The Lion King

So Brandon's Christmas present to me was to go see the Lion King in theater. I had heard ads for it on the radio and was so excited that he picked up on my hints!

The play was FANTASTIC. The actors were so talented, Brandon said the older Simba sounded like Bruno Mars (he kind of did). It followed the movie pretty closely, although they did throw in a scene where Scar wants to make Nala his queen. That would have been way too dark for Disney.

But now that I know Brandon CAN like musicals, I am on to my next conquest- Wicked in March! We'll see if I can convince him.

We just love that we can do these things without driving for hours on end, like we would have had to in Idaho.

Baby liked it too, she was dancing the whole time.

15 weeks to go.

I've made it to 25 weeks.
Fortunately things are getting less "less dignified". I haven't gotten sick in over a month hallelujah!

I'm definitely getting nervous about everything we need to get done and buy before the baby comes. She could be born any time in the next 15 weeks, which is an alarming thought!

We've been buying some clothes and books for her, but I don't have any idea of what else I need to do.

I've finally gained back all the weight I lost in the first trimester. I'm trying to tell myself that it's GOOD to watch my weight climb on the scale. I've cut out candy (for now), which has helped me to not gain a ton. Also, since my belly has popped out, I wish I had counted how many people have congratulated me on my pregnancy or said "I didn't even know! Are you 3 months?" Nope, just 6.

(I feel like my face looks super bloated here, but Brandon assured me it was the wind blowing my hair around. Note the cruise ship in the background of the grainy sunset picture.)

Some signs of where I'm at in pregnancy-

I'm pretty sure I could be a dragon right now. Heartburn is killer! I feel like I should smell like smoke, because I feel like I'm on fire every night when I go to bed.

I've had some hip pain while sleeping. By hip pain, I mean it feels like my hips have broken off. That will be fun for the next few months.

But, my favorite thing is feeling this little girl dance all day every day.

And all night. This is our theme song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hgz-q76KtQ

In fact, when I pulled that song up she stopped dancing to listen (I'm guessing). I guess we have a KISS fan on our hands!

When I lay down to sleep at night, she will start dancing. The other night, I felt her kicking the mattress on my left side. I rolled to my other side, and felt some movement before she started kicking the mattress on my right side. This happened 5 or 6 times. What the heck are we going to do when she's actually here?!

Whenever I sit down to read a book, she goes the craziest. So I just end up watching her ripple across my stomach and headbutt me. She will still get shy when I want Brandon to feel her kicking, but he has been able to see her moving a lot. It's still the most incredible thing to watch.

Beginning of Semester 2

Well, since Brandon's back at school (wahhhh!), I thought I'd do exactly what he told me not to do and brag talk about how well he did last semester.

We have been told since he got accepted into PA school that the first semester would be the hardest. We are still hoping that is true. Because after last semester, you would think he could do anything but we are having a baby right before his finals week! So the adventures never stop.

But when I found out I was pregnant just as his semester was starting, I had no idea that meant I would be basically out of the running for an entire semester. This semester, I've made a resolve to be much better about being productive and contributing to this household. But Brandon picked up the slack, and as hard as I knew it was for him he really did not blame me.

In addition to my being sick, Brandon was called as the Ward Mission Leader in our ward. I found out yesterday that they've never called a grad student to be the WML because it is such a time consuming calling. Naturally. But he really has never complained about it. He hasn't been able to do 100% of his calling, because there aren't enough hours in the day to do that and be a balanced student, but he has stretched himself to make sure he can get done what needs to get done.

I think that because he has taken on all this without putting anyone else at fault, and with a positive attitude, he did as well as he did. Because he got a 4.0! Thank goodness. He is the epitome of "Be prepared and ye shall not fear". From day 1 he made sure to set aside a few hours a day to study, and by the time finals came around he wasn't cramming to make sure he got the absolute best grade possible because his final grade depended on it. No, he went in with a clear conscience knowing that he needed to get above a B (or C, or D, whatever) to get an A in the class. Granted, he got A's on all his finals but he was not overly stressed out about it. He had already built up such a padding that he didn't need to pull any all nighters to make sure he was ok. 

