A Date!

Due to the fact that we only have a little bit of time left that we will be able to go out easily without the need of babysitters and worrying about our little one while we are gone, we decided that we ought to enjoy dating. Yesterday Randy took me out to Coldstone for some delicious ice cream (dessert first is always a great idea) and then out to Chili's for tasty dinner. Chili's has a portion control menu which we ordered off of. For being "portion controlled" they still gave us a ton of food. I could only eat half of my meal. I am scared to think about what a "normal" serving is. We spent the whole night just talking away. It was a great evening.

Family Photo

We went to JCPenny earlier this week and got some pictures taken together. I had realized that we had very few pictures of us with me being great with child. Here are a few of my favorites.

Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time

This inspired message was for our time. I viewed it at a moment when I was having ahard time. I was able to feel the love of me Savior and the spirit was strong. It helped me to have a better day. Maybe someone out there needs a little boost and happen to view this. It will give you a pick up and you will feel better. I hope ya know, I had a hard time and the Lord heard and blessed me with sweet assurance of peace. May the Lord be with you.

Baby Dreams

As a part of the pregnancy package, strange and crazy dreams become the norm. Lately though, the strange/craziness has started to fade and I am dreaming constantly about the baby. Last night I had a dream that we were at the midwife getting a check up and they told us the sex of the baby. We were so upset. I think I started to cry because I wanted so badly to wait until the baby was born to find out the sex of our little one. I was still upset when I woke up, but go figure, I can't remember what sex they said that the baby was.

I have had so many dreams of holding and feeding the baby, but never in the dreams do I know what the sex is. I am so horribly curious as to whether the baby I am carrying is JD or Jolee. Baby is technically at term, so anytime in the next four weeks we will be celebrating the birth of our miracle. It still hasn't really sunk in. I know I am pregnant (all I have to do is look down) and that pregnancy leads to a baby, but it still seems very surreal.

Russell lands in Russia

I got to talk to my baby brother for little bit yesterday. He is serving a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Yekaterinburg, Russia. He has spent the last two months learning Russian and focusing on studying the gospel of Jesus Christ as to be prepared to serve the people of Russia. He called me from the airport before he took off to say a last farewell. He traveled from Salt Lake City, UT to Denver, CO to someplace in Germany to Russia. He is to arrive in Russia in the next few hours. I am so greatful to have such a wonderful brother who gladly gives up two years of his life to serve God. I am even more greatful that I have not one but two brothers who are doing this. Clint is serving in Pennsylvania and will be coming home this Thanksgiving!

Some tid bits on Yekaterinburg...
Yekaterinburg (Russian: Екатеринбу́рг, also romanized Ekaterinburg), formerly Sverdlovsk (Свердло́вск) is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District. Its population of 1,293,537; which is down from 1,364,621 recorded in the 1989 Census, makes it Russia's fifth largest city. Between 1924 and 1991, the city was known as Sverdlovsk (Свердло́вск), after the Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov.

Out with C&C

On May 15th, we headed down to Sierra Vista for some well needed visiting time with C&C! C and I went through nursing school, worked as nurses aids during school, did our externship in the ICU, graduated, oriented to the ICU, worked ICU/SDU, and enjoyed pregnancy together. So I guess you could say we have been through all sorts of things together and have grown to be great friends! So we drove down and spent a few days chilling and chatting.
C Mom definately has C Dad beat!
Aren't we just too cute!
Our babies kissing. (C is due a month after me, she definately has the height to help keep her from turning into a blimp like me.)

On the 16th, we headed up to a secret get-away (well not so secret, Ramsey Canyon). And we took off for a hike in the fresh air.
Randy was kind enough to hold the tree up so that I didn't have to try to climb over it with my off centeredness. He is so strong!
C Dad made sure C Mom didn't fall down the hill as we hiked.
We weren't going to let a little thing like 8-9 months pregnant slow us down!
These trees liked each other so much that they grew together.
We saw some deer. They ignored us and just walked along the path as we gawked at them. They must not have heard me thinking about how delicious venison is.
The men reading a sign. Hey, they do know how to read maps after all!
We made sure that we checked each bench we passed for sturdiness and comfort for those who would come after us. Aren't we so nice!
Taking a shade break.
We passed a bunch of bird watchers who were amazed to see such a lovely pair of birds.

A last view before turning back (hey the ladies needed a bathroom STAT!)

Baby Shower 2

Special thanks to everyone at the ICU for taking such great care of me throughout the pregnancy. You-all are definately my second family and home away from home.

I definately have some of the bestest co-workers around. Without all of their help and support, there is no way I would be still working. Love you all!

Baby Shower 1

Thanks to Samantha for such a great baby shower. Sorry it has taken me forever to get these up, but hey, I have all sorts of excuses :). Here is a video from the pictures that were taken. PS Randy made the video, he is such a sweet heart.

The shower was a blast! Everyone drew a picture of a baby face on a paper plate, while the plate was on her head, it was hilarious. Then we did the whole guess how big Sarah's baby belly is. Just if you were wondering, my belly was 48inches (4 ft, YIKES!!!) around. We also competed to see who could hang baby clothing on a line the fastest while holding a baby doll. Here are everyone's times in seconds:

Aubrey 25. Anna Jo 45. Autumn 50. GramE (my mom) 27. Auntie Em (my sister) 31. Janeen 28. Annette 38. Nora 42. Melanie 26. Christy 27. April 27. Natalie 25. Leann 39. Emma 41. Abbey 51. Me 26.

It was so funny to watch all of the different techniques used to speed the process. It made for some good ideas for me as we are planning to cloth diaper and cloth diapers do best drying on the line rather than in a dryer.

Thank-you also to Samantha for the suprize birthday cake for me!

Memorial Day

This weekend is an excellent time to not only remember our loved ones that have passed on before us but to also remember those that are serving our country and fighting for our freedom. Lets remember those that have given there lives so that we can enjoy the freedom of America. This video was written by the singer when her father was deployed and is now shown before many feature films. They have beautiful voices and share their emotion remarkably well.

If you want more information and background story here is the link that was sent to us.

www.nationalguard.com/priceofpeace

ps your might want to have a tissue or two on hand. It is a tear jerker, especially if you know someone in a similar situation or has given there life during battle.

As I enter our 37th week (yikes!), my mom reminded me that I desperately need to get some pictures up of my ever expanding belly for her to enjoy. I have a lot more that I need to post, but I am in no mood to sit in front of the computer typing away (my ankles swell if I sit for too long), so I am just adding pictures and will eventually get around to blogging. The next two weeks are 48 hour work weeks, so I don't know if I will get around to it, maybe Randy will help me get caught up on blogging (hint hint).

32 weeks with Leann


35 weeks


36 weeks (at 4:45am about to leave for work)

36 weeks

Semester's End

Tis the end of Semester, YEA!!! That means that there are only three semester's left, YIPPEE!! I am so ready to be done. Do I really want to get my masters? I will but it is something that I should be able to do at a slower pace. Today is my last final and the rest of the week is my practicum ending on Thursday. Then it is all about getting things ready for baby (Cygnet).
I am starting to get more excited, the time has gone by so fast. It seems as though it was just yesterday when we found out. I am so proud of Sarah. She has done an excellent job and dealt well with the whole pregnancy. She is so awesome and I love her so much.