I guess it runs in the family.....

Sorry for the lack of pictures once again.... I really need to get better at taking them.


So I've decided that being smart must run in our little family...... now don't go shaking your head and think, "that is QUITE the statement. Someone must have a big head." We're (well I guess more like Lily and Ben) smart in a different way. For example, this past Saturday we got up early to go yardsaling (even though we'd been out until 1:30ish the night before) and I was pretty tired. I came home and for some reason was in a cleaning mood. Now when this happens I take advantage of it because the cleaning bug doesn't hit me everyday even though I love having a clean home. When Ben had seen me cleaning for a while he just said, "I thought you were tired and wanted a nap." To which I replied, "don't you like having a clean apartment?" This was his reply (now husbands, start taking notes here): "I would rather have a well-rested wife than a clean apartment." Now that may sound all good and sweet but he had a somewhat terrified look on his face when he said it..... like I said.... he's a smart guy when his wife's pregnant......


So why is Lily so smart? Well, really, Lily's just smart like every other baby is. This past week Lily has learned how to take apart speakers. Not little speakers like for a computer, she's taking apart our surround sound speakers. So what does this mean? New entertainment center!!!! Ben is now busying himself building a new entertainment center that will be too tall and deep for Lily to get into expensive electronics. I will take a picture of it when it's done as I did when he built the changing table. I'm grateful that Ben has amazing woodworking skills because it has saved us TONS of money in our marriage.

Gummy Worms, the Temple, and Grass

Yes, that's right--warm weather is finally here!!!! (Lily is very excited, can't you tell?)

Sunday after church we set up a blanket outside our apartment and just relaxed and ate gummy worms. It was wwwwooooonnnnnnddddeeerrrrffffuuuulllll.........

So we have discovered Lily's first fear (DUM DUM DUM): grass. It is such a relief to go outside because I can't keep up with her all the time inside. All I have to do is put out a blanket and she won't even try to leave the blanket. If you look closely in the pictures you'll see we put the candy and other things in the grass so she wouldn't even try to steal them... Ben has been trying to work on getting her over this but I say let her be scared of grass for as long as possible!!!!! Call me an evil mom but it's my one break!!!!!

Lily always crosses her ankles like a little lady. She does this EVERYWHERE! She does it in church, the car, bathtub, wherever....

"I love juice when I've just come inside!!!!"

Lily and I spent Monday afternoon on the temple grounds. I thought I'd take her around and let her look at all the plants (and, of course, the temple) but it seemed like she led the tour so I just followed....

This is what happens when it's bright outside and she's trying her very best to smile... :)

Bye temple! We'll be back soon enough....

My Mommy's Day

Instead of just celebrating on Sunday, I was a little spoiled the whole weekend. I usually get up with Lily on Saturdays (because it's Ben's one day to sleep in and he gets up with her every other day....) so I woke up with her as usual. I put her back in bed and somehow was able to sleep in until 10:30 after that. I can't even remember the last time I did that. Later Ben and I went grocery shopping (this is embarassing to admit, but I LLLOOOOOVVVVEEE grocery shopping when I'm pregnant and I guess when I'm not pregnant, too, but whatever........) and so I was able to make myself a chocolate cheesecake with strawberry syrup. I would post a picture of it except I didn't take a picture before we started eating it and I'm not about to take one now and show how much I HAVE eaten..... So on Sunday we went to church as usual and my one Mother's Day request was that Ben take Lily the third hour of church because I never get to listen to all of Relief Society. Then we came home and I was able to get an UNINTERRUPTED nap. Maybe there's something sacred about Mother's Day or something because that never happens...... then Ben made me the best roast dinner ever (he's an AMAZING cook to those of you who don't know him.... he pretty much can do everything, and he does. I'm sooooo lucky.) He also gave me a present and I'll take a picture of it when it's totally completed. Then we just played a couple of card games and fell asleep in the living room. It was a pretty awesome day......