I'm proud of how hard he has worked so far, and I know he will work hard this semester too. He did say that he will have a harder time studying for finals this semester, because he'll just be thinking about the baby coming. I'll keep pushing him to study, but I'll secretly enjoy that.

New Year's Resolutions- 2015

Time for resolutions again?

Well, my resolutions from last year kind of tanked. I didn't run much, I didn't attend the temple once a week, I didn't finish the Book of Mormon (I am so close though! Ether 7... I'm not giving up.)

But, we did have some successes. Mainly, we were able to budget and save enough to afford our entire move out by ourselves. We did read the Book of Mormon as a couple every day (And finished it for the second time since getting married!), and I did try my best to attend the temple.

So, here are some new ones for 2014:

- Make a real budget. We always have a budget that goes something like "Well, if we don't buy ____ then we can buy ____". And so far it's working fine, but we need to step up our game if we want to afford a baby. And along with that:

-Plan at least 3 meals a week. Planning meals are the bane of my existence right now. I just hate it, it's so boring. Standing in the kitchen either makes me nauseous or really hungry, so either way I need to eat while I'm cooking. Then I lose my desire to cook. I figure if I make 3 meals a week (crockpot, most likely), then we can have leftovers the other days. We are good about planning a Sunday meal, but other than that it's just kind of hit and miss.

-Log 200 miles this year. I don't care how it gets done. Walking, running, biking, whatever. I will go on long walks a lot, like 3 miles or so. Doing that a few times a week helps me feel better about not running. So I figure if I give myself a number, I can start working towards it. Starting with today.

-Bring 12 names to the temple. I want to do more, but I figure setting a low goal will help me feel better about myself if we meet it. As I said before, I will keep going while pregnant until it hurts too much to go. Hopefully I have a few more good sessions left in me! After that, Brandon and I said we would go separately, and the other will watch the baby. Again, who knows how that will go over but we want to take advantage of the temple being so close.

-Read 50 books. I keep reading Alyse's reading blog, and I'm jealous that she has the discipline to keep finding new books and reading them. So I decided to make something out of that. I already have at least 6 books in mind to start.

-Keep reading the Book of Mormon every day, together and separately. I am going to keep up with the "Book of Mormon 365" challenge, and I am working right now on finishing last year's reading.

I also told Brandon that I want to lose 20 pounds by the end of April... he didn't get it.

NYE 2014

We didn't have many plans for New Year's Eve. Let's be honest, it's kind of a boring holiday when you don't drink or party and whatnot. So we were just going to get Chinese food and watch a movie and call it good.

Brandon went to a baptism for an investigator (I had just gotten home from picking someone up at the airport, so I stayed home because of a headache), and on his way home heard an ad for the Orange Bowl. We hadn't realized it was just at the Dolphins stadium, which is 5 miles from our house. He came home and looked up tickets. THREE DOLLARS. He asked me if I wanted to go, and I said sure so we headed out. I wasn't expecting a ton on the location of our seats, but here we were:

11th row back, right behind Georgia Tech's end zone. It was fantastic. We ha someone take our picture to prove we were there.

Before the game they had parachuters come in with the flags, and the national anthem was sung by an up and coming artist, Christina Grimmie. She was really good.

The two marching bands performed before the game, and it was insane how big Mississippi State's band was!

The halftime show was by "Little Big Town", a country band. My favorite part was that amongst their huge group of backup dancers there was a girl who seemed to have a low functioning disability of some sort. It made me so happy to know that they included her, even though she didn't really participate. That is inclusion!

It was a pretty exciting game. Georgia Tech stomped on Mississippi State. Here you can see just how close we got.

I mean, I enjoyed it and I'm not even into football. Brandon was in hog heaven, jumping up and down and screaming. I was wearing my gold jacket so we ended up just rooting for Georgia. I'm glad we did, because they were really good!

