FINALLY!!!

This past weekend I was finally able to go and see one of my good friends Britt! She was one of my roommates down at my favorite school SUU. This is her new baby! You should see the hair on this cute lil gal! It was so fun to take a break and take the time to sit down with my dear old friend whom I love so much. I wish that we had had more time, but you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!

Hiking to the Y

Well, We've lived in Provo for almost two years now, and we still hadn't hiked the Y together. I had done it before and remembered thinking it wasn't that great of a hike. HOWEVER, Cory is finally done with the police academy so we had a Saturday to hang out together, so we decided to make it happen!

 This is from the parking lot. I think the view here is just as great as the view from the top. But I was already invested this far, there was no turning back.

 Here we are at one of our many many stops. This hike is switchbacks the entire way up. The internet has it marked as a "moderate" hike. WHAT THE... anything with the work switchback in it should NEVER be classified as a "moderate" hike. I had to stop at almost  every switchback... and ..... breathe....lucky for me my hubby is a patient and loving guy.

 I really did it! And 5 months pregnant to boot! The hike down was so much more enjoyable for me. Other than it felt like my belly was sagging to floor thanks to hiking downhill and gravity! ha ha ha

The best part of the entire hike was our stop on the way home to the BYU creamery. We had never been there and it was cheap and delish!!!

22 Weeks!

How strangely awesome are these pictures? My doctors office just got the 3D option for the ultrasound machine, and I was the first person the tech used it on! I thought it was a little creepy at first, but now I just think its freaking awesome. Today during the ultrasound we saw him try and get his thumb in his mouth and yawn! And of course putting his hands up over his face, he's done that since the beginning. He's healthy and everything is going great! We sure are loving this little guy.

Cory's last day of the Police Academy at UVU is today! I cant tell you how happy I am that the crazy schedule of full time work and full time school is about to be over for the summer! I also wanted to say how EXTREMELY proud of Cory I am! He has worked so hard and missed out on a lot of things. Watching him go through this process has confirmed to me how important it is to do things that you LOVE doing. Don't just go in to a degree or career for the money, because life is so much better when you enjoy what you are doing. And this boy really ENJOYS what he's doing! CONGRATS CORY!!!

P.S. Also in this picture, I am 5 months pregnant. This picture does me justice, but not the belly. The stripes hid it well. I will post more soon.

Happy Easter to the Little Man!

Cory is such a good dad! Even though we didn't have our little baby here with us to celebrate Easter this year, Cory put together a little Easter gift for him anyways! We're working on our Disney selection, so we added two more classics, "Beauty and the Beast" and "Bambi".

Our Easter weekend FLEW by! I just don't think its right for it to be Monday again. I spent Friday evening through Sunday morning with my family up in West Jordan for Grandma Givan's annual Easter Egg party. It was very nice for me to be able to spend some time with my parents and my grandparents before the party to talk one on one. I really needed that. Cory had a really busy weekend with school. He had to be out at the shooting range from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. I am so grateful that he is almost done with this block of the police academy! To much school and work for Cory makes Rachel a lonely girl! ha ha ha, but really I am so thankful for how hard he's working.

Sunday evening we were up with Cory's family in Ogden for a little family dinner. It was really good to see so much family this weekend. It was especially fun to spend a little more time with our future sister in-laws and get to know them.

Well... back to the grind! OH, and P.S. today marks 18 weeks for me! WAHOO!!! Moving right along!

14 week baby picture!

I know that you all already know this, but this is the first time that I've blogged about it. We're pregnant! And as you can see from picture number 3 above, its a little boy!

