24 weeks

Feb 21st = 24 WEEKS

been feeling good. she is getting bigger , almost a foot long

I think my new craving is doughnuts. maple bars to be exact. i never liked doughnuts but now i crave them all the time.

23 weeks

As of Thursday February 14th I am 23 weeks

That was Valentines day!
my sweetie, mr. ryan, got me a box of chocolates. and they are completely gone already.

I can't even tell you how sweet Ryan has been through everything. he tells me the sweetest things. this man is amazing! he does the dishes and makes dinner, he vacuumed, takes my belly pictures, and is always making sure that i'm feeling ok. i cleaned the bathrooms the other day and some contractions started and so he told to stop worrying about the house and that basically it wasn't important. i married such a wonderful man.

baby girl is now more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. it really seems like she never stops kicking now. if this is what she is like when she is born, she'll be a wild one!

Today, February 19th, was the first time Ryan got to feel her kick!

i am feeling really good, other than lately i have been pretty doggone tired.
i am really loving every new stage that i get to. i love reading what the baby's progression is each week from my nifty app on my phone.
sometimes i think i can feel my belly stretching and i don't know how it could possibly stretch much more... but then it does.
it's starting to get harder to get up, bend over to pick something up, put on my shoes, take off my shoes. but i love every bit of it.
i love that i have to prop my belly up with an extra pillow while i sleep at night, it makes me feel like i am trying to get her comfy too, like i am cradling her.
i think i have started to waddle like a duck when i walk now.
it's so rad being pregnant (and i truly mean this in the most sincere way possible).

22 weeks

February 8th - 22 weeks!
baby girl is supposedly the length of a spaghetti squash (11 inches).

at the beginning of week 22, i lifted my shirt to scratch and rub my belly and ryan gets wide eyed and says, "whoa! your belly is huge!... it popped out so much in just a few days!"
then he says later, "i think it's safe to say your belly is bigger than mine."

it's crazy how just all of a sudden she popped right out.
i had a ton of comments on Sunday. i think everyone could tell that it wasn't just that i gained a few pounds. it for sure looks like a baby belly now.

in bed during the night of February 10th i had my hand on my belly. i felt her kick my hand! i have felt her move and kick before, but not from the outside! i woke up ryan and he instantly put his hand on my belly, but she wouldn't kick for him. ryan says its because she didn't want to hurt him.

i have a ton of projects that i want to get done before she gets here and luckily i have great friends and family to help me! my grandma is going to start on her blanket soon, and it is going to be the cutest, most special blanket ever! then i want to finish the swaddling blankets my sister and i started for her, and soon make bibs, burp rags, her blessing dress!  and then i want to re-cover ryan's grandma's rocking chair.

my sister is giving me all of her daughter's old baby clothes, and i am so grateful! i heard that my little 3 year old niece was excited to give my baby girl all of her old clothes. how cute is that? we went through some of them when we were FaceTiming... this little girl of mine is for sure going to have some style! i ordered a few new little outfits for her that should be getting here soon. i can't wait! i am not sure where we are going to put all of her stuff, we don't have another room, or closet or dresser, so this should be interesting.

ryan and i have finally come up with one name that we both like! it's not agreed that it will be her name yet, but it's a huge deal that we actually both like the same name! i had no idea it would be so hard to name a child.

she is going to be here before we know it!

as of yesterday, January 31st, i am 21 weeks along, due June 13th.
we are so very happy.
AND... IT'S A GIRL!

we had our ultrasound January 24th. i was totally expecting a boy and so were lots of other people. i was so convinced it was a little boy that i was looking at baby boy blankets, clothes, nursery ideas... i even had my favorite name picked out for him. and when the lady told us to look at this picture on the screen...

and asked if we could see anything between the legs, (i was still certain it was a boy i think at this point because i didn't answer. i was struggling to find what i was looking for. maybe there was a shadow?). she finally said "no! i can't see anything!" and typed in "it's a girl"... i was so surprised! in shock!

