midnight HP movie, even on this fab vaca. But maybe not all that sad because that means it lasts a little bit longer for me. Yes we already have plans and tickets to see it when we get back. Yes I did marry a man who had never read Harry Potter. Yes I did convert him and he is now a Harry Potter nerd too. Yes I will read Harry Potter to my children. No it is not the end for Harry Potter in my mind.

"he makes me melt like a popsicle on the forf of july"

What a crazy/fun/fantastic weekend.
Friday we went to see Source Code (which was decent) at The Water Gardens ($3 movies ya'll! Plus cheap concessions. We got 2 tickets, a popcorn, and drink for the price of just 1 ticket at the regular theatre.)
Saturday we did some shopping for our trip and then headed to Uncle Vaughn's for swimming, dinner, and the porch of fire with the Hill family. (No fires started and only a few fireworks shot out at us. Success.)

The kids with sparklers before the real show started.

 Sunday we headed to church with the Walkers and had a good ole' time in Springville playing UNO and painting our nails all patriotic like.
Monday we woke up early and went to the Provo Parade, which was a first for me. (We had already been to two parades, and to me, once you've seen one you've seen all parades, but I'm sure glad we didn't miss the army of real life storm troopers and Darth Vadar himself marching through the parade.) After a nap and a stop at McDs, we traveled to Park City with my wonderful family. We used to live up there, and ever since we moved to Cedar Hills, it's been a tradition to go spend the day up there and watch the fireworks. My madre even got some hotel rooms to stay the night. We did lots of swimming at the hotel, had a yummy dinner at Baja Cantina, then staked out our regular spot on the golf course.

 Licorice and cards are a must

It definetly started to rain, so we grabbed the mat we were sitting on and put it on top of everybody. You can't rain on our parade! We kept playin' games.

Also, I promise it wasn't just me and Griff and Lauren there.

We almost missed the fireworks for the second year in a row because I had to make a bathroom trip, but we made it and had a blast.

Thanks family for a great weekend!

we be trippin'

Road trippin' that is! All the way up to Seattle, Washington and then making our way to the San Juan Islands! We leave this Saturday with my wonderful in-laws!
Can't wait for...

• crabbing!!!
• the cooler weather (I thought I was definetly handling this pregnancy hotness, but when I'm outside without a pool, I turn into a whiney 3 year old.)
• fresh seafood
• boating on the ocean, with maybe a whale sighting!!!! (One of my biggest dreams is to see a whale out in the wild, donchaknow.)
• spending lots of time with my man and his family.

Anybody ever been up there before? Also, who has some good game/app/book recommendations for the car?

home sweet home

Is it seriously July?! July 4th?!?! Thats always the halfway mark of summer for me. I can't believe it.
This time last year, we just arrived in Laredo, Texas/ Mexico. I was kind-of bummed about it. See Mexico doesn't celebrate July 4/America's Independance Day. I searched and searched for celebrations but there were none to be found. So we packed up our friends and headed north to San Antonio. We had a blast there but I'm so thankful to be home this year to celebrate with family and friends. I love America. (I also love Mexico ok? Don't forget, we went on our  honeymoon there.)

What's more American than Texas?

The Alamo

Our lovely friends, who made the trek with us. We didn't quite make it to the fireworks (can you see them in the background? Ya, I didn't think so.) This year will be different ya'll.

sounds of summer

One thing I love other than summer movies is summer songs! Some songs just belong in the summer don't you think?
Me & Griff's new favorite is Sunset in July by 311. Please enjoy it on my summer songs playlist and all the other songs of past that remind me of summer.

What are your summer songs?

this weekend included...

a Cafe Rio pork tostada 
Just Go With It
the first summer watermelon 
a pool party
clam dip
a foot bath
Contact
making cinnamon rolls made from scratch
painting baby's dresser
a cute dog named Ginger
a home away from home
a California King Bed
lots of family and fathers
a game of catch-a-phrase

...and no pictures...
i will be better

image via

a day late and a dollar short

Hope everyone got to enjoy Father's Day with dear old dad.
I sure did.
And we got to celebrate Griffin's soon-to-be Father's Day.

to my baby daddy,

i can't believe this time has come.

i knew when we first started spending time together, that you, my dear would be a great dad.

this baby is going to think you're the funniest, smartest man that ever lived, i just know it.

i can picture you, in a few years, teaching baby boy how to swim like a fish, and how to throw a football.

10 years from now, helping not-so-little boy make the coolest science project around.

16 years from now, teaching him how to handle a car, and maybe a few lessons on girls.

and just a few months from now, holding our sweet little boy.

i can't wait to see your eyes light up when you hold that little boy in your arms.

i love you the most x infinity whatever you say

to my dear old dad,

thanks.

thanks for laughing when i put 1/2 cup of salt in the meatloaf instead of 1/2 tsp.

thanks for teaching me how to build a fire.

thanks for staying up late until i got home from that date.

thanks for helping me to appreciate good music.

thanks for spoiling me and my sisters.

thanks for loving me. and thanks for loving Griffin.

thanks for everything.

i am so excited for you to be a grandpa. i am so excited to introduce this baby to you in november. this little boy will love his papa john who will be the best cuddler and will sneak him treats. you two will be best buddies.

i love you lots and lots