Here are some pictures and movies of our Lilybug. On Friday I went to DI to find a temple dress that would fit me for my entire pregnancy so I don't have to rent one every time I go, and I found this little dress in the process. Bless you DI for having so many cute things for a dollar or two.

Lily's weird crawling

Our little talker

I hope that everyone had an AWESOME mother's day. I know that Ben and I are extremely grateful for our mothers. They have been such wonderful examples to us and I can't imagine life without them.

I Believe in Miracles

As you all know, last month I found out that my pregnancy took a turn for the better and that my OB/GYN just said that I needed to be doing bloodwork often so they could keep an eye on the antibodies in my blood. Well I walked into my OB/GYN's office yesterday morning expecting the typical visit: weight, blood pressure, urine sample, baby's heartbeat, bloodwork, questions, leave. Well at first I thought it was going to be a bad visit because they forgot to tell me at the last visit that I'm due for my glucose test (ggggaaaaggggg me) today. But things got better once my Doctor said I'd just be doing it next week instead. But the really good news came next: in my last antibody screening they weren't able to find ANY antibodies. They've been keeping a close eye on my blood just to make sure my antibody level doesn't get to a certain point, but now, all of a sudden, there are none. My doctor just had a confused look on his face and said that he'd never seen this happen because technically it's just not possible for antibodies to disappear. It's possible to control how many are added to or maintained in your blood, but not possible to just get rid of them. He happilly told me that now I'm not considered a high-risk pregnancy and neither are my future pregnancies (since I would have to be doing blood work all the time in those, too, and I would still have to have special attention because of this weirdness).

I believe that when life just doesn't seem to be anywhere close to perfect and we are doing the best we can, the Lord blesses us in ways that we wouldn't expect. This was the most perfect timing for this news. I needed it right now. I also can say that I have been given the best first Mother's Day present ever--to know that I will be able to be a mother again at some point without any worry.

Well I'm pretty sure my sister, Becca, would kill me if I did another post without baby pictures..... so here are a couple of new pictures... (sorry they're not amazing, Becca. We just took them last minute so you wouldn't lecture me again.... oh and I wasn't able to get a movie of Lily doing her new weird crawl but I'll try to soon....)

Sadly, this is Lily's new favorite toy. She just likes banging on the keyboard and hearing all of the beeps..... what a funny little one.....

A: Addiction ~ Chocolate or ice cream.
B: Breakfast (what you eat) ~ Cracklin' Oat Bran or waffles on the weekend
C: Chocolate or Chips ~ chocolate. I don't really get into chips.
D: Dessert or Appetizers ~ Dessert
E: Essential Items ~ diaper bag or anything baby related. My life no longer is about me anymore (in fact I've strangely noticed that I've been wearing a lot of clothes backwards lately..... this could get interesting as I get bigger.....)
F: Favorite Color ~ hot pink
G: Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms ~ worms!!!! I always have them in my diaper bag.....yum....
H: Hometown ~ Raleigh, NC
I: Indulgence ~ ice cream. I only eat it every once in a while.... I've been trying so hard not to gain 40 lbs. again!
J: January or July ~ July definitely. Ben's b-day is the 3rd and mine is the 8th. Plus you've got a couple of holidays in there and who doesn't like summer?!
K: Kids ~ Lily, 10 months and Skyler, still cookin'
L: Life isn’t complete without ~ the gospel and my family
M: Most exciting memory ~ being in the temple right before Ben and I got married
N: Number of brothers & sisters ~ 2 big sisters: Lizzie and Becca
O: Oranges or Apples ~ oranges.
P: Phobias or Fears ~ Expired food and driving next to semis.
Q: Quote ~ "Southern girls are God's gift to the entire male population. There is absolutely no woman finer than one raised below the Mason-Dixon line. And once you go Southern, may the Lord help you, you never go back." -Kenny Chesney
R: Reading currently ~ lots and lots of Dr. Seuss..... I think I need some new ones because I have all of ours memorized......
S: Summer or Spring ~ Summer! All 4 of our b-days are in the summer, you can go swimming (or just watch Lily in an adorable swimsuit), get tan (or attempt to as your husband looks more Mexican everyday), and have barbecues! Oh and you have fireflies in the South!
T: Tag 6 People ~ April, Lizzie, Chrissy, Brenda Sue, Rachel, and Heidi.
U: Unknown fact about me ~ I skipped 6th grade.
V: Vacation I want to go on ~ anywhere tropical and preferably out of the country.
W: Walking or Running ~ walking... I'm not very fond of running when I have a huge stomach aka bowling ball bouncing in every stride.
X: X-Ray or Ultrasound ~ Ultrasound
Y: Your favorite Food ~ NC bbq
Z: Zoo or Bowling ~ bowling