my younger sister called it from the beginning.

baby girl loves her hand up by her face. 

which may be a concern... i was a finger sucker.

we didn't get any profile shots. she was looking at us the entire time. i love her so much.

later when it started to sink in that it was really and truly a girl i couldn't help but be so excited! i tell myself that the Lord must know how much i love surprises to make me believe with out much doubt that i was having a boy. it was a glorious surprise. my mom was the first person i called and just before i called her, i sent her the first ultrasound picture, and she opened it while i was on the phone with her. she was so cute and excited about it, and it made me even more excited!

i went to my friend angie's house right after the ultrasound and she gave baby girl her very first item. an adorable knitted hat. can't wait to put it on her.

i haven't had many weird cravings. pickles were my favorite in the beginning, but i think that's a normal pregnancy craving. and now it's just chicken strips with ranch.
i have had a pretty easy pregnancy. no pukes, just a tad queasy over smells, such as my old house smell, it was really strong when we were traveling so much this last fall, and non scented shampoo, conditioner and soap (i know that sounds weird that unscented stuff made me sick from the smell, but i tell you, no lie, it does indeed have a smell).
the worst part of my pregnancy has been my terrible skin. i am breaking out everywhere. BUT, i can honestly say that i would much rather have a zitty face, neck, chest and back than to puke daily. i am grateful.
i felt her first full fledged kick on Tues, January 29th. it made me jump. she does it all the time now.

can't wait to meet our sweet baby girl!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL THE LOVE YOU GIVE ALL 3 OF US! XOXO

I decided it would be way too hard to start blogging from where I left off, so here is a very brief update of what we have been up to for the past what, 8 months?...

MAY - we (ryan and i) went mushroom picking over in Oregon with a very dear friend of mine.
JUNE - we traveled pretty much all summer long. back and forth to star valley and to visit lots of my family in eastern Idaho. One of the visits was to my home of when i was a little girl.
JULY - visiting more family in eastern Idaho, and watched the firework show in Idaho Falls.
AUGUST - lousy huckleberry picking in the mountains.
SEPTEMBER - my birthday weekend ryan took me to the California and Oregon coast. We got to visit the redwoods. and we saw a bunch of lighthouses all the way up the coast. the ocean was breath taking. then we went up to Washington to visit my sister's family. always a good time.
OCTOBER - we found out we are EXPECTING! we are sooo excited and can't wait to meet baby coming this June. my sister in-law, her son and also her friend and i were also in the color run. It was soo cold! but we still had a good time.
NOVEMBER - was the start of our announcements. we told my family on Thanksgiving day. it was really fun to watch their reactions. both of my sisters cried. it was really sweet. we didn't announce to ryan's family until the 22nd of december... at the Van Leuven Christmas Party. it was really hard to keep it a secret for so long, but it was the perfect time, because the whole family was there together. we announced with a white elephant gift. we bought the movie momma mia and covered 'mia' with 'charly' and then under it we put June 2013, then we bought some pacifiers to add to it. the best part was that nobody got it at first. it took quite a while for anyone to catch on. hilarious! 
DECEMBER - the 8th we went to Washington to be there for my nephew's special day. he turned 8 the 7th, so we got to be there to celebrate his birthday and then then next day we able to be there while he was baptized. he asked my mom, sister and i to sing at his baptism. it was so fun to be there all together for such a spiritual experience.
we cut down our tree only 2 weeks before Christmas because of all the traveling we had been doing. but that's ok, we got to enjoy it until the new year.
we got to spend a lot of time with family this month. traveled to Utah to visit my aunt and my dad spent the weekend there with us too. we saw the lights that weekend.
we spent Christmas Eve with my mom and her husband, and my sister, our new tradition to a japanese restaurant where they have a grill at your table and they cook up your food right in front of you with all kinds of tricks. then we spent some time with ryan's family at his sisters house. Christmas day we had lunch at his sisters house and then fondu at my mom's right after then back to his sisters where we celebrated his nephew's birthday who turned 8 the 27th! we are so excited to be a part of his big day at his baptism January 5th!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ryan is now 28! He is getting close to 30!
I decided I wanted to throw him a little birthday party. BSU themed, if you couldn't tell. Some people even dressed up for the theme (aka holly & shelly) ... nice work guys! I think there was a total of 17 people there.
Meal:
My mom brought yummy lemonade
Diane brought her relish and delish potato salad
Holly brought her famous deviled eggs
Jeff and Shelly brought chips (which I have to contain myself from gorging on because, oh so good)
Joe brought his giant spectacular salads that you could probably have as a meal itself

