A Word about Whitney

I want to tell you about my friend Whitney Homer. Honestly, I don't know her all that well, but I surely have grown to care about her. I met Whitney through my work. She is truly one of the most stunningly beautiful girls I have ever seen. Trust me. But, the point of this post is just to try to do anything I can to be of help to her. Whitney is terribly ill and wants the word to get out so that somebody out there will be aware of her and find her miracle cure. My blog certainly doesn't reach a huge population, but I figure it's better than not spreading the word at all.

Whitney has been sick for 4 years ish now, I believe. As far as I'm aware, I don't think she has an official, sure thing, diagnosis. As you can tell, I don't have all the info. But, what I do know is that Whitney is sick enough that she is missing out on some of life's joys that we all take for granted. She has endured every kind of medical treatment you can imagine from chemo to feeding tubes to tests I've never even heard of. She has endured awful comments and judgments from people who I will NEVER understand.

Basically, I'm asking you all to remember Miss Whitney in your prayers and to check out her blog HERE. You'll find all her info and inspiring words. I usually come away from her blog feeling uplifted because of her optimistic outlook. This is her blog header, and I just find it so appropriate.

Whitney, I know I only get to see you very rarely for just a few minutes. But you really are an inspiration and I think about you on a daily basis. :)

Guesses for our Girl

Well, we're getting close to baby time and my sister, Melanie, reminded me that we need to make some guesses! So, I'll provide you with all the info you need and then go ahead and make a guess on the day, her weight, length, etc. Whatever there is to guess about! We just got home from the doctor, so all of this info is up to date!

-This picture was taken today before our doctor's appointment. So there you go if you wanna guess by the size of my belly.

-I will be 38 weeks tomorrow.

-Doctor says I'm measuring at 37 weeks.

-I am dilated 1 measly little cm.

-50% effaced.

-Baby's head is not engaged in my pelvis yet.

-My due date gets tossed around. They say March 6th and March 8th. Either my birthday, or Whitney's birthday :)

-And to be fair to the guessers, I should tell you that the Doc said today he doesn't think she's coming early, but feel free to send positive vibes out there with your guesses.

-I am perfectly comfortable. Sure, I'm somewhat achey and such. But I have it very easy, so besides the fact that I'm dying to meet my girl, I'm ok with the minimal progress so far.

-We'll be back at the doctor on Friday.

That should be all the info you need! I am getting very anxious. I want to hold my baby and see what she looks like. 2 weeks has never felt so long. But I am just trying to be so grateful for the pleasant pregnancy I've had.

Lots of Pictures of Such a Special Day. Baby Shower!

I don't even know where to start. My baby shower was perfection and I had the most wonderful time! So how about I start here..... THANK YOU....

Steph and Court were the mastermind planners and party throwers. I can't thank you two enough. You truly know how to make a girl feel special and add to the excitement of my new girl's arrival. I wish EVERYONE could have been there, because even though these pictures are beautiful, they don't do it justice. The food, decor, games, prizes, EVERYTHING was perfectly adorable! Probably the best part is just being surrounded by my girlfriends and it just makes me feel so special and happy.
LOOK! Emily came alllll the way from Vegas for this shower. Again, the only words that come to mind are thankful thankful thankful! It was truly so special to me to have her with me to celebrate this momentous event! And it's even more fun because she's totally in the same boat as me right now, so it was like truly having another version of myself to completely understand me. What a blessing! And it adds extra joy to my heart to see Easton and Carly, always. Check us out! Me at 35.5 weeks and Emily at 34. I'll treasure this picture forever. Especially when our girls are BFFs.

This is me totally ELATED to be opening my hooter hider and sling from Courtenay that I've been hinting to her about the whole time I've been pregnant. She never disappoints. Thanks, Court!

Stephanie made my girl 12, count 'em 12, skirts and hair bows to match 12 onesies for her to have her picture taken in every month until she's 1. I can't imagine how much hard work that was and they are all beautiful! I LOVE IT!
Emily spoiled my girl was the most stylish clothes and pampered me with the necessities to care for me during the rigors of breast feeding. Thank you, sis! I knew I could count on you to hook me up.
Seriously? Look at that beautiful girl eating that delicious cupcake. I just adore her so much and we had so much fun even though it was brief.

Just an example of the perfect detail that went into everything. So cute, right?!