Another fun trip.....

This past weekend our little family headed down to Utah for my sister, Becca's, graduation. It was a really fun weekend and Ben and I agree that this was one of our favorite trips.

First, we decided last minute to leave at 2:30 in the afternoon instead of 5:30 at night and so we were just throwing everything together really quickly and guess what--we didn't forget anything! It was a miracle since my pregnant mind isn't always the sharpest thing in the world..... but we won't get into that. We made it down to Utah quicker than normal thanks to Ben's "gifted" driving. We got down to American Fork Just in time to make Chinese dinner reservations with the Whale family. Bless y'all for choosing Chinese because good Asian food does not exist in Rexburg and I have been deprived for a LONG time.

The next day was Becca's graduation at BYU. We weren't able to make it to commencement but Elder Nelson and President Uchtdorf spoke there. We did, however, make it to convocation where Elder Oaks spoke. It was a good experience minus the fact that Lily only made it through 10 minutes and so Ben had to take her out and miss pretty much the whole thing. Becca majored in Vocal Performance and we're really proud of her. She's been able to share her musical talents in a few countries and I'm pretty sure that there are more countries in her future.

That afternoon we headed up to Sundance to spend the day with the Prices. On the way up Ben stopped to get gas and told me to go inside and get a couple of milkshakes for the ride up. So it was this little place called "Iceberg" and I'd never heard of it (I now know that EVERYONE in Utah knows all about Iceberg and I'm just behind on the times.....) So we had just eaten lunch so I decided to get "mini" milkshakes for us. So they call my number and I go up to get the ice cream and these are no minis. Well they were, they just didn't seem like it. Anyway, I recommend going there because you get more ice cream than you'll ever need for $3.

So we spent the day with the Prices in this gorgeous cabin in Sundance. Ben and I had a great time because their family is super-competitive in games like we are. We played Nertz for quite a while and Ben and I did pretty well when we were a team. We were also able to celebrate my parents' birthdays (my dad's 3 days older than my mom) so we got some awesome Mexican food (my pregnancy dream come true) and birthday cake.

Saturday Ben spent the day with his brother, Joe. So I didn't get to see him at all but he had a really fun time going out to eat and going to a couple of Joe's jobs with him. I, on the other hand, was having a rough pregnancy day so I just hung out with Lizzie's family in Provo while my parents helped move Becca out of her apartment. We got to spend the day as a family and then went out to Mimi's Cafe for dinner--YUM! I had this awesome salmon dish (you can get the exact recipe at http://www.mimiscafe.com/RecipesSalmon.aspx) and it came with a dessert. So I got chocolate mousse with strawberry sauce. The waiter also brought me a second dessert because he heard me talking about how good it sounded. I almost started crying in the restaurant because I was so happy (like I said earlier, it was a MAJOR pregnancy day).

The next day Ben came back to Alpine and we spent the day with the Whales. We have discovered that Lily adores dogs. She would just crawl around and chase Daisy (although dogs are obviously a lot faster on their feet) and even let Daisy give her kisses on her cheeks and hands. We were only able to stay for dinner (which is always so amazing when La Rae's cooking...) and then we had to take off to come home. Ben made this trip a little faster than the one on the way down...... and Lily had fun watching the Little Mermaid in the back seat. I was shocked that she could actually focus on a tv screen for that long but she did really well and now I'm so grateful that our car came with tv screens in the headrests. I never cared about them before this trip.