Thanks guys!

And we bbq'd hamburgers (when I say 'we', I mean Ryan of course)
Don't forget the cake!

Yes I totally made this cake! Unless you have had Costco cake, you have the right to question me.

 Out of all the pictures I thought Sierra was left out, but I was wrong!...

Thank you Sie for taking most of the pictures!

Happy 28th Ryan, my love!

Sunday...

today is especially perfect. 
not because i made red velvet cupcakes for family dinner, although that helps :)
it's perfect because i have so much love in my heart.
it's perfect because i have so many people to love and that love me. my wonderful husband, my parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, in laws, nieces and nephews and all the other children in my life, and my friends.
it's perfect because i have been given much.
and even though there are so many ugly and scary things in this world, today i realized there is so much good and greatness.
there are so many people, young and old, who are trying their hardest to make it.

today in stake conference, the stake president was inspired to have the young men sing as a choir, and the first song was"praise to the man". all of these young men and their leaders filled the entire front of the chapel. their beautiful and strong voices with this powerful song, touched my heart. my eyes filled with tears as i listened to the words. and i could picture who they were really singing to. i saw the young men in my sunday school class singing boldly. i was proud. they will grow up to be strong and faithful. i couldn't help but think how many wonderful men there are in the world to help make us women stronger and to lift us up. helping us, whether it be by their heart, example, power or priesthood. i could see it on their faces. and they were perfect.

we listened to a story about a lady and her son and at 8 years old was already stronger than i feel i could ever be. this family had to move far away from home and did not know the reason why, but felt in their hearts it was true. and i can't remember in detail, but for some reason this boy was going to give a gift. he gave his teacher a gift of the book of mormon wrapped in pretty paper, before discussing it with his mother. she was a little stunned when she found out and said to her son that she wished he would have discussed it with her first. and he said to her, "but mom, heavenly father told me i was supposed to give the book of mormon to her." and in the front cover wrote a note saying that when he reads this book he feels warm inside and he hopes that she does to, signing his name with love. later, the missionaries called this lady's house and told her that this little boy's teacher has been receiving the missionary discussions and requests that she receives the last discussion, before being baptized, in their home with her family and especially her sweet 8 year old son. i couldn't help but weep. what a strong and faithful young boy. the teacher told this boy that she knew the reason they moved so far away from home. so he could come and show her the gospel.

"...becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." -Mosiah 3:19

"And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.
And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God." 3 Nephi 11:37-38

in my own words, commit yourself to the lord with all your heart, with humility and full of love, and listen to the teachings of our Father in Heaven, like a child would listen to the teachings of his father. Go to the Lord in prayer, and whatever your struggles, the Lord will guide you and strengthen you so you can one day return to him.


"yea, come unto Christ, and be perfect in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." - Moroni 10:32

i know no one can be perfect all the time. and that there are ugly things that could possibly destroy a person, but we are not alone, but we can be strong with the help of the Savior Jesus Christ and with the strength and guidance of the Lord.
 

i am so grateful for the power of prayer and that i know prayers are answered at sometime or another. i witnessed an answer today.

we are not alone. ever.