We left with about 10 minutes to go, because Georgia was up 49-27 so we figured we wouldn't miss the comeback of the century. Right at we came over the Intercoastal Waterway the clock struck 12, and we saw tons of fireworks going off over the ocean. We parked in our parking lot and ran (yes, I ran. And only felt like I was going to explode a little.) to the Trump towers to watch the fireworks on the beach. We had Cherry 7Up because it was easier to open than Martinelli's, and drank some on the beach as all the rich tourists lit their fireworks.

And just like that it's 2015! I told Brandon it feels extra surreal this New Year, because we are having a baby in a few months. Now we are having a baby THIS year! What the heck.

Reverent baby.

We went to the temple yesterday. I always love going, but especially around Christmas time. There seems to be an extra special spirit around.

I had people tell me that in the second half of pregnancy, it is really hard to sit through a session and I wouldn't like it. So I was nervous about what to expect. But as soon as the session started, I felt little Giullian stop kicking. And she barely kicked until we left the temple. With how active she is, 2 hours of not kicking is a long time. I am sure it was a coincidence, but I'd like to think that she's reverent and we will never have problems with her in church. Hahaha yeah right.

Either way, it was a nice surprise! I will keep going until it gets too painful, and I will be sad when I can't go anymore. I love going to the temple!

Christmas 2014

TWell, another Christmas has come and gone. I can't even believe that.

This year, we decided to stay in town for the holidays. As sad as that made me to not be in California, it has been a great time for Brandon and I to be selfish and just hang out together. We won't have time like this for a LONG time. We've just done some things together.

After Steve and Karen left (more on that later), we settled into a routine. We watched a Christmas movie a day, played board games, and planned our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day shenanigans.

We have had fun incorporating our individual family traditions into our own tradition. One of Brandon's family traditions is to have a "smorgasbord" of appetizers on New Year's Eve. All of my favorite foods? Sure why not! Here was our miniature version:

Spinach and Artichoke dip, pigs in a blanket, little weenies, a cheeseball, and pina coladas. It was heavenly.

Christmas morning, Brandon woke up early. I mean, 4:05 early. Luckily he knew better than to poke the sleeping bear at that hour, so he went back to sleep until about 7. Since it was my last Christmas to have any form of sleeping in for basically forever (7:30, not really sleeping in), I appreciated it. Side note- we also had a talk about no matter how much earlier he gets up than the kids on Christmas morning, he is NOT allowed to wake them up. Once they start to stir, we can wake them all up. But just because Dad is more excited than the kids does not mean he gets to wake them up at Odark'thirty.

In case you were wondering, here was the size of our Christmas tree:

For $10, I will take a 2 foot tall tree! It sat on a little side table that we had, and we just took it down in about 30 seconds. Beautiful.

We were blessed with some wonderful gifts. Even Tiny got some! Here is my favorite, from Mom:

Seriously? That tiny swimsuit has me dying. So cute. She got plenty of outfits from grandparents and great grandparents, and we have about 150 diapers stocked up already.

We also received some books and a set of "Killer Bunnies", a pretty fun card game. It has only caused one "discussion" so far, because someone (ahem) wanted to change the rules. We got past that though.

And! Since I'm 5 years old apparently (or it's my maternal instincts kicking in) I wanted a fish for Christmas. So Brandon bought me fish food for my stocking, and then we picked one out today. His name is Norbert... A pretty little red betta. With our $2 IKEA plants, we have a little ecosystem going on for less than $30.

We also got to talk to Dallin!! Yayyyyy, it was so fun. And he had a decent connection this time, so we spent the whole time actually talking to him! He looked so happy, and good. Even if he doesn't wear bug spray...

For Christmas dinner, we really wanted to help make someone else's day better. So we had our 4 young missionaries over, as well as an investigator. After Austin didn't have a Christmas dinner last year in Rimouski, I told Brandon that no WAY would we not let the missionaries have Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. We also had an investigator over, who was a very nice man from Chicago. What better way can we spend the holiday season than by sharing our blessings? It was also cute to see how excited all the missionaries were, because they got to talk with their families on our laptops. I don't remember seeing them this animated before.