I am so very blessed to have such great friends who will all gather to support me. I love you all so very much. Aside from my wonderful roommates, there were lots of girls from my ward, patients from my work, co workers, etc etc. I was telling my mom...It's hard to explain to people how I feel by just saying 'Thank You'. That doesn't express well enough how I feel. I feel so humbled and grateful by people's support and help and love. THANK YOU. And that includes everyone who doesn't live close by and couldn't be at the shower. I wish you all could have. Thank you for your kind words on my blog and facebook. Thank you for your texts checking up on me and baby girl. Thank you so much for all of your support. Michael and I truly feel like we have the best support system and this baby is so lucky.

Steph, thank you so much. I cannot wait for our girls to get to know each other and see what kind of a friendship their mommy's have.

P.S-- all of these great pictures were taken by Court and Emily and their awesome photog skills. Thanks!

Where'd All the Good People Go?!

I typically try not to use this blog for venting. But at this moment, I must. Or else I'll probably go cry in my bed and not get anything done the rest of the day.

I hate Winco. I seriously do. My mom used to tell me that she hated going to Winco and I just thought it was a preference thing. No, Mother, I totally understand and I stand behind you 100%. Normally, I am a Smith's shopper all the way. BUT, with baby on the way and my job coming to a close, I decided to try and save a buck or two here and there. So I thought I'd try out Winco. Big mistake.

So, I walk through the huge, big store not knowing where anything is and checking prices every so carefully as I shop. That takes quite a while. So I'm already getting really tired and feeling like it's time to go. Then, I decided to buy one of those 24 packs of bottled water because it was cheap and I hate Utah water. So I lifted it just fine, put it on the bottom of my cart just fine, and then tried to push it farther into the cart with my leg. Dear HEAVENS. Groin muscles are not the same on 8 month pregnant me as they were on regular me. I cursed. It hurt so bad.

So now I'm practically limping to the checkout. It's Friday morning, so there's not tons of people in the store, so there is only 1 check stand open. How stupid is that? If there is only 1 open, then EVERYONE has to go to it. So, that check stand is obviously very busy. Anyway. I load all my stuff onto the belt. Which mind you, is no easy task. At this point, I had to take my jacket off because I'm sweating and out of breath. Then, I have to RACE down to the other end of the belt and catch my groceries and begin to BAG THEM MYSELF. Are you serious? Normally, this wouldn't bug me so bad. BUT, I looked around. And there are Winco employees standing around everywhere! Just chit chatting and laughing. One even came over to me and picked something off of the floor next to me. Hello MISTER... I'm CLEARLY 8 months pregnant and STRUGGLING!

Halfway through my struggle of bagging my groceries, I have to pay the lady. I slide my credit card. She proceeds to tell me what they do not take credit cards. Only debit, cash, and check. I seriously almost cried. I began the fear the worst. All of this work for nothing?? Luckily, I dug around in my purse and my checkbook was in there.

So, I pay her and before I can even get the receipt in my purse, she is scanning the next person's groceries. Do you understand what that means?? Now THEY need to bad their groceries and mine are still all in the way! So I race back down, start throwing stuff in bags, but I'm not fast enough. She gets done checking the lady behind me and I have now stalled the whole line. Everyone is standing there LOOKING AT ME, waiting for me to bag my groceries so that they can check out too.

This is what's going on in my head at this point: IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY. GET YOUR SORRY TUSHIES OVER HERE AND LIFT THESE HEAVY WATERS INTO THE CART FOR ME. HELP ME BAG MY GROCERIES. SOMETHING!!!! So you know what I did instead? I took my sweet time. I decided that I had no reason to hurry. So I didn't.

Just to top it all off, I was walking out at the same time as a Winco employee. My cart was so heavy that it was pulling me to my car. But did he offer to help me. noooooo.

Moral of the story. Winco Sucks. Smith's Rocks. They always help me. And if you see a struggling pregnant lady. Good heavens, HELP HER!

Thank you for your patience and listening ear. I must now go put away those groceries, rid my mind of this memory, and get ready to see all my favorite people this weekend :)

Computer Dilemma & My Birthday Boy

My posts have been kind of few and far between lately and this is why:

Let me explain. Do you see how the computer is on the floor by the TV? Well, my computer is on it's way out. It CANNOT be moved. It's by the TV because we often hook it up to the TV. If you move the screen, it turns black. If you unplug it, it takes days to get it back on because there's a short in the wire and you have to get it juuuuuust right. So, the only way to use the computer is to sit criss cross apple sauce on the floor in front of it. That is no bueno when you're 8 months pregnant. Sitting on the floor to use the computer HURTS. I can get down there and check facebook and comment on people's pictures for about 5 minutes, then my back starts to ache. Then I go to the blogs and look through them and then my back is killing me. So I get up. Then I go back later in the day and comment on the blogs until my back hurts again. So, writing this post right now is taking some serious focus and I'm hoping that I can talk Michael into rubbing my back after. Anyway...