You know what? This has been a pretty hard go for me. I don't really understand it and that's another reason why its so hard. I thought that being pregnant was going to be the most amazing thing. I thought that I would be so excited. But to tell you the truth I have really really struggled. The first 6 weeks were a cake walk, but every day after that has literally been miserable. How come none of you other pregnant women ever told me this before I got pregnant? Maybe I just wasn't listening? Maybe you just wont ever understand until you experience it first hand? I don't know! But I was seriously blind sided. Once I hit week seven I got so sick! Lucky for me it was usually only for a second at the beginning of the day (for two weeks I couldn't brush my teeth without throwing up) and then I was able to go to work and be productive (I only missed a few days, which is crazy because of how sick I have been), and then I'd come home and the show would begin. I would try and eat something, but everything sounded NASTY to me, and then I would sit ever so still so as not to disrupt my stomach, then much to the dismay of my efforts, my stomach would literally flop and I would spend the next 10-15 minutes in the bathroom. And no I wasn't just nauseous, I was violently hacking up whatever was in my stomach. Sometimes I thought that my eyes were going to pop out of my skull! I have a wrinkle on my forehead from this, and my teeth hurt because I now grind my teeth! Now physically this is all nasty, and it was to experience as well, but what I wasn't at all prepared for was how it affected me mentally and emotionally. I would cry and cry because of how I felt, and how depressed I was becoming. To the point where I would question if I really wanted a baby! (which is horrible to admit, but this is important). Cory has been the best person in the whole wide world. He has never once told me that I needed to pull it together, he would just hold me and not hold me (when that made me nauseous) and he was so kind to me even when I wasn't in return. I have never loved him more than I do now.

Things have gotten a little better. I have days where I go for 3, 4, and my record, 6 days without throwing up. And I'm grateful for that time, because then I get the chance to actually think about this little guy inside of me. On the days that I do get sick, I don't get so emotional afterwards, and I don't question things (which I honestly can say has been an answer to many of my prayers). And I'm finally starting to show a LITTLE bit. I know that the pregnant belly will happen, but I've noticed that a lot of the reason that I haven't felt super excited yet, is because it hasn't seemed real yet. So I look forward to a little belly bump, you know, so that I can start FEELING like there is a reason for all of this sickness.

I know what you're all thinking. MAN, WHAT A BABY! How Silly is she being!!! And you know what? I know! Sometimes I want to smack myself across the face and say... "PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!" but you know what? I am learning important lessons from this time in my life. I have felt the Spirit so strong, and I have felt my Heavenly Father bless me. I've noticed those small things. And so for that, in a strange way, I'm grateful for this experience.

Things really are starting to feel better. I know that those horrible nights will end. I know that magically in the morning I will feel better. I know that Cory is going to be an amazing dad! He has been more than excited for the both of us. And you know what? I think that here in the very near future I will start to get to be a part of that excitement.

For those of you who are worried about me (AHEM Mom and Sarah (and probably many more)) thank you for your prayers and for your love. I am being blessed and I really am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity to be a mom. I know that this is all worth it!


Just a side note. Cory's mom was extremley ill in all 3 of her pregnancies, so maybe... just maybe... this is the price I must pay so that my baby will have those AMAZING WATERS eyes! ha ha ha.... but even if not, he'll be perfect anyways!

2011!

2011 has come and gone! And I cant believe it! It feels like the older I get the faster time flies. Some highlights are:

-We celebrated our 1 year anniversary in April! WAHOO Big timers!
-Cory got a new amazing upgrade of a job
-I got a new amazing upgrade of a job
-Cory started and finished the first half of the police academy
-Stockton learned how to roll over and shake hands
-We took a bunch of great vacations to Grover and Preston
-Cory finished two semesters toward his Bachelors degree
-We got new carpet and fresh paint ... not important what we had to go through to get it.
-We became obsessed with "How I Met Your Mother"
-I decided to get certified to teach Yoga (but more of that in 2012)
-We ended the year with a BANG! Literally, an old woman rammed in to our parked car at the Stokes grocery store.

After looking at that list I feel like there is one thing for sure that I would like to do differently in 2012.... that is to be better at blogging or journal writing so that next year I can look back at my year and REALLY see all that we've both worked so hard to achieve.

I can feel that 2012 is going to be busy busy and as Barney on "How I Met Your Mother" says

LEGEN............wait for it................DARY!!!