Place Your Bets!

The official countdown begins. At this point we have no clue what this kid could come out looking like. Any one familiar with Blake's side of the family knows that some of the siblings have dark hair, Blake was blonde, and Donovan is a full blown red head. Liz's side brings big heads and HUGE babies as well as a mixture of dark hair/dark eyes or blonde hair/blue eyes. We found this site that allows family and friends to make their predictions. Feel free to take a guess. The site scores like golf (the lower the better). Once our little guy is here we will update the official stats and declare a winner! Feel free to pass this along to others who may be interested!

CLICK HERE!

38 Weeks Down, 2 To Go...

I am officially 38 Weeks and this little boy has made a comfy little bed on my bladder. I promise that I'm not complaining because I have had a great pregnancy! Here is a picture of me from the other day. I was modeling my new Target pajamas and Blake decided to take a picture so everyone can see my big belly. I think it's getting smaller as he continues to drop lower and lower...and for those who are wondering, my waist is now 43 inches.

Also, now that we are getting closer to the due date, we have been working very hard at getting the nursery completely ready. Clothes have been washed, folded, and put in the correct drawers (that pretty much sums up what I have done for the nursery). Now, let me tell you and show you what my husband has been doing. Those of you who know Blake know that he is quite particular and very, very picky. A nursery with the basic baby blue or pastel colors would NEVER be good enough for him or his son. I would be perfectly fine with that, so HE took over. He wanted to have a pirate theme, which I think was his excuse to have skulls, black, and gray in his kid's room. However, he really surprised me with his hard work and great ideas. Here is the end result:

These curtains were sewn by HIM.

He found this dresser on Craigslist, painted it black, and added the skulls and crossbones.



The walls (painted exclusively by him) were first painted in a light yellow, then covered with a faux paint to look like a treasure map. To top it off, he ordered this treasure map to tie it all together.



And, finally, the crib...yes, he did the bumper pads himself.

Some may think he's a little on the "metro" side, but I think he's already an awesome dad. Plus, he's a great husband because he did this all himself. And, I will always remember how hilarious it was to see him sitting in front of my sewing machine with the measuring tape draped over his shoulders as he created this nursery a little bit at a time. I love you, Cakies!!

One Last Baby Shower...

So, let me start by saying that I have fabulous friends and family. First of all, Tenneal did such a great job at being the "hostess with the mostest" by putting together a beautiful baby shower for me in her immaculate home, making delicious food, and impressing everyone with how awesome she is. Secondly, my sisters-in-law, Melissa and Andrea did a great job of putting together games, food, decorations, and making the coolest invitations ever! Thirdly, my friends and family who came to my shower gave me so much love and lots of thoughtful, wonderful gifts. So, I just want to say a big Thank You to my incredible friends and family. I am so excited to have my little boy in 4 short weeks and I am also so excited to know that I have the best family and friends to rely on when he's here!!

The shower was a Pirate theme, so here are some of the decorations along with the diaper cake that Andrea made. How cute is all of this?

Tenneal, of course, wanted to play the "Poopy Diaper" game. If you haven't played this before, this is when you melt a candy bar in a diaper and make everyone try to guess what type of candy bar it is. The players can smell (maybe even taste) the candy to accurately guess. Basically, the main point is to get funny pictures of people playing with a diaper that looks like it's full of poop. Tenneal can't just make things simple so she added pieces of corn to several diapers just to throw us off. Did I mention that she's awesome? It was hilarious!

Thanks again to everyone who helped with the shower and who was able to be there!

Christmas 2008

We had a very Merry Christmas this year in California. We left early on Christmas Eve to spend a few days with the Holloway family. Sandi had a very busy schedule set for us with lots of fun things to do. On Christmas Eve, we got to meet little Rylan for the first time, we had a delicious dinner, watched "A Christmas Story", and Blake read Luke 2 to everyone. On Christmas morning, Blake woke me up at 5:45 so that we could see what Santa brought for us...then I went back to sleep for 2 hours. Blake was so excited to open presents and get the day started, but he had to wait for everyone else to wake up. We had a really fun day with everyone. We got lots of great stuff, but the best part was watching Reese and Drake open their presents.

The rest of the week was exciting as well. Brent and Sandi rented Duffy boats for the family and some of our friends to crusie around the harbor and look at Christmas lights. It was a blast! I could not believe how amazing some of the lights, houses, and yachts were!