My Michael turned 24! We had a great time celebrating his birthday! Here he is opening his first envelope over his stuffed french toast birthday breakfast. I had 8 envelopes for him to open throughout the day. They all had jokes in them and a secret message. It was a hint which led him to his present at dinner which was tickets to the Brian Regan comedy show. We went to the show a couple of days later and it was soo fun! We were laughing until our faces and tummies hurt.

Lucky Michael, our first prenatal class was on his birthday. He's such a good sport. On that note, prenatal class has been very informative, helpful, and mostly terrifying. This child has to come out of me in a couple of weeks. And I'm beginning to panic. But on a lighter note, Michael got a special song at his birthday dinner where he got to play the tambourine (I think that's what that is). And since we're talking about the birthday boy, just a quick note on him...

Michael is one of a kind. Truly. He is so kind. Always. He doesn't know how to be rude or unkind or selfish. I most definitely hit the jackpot to end up with him. He's so patient. And the best part is, I know 100% all of the time that Michael always has MY best interest at heart. And now our baby girl's. I'm so grateful. And he makes me want to be better. I OFTEN sit and think about how lucky I am that I found him and got to keep him. Alright, alright. Enough, I know. But I figured his birthday was an okay time to share how I feel about him. I love you, Michael.
Life is great around here. I'm busy with work and my new calling in the Young Womens and Michael is busy with school and work. I am SO excited for this weekend! It's baby shower weekend! BEST!

My Sweet Girl's Quilt

I finished my baby girl's quilt! Thanks to my mamma, I have a new interest in sewing and quilting. Just baby quilting for the moment, because I do not know how ANYONE has the patience to make a bigger one. I sewed the top and did the applique, then took it to Oregon over Christmas and Mom helped me quilt it. Ok, let's be honest, she did most of the quilting. Here it is:

I am a TOTAL amateur so there are definitely imperfections, but I'm really happy with it. It looks so beautiful and bright in her room on her crib. I cannot wait to snuggle her in it and see her playing and rolling around on it. We don't have a lot of space in her room, but the space that we do have is decorated with these same fabrics and other cute stuff. It's starting to feel like a baby belongs in there :).
That's just an up close look at the applique flowers. Those provided many frustrated calls to my mother, but I got better and better as I went. It will be a while before I applique anything again. Anyway, I just wanted to share! Baby girl moves ALL. DAY. And I mean all day. I think she is running out of room or something, because I feel her at all times. And I love it. I am starting to be sad that pregnancy is ending. Don't get me wrong, I cannot wait to have her in my arms, but pregnancy has been wonderful for me and I will miss that.

I Wish Vacation Never Had to End

Is it really over? Christmas was wonderful, WONDERFUL! Michael and I took a nice, long vacation home to Oregon and had such a fabulous time. We absolutely love spending time with Mom and Dad, and not just because they spoil us, but because they're so dang fun and hilarious! Not to mention the mega bonus of seeing Darren & Fam, Marc & Fam, Brad & Kristy, Cierra & Fam, the Mitchells, Whitney, Aliya, and all our friends in the ward from over the summer. It was just so much fun! Every moment! We played games, watched movies, ate and ate and ate delicious food, chatted, visited, baked, shopped, etc, etc!

Some of my favorite hi-lights:

- Surprise Baby Shower! My mom was as thoughtful as she always is and gathered all my favorite ladies for a surprise baby shower. It was so special!

- Playing with my nieces and nephews. I adore those children so much.

- Finishing my baby girl's quilt with the help of my mom.

- Watching the Duck's win the Rose bowl.

- Opening presents and baby girl being spoiled!

- Playing games with Dad as the constant comedic relief :)

- Hanging out at home with family and friends around me.

Here is the evidence of our awesome trip!

30 weeks after Christmas. I'm 31 now and bigger already! But this is the most recent picture.

Cameron grew up so much since this summer! He is such a fun, smiley baby! So adorable.

Great Grandpa with baby Harlan. Thank you Cierra & Michael for coming to see us!

Whitney was missed at the shower, we had such a wonderful time and everyone was so good to baby girl and I!

I'm sad to see this great time of year go by once again, but next up... 8 weeks until baby!