I love Christmas time. It is so great to think of how because of Christ, we can have all our blessings. And to think of how we have another little spirit coming our way is amazing! She will be here in 4 months, which is crazy.

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas!

PS- I tried to crochet stockings for everyone this year. I only finished one, and this is what happened:

It looks like a club foot. I think I'm going to burn it.

And it's a...

So we had our anatomy ultrasound today, and it's a GIRL!

We were so anxious to have this ultrasound over with, and to know what we are having.

Through the course of my pregnancy so far, we flip flopped on what we thought we were having. Originally, I thought it was a boy and Brandon thought it was a girl. But about a month ago, we both inexplicably changed our minds. And I'm glad I did, because she's a girl!

It was nerve-wracking waiting in the office, and knowing that our answers were so close.

As the ultrasound went on, I was less concerned with the gender, and more and more relieved that everything was going smoothly with the baby's heart, brain, etc. It was amazing to see all the chambers of the heart pumping! She also had her hands up by her head... and, as we found out, her feet. Little gymnast! But the tech said she looked perfect, and she couldn't see anything of concern on the ultrasound. Thank goodness.

So after all the important things, the tech asked us, "So what do you think it is?" I told her I think it's a girl, and he thinks it's a boy. She said, "Well, the mom's right 90% of the time, and it's a girl!" I almost got teary eyed. And not because I could rub it in Brandon's face... no matter what he tells you. Just knowing is a relief!

The doctor told Brandon to get a night job to afford paying for a girl... clearly he doesn't know how little I've spent on clothes in the last year or so.

So, we are feeling extra blessed to have this little girl coming to our family. I can't believe it still. Wow!

30 Days of thanks- November 2014

So I got lazy this year and didn't write every day on what I was thankful for. But, I thought I'd just write the top 10 things we have been thankful for, since our lives have been so blessed this year.

1) We live in Florida. Seriously. It's 80 degrees outside and even when it's cold, it's not really that cold. The beach is beautiful, and being able to walk around in shorts year round is really a blessing. Some people may miss the seasons, but I sure as heck don't!

(I mean look at this- it's stunning!)

2) Our finances. When we were planning to move here, we had the goal to use our loan money to only pay rent, and my teaching job would cover all other expenses.

Welllll, that didn't happen. I got pregnant, didn't get hired, and had a really hard time finding a job. As in, I had a tutoring job for two weeks that didn't pan out because the family "couldn't afford it" (then called my friend a week later to ask her if she wanted the job. She didn't.)

We live right next to an elementary school, and it hurts my heart when I walk by and remember just how much I liked feeling important. I learned so much last year, mainly because it was a baptism by fire. It would not have been fun to teach while I was this sick, but I do miss feeling like I'm being productive and contributing to our family and society.
But we are doing ok! We were able to save enough money to get out here and for Brandon's financial aid to come in, and since then we have been living frugally enough to live off of that without having to rely on more assistance. We have had to make sacrifices (like going home for Christmas... sad face), but considering the cost of doctor's visits and the cost of living out here, I am ok with where we are standing.

3) Our parents. We have been so blessed to have such generous parents. They understand what it was like to have a small apartment, and to have a baby on the way when we aren't quite sure of our finances. They've been very generous to us, and we are so excited that they get to be the grandparents of our little one.