So now life should be back to normal for at least a little while. Ben and I just enjoy traveling too much and we always have fun just having long talks in the car. We haven't planned anything else for this summer but we have a few things in the back of our mind that we would like to do. Sorry about the lack of personal pictures. I remembered to bring my camera down to Utah but I forgot to take it to Sundance and graduation and every other place we went to...... but again, we don't need to talk about my brain when I'm pregnant--I don't need to scare people with my insanity.

"I Love Canada"

WARNING: Long Post

Before I start talking about the Canada trip I need to cover Ben's graduation and the adventures that occurred that day. So..... Ben sprained his ankle badly the day of his convocation. I took him in to the student health center (last day to use his student insurance.... phew!) and they made him leave with crutches. Lily was left with Grandmum and went through a tinsy bit of stranger anxiety and couldn't be consoled so she collapsed into this pile of laundry on the floor and fell asleep. :)

Ben was easy to spot in the crowd since he was the only one on crutches. We're soooo proud of him! He has definitely worked hard to get to where he is today. Sadly out of the 200+ business graduates only 2 or 3 have jobs..... Evil economy!!!!

Well we had to return home ASAP after graduation because we were leaving for Canada immediately. This trip was a series of miracle after miracle. I won't go into all the details but the Lord was definitely watching out for us and made this trip possible when everything seemed to go wrong. We decided to cut the drive to Calgary in half and stay in Great Falls overnight. We took advantage of the hotel's pool so Lily could have her first swim! She didn't seem quite as excited as we were......

Ben tried to get her into the pool but once her toes touched the water she made it clear she wasn't going in.... sooo..... being the bad parents that we are we were able to get her into the hot tub instead. You're not supposed to put babies in hot tubs but since this one was barely warmer than bath water I didn't really mind too much. Lily loved it.

Then we took her out and put her on the floor tiles so she could cool off a little and then she went into the pool without any problems!!!

We got to Calgary just in time for Easter dinner on Saturday night. Ben's family is Ukrainian so we ate lots of Ukrainian food (I'm not going to name them because I know that I have no idea how to spell them).

I was able to tour Calgary (which is definitely the biggest city I've ever been to) and had a lot of fun doing it. That cool looking building on the left is where the Calgary Flames practice and play. That's me and Ben with Grandma and Aunt Cheryl.

You know how they call the US a melting pot? Well Canada is probably even more of a melting pot than the states. I couldn't believe how many nationalities I saw there..... This is us at the 1988 Calgary Olympics site.

I realize how ridiculous I look in this picture I just wanted to show off Ben. I may be huge and pregnant but that doesn't stop him from just picking me up and putting me on the base of a statue. I hate this picture but it just makes me laugh because he's always there for me helping me with the dumb things like tying my shoes...

Ski jump! (We won a York Peppermint Patty to those of you who understand that).

We found a deserted bobsled. Since this was where Cool Runnings took place we felt very Jamaican. :) Ben just needs some nice dreadlocks.

Although we weren't actually able to ride in the bobsled, Ben was able to drive his Uncle Kevin's Porsche. He got it up to 160 km/hr. He was pretty excited about that. He was also able to drive his grandparents' Smart Car (it is soo soo cute!) and I'm pretty sure he DIDN'T get it up to 160 km/hr.

Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Jim gave Lily this ADORABLE dress. It was absolutely perfect for Easter. This is Grandma and Aunt Cheryl again.

When we visited Aunt Theresa she gave Lily her first haircut. Let's just say I didn't realize how horrifying that would be for a baby but now her hair's all even (thank goodness).

Ben and I were really grateful that we were able to visit all of his relatives in Calgary. It was a really fun experience and hopefully we'll be able to do it again soon. Let me just put out this warning about Canadians though: when you're on your way up to Canada NEVER ask your in-laws about any weird customs that Canadians may have because you'll end up saying "I love Canada" before you go into any home and you'll have to sing all the verses to "O Canada" before you start any meal.