I also wanted to say HAPPY 5 Year Anniversary to my wonderful husband! I can't believe that it has been 5 years already! I am so happy and lucky to have such an incredible husband! And I simply cannot wait to continue on this amazing journey with our little boy! Blake will be such a great dad and I know that we have some great times ahead of us...until then, enjoy the picture from our first Winter Formal. I think I was 16 and he was 15 at the time! That was over 10 years ago! Yikes!!

30 Week Ultrasound

I am just a few days away from being officially 30 weeks and I went to the doctor today for my first ultrasound in a really long time. The last time that I had an ultrasound was when we found out that we were having a boy, so I was very excited to see my little boy again. I wanted to have proof once again that he really is a boy because we only had one picture last time. Sure enough, he is still a boy! Yay!

It is always fun to see my little guy. It is so crazy to look at how big he is getting and how smashed he is! It's no wonder that he's always kicking and moving around. He kept putting his hands around his face and by his mouth, so it was hard to get a good picture of his face.

The first picture is a close-up of his face with his little hand resting on his nose. The second picture has his face in the upper left hand corner and his body takes up the rest of the picture. There's a good shot of his chest and round belly. The ultrasound tech said that he's measuring at about 3 pounds 6 ounces. I guess that's about average or a little bigger...I just can't believe that he's just going to get bigger and bigger over the next 11 weeks!

Happy Thanksgiving...

Blake, Molly, and I went to St. George to go visit my family over Thanksgiving weekend. We had a lot of fun hanging out with all of the nephews and everyone else. We left on Wednesday afternoon when I got out of school and enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the way. We actually got to see some snow on the way and it was really pretty.

Boyd, Sara, Me, Blake, Melissa, and Ben after dinner at the clubhouse

On Thanksgiving, we ate our turkey dinner at the clubhouse in my parent's neighborhood. It is actually the place where "High School Musical 2" was filmed. It was sooooo delicious! They had amazing prime rib and all sorts of goodies in their huge buffet! Braxton (Ben's 3 year-old) had apparently never seen a buffet before. He was darting in and out of people in line and yelling, "This is awesome!" He honestly did not know what to do with himself! He ended up eating plate after plate of fresh fruit - he is truly my brother's child! Then, we went back to my parent's house for dessert along with some other family members. I got to see my cousins and aunt, and they gave LOTS of love to little Molly. She was loving every second of it.

Braxton and Caleb at Dinner

On Friday, I was up at 4 am to go to Target. I always say that I won't do that ever again but I always go. I mainly went to hang out with my mom and my sister. We actually had quite a bit of fun standing in the cold and running into the store. We found some good deals and had a yummy breakfast together. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and playing video games. I played the Wii for the first time and I loved it!

On Saturday, I had my second baby shower. It was hosted by my wonderful mom. She did a great job and it was nice to see my family. We got some great gifts and I can't wait to wrap up my little boy in his snuggly blankets and cuddle with him! We also took family pictures on Saturday and I cannot wait to see how they turned out. Caleb AKA Chubbers AKA Big Fat Panda(Ben's 1 year-old) is at the age where pictures are terrible, so he will probably be furious in every picture. I'll post the pics when we get them.

Then, we had to drive home very early on Sunday morning. We had a really great time and I had a blast hanging out with my family and just relaxing. I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving as well! It's almost Christmas...Yay!!

My First Baby Shower!

I had my very first baby shower last weekend in California. I was very excited to see all of my family and friends...and I was also excited to eat some Taco Surf! This was the first time that my mom has seen me "really pregnant". She got a little teary-eyed and it was a lot of fun to see her. Alex (my best friend of 17 years!) was the hostess and she did a fabulous job. We had our own private room, fun games, lots of great presents, and just a fun time!

I was very excited to get all sorts of cute boy clothes and other fun gifts. I felt very loved because I got so many great presents. The only downfall is that I still have 3 months before I get to see my little guy and get him all dressed up in his cute clothes and snuggle with him in his warm blankies! Until then, I'll just have fun getting the nursery all ready with Blake and patiently awaiting the arrival of our little boy!

Just to explain the pictures - I am a fan of The Price is Right and I always wanted to be a "Barker's Beauty", so that's why I'm making stupid faces while I model the fun baby gifts. In the picture above, I'm showing my excitement for the "I Love New York" onesie from Alex. And in the picture below, I am checking out the adorable pirate quilt that my cousin, Becky, made. I got so excited when I saw it because it was just so perfect! Then, I found out that the fabric was from my Aunt Robyn's fabric collection and I got really emotional because I had previously thought that I wouldn't get a quilt from my Aunt who passed away last year. Now, I almost don't want him to use the blanket until he understands how special it is, but I guess I'll let him use it every now and then!