4) Our ward. It has been such a learning experience to live in a small ward like the one we are in now. We have never really been "needed" before, and had callings that required some effort, but not a lot. Moving here has taught us SO much. We have been put in contact with very interesting people from all over the world, and it's definitely been an adventure every week.
5) Friends. We miss our friends from Rexburg, even if they have already moved away too. It has been an adjustment, moving across the country to a place where we only knew 2 people. But I am SO glad we moved near Tanner and Alyse, and that they were welcoming enough that we were able to make friends in our ward quickly.
6) Brandon's PA Program. He has worked for years to be able to get to this point, and I'm so grateful that he still loves it! He really truly enjoys going to class every day, and no matter how hard it gets and how burnt out he may be from the workload he still loves learning. This bodes well for the future.
7) This tiny one. As much as I have complained about the first trimester half of pregnancy, it has been a pretty fun ride. I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to show just a little bit, and I can feel the baby moving a LOT. Not constantly, because I know that comes in a few weeks. But for now, it's just so fun to feel. I've been going to bed later and later because just as I'm about to fall asleep, I can feel the baby kicking and rolling and punching (or whatever the heck it's doing), so I stay up and enjoy feeling it.
8) Brandon. Because what thankful list would be complete without a shoutout to the man who makes it all run smoothly? He's been in his hardest semester of school, got called to be the Ward Mission Leader for our ward (which is a high involvement kind of calling), and has a wife who's been basically incapacitated for the last few months. He's basically Superman in my eyes. I've put him in charge of taking out the trash and cleaning out the fridge, but he has done the dishes many times without complaint. Also, a few weeks ago when I almost got a hernia (heavy lifting), he brought the laundry down 2 floors and did the wash. As I'm still slowly but surely feeling better, I'm trying to take back over my jobs. But I sure appreciate a husband who will help out without giving me you-know-what for it.
9) My health. I had no idea everything that went into pregnancy. A few months ago, we got a call that I had tested positive for a disease (that will remain nameless, because of the nature of it). Obviously, I had no idea how this happened and I was scared. My first thought was that I had killed my baby. Luckily, this disease does not hurt the fetus, and would just require additional tests after birth.
OBVIOUSLY, as I had expected and reallllllllly prayed for, it turned out to be a lab error. Which I could have told them, but I am just so grateful that I do not have some sort of serious illness that I could potentially pass on to my baby.
10) The Gospel. As Christmas season is upon us (I love seeing Christmas lights on palm trees), it has reminded me of how grateful I am for the clarity the Gospel brings to my life. The Church isn't exactly popular in mainstream culture right now (when has it been?), but I stand by it and believe in it. I love that families are forever, and I encourage everyone to watch this video this Christmas season!
http://www.mormon.org/christmas

Thanksgiving 2014

Is it really almost December?? What the heck.

We changed our Thanksgiving plans a few times, but were happy to stay in Florida for the week. Brandon has a few tests next week, so he can study this weekend.

My day started with a 5k! I finally signed up for one with my friend Jeni, so that we would both have motivation to do it. She brought her 1 year old with her, and he was a trooper. But he did NOT like being in the stroller for that long.

We just jogged/walked it, and didn't worry about keeping any kind of time. I was worried about running, since I haven't since I got pregnant. But I think the baby enjoyed it... therapeutic bouncing.

We ran right along the A1A, which is the Atlantic's version of the PCH. It was a GORGEOUS day.

(When I think of this vs. our last Thanksgiving, it makes me very grateful we live here.)

Jeni and Kai at the finish line!

No the sand castle wasn't real. We were kind of disappointed.

While I was out doing that, Brandon was busy playing in a Turkey Bowl and making the turkey.
We photographed most of the process, because it took a while. He wanted to brine it, but we didn't have room for it in our fridge. So, we used our cooler!

The brine, which got the bad smell out of the kitchen for a while.

 Brining the turkey in 3 trash bags, in a cooler filled with ice. We changed out the ice a lot, don't worry.

Ready to bake!

(In the oven... the smell was ridiculously good. I wanted to eat it all right then.)

The master chef with his masterpiece.
Wednesday night I started feeling bad that I hadn't done anything to help with dinner, so I decided to make 2 pies. French Silk, of COURSE. I realized that while I like to bake, I'm not that confident in it. So this helped a lot. Note my very proud face when I finished one.

We had dinner at the Coleman's house, with many of our friends from the ward. The food was delicious, and the company was wonderful. I only ate one plate of food, but that was more than enough. Tiny's Thanksgiving gift to me was not making me throw up. We had dessert at a park, and I was able to eat a little bit of that one.

We have much to be grateful for this year, and I will write on that later. But for now, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving near and far!

(PS the shirt was $13 at Target, so I got it in a size up to stretch with me. That's why it